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Top-Notch Laugh #41 - Who has one?

Started by ecfanman,

19 posts in this topic

ecfanman

ecfanman

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Wonderful, Shield. That confirms what I was looking for.

 

I just got a copy of Roly Poly #12 off of eBay. I was able to verify that the Black Hood story was from Top Notch #41 because of the story's title. The other stories had the right page count.

 

It seems that all of the contents of Roly Poly #12 came from Top Notch #41. The RP 12 does not contain the Reader's Page, the Black Hood ad, and the Snoop McGoop story. The cover and ads on the cover are also different.

 

Now here is my next question. Where did the art for the cover of Roly Poly #12 come from? Was this an Archie splash or ad from some other MLJ issue? Did the Roly Poly's have new covers?

 

Here is a scan of the cover.

 

roly_poly_12.jpg

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archiefan

archiefan

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Wonderful, Shield. That confirms what I was looking for.

 

I just got a copy of Roly Poly #12 off of eBay. I was able to verify that the Black Hood story was from Top Notch #41 because of the story's title. The other stories had the right page count.

 

It seems that all of the contents of Roly Poly #12 came from Top Notch #41. The RP 12 does not contain the Reader's Page, the Black Hood ad, and the Snoop McGoop story. The cover and ads on the cover are also different.

 

Now here is my next question. Where did the art for the cover of Roly Poly #12 come from? Was this an Archie splash or ad from some other MLJ issue? Did the Roly Poly's have new covers?

 

 

I got the other two Roly Poly issues that were auctioned by that seller. The first issue has some MLJ reprints...didn't recognize any in the last issue although it does feature a nice Black Hood cover.

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ecfanman

ecfanman

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I suspect that the cover of Roly Poly #12 was not originally drawn for that comic and came from an earlier MLJ comic. The characters are obviously Archie, Betty and Veronica, but they do not appear anywhere in the book. (There is even a letter "A" on the throne behind "Archie". I can't tell if the other charachter is Jughead, as the ink on the face is too dark to see any features.) Why this cover would have been "drawn" for this book is beyond me.

 

I am pretty sure this is not the cover of an earlier MLJ. I have seen full page Archie splash pages in early MLJ's and also full page Archie ads (with new art), and suspect that is where it came from.

 

Does anyone know what the story behind the Roly Poly reprints is? Was Green Publishing a branch of MLJ? Roly Poly 12 is from 1945 and the Top Notch it reprints is from 1943. That's awfully quick for somebody reprinting another companies comic.

 

Any help in identifying the source of the RP 12 cover would be appreciated.

 

BTW, is the decapitation cover from #15 a reprint from some interior art, or is it entirely new art?

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dgillock

dgillock

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That Roly-Poly #12 is definitely the most risque Archie cover I've ever seen, reprint or not. blush.gif

 

It's good ammo for me when people talk about the CCA not effecting some publishers as much as others. Archie comics are often noted by some as having remained "uneffected" by the restrictions. Not only are those costumes on B&V far too scant for post-1955, but that is most certainly Jughead in black-face...

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dgillock

dgillock

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This site states that Green was a subsidiary of Pershing Square Publishing:

 

Linky

 

It says that the Canadian publishers were buying MLJ stories (to be re-drawn by Canadian artists) from "Pershing Square subsidiary Green Publishing". Anyone know Pershing Square's relationship to MLJ?

I know that Green also published Animal Crackers, Atomic, Wotalife Comics, Ribtickler, Cosmo Cat, and Liberty. Not all of these were reprint books, so Green wasn't simply a clearing-house publisher.

My searching on "Pershing Square Publishing" brought up nothing... confused-smiley-013.gif

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Shield

Shield

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I suspect that the cover of Roly Poly #12 was not originally drawn for that comic and came from an earlier MLJ comic. The characters are obviously Archie, Betty and Veronica, but they do not appear anywhere in the book. (There is even a letter "A" on the throne behind "Archie". I can't tell if the other charachter is Jughead, as the ink on the face is too dark to see any features.) Why this cover would have been "drawn" for this book is beyond me.

 

I am pretty sure this is not the cover of an earlier MLJ. I have seen full page Archie splash pages in early MLJ's and also full page Archie ads (with new art), and suspect that is where it came from.

