sfcityduck

I hope we all appreciate what Jpepx78 has done on this topic. It's great work and he deserves our appreciation. He did not control 50 objects, and he has found great history and shared information that I (and I think everyone else) never knew. I give him full kudos, even if I do disagree with the ultimate theory (and again I've been wrong in the past) on who the OO really was. And, to be clear, I was viewing the Bette camp as viable (because again, I'm wrong enough times I'm open the ideas of others) until I saw the info 50 Objects dug up on when she left the camp.

This is the book that needs to be explained away if you think the post October 1943 books are not camp books:

I think almost all or all of the books which folks have thought were "camp markings" post-date October 1943. To be clear, if you read my posts starting on 1/9/2014 on this thread, I thought the brother was always a candidate for the OO. Moreover, I am aware of one book that seems almost indisputably a camp book which post-dates October 1943. So maybe those codes were in fact camp markings, not marking put on by the OO in Chicago. So again, I'm thinking the OO was the brother not the oldest sister. I think they were camp books. I just don't think the OO was the oldest sister. I'm not a big fan of "handwriting similarity" as evidence. Kids were all taught to write the same way. Having said that, I admit that I can be wrong. It took me three guesses to get the frigging Promise OO's right. So I'd love to know what others think. I think Jpep and 50 Objects did a lot of great research, especially the stuff about the penpals which was fasicnating and cool, but I think the jury is still out on the mystery of this pedigree. The one thing I hope we all agree on, is that this pedigree did a huge service to comic collectors by letting us know about the history of the Japanese internment that many would not otherwise know. Jpep's thread is one of the best posted on this site. It's a shame the oldest sister lost her facilities before anyone could interview her. She was the last of the kids. The younger brother and sister who were in the camps died earlier.

I don't think it was general knowledge, but she did not die until during the pandemic. She did, as 50 objects revealed, lose most of her memory and so no one got her story on the comics.

Jpep, Just read it. An interesting read! I'm glad your contributions were recognized. My main takeaway is that It is sad that no asked Bette about the books before she sustained her memory loss. We'll all have to speculate on what the true story was. One thing lept out at me: "On Oct. 17, 1943, she left George and her mother behind to reunite with Frances, who had gotten married in camp to Frank Kataoka and been released to Chicago." Are there any books with so-called camp markings which post-date October 1943? I've always thought that the collection likely included books bought by or for her brother. If there are "camp markings" after that date, this may prove it.

Yep. Looks Like Robin is going to be knocked off his perch!

I am thinking DC heros, I assume it will be a back up hero. Aquaman got zero covers as did others, so they do not count. Robotman was around a long time but I can only think of one cover for him but it may be a bit of a cheat. Wildcat made a few All-Star covers. The Seven Soldiers all got covers and some even were on covers for other titles. Dr. Thirteen got his run and Phantom Stranger had his series. Just curious.

I'm also wondering who appeared on the fewest covers (with a minimum of 1, sorry Aquaman you are DQ'd). Maybe Robotman? I can only think of one for him.

That looks like a comic to me. But it doesn't really have a cover. And I'm a bit afraid of going in the giveaway rabbit hole. I'm thinking of just sticking to DC newsstand publications as that is simple and clear.

Hmmmm. That seems like a reasonable argument. But what the stories about? I've never opened one. I thought they were essentially an ad publication.

When I look at the list in the first post, what leaps out to me is that post D 38 there are 11 covers of Batman and Detective on which there's no Robin. Everyone wants pre-Robin. Does anyone collect the post-Robin no Robin covers?

Not in my count. But, I think that's a cool cover!

Yep, Superman/Superboy combined are clearly no. 1. But, they are really two different characters. Superboy's covers on MF, Adventure, and Superboy are not enough, to overtake the big 3 because he got started a bit late. Superman Tim is not really a comic, let alone a DC comic, so I don't count those.

Not when it comes to cover appearances!

