SA Adventure Comics Collectors Thread 7 7

[Azkaban]

So when exactly did the SA start for Adventure?

 

Here are a few of my Pre LSH Adventures. these are NOT OO's as I did not start until 335.

 

 

.

 

I think issue 210, which is also the first app. of Krypto

[Silver]

According to OS the silver age issues are the same month as Showcase 4 in 1956 and comic code was late '54 and early '55.

 

My earliest code issue of Adventure:

 

[Tri-Color Brian]

I would agree with #210, since that's the first code issue...Showcase 4 only refers to the SA of new Superheroes that were revived from the GA. Superboy was never revived...he just continued on until they started sticking those code symbols on the covers. C'mon, let's have a debate...

Edited October 16, 2015 by tricolorbrian

[adamstrange]

I would agree with #210, since that's the first code issue...Showcase 4 only refers to the SA of new Superheroes that were revived from the GA. Superboy was never revived...he just continued on until they started sticking those code symbols on the covers.

It's so confusing

 

It's almost like those publishers didn't even realize the importance of properly aligning the output of their comic lines to the official start of the Silver Age.

[adamstrange]

According to OS the silver age issues are the same month as Showcase 4 in 1956 and comic code was late '54 and early '55.

 

My earliest code issue of Adventure:

 

 

Nice Mortimer cover!

[Silver]

Fun fact:

 

I always liked getting books that had been featured reprints in the DC giants:

 

 

 

A big digression here.

 

As an interesting fact, you can tell by the verbiage that issue #3 of 80-Page Giant was originally planned to be Lois Lane Annual #3, That means that issue #2 would have been Jimmy Olsen Annual #1 and issue #1 would have been Superman Annual #9.

 

The changes really affected the values of the books. 80 Page Giant 1 is worth a lot more than Superman Annual 9 would have been and a Jimmy Olsen Annual 1 would likely be more valuable than 80 Page Giant 2. I think the Lois Lane #3 is likely unaffected.

 

 

[comicjack]

You got alot for your twenty five cents back then

[Azkaban]

You got alot for your twenty five cents back then

 

amen to that

[adamstrange]

Since people are talking about Giants, I thought it might be okay to divert briefly into a little longer post about the DC SA/BA Giants.

[adamstrange]

What three DC comic series contain 20,000 pages of the best of DC’s Golden Age, Silver Age, and Bronze Age art yet have an average guide value of less than fifty cents per page? They are the annuals, giants, and 100-pagers that DC published between June 1960 and March 1975. The table below shows the series and total number of issues.

 

Series Issues Total Pages

Annuals 22 1760

Giants (80-page) 56 4480

Giants (64 page) 33 2112

100 Pagers 115 11,500

Totals 226 19,852

 

I have been in love with these square-bound giants since I first held a 100-page comic book as kid. It was (and still is) practically inconceivable to me how DC could put that many pages of neat stuff in a single book.

 

The pull of giants was still strong enough that when I started collecting ten years ago, I knew that I had to get the DC giants. In addition to recapturing my childhood memories, it was a way to read the great stories from titles I knew I could never complete. For example, you can try to accumulate the hundreds of Batman stories in Batman and Detective or just get the best stories in the 7 annuals, 15 giants, and 18 100-pagers. And you may find, as I have, that you like a few of the stories so much that you go back and collect just those original issues that contain your favorites.

 

If you read the story in an original issue, you’ll usually find it exactly the same as the reprint. But not always. Even DC, with their strict editorial control during pre-code days, produced stories with a rough edge. For example, Batman Annual 3 reprints “The Gorilla Boss of Gotham City” from Batman 75. In the reprint the splash panel no longer shows 3 policeman plunging to their death. Nor does it show a policemen fleeing in terror (ninth page, fifth panel) or a “CRUNCH” sound effect (twelth page, first panel) as the gorilla’s head hits the ground. And, for some inexplicable reason, they removed the “RROARR”s and “GRR”s of the gorilla.

 

Collecting high-grade copies of the giants is not an easy task. The giants were bound by stapling a stack of comic pages together and then glueing a paper cover to the left edge of the stack of pages. The binding process and the subsequent handling of these books caused them to suffer from more defects than regular-bound comics:

 

• glue, used to attach the cover, which caused many books to bend or crease (the 1960 and 1961 annuals are particularly susceptible are, as a result, are almost never found in strict NM)

• staples that poked holes in the cover of the book

• a cover made from a heavier stock of paper that creased when opened for reading

• a square binding that was scraped as the books were put into the comic stand for sale (I have seen many otherwise VF/NM books that had the title of the book scraped from the binding)

Annuals

 

The Silver Age for giants started with Superman Annual 1 which was distributed to comic book stands in June of 1960. It was the brainchild of the consistently innovative editor of Superman, Mort Weisenger. In an interview for Amazing World of DC Comics issue 7 he said, “I’m also proud of ... having conceived the idea of DC’s first giant anthology -- The Superman Annual”.

 

The first annual has a terrific Curt Swan cover that also shows off the high-quality of DC’s colorist and color printing. The printer’s inks that DC used at the time, however, are photo-reactive and fade very quickly when exposed to sunlight. For example, green becomes olive green and dark blue becomes lavender. It is worth the time to search for a bright, glossy copy because it looks so much better than a faded copy.

