path4play Posted December 21, 2018 Share Posted December 21, 2018 (edited) On 12/18/2018 at 2:57 PM, Sqeggs said: Interesting. Do you know who he is? Inside story (art signed by Charlie Tomsey) doesn't portray any player with #15 or who appears African American - it features Slade Cutter, Buzz Borres, Bill Ingram and Jonas Ingram - all of whom played for Navy much earlier and served in WWII. To my surprise, Navy it seems didn't have an African-American football player until Calvin Huey, who was a 1967 graduate of the Naval Academy. The only real guess I can make is perhaps Honduran born Stephen Van Buren. After leading LSU to victory in the Orange Bowl, he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles with the fifth overall pick in the 1944 NFL Draft and played professionally from 1944 to 1951. He wore #15. On the other hand, he didn't have any connections to Navy. It looks as if I may have been mistaken about the cover. Edited December 21, 2018 by path4play Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted December 22, 2018 Author Share Posted December 22, 2018 On 12/20/2018 at 8:31 PM, path4play said: Inside story (art signed by Charlie Tomsey) doesn't portray any player with #15 or who appears African American - it features Slade Cutter, Buzz Borres, Bill Ingram and Jonas Ingram - all of whom played for Navy much earlier and served in WWII. To my surprise, Navy it seems didn't have an African-American football player until Calvin Huey, who was a 1967 graduate of the Naval Academy. The only real guess I can make is perhaps Honduran born Stephen Van Buren. After leading LSU to victory in the Orange Bowl, he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles with the fifth overall pick in the 1944 NFL Draft and played professionally from 1944 to 1951. He wore #15. On the other hand, he didn't have any connections to Navy. It looks as if I may have been mistaken about the cover. Kind of odd that they would feature a seemingly African-American player on the front cover but not in the accompanying story. Googling Van Buren, it's hard to say from online images whether he was dark skinned enough to possibly be the player on the cover. It looks like Kenny Washington was the first African-American player in the modern NFL when he signed a contract with the Rams in 1946. Still, it's a very interesting cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newshane Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 On 7/25/2017 at 3:15 PM, Dr. Love said: For the longest time I took this cover to be the first interracial kiss in comicdom. Unfortunately for that premise, the black guy on the cover becomes the white guy inside the pages. But hey the colorists don't make that kind of mistake by mistake. I think the editors made a bold underground statement. so I stand by my foolish notion. The race of the guy on the cover is rather ambiguous, in my opinion. But I can see how people interpret him as a black man. And "colonists"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newshane Posted December 22, 2018 Share Posted December 22, 2018 BTW, this is a great idea for a thread. Very educational and informative! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ecfritz Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 The football player on the cover could be a slightly fictionalized version of Emlen Tunnell, who played for Toledo in 1942 before serving in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1943-1946 and going on to a Hall of Fame NFL career (the first black NFL HOFer). Tunnell wore number 45 rather than 15, but the face looks pretty similar. Notably, Tunnell actually broke his neck playing football in October 1942 before recovering to lead Toledo to the NIT Basketball Finals in spring 1943 and joining the U.S. Coast Guard in May 1943. It seems quite possible that the cover artist may have read a contemporaneous news story about Tunnell recovering from his serious injury and joining the Coast Guard sometime in mid-1943 and was inspired to draw him as the cover athlete. path4play 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted January 14, 2019 Author Share Posted January 14, 2019 I don't think this one has been logged into the census yet, which shows only a 5.0 and a 4.0. @sagii has one, so boardies own at least 2/3 of the graded copies. Jimmy Linguini 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagii Posted January 14, 2019 Share Posted January 14, 2019 18 minutes ago, Sqeggs said: I don't think this one has been logged into the census yet, which shows only a 5.0 and a 4.0. @sagii has one, so boardies own at least 2/3 of the graded copies. Congrats! Colors on your copy are incredibly vibrant for its age. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted January 14, 2019 Author Share Posted January 14, 2019 1 minute ago, sagii said: Congrats! Colors on your copy are incredibly vibrant for its age. Lot of foxing (although less evident in hand), but, yeah, not too bad for a 117-year old! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 Can't recall having seen a copy of this one before. porcupine48 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagii Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 51 minutes ago, Sqeggs said: Can't recall having seen a copy of this one before. New one to me too. Nice catch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telerites Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 1 hour ago, Sqeggs said: Can't recall having seen a copy of this one before. Did you get that from Ritter? I saw it on his site but it went quick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 5 hours ago, telerites said: Did you get that from Ritter? I saw it on his site but it went quick. Yep. He seems to have been trickling out some sports comics. I assume they must be from a collection he picked up. Most of them don't interest me, but I jumped on this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telerites Posted February 12, 2019 Share Posted February 12, 2019 Just now, Sqeggs said: Yep. He seems to have been trickling out some sports comics. I assume they must be from a collection he picked up. Most of them don't interest me, but I jumped on this one. It is cool cover. I have been looking for one issue of that series. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted February 12, 2019 Author Share Posted February 12, 2019 I also picked up this one. porcupine48 and telerites 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagii Posted February 13, 2019 Share Posted February 13, 2019 ...Platinum era book porcupine48 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eccomic Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 (edited) Just acquired this rarity.. Excellent article here, which reproduces the interior. Link to Article: http://ep.tc/problems/74/ This completes my trifecta for African American comics, to include the rare NAACP giveaways Edited July 24, 2019 by eccomic porcupine48, batman_fan, Larryw7 and 1 other 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagii Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 18 minutes ago, eccomic said: Just acquired this rarity.. Excellent article here, which reproduces the interior. Link to Article: http://ep.tc/problems/74/ This completes my trifecta for African American comics, to include the rare NAACP giveaways Congrats! Not not an easy one to acquire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Point Five Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 Sagii, was just drooling over the Negro Romance set you posted earlier in this thread. I still hope to find an issue someday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagii Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 11 minutes ago, Point Five said: Sagii, was just drooling over the Negro Romance set you posted earlier in this thread. I still hope to find an issue someday! Thanks! I'm still missing the #4 by Charlton with the illustrated cover, but the 1 to 3 Fawcett photo cover set could be considered complete. Btw You may want to check out the previews on CC. Point Five 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Love Posted July 24, 2019 Share Posted July 24, 2019 1 hour ago, sagii said: Thanks! I'm still missing the #4 by Charlton with the illustrated cover, but the 1 to 3 Fawcett photo cover set could be considered complete. Btw You may want to check out the previews on CC. Is complete. The Fawcett is the set - the line drawn, while of course desirable, is another publisher's add on and a reprint of #2 at that. And if you accept #4 as a Giordano cover....well what's the fuss? I must say the romance lineup in this next CC auction is absolutely extraordinary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
