Tag Better Comics

Canadian War Time Comics: An Early Kids Social Network

Ivan Kocmarek
November 13, 2019
15 Comments

Monday was Remembrance Day here in Canada. Last year on Remembrance Day we lost Jack Tremblay who, as a fifteen-year-old, created two war strips for Bell Features; one about a fictional air ace called “Crash Carson,” and the other about…

Better Comics Vol. 1 No. 1

Few can deny that comics and graphic storytelling have become an influential force in 21st-century western culture. Academic departments and programmes that concentrate on its study are growing. It fills the small screen and the big screen and is the…

October Comic Link Auction

Ivan Kocmarek
October 31, 2018
11 Comments

The Comic Link auctions have been, perhaps, the primary source for obtaining Canadian wartime comics (WECA comics) over the last half-dozen years. 2017 offered up a comparative glut of these hard-to-find books with just over 180 of them being made…

Auction Highlights #96, More Canadian Whites

Walter Durajlija
September 30, 2016
8 Comments

Comic Link Focused Auction The comic book portion of the ComicLink Focused Auction ended Thursday September 29th. This auction was the follow up auction to the historic Featured Auction that ended September 8th. Those people down at ComicLink sure know…

ComicLink Whites Auction 2

Ivan Kocmarek
April 25, 2014
35 Comments

This time there were 66 books on offer and most were of lower or very low grade. Would the auction for these books support the strong results of the last ComicLink Whites auction in February, or would the results fall flat because of the lower grades and not many really key books?

Maple Leaf Checklist

Ivan Kocmarek
February 5, 2014
14 Comments

Of all the WECA books, those produced by Maple Leaf Publishing out on the west coast of Canada are in the most demand and are the hardest to find. In this post I want to initiate the question of the number and dates of all the Maple Leaf issues… especially that murky last year—1946.

Stamp of Approval

Ivan Kocmarek
September 26, 2013
2 Comments

If a comic book concept with a fairly slender thread connecting it to Canada (Joe Shuster the illustrator behind the creation of the character was born in Canada) can merit this ceremony, why can't a 75th anniversary of the birth of our own genuine and rock solidly Canadian comic books merit at least an equal value. I know we had that issue in 1995 that contained stamps of Johnny Canuck and Nelvana but this is different.

Winner! Gagnon!

Ivan Kocmarek
July 4, 2013

One aspect of the WECA comics (1941-46) that truly made them Canadian was the great effort they went to in order to engage their readers. One of these central ways was the almost monthly implementation of contests right from the…

Canadian Whites Collection Found

Yesterday marked 1 year and 6 months since my Undervalued Spotlight #103 post. In that post I put the spotlight on Maple Leaf Publishing’s Better Comics #1 and talked about the importance and the scarcity of the book. I remember…

A Touch of Colour

Ivan Kocmarek
February 28, 2013
2 Comments

There’s that significant moment in silver screen history when Judy Garland, as Dorothy, steps out of her black-and-white Kansas world, through the door of her tornado-transported farm house, into the rich, full-colour, munchkin-filled Land of OZ. This really didn’t happen…

Brok Windsor

Ivan Kocmarek
January 31, 2013
3 Comments

Brok Windsor was a relatively late comer to the WECA period. He debuted in Canada’s West Coast Publisher’s (Maple Leaf’ Publications) Better Comics Vol. 3 NO. 3 from April/May 1944, just over half-way through this Golden Age of Canadian Comics. Brok…

Brent Miller: Vernon Miller & The Birth Of Canadian Comics

Walter Durajlija
October 15, 2012
6 Comments

In November of 2011 I posted Undervalued Spotlight #103 featuring Better Comics #1. The book was published in March 1941 by Vancouver’s Maple Leaf Publishing. I picked the book for several reasons: it is extremely rare, it is Canada’s 1st…