It was 50 years ago this week that the earliest article I know of on Canadian WECA comics appeared in the Sept. 19, 1964 issue of Maclean’s Magazine. It was written by Alexander (“Sandy”) Cameron Ross as part of a series called “A Maclean’s Flashback” and its title was “A Fond Portrait of those Wild Wartime Comics.” Ross was perhaps best known for founding Canadian Business magazine in 1977 and posthumously has had a national award ‘The Alexander Ross Award for Best New Writer’ given out by the National Magazines Awards Foundation.
Read More50 Years Ago…
New Triumph featuring Northguard #1, Matrix Graphic Series, September 1984 I just spent a lovely weekend at the Montreal Comic Con. Montreal is a great town and their Con is a great event. This year, because I booked late, I…
Comic Link Summer Featured Auction The comic book portion of ComicLink’s Summer Featured Auction ended Wednesday September 10th and I must say that results seemed strong through most of the auction. The Action #1 graded CGC 6.5 with extensive restoration…
John Bell is probably best known to you for his published work on Canadian comics. He was kind enough to take the time to answer a number of questions I sent him with a view to publishing his responses…
Marvel Premiere #49, Marvel Comics, August 1979 That Marvel Premiere sure does have a lot of good books. The run features important appearances of Warlock, Doc Strange, Iron Fist, Legion of Monsters, Ant-Man, Alice Cooper, Dr. Who and more. One…
But more than a quick glance at almost any comic book cover in existence will reveal that all the blue’s, red’s, green’s and especially grey’s are far more than a simple blotch of colour on paper.
Read MoreHalftone patterns and overpainting
Now that the latest Overstreet Price Guide has included an article on the Canadian war-time comic books and now that the books themselves are beginning to realize handsome price ranges, is it time to put together a Canadian WECA Price…
Hell Yeah! Another year and another Fan Expo attendance record. Big B Comics has set up at every Fan Expo so far giving us a behind the table view of this dramatic growth over these past two decades. I heard…
As a collector of various things for more than 50 years and, specifically, as a collector of Canadian war-time comics for the last two years or so, I have had pause to step outside myself and take an up high and a little to the side look at myself and this activity, pastime, or, some (specifically wives) would say, a kind of pathology, that has echoed in us down through history. With Fan Expo looming, in this column I want to examine what has put the wind in my collecting sails over this past half century and hope that it makes some sense at one point or another.
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The Spotlight format only allows passing references and hopefully some insightful tidbits sprinkled here and there. In other words I have to pick a book worthy of a birthday tribute to the Man. I’ve picked Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 because this book sticks out among the books that stick out, it represents Jack Kirby embarking on the most ambitious project of his career.
Read MoreUndervalued Spotlight #210
While some evidence of restoration can be revealed by viewing a book in natural daylight and using a magnification loupe, my favourite tool in detecting restoration (both amateur and professional) is my UVA blacklight.
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Harry Joseph Brunt was born on Nov. 22, 1918 in Chicago but his family seems to have settled in the Toronto-Hamilton area a few years after he was born. Brunt started to work for Bell features as one of its artists while he was in his mid-twenties around the Christmas season of 1943. The nature of his contribution to these comics consisted of two or three page featurettes that were cartoony and goofy and invariably had an alliterative name.
Read MoreHarry Brunt
Avengers #3, January 1964, Marvel Comics I received a very nice email from Mike Huddleston a few days back. Mike, who regularly contributes to CBD with his fantastic Arcs and Runs posts, was being a heck of a nice guy in serving…
A look at a brief period of work from a classic DC artist, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: The Complete Murphy Anderson Sundays, 1958-1959 is a niche product aimed at a very small audience.
Read MoreBuck Rogers: The Complete Murphy Anderson Sundays
This week I want to talk about a significant comic from the late WECA period, Slam-Bang Comics No. 7, with a cover date of May, 1946. (Jim Finlay informs me that his indicia for this issue has the date July, 1946 pencilled in, maybe with the May date whited out? Anybody else have a copy they could check?) It took the cover banner from Fawcett’s short live run of a same titled series of 7 issues from 1940, but why it began in Canada with an initial number 7 is still a mystery. Perhaps it was some sort of nod or licensing response to the Fawcett run, but who knows?
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Man-Thing #1, Marvel Comics, January 1974 The success of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie has reignited some of the key comics associated with the team. Marvel Superheroes #18, Hulk #271, Marvel Preview #7 and Guardians Vol 2 #1 have…
Detecting Restoration - a "how to" for the convention goer. Spotting color touch.
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The Whites were not only about the cliffhanger dramatics of superheroes, spies, and soldiers taking on the Axis. Satirical strips like Steele’s Private Stuff and Saakel’s Spike and Mike, both in Joke Comics, were just plain tongue-in-cheek fun.
Read MoreSaakel’s Satire
In late 1944, Steele seemed to have come up with the idea of doing cut-out masks of a few of the lead Bell characters on the inside covers of some of the Bell Features books. We modern collectors look back somewhat aghast on this because, just like Bell’s placement of cut-out coupons in similar locations, it must have led to wanton disfigurement of many of these books, but such were the ways of the world back then towards something that was seen as ultimately disposable and easily remaindered. Steele signed these "fathead" portraits with his shortened monogram "TAS."
Read MoreTAS: Masks, Calories, and Beavers
Legends #3, DC Comics, January 1987. The Suicide Squad made its first appearance back in September 1959 in Brave and the Bold #25. BB #25 is a great comic to own and very undervalued at its 9.2 guide value of $1,800. The book is a tough find though, it rarely comes up for auction so this week, rather than send you out on a mission impossible, I thought I’d lighten it up and send you after a book with potentially way more upside, at the very least it will be much easier, much more fun and much much cheaper to hunt down.
Read MoreUndervalued Spotlight #207