sfcityduck

I put the market value as what the market will pay.

Up thread there is a link to a scan of the whole book.

I was hoping you were going to say that a Terry Kane book is coming.

Any doubt that "Defend" is a DC (All-American) publication can be definitively eliminated. Here's a house ad from All-Star Comics #10 which makes clear that "How You Can Defend Your Home" is an All-American Publication and, in fact, offers it at a premium price to All-American Flying Club members (note also the reference to the Uncle Sam house ad posted on the first post of this thread): And from All-Flash 4: And from All-American Comics 42: A version of these ads also apparently ran in Batman 10 (but I haven't tracked it down yet). It's definitely a DC/All-American folks.

Stephen, i really enjoyed the archives of Nelvana, Brok Windsor, and Johnny Canuck. But with Hope and especially Rachel’s personal challenges, the Doc Stearne book has taken forever and I am unaware of any other projects in the pipeline. Are you aware of any new projects? I would love to support them if they exist.

Great info. If only CGC knew what you do. They have the first EC publication as a book with no EC branding, no EC in the indicia, it's a reprint from a publication that had zero connection to EC, and it dates from 1942.

Apologies if I was unclear, but I am saying that there are more ashcans than just Double Action 1 for which only one copy is known to exist. I think a number of those are more desirable than the Double Action 1.

Worth noting that one one of the top ashcan experts also is one of the few who has a copy of "Defend." Since he's apparently wrapped up in other things, here's Mark Zaid's copy as a reference: P.S. It is always makes me happy when anything I have looks better than the copy owned by an advanced collector like Zaid - LoL!

Here we completely agree. I'd rather have the DC Flash ashcan or the Fawcett Flash/Thrill ashcan than "Defend."

"How You Can Defend Your Home" was advertised in house ads in multiple DC Comics from April to June 1942. It was officially published, with an indicia, by Jolaine Publications - the publisher of All-Flash Comics, Green Lantern Comics, and Comic Calvacade. It was distributed. We do not know how widespread the distribution was or how extensive the print runs were. We do know that not many exist today (victim of paper drives and lack of interest in preserving a seemingly entirely un-useful publication perhaps?) and only three exist in institutional collections (which is a very very small amount - less than other incredibly rare items like Gaines' Narrative Illustration or Wertham's pick for the "one good comic" The Nightingale). In contrast, the ashcans were not, to my knowledge, ever advertised, officially published, or distributed outside of the DC or Fawcett offices. They are production artifacts, like proofs, color guides, and copyright/trademark submissions, which predate the publication of the titles they relate to.

Ashcans are production or legal artifacts not published books. But, there is no doubt that the ashcans of which there is one known copy (there are more than Double Action 1) are among the rarest DC items. If you are going for published items or newsstand items (which is what Ian counted), then you don't need the ashcans to get a complete collection.

You learn something new every day! Thanks for the correction. That's fascinating!

It's a valid opinion. But, since Jack L. still was his partner and a partner in DC, I think the branding of the books was more of a negotiating strategy than something that would disqualify them from being DC comics. The AA and DC characters still were co-existing in the JSA.

The one thing we do know is that it is NOT a Gaines solo effort because it was published by a publisher, Jolaine Publications, that Gaines co-owned with Jack Liebowitz. Any receipts for "Defend" would have been split between Gaines and Liebowitz according to their partnership agreements.

Hawaii didn't become a State until 1959. I don't think there was ever an air raid on the US proper. You're right that Pearl Harbor created a bit of a frenzy for a time which likely led to the idea of creating this book, but it quickly became apparent that the US was safe from air raids during WWII.

Not sure I agree as Picture Stories from the Bible was also published in 1942 as a "DC" branded comic book publication by MC Gaines out of his All-American offices. Picture Stories from the Bible 1 featured the stories of Noah, Joseph, Moses, etc. These same stories by the same writer (Montgomery Mulford) and artist (Don Cameron) were in the Newspaper inserts: What were the financial arrangements regarding the newspaper inserts? I'm not sure anyone knows. But if I were out to get all DC publications, I'd be picking up those inserts as well.

Worth noting that the comic book which everyone, including DC, views as the first DC - New Fun 1 - was not published by Detectic Comics Inc., but by National Allied Publications - which was then owned by Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson. MMW-N published New Fun/More Fun and New Comics/New Adventure/Adventure up until 1937, when he joined with Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz to create Dectective Comics Inc. to publish Detective Comics 1. MMW-N was subsequently forced out. It's a convoluted history, but pretty much all comic historians and DC collectors view National, Detective Comics, and All-American as DC companies upon their formation.

All-American was not purchased by DC in toto, as was the case with Quality. Instead, Donenfeld, the man who owned National and Detective Comics in 1938 (the then two components of DC) partially funded in All-American's creation and insisted that the part owner of Detective Comics be a part owner of All-American, such that as of that date D.C. had three component company's - National, Detective, and All-American which shared promotion and characters. Quality was an acquisition by DC long after Quality was formed. Completely different.

Agree, but that was after 1942. From Wikipedia (take it with a grain of salt): Max Gaines, future founder of EC Comics, formed All-American Publications in 1938 after successfully seeking funding from Harry Donenfeld,[1]:147 CEO of both National Allied Publications (publisher of Action Comics and other titles) and sister company Detective Comics (publisher of that namesake comic book). As Gerard Jones writes of Donenfeld's investment: While All-American, at 225 Lafayette Street in Manhattan, was physically separated from DC's office space uptown at 480 Lexington Avenue, it used the informal "DC" logo on most of its covers for distribution and marketing reasons. In 1944,[1]:223[2] Gaines sold his share of the company to Liebowitz, keeping only Picture Stories from the Bible as the foundation of his own new company, EC. As Jones describes, Before the merger, Gaines first rebranded All-American with its own logo, beginning with books cover-dated February 1945: All-Flash #17, Sensation Comics #38, Flash Comics #62, Green Lantern #14, Funny Stuff #3, and Mutt & Jeff [note 2] #16, and the following month's All-American Comics #64 and the hyphenless All Star Comics #24. Liebowitz later merged his and Donenfeld's companies into National Comics Publications.[1]:223

All-American Comics are considered DC Comics by DC collectors.

You mean other than All-American? I don't know. All-American was his company until he sold it entirely to DC. It just shared promotion and characters with DC. For example, the JSA was a combo of DC and All-American characters. As a result, DC started the Seven Soldiers with just DC characters so it could have its own team independent of Gaines.

Some have suggested this was really the first EC (which might make it worth more because there are more EC completests than DC completests). However, the publisher, Jolaine Publications, was a publisher solely of All-American's comics - All-Flash, Comic Calvacade, and Green Lantern. The office address was presumably M.C. Gaines' office address. He had not yet sold All-American to D.C. and started E.C.

Colors are the same, photo skills differ (my copy looks darker than it is). My copy was found in the Finger Lakes region of NY. I suspect that the nature of this publication made it less likely to survive WWII. Who in the US really needed to be concerned about air raids?

I agree rare does not always mean desirable, although there are a number of collectors who would rather pursue rare comics over comics anyone can own if they can pay the price. As for Bob Beerbohm, he never pushed this book, instead only learning of its history on these boards. After reading a thread by Zaid or Levine, he posted his copy. It is really Levine, Zaid and ECcomics who elevated the profile of this book on this site. I am not shocked Bangzoom has one.