As *spoon* as Arch comes back from vacation Hepcat will still be Hepcat. 8 8

[Hepcat]

Another newspaper strip that influenced my present day taste interest in comics was Milt Caniff's Terry and the Pirates strip. It was not within my memory carried in the London Free Press or any of the Toronto newspapers since I moved to Toronto in 1977. I may have first encountered it as a kid sometime in a copy of the Detroit Free Press or Toronto Star. At some point about 25 years ago however I realized that the strip was very cool:

Harvey published 23 issues of a Terry and the Pirates title beginning with #3 from early 1947 to early 1951. Here are scans of the three I have in my present day collection:

Incidentally, the first comic shop I ever patronized back in 1979 was Dragon Lady on Queen Street West in Toronto. Here's a picture of the more recent College Street location to which Dragon Lady moved in 1996:

 I didn't learn until about fifteen years ago that the shop was named after a character from Terry and the Pirates:

Too cool!

 

Edited December 29, 2020 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

The strip that in 1961 or so replaced The Lone Ranger in the Saturday London Free Press was Tarzan. John Celardo who drew the strip from 1954-67 was the artist at the time:

Russ Manning took over in 1967 and did a fabulous job on the strip until 1979:

The publishing history of Tarzan comic magazines included these runs:

Dell 1-131 (February 1948 - August 1962)
Gold Key 132-206 (November 1962 - February 1972)
DC 207-258 (April 1972 - February 1977)

Issues #207-249 and 253 feature covers by Joe Kubert while issues #207-225 and 227-235 also have interior artwork by Joe Kubert.

Taking on the task of collecting all the Tarzan issues is far too daunting a task for me to consider. I've therefore limited myself to picking up the issues featuring Joe Kubert art. Here are scans of two of these:

[porcupine48]

On 12/24/2020 at 12:45 AM, Hepcat said:

Another comic strip that was in the Saturday London Free Press from my first memories of its comic section was Pogo by Walt Kelly:

I loved the Pogo strip as a kid although many of the references went way over my head. For a time in the early 1960's there was a pig based on Nikita Khrushchev and a goat based on Fidel Castro guesting with the other critters from the swamp.

Dell published a couple Four Color Pogo comics in 1946-47 and then sixteen issues of Pogo Possum from late 1949 to early 1954. Pogo was such a popular character at the time that Dell wanted to up the price of the Pogo comic mag to $0.15. Walt Kelly was to his everlasting credit so adamantly opposed to the idea of such price gouging that Dell desisted.

Here's a scan of my copy of Pogo 14:

I'd eventually like to acquire all sixteen issues of Pogo Possum of course.

Did I ever show this to you hep?Believe it or not I found it blowing down a side street in the wind!

And since I'm here,have some Tintin and Space-Man

[Hepcat]

9 hours ago, porcupine48 said:

Did I ever show this to you hep?Believe it or not I found it blowing down a side street in the wind!

 

 

No you didn't. That though is boss cool! I wonder how many copies still exist in any condition? Are there any at all in this "census" of CGC's?

[porcupine48]

2 hours ago, Hepcat said:

No you didn't. That though is boss cool! I wonder how many copies still exist in any condition? Are there any at all in this "census" of CGC's?

I'm not sure,and thanks!Here are some interior shots

 

[Hepcat]

 

[Robot Man]

On 12/29/2020 at 8:21 AM, Hepcat said:

Another newspaper strip that influenced my present day taste interest in comics was Milt Caniff's Terry and the Pirates strip. It was not within my memory carried in the London Free Press or any of the Toronto newspapers since I moved to Toronto in 1977. I may have first encountered it as a kid sometime in a copy of the Detroit Free Press or Toronto Star. At some point about 25 years ago however I realized that the strip was very cool:

Harvey published 23 issues of a Terry and the Pirates title beginning with #3 from early 1947 to early 1951. Here are scans of the three I have in my present day collection:

Incidentally, the first comic shop I ever patronized back in 1979 was Dragon Lady on Queen Street West in Toronto. Here's a picture of the more recent College Street location to which Dragon Lady moved in 1996:

 I didn't learn until about fifteen years ago that the shop was named after a character from Terry and the Pirates:

Too cool!

 

I don't seek out or collect Terry and the Pirates but have always enjoyed the strip. Caniff sure knew how to draw sexy women!

Here are a few of my favorites.

 

[frozentundraguy]

On 12/22/2020 at 11:58 PM, Hepcat said:

Cool book! Are the D ick Tracy toys and ephemera spawned by the strip covered in the pages?

