Show Us Your Ducks! 15 15

[BangZoom]

This used to belong to my old friend, Leonard Brown, and I think he told me it came from an issue of Fortune Magazine, but I never checked it out.

 

I think that strip is from the February 8th, 1944 issue of Look Magazine.

 

I don't know if the Disney strips were a regular feature in Look but here's another one that was printed in the July 27th issue.

 

[BangZoom]

 

 

Congrats on acquiring such nice pieces.

 

What medium did Barks use for the color sketch?

[BangZoom]

 

 

 

 

Gorgeous comics, Jon.

 

I love the holiday and seasonal covers Dell had on so many of their comics.

[Duffman_Comics]

Mail was good to me this a.m. I was going to post these in General, but then thought:

 

a. They'd be better appreciated here

b. AJD may get to see them, thereby establishing my street cred as a bona fide Australian Barks guy (he's sending me a couple of books).

c. Give a shout out to the Boardie I got them from, SatansProdigy. Price, packing, service and generally just great dealing with him. Kudos to you, James!!

 

[Duffman_Comics]

Just a couple more to show off, including a book I had not seen, let alone owned before - Top #2

[AJD]

Mail was good to me this a.m. I was going to post these in General, but then thought:

 

a. They'd be better appreciated here

b. AJD may get to see them, thereby establishing my street cred as a bona fide Australian Barks guy (he's sending me a couple of books).

c. Give a shout out to the Boardie I got them from, SatansProdigy. Price, packing, service and generally just great dealing with him. Kudos to you, James!!

 

 

I am humbled at being deemed important enough to establish cred with. I just like funny books.

 

Those are nice books Peter, including some I don't have. I shall take comfort that they are now on the same continent.

 

P.S. Your books are in the mail if my daughter remembered to post them on the way to school.

[MstrTech]

 

Congrats on acquiring such nice pieces.

 

What medium did Barks use for the color sketch?

 

According to the description it was a line art photocopy that he then colored. (thumbs u

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

Just a couple more to show off, including a book I had not seen, let alone owned before - Top #2

 

Top Comics are an interesting subset of Gold Key collecting. I never quite figured out where they came from or why; nor have I read about their story. I do remember seeing them at newstands in New York in the early seventies, hung up on those great binder clips above the newsdealer. Even in those youthful years I found such book abuse offensive.

 

Spotting one then was a bit of an oddity as they were no longer in general newstand circulation where I lived although I had picked some up from some used book dealers at that point.

 

If anyone knows the story on this imprint I would love to hear it!

[tb]

Since everybody loves Spanish Main so much

 

My dad got these in the Heritage Sig. Auction (along w/ many other Duck items ), the Preliminary Sketch is amazing and bigger than we expected, the color copy was colored by Barks himself too.

 

Enjoy. (thumbs u

 

I love the top sketch. It's fun to see the construction lines that separate the composition into 4 quadrants. The boat was pretty full already so it can't have been easy to fit Scrooge into it. This solution looks very natural and balanced. As I have mentioned in the past, I am not a big fan of the paintings that changed the original composition in order to squeeze Scrooge into them. Not to take anything away from this painting, which is also beautiful, but I personally prefer the earlier versions, like the one Bangzoom posted in his thread a while back. I realize most collectors feel differently since so many requested paintings with Scrooge.

[Moondog]

Just a couple more to show off, including a book I had not seen, let alone owned before - Top #2

 

Top Comics are an interesting subset of Gold Key collecting. I never quite figured out where they came from or why; nor have I read about their story. I do remember seeing them at newstands in New York in the early seventies, hung up on those great binder clips above the newsdealer. Even in those youthful years I found such book abuse offensive.

 

Spotting one then was a bit of an oddity as they were no longer in general newstand circulation where I lived although I had picked some up from some used book dealers at that point.

 

If anyone knows the story on this imprint I would love to hear it!

 

I've always been under the assumption that Tops Comics are giveaways. I know American Airlines gave them away. If newsstand dealers were selling them then they were probably buying the dirt cheap and getting a bit more profit on each.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

Just a couple more to show off, including a book I had not seen, let alone owned before - Top #2

 

Top Comics are an interesting subset of Gold Key collecting. I never quite figured out where they came from or why; nor have I read about their story. I do remember seeing them at newstands in New York in the early seventies, hung up on those great binder clips above the newsdealer. Even in those youthful years I found such book abuse offensive.

 

Spotting one then was a bit of an oddity as they were no longer in general newstand circulation where I lived although I had picked some up from some used book dealers at that point.

 

If anyone knows the story on this imprint I would love to hear it!

 

I've always been under the assumption that Tops Comics are giveaways. I know American Airlines gave them away. If newsstand dealers were selling them then they were probably buying the dirt cheap and getting a bit more profit on each.

 

I hadn't heard that before but it could be possilbe as there is no price on the one above and I don't recall if the ones I have; have prices on them. I also recall seeing them listed on E-Bay bagged in groups of three probably marketed in a retail venue; probably competing with the DC's of the day that came in bags.

 

Lots of weird things happened back east with comics and the way they were sold. I think a lot of unscrupulous deals were done that moved tons of books into flea market sales and other illicit venues at the expense of the publishers.

