The Mammoth/Gigantic Love Stories #7

Similarly to Young Love Romances, Heart to Heart Annual and Twin Hearts Annual, Love Stories is a series of rebound coverless romance comics published by K.G. Murray in bumper editions. Here's the cover to my copy of Love Stories #7:

This copy contains Man and Woman #10, Love Song Romances #64, and an unidentified issue.

I'm not sure when this was published - it appears to be c.1972-73, but will await further information before making a call.

Strange Tales #1: The Yaffa edition

Strange Tales #1, c. June 1978

Page Publications' Strange Tales #1 is a bit different to most Page Marvel issues of the era because it doesn't reprint sequential issues of the parent series.

The cover originally appeared on Strange Tales #107, and the main features of that comic are duly contained within the Page Publications issue, but those stories are found in the middle portion of the book. Strange Tales #1 actually begins on the inside front cover with a black and white reprint of the cover to Strange Tales #100:

All the main features of Strange Tales #100 are reprinted in Strange Tales #1. The features from Strange Tales #107 follow. And then, the cover and main features of Strange Tales #108 are reprinted - all except the 5-page The Silent Giant.

I don't know why there are 6 issues of Strange Tales missing in the Yaffa series. It's possible they were reprinted in another series. It's also possible that the licence was for the Human Torch series as part of the super hero package, and Strange Tales #100 was surplus which was put to use. Whatever the reason, it is an exception to the rule to find Yaffa Marvel editions not reprinting sequential issues between their covers. Some rejigging of the formula has been identified in issues late in a series, but this is the only issue that comes to mind to begin a series in this unorthodox fashion.

Strange Tales #1 was later reissued in digest form as Weird Tales #NN.

Strange Tales #4: The Yaffa edition

Strange Tales #4, c. April 1981

The front cover to Strange Tales #4 originally appeared on the US Strange Tales #115. 

Strange Tales #4 reprints the Human Torch and Doctor Strange stories from US Strange Tales #'s 115, 116 and 117. It even reprints the other two covers in black and white.

This means that this issue also carries The Origin of Dr. Strange. Which means this splash page is included:

Now that would have made for a cool cover on a digest-sized Page Publications comic! Alas...

Fear #3 = Fear #4 - almost...

Fear #3, 1981

Fear #3 is the first digest-sized issue in the Page Publications series - the previous two were covered some ten years ago when I knew very little about Page Publications comics, and there was a lot of speculation and second-guessing on my part.

This issue reprints the cover and main contents of Marvel's Fear #4.And wouldn't you know it - the only feature from Fear #4 not to be included in the Yaffa edition is the second story featured on the cover: I Turned Into A Martian! Of course, this is due to the differing page counts of the respective issues, but one would think a 5-page story featured on the cover could be swapped for another 5-page story which would not be so conspicuously absent.

Tales of Terror Picture Library #6: White Heat

White Heat was originally published in Famepress' S.A.T.A.N. Picture Library #5:

It was reprinted by Page Publications under a Keith Chatto cover in Tales of Terror Picture Library #6:

The cover is based on interior art:

Previous issues of Tales of Terror Picture Library carried bone fide horror stories as per the title, but this is an example of Yaffa mixing their material up for the sake of getting 'new' product onto the newsagency stands. I expect White Heat was previously published by Page Publications in one of their spy titles, and most likely featured a Chatto swipe of the Famepress issue above. TBC. 

Batman: The Official Comic Adaptation of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture - The Australian edition

This rather battered specimen of a Batman comic found its way into the Junkyard last week. It's "The Official Comic Adaptation of the Warner Bros. Motion Picture", published in 1989. This is the deluxe, prestige format edition. There was also a regular edition.

The interesting thing about this issue from the perspective of the Junkyard is that it's an Australian edition, published by Budget Books in Melbourne, under the Adventure Book imprint. I don't know anything about this mob, other than what the GCD entry tells me, which is that they published some comics-related books in the mid-1980's/early 1990's.

I don't see a price on the cover so I don't know whether it was significantly cheaper than the US edition. It's also possible that it had alternative distribution to the regular comics network - say in bookstores or cinemas.

