ORIGINS of the American Comic Book 0

[mrmyst]

...well, Batman came right out of the Shadow...and Superman from Doc Savage...etc etc. .And think of Lugosi's Dracula when you look at the early Batman stories in Detective. The creators have acknowledged it...no mention of OO for their inspiration.

 

Not that I have a bone in this nor have I read everything posted, but in that post above, you are confusing the content with the form. BLB talks about the form, you talk about the content. Two entirely different aspects in this debate.

 

Different, but not equally weighted factors. This is an extreme example, but just because the ancient Egyptians had board games like Senet and Mehen, it doesn't mean either had any influence at all on the creators of Monopoly.

 

This thread is all a red herring for BLB to justify his past, present, and (no doubt) future egregious behavior. Once that is understood, then it makes sense.

Not familiar with said egregious behavior.

[buttock]

...well, Batman came right out of the Shadow...and Superman from Doc Savage...etc etc. .And think of Lugosi's Dracula when you look at the early Batman stories in Detective. The creators have acknowledged it...no mention of OO for their inspiration.

 

Not that I have a bone in this nor have I read everything posted, but in that post above, you are confusing the content with the form. BLB talks about the form, you talk about the content. Two entirely different aspects in this debate.

 

Different, but not equally weighted factors. This is an extreme example, but just because the ancient Egyptians had board games like Senet and Mehen, it doesn't mean either had any influence at all on the creators of Monopoly.

 

This thread is all a red herring for BLB to justify his past, present, and (no doubt) future egregious behavior. Once that is understood, then it makes sense.

Not familiar with said egregious behavior.

 

Consider yourself fortunate.

[BLBcomics-migration]

 

The first three Mutt and Jeff comic books published in annual editions 1910 1911 1912 sold in the millions of copies. This is why they are among the most common comic books of their era. #4 and #5 are infinitely harder to find.

 

Annual comic books? Why, I would swear DC copied Mutt and Jeff when they issued that first Superman Annual #1 in 1960 fifty years later. This statement makes as much sense as the lost soul(s) thinking I have been claiming Oldbuck directly inspired the creation of Superman by Max Gaines

 

Tis the simple existence of, much less the format of, the 1842 Obadiah Oldbuck which launched American comic book industry now over 170 years old as of September last year. That is an indisputable fact of life, get used to it, one and all. Has nothing to do with marketing or theoretical "worth" of any comic book ever published. There is an indisputable time line of comic strip books, as well as in periodicals of all shapes, sizes, formats

 

 

[BLBcomics-migration]

 

Mutt and Jeff comic book sales for Bud Fisher, who owned the copyright on his creation and licensed it out as he saw fit, were aided and abetted by traveling shows like this one, the Panama one pictured here a 1913 version traveling the by-ways of America. The songs in these shows were also for sale as sheet music, in the days before records, hit songs were played on pianos in many a household. The sheet music sold in the millions and also remain fairly common to locate for a collection. Later on animated cartoons, early silent movie reels, and such also provided more sales vehicle consciousness for the comic books.

 

Around this time there were actually six of these vaudeville shows traveling at the same time. M&J also entered animated cartoons, silent movies, etc early on. All through this Mutt and Jeff comic books were selling very well, in the millions.

 

M&J's Cupples & Leon series also ran a successful run from 1919 thru 1933 before becoming a premiere main star attratction in Funnies On Parade on in to Famous Funnies before heading over to Donenfeld's growing Superman empire where it stayed until long after Bud Fisher's death in 1954.

 

Bud Fisher was America's first millionaire comics cartoonist.

[dgarthwaite-migration]

For what it's worth...Max Gaines wrote an article on the history of comics in 1942 for this magazine and traced back the origin to cave paintings.

 

A now defunct (but cool) page on the history of speech balloons via the internet Archive.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070221005058/http://bugpowder.com/andy/e.speechballoons.evolution.html

 

DG

[BLBcomics-migration]

Oh, you cam across my friend Andy Konkykru's web site for the word balloon history which comes out of an earlier version. He has been a long time member of my Plat list I began back in 1999. A lot of his listings were supplied by various Plat list members over the years including your's truly

 

Here is a newer updated version of his ever evolving comics origins history site. I urge every one who reads my post here to go to his site and learn a few things.