Am I missing any cover appearances? SUPERMAN TOTAL: 430 Action 1, 7, 10, 12-220 (212 covers) Adventure 211, 216 (2 covers) All-Star 7, 9, 10, 36 (4 covers) More Fun 125 (1 cover) New York's World's Fair 1, 2 (2 covers) Superboy 1, 47 (2 cover) Superman 1-108 (108 covers) Superman's Pal Jimmy Olson 1-15 (15 covers) World's Best/Finest 1-84 (84 covers) ROBIN:TOTAL: 417 Batman 1-56, 58-81, 82-85, 87-101 (98 covers) Detective 38-152, 154-158, 160-162, 164-178, 180-199, 201-209, 210-214, 216-231, 233-235 (189 covers) NY World's Fair 2 (1 cover) Real Fact 5 (1 cover) Star Spangled Comics 65-108 (44 covers) World's Best/Finest 1-84 (84 covers) BATMAN TOTAL: 404 All-Star 7, 9, 10, 36 (4 covers) Batman 1-101 (101 covers) Detective 27, 29, 31, 33, 35-235 (205 covers) New York's World's Fair 2 (1 cover) Real Fact 5 (1 cover) Star Spangled Comics 88-94 (7 covers) Superman 76 (1 cover) World's Best/Finest 1-84 (84 covers) UPDATED!: Based on below input - Superman Wins the GA (although Robin wins the Pre-Code era!):

Coming soon to the website run by some of the most prominent and occasionally controversial Japanese-American activists - most notably Nancy Ukai who has gained some fame for stopping auctions of internment camp items - is the Okajima Pedigree story. The announcement is up on their Facebook (see immediately below) and the article will appear on their website (a fascinating site): https://50objects.org/. They have gotten some advice from a collector who knows quite a bit about this subject, so it will be very interesting to see what Nancy Ukai has to say: (Facebook Preview) 50 Objects / Stories of the American Japanese Incarceration May 19 at 1:34 PM · One thinks of a pedigree as a sanctioned stamp of good breeding. Thoroughbred racehorses. Edwardian landed gentry. But comic books? These aren't just any comics but specimens from the Golden Age of American comics, 1938-1956, including some purchased in a U.S. concentration camp. A comic book pedigree is the rare designation applied to a collection of vintage material gathered by a single collector at the time of publishing. There are currently 61 pedigrees widely recognized in the comic book world. The Bette Okajima Pedigree is one of them. This pedigree is something of a legend. One theory has it that the collector was a 10-year-old girl at the Manzanar concentration camp in the California high desert. Another speculates that the Okajima signature on the covers was actually by the hand of Bette's brother. Would a girl collect war comics? Would any Japanese American, regardless of gender, avidly consume images that included viciously caricatured depictions of Asians? The World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans must have been tremendously dislocating. Your country of birth is at war, but has rejected you, declared you a martial threat and imprisoned you. American pop culture is in your social DNA. One of the few lifelines you have to this culture as a young person in a concentration camp is the steady stream of comic books available in the camp store. The Okajima Pedigree grew out of this fractured living situation. The 50 Objects project director, Nancy Ukai, with the help of comic book expert Jeff Tom, has researched and written about the Okajima Pedigree. This story, intended to be published on our website next week, (see link to our site in our bio) will help bring legend into the realm of legacy. Stay tuned to this account for more Okajima posts to come.

Not for LB Cole books, who wants the interior? Cover proofs are actually pretty cool

Cool comics! But are all Canadian white collectors named Stephen?

True! Even his panels made into covers are masterpieces:

Not saying something bad about Suspense 3, and it is hard to identify any single masterpiece for Schomburg, but I'm in Cat's camp in loving the WWII Timely work the best.

Can I just say that I'm not surprised there's agreement that this was Krigstein's masterpiece. I personally think the above page was one of the important pages of comic art ever. I'm not surprised that Halperin has Hoovered it up. (Shame on you Mitch for ever selling the story! You should've kept that mannup forever! Although I do agree with you its a bit depressing to hang on a wall.) If anyone else can come up with a similar piece of art that is as significant and is as widely regarded as an artist's masterpiece I'd be really interested to know what it is. Like I said, I've been racking my brain and I can't come up with another good choice ... but these work for these artists, I think: Bill Ward And this by Leon Winik (who?): Great topic by the way. Very interesing!

Bullseye might be my favorite Kirby GA work. His earlier work IMHO always seemed sort of rushed, and he was just not at the height of his powers yet.especially for DC.

Not a lot of consensus on this thread. I was trying to think if there is anything comic collectors would agree is a comic artist’s masterpiece and all I could come up with is this:

Sure. Preview issues, ads, posters, etc. have value. People collect a lot of stuff. But I am a comic book collector. To me, as with the OPG and CGC, “first appearance” means first comic book story appearance not first appearance in a newspaper or film or poster on radio or on a button etc. IH 180 is Wolverine’s first appearance in a comic book story. FOOM 2 is not Wolverine or a comic book story. It is literally no relation to the X-man. To say otherwise IMHO is to attempt to deceive. Sort of like some of the “prototype” shenanigans.

I agree! Especially as to those Aquaman covers.