 

The earliest annuals all had a publishing date of an entire year as opposed to the more typical month and year. This proved confusing to retailers because they rely on the publishing date to know when to remove a comic from the stand. Consequently, all post-1961 annuals were published as either summer or winter issues. The only exception to this was Flash Annual 1 which, for some reason, was published as a 1963 issue.

 

DC’s official summer publishing dates were May - July. This got the books on the stand while school was in session and allowed the kids to buy comics to take with them on their summer vacations.

 

The number of pages in the giants has been debated back and forth. For example, Overstreet lists the Eighty Page Giants as having 84 pages and, indeed, some annuals are listed as having 84 pages but most are listed as having 80 pages.

 

This page-numbering confusion was started by DC. Superman Annuals 2 and 3 and Batman Annual 1 all had the first page numbered three -- counting the cover and the inside of the cover as the first and second page. DC probably ran into complaints from kids looking for the missing page one and two because in all subsequent annuals the page numbering and counting did not include the covers. Furthermore, when DC discontinued the annuals and started the new giant series they called them Eighty Page Giants -- not Eighty-four Page Giants.

 

When you pick up an annual, don’t forget to look at the back cover. All but four annuals (Batman 1, Batman 6, Secret Origins 1, Sgt. Rock 1) have nice cover reproductions or new artwork on their back cover. This tradition stopped with the fourth issue DC’s second giant series, the Eighty Page Giants, only to pick up again with the start of the DC 100 Page Super Spectaculars. For 22 issues of the 100 pagers, DC showcased terrific new art on these back covers before finally reverting to printing ads.

Eighty Page Giants

 

The annuals were so popular for DC that they decided in 1964 to switch over to producing a monthly magazine just devoted to giants. Between August 1964 and October 1971, DC published 89 Eighty Page Giants on a monthly schedule. Initially a completely separate series, they were eventually incorporated into the normal publishing scheme for the individual title they reprinted.

 

These giants, however, like the super-hero inside, had a dual identity. They bore both the number of the regular title and the giant-size number starting with G-16 (Justice League 39). You can find the number by looking for a “G##” near the words “80 Page Giant”.

 

The transition from annuals to giants was not done smoothly. Eighty Page Giant 1 was actually advertised as Superman Annual 9 on the inside back cover of Batman Annual 7. The ad shows a full picture of the what is basically the same cover as Eighty Page Giant 1 but with the words “Annual” and “No. 9” in the title. Furthermore, the Eighty Page Giant 1advertised Lois Lane Annual 3 on its back cover -- the same book that DC eventually published as Eighty Page Giant 3. The last annual, Sgt. Rock’s Prize Battle Tales, illustrates in a different way the confusing transition from annuals to giants. It was published in November 1964 - a full three months after Eighty Page Giant 1.

 

With issue G-57(Action 373), DC economized and reduced the page count on the giants to 64. The giants kept their square binding, though, until G-78 (Superman 232). Even with their monthly schedule of giants, DC still chose to initiate a couple of new giant (64-page) series.

Other Giants

 

In late 1968 DC inaugurated a new series called DC Special with an issue devoted to reprints of Carmine Infantino stories. DC Special lasted 29 issues and reprinted a variety of DC Golden Age and Silver Age superhero and other stories. It is the only title where there is a giant devoted exclusively to Green Lantern (DC Special #17). I don’t know why they waited so long to produce a giant about one of their major heros.

 

Probably the most desirable book in the series is #12 which features a beautiful Viking Prince cover by Joe Kubert and reprints 3 Viking Prince stories. This is a difficult book to find in NM because it is a black cover and because no wants to part with it for anything close to the $6 guide price.

 

Often overlooked, though, is issue 15 which reprints 48 pages of Jack Cole’s Plastic Man. Jack was a gentle comic genius who produced some of the funniest and most outrageous cartoon art from the Golden Age of comics.

 

Another series, “From Beyond the Unkown”, debuted in late 1969 and for 26 issues reprinted the best of DC’s incomparable silver-age Science Fiction comics. Guiding at $2.75 to $7 these are the most cost-effective way to get beautiful Infantino, Anderson, Greene, and Kane art from the heyday of DC science fiction.

 

Even with all these giant titles, DC still had plans for the biggest giant title in years -- the 100 pagers.

100 Pagers

 

Starting in 1971 with the oddly numbered DC 100 Page Spectacular 4, DC published 100 page comics. According to Archie Goodwin in his column in Detective 438 and 440, DC experimented with giants in order to attract more shelf space from their retailers. It was hard to get retailers to stock comics because they made more money on 75 cent magazines than on 15 - 20 cent comic books. By putting 100 pages in a book they were able to provide a bargain to fans and a profit to retailers. (For more on the 100 pagers refer to the article in CBM 22 by another giant afficianado -- Alan Bahr.)

