The History Of DC

[shrunkenhead]

 

And Rocketeer, guv, mate, change the avatar and sig. They're grotesque. I mean, really!!! I liked South Park as much as the next guy but.....

 

 

Hey rocket, don't change it, I think it's funny. We Americans are so crass, heh heh..

[goldust40]

 

And Rocketeer, guv, mate, change the avatar and sig. They're grotesque. I mean, really!!! I liked South Park as much as the next guy but.....

 

 

Hey rocket, don't change it, I think it's funny. We Americans are so crass, heh heh..

 

You'll never out-crass us Brits!!! We invented toilet humour, dammit!!

 

Baron von Richthoven (Black Adder IV)

 

"How lucky you English are to find the toilet so amusing. For us, it is a mundane and functional item. For you, the basis of an entire culture."

[OldGuy]

And Rocketeer, guv, mate, change the avatar and sig. They're grotesque. I mean, really!!! I liked South Park as much as the next guy but.....

 

For anyone using the Firefox browser with the adblock extension just right click on any picture (ad or otherwise) and click "adblock image". Poof! no more giant dancing turds or other over sized annoying signatures. It's also handy for the avatars that aren't work friendly.

[Rocketeer]

 

I am just wondering if All-American ever existed as its own entity outside of DC. Or was All-American like Veritigo is now, a separate brand, with its own editors but under the DC umbrella.

 

Technically it was a separate entity from Jan 1939-July 1940...All-American was owned byDonefield, Gaines, and Liebowitz,......Detective Comics was owned solely by Donefield...

 

...and Ian....it is a dancing turd,...Mr. Hanky doesn't pretend to be anything other than what he is....."Christmas Poo".....he is the genuine personification of modern day Christmas....

[Norrin_Radd]

Dear Rocketeer

 

Why does your avatar look like a dancing turd ??

 

I find it disturbing.

 

Did you say "disturding"?

 

I can't believe I fed you that one.

[dem1138]

What is SMASH?

I am on a big 'history of comics' reading kick right now and recently finished "Men of Tomorrow" and can honestly say that is is a well written and enjoyable read. It is very informative and gives the reader as straightforward a history as anyone could ask for. I HIGHLY recommend it, if for no other reason, because you will gain a greater appreciation for the history of the medium you love. I am now reading "Tales to Astonish" which is perhaps one of the most poorly written non-fiction books I have ever read. However, the history and background the author gives makes it worth finishing.

[Zonker]

At the end of the day, isn't it clear that a "Complete DC Collection" means no more and no less than whatever the collector wants it to be?

 

- Giveaways: in or out?

- Price variants: in or out?

- Ashcans: in or out?

- Whitmans: in or out?

- Multi-pack reprints: in or out?

- Pre-acquisition Fawcetts, Quality's, Charltons: in or out?

- Pre-Action #1, pre-hero books published by various predecessor companies: in or out?

 

I'm equally tired of people here shatting upon Ian's collecting goal as I am with Ian be-littling Christine's collection however she chooses to define it.

 

[Rocketeer]

....shatting....is that realy a word now?.....

[Norrin_Radd]

....shatting....is that realy a word now?.....

 

Maybe in England?

 

 

 

Much better Rocketeer!

 

[Ian_Levine]

I am just wondering if All-American ever existed as its own entity outside of DC. Or was All-American like Veritigo is now, a seperate brand, with its own editors but under the DC umbrella.

 

It began as its own entity, then became like Vertigo, then split from DC which affected the All Star Comics lineup of the Justice Society of America for a while, then came back to DC and Gaines left.

 

But every title issued under the umbrella of All American is considered a DC.

[Ian_Levine]

- Giveaways: in or out?

- Price variants: in or out?

- Ashcans: in or out?

- Whitmans: in or out?

- Multi-pack reprints: in or out?

- Pre-acquisition Fawcetts, Quality's, Charltons: in or out?

- Pre-Action #1, pre-hero books published by various predecessor companies: in or out?

 

 

THIS IS HOW I PERSONALLY COLLECT.

 

- Giveaways: in or out? IN

- Price variants: in or out? OUT

- Ashcans: in or out? OUT (although I buy them when I can)

- Whitmans:in or out I HAVE LOADS BUT I'M NOT BOTHERED ABOUT BEING A COMPLETIST.

- Multi-pack reprints: in or out? OUT

- Pre-acquisition Fawcetts, Quality's, Charltons: in or out? OUT BUT I HAVE ALL THE ONES WHERE THE RUNS BECAME DC

- Pre-Action #1, pre-hero books published by various predecessor companies: in or out? IN, IN 100% IN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY AND THE CORNERSTONE OF ANY DC COLLECTION

[Zonker]

Hey, I picked up the DC Rarities Archive edition yesterday. In Roy Thomas' introduction, he touches on the DC/AA split.

 

Basically, according to RT,

 

From 1939-1944:

DC= Liebowitz + Donenfeld partnership

AA= Gaines + Donenfeld partnership

 

From mid-1944 to spring 1945:

AA symbol appears on the Gaines books for 6 to 8 months; no more house ads from DC in AA books and vice-versa during this period.

