How Many Ashcan Copies Exist Of Different Books? 0

[Moondog]

It's my belief that the business guys wanted their ashcans to look as much like printed comics as possible so they included ads. After all they were in essence trying to trick the Patent Office into thinking that the book was legitimate.

[Timulty]

Now, that is interesting. It will also help me, in the future, if I come across one in someone's collection. Thanks for the information.

[Ashcan/Comics]

so does superman have ads in inside covers ,does action funnies have the same.

[Ashcan/Comics]

so moondog can you post some of your ashcans.

[jbcomicbox]

Gary C. definitely is the person with incredible knowledge of these very obscure books...

 

anyway for what it is worth here is Flash Comics and "Capt. Thunder"

 

[esquirecomics]

so does superman have ads in inside covers ,does action funnies have the same.

 

I don't believe there are ads in the action funnies.

[Ashcan/Comics]

thanks

 

what about superman ashcan is there inside ads!

 

off topic you guys are very knowledgeable anyone know if they make a crimson chin comic it is from the fairly odd parents show.

 

thanxs in advance

[Timulty]

I so want one of those, one day.

[esquirecomics]

Today's Scoop featured a story about the Action Funnies ashcan.

 

EsquireComics.com Acquires Rare Action Funnies

 

EsquireComics.com Acquires Rare Action Funnies

Industry News, Scoop, Friday, December 09, 2005

 

Scoop has learned that attorney Mark S. Zaid, owner of EsquireComics.com, has acquired a copy of the historical ashcan comic, Action Funnies. The copy was purchased from a private collector and is one of only three known copies of the Action Funnies ashcan that have ever been available to the public. The other two known copies are both owned by Gary Colabuono, a long-time ashcan collector and expert.

 

"I was ecstatic to obtain the copy of this book which is not only historically significant to the creation of comic books but also holds important legal meaning which to me, as an attorney, is a double prize," said Mark.

 

Ashcans were prototype books produced by publishers to secure the trademark for a particular title and never to be offered for sale. At most a few copies would be produced and, they were not intended to survive the passage of time.

 

The ashcan for Action Funnies, which was the original name for what ultimately became National Periodical's flagship Action Comics, features black and white artwork for what eventually was used as the cover for Action Comics #3. The interior contains ten pages of stories from Detective Comics #10.

 

The public existence and history of this book was first brought to light in 1985 by Comic Buyer's Guide. This particular ashcan copy has a unique history. The cover is marked lightly in pencil with the notation "Detective Comics, Inc" and "872-A", and is stamped "Property of Stephen Browne" and dated "Feb 15 1957" in small blue letters on page one. Mr. Browne, then a college student, was given the book in the 1950s by officials at D.C. in gratitude for a thesis he authored in response to Dr. Fredric Wertham's 1954 book Seduction of the Innocent.

 

The book will be added to Mark's private collection that includes several ashcans including the only known copy of the 1940 ashcan comic Crack Comics #1.

 

For more information visit: http://www.esquirecomics.com/index.php?page=collection&collection=4.

[rob_react]

Nice book Scoop guy!

[Timulty]

Great Mark, rub it in why don't you? I wondered what you were doing in Germany!!!

[Forbush-Man]

[DarrenSmith]

The article seems to be very misleading. It is written to suggest that Action Funnies actually came out prior to Action Comics #1. The sucess of Action Comics #1 (and possibly the release of Wonderman) galvinized the Ashcan production to grab as many titles as possible. Now, if the reverse were true, then we have to take a good look at comic history because it would mean Action Comics isn't what really kicked off the Golden Age.

[esquirecomics]

The article seems to be very misleading. It is written to suggest that Action Funnies actually came out prior to Action Comics #1. The sucess of Action Comics #1 (and possibly the release of Wonderman) galvinized the Ashcan production to grab as many titles as possible. Now, if the reverse were true, then we have to take a good look at comic history because it would mean Action Comics isn't what really kicked off the Golden Age.

 

According to the 1985 Comic Buyer's Guide article on ashcans, the clear implication is that Action Funnies was produced before Action Comics was issued.

 

No doubt Moondog can say conclusively which is true.

[Timulty]

Now the question is, are you going to slab it?

[esquirecomics]

Now the question is, are you going to slab it?

 

Nah.

[Timulty]

Yeah, an ashcan like that needs to roam free.

 

Slab free as free as the wind blows,

As free as the grass grows

Each time you hold a raw copy.

 

Imagine "Born Free" when you read the above.

Edited December 10, 2005 by Timulty

[goldust40]

Yeah, an ashcan like that needs to roam free.

 

Slab free as free as the wind blows,

As free as the grass grows

Each time you hold a raw copy.

 

Imagine "Born Free" when you read the above.

 

You're a genius.

[Moondog]

This question has vexed me for 20 years. There is no hard evidence that Action Funnies was created before, simultaneously or after Action Comics hit the newsstand.

 

Here's what we do know:

 

Some DC ashcans that had similar titles were created simultaneously (Screen Fables, Screen Gems, Screen Comics, Movie Comics, Movie Cartoons, etc. - all created in December 1944).

 

Some DC ashcans were later published with similar but not exact titles (Mysterious Stranger rather than Phantom Stranger, Mystery Trail rather than Danger Trail, Our Men at War rather than All American Men of War, etc.).

 

Some DC ashcans used cover art before it was published (the cover to the Mystery Trail ashcan [Feb/Mar 1950] is Danger Trail 3 but that issue didn't hit the newsstand until Nov/Dec 1950) and there are probably more examples of this, but I don't have all that info at my fingertips.

 

There is no publication date in the Action Funnies ashcan. But we do know that the interior is Detective 10 (December 1937). The cover artwork would eventually be published on the cover of Action Comics 3 (August 1938).

 

The cover art to the Action Comics ashcan (again - no publication date) is the rejected artwork to the cover of Detective 2 (April 1937) and the interior is from Detective 1 (March 1937).

 

An aside...this information leads me to believe that the cover artwork of Action Funnies may have originally been intended for New Adventure Comics since it fits in with the cover art of that title nicely. Another theory is that they intended to publish Action Comics/Funnies in 1937 and for whatever reason waited until the summer of 1938.

 

So, the cover art and interior of the Action Comics ashcan predate the cover art and interior of the Action Funnies ashcan - leading one to believe that COMICS predates FUNNIES. But the interior of the Action Funnies ashcan predates Action Comics 1, and it's very odd to me that DC would use the cover artwork of Action Comics 3 for the Action Funnies ashcan while the interior is from a book that predates Action 3 by 9 months (the Wonder Woman ashcan has the cover of Sensation 1 and the interior of Sensation 2 and was created simultaneously with the publication date of Sensation 1).

 

I believe that both ashcans were created within months of each other in 1937 ( if not simultaneously) and that COMICS won out as the published title sometime during late 1937/early 1938.

 

Whew...sorry for such a long-winded response.

 

--Gary

[esquirecomics]

Well there you go!!!

 

Thanks for the analysis Gary.

 

Is there anyone from those days still around who might know?