Get Marwood & I

I'll let you two battle that one out - here's the draft table:

On 5/11/2022 at 6:07 PM, Qalyar said:

I think it's very possible that by the time Streamline was "republishing" Fox books, there was no one around to enforce the copyright. Fox -- and its affiliated companies, including Central Color Press, its vertically-integrated printer -- went bankrupt in 1950. Fox's assets got pieced out to several other publishers. Charlton bought rights to some of their superhero material. Star Publications (not the later Marvel imprint) ended up with most of their "jungle" stuff, like Jo-Jo and Rulah. I'm really not sure who -- if anyone -- ended up with the rights to their romance titles. Since they're all one-off stories, it's very likely that no one thought there was any intellectual property of value there.

I find it unlikely that someone bought the rights to the Fox romance books, then actually licensed those rights to a dodgy little British company for republication.

Nicely deduced, Qalyar. 

Story source table coming up later....

On 5/11/2022 at 6:00 PM, OtherEric said:

As of right now, I think they're probably legal.  What we're seeing so far is almost entirely Fox reprints, with some stray material from a Star book that may have been reprints itself, or inventory from an unpublished Fox book. There's too much consistency.  I suspect they got a bunch of dirt cheap old inventory stories from the Iger shop.

No, they were banned from doing that by the Iger Sanction.

I'll put a table together at some point to show the story sources in each book, so we can see at a glance the overall source inventory. You know I like tables, don't you Eric  

@Qalyar @OtherEric

Thinking about it boys, do you think Streamline were doing it illegally?

Thorpe & Porter hid remaindered Marvel and DCs in their 'Double Double' compendium comics and 1967 annuals. Maybe Streamline were crossing their fingers no one would notice ten years or so later - especially with the original content hidden under new covers 

On 5/11/2022 at 5:42 PM, Qalyar said:

In favor of this theory, I checked the stories where we do have the splash page intact. None of them appear to have been the first feature in their original book (which would -- often -- have had the splash page on the inside front cover). So it's very possible Streamline was working from remaindered or otherwise coverless copies. It'll be interesting to see if that observation holds through the rest of the books.

Excellent. Amazing what we can all deduce isn't it, all these years later.

I better get scanning and posting - only another 14 to do!

On 5/11/2022 at 5:10 PM, OtherEric said:

Anyway, I think the page count is the most likely issue, but I think it's possible in some cases streamline never actually got the splash pages to use in their books, since it seems that mostly they weren't getting or using the original covers.

That's a really good point Eric - maybe they were using some coverless copies as the source material, hence the absence of the inside cover splash. I recall Alan Class saying something along those lines about his UK reprint titles. Another possibility to add into the 'what on Earth were they doing' mix. 

On 5/11/2022 at 3:15 PM, Qalyar said:

Anything that even suggests physical violence seems to have been culled, and I suspect they had some sort of "maximum sexiness" level that they dared not cross.

There are limits to sexiness, yes:

On 5/11/2022 at 3:15 PM, Qalyar said:

Also, for the record, I have absolutely no idea what the two unidentified stories are in I Dared Not Love. I haven't even been able to find likely candidates that aren't scanned online.

"For Mother's Sake" from, well, For Mother's Sake, doesn't appear to be online in its original format either. Based on story titles, and ruling out stories where we know the contents don't match, my two best guesses right now are "I Sold My Soul" from My Story, True Romances in Pictures #8 (Fox, 1949) or "I Bartered With Marriage" from My Love Memoirs #11 (Fox, 1950). It might not be either of those, but that's where I'd start looking if, you know, it was actually possible to just grab raw copies of these Fox books and peek inside.

If we can go from from 'Unfaithful Wife' to 'My Security', then 'For Mother's Sake' could be anything really.

We should have a competition, Qalyar. I'm going for 'Keep The Old Girl Happy' 

On 5/11/2022 at 3:06 PM, Qalyar said:

There's clearly some "both", because we've also seen reprinted pages with amended text or entirely expurgated panels.

Indeed. You can imagine them looking at three stories, wondering which two to drop a page from, and settling on the racy ones! 

On 5/11/2022 at 2:55 PM, Qalyar said:

I think that's pretty likely. These Streamline books have 27 pages of story available, because they use the inside front cover, inside back cover, and outside back cover (!!) for story pages. Most of the original Fox stories are 10 pages long, although there are some 8- and 9-pagers from time to time (for example, "Unfaithful Wife" was a 9 page story). Obviously, they have to make room somewhere to get that page count down to 27, so I assume that's why we're losing the splash page (and potentially an extra page here or there).

