Hepcat

But back in 1963-65 in London, Ontario I had no idea of how/where I could get back issues of the titles I liked the most, e.g. Justice League, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Mystery in Space, Atom, Showcase, Brave and the Bold, Adventures of the Fly, Adventures of the Jaguar, etc. Somehow Julius Schwartz's occasional mentions of comic fanzines such as Rocket's Blast Comicollector in the "Flash-Grams" letter column failed to register with me. Seeing the house ads in the few back issues I had was therefore somewhat disheartening. I thought those comics were basically lost in time forever and I had negligible chance of ever acquiring them. I probably would have continued actively buying and collecting comics as a kid much longer had I stumbled upon a semi-good back issue source. Even a good fanzine would have done the job!

I was thinking of only hot redheads when I started this thread but it's swiftly evolved in a more all-encompassing direction. Here therefore is another redhead who deserves prominent mention: 13 20 31 But then again if Howdy Doody wasn't hot, how did he accumulate such a huge and ardent fan base of both sexes?

What's an APA? What's wrong with nostalgia? It's a perfectly natural phenomenon and is what prompted the explosion in comic, bubble gum card, Barbie doll, Hot Wheels, My Little Pony, etc, etc. collecting in the last fifty years.

But are they Gold and Silver Age collectors? I'm guessing that the 35-40 year olds who post strictly on Facebook are not because the bulk of comic book "discussion" on Facebook is not dedicated to Gold and Silver comics.

To an Atlas cowboy I like by my favourite Atlas artist:

The Lois Lane title was the best for those! Here are some more excellent examples: CGC 9.2

I saw this ad from 1961 in one of the back issues (a Justice League of America perhaps) I acquired through trade in 1963-64: While I'd gained an inkling of the origins of Flash, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman from reading their comics, I had no idea whatsoever of the origins of the heroic Green Arrow, J'onn J'onzz and Adam Strange. The ad therefore filled me with a longing for the issue that wasn't requited until the mid-1990's. here's a scan of my present day copy:

That would mean that there are likely many more comic collections/hoards in private hands unknown to the broader collecting community. That would be very good news indeed to the present day collector since it's probable that these comics will surface at some point in time. But!!! Are you sure this wasn't overwhelmingly a west coast phenomenon back then? Where or what were the equivalents of Willits & Brown's Collectors' Bookstore in the major eastern population centers such as New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, St. Louis, New Orléans and Montréal back in 1964?

^ Not many comic artists drew women better than Jack Kamen.

Notice that the sinister Cat Girl who made her debut appearance in Adventures of the Fly 9: After one further appearance in Adventures of the Fly 10 x-over to bedevil the Jaguar in issue #4: Like Queen Mera over in Aquaman, Cat-Girl would become a regular guest starlet in Adventures of the Jaguar with further appearances in issues #5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13 & 14. She gave herself a makeover donning the sexier new duds with a view to luring the dashing Jaguar into her boudoir in issue #6:

Lori goes from just a cover blurb to being the cover feature in the next issue:

Hmmmm. That may actually be Black Cat's shade of red and since Black Cat was one of the redheads I offered up for consideration in my opening post, I see no grounds whatsoever for the rejection of your nominee.

When it comes to collecting back issues from the Golden Age to 1985 or so, I think it is.

Fred and Mike the cooler slightly older kids down the block had a good gig at a shoe shine joint in downtown London. But that's another money making gig that's disappeared for kids.

The heroic Jaguar! 1 Northland copy 2 3 4 Yes, the same nefarious scheming Cat-Girl from the Fly's title now targetting the dauntless Jaguar! 5

So was Richard Olson one of those few collectors who started buying comics circa 1950, kept them all and then when older began to hunt down issues he'd missed as a kid?

Another Superman 80 pg. Giant but with Brainiac among others:

Here are scans of five more of my Felix the Cat comics:

The Flash 139 that I bought at Ken's Variety on Wharncliffe Road in July of 1963: Northland copy Contained this very enticing house ad: Well, yes! It went without saying that I absolutely, positively had to know the origins of the heroic Kid Flash and Elongated Man plus the dastardly villainous Mr. Element and Super Gorilla Grodd. I couldn't find it though at either Ken's or Les' Variety stores since every store didn't necessarily get even one copy of every comic and of course the one copy could have been swiftly snapped up by another kid. I "scoured" a whopping total of three or four different variety stores in my neighbourhood plus another three or four outlets downtown trying to find this Annual without any luck. For whatever reason I didn't think to devote an afternoon to riding my bike around to the other eighteen or so variety stores and drug stores that stocked comics in the square mile or so of my school district. I didn't secure a copy until sometime in the 1990's: That opened the flood gates for me as far as Giants were concerned. Within a few years I acquired all the Flash, Justice League and Brave and the Bold 80-Page Giants and 100-Page Giants plus many more from both DC and other publishers.

$5! What year was this?

I had an incredibly easy route delivering 32 newspapers on one city block which earned me $2.76 per week in 1964. Comics, bubble gum cards and model kits soaked up most of that. I made $15.00 per day on a tobacco farm in August 1967. Much of it ended up going to LPs (Beatles, Rolling Stones, Doors, Animals, Kinks, Yardbirds, etc). What I really coveted though was a Seabreeze suitcase stereo which I didn't get until 1969.

Mmmmm, Harlequin! My favourite Earth Two Green Lantern co-star ahead of even Streak the Wonder Dog!

I like the one wearing the pearl necklace better.

It looks as if the 1962 DC Comicpacs contained comics extending exactly over the big box 12 cent cover date period from December 1961 to January 1963. Sadly I don't yet have any Fox and the Crow, Star Spangled War Stories, Our Army at War (with Sgt. Rock), G.I. Combat (with the Haunted Tank) or romance comics from this time period in my collection. Here though is an additional baker's dozen of my favourite covers from among the big box 12 cent DC comics I do possess:

Do you have any issue number for us?