 

Roy Thomas: "What was going on? At this late date, no one seems to know. One reasonably well-documented story is that Donenfeld gave "half of his half" of AA to his DC co-publisher Liebowitz, and that Gaines perhaps disliked Liebowitz and insisted that either he and Donenfeld buy him out, or let him buy them out. Others suspect that, whatever the bad blood between any of the parties, the split may have had more to do with attempting to make one company look like two in order to get a greater newsprint allotment amid the wartime shortages and paper quotas. At any rate, by early 1945 Gaines did sell out, and the DC symbol again blazoned forth from all the magazines of both the DC and AA line."

[Ian_Levine]

Hey, I picked up the DC Rarities Archive edition yesterday. In Roy Thomas' introduction, he touches on the DC/AA split.

 

Basically, according to RT,

 

From 1939-1944:

DC= Liebowitz + Donenfeld partnership

AA= Gaines + Donenfeld partnership

 

From mid-1944 to spring 1945:

AA symbol appears on the Gaines books for 6 to 8 months; no more house ads from DC in AA books and vice-versa during this period.

 

Roy Thomas: "What was going on? At this late date, no one seems to know. One reasonably well-documented story is that Donenfeld gave "half of his half" of AA to his DC co-publisher Liebowitz, and that Gaines perhaps disliked Liebowitz and insisted that either he and Donenfeld buy him out, or let him buy them out. Others suspect that, whatever the bad blood between any of the parties, the split may have had more to do with attempting to make one company look like two in order to get a greater newsprint allotment amid the wartime shortages and paper quotas. At any rate, by early 1945 Gaines did sell out, and the DC symbol again blazoned forth from all the magazines of both the DC and AA line."

 

 

But the most important thing to agree on out of all of this, is that if a person collects DC, then they need to have every DC and every All American to have a complete collection.

 

I mean you could HARDLY claim to have a complete DC collection if you didn't have All Star Comics or All American Comics or Wonder Woman or Green Lantern, now could you ????

[Rocketeer]

But the most important thing to agree on out of all of this, is that if a person collects DC, then they need to have every DC and every All American to have a complete collection.

 

Umm,....no,......it's important only to you,....books published prior to All-Star #1 in Jul 1940 are All-Americans....not DCs....they are now the property of DC....

[BradleyX2]

But the most important thing to agree on out of all of this, is that if a person collects DC, then they need to have every DC and every All American to have a complete collection.

 

I mean you could HARDLY claim to have a complete DC collection if you didn't have All Star Comics or All American Comics or Wonder Woman or Green Lantern, now could you ????

 

 

[Joanna]

books published prior to All-Star #1 in Jul 1940 are All-Americans....not DCs....they are now the property of DC....

 

I have to disagree with you, Rocketeer. DC appears to be a company where two halves made a whole. All American is one of those halves. Stop thinking about the name of the company and start thinking about what made it what it is -- the characters. Superman and Batman are not "more DC" than Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. The companies were tied together by a common owner, and were two divisions under one roof.

 

It could be as easily argued that the original publishers of Action Comics and Detective Comics weren't DC until All American was there. Again, it took the two halves to make the magic whole. Therefore the products of both companies are what made DC, whether they were together or apart in any given month. The important factor isn't how they began, or if they had a squabble, it's that these two entities have been, for the bulk of their existance, one company.

 

If a comic was put out by All American, regardless of the timeline, it belongs in a DC collection.

 

-- Joanna

[deathlok]

IT's a matter of semantics really.

 

If someone wanted to collect all the Marvel Comics. I certainly would not begrudge them for not including Timely/Atlas books. They would still have a set of MArvel comics without the Timely/Atlas books.

 

Although some people will argue that a Marvel collection is not complete without Timely/Atlas books.

 

So the same goes for DC/National/All-American.

[greggy]

IT's a matter of semantics really.

 

If someone wanted to collect all the Marvel Comics. I certainly would not begrudge them for not including Timely/Atlas books. They would still have a set of MArvel comics without the Timely/Atlas books.

 

Although some people will argue that a Marvel collection is not complete without Timely/Atlas books.

 

So the same goes for DC/National/All-American.

[Joanna]

IT's a matter of semantics really.

 

If someone wanted to collect all the Marvel Comics. I certainly would not begrudge them for not including Timely/Atlas books. They would still have a set of MArvel comics without the Timely/Atlas books.

 

Although some people will argue that a Marvel collection is not complete without Timely/Atlas books.

 

So the same goes for DC/National/All-American.

 

I would never presume to guess all the books involved in a complete DC collection. It's been mentioned many times -- do you include giveaways? Variants? and so on. But If you want all the books from the start of the company, I don't see how one could decide that this issue of Green Lantern is included, but this one isn't, etc. It just doesn't make sense. If he was talking about only books that had the DC bullet on them, that would be different. But he's talking about the bigger picture, and All American is part and parcel of that bigger picture.

 

You have a right and left leg. They're separate entities, wear different shoes, etc. But they both work together to support your body.

 

Okay, a weird allegory, but you get my point. It's not that I don't understand the argument against this view. I just don't agree with it. However, you are, as always, entitled to your opinion!

 

-- Joanna

[Ian_Levine]

It could be as easily argued that the original publishers of Action Comics and Detective Comics weren't DC until All American was there.

 

Joanna is SO correct.

Remember that Wonder Woman was created by All American.