Federal Comics ceased publication of DC superhero comics in 1986. If they had run another few years more this edition may have had a Federal Comics logo on the top left hand corner.

Chatto's Inferno

Inferno was originally published in MV Features' Secret Service Picture Library #4:

This story was reprinted in the following digest-sized Page Publication issues:

 War Adventure Series #3

 War Stories #4

Wartime Library #7

All three Page Publications issues feature cover art by Keith Chatto. I expect there is an earlier edition which carries a Chatto swipe of the MV Features cover art. 

And given the Australian content of this issue, I wouldn't be surprised to find a few more editions of this issue spread over various spy and war titles. The titles above are all war titles, but given the Yaffa stable included spy titles such as Spy Action Library, Spy Adventure Picture Library and Spy Stories Picture Library... well, I'd be placing a bet on those odds.

Update 6 January 2023: Inferno was also published in Wartime Library #9:

Federal Comics' Fantastic Four: The complete cover gallery

Here's a cover gallery of my recently completed run of Federal Comics' Fantastic Four:

 Fantastic Four #1, c.May 1984

 Fantastic Four #2/NN, c.July 1984

 Fantastic Four #3, c. September 1984

 Fantastic Four #4, c.December 1984

 Fantastic Four #5, c.January 1985

 Fantastic Four #6, c. May 1985

 Fantastic Four #7/NN, c.June 1985

 Fantastic Four #8, c.July 1985

 Fantastic Four #9, c.September 1985

 Fantastic Four #10, c.December 1985

Fantastic Four #11, c. February 1986

The dates are my best guesses with the data to hand. Many are certain, however there are a few issues which may be tweaked, but only by a month either way. 

Whilst the advertisements on the rear covers and inner front and rear covers tally almost completely with their Federal DC counterparts, I realised some time ago that the Federal Marvel issues contained tailormade letter columns in the last few issues of their respective series. I've started to identify, log and date them, but I still have quite a few issues to get through before I can finalise that exercise.

Seeking Land of No Tomorrow: Teenage Confessions #2 and Love and Romance Library #279

Page Publications' Teenage Confessions #2 features a cover illustration by Keith Chatto and, as per the cover blurb, the interior feature is titled Land of No Tomorrow.

This issue was recycled some time later under a new Chatto cover as Love and Romance Library #279:

The job code for the story is D19. This suggests that Land of No Tomorrow, as per other such Page Publications romance stories, was originally published by MV Features Ltd., in Dream A Romantic Picture Story #19 c.1965/66. Unfortunately I cannot verify this at the moment as there is no detail on the GCD site for this issue, but I expect to be able to do so in the fullness of time.

To continue the guesswork: I expect there is an earlier printing of the story by Page Publications given that the cover image to Teenage Confessions #2 doesn't reflect a scene from the story, which presumably means it doesn't reflect the original cover art for Dream A Romantic Picture Story #19, which means it's unlikely Chatto cribbed it for Teenage Age Confessions #2.

Further, I'm going to guess that the cover  for Dream A Romantic Picture Story #19 features a horse because horse riding is rather prominent in Land of No Tomorrow. Or it may just be another sombre grey-toned romance cover as per the majority of the incomplete cover art gallery for this series on the GCD.

Update 4/6/2019: Land of No Tomorrow was also published by Page Publications in Real Life Romances #48:

The cover is sourced from the last page:

Unfortunately my copy has a piece missing from the cover so the price is missing. However, given the cover is from the interior art, my guess is this is a $0.60 or $0.65 cover price edition.

That bloody Chatto: Bring it on!

Gunshot Western Library #1 was published by Page Publications c. December 1971.

This issue was recycled as Six Gun Western Library #3, presumably late 1972 (Six Gun Western Library #2 has a confirmed date c.July 1972):

Page Publications recycled the issue at least one more time, as Fighting Western Stories #33:

All three covers are illustrated by Keith Chatto.

I like how the cover images become progressively more violent. I suppose subsequent reprintings will feature brain-splattered corpses. One can only hope. His horror issues certainly knew the drill, even if the westerns lagged behind in this regard - consider the cover to Nightmare Suspense Library #3, a $0.20 cover-priced issue: