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I don't own this one and am not sure what the interior is like. Here is "A City Boy in the Woods," from the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests.

Let's See Your Canadian Giveaway Comics from the 1960s/70s! Just as a caveat, the Canadian Silver Age is not quite the same as it is in the USA. This has to do with the particular history of the Canadian Golden Age (WECA and FECA) and the implementation of the Fulton Bill in the early 1950s that essentially destroyed the Canadian comic industry until the mid-1970s. Comic historian John Bell positions the Canadian Silver Age as beginning with the first issue of Captain Canuck in 1975 and ending around 1988 with the collapse of the Alternative comic industry in the country. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Canadian comics were almost exclusively business and government giveaways. The exception was the fledgling underground comics that proliferated in Vancouver, Saskatoon, Toronto and Montreal. Many of these giveaways have been lost to time, but I have been trying to source examples and am here to share what I have found (with the hope of seeing some new stuff too). There were two main giveaway companies: Ganes Productions and Owen McCarron's Comic Book World. A few reprints of American giveaways also appeared in Canada too. So, here we go. Let's start with some Ganes books. First up, "Save Lives," a mini from 1962 explaining CPR. I happen to own a copy of this one.

It gets even worse for late run Anglo-American books. Ivan Kocmarek pointed this out to me a couple of years ago: some of the coloured issues of books like Freelance and Grand Slam were also printed in the USA. Such books should be labelled as "American Editions" but are not. Without seeing the indicia, someone looking for these books slabbed is buying blind and CGC is no help. The cynic in me thinks that CGC is aware of this problem, but does not want to eat the costs of having people resubmitting them if they take responsibility for the error. They should be described as Canadian Comics or not at all. This seems to be a problem that is exclusive to the Canadian Whites, as comics like Cerebus (of which there are many slabbed) and the few examples of slabbed Canadian undergrounds from the 1960s/70s don't mention the Canadian origin at all. Here's a CGC'ed Dave Geary book as an example:

Will do. It could be a while, though. I was in Ottawa for an anthropology conference and was only able to slip away from it to go to the LAC for one day.

I've been buying Canadian books like crazy lately, but this is the first and only White I've purchased this year. Got it a few weeks ago here in Halifax. Cover is detached and split, but it's complete. They're still out there.

Sorry I've been a stranger everyone. I've been busy working on a project cataloguing Canadian comics from the 60s-late 80s. I took a trip to Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa earlier this month with a fellow boardie and one of the books we looked at caught me by surprise. Here is Kenny Moran's mini from the 1980s called "Who is the Hawk?" Moran was an amateur comic creator who published a lot of stuff in the 80s out of Winnipeg. He also was quite aware of the Canadian Whites. Remind anyone of something?

Were you able to pick up one of these too? I picked this up at Strange Adventures earlier this year. I heard that Bedside ran out of stock a month or so ago.

Looks like Elite Con found a supporter in Peter David. Cool! http://www.peterdavid.net/2017/03/07/elite-con/

My wife and I vend at various "shows" (as people tend to refer to them) here in Atlantic Canada. The "big" one, Hal-Con, in Halifax, NS, is a straight up fan convention that is cosplay heavy. We also have vended at DCAF, in Dartmouth, NS, which is oriented around comic artists and at the East Coast Comic Expo (ECCE), in Moncton, NB. The Moncton show is a straight up comic vending event where most of the back issue dealers in the region are present and numerous regional comic artists are also present. The ECCE is my favourite one of these events from a comics perspective: most of the customers are there for comics and it gives me an opportunity to buy a lot of comics too. It's not intended to be a fan convention, which is why they call it a Comic Expo. It also garners a much smaller crowd. There are plenty of cosplayers at all three events and ECCE has a costume contest like many fan conventions do, but this is not the main draw for most attendees. What's important about the expo is that it is designed to cater to comic dealers and collectors and all guests are from the comics industry (instead of the various medium celebrities at other events). Some cosplayers spend money on comics and other vintage collectables. Others do not. The thing is that the larger fan conventions (including comparatively small ones like Hal-Con here in Halifax) are not about comics. They're about fandom. I love all of these events and we adjust what we are selling to cater to an event's specific audience. Fan conventions can be great events and we are glad to be able to attend Hal-Con as vendors. I go to more if they weren't so far away. I like the idea of Elite Con and would attend something like this were such an event hosted in my region. But this sounds more like a swap meet than what cons have become. I prefer what the organisers in Moncton are doing, as vendors and attendees can "have their cake and eat it too." But, I have no problem with banning or restricting cosplay at a given event and respect the reasoning behind this decision in this case. That said, I'm surprised that this kind of reaction wasn't anticipated. Call it entitlement, but in my experience people don't like being told "no" and cosplay is so status quo now that breaking the mould understandably ruffled some feathers. Maybe use it as a learning experience moving forward towards what will hopefully be a second event?

Conceptual Heist by Jay D'Ici and Matt Gagnon Kickstarter I just wanted to let everyone know that one of my favourite Canadian web comics is engaged in a Kickstarter campaign that endeavours to publish the work in comic book form. Conceptual Heist by Jay D'Ici and Matt Gagnon has been running twice weekly since 2015 and follows Jemma Heiss, a professional art thief, in a sci-fi/jazz-infused setting. I've got no skin in this, but would love for them to succeed. The website: http://conceptualheist.tumblr.com/ The Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1283233136/conceptual-heist-1-the-sci-fi-jazzpunk-art-heist-c

That's the thing. Same for the stuff branded "Marvel." A few years ago I envisioned trying to collect the Blonde Phantom run. I've been able to purchase two issues, but they almost never come up for sale and when they do its the same ones that have been changing hands (yet the price never goes down). There are only six issues in the run, so I thought it would be much easier to accomplish. Same thing for my Complete Mystery run (which is only four issues). It took me years to complete and, even then, one of my issues is missing the centre wrap. I've been lucky to procure a handful of Canadian Timely superhero comics over the past few years and I treasure them. For people in the know, they're special comics. I wouldn't say that the DC superhero books are "a dime a dozen," but I have a couple dozen of them and new ones seem to come out of the woodwork more often. What's fun about FECA more broadly is that it seems like every month a book comes out of the woodwork that people haven't seen before. This Flaming Love # 3 that's ending this morning on eBay is a prime example. Not necessarily my cup of tea, but man is it rare. The funny thing is that it will probably go cheap and who knows when another one will come up: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/311816212980?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Sweet!

Looks like your about to stumble into the rabbit hole of GA Canadian comics!

No worries, Mike. I'm fairly certain that the Canadian TEC 140 has the Riddler story in it, based on CGC labels that I've seen indicating the first appearance. Nevertheless, since it's bound to be an expensive book, it's worth finding out what else is in it before making a buy. It's definitely a 36 page book, but a good chunk of the missing pages are likely ads. We're going to be in Moncton for sure. We've already booked the tables. Should be a great time. Had a lot of fun last year.

Mike, I collect FECA books and traditionally they would sell for significantly less than American printings, mostly because of the fact that Canadian books have 36 pages instead of 52 pages, as well as the weaker colours and page quality. In most cases, they are lower quality reprints with fewer trimmings. By association, interest in some FECA books has increased quite a bit in the past couple of years due to the fervour over Canadian Whites, but the price increases have not been as dramatic. FECA books can be much harder to find than American prints and completing a FECA run can be a daunting task. That said, I've had an easier time tracking down DC superhero books compared to other genres, such as crime, horror and even some westerns (which, in some cases, I have paid more for in grade for FECA versions than what American versions guide at). I have several DC superhero FECA books in my collection and they tend to be more plentiful than a lot of other FECA superhero books (Timely stuff is a lot harder to find, imo). I generally am only willing to pay half guide for them. Of the Canadian TECs, 140 is probably the most desirable because of the major 1st appearance. I'd probably pay more than half of guide to get one. Likewise for Batman 47 and 59. Something that I do recommend, if you are interested in FECA books more broadly, is to never assume that the contents match the American printing (especially for Bell Features books). Oftentimes, they are direct reprints, but just as often they are not. Check out All True Crime Cases # 28 on the GCD for an example. When I first started I didn't realize this was the case. Its not unheard of to buy a superhero book with funny animal interiors or crime books with superhero interiors. Always ask a seller for more info if you are unsure because there are a lot of gaps on the GCD. I hope this helps and best of luck in your search. brian

Sweet scores and a great deal!

I have a pull list to support one of my local shops, but have been having problems lately. Someone has been going into the shop on Wednesdays when they have been sorting books (they lay everything out on a glass counter top as they sort). This person scoops up all of the low print run stuff that I ordered months ago and purchases it before it makes it into my pile. In each case, the shop has only ordered one copy for the entire store, strictly for my pull list. This has happened with Henchgirl, Sheriff of Babylon and now Animosity. The person doing inventory knows that they have been getting the books and double-checked to make sure that they had arrived (by looking at invoices), but every week someone has been scooping up my "rare" books. They think they know who is doing it and promised me that they are going to try to prevent happening again, but I'm starting to lose patience, especially after some of the books that did make it into my pull list were quite damaged. I might switch to a different shop if things don't change soon. My thoughts: A pull list is only as good as the people making sure that you get your books. At the same time, a pull list is a great service when done right and people should not order books if they don't plan to purchase them. A friend of mine told me recently that he was pissed off that a different shop cancelled his pull list after he did not pick up his comics for months. I had no sympathy for him.

This collection looks better every time I look at it. Some stuff that I missed the first time: 1. The Paper Mache Cleveland Indians Bobbleheads (there are two of them in one picture): $200 USD each. Highly coveted items from the 1960s. For example: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/RARE-1960S-CLEVELAND-INDIANS-MINI-MINIATURE-GREEN-BASE-BOBBLEHEAD-4-1-2-NICE-/191991738823?hash=item2cb39971c7:g:Yc4AAOSwNRdX-wBR 2. The basketball is signed by Brad Daugherty and Chris Mills. It looks legit to me. 3. The Durham Batman water gun is really hard to find. It's worth around $100. The more I look at the picks (and block out the less interesting stuff), the more value I see.

Absolutely. These pictures barely scratch the surface, as do the handful of things I pointed out. There will be other gems in this collection.

I agree that an auction house might be a better option than trying to dump the stuff on a collectibles dealer (who will only pay pennies on the dollar).

The Batman pennants are also worth about $50 each.

I think there's a bit more here than what some of you see, but the diamonds in the rough (actually real gold) are few and far between. Most of this stuff is absolute garbage. Mass produced junk from the past 20 years. However, I want to point to a few items that you have pictured that have real value. 1. The Kenner Super Powers collection. I see at least four carry cases and the figures shown in the picture look to be complete and in good shape (for the most part). The Clark Kent is a mail order exclusive. Minimum, I see a few hundred dollars there. 2. The boxed corgi Superman vehicles are worth quite a bit. As much as $100 USD each. 3. Look at the Superman coin set again. That's the 2014 set from the Royal Canadian Mint. One is a 14K gold coin. The other three are silver. That coin set alone retails for $1300 USD. I would take a closer look at the coin sets in particular. If there are other Canadian Superman coin sets, they all have gold coins. Could be a small fortune in coins alone. Trying to find the positives in what looks like a horrible mess to deal with. What I don't understand is why there are so many comic price guides, but no comics. It doesn't add up to me...

Here's a link to an eBay listing for the first three Tortured Canoe Yummy Fur minis (all are later printings, but # 3 is signed). It's timely that they were listed for sale just as this thread started to pick up steam: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Yummy-Fur-1-3-Independent-Published-Ashcans-1983-1984-1st-Ed-Clown-NM-NM-/142236890043?hash=item211dfab3bb:g:r4oAAOSwo4pYcGLE

No worries. If you can ever locate one it's worth picking up. There are certainly other obscure comics that Chester Brown worked on, but to me the Tortured Canoe Yumy Fur minis are the hardest to find of all of his solo work.

I also have some of Julie Doucet's original Dirty Plotte minis, which are significant Canadiana and extremely rare. Here are Vol. 2 # 1 and Vol. 2 # 2 (Dead Plotte).