Plus, Streamline really seemed to hate the original Fox story titles, and that's a convenient way to get rid of them!

So we have two possibilities - the missing pages may be down to simple overall page count constraints, or because they featured inappropriate content (given the other amendments that we see).

Or both!

On 5/11/2022 at 2:32 PM, Qalyar said:

This was originally published as "Unfaithful Wife" in Women in Love #3 (Fox, 1949). We've now seen reprints of all three stories from that issue!

I just updated the entry - quite a title leap as a title isn't it, from 'Unfaithful Wife' to 'My Security'.

What do you think of my earlier page count theory, as a reason for the splash page absences, Qalyar?

On 5/11/2022 at 2:32 PM, Qalyar said:

This was originally published as "Unfaithful Wife" in Women in Love #3 (Fox, 1949). We've now seen reprints of all three stories from that issue!

Hooray for Qalyar! 

If anyone was wondering, I've not included the book below in any of the figures yet as, despite carrying the 'SPR' wording, it seems to sit outside of the rest and appears to have its own unique layout:

I'll wait to see if I can snag a copy before commenting further. 

• Cover banner: This is a STREAMLINE Pictorial Romance
• Priced at 6d
• 28 pages
• Double stapled
• 6 & 7/8" x 9 & 7/8"

The For Mother's Sake is our second 'All In Colour' book, which is basically black and white inside with a bit of red.

The indicia is our second 'Streamline Publications Ltd' one, 105, Curtain Road, London, printed by The New Avenue Press Ltd, 3/4 Sherwood Street, London W.I.:

The Stories this time are:

Story #1: My Crazy Dreams 

This story may have originally appeared in 1949's My Great Love #2, with which it shares a story title, but I don't see a copy anywhere online at present to confirm this.

Story #2: My Security 

This story originally appeared in Women in Love #3, minus the splash page (thanks @Qalyar) and titled 'Unfaithful Wife':

Story #3: For Mother's Sake

This story also originally appeared in TBC

There are no title matches for the second and third stories that I can find, so we assume that they have been altered from the originals - as is starting to appear to be standard practice!

I'll be posting the details of For Mother's Sake shortly, and have just added it to the table:

Five entries in, we can see that there is one B&W that has a different cover dimensions and dressing to the other four - this is likely the first to be produced - and the other four share similar characteristics but are in two distinct groups as follows, with two issues in each:

1. B&W interior / indicia at the back / Speedwell printers
2. Colour interior / indicia at the front / New Avenue Press printers

It makes sense that colour would follow B&W, so I have placed them in the table in the order with which I think they were likely produced. It'll be interesting to see if any of the other 14 issues that I have have fit into one of these three groups.

One other observation - I speculated in previous entries that the missing splash pages in certain stories may have been due to 'unsavoury' content. I was wondering though whether the page count had anything to do with it? Each issue is 28 pages, and each has three stories with no ads. In most cases, only the first story has the original splash page present. If the two missing splash pages were also present however, there would be two extra pages needed but, of course, the page count must be divisible by four. I'll keep an eye on this - maybe the pages are missing simply to fit the page count number - and the splashes usually summarised the story to come, so would be less conspicuous than, say, a later story page.

All good fun.

The GCD attribute three of the stories to him:

https://www.comics.org/issue/1823383/

I think they swiped my pence copy...

And here is a page from Heritage:

https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/panel-pages/neal-adams-original-art-for-archies-jokebook-46-page-2-archie-publications-1959-published-in-1959-and-drawn-when-the/a/807-9103.s

Neal Adams - Original Art for Archies Jokebook #46, page 2 (Archie Publications, 1959). Published in 1959 and drawn when the artist was a mere 18 years old, this is Neal Adams' earliest known page of comic art! Adams revolutionized comics in the 1960s and 1970s, bringing dynamic realism to the forefront of comic art style. His influence is still felt today in many of the industry top talents - he is arguably as important and influential to his generation as Jack Kirby was to the generation before. From Archie's Jokebook, offered here are two half-page stories on one board. Adams himself has identified this page as his own work in his catalog on nealadams.com. The page, which is in excellent condition, measures approximately 13.75" x 18.75" overall, and displays minor use of white-out in several panels. Additionally, the logo stats for "Archie" and "Jughead" are missing, but that detracts not at all from the beauty of this great page from one of comic's most influential artists.