 

http://konkykru.com/earlycomics.chronological.html

[dgarthwaite-migration]

Oh, you cam across my friend Andy Konkykru's web site for the word balloon history which comes out of an earlier version. He has been a long time member of my Plat list I began back in 1999. A lot of his listings were supplied by various Plat list members over the years including your's truly

 

Here is a newer updated version of his ever evolving comics origins history site. I urge every one who reads my post here to go to his site and learn a few things.

 

http://konkykru.com/earlycomics.chronological.html

 

I discovered it many years ago and had to dig up the link which was now dead. Thanks for the update.

 

Perhaps a better title for this thread would be "Roots of the American Comic Book".

These previous incarnations do not fit the modern format and periodical nature that was popularized by Max Gaines.

 

I have proposed a theory that Thomas Edison may deserve credit for the popularization of sequential art. A movie is a photographic sequential series of pictures and his invention of "moving pictures" would have inspired artist to duplicate what he'd done with film.

 

DG

[ciorac]

No one in this camp has stated Oldbuck inspired Superman. Certainly not me.

 

however, Bill was earlier pontificating Gaines had not seen Topffer. As I have known for a very long time re that 1942 Print article Gaines supposedly wrote himself, he hisself states otherwise.

 

The concept of making comic books begins in America in 1842.

 

By 1849 the first original home grown one comes along.

 

In the 1850s more than half a dozen more comic books are published in America as well as quite a few large tabloid size (akin to 70s Treasury size) periodicals began running sequential comic strips. It was this going on which garnered tehe attention span of NYC based larger circulation "news" papers

 

I showed a scant three well drawn examples from Wild Oats weekly newspaper (like a Sunday special the "other" newspapers owned by Pulitzer, then Hearst, then Gordon Bennett, publisher of Outcault's Buster Brown, McCay's Little Nemo as well as his more obscure attempts at building wide sperad success with character identification , among many other well known classics, then a flood gate, picked up on being copy cats on.

 

I could scan and show HUNDREDS of equally cool sequential comic strips just from Wild Oats alone much less the other graphic humor periodicals from the 19th century. These three suffice as the mere examples they were intended as.

 

Here is my absolute favorite comic book cover of all time which dates from December 1905 Christmas season. I simply love the work of Winsor McCay and some some to still cling to outmoded easily disproved micro views of what constitutes being able to call something a "comic book" was is and remains silly.

 

 

 

Here is the section of Gaines' narrative as he discusses the evolution of the newspaper comic strip. It sounds like an historical retrospective written a decade after he had enjoyed much success in pioneering comic books in America. Not a contemporary piece written about HIS direct influences. If you read the entire article in context this will become clear. He is an ancestor of yours in many ways Bob. He started researching the history of the medium and wrote this paper. Also using it as a platform to get publicity for his new line of EC comics

 

It was your post earlier in this thread, and in an older thread, where you state categorically that Obadiah was more important to the evolution of comic books than Superman. Those kinds of wild, unsupportable, statements tend to cast a shadow of doubt on your overall credibility. If you wrote it just stir the pot, fine. But if you truly believe that, that is a horse of a different color.

 

Do you think you would have been able to make a living selling comic books lo these 40+ years had superheroes not spawned the true golden age of comics, that eventully led to the silver and modern ages? I doubt that Katzenjammer Kids and Oldbucks of the world would have led to your accumulating 1,000,000 comics at one point in your life

 

Fair enough?

 

 

[vaillant]

Ahh, Max und Moritz!

 

I still think you are talking of two different things. Bill is right about the evolution of comic books, which as a means owe pretty much everything to the bases laid in the Golden Age, but this won’t go for comics at large.

In Italy, the true "Superman" has probably been Flash Gordon, way before italian authors and publishers developed their own paths:

 

 

And this is the most prized collectible in Italy. It’s from 1933 and it represents the very first Disney publication conceived as a standalone comic book (landscape format, of course):

 

 

An important chronology of our own comics' history (my favorite highlight is 1937, as "Il Vittorioso" is launched, the very first publication entirely centered on comics created in Italy – the two examples I posted are from that):

 

http://www.fumetto100.it/ita/cronologia_1929-1938.asp

[vaillant]

This shows Alex Raymond’s influence on some of our first generation of authors, this is a panel from "Romano il Legionario", our own patriotic hero, a sort of Blackhawk or Airboy in reverse…

 

 

And going to France, here’s Jacobs doing Gordon, before "Le Rayon U":

 

 

And a page from "Le Rayon U", still showing the strong Foster influence:

 

 

And then, "Saturno contro la Terra", one of the very first italian science fiction adventure comics (partially published in the USA in "Future Comics"):

 

 

[sacentaur]

...well, Batman came right out of the Shadow...and Superman from Doc Savage...etc etc. .And think of Lugosi's Dracula when you look at the early Batman stories in Detective. The creators have acknowledged it...no mention of OO for their inspiration.

