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Golden Age Comic Racks
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227 posts in this topic

I'm just curious what comic book racks were extant in the Golden Age.  My own research reveals the existence of racks (wire spinner, wooden shelf, and flat wire) by DC, Dell, and Ziff-Davis  [Correction: and King Comics and Classics Illustrated].  I've never seen a rack by any other publisher.  I'd love to increase my knowledge of this subject. 

In the interest of sharing, here's some info on D.C.

I believe the first D.C. comics rack came out in 1939 and featured seven slots for Action, Detective, Adventure, Superman, Flash, All-American, and More Fun:

954d8d1cb933d02c4a6ec6e5c0a9f3da.jpg

Another example:

53172355_1_m.jpg?version=1494511437

This was followed in short order by a seven slot rack for Action, Detective, Adventure, Superman, Flash, All-American, and All-Flash/World's Finest (sorry More Fun):

image.jpg

The last of this sort of GA rack was a ten slot rack for Action, Detective, Superman, Batman, Flash, Adventure, All-American, More Fun, All-Star, and World's Finest/All-Flash. 

image.jpg

Some of these early DC racks also included an extra plate stating:

image.jpg

After that, DC had so many titles that they switched to racks which did not identify specific comics for the slots.

I'll post more later if anyone's interested or has their own info to share on GA racks.

Edited by sfcityduck
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38 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

I'm just curious what comic book racks were extant in the Golden Age.  My own research reveals the existence of racks (wire spinner, wooden shelf, and flat wire) by DC, Dell, and Ziff-Davis  [Correction: and King Comics and Classics Illustrated].  I've never seen a rack by any other publisher.  I'd love to increase my knowledge of this subject. 

In the interest of sharing, here's some info on D.C.

I believe the first D.C. comics rack came out in 1939 and featured seven slots for Action, Detective, Adventure, Superman, Flash, All-American, and More Fun:

954d8d1cb933d02c4a6ec6e5c0a9f3da.jpg

Another example:

53172355_1_m.jpg?version=1494511437

This was followed in short order by a seven slot rack for Action, Detective, Adventure, Superman, Flash, All-American, and All-Flash/World's Finest (sorry More Fun):

image.jpg

The last of this sort of GA rack was a ten slot rack for Action, Detective, Superman, Batman, Flash, Adventure, All-American, More Fun, All-Star, and World's Finest/All-Flash. 

image.jpg

Some of these early DC racks also included an extra plate stating:

image.jpg

After that, DC had so many titles that they switched to racks which did not identify specific comics for the slots.

I'll post more later if anyone's interested or has their own info to share on GA racks.

Thanks for posting. Definitely plan on reading more carefully tonight. 

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1 hour ago, sfcityduck said:

I'm just curious what comic book racks were extant in the Golden Age.  My own research reveals the existence of racks (wire spinner, wooden shelf, and flat wire) by DC, Dell, and Ziff-Davis  [Correction: and King Comics and Classics Illustrated].  I've never seen a rack by any other publisher.  I'd love to increase my knowledge of this subject. 

In the interest of sharing, here's some info on D.C.

I believe the first D.C. comics rack came out in 1939 and featured seven slots for Action, Detective, Adventure, Superman, Flash, All-American, and More Fun:

954d8d1cb933d02c4a6ec6e5c0a9f3da.jpg

Another example:

53172355_1_m.jpg?version=1494511437

This was followed in short order by a seven slot rack for Action, Detective, Adventure, Superman, Flash, All-American, and All-Flash/World's Finest (sorry More Fun):

image.jpg

The last of this sort of GA rack was a ten slot rack for Action, Detective, Superman, Batman, Flash, Adventure, All-American, More Fun, All-Star, and World's Finest/All-Flash. 

image.jpg

Some of these early DC racks also included an extra plate stating:

image.jpg

After that, DC had so many titles that they switched to racks which did not identify specific comics for the slots.

I'll post more later if anyone's interested or has their own info to share on GA racks.