 

One time my brother and I came across a huge table in a discount department store filled to overflowing with 5-6 year old comics. Books like Iron Man #2, all kinds of late sixties Charlton super-heros were to be found for less than cover price. This was a good period of time to be into comics, besides cheap back issues you would find deals like this if you kept your eyes open.

[Duffman_Comics]

Just a couple more to show off, including a book I had not seen, let alone owned before - Top #2

 

Top Comics are an interesting subset of Gold Key collecting. I never quite figured out where they came from or why; nor have I read about their story. I do remember seeing them at newstands in New York in the early seventies, hung up on those great binder clips above the newsdealer. Even in those youthful years I found such book abuse offensive.

 

Spotting one then was a bit of an oddity as they were no longer in general newstand circulation where I lived although I had picked some up from some used book dealers at that point.

 

If anyone knows the story on this imprint I would love to hear it!

 

I've always been under the assumption that Tops Comics are giveaways. I know American Airlines gave them away. If newsstand dealers were selling them then they were probably buying the dirt cheap and getting a bit more profit on each.

 

I hadn't heard that before but it could be possilbe as there is no price on the one above and I don't recall if the ones I have; have prices on them. I also recall seeing them listed on E-Bay bagged in groups of three probably marketed in a retail venue; probably competing with the DC's of the day that came in bags.

 

Lots of weird things happened back east with comics and the way they were sold. I think a lot of unscrupulous deals were done that moved tons of books into flea market sales and other illicit venues at the expense of the publishers.

 

One time my brother and I came across a huge table in a discount department store filled to overflowing with 5-6 year old comics. Books like Iron Man #2, all kinds of late sixties Charlton super-heros were to be found for less than cover price. This was a good period of time to be into comics, besides cheap back issues you would find deals like this if you kept your eyes open.

 

If the Wiki is accurate, regarding Gold Key, then you are almost spot on. Here is the relevant bit:

 

"In 1967 they reprinted a number of selected issues of their comics under the title Top Comics which were sold in plastic bags of 5 at gas stations and various eateries; some locations removed them from the bags and sold them individually with price stickers attached to the covers."

 

 

[Transplant]

I first bought a pre-pack with 5 Top Comics from Mile High about 15 years ago. That pack, while not common, is readily available. It was for sale at one time as it has a price on it. As for the other issues not in that 5 pack, I'm not sure how they came to market. I own a number of them and I don't recall any of them having prices on the individual books. Maybe they were all pre-packs? I do know they are, from what I've read, all reprints of Dell stories published by Gold Key. From the GCD, it seems all were put out in 1967.

 

I don't have the indicia in front of me so I can't say whether Top Comics was supposed to be a limited GK imprint that published these reprints or if Top Comics was supposed to be the title. Each of them would read Top Comic Flipper or Top Comics Walt Disney Donald Duck. There were 30 different "titles" according to GCD. Some titles had 1 issues while a couple had as many as 4 issues.

 

I started to put a run together since I enjoyed the 5 pack so much, but my interest level fell off.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

I first bought a pre-pack with 5 Top Comics from Mile High about 15 years ago. That pack, while not common, is readily available. It was for sale at one time as it has a price on it. As for the other issues not in that 5 pack, I'm not sure how they came to market. I own a number of them and I don't recall any of them having prices on the individual books. Maybe they were all pre-packs? I do know they are, from what I've read, all reprints of Dell stories published by Gold Key. From the GCD, it seems all were put out in 1967.

 

I don't have the indicia in front of me so I can't say whether Top Comics was supposed to be a limited GK imprint that published these reprints or if Top Comics was supposed to be the title. Each of them would read Top Comic Flipper or Top Comics Walt Disney Donald Duck. There were 30 different "titles" according to GCD. Some titles had 1 issues while a couple had as many as 4 issues.

 

I started to put a run together since I enjoyed the 5 pack so much, but my interest level fell off.

 

One of the best TOPS titles is the reprint of Snow White, which had appeared at least 3 times prior to this (original newspaper strip, Four Color 49, Gold Key reprint of the original Four Color, and maybe one I have forgotten.

 

You don't see that one too often, but if I had been able to buy those bags from the stores I would have tried to pick that one up.

 

Another forgotten aspect of Disney collecting is when Gold Key stopped distributing to the newstands. Perhaps working from their TOPS experience they tried to move to retail distribution. I used to have to go to discount department stores and buy the three packs to keep my Disney run going. Those bags would force you to pick up unwanted issues of things like Porky Pig. Not a happy time for the Gold Key collector. Although those were all called Whitman then, very confusing.

 

 

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

Found this photo on the internet.

 

[pinball]

Here's a good one! Thanks Jimbo!

 

 

 

[BB-Gun]

This one doesn't have any ducks but it has Disney characters and Nedor characters (Super Mouse) in the same book.

It isn't half comics but it is close. It is published by the same guys that do True. And it probably reprints some stories from True.

Has anyone got a bunch of issues with a greater variety of stories?

bb

Edited April 15, 2009 by BB-Gun

[Transplant]

Here's a good one! Thanks Jimbo!

 

 

This one is chocked full of good reading.

[ciorac]

Here's a good one! Thanks Jimbo!

 

 

This one is chocked full of good reading.

 

I really like that book. I've got one myself

 

 

 

[pinball]

Nice one Bill!!