Shield

I would be interested to see who you feel is the most under-rated Golden Age Publisher. Please list "Who" and "why". Please exclude D.C., Timely or Fawcett, as they were in the top's in publishing numbers. Who else?

 

If this is an old question please forgive me.

MLJ, hands down. Why?

1. They invented the first teenage character, Archie, which is still successful today.

2. First WWII War cover in comics (Top-Notch #2, Jan 1940).

3. First Patriotic Superhero in comics (Shield, Pep 1, Jan 1940).

For me, the run of Pep from #22 to about #50 is the best stuff ever produced in the Golden Age. You'd have a great opening Shield Story, then a Bob Fujitani Hangman story complete with Anti-Nazi propaganda, swastikas, murder, etc., then turn to page 49 and read about Archie taking Betty to the Prom. Same for Jackpot Comics #4-#9.

It's like a Little Lulu story in the middle of an EC Comic! Especially considering how "squeaky clean" Archie Co. is nowadays.

Example:

These three pics are in the same issue - Pep Comics #31, September 1942

1. Shield/Dusty villian "Snowbird" doing cocaine (possibly the first time ever in comics) -

2. A man being "impaled" on top of a Church steeple

3. Archie, meeting Mr. Lodge for the very first time!

Doesn't get any better than that for me, folks.

Better not get that too close, or I'll get my slobber on it. Unbelievable book. Wow!

You guys gave me a great idea! I'm going to hit the hay early tonight, and read a couple Weird Science EC reprints before I fall asleep.

I loves my EC's! Thank goodness they were all reprinted!

Dude, Hammer was going to fly ME to New York (on his dime) so he could eviscerate me with his claws and feed me my own entrails... then he decided we could be friends and he was going to fly me to New York so he could take me out for hookers and a steak dinner.

 

I miss that nutjob.

How is that possible if you joined these boards on 3/23/2004? Hammer was banned on 5/23/2003? You got some explainin' to do!

CentaurMan, judging by your name, you'll probably appreciate this 1938 book. Amazing Mystery Funnies #1: One of the rarest Centaurs, and the first ever Bill Everett cover.

Oh, you don't want THAT thing clogging up your collection! I'll gladly take it, and even pick up shipping! PM me if you need my address!

That lightning comics #1 is off the hook. I've never seen it before! How many issues are there, who published it, etc?

Incredible!

Sure, I'll trade that Zip for this xerox of my USA that I scanned.

 

Timely

Negative.

USA #5 CGC 9.2 Chicago Copy. Highest Graded Copy. Classic Hitler, Tojo, Mussolini & Churchill cover!

 

Timely

 

Tell you what...if you want to go ahead and just send that in lieu of the money for the Zip #27, I'd be quite happy.

For some reason, that pulp reminds me of this Pep Cover. What's the year and date of the pulp? This Pep is from April 1941...

BIG KUDOS FOR ARCHIEFAN. I just purchased an Archie #1 from him, and everything went smoothly. Very good packing and excellent speed on shipping.

The Marvel mystery run is the last run I'm gonna do (save be best for last).

 

BTW, what's the 1st coolest collection you've seen...and yours does not count now that it's been disassembled!

 

Timely

Oh, my former collection wasn't in the top 10. It's the guy who I sold it to..the one with the Rockford Detective #27. He had an unrestored Fine Marvel Mystery #1 with just the October date, a Superman #1, Batman #1, Cap #1, All Amercian #16, Suspense #3, and a boatload of super high grade Marvels and DC's in VF/NM. He had a full run of Flash, Batman, All-American, USA Comics, Captain America (including #74 and 75 obviously) Submariner (some of those early issues from the 1950's I had never seen before)...

(pulling out my Gerbers)

Let's see...he had:

A high grade run of Phantom Lady comics

Very high grade Miss Fury, full set of Silver Streak, full runs of pre-code horror. Centaurs, Better, Nedor's, you name it. He had a book sitting out that he was looking at before I came over in probably NM+ (it was that clean) and he told me how hard it was to find in grade. It was a Sub-Mariner #29 with the "club" cover. Is that book really hard to find in high grade or at all?

Also, he's 8 books away from having the full set of MLJ titles, which I myself was trying to complete. Oh yeah he had the Windy City Sugar 'n' Spike #1. 12,000 books. I'm quite sure you have higher grade copies, but just the sheer amount of high grade books the man has by all those different publishers was overwhelming to me, a lil 'ol MLJ/Archie collector.

Geesh Timely, you have the 2nd coolest collection of books I've ever seen! Show me your Marvel Mystery #1; that'll be the decider!

That's disgusting. Did you just buy it off the newstand before you submitted it? Ridiculous, Timely, ridiculous.

Timely, is this YOUR book? I want it if so; what's your price?

Shawn

 

I want the Zip 33! Check your PM.

 

Blue Ribbon #6 (EBAY)

Pep 17

Pep 20 (one on EBAY, and another much better copy)

Pep 24 (above)

Pep 27 (above)

Pep 40

Pep 48

Top-Notch 15, 18

Shield-Wizard #7

Top-Notch #23 (EBAY), #33 (EBAY)

Zip #21 (ebay) #22 (EBAY), 30, 33, 34

And of course...the very 1st WWII cover in comics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Got any more :

But of course!

And, for some other MLJ titles:

 

I think I would have to agree with you. I never looked that closely at the cover, but those do look like Schomburg Nazis. Is he cited anywhere as the (co-)artist of that cover? I don't recall seeing it listed in Overstreet, but my copy is at home so I can't check at the moment.

I think Novick drew the superheroes and Schomburg drew the Nazi's. Check your Gerber; I think I'm right though...

By the way...I have a few MLJ's for sale; PM me if interested.

Pep 29. The only Alex Schomburg cover in the run:

*Ahem* I beg to differ...I thought Novick and Schomburg collaborated on Pep #38 as well...see scan

Uhm...the star rating is no more...?

PUNYHUMAN, NEARMINT, GHOULAID, 143KSK...YOU GUYS ROCK! I love all those covers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 stars for you all!

Pep Comics #1 is from 1940 and features the first patriotic superhero (the Shield). Archie first appeared in #22 (1941) and made his first appearance on the cover in #36 (see the favorite Archie covers thread in the comics general section). The last superhero issue was #65 with nothing but Archie and the gang stories thereafter (at least until a brief superhero revival in the '60s). Pep had some truly great WWII covers with #20, 27 and 34 being the standouts IMO. Number 34 is pictured in the Archie covers thread even though Archie does not appear on the cover--it's that cool!!

 

 

Archie Comics is a separate title that began with #1 in 1942 (also pictured in the Archie covers thread). Hope this helps.

Correct! The very first appearance of Archie on a cover of a comic was Jackpot Comics #4 (3rd or 4th appearance). First "full body" on a cover was Archie #1, just before Pep #36. If you like this stuff, by all means, please visit my website. I have about 99 percent of all the MLJ covers scanned, and about 1/2 of the entire run scanned!

Shawn

Hey 143ksk...that's the 2nd nicest Pep #28 I've ever seen, and I've owned 3 of them myself. The guy I sold my MLJ run to had the CGC NM 9.2 copy. It was sick. Still though, your copy has better color!

Shawn