pemart1966

I had exactly the same thought this afternoon. Marvel Comics/Marvel Mystery Comics (MMC) were quite likely sold in Canada right up until issue 15 or 16. The date that the WECA (War Exchange Conservation Act) came into effect was December 6, 1940 meaning that any comic with mmm a February 1941 cover date or so and beyond would not be allowed to enter Canada. Doubtful then that Captain America #1 made it here. If Goodman indeed sold the first 15 or so MMC here in Canada as well as the rest of the Timely line cover dated prior to Feb '41 then he must have had a pretty good idea as to the sales figures of those books here. Along comes the WECA cutting off not necessarily a lucrative market but probably a pretty good market nonetheless. As the war showed signs of ending, Goodman might well have decided to test the market again here circa '45 or '46 as well as acquaint or re-acquaint the kids with characters that they hadn't seen in several years. He may have decided to make his product stand out by bulking it up to 128 pages and charging 25c for it thereby making it stand out on two counts. Are these 2 books larger in dimension than a regular comic of this era? If so, that's a third characteristic that would have made them stand out. He went cheap on the contents (B & W reprints) and the print run was small enough that he could live with it. As well, I suspect that these 2 books were released if not at the same time then very close to each other. The WECA was repealed in stages apparently after the war and I don't think that Timely ever got back into the Canadian market with just US printed books did they? I know that they had a run in the late 40s of Canadian printed Timely books... All purely conjecture on my part but I don't see any other story line that makes sense...

Please tell the story as to how you pinned it down to being distributed in Vancouver and during the summer of 1945. I love hearing histories of books!

As noted above though, he could have been getting the comics from two sources: 1. On trains coming from the U.S.; and 2. The newsstand in the Montreal train station itself...

I wasn't able to enlarge the image any more than what's on the website. I mulled it over and at one point was sure it was a "6" but settled on the "5". If it's a "6" then this is a whole new ball game... Funny that neither CGC or Clink make reference to the book as a "Canadian" edition...

Interesting information but perhaps a bit confusing. It's not clear to me how the seller knew that his father received the book in 1943. He could have received it when he was 11 in 1945 thus matching the date stamp (I've assumed all along that the date stamp on the cover was a store/newsstand date stamp). There's nothing to say that the father's uncle didn't find the MM Annual at the Montreal train station (could have been purchased there and forgotten) or bought it off the Montreal train station newsstand himself for the seller's father. I've never heard or read anything about this being an unauthorized print. Has anyone else? Chances are that if it was published/printed in NYC it was fully authorized.

I must have had a complete brain cramp when I wrote this initially. The Clink book is the MARVEL MYSTERY "ANNUAL" and not the initially referred to Captain America "Annual" - sincere apologies. None the less, the original questions still apply as the book was printed and sold in the Canadian market only and the generally accepted date of sale was before 1945. Bronty (and anyone else who's on topic in this thread) - please take a look at the date stamp on the Clink book and tell me what year you think it is. Thanks.

This book, as I understand it, has no year of publication anywhere on or in it. That said, the "accepted" year of publication seems to be 1942/maybe 1943, I assume based on the contents. Comiclink currently has one up for auction (note that I am not the consignor nor, as far as I know, do I know the consignor) with a date stamp that reads either June 15, 1945 or June 15, 1946 - I think that it's 1945 but perhaps someone can confirm. So...could this mean that this book was printed and released several years later than is currently thought?? Could the same be said for the Marvel Mystery Giant? Interested to hear your thoughts...

I certainly think of Sprang as a top artist. Arguably the best artist to ever draw that family of characters and certainly the definitive Joker artist.

Most anything post 1967

Yes I see them now - no doubt that that's Marvel Comics #1. I note as well what looks like Whiz 5 (4) cover dated May 1940. If that's the case, it may explain the long sleeve shirts. Could mean that the photo was taken March/April 1940. I also think that I see Superman 3...

I can make out the wording now but still not the image and it's driving me

I kinda see it in the lettering but not in the image. Can anyone blow this up further?

#75

Batman 17

GREAT STUFF keep it coming! Any one have REFORM SCHOOL GIRL or IF THE DEVIL WOULD TALK? Always wanted to read those two...

Kirby's cover on AF 15 is a turn off for me - much prefer the unused Ditko version... One needs to add the Ditko ASM 700... One and the same...

Everything about this guy is "fake". "Fake" art; "fake" death; "fake" names. It's all "fake". Everything about him is "fake" except unfortunately for his scams.

That is one of worst referenced valuations I have ever seen. Those $3,000 to $7,000 numbers you just threw out are based on art where the primary artist is someone else entirely like Gil Kane and that is why people are paying $7,000. The solo Sid Greene pieces on there are all well under $,1,000.

I'm trying to figure out what's on his middle finger....poppies perhaps?

Kirby's cover on AF 15 is a turn off for me - much prefer the unused Ditko version...

Except in this case we won't be able to test that theory...

Photocopy everything and post those instead. Who wants original art when they can have a photocopy?