50YrsCollctngCmcs

I got to tour Pixar about two to three years ago and certainly felt the creative energy brewing in there. I contrast that sharply with a tour of Disney Animation about ten years ago during one of its worse creative periods; they were working on a horrid animated feature on cows. The palapable lack of creative energy there was astouding. Your assessment in regard to Barks is interesting although one must remember that Barks worked in isolation for many many years on his duck books. He lived way out in the boonies most of this time. Bottom line, I think he was a uniquely gifted individual who was able to create these stories from his own life's experiences and insights. Obviously, these included his time at the Disney studio.

If only my teachers has assigned this kind of homework I would have been in hog heaven. Instead I used to bring comics into my own assignments, including an essay on the role of comics as WWII propaganda entitled "OK Axis Here we Come!" I believe I borrowed the title from All in Color for A Dime. That one really put my English teacher over the edge a I read it in class and he accused me of promoting comic books as literature! I agreed. Then I did a comic adaptation of Hamlet, called Ducklet with heavy lifts from Barks. I believe Gladstone was the villian.Wish I had kept those but they are long gone. Anyway, I can't help but think you might enjoy my little research project if you have an interest in Barks.

Go to your Local Comic Shop and ask to buy two books. First, a reprint of one of Barks classic Four Color Tales - try Old Castle's Secret or Only a Poor Old Man but almost any story will suffice. Second, a current copy of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories containing a duck story that is not a reprint of Barks. Report back here.

Must be studio artists, quality of the work is phenomenal.

And I thought I was a little extreme in reading my books but there were some good comments here: Gloves Putting the book in a sales brochure so as not to touch the cover. Not bending open all the way. I already use the third technique and will try the second. As for gloves I have read archivists say the benefit outways the risk as you lose too much sense of touch and can damage books before you realize it is happening. Great bunch of books here. Makes me drool, like the Crypt Keeper!

Thanks Rich, you are right I don't remember ever seeing these issues offered before. Those first hunred issues are going to be a tough but fun run to put together.

So not only do we share an interest in Ducks but in nice EC's as well. See my recent purchase of a Weird Science here... Weird Science 11 We better coordinate our purchases to keep the prices down!!

Doesn't get much better than stacks of Duck Books!! Love it!

Here are the recently mentioned WDC&S picked up from Iggy in the sales thread last weekend. I also got a DC Mutt and Jeff #12 but that doesn't quite fit this thread so it won't be appearing here. This little set of books was appealing as they were original owner books with nice page quality. The covers are a little below what I normally buy but these early Barks originals don't come along very often so I gave it a whirl. Since it is pouring in Los Angeles today and the kids are away at a class it was the perfect time to give them both a quick read. These books are interesting as they are the beginnings of what will become the classic WDC&S of the late forties and early fifties. They feel a little experimental, still looking to find their way with even some remnants of the old Mickey Mouse Magazine evident in crossword puzzles, longwinded text pieces and even a Minnie Mouse Hollywood gossip column. On a side note Roddy McDowell bore mention in both of these columns which I found surprising. The two Barks features were the highlights of the book, the first featuring a classic Mr. Jones the neighbor battle and the second a short piece on salesmanship. His characters appear larger on page with simpler backgounds but the evidence of his story mastery is all there. Other features include Gus Gremlin, not very interesting, Panchito from the Three Caballeros in #38, an early Bucky Bug strip in #39 and two chapters of the Mickey Mouse Love Trouble serial. Issue #38 is 64 pages plus the covers while #39 is 56 pages plus the covers all chronologically numbered so you know all the pages are there. I can only imagine it was war paper shortages that drove the short page count on #39. Also, there seemed to be a sparing use of ink in both books, not on all pages so it was not a printer's defect but rather it looked like a shortage of manpower or some commodity driving the suspicious lack of color. All four colors are present so it appears to have been done on purpose. Enjoy the covers as well as the back cover to #38 which I found to be kind of fun.

Congratulations on these. FC 189 is hands down my favorite Barks Duck Epic. No other story matches the sheer spookiness and thrills of this book along with laying down the basis for what would become the Scrooge canon. I don't think Barks had any idea of the legacy he was creating but we are sure glad he did!