 

One of the best things about the 100 pagers was that they included a greater variety of reprint stories than the earlier giants. It was no longer just DC (for example, Quality’s Blackhawk, Kid Eternity, and the Black Condor) or just the major super heroes (for example, Wildcat, Dr. Midnite, Simon & Kirby’s Sandman and Manhunter). The pinnacle of the of the reprint books is Superman 252 ( June 1972) which is devoted entirely to Golden Age reprints such as:

 

• “The Powerstone”; the great Superman vs. Luthor battle

• The Ray and the Black Condor by Lou Fine

• Starman by Jack Burnley

• Spectre by Bernard Bailey

• Hawkman by Sheldon Moldoff

• Dr. Fate by Howard Sherman

 

Even so, 1974 was the high-watermark for giant fiends like me. You could chose between 12 different titles that were published only as 100 pagers! This was also the year when they published the 100 pagers with the finest new stories -- Detective 438 (Dec ‘73) through Detective 443 (Nov ‘74). These issues contain a dynamite combination of original visions of Batman, the revived Manhunter saga, and reprints.

 

The new Batman stories were drawn in a very personal style by Alex Toth, Jim Aparo, Sal Amendola, and Howard Chaykin. The best of these, “Night of the Stalker” (Detective 439) by Vin & Sal Amendola, is one of the finest Batman stories ever done. Vin, who usually drew horror comics for DC, conceived the story and convinced editor Archie Goodwin to let him do it. In it, a silent, haunted caped crusader, armed only with his fists and moral indignation, hunts down the murderers of a young boy’s parents. It this story, more than any other, that helps me to understand why Bruce Wayne became the Batman.

 

And, as if the new Batman stories are not enough, these issues contain the revitalized Manhunter by Archie Goodwin and Walter Simonson. Starting with Detective 438 (a regular-sized comic), they told the rest of the story of the original Manhunter -- Simon and Kirby’s WWII Nazi hunter. Limited to only 7 pages in each issue except last, they packed more panels per page (up to 24) than anyone since Bernard Krigstein. And it was not just density of panels that made it good but a compelling story that is not only one of the best from the 1970’s (admittedly a lean decade), but is one of the best ever.

 

Unfortunately, this torrent of comic art was short-lived. In the “Amazing World of DC Comics” issue 3 DC announced the end of an era. The cost of paper was skyrocketing and fans were demanding comics with new characters and not reprints. In March 1975, DC published their last 100 pager.

 

DC continued to publish 64-page square-bound giants after that point but the publishing schedule was erratic and the books didn’t contain any good reprints. For me these books just do not have the appeal of the original annuals, giants, and 100 pagers.

 

[Tri-Color Brian]

Very interesting info Mr. Strange. It explains why, way back in the mid-60s, I crossed out the #1 and wrote #9 on my 80Pg. Giant #1. Condition was not on my mind then...but I guess I was trying to correct a perceived mistake after seeing the book advertised in Batman Annual 7 as #9...

 

[ttfitz]

Fun fact:

 

I always liked getting books that had been featured reprints in the DC giants:

 

 

 

A big digression here.

 

As an interesting fact, you can tell by the verbiage that issue #3 of 80-Page Giant was originally planned to be Lois Lane Annual #3, That means that issue #2 would have been Jimmy Olsen Annual #1 and issue #1 would have been Superman Annual #9.

 

The changes really affected the values of the books. 80 Page Giant 1 is worth a lot more than Superman Annual 9 would have been and a Jimmy Olsen Annual 1 would likely be more valuable than 80 Page Giant 2. I think the Lois Lane #3 is likely unaffected.

 

 

Yeah, that 80 Page Giant #1 messed me up for a number of years - because it says "Superman Annual" along with the "Issue #1" I had it on my spreadsheet as Superman Annual #1. Then many years later when I bought what I (then) knew to be 80 Page Giant #1, I discovered that not only did I have two copies of the same book, but I was missing a (now very expensive) Superman Annual #1 that I thought I had.

[Dr. Love]

Fantastic post, adamstrange. Thank you!

[steelcity]

Great post revealing the weird and wonderful world of those oh so pesky DC Giants!

[steelcity]

A few Adventures not recently posted.

 

Nice copy with white pages of an issue that nearly always turns up with tanned edges.

 

 

Origin issue.

 

 

Classic Legion giant. Twin Cities copy

 

 

 

[steelcity]

Supergirl visits Smallville...

 

 

This looks like it should be a Legion book.

 

 

This wonderful space cover must have been a popular buy.

 

[adamstrange]

You are welcome, guys.

 

I should mention that the Guide prices are from 20 years ago which is when I wrote this.

[adamstrange]

 

Marvelous copies as always, Steelcity

 

Supergirl visits Smallville...

 

[Tri-Color Brian]

Those are nice. I never get tired of looking at early Adventures. Although, going to tiny pic or photobucket and loading scans and then getting links and pasting them can be time consuming...so if anyone wants to see some of my SA DC, here's my album on flickr. Adventure Comics start on pg. 2:

 

 

Feel free to browse any of the other albums in there too. They are constantly being added to...

Edited October 17, 2015 by tricolorbrian

[Tri-Color Brian]

That's amazing...in 15 minutes my album views just jumped from 27 to 35...I guess somebody reads these posts...