50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 (edited) As far as I can tell, this is the earliest children's book in the census to receive a 9.6. The only "comic books" prior to 1938 to get this grade are two Church "New Adventure" from late 1937. There are a handful of 9.6 Mickey Mouse Magazines from 1937 (all of which I have posted in the past) and some digest sized giveaways prior to that. Anyway, just nice to see any early book like this survive. Especially since the cover artwork is pretty neat. That is fantastic! I would assume that must be a file copy to have survived in that kind of shape or a book stashed away and never touched. Unreal. Hats off to the good folks at Western for producing this gem those many years ago. Also interesting to see Whitman as the attributed publisher. I wonder if anyone has ever published the story of how the Whitman name came into being. Edited October 21, 2013 by 40YrsCollctngCmcs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted October 21, 2013 Share Posted October 21, 2013 I like both of those books and like the animated cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Little did the boys at Dell know that animated gifs would someday bring their print covers to life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tth2 Posted October 22, 2013 Author Share Posted October 22, 2013 As far as I can tell, this is the earliest children's book in the census to receive a 9.6. The only "comic books" prior to 1938 to get this grade are two Church "New Adventure" from late 1937. There are a handful of 9.6 Mickey Mouse Magazines from 1937 (all of which I have posted in the past) and some digest sized giveaways prior to that. Anyway, just nice to see any early book like this survive. Especially since the cover artwork is pretty neat. Good lord! I bow in the general direction of this book. I am just constantly stunned by the preservation of the books you find from the 1930s. Your book is not that far from being 80 years old, and yet it looks so immaculate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Transplant Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Fantastic book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pmpknface Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Very cool book! I love the old-school look of Donald Duck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 (edited) As far as I can tell, this is the earliest children's book in the census to receive a 9.6. The only "comic books" prior to 1938 to get this grade are two Church "New Adventure" from late 1937. There are a handful of 9.6 Mickey Mouse Magazines from 1937 (all of which I have posted in the past) and some digest sized giveaways prior to that. Anyway, just nice to see any early book like this survive. Especially since the cover artwork is pretty neat. That is fantastic! I would assume that must be a file copy to have survived in that kind of shape or a book stashed away and never touched. Unreal. Hats off to the good folks at Western for producing this gem those many years ago. Also interesting to see Whitman as the attributed publisher. I wonder if anyone has ever published the story of how the Whitman name came into being. Gorgeous book! I have wondered about the whole Whitman, Dell, Gold Key connection. I believe Gold Key split for Dell and took half of the titles but why did it split? Edited October 22, 2013 by mdktkd2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstrange Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Dell had provided the branding and distribution for Western Publishing. After a 20+ year successful partnership, they disagreed about what direction to take. Dell went for 15cent cover price comics when others were at 12 cents and failed and Western/Gold Key stuck more with their original editorial strategy that had been working and survived for a couple more decades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Gorgeous book! I have wondered about the whole Whitman, Dell, Gold Key connection. I believe Gold Key split for Dell and took half of the titles but why did it split? Go search Mark Evanier's site for some great information on the Dell / Gold Key story. I was more curious about the fact that Whitman as an imprint was in use so far back. Most of us are more familiar with its use in the seventies on Gold Key, DC and Marvel books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Interesting. Where does Whitman fit in? Obviously it wasn't a sudden split as there are some issue numbers that have both Dell and Gold Key editions. Or is that Gold Key and Whitman? Or all three. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstrange Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Interesting. Where does Whitman fit in? Obviously it wasn't a sudden split as there are some issue numbers that have both Dell and Gold Key editions. Or is that Gold Key and Whitman? Or all three. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Key_Comics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted October 22, 2013 Share Posted October 22, 2013 Interesting. Where does Whitman fit in? Obviously it wasn't a sudden split as there are some issue numbers that have both Dell and Gold Key editions. Or is that Gold Key and Whitman? Or all three. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Key_Comics Interwebs? What is this Interwebs of which you speak? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 HAPPY HALLOWEEN! And nothing says Halloween better than Trick or Treat by Barks. Also attached is an interesting twist on the same cartoon that came as news to me from the Disney company newsletter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffman_Comics Posted October 26, 2013 Share Posted October 26, 2013 Thank you 40Yrs - what an interesting read! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellow Kid Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Great article, beautiful book! It always intrigued me because it had the "old Dell" logo even though it was no longer a Four Color Series II comic. It has always seemed to be a little more difficult to find nice copies of this issue than most other DD's from the same era. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Great article, beautiful book! It always intrigued me because it had the "old Dell" logo even though it was no longer a Four Color Series II comic. It has always seemed to be a little more difficult to find nice copies of this issue than most other DD's from the same era. I would guess it was originally intended to be in the FC series. Of course, however you count them, there's no way to make this the twenty-sixth DD comic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Great article, beautiful book! It always intrigued me because it had the "old Dell" logo even though it was no longer a Four Color Series II comic. It has always seemed to be a little more difficult to find nice copies of this issue than most other DD's from the same era. I would guess it was originally intended to be in the FC series. Of course, however you count them, there's no way to make this the twenty-sixth DD comic. You can imagine it is 4PM on a fine summer day at Western Publishing and someone says, "The boss just decided we need make Donald Duck it's own series. Run down to the archives and count how many one shots we have done. We need to put a number on the book by the end of the day and send over to the engraver." Who knows what happened, who knows who did it!! They probably just wanted to go fishing; no one was ever going to care about these old funny books anyway! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tb Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Thanks for the fun article. In 1953, those floats sure were harbingers of change for Anaheim. It is interesting that no photos of them seem to exist. Unrelated, I've been stuck in a hotel room with a cold and have enjoyed watching the new Donald and Mickey cartoons on the Disney Channel. When the first "Evil Mickey" computer game came out, I remember reading about how Disney was planning to revive the early, "mean" Mickey and they seem to have been pretty successful at that. It's nice to watch these new cartoons, which really are pretty entertaining, and realize that a new generation of kids are getting a positive introduction to the characters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted October 27, 2013 Share Posted October 27, 2013 Thanks for the fun article. In 1953, those floats sure were harbingers of change for Anaheim. It is interesting that no photos of them seem to exist. Unrelated, I've been stuck in a hotel room with a cold and have enjoyed watching the new Donald and Mickey cartoons on the Disney Channel. When the first "Evil Mickey" computer game came out, I remember reading about how Disney was planning to revive the early, "mean" Mickey and they seem to have been pretty successful at that. It's nice to watch these new cartoons, which really are pretty entertaining, and realize that a new generation of kids are getting a positive introduction to the characters. I did a quick search on line and only found the picture below on an Anaheim city site. You know there are other pictures of these floats out there; one just needs to find them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted November 11, 2013 Share Posted November 11, 2013 Just one recent pickup. It's a pity this one picked up the spine wear during its life, because it's a lovely flat copy otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