 

Not that I have a bone in this nor have I read everything posted, but in that post above, you are confusing the content with the form. BLB talks about the form, you talk about the content. Two entirely different aspects in this debate.

 

Different, but not equally weighted factors. This is an extreme example, but just because the ancient Egyptians had board games like Senet and Mehen, it doesn't mean either had any influence at all on the creators of Monopoly.

 

This thread is all a red herring for BLB to justify his past, present, and (no doubt) future egregious behavior. Once that is understood, then it makes sense.

Not familiar with said egregious behavior.

 

Consider yourself fortunate.

 

Indeed, but don't just take our word for it. Here are recent comments from two Board members (one being his distinguished but now disgusted former co-author) who - like me, and Buttock, and many others - know the unfortunate truth:

 

Bob Beerbohm just called me, in spite of the fact that I have told him that I never wanted to speak with him again.... I have read his comments, they are replete with erroneous information.

 

Maybe some of you will learn one day "how" some aspects of eBay works:

I learned very early an important lesson about eBay...

No matter how sincere the seller's story or bad the seller's predicament, don't bother making a mercy offer on over-priced, over-graded buy-it-nows.

 

 

[font:Times New Roman]Richard, you're a fee-losipher to be reckoned with! [/font]

The other thing I've learned is to never trust anything that comes out of Bob Beerbohm's mouth.

 

[sacentaur]

Hi Claudio, I don't think I ever thanked you in public but I very much appreciate the Italian Centaurs that you previously shipped out to me. I decided to split them with Board member RyanH, who was very happy with the gift.

 

Your work and research on Italian comics, especially the WWII variety, is quite impressive and just as interesting - I look forward to your continued efforts.

[Theagenes]

This shows Alex Raymond’s influence on some of our first generation of authors, this is a panel from "Romano il Legionario", our own patriotic hero, a sort of Blackhawk or Airboy in reverse…

 

 

And going to France, here’s Jacobs doing Gordon, before "Le Rayon U":

 

 

And a page from "Le Rayon U", still showing the strong Foster influence:

 

 

And then, "Saturno contro la Terra", one of the very first italian science fiction adventure comics (partially published in the USA in "Future Comics"):

 

 

 

 

This is great stuff. Thank you for sharing this.

[Bookery]

That doesn't sway me from the belief though that, value aside, the advent of the superhero (particularly the arrival of Superman) was the catalyst and economic engine to drive comics into the millions of sales per month that really created the industry as a whole. Hence, their importance is inarguable to a large degree.

 

Superman is important, yes.

But I disagree with much of the rest.

 

As comics are now dominated by super-hero creators and collectors, there is a continual effort to re-write history in their favor. But the facts don't support the super-hype.

 

Comics were thriving and expanding constantly since their latest-format incarnation in 1933. Superman simply led to the explosion of a new genre within the comic book. That doesn't mean comic books weren't thriving, and wouldn't thrive, without it. Take any given genre away from the motion picture... the gangster film, the romance, the western, the musical... film history would be very different, surely, but cinema would have thrived nonetheless.

 

As has been pointed out, Action comics didn't have all that much impact on comics sales overall, though it certainly was an important title for the DC/National house. But the comparative scarcity today of early Action issues compared to contemporaneous issues of King Comics, Famous Funnies, Feature Comics, Tip Top, Sparkler, Popular, etc., shows that even a year or more into Action, its sales still lagged many other titles.

 

Superman #1 was a major leap in sales figures, and certainly began a scramble for copycat concepts. But this seems like an anomaly at the time that bears more scrutiny... what was there about this issue that suddenly brought such massive interest in this character... the design?, the marketing?... it would be fascinating to know.

 

Even for all that, it was primarily 3 comics publishers that took super-heroes to heart... DC/All-American, Fawcett, and Quality. Others dabbled in and out of them, as they did with many genres. Even powerhouse Dell tried some original characters briefly, but soon gave up on them. And as has been pointed out, the first wave of super-heroes began falling by the wayside as soon as WW2 ended.