Thanks Andrew, I actually wondered why you had not grabbed those as I debated the purchase overnight. They arrived this past Thursday night and I gave them a quick perusal. I will try to get scans up in this topic with a little review of the contents sometime this weekend. They are the earliest Barks' WDCS I have and I look forward to looking them over in detail later today or tomorrow morning. We have a big storm coming into California tonight and tomorrow so other than work I should be doing it is an outstanding weekend to be looking at old classic comics!

OK, how funny is that and how times have changed in some ways and others not. Today, no house wife or judge would confess to reading comics (funny books.) A man admitting whipping his wife would have already been arrested and the kids would be in the hands of social workers. As for that Ibis photo, just substiute an IPAD or IPHONE and you would have today's version. That much hasn't changed.

Best story involves a scientist's helper going back in time and giving birth to himself!! Freak out city. I'm my own Dad. Another involved some space men becoming Mexican Jumping Beans on alien world. Two other stories, one involving corporate greed and another involving man and machine. Classic EC stuff, great artwork and stories with a twist. Love it.

Picked this up from PointFive right before the holidays. Great book with great page quality and a wonderful feel to the book. I wasn't going to post it but I ran into Sacentaur at Terry's show today and he got a big kick out of it and suggested I do so. Enjoy.

Jon, Thanks for the Weird Science 11, great book, great packing. Frank

what is the story behind the proof? Found the proofs at at an antique show. The previous owner had several sets from Dell WDCS and FC comics. Said he found them a while back but I don't remember where. Perhaps a colorist or an editor had owned them. bb Boy, just goes to show you never know what you might find at a store or flea market. As a kid I remember running across old Ub Iwerks animation cells at a flea market and not being able to afford the $5. ticket. I knew who he was and what they were but didn't have the scratch. Could kick myself now for not figuring out a way to beg the money from Mom and Dad. Nice piece of history there. Did you pick up the others too?

what is the story behind the proof?

Jeff, Congratulations! I have been too busy at work to follow the boards much so I just noticed this last night. I have enjoyed watching your Superman collection grow and being posted so I know that this must be a great achievement for you! Frank

AMAZING Shadow pulps Dwight....!! Thanks for sharing Agreed, a very impressive sight. I was never a big pulp guy but mainly because it seemed the ones I could find were already falling apart. Where do you find white page copies, I bet if I found some of those I would be sorely tempted to pick them up. More importantly, how do you keep them from turning brown?

Scrooge, wow whatta run! I don't think I have ever seen them presented that way so that is kind of a fun sight to this Disney Four Color collector. You can certainly see the changing demographics of comic topics over the years. Good luck in finishing. What next, all the variations of Classics Illustrated?

OK, this is not Ducks or Golden Age but this crowd might enjoy anyway. At the following Disney Comics site the picture below appears. PhantomPopeye Anyone have any idea what is up with this, this one has piqued my curiousity for a long time. Is this just a way to protect the work one has done by throwing in a Red Herring?

Fiendishly fun, if I can dig up this book I will have quite a pair!

OK now that is just great, worth every minute of the wait I take it!!

Bravo 40 !! That looks great Colors look really bright and clean !! Hopefully its Cole stories inside so you can experiance the twisted madness of his genius Guide says it's Cole. I think I will be saving this one for a read over the Thanksgiving holiday. It looks crazy inside, maybe the beginnings of Cole's madness and bitter end?? I think his work really took a turn around late 1948. It was always pretty fantastic, but he seemed to decide to push the boundaries of his characters emotional states far past anything resembling normalacy after that. Those are the stories I enjoy the most. Mr. Aqua, Sadly Sadly, Kru Vashnu...... He burned out not long after..... mid 1950. He quit doing Police in June 1950 and I imagine he quit doing Plastic Man at that time also. I think the popularity of the character is what kept the series going .....for awhile, even though he was gone. Course you know about ....... his end Back when Steranko's History of Comics came out in the early seventies, I believe the second book featured Jack Cole's story. I remember how fascinating it all seemed; I need to go back and read it again. I have the recent book by Spiegelman but have not yet read it; although I am looking forward to it.

Nice book. Not a cover that stands out until you see a large scan of it. Congrats. And, yes, Woozie had his own strip and so did Chop Chop Scrooge, You are right about it probably not standing out until you see it. I pulled it out of the box and it pretty much shouted, "Buy Me!" I assume Chop Chop was a feature in Military comics or Blackhawk?