• Cover banner: This is a STREAMLINE Pictorial Romance
• Priced at 6d
• 28 pages
• Double stapled
• 6 & 7/8" x 9 & 7/8"

I Dared Not Love has the same layout, indicia and characteristics as His Love which is an indication that the two were produced in the same period:

The indicia is at the rear of the book and reads 'Published by Streamline Publications Ltd, 105, Curtain Road, London, E.C.2. and printed by Speedwell Printing Co., Footscray, Kent':

The Stories this time are:

Story #1: My Two Wedding Rings:

This story originally appeared in My Great Love #4:

Story #2: The Mistake I Made:

This story is clearly missing the original splash page and the title may be amended. Source TBC

Story #3: I Dared Not Love (the comic's title):

This story is also clearly missing the original splash page and the title, again, may be amended. Source TBC

On 5/4/2022 at 7:40 PM, Qalyar said:

"His Love" is also from Women in Love #3, where it began life as "His Kind of Love". This one was pretty easy, because I was pretty sure the title wasn't completely replaced -- those letters looked too professional to be Streamline originals!

You're on a roll Qalyar! 

I'll update this one tomorrow now - and the other, if you find it (no pressure...)

On 5/4/2022 at 7:30 PM, Qalyar said:

Got one! This was previously published as "My Reckless Fling" in Women in Love #3 (Fox, 1949). As with several of these, the splash page has been removed from the start of the story. See scans here.

EDIT: The panel removed from the right-hand page was a catfight slap.

Top man! I forgot that site existed 

On 5/4/2022 at 7:26 PM, Yorick said:

Always interesting to see "objectionable" panels removed and the resulting blank spaces.

Indeed. And look at the finesse of that replacement title! 

I'm updating this table as I scan and record the details of each issue that I have (I have 19 of the known 25 to transcribe):

It may help show the sequence of issue production - issues with the same format, indicia details, etc. Although they share many characteristics, you would imagine that 'The Frightened Bride' would have come after 'His Love', given the move to internal colour. 

• Cover banner: This is a STREAMLINE Pictorial Romance
• Priced at 6d
• 28 pages
• Double stapled
• 6 & 7/8" x 9 & 7/8"

His Love is one of our second wave issues, but with an all B&W interior.

The indicia is at the rear of the book this time and reads 'Published by Streamline Publications Ltd, 105, Curtain Road, London, E.C.2. and printed by Speedwell Printing Co., Footscray, Kent':

The Stories this time are:

Story #1: His Love (the comic's title):

This story originally appeared in Women in Love #3 (spotted by @Qalyar):

Note the amended title, minus the 'Kind Of'.

Story #2: That Fortune of Mine:

This story also originally appeared in Women in Love #3 (thanks again @Qalyar!)

As we starting to find, the splash page is once again missing - a little too racy perhaps?

Story #3: Second-Rate:

This story originally appeared in TBC

On 5/4/2022 at 6:28 PM, Yorick said:

I love dollar comics!

Ah yes, the old 'drop a ton of old books on his head' trick. One of the fastest routes to love. Canny lass.

On 5/4/2022 at 6:12 PM, Point Five said:

Slightly OT, but years ago I had a really neat lot of 1950s Streamline crime comics... must have won them in a UK auction somewhere, but can't remember where. I sold all but one (the last one shown here, the 'Spectacular Crimes' with the women in prison cover), and dearly wish I'd kept them all. The cover drawings are really charmingly crude, almost like R. Crumb's art. Cool project, Marwood!

 

They. Are. Excellent!

There's something about charmingly crude, isn't there. And my God, Streamline were good at it 

On 5/4/2022 at 5:58 PM, OtherEric said:

One thing that has become apparent scanning books for the Digital Comic Museum/ CB+ is how rare some certain books are that aren't normally considered high demand.  The Fox Romance books have a lot of nearly impossible to find issues.  When I scanned a coverless copy of My Love Memoirs from a Fox Giant, it took us years to locate a picture of the front cover at all... and that issue has early Wally Wood art!

Indeed. There are so many old books out there of which so little is known, and perhaps may never be known. I do like mucking about with obscure comics Eric 

On 5/4/2022 at 4:36 PM, Qalyar said:

I don't have a scan of this one (and definitely don't own a copy), so I can't confirm, but my suspicion is that "They Called Me a Flirt" may have begun life as "They Called Me Worthless", the third of three stories from the fairly scarce My Confession #7 (Fox, 1949). That's a great book with early Wally Wood art and a fantastic GGA cover. Skimming over the list of late 40s Fox romance titles (because I'm clearly being constructive this morning...), it also stood out as a reasonable likely candidate.

They only have issue #8 on Comicbook+, alas. Fingers crossed someone will have a copy and be able to confirm