And even during this hey-day, after Superman #1s success, the character quickly dropped in popularity behind Captain Marvel and other Fawcett titles.

 

If there was any one truly major source for comics success in the 1940s it would have to lie at the footsteps of Dell in general, and probably Walt Disney in particular. I think it is safe to assume that the creation or non-creation of a Superman would have had no effect whatsoever on Disney's decision to go big into comics, as they did with every crossover medium opportunity they came across.

 

After that, the often-overlooked juggernaut of Classic Illustrated was a dominant force in comics through the 1960s, as were Archie, western, and other humor characters. Super-heroes fared rather poorly even in the '40s against these other genres, and were almost obliterated in the 1950s.

 

The comeback of the super-hero in the 1960s is, fairly obviously, a comeback by default, as TV had replaced most other genres by offering a free alternative to comics. The budget and technological constraints of the medium at the time made competing with super-heroes impossible, and so they (along with Archie and Harvey) continued to thrive into the 1970s and beyond, though "thriving" in the 60s, 70s, 80s, etc., meant surviving with publication numbers far below any previously seen in the industry.

 

Superman is to super-hero comics what "Little Caesar" was to the gangster film. The character's importance is huge. But mythology has tended to turn "huge import" into "all import", and history simply doesn't support that.

 

Edited April 9, 2013 by Bookery

[vaillant]

Hi Claudio, I don't think I ever thanked you in public but I very much appreciate the Italian Centaurs that you previously shipped out to me. I decided to split them with Board member RyanH, who was very happy with the gift.

 

Your work and research on Italian comics, especially the WWII variety, is quite impressive and just as interesting - I look forward to your continued efforts.

 

Thanks Steve, but please try to set the example and refrain from personal judgement. I may agree or not with Robert Beerbohm attitude and comics study approaches, but while any kind of criticism is allowed, the replies by Mr Bedrock are in bad taste to say the least, also giving the current situation.

And I won’t comment furtherly as I tend to agree with ciorac but don’t like the tone of the last posts…

[vaillant]

BTW, Disneys "Disney's decision to go big into comics" as I seem to get from Bookery’s post, pretty much ended with the syndicated production, if we leave out Barks and a few important comic book authors.

 

Disney stopped going big into comics in the US in the 1960s, while it started to go big into comics here (and internationally) thanks to our renowned italian school, starting as early as 1938, but in full bloom since the 1950s, thanks to pioneers like Federico Pedrocchi, which wrote the very first italian Disney stories pre-dating Barks’ work on the Ducks.

 

This is great stuff. Thank you for sharing this.

 

You’re welcome! (thumbs u

Edited April 9, 2013 by vaillant

[sacentaur]

Thanks Steve, but please try to set the example and refrain from personal judgement. I may agree or not with Robert Beerbohm attitude and comics study approaches, but while any kind of criticism is allowed, the replies by Mr Bedrock are in bad taste to say the least, also giving the current situation. And I won’t comment furtherly as I tend to agree with ciorac but don’t like the tone of the last posts…

 

Hi Claudio, I'm afraid there's a very unsettling backstory that goes far beyond what is being discussed here, and it's only natural for those who have personal knowledge of it to voice their sentiments.

 

I'm sure it's not a situation that any of us enjoy, but any other response would require self-censorship or abject denial, and that is something that I in good conscience cannot abide.

[BLBcomics-migration]

No one in this camp has stated Oldbuck inspired Superman. Certainly not me.

 

however, Bill was earlier pontificating Gaines had not seen Topffer. As I have known for a very long time re that 1942 Print article Gaines supposedly wrote himself, he hisself states otherwise.

 

The concept of making comic books begins in America in 1842.

 

By 1849 the first original home grown one comes along.

 

In the 1850s more than half a dozen more comic books are published in America as well as quite a few large tabloid size (akin to 70s Treasury size) periodicals began running sequential comic strips. It was this going on which garnered tehe attention span of NYC based larger circulation "news" papers

 

I showed a scant three well drawn examples from Wild Oats weekly newspaper (like a Sunday special the "other" newspapers owned by Pulitzer, then Hearst, then Gordon Bennett, publisher of Outcault's Buster Brown, McCay's Little Nemo as well as his more obscure attempts at building wide sperad success with character identification , among many other well known classics, then a flood gate, picked up on being copy cats on.

 

I could scan and show HUNDREDS of equally cool sequential comic strips just from Wild Oats alone much less the other graphic humor periodicals from the 19th century. These three suffice as the mere examples they were intended as.

 

Here is my absolute favorite comic book cover of all time which dates from December 1905 Christmas season. I simply love the work of Winsor McCay and some some to still cling to outmoded easily disproved micro views of what constitutes being able to call something a "comic book" was is and remains silly.

 

 

 

Here is the section of Gaines' narrative as he discusses the evolution of the newspaper comic strip. It sounds like an historical retrospective written a decade after he had enjoyed much success in pioneering comic books in America. Not a contemporary piece written about HIS direct influences. If you read the entire article in context this will become clear. He is an ancestor of yours in many ways Bob. He started researching the history of the medium and wrote this paper. Also using it as a platform to get publicity for his new line of EC comics

 

It was your post earlier in this thread, and in an older thread, where you state categorically that Obadiah was more important to the evolution of comic books than Superman. Those kinds of wild, unsupportable, statements tend to cast a shadow of doubt on your overall credibility. If you wrote it just stir the pot, fine. But if you truly believe that, that is a horse of a different color.

 

Do you think you would have been able to make a living selling comic books lo these 40+ years had superheroes not spawned the true golden age of comics, that eventully led to the silver and modern ages? I doubt that Katzenjammer Kids and Oldbucks of the world would have led to your accumulating 1,000,000 comics at one point in your life

 

Fair enough?

 

 

 

SUPER HEROIC COMIC BOOKS

 

Yes, I know I would have been making a living buying, selling, trading, comic books all these decades with or with out super "heroic" type comics. I live in a mercantiling comics world and related graphics-oriented material that includes super heroic types, but am not dependent upon them. There is a HUGE world of comic books outside the narrow confines of the heroic ones.

 

Co-opening my first store in August 1972, in a SF Bay Area world of Crumb's Zap Comics along with Griffin, Spain, Robert Wiliams, Moscoso along with Gilbert Shelton's Freak Bros, Corben, Irons, Sheridan et al doing comic books like Slow Death, Skull, etc, Art Spiegelman, and a host of others involved with the "comix" aspect of what went in to the corporate name I came up with: Comics & Comix to call our chain store operation, throughout the 70s, a comic book store would have DIED on the vine trying to be dependent upon "super" heroes.

 

Mad, National Lampoon, others of the satire variety, these were good sellers for us

 

Peanuts, Pogo, Doonesbury, later on Garfield, many orhers, comic "books" which brought in "civilians" in to our then new world of comics

 

Better sellers then than virtually any "super" hero included Wrightson's Swamp Thing (#1 came out as we were opening up), Smith's Conan, among others of that sort. The late 60s thru the end of the Nixon era are a huge proliferation of "horror" comics being popular sellers of us. Tomb of Dracula by Gene Colan comes to mind among others.

 

Super Heroes?

 

then, of course, there was the Howard the Duck phenom anomoly in 76 which was the very first speculative title almost entirely "controlled" by comic book dealers which saw a $3 retail its first week, mainly due to hype. It came out during the months that year I was not a comic book dealer for a living, having gone back to college, not re-opening with a solo store until November 1976.

 

One does not see a move back towards selling larger numbers of "super" heroes until Byrne, Austin and Clairmont begin doing X-Men with #108 in mid 1977. Even then it took six months before I began pre-ordering 10,000 an issue and upped it even further as we got in to the #120s and #130s. For a while there Byrne X-mens ruled the planet.

 

Prior to #108 X-men as a seller was non noticable on any sort of blip.

 

Then Miller comes along with Daredevil in 158, sales do not begin to spike until 168, but it took till about 171 for most comic book sellers to notice, hey, people really like it. By #174 I was pre-ordering 8,000 at issue up thru #181 when i cut it back a bit not knowing how Miller would take the book

 

I have already pointed out with a few pre Superman examples, am not going to include any more in this thread right now, no need, that there were comic books selling in the Multi-MILLIONS prior to Superman #1 hitting the stands in 1939. Action Comics was not setting any world's records prior to Superman #1. That is a fact.

 

MAX GAINES

 

Bill, my friend, you seem to dodge the concept you stated earlier that Gaines did not know of Topffer. That is what I interpreted, please correct if I am wrong on that note. That said, have you read, or at least know of, Harry Wildenberg's 1949 Commonweal article/interview on aspects of the evolution of the Eastern Color incursions in to mercantiling comics in what is obvious to many who have done a lot of research in to the time lines of what is the "dime novel" format?

