Any Love For ......"The World Around Us"

[Brenmark]

Last Saturday I went to an estate sale of a woman who had been in the family home for over 60 years. There were over 400 comics from around 1950 to 1962, and boy were most of them read to pieces. They were almost totally Dell with Little Lulu, Four Colors , Katy Keene, Millie, Loonie Tunes, and Disney's Comics and Stories being the bulk of the books. Only two superheroes, Superman, were in the whole lot. There were 200 in a quarter box, another 100 for a dollar apiece in a box under a table, and another 200 in better condition behind the table for anywhere from 3 to 20 dollars each. But what interested me was a grouping of "The World Around Us." Many I had never seen before.

 

Classics Illustrated began publishing these books in 1958. It ended in 1961 after a 36 issue run, but they probably didn't sell well as they cost 25 cents when everything else was a dime, and I can remember when 25 cents could get you into a movie.

 

Although my main focus in comics is science fiction, horror, and war comics (of which there were absolutely none in all these comics), I've always had more than a casual interest in these biographies and stories from history, and picked them up when I came across them in dollar boxes at SDCC. These books were made even more interesting because of the group of EC and other artists who drew a lot of these stories; Reed Crandall, Graham Ingels, Grey Morrow, L.B. Cole, George Evans, Jack Kirby, Angelo Torres, Kinstler, and Al Williamson were frequent contributors. I bought two at 3.00 each, one book from the quarter box, about ten from the dollar box and decided to wait until Sunday when the prices would be discounted. If they were gone, then c'est la vie.

 

I went back on Sunday and all of the "World Around Us" were still there and in pretty good condition along with another 75 or so that I had an interest in. The seller gave me such a good deal I ended up buying all of the rest , the good , the bad, and the ugly. Over 300 books.

 

I ended up with 27 out of 36 World books and an incentive to finish the run. Check 'em out and add the missing ones if you have them.

 

#1/ L.B. Cole Cover

 

#3/ L.B. Cole Cover

 

#4

 

#5

 

#6

 

#7

 

#8

 

#9

 

#10

 

#12

 

#13/ L.B. Cole Cover

 

#17

 

#18

 

#20

 

#21

 

#23

 

#24

 

#25

 

#26

 

#27

 

#28/ L.B. Cole Cover

 

#29

 

#30

 

#31

 

#32

 

#33

 

#35

 

Missing: 2, 11, 14, 15, 16,19, 22, 34, 36

 

Besides the Worlds here are a couple more I was more than happy to get.

 

Out of the Quarter Box:

 

 

Dollar Box:

 

 

 

 

 

[KirbyJack]

I have been picking up the Kirby issues for some time now, it's from a great period of his work.

 

 

Now, sell me that Millie annual!

[jmg3637]

I know there has been at least one or two threads on this series. It is fairly easy to find them and they are not expensive. I think only a few are readily available.

 

here are a few of your missing entries:

 

 

 

 

 

[jmg3637]

here are 3 more that you are missing

 

 

 

[Mister_Comics]

I have a few of these, Trains, Dinosaurs, Ghost. You already posted.

My Trains is like a brand new book. Looks like it might be in the 9.2 - 9.6 range if I had it slabbed.

[Soft-Serve]

I recently bought a "closet hoard" of silver golden age books that had 5 or 6 of these in it. (and a ton of the Classics Illustrated books, 20th printings of course)

 

I must admit that I wasn't impressed at first, but after reading a few, they kinda grew on me. Not my generation, but it made me feel like a kid in the '50s anyway.

 

Very cool books, great find!

[roulette44]

cool find (thumbs u !

[Kevin.J]

 

 

Great pick ups

 

 

 

[thehumantorch]

Nice pick ups, cool collection.

 

And yes, I love the Millie Annual like everyone else.

[jmg3637]

I thought that someone else would put up some, but seeing as how it has been almost 2 weeks here are the last 3 you were missing.

 

 

 

 

 

[Blind Owl]

I especially liked the "World Around Us" books, the Prehistoric Animals issue was one of the 1st comics I ever read as a kid. I was 5 yrs. old in 1959 when it came out, and I still have a copy. Great stuff.

 

That Millie Annual looks amazing....really nice. What a find.

 

I'd take it off your hands if you'd sell it at a fair price.

 

The copy I have is around VG/FN, your copy looks nicer.

 

[comick1]

I like that series a LOT if only for the great art from fantastic people like Torres, Ingels, and other amazing Atomic Age artists. Years ago, I purchased the original art to the entire book--sans cover--for #8: The Illustrated Story of Flight. Most of the issue has stories by undistinguished artists, but the Sam Glanzman Pearl Harbor story was worth it for the price of all the other pages put together and the George Evans story was definitely gravy. I have a few of the 8 pages scanned from the Evans stuff. It depicts the Red Baron's origin and death (attributing his death to Capt. Roy Brown--a theory widely believed at the time "Flight" was printed, but has far fewer supporters today).

 

Here are a few from that issue:

 

 

 

[Brenmark]

Thanks guys for the kind words and to Jim who put up the missing issues. Also a special shout out to Mick for putting up some Evans art from Flight (can't believe you got the whole book). You know how I like airplane art. These books do grow on you not only because of the art by famous greats, but the historical stories are just flat out interesting. My favorites are stories from From Gold and Glory, Pirates, The Jungle, Flight, and Magic, but with so many different titles there's something there for everyone. By the way, everyone seems to enjoy the Millie the Model annual. Is that book scarce or something?

[Blind Owl]

The Millie Annual is the scarcest Marvel Annual (excluding the two GA timely annuals).

 

Also tough in decent condition. So that was a great find.

 

Speaking of original art, last year Heritage offered a few of the "painted" covers from the "World Around Us" series including my favorite which is "Prehistoric Animals" but I was way outbid on that one. I really would have loved to own it. You can check their archives to see it.

 

Great books, and art posted here. (thumbs u