 

Does anyone know what the story behind the Roly Poly reprints is? Was Green Publishing a branch of MLJ? Roly Poly 12 is from 1945 and the Top Notch it reprints is from 1943. That's awfully quick for somebody reprinting another companies comic.

 

Any help in identifying the source of the RP 12 cover would be appreciated.

 

BTW, is the decapitation cover from #15 a reprint from some interior art, or is it entirely new art?

 

I see the Black Hood punching out some guy on the cover of Roly-Poly #15. Also, on my website, many people discuss Canadian MLJ reprints. A literal plethora of information there!

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Shield

Shield

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That Roly-Poly #12 is definitely the most risque Archie cover I've ever seen, reprint or not. blush.gif

 

It's good ammo for me when people talk about the CCA not effecting some publishers as much as others. Archie comics are often noted by some as having remained "uneffected" by the restrictions. Not only are those costumes on B&V far too scant for post-1955, but that is most certainly Jughead in black-face...

 

You should read some earlier stuff printed by MLJ; very racist stuff.

I'd start off with the Hangman story from Pep Comics #20

(WARNING- The following links are racist, printed in 1941/1942, and NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT. I am in no way linking this to make fun of other races, merely demonstrating how different Archie Co. was in the beginning)

 

Hangman Story from Pep Comics #20, October 1941

 

Sorry...these bottom 2 are reserved for site members...

 

Zip Comics #15, 1941, Page 1 of 2

 

Zip Comics #15, 1941, Page 2 of 2

 

I don't have it scanned, but there are similar racist panels in the 3rd story of Archie Comics #1, in which Archie boards a cross-country train and has a discussion with a black porter. That's why this stuff hasn't been reprinted, folks!

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ecfanman

ecfanman

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That Roly-Poly #12 is definitely the most risque Archie cover I've ever seen, reprint or not. blush.gif

 

It's good ammo for me when people talk about the CCA not effecting some publishers as much as others. Archie comics are often noted by some as having remained "uneffected" by the restrictions. Not only are those costumes on B&V far too scant for post-1955, but that is most certainly Jughead in black-face...

 

The only Top Notch I have from the mid-40's is a number 36. In it there is a somewhat risque full page ad for Archie #2. That is why it seems to me that the Roly Poly cover could have originally been an ad. Here is a scan:

 

top_notch_36.jpg

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Shield

Shield

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I have 200 out of 219 total MLJ books scanned. Those wacky house ads started in 1943, when the better artists left for war. I can't find it, but darn it, I will.

 

Hang in there!

 

Shawn

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rjpb

rjpb

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I've always been under the impression that the covers for Roly Poly were original - certainly the cover for 14 was never used on another comic. As to whether they were originally done for that title, or unused pieces that were recycled is another question. I know that there are no stories in issue 14 that relate at all to the cover, and that's a shame.

490019-rolypoly.jpg.094cbe0a1a750047f6484f36631ffe16.jpg

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143ksk

143ksk

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I just checked and that image does not appear in any of the first 16 issues of Archie Comics. Given it's "exotic" theme I would agree that it is either an unused piece or a house ad from one of the other MLJ titles.

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Shield

Shield

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I've always been under the impression that the covers for Roly Poly were original - certainly the cover for 14 was never used on another comic. As to whether they were originally done for that title, or unused pieces that were recycled is another question. I know that there are no stories in issue 14 that relate at all to the cover, and that's a shame.

 

Roly Poly #14 cover is a swipe from "Bentley of Scotland Yard" from Pep Comics #32, October 1942.

 

tn_pep32_bentley01.jpg

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rjpb

rjpb

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Wow, Shield - those are cool splashes - thanks for posting them. I wasn't even thinking about recycled splashes, which was stupid of me, as that was a fairly common practice during the Golden Age. Wasn't the Bentley splash with the giant monster used for an Atomic Comics cover, and the Skull /Clown spash for a Liberty Comics?

 

As your many of your previous posts have illustrated, MLJ was second to none when it came to outrageous splash pages - outdoing a lot of pre-code horror when it comes to gore.

 

If you find the time - an article in CBM about recycled MLJ spashes would be welcome, I'm sure.

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