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A new SOTI book is always a thrill
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29 posts in this topic

On 12/11/2022 at 4:20 AM, SOTIcollector said:

I present to you, Comic Capers, featuring the “red hot poker” story that Wertham loved to hate.

I love Wertham. He did for PCH what Mary Whitehouse did for Alternative comedy.

:cloud9:

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On 12/11/2022 at 6:21 AM, KCOComics said:

Congrats on the pick up! 

I'm curious, did you already have Dynamic #17 and wanted the Canadian version also? 

Yes, that’s exactly it. I completed the collection of all known SOTI books, and now I’m hunting down items I think of as indirect SOTI stuff.  Technically speaking, Dynamic #17 isn't even a SOTI book because Wertham saw the red hot poker story when it was printed in Crime Reporter #2. So I consider Dynamic 17 and Comic Crimes to be SOTI-related, but strictly speaking not SOTI books.

Some other SOTI-related books I've been hunting down include:

- Pre-code non-US versions SOTI books (Captain Video #2 UK version, True Crime #2 Canadian version, Wanted #12 Canadian version)

- Collections of retail return books (Fox Giant, EC Annual, XMas Comics and so on) that contain SOTI books.

2049A307-4F43-4513-A186-8E1EB8B8C3EE.jpeg

 

- Relatives of SOTI books, such as the Avon paperback that gave Reform School Girl her cover, and Peter Penny merchandise.

I'm also still trying to hunt down SOTI books that haven’t yet been identified, like this one:  

In one which has the "Seal of Approval of Comics Magazine Publishers" [referring to the ACMP code, not the Comics Code] young men fake disease to get out of the army. Coming out, as it did, during the Korean War, this lesson was directly useful to upper teen-agers and indirectly to schoolboys.
"Didn't I bluff my way out of the army?" says the hero-criminal. "Got a medical discharge without having anything wrong except indigestion! If you work it right, no doctor in the world can prove you're bluffing!"

Edited by SOTIcollector
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SOTIcollector, you've referred to the subject book as "Comic Capers", but yet the title seems to read, "Comic Crimes"...What am I missing here?

AFA the story of the guy faking to get out of the military, I've read that story and may have the book, I'll have to look.  If so, maybe we can do a  trade.

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On 12/11/2022 at 2:48 PM, fifties said:

SOTIcollector, you've referred to the subject book as "Comic Capers", but yet the title seems to read, "Comic Crimes"...What am I missing here?

AFA the story of the guy faking to get out of the military, I've read that story and may have the book, I'll have to look.  If so, maybe we can do a  trade.

Ummm.... that was a test to see if you were paying attention?  Actually, I used two different names for the book, and they were both wrong.  I have now corrected that.  Thanks for catching my goof, and for being so kind about it.

I have a ton of goodies for trade, so I'd be happy to trade for or buy that draft dodger story from you. :)

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On 12/11/2022 at 11:48 AM, fifties said:

SOTIcollector, you've referred to the subject book as "Comic Capers", but yet the title seems to read, "Comic Crimes"...What am I missing here?

AFA the story of the guy faking to get out of the military, I've read that story and may have the book, I'll have to look.  If so, maybe we can do a  trade.

Please share with the group which issue this is as well so we can catalogue it and get the info onto LostSoti.Org !

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On 12/12/2022 at 8:34 AM, ThatNerdyCanuck said:

Please share with the group which issue this is as well so we can catalogue it and get the info onto LostSoti.Org !

It’s an unnumbered issue.  
 

You have my heartfelt gratitude for your desire to notify LostSOTI.org, because that’s my site. :)  I’ve added this to a list of updates the site needs. 

 

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On 12/12/2022 at 10:51 AM, SOTIcollector said:

It’s an unnumbered issue.  
 

You have my heartfelt gratitude for your desire to notify LostSOTI.org, because that’s my site. :)  I’ve added this to a list of updates the site needs. 

 

Can't wait to see what updates and new info is coming to the site!