 

the original first editor of Famous Funnies Steve Douglas had a two page article in a 60s RBCC wherein he states a lot of 'facts" used by later historians. Have you read this either? Do you know it exists?

 

Calling Max Gaines a solo type inventer of "comic books" is like calling Stan Lee a solo inventer of the 60s Marvel Universe. Both concepts are simply....wrong.

 

MOST IMPORTANT COMIC BOOKS

 

Yes, I have developed a time list of what I consider the most important comic books for their influence on getting "product" to market and be read:

 

1842 1) The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, Wilson & Co, NYC, first comic book in America. I have primary research documents which prove it is maintained steady in print and for sale in the New York City area until at least 1904.

 

1849 2) Journey to the Gold Diggins by Jeremiah Saddlebags, the Read Bros, first original USA comic book. It has two distinct printings. It is directly influenced by the Wilson & Co two Topffer comic books as are the many 1850s comic books and strips in periodicals I have handled, read, and in some cases even own. The 1860s and 1870s see comic strips enter "news" papers long before the short lived Yellow Kid blip of 1985-1898.

 

1903 3) Buster Brown and His Resolutions, Outcault, first "nationally distributed" comic book via Sears Roebuck catalog which then saw a huge number of this comic book format published for the next 20 years for most major newspaper comic strips. Quite a few publishers enter the comic book market as a result.

 

1938 4) Action Comics #1 intros Superman which saw huge numbers of super heroic comic books published for an approx five year period once Superman #1 1939 is noticed by distributors and retailers which, in turn, caused other publishers to begin to take notice.

 

But with the advent of the end of World War Two, the "super" hero in most all instances dies, almost completely supplanted by other genres which thrive to the point by 1952 there is a HUGE glut of some THREE BILLION PLUS comic books printed that year awash in America with almost nary a "super" heroic title amongst this glut which is turn is causing a lot of concerned citizens to be talking about this "obsession" over 90% of all children are having with comic books

 

1952 5) Mad Comics #1, Kurtzman, EC, later on Bill Gaines keeps it all to himself till he sells his company circa 1958. Once Warners absorbs it, he goes to work for them as well. This comic book heavily influences many succeeding generations of comics creators. I entered this title in to my short list upon urgings by friends Jay Lynch, Art Spiegelman, and other comics creators who had some convincing arguments to make on Kurtzman and Mad.

 

1968 6) Zap Comics #1 creates a whole new aspect centering on creator owned, royalty paying comic books while also at the same time spawing a new "underground" method of distributing "alternative" comic books from which spawns the Direct Market which later on in the mid 70s sees DC, Marvel, et al enter this "new" aspect of the comics world. The Code comics enter this "new" method because they are dying on the ID vine. Fact.

 

So, what are you arguing about other than to be for the sake of arguing?

 

Do I do my research on the evolution of comics in order to simply try to sell comic books? I, along with every one else involved, some 40+ friends of mine, contributed their knowledge and wisdom which went in to what started as a 15 page section in Overstreet #27 peaking with #38 39 40 as a 72 page section I was editing and laying out picking all the visual aid and being pushed (and, I hasten to add, resisting) to raise prices on stuff, basicly for free.

 

Around 2005 I had estimated my direct costs conducting the research I have done that preceding decade all over the country before I encountered now healed medical problems in 2006 at well over $30,000 at a few thousand (plus) a year.

 

OK, I have a query for you in response to innuendo: is it a crime to say "...buy a book from bob if you see something you like which in turn supports his research..." in to this field?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Straw-Man]

Hi Claudio, I don't think I ever thanked you in public but I very much appreciate the Italian Centaurs that you previously shipped out to me. I decided to split them with Board member RyanH, who was very happy with the gift.

 

Your work and research on Italian comics, especially the WWII variety, is quite impressive and just as interesting - I look forward to your continued efforts.

 

Thanks Steve, but please try to set the example and refrain from personal judgement. I may agree or not with Robert Beerbohm attitude and comics study approaches, but while any kind of criticism is allowed, the replies by Mr Bedrock are in bad taste to say the least, also giving the current situation.

And I won’t comment furtherly as I tend to agree with ciorac but don’t like the tone of the last posts…

 

oh, my.

[MrBedrock]

the replies by Mr Bedrock are in bad taste to say the least

I totally agree.