BB-Gun Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 (edited) Not too long ago, I purchased a giant size Gift comic. It was without a cover but contents were in good shape. I think it was the second issue. I noticed that no contents are listed n the price guide or the Grand Comics Database. A short list of what I found was Captain Marvel 13 Spysmasher 6 Bulletman 7 Wow 7 and Whiz 32 I think my identification is correct based on another issue I have seen. I am wondering whether the contents changed. It seems the printing was specifically for Gift Comics since there was no issue ID on the contents page as there was for the other issues. What was in Gift 1 or Gift 3 ? Anyone have a copy? Edited December 28, 2018 by BB-Gun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted November 5, 2018 Share Posted November 5, 2018 I don't have a copy of it. But, I would suspect that the contents probably varied. Annuals and giants were usually made up of over runs or newstand returns. Most likely the case with this one too. Mr.TawkyTawny 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted December 26, 2018 Author Share Posted December 26, 2018 (edited) On 11/5/2018 at 1:48 PM, Robot Man said: I don't have a copy of it. But, I would suspect that the contents probably varied. Annuals and giants were usually made up of over runs or newstand returns. Most likely the case with this one too. The contents may have been consistent from one year to the next. The first year of gift according to Rick in Slam Bang 2 contained: Captain Marvel 5 Bulletman 4 Ibis 1 Wow 5 Whiz 26 There isn't a year between the issues which would make me think it is a random group but I don't have any info to say for sure. I only saw one other issue of Gift 2 and it was the same as mine. Edited December 28, 2018 by BB-Gun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted December 26, 2018 Author Share Posted December 26, 2018 I noticed a bound volume on ebay that contained all of the Gift comics and contents listed above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted December 26, 2018 Author Share Posted December 26, 2018 (edited) Note that I am not claiming ownership of the bound vol or Gift 1 which is the property of the comic shop listed on the photo. I just wanted to discuss the comics and see if anyone else can confirm the contents. Edited December 26, 2018 by BB-Gun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted December 26, 2018 Author Share Posted December 26, 2018 I also noticed a copy of Gift 3 on ebay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 I always thought this was a very cool comic but have never owned one. How is it bound? Is it a glued wraparound cardboard cover? If I were a kid back then this would have been one awesome Christmas present! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 12 hours ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said: I always thought this was a very cool comic but have never owned one. How is it bound? Is it a glued wraparound cardboard cover? If I were a kid back then this would have been one awesome Christmas present! My copy has one great big staple that is holding the 5 separate comics together. It is possible that the books usually have two big staples based on the placement in my copy. I think the outer cover is usually glued on like World's Finest. Comics seem full size and not trimmed like my Xmas comic was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 This picture and the above are from an ebay ad for Gift 3 and they show staple placement if you look closely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted December 27, 2018 Author Share Posted December 27, 2018 2 hours ago, BB-Gun said: This picture and the above are from an ebay ad for Gift 3 and they show staple placement if you look closely. I think that first page is from Captain Marvel 16. The indicia are missing from the first three issues, at least, so they aren't just remainders that are bound together. My copy of Xmas comics and others that I have seen on Comic Book plus all seem to be remainder copies bound together. A basic difference between the two, Gift and Xmas, and the content may have been different as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 Thanks for posting the contents. Yes, looks like some of the other Giants I've seen. I'm more partial to the fully glued copies but with this many pages, the big staples are probably required. I assume the staples from the original books are still present in each of the books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted December 28, 2018 Author Share Posted December 28, 2018 18 hours ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said: Thanks for posting the contents. Yes, looks like some of the other Giants I've seen. I'm more partial to the fully glued copies but with this many pages, the big staples are probably required. I assume the staples from the original books are still present in each of the books. No, only the big staples are holding the comics together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted December 28, 2018 Share Posted December 28, 2018 8 minutes ago, BB-Gun said: No, only the big staples are holding the comics together. That's interesting; they must have trimmed the left side to remove the staples, applied the large staples then glued on the new cover. I wonder if this was an automated operation. If so I bet books exist where two of the same copy were inserted by mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted December 29, 2018 Author Share Posted December 29, 2018 7 hours ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said: That's interesting; they must have trimmed the left side to remove the staples, applied the large staples then glued on the new cover. I wonder if this was an automated operation. If so I bet books exist where two of the same copy were inserted by mistake. The edge was not trimmed. The book was assembled without staples in the individual copies but two big staples for all of the copies. Here is a picture of the edge of gift 2. I opened up the end that has lost most of the glue and snapped a photo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 1 hour ago, BB-Gun said: The edge was not trimmed. The book was assembled without staples in the individual copies but two big staples for all of the copies. Here is a picture of the edge of gift 2. I opened up the end that has lost most of the glue and snapped a photo. Thanks for shooting that. So from the looks of it; the folks at Fawcett planned these runs during the original print runs of the books making up the collections. That would suggest they were not remaindered copies but were made specifically to be included in these large collections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarristerBaker Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 On 12/26/2018 at 2:57 PM, BB-Gun said: The contents may have been consistent from one year to the next. The first year of gift according to Rick in Slam Bang 2 contained: Captain Marvel 5 Bulletman 4 Ibis 1 Wow 5 Whiz 26 There isn't a year between the issues which would make me think it is a random group but I don't have any info to say for sure. I only saw one other issue of Gift 2 and it was the same as mine. I’m surprised to see the Gift Comics in a holder. CGC said they couldn’t slab my X-Mas, and I think they’re the same size. Hmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted December 29, 2018 Share Posted December 29, 2018 (edited) Is the page count correct? Didn't the typical Golden Age 64 page count include covers? If there are no covers the advertised page count of 324 should be 304 to account for five missing covers. Maybe they didn't include the cover pages in the 64 page count of these early books; however they count it on these large collections (5 x 64 = 320 plus 4 pages of cover = 324). Edited December 29, 2018 by 50YrsCollctngCmcs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted December 29, 2018 Author Share Posted December 29, 2018 6 minutes ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said: Is the page count correct? Didn't the typical Golden Age 64 page count include covers? If there are no covers the advertised page count of 324 should be 304 to account for five missing covers. Maybe they didn't count the cover pages in these early books; however they seem to want to count it on these large collections (5 x 64 = 320 plus 4 pages of cover = 324). Older golden age comics have 68 pages if you include the cover. With the cover removed there are 64 pages. 64 times 5 is 320 plus 4 for the cover makes 324 pages. You can get most of the Fawcett titles in a collection of Gift and Xmas comics. The America's greatest comics seems specific for the title and the pages are numbered. OK, no calculus or statistics required to explain the page number but I would like to know the contents of other Gift comics before I leave the topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BB-Gun Posted January 4, 2019 Author Share Posted January 4, 2019 (edited) On 12/27/2018 at 9:21 AM, BB-Gun said: My copy has one great big staple that is holding the 5 separate comics together. It is possible that the books usually have two big staples based on the placement in my copy. I think the outer cover is usually glued on like World's Finest. Comics seem full size and not trimmed like my Xmas comic was. I didn't mention before that this Colonel Porterhouse story is from Whiz 36. The Colonel outranked Captain Marvel and was drawn by George Storm who also created Hangman and Bobby Thatcher. I think the parody below is from Whiz 37. Edited January 4, 2019 by BB-Gun correct issue number Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telerites Posted January 5, 2019 Share Posted January 5, 2019 On 12/29/2018 at 9:27 AM, BarristerBaker said: I’m surprised to see the Gift Comics in a holder. CGC said they couldn’t slab my X-Mas, and I think they’re the same size. Hmm. Did it have an overhang? I think I have seen X-Mas slabbed books before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