 

newsstand-Action-9-Tec-24-Adventure.jpg

Newsstand-3..jpgi got the movie and the Fantasy 15 looks bright

Newsstand-3.2.jpg

newsstand-6.jpg

newsstand-15.jpg

newsstand-19.pngFrom 1955 tv superman

newsstand-25.jpg

newsstand-37.jpg

newsstand-1942-Detective-66 Marvel-Mystery-34.jpg

newsstand-11-2.jpgInlarge the pic and see early Batman's back wall

Edited by woowoo
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I think those pictures of newsstands show that publisher specific racks were very rare -- at least at newsstands.  I have seen very few vintage pictures of publisher specific racks.  I have seen a flyer depicting a King Comics countertop display rack:

image.jpg

 

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Continuing with DC racks, it doesn't appear they came out with any new wire racks beyond the above during WWII.  There are some surviving cardboard rack toppers from the early GA:

ff435c9c365113652b04220b27322f7b.jpg

 

The rest of the DC racks I've seen all date to the post-war period.  Hakes sold this incredibly beautiful DC wood rack:

hakes-auction-chip-kidd-comic-book-rack-

And I've seen another version of this same rack, identical except it does not have the blue and yellow logo on the side, in the collection of a guy here in SF.   But we know this rack dates to after the adoption of CCA in 1954, and uses the DC logo for the 1949-1971 time period.  This one probably dates from 1954 to early 60s.

A DC spinner rack dating to probably the early 1950s, didn't mention the CCA:

IMG_0937.JPG

Part of the reason we can date this fairly plain logo spinner rack to the 1950s is that in the 1960s DC racks got a little weird, using the go-go checker designs:

_57.jpg

Campy Batman graphics:

KGrHqIOKkIE1qUPbU1RBNjPJSCt2Q_12.JPG

batman-comic-rack.jpg

And Superman graphics:

KGrHqMOKpoE1qp6syhCBNjPI9yjD_12.JPG

 

Edited by sfcityduck
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I'd like to be able to identify one day what the spinner racks used around 1973 in 7-11 stores looked like. So far I haven't found any sites that track spinner racks use to their time periods only certain racks with dates attached.

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32 minutes ago, N e r V said:

I'd like to be able to identify one day what the spinner racks used around 1973 in 7-11 stores looked like. So far I haven't found any sites that track spinner racks use to their time periods only certain racks with dates attached.

Based on my memories, the "Hey Kids, Comics" spinner would be a good bet.  I think the "Richie Rich/Spidey/Archie/Supes" racks came later.

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16 minutes ago, N e r V said:

Would that be this one?

image.jpeg.e79e2cd2a33f24e0cd31b0ffb8bdc80a.jpegimage.jpeg.5628712eb3b546226cd15e25ffe131dd.jpegimage.jpeg.d9ef5725047a51aa1820e6dd9e3831af.jpeg

I definitely remember that one and this one from that time period:

04f39e212c5cc349234cb176957dfb9a.jpg

I think red/white/blue is the more common of the two.

2011-07-04_223459_80s_comic_book_spinner

Edited by sfcityduck
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Continuing on with the DC GA, Jon Berk's rack sold for $3,433:

1951.1a.jpg

Billed as a "1950s rack," the presence of the CCA stamp reveals it is a Silver Age rack.  This rack, on the other hand, has no CCA stamp, so I think it is a GA rack from the early 50s (repainted blue):

6uLEfWZ2X7EDlSoXH6oKWYYig3RYkT0QRjNX-pfd

 

 

 

Edited by sfcityduck
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My knowledge of DC GA racks is now exhausted.  Moving on, here's a great Ziff-Davis rack:

image.jpg

I've seen two of these.  Really really cool to me because I've never thought of Ziff-Davis as aiming for the "Wholesome" market. 

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I keep waiting for Robotman to drop by.  He's got a nice Dell rack, which is where I'm going next, as well as a collection of the "slot signs" used on racks.  These include not just some of the DC "slot signs" seen above, but also slot signs for Joe Palooka and "Boy Illustories" (Boy Comics).  So I guess we need to add Harvey and Lev Gleason to the list of publishers who had a rack presence, although I've never seen anything other than these slot signs from those publishers.  Could have been used in countertop racks:

comicbookrackplaques_zps32623697.jpg&key

 

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Quick digression back to DC for a minute, with kudos to Robot Man again (who I hope drops by), here's a different, very rare countertop spinner, version of the DC GA rack I posted up above which I believe is owned by him:

imageproxy.jpg

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1 hour ago, sfcityduck said:

Quick digression back to DC for a minute, with kudos to Robot Man again (who I hope drops by), here's a different, very rare countertop spinner, version of the DC GA rack I posted up above which I believe is owned by him:

imageproxy.jpg

Great comics! :luhv:

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