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On 12/11/2022 at 6:53 AM, SOTIcollector said:

 

 

 

 

I'm also still trying to hunt down SOTI books that haven’t yet been identified, like this one:  

In one which has the "Seal of Approval of Comics Magazine Publishers" [referring to the ACMP code, not the Comics Code] young men fake disease to get out of the army. Coming out, as it did, during the Korean War, this lesson was directly useful to upper teen-agers and indirectly to schoolboys.
"Didn't I bluff my way out of the army?" says the hero-criminal. "Got a medical discharge without having anything wrong except indigestion! If you work it right, no doctor in the world can prove you're bluffing!"

I've looked through scores of ACMP coded crime books, and haven't located that story.  Are you SURE it had that early code seal?

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On 12/12/2022 at 7:38 PM, fifties said:

I've looked through scores of ACMP coded crime books, and haven't located that story.  Are you SURE it had that early code seal?

I'm sure Wertham said it had that early code seal.  But Wertham said a lot of things. :)

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I only have one SOTI book, but would love to find more.  I have been fascinated with the story of Wertham for 30+ years, but only recently found one of the books he referenced.  I even did a speech on SOTI when I was in college.

I have a CGC graded copy of Dagar Desert Hawk 21.  

 

PDG

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I have this Danish Superman from 1951, which includes "Prankster's Second Childhood", originally published in Superman # 55, a story that apparently horrified Wertham due to one of the goons shooting a police officer in the face (with what looks to be a harmless water pistol) on the first splash page.

What makes the Danish edition unique is that (unlike the American) it sports a locally drawn cover based on a panel from the Prankster story.

image.thumb.jpeg.033c6ce8987473393b9c3ca9cca6396c.jpeg

331538865_534221765488522_6689185219831051413_n.jpg

332035789_1209452763277878_4892145700095952284_n.jpg

331740691_529497129171551_4430351065382509055_n.jpg

331398387_774058144282623_164417190656601961_n.jpg

Edited by Happyfarm
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On 3/4/2023 at 5:48 AM, Happyfarm said:

I have this Danish Superman from 1951, which includes "Prankster's Second Childhood", originally published in Superman # 55, a story that apparently horrified Wertham due to one of the goons shooting a police officer in the face (with what looks to be a harmless water pistol) on the first splash page.

What makes the Danish edition unique is that (unlike the American) it sports a locally drawn cover based on a panel from the Prankster story.

Kan være et billede af Supermand

Kan være en illustration

Kan være en illustration af tekst, der siger "CLARK FINDER EN USET KROG, OĞIEN FART HAR HAN SKIFTET TIL SUPERMAN. HJFELP! SKAL JEG JEG BRREN SLUKKE DET,INDEN DER. DER SKER NOGET! H"

Ingen tilgængelig billedbeskrivelse.

And a back cover featuring #53. The origin retold issue.

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On 3/3/2023 at 5:39 PM, OtherEric said:

As always, agreed that finding a SOTI book is a thrill.  Mind you, I've got about 8 total, so I've got more room to grow the collection than @SOTIcollector.

Anyway, found cheap today at ECCC:

 

Your United States.jpg

Now you have to figure out why the good doctor found this rather safe looking book so offensive. 

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On 3/4/2023 at 7:54 AM, Robot Man said:

Now you have to figure out why the good doctor found this rather safe looking book so offensive. 

To borrow the quote from the Lost SOTI site:

"Typical is one called 'Your United States'. It devotes one page to each state and, although on bad paper and as smudgily printed as the others, it really contains some instructive information. But practically every state, although it gets only one page, has a scene of violence; if one doesn't, that is made up for in other states where there are two or three such scenes. For instance, a man hanged from a tree by a "vigilance committee"; Negroes in chains; corpses and dying men; a girl tied to a tree, her bound wrists above her head, her skirt blowing up in the wind and a coy facial expression of fright as in a sadist's dream; a girl about to be raped or massacred. Is that what you want your children to think is the history of "Your United States"? "

He unsurprisingly exaggerates when he claims nearly every page has a violent scene, but he wasn't entirely wrong in the general case that the creators seemed to be looking for "exciting" images to a somewhat disproportionate degree.

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