I have these D ick Tracy items in my own collection:

I'd also really like to get the Aladdin Industries Tracy lunchbox some day:

 

Plus a Hasbro Tracy Marble Maze:

Sadly none of the toys and ephemera spawned by the strip are covered in this book.

[Hepcat]

Another strip that I always really enjoyed was Archie which the London Free Press only started carrying in 1965(?):

I've not collected any of the comic magazines featuring Archie Andrews and company though. Quite simply with runs numbering in the hundreds extending back into the 1940's collecting even a single title is far too daunting a prospect. 

Pep Comics 1 (January 1940) - 411 (March 1987)
Laugh Comics 20 (Fall 1946) - 400 (April 1987)
Archie (Comics) 1 (Winter 1942-43) - 666 (July 2015)
(Archie's Pal) Jughead 1 (1949) - 352 (June 1987)
Archie's Girls Betty and Veronica 1 (1950) - 347 (April 1987)
Archie's Pals 'n' Gals 1 (1952) - 224 (September 1991)

Moreover in comparison to most other comics, Archies weren't collected and saved. Finding copies from before 1975 or so that haven't been read to death is nearly impossible.

Incidentally, does anyone remember or even collect the Archie and his Pals comics that came with Blony bubble gum in 1957-58? 

About 100 different Archie and His Pals comics may have been produced in all.

The Blony name brand was at the time owned by Topps which had obtained it by acquiring Bowman in 1956. Incidentally, is Blony bubble gum still available in the States? When was the last time anyone has seen Blony bubble gum in stores? I've never seen it.

[Hepcat]

While I don't remember when and where I discovered the Li'l Abner or Terry and the Pirates strips, I clearly remember discovering the Scamp strip in the Weekend Toronto Star on a visit in 1961(?):

The Scamp strip first appeared on 31 October 1955 with 15 January 1956 being the date of the first "Sunday" colour strip. It ran until 25 June 1988. Scamp was also the title feature of Dell Four Color Comics #703, 777, 806 and 833 in 1956 and 1957 before graduating to his own Dell title #5-16 which ran from May 1958 to February 1961 followed by Four Color 1204 later in 1961.

Sadly I still don't have a single issue of Scamp in my collection. I do have these three wild Chip 'n' Dale comics though:

25 File copy

27

29

Edited January 10, 2021 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

Now I've had this Bozo gumball machine for nearly twenty years:

But when I saw this unused O-Pee-Chee warehouse stock one on Etsy a few months ago I couldn't resist snapping it up as well:

There was one very much like it on the counter of Ken's Variety on Wharncliffe Road which was one of my go-to places for comics.

Edited March 29 by Hepcat

[F For Fake]

Very happy to see the thread resurrected! Love the colors on the Bozo machine.

[Hepcat]

On 2/29/2024 at 10:14 AM, F For Fake said:

Very happy to see the thread resurrected! 

I find posting here challenging and somewhat frustrating since the switch was made from vBulletin(?) several years ago because of the idiosyncratic quirks of the new program. Nonetheless I'm brimming with ideas and I hope to add several dozen new posts to this thread over the next couple of months.

Edited March 13 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

Uggghhh! Even trying to move the cursor below a QUOTE or an IMAGE can be a real battle! This time I've gone down to defeat. I'll try a different tack later.

[Murphman13]

Don’t be a stranger. This place needs more posters like you

[Hepcat]

To add to my board game collection a few months ago I scored this "new old stock" Hasbro board game in a slightly distressed box off Ebay:

What's particularly cool is that the game was issued in 1965 meaning it pre-dates the Bat-craze ushered in by the debut of the silly TV show in January 1966. Note that Batman is actually still sporting his pre-1964 logo!

Edited March 1 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

On 2/9/2024 at 11:03 AM, Robot Man said:

There are not a whole lot of vintage collectibles on those characters I am aware of.... I don’t have any Ritchie or Casper items.

This topic was raised in Robot Man's "Junk Obsession" thread but I thought I'd address it here rather than hijacking his thread. I have many Casper items in my collection. First this Milton Bradley board game:

 

 

This Hasbro Paint by Number set:

 

This Peter Pan picture disc:

 

And this Roalex slide puzzle:

 

Edited March 1 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

So frustrating. The program here doesn't even allow me to copy-and-paste what I posted in this same thread a few years ago. I have to redo everything by brute force, i.e. one step at a time from Photobucket.

[Hepcat]

More Casper collectibles. First of all my Fleer Casper the Friendly Ghost card set from 1960:

 

And a vending machine card from the 1960's::

Edited March 1 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

My Casper and Wendy Pepsi glasses: