Show me your GA Quarter books

[Ameri]

[GACollectibles]

Double duty book for this week...

 

Santa Claus Parade 1951 w/parachuting Snowflake Scouts!

 

[MrBedrock]

[walclark]

This was a disappointment for me. I purchased this book raw from a Sotheby's auction as an apparent VG -. Usually, the restoration check at Sotheby's was very good at identifying trimming, but they apparently missed this one. I didn't even know you could trim a cardboard stock cover.

 

 

 

 

[walclark]

 

 

[walclark]

 

 

[sartre]

The two Timely's that were 25 cents ... Think they were the only ones published.

[rjpb]

That MMC giant looks nicer than a 3.5! The Timely "annuals" are awesome. I seem to recall that there really isn't a variant on the MMCA - that they all actually have the same interior - is this true?

 

I always thought it was odd that the cover to the Cap book matches the int. of the MMC and the cover of the MMC matches the int. of the Cap book.I'd love to know the story of why the covers and interiors chosen were what they were, but I guess that's lost to time.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ameri]

It is a little upside down. Marvel Mystery 33 (the entire issue) is the lead issue in the Cap Annual but Cap 18 (cover to cover) follows after the 33. Same arrangement with the the Marvel Annual. Captain America 18 (the entire issue) opens the annual, then Marvel 41 (cover to cover) follows after the 18. My Marvel Annual interior is the same as the one shown above. Marvel 41 and Cap 18 interior.

[rjpb]

It is a little upside down. Marvel Mystery 33 (the entire issue) is the lead issue in the Cap Annual but Cap 18 (cover to cover) follows after the 33. Same arrangement with the the Marvel Annual. Captain America 18 (the entire issue) opens the annual, then Marvel 41 (cover to cover) follows after the 18. My Marvel Annual interior is the same as the one shown above. Marvel 41 and Cap 18 interior.

 

Assuming these were published at the same time, it would appear they might have mixed up cover and content. From what I understand the publisher in the indicia is one of the lesser used Goodman companies with U.S and canadian copyrights. Given the B/W contents and purported Canadian distribution at a time when there were paper quotas in the U.S. and a ban on importing comics from the U.S. into Canada, along with a cover price higher than the total of the reprinted U.S. issues ( but cheaper than two 15¢ Canadian books), all lead one to believe that these were likely published in Canada in an attempt by Goodman to expand into that country's market, while trying to work around Canadian import rules.

[Ameri]

A fellow collector sent me this interesting theory on the Timely annuals many years ago:

 

Despite popular opinion, (based on misinformation in the Overstreet

Guide), the Timely Annuals were NOT Canadian product. According to the

bottom of page one in one of my Annuals, it plainly states that the book

was made in the USA. New York to be specific. They were, however, only

marketed in Canada.

 

Why?

 

Copyright protection.

 

No International law existed at that point in time protecting against

copyright infringement in second class publications, such as magazines

and comic books. Whereas stiff International penalties applied to more

erudite publications such as books, nothing yet was "on the books" to

prevent, say for example, a Canadian publishing house from reprinting,

(or fashioning new art & story) utilizing the characters and stories that

appeared in American comic books.

 

Martin Goodman must have become concerned that Canadian Publishers might

soon be selling Captain America comics (as well as other Timely

characters and titles), without feeling legally compelled to pay Goodman

one red cent.

 

DIGRESSION.

 

In the USA there are two ways to protect or patent an idea you invent,

and thus prevent any skullduggerous characters from stealing your idea.

The legal way is by registering your idea with the US Dept of Patents. It

costs (or used to cost) around $500.00 to do so. The "back door" way,

(which may or may not stand-up in court), is to mail yourself (by

Registered Mail), schematics and descriptions of the item. The mail-piece

is dated, and theoretically, if someone rips-off your idea, your

presenting the sealed Registered article as evidence in court that you

had the idea first, then your contention may well stand up.

 

I believe that Martin in creating the Timely Annuals, used an approach

similar to the "back door Registry", because no "front door"

international comic character registry existed. So he took his most popular titles, Marvel Mystery & Captain America, (with a stable of his most popular characters appearing in both books), put them all together in one book, thus protecting both those titles and all the characters within, put a Cap #22 cover on one and a Marvel #33 cover on the other, and marketed the two annuals, (each containing a

Captain America & Marvel Mystery comic book that was reprinted in black &

white), in Canada BEFORE THE CHARACTERS AND TITLES COULD BE STOLEN BY PUBLISHERS NORTH OF THE BORDER!

 

He didn't have to produce a ton of these comics. He just had to be able

to show evidence that HIS item existed and was SOLD in Canada, prior to

any other Canadian company doing so.

 

So unlike the Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly's and those "In House"

titles like Double Action, the Annuals were actually SOLD on

newstands...but just up in Canada!

 

We may never know how many pieces of each were manufactured, but due to

Goodwin's renown as a skinflint, I assure you the print run was

miniscule. But I think for the most part, Martin Goodman's plan

succeeded. Yes, we may see an odd late 1940's Canadian Timely reprint

that slipped through the cracks. But those Canadian Publishers KNEW that

Martin KNEW what they were planning, and were scared by Martin's "Back

Door" registry, and didn't want to mess with him.

 

I feel the Timely Annuals are not only RARER than any comic ever

marketed, but they have a significant place in comic history as perhaps

"The Biggest Bluff That Ever Worked".

 

[comicnoir]

I never understood why they were so big and with such a large page number. If Goodwin was such a skin-flint (and he was), why spend money on a magazine style comic, with a bigger cost?

[rjpb]

The late 40s Canadian editions were likely legit - as the War Exchange Conservation Act which restricted the importation of non-essential goods like comic books was lifted in 1945, and Canadian editions of U.S. comics became common place.

 

It seems the wartime ban was not only on importing physical comic books, but possibly content as well, as Fawcett apparently provided scripts for Canadian adaptations of some of their characters during the war.

 

If the Timely annuals were actually printed in the U.S. and shipped for distribution in Canada, then they were done so illegally, unless their actual distribution wasn't until after the war.

 

As comixnoir points out - it seems odd that Goodman would go to the trouble of printing larger than normal comics if it was just a ploy to secure Canadian copyrights, especially given wartime paper rationing.

 

Does the indicia of the Timely annuals actually state that they were printed in the the U.S. or do they just list a U.S. publisher?

[Timely]

Since comics were banned at that time, perhaps they were printed larger so he could argue they were magazines, since they were magazine size.

 

 

[rjpb]

Canada's War Exchange Conservation Act applied to all U.S. publications, so that is unlikely. I didn't realize they were more magazine than comic sized. What are the dimensions?

[rjpb]

A further note concerning the unnamed collector's theory.

 

I couldn't find any information regarding Canadian law and U.S. trademarks and copyrights in the the 1940s, but there doesn't seem to be evidence of Canadian companies rampantly stealing U.S. properties at the time. Though if Canadian law required distribution in canada in order to secure a trademark, I can see how the law prohibiting the import of U.S. publications might complicate that.

 

The comment about patents is a bit confused, as characters, titles and logos would be trademarked not patented ( though registered at the same office). This is further complicated in that trademarks for names are generally only recognized through continued use, so publishing one issue of a title wouldn't cover it. Copyright refers to a specific work, so copyright protection would have only applied to the specific issues reprinted in the annuals if indeed Canadian distribution was required to secure those copyrights in that country.

 

There may be some validity to the theory as to Goodman feeling a need for some degree of legal protection for his characters in Canada, but it doesn't feel like the whole story. Martin was no doubt an interesting businessman who created numerous publishing entities, moving titles around among them, for what can be presumed to be legal and accounting reasons that most publishers didn't feel necessary, so it wouldn't be out of character for him to come up with some convoluted plan along those lines. Whatever the reason for publishing those two poorly distributed annuals, I wouldn't be surprised if it were a bit shady.

[Sqeggs]

If securing Canadian copyright was the motivation behind publishing these books. did DC follow a similar strategy? They would appear to have had more to lose if copyrights on Superman and Batman became unenforceable in Canada.

[rjpb]

If securing Canadian copyright was the motivation behind publishing these books. did DC follow a similar strategy? They would appear to have had more to lose if copyrights on Superman and Batman became unenforceable in Canada.

 

DC had Canadian distribution of many of their titles in 1940 before the law prohibiting import of U.S. magazines came into effect ( it wasn't passed until Dec. of that year), so perhaps they felt their trademarks were secure.

 

On a side note some MLJ Pep comics content was reprinted and apparently at least partially redrawn for Canadian distribution in 1944 under the name Super Comics. Along with the licensing of Fawcett characters, there was obviously some interest in U.S. characters by Canadian publishers during the war. It's kind of surprising that a deal wasn't worked out for a character as well known as Superman at the time. The Canadian market was a fraction of the U.S. market, and it's comic industry apparently even more of shoestring business than in the U.S., so perhaps it wasn't considered worth the trouble.

 

II suppose there also could be some doubt as to wether the Pep reprints were actually licensed or bootlegged. Any Canadian collectors know more about this?

[rjpb]

Another observation about giants and paper rationing. As far as I can tell most if not all 1944/45 giants ( along with some other books) were published by Wm. H. Wise, a book publisher who obviously had access to paper and was used by DC, Fox, Gleason and Nedor to circumvent in house quotas. As far as I can tell the company published nothing before and after these two years.

 

It's telling that Big All-American does not have the DC bullet on it.

[Ameri]

The Timely Annuals are approximately 8 X 11. Here is the splash from the Cap Annual: