AUTHENTIC Spy Smasher #1

[Perry-migration]

Here's a real one. You don't see too many of these on Ebay, which is why I pointed out this one.

 

Note the color of the background. What's usually seen time and time again, on Ebay, is the Flashback Reprint (#24). Usually, someone will run an auction with a larger lot of comics with a few various reprints mixed in and represent them as vintage Golden age.

 

The background color on the Flashback Reprint is approx. the color of Superman's costume rather than the much lighter blue seen here on the Vintage book.

 

 

Vintage

 

 

Flashback Reprint

[garthgantu]

Those are sweet books. The colors do look faded on #1, but maybe that's 'cause I've seen the reprint you mention...

[Perry-migration]

G, Although some are fairly close, the flashbacks, on a whole, don't come as close to matching the colors of the Vintage books they are copying to the same degree as the oversized 10" X 14" Treasury Edition DCs which in most cases are very close to original colors if eliminating color fade from the quotient.

 

The Human Torch 5 Flashback copy has a black&white cover as well as the interior!!

 

The only Golden age reprint of Flashback type (although I'm not sure if it was put out by the same people because the printing press style is so different) that matches the original colors of its Vintage original very closely is the Whiz nn (#1).

 

The colors are almost dead accurate but the cover has no gloss and the print quality is second rate. The entire cover, all the colors are printed with a dot/benday pattern (even the solid colors!). With small scans, this may not be evident, but in person, the differences are very distinct.

[ecfanman]

Don Maris printed a series of Golden Age reprints around the same time that DynaPubs (Alan Light) published the reprints that were officially called Flashbacks. The Whiz #2 was one of the Don Maris books.

 

The following are the Don Maris reprints I know about:

 

Air Fighters 2

All Star 3

Blackhawk 9

Hit 1

Police 1

Silver Streak 6

Uncle Sam 1

Whiz 2

Wow 1

Best of Whiz (a collection of Captain Marvel stories)

 

Hit 1 and Silver Streak 6 were both reprinted by Maris and DynaPubs. You can tell the difference by looking at the ads and indicia.

 

There were 38 Golden Age books reprinted in the Flashbacks series, plus 3 oversized collections.

 

Alan Light also advertised a number of issues that were never published.

 

The black and white Human Torch #5 was not part of either series. It was part of an earlier series that Alan Light/DynaPubs put out that was also called Flashbacks. There were only two issues. The first was a collection of EC science fiction stories and the second was the Human Torch #5.

 

eBay sellers add to the confusion by calling all of these Golden Age reprints "Flashbacks".

 

ECFANMAN

[davidpg]

I would love to get ahold of some of these reprints.

 

Are they affordable? Readily available?

[ecfanman]

They show up regularly on eBay. There's 8 of them on eBay as this moment. Just search for "flashback" in the Golden Age section.

 

They typically run from $10 to $30.

 

ECFANMAN

[thanos_oftitan]

I would love to get ahold of some of these reprints.

 

Are they affordable? Readily available?

 

 

You bet! These are always being listed on E-bay under Flashback or Reprint and not just in the Golden Age section. Most will sell for about $10, some more some less. Try looking for these in lots. That's what I did. Keep the one's you need and resell the others.

 

[davidpg]

Very cool!

 

I will begin collecting these...I found them on ebay with Flashback.

 

Let the Golden Age fun begin!

[davidpg]

Well, I just purchased my first 4 Flashbacks from a very nice seller on ebay (bigguyscomics).

 

Actually, we made the deal off of ebay, though I have every confidence in the seller.

 

The four I have on the way are:

 

> > > All-Star #4

> > > Plastic Man #2

> > > Special Edition (Capt. Marvel ) #1

> > > Silver Streak #6

 

All are NM, and I got all 4 for $35.50 USD shipped. I'll let you know how they turn out!