WWII Books 1 1

[lowball]

Just getting into collecting and I was wondering if anybody here had a list or recommendations of WWII-era book titles? Just curious what is out there.

I was also curious, are there "pre-golden era" books? Maybe books WWII soldiers would have carried that came before the first modern published comic books?

Thanks!

[RareHighGrade]

The Golden Age started with Action Comics #1, which was cover-dated June 1938.  There were hundreds of comics published between 1935 and 1938, the most notable of which were those published by DC and Centaur.  However, those books preceded America's entrance into WW II.

[MusterMark]

On 3/28/2023 at 8:08 PM, RareHighGrade said:

The Golden Age started with Action Comics #1, which was cover-dated June 1938.  There were hundreds of comics published between 1935 and 1938, the most notable of which were those published by DC and Centaur.  However, those books preceded America's entrance into WW II.

Not only did they precede America’s entrance into WW II, they also preceded the entire war (started on September 1, 1939).

[KCOComics]

Alex Schomburg is probably the most prominent cover artist during WWII. 

As for titles, Captain America, Marvel Mystery, Action Comics, Superman, All Select are a handful by Timely and DC. 

Pep Comics, Uncle Sam, the black terror, the short lived "Daredevil battles Hitler" is pretty wild... The list goes on and on. 

The most dramatic in my opinion is Hangman #3. Lots and lots of great ones though. 

Edited March 29, 2023 by KCOComics

[L'Angelo Misterioso]

KCOComics pointed out the key titles that define wartime comics. I'll add that a general rule of thumb for Golden Age collecting is that if the cover depicts the war in any capacity, the book is probably worth way more than books in the same series that don't depict the war. People like the war covers and will pay a premium for them. People are a lot less interested in the post-war superhero books that show evidence of the superhero genre noodling around after losing a bit of its purpose. Covers that depict significant war figures are extra valuable (e.g. Cat-Man #20, Submariner #3, Young Allies #1, Master Comics #29, Spy Smasher #9, Real Life Comics #3).

In the wider comic book collecting space, there is great debate of whether vintage comic books will retain demand over the long term, because people say that eventually there will be no one who has nostalgic memories of bygone comics. These WW2 comics will always have value, a collector's market, and they WILL accumulate value for a long time, particularly Captain Americas, Marvel Mysterys, Action Comics, and Schomburg covers.

[Cat-Man_America]

On 3/28/2023 at 8:51 PM, lowball said:

Just getting into collecting and I was wondering if anybody here had a list or recommendations of WWII-era book titles? Just curious what is out there.

I was also curious, are there "pre-golden era" books? Maybe books WWII soldiers would have carried that came before the first modern published comic books?

Thanks!

Those are interesting questions. There are lots of good recommendations, some more affordable than others dependent upon whether you're thinking of buying original issues, reprints or archive editions. IMO, the best war action publisher was Timely (Marvel Mystery, Captain America, et al), but they're also the toughest price-wise for original copies. One of the most affordable all around war action titles is Hillman's Air-Boy (Air Fighters Comics). Another great war title that isn't a wallet breaker is Quality's Military Comics which featured Blackhawk. Other no holds barred war action books with costumed heroes are MLJ's Pep Comics (featuring the Shield), Nedor/Better/Standard comics like Black Terror and Harvey's Speed Comics just to name a few (the latter two publishers utilized the talents of Timely's master illustrator Alex Schomburg on many covers during WWII).

Peter (RareHighGrade) provided an excellent explanation. Centaur and DC were pretty much the dominant publishers of pre-war golden age ('37 - '39), Centaur suffering a slow decline in market share while DC took the post position having given rise to the superhero character with Superman and BatMan in '38 & '39. Daredevil Battles Hitler was an amazing one shot that launched Daredevil Comics the next month and was an extremely popular Lev Gleason monthly for years that followed (edited by Charles Biro & Bob Wood).  I'm leaving out a wide variety of "flavors" from publishers including Fox, Fawcett, Prize, Ace and some others that elude me at the moment.

WWII soldiers would've bought comics in PX's in every theater of operation. I seem to recall reading somewhere that some publishers of the era provided free comics for troops as well. This just scratches the surface.  If you look though some of these threads you'll see a lot of jaw dropping books.  There is also a big thread devoted to complete books cover to cover to give you some idea of what might tweak your collecting interest in obtaining physical copies.

Sorry about the length of this; hopefully it will answer some of your questions while giving rise to others.

Edited March 29, 2023 by Cat-Man_America
Ale added!

[lowball]

Thanks so much for the input so far and thorough responses. A lot to research and look into! 

I'm sure I will have a lot more questions moving forward.

I actually prefer poorer condition comics so hoping I can find a few of these at a reasonable price. 

[L'Angelo Misterioso]

Better be agnostic about what a "reasonable price" is, because even low grade copies of these kinds of comics demand several hundred. They're probably the most fun comics in the history of the medium, and the demand reflects that. Imagine if these went for Silver Age Marvel prices. I'd collect the entire Marvel Mystery run so fast!!

[lowball]

On 3/29/2023 at 1:54 AM, Cat-Man_America said:

WWII soldiers would've bought comics in PX's in every theater of operation. I seem to recall reading somewhere that some publishers of the era provided free comics for troops as well. This just scratches the surface.  If you look though some of these threads you'll see a lot of jaw dropping books.  There is also a big thread devoted to complete books cover to cover to give you some idea of what might tweak your collecting interest in obtaining physical copies.

Interesting!

Curious if anyone has a list of PX comics or if they are something that people have had graded and are on the market. 

[lowball]

On 3/29/2023 at 4:46 PM, L'Angelo Misterioso said:

Better be agnostic about what a "reasonable price" is, because even low grade copies of these kinds of comics demand several hundred. They're probably the most fun comics in the history of the medium, and the demand reflects that. Imagine if these went for Silver Age Marvel prices. I'd collect the entire Marvel Mystery run so fast!!

Yeah, I'm very quickly realizing that! 

It's fun to have an idea of what to keep an eye out for in the wild. Would love to find one of these someday and have it graded, even in terrible condition. 

[Cat-Man_America]

On 3/29/2023 at 3:48 PM, lowball said:

Interesting!

Curious if anyone has a list of PX comics or if they are something that people have had graded and are on the market. 

There actually might've been some books kept in footlockers and brought back from overseas, but they'd be difficult to identify without a stamp of some kind. It would be unlikely that they'd fall under pedigree status because of the conditions under which they were kept, but they'd be noteworthy nonetheless.

There are examples of pedigreed books that parents keep for sons who collected them before serving overseas, in at least one case (If memory serves) ...the San Francisco pedigree... a serviceman's parents kept buying the books he liked and set them aside in his room so they'd be there for him when he returned home from the war. According to the story, when notified he'd died in the pacific, the parents closed off the room and that's where his collection remained until broken up between family members at some point after the parents passed away. The never opened books were sold in the early 70's in varying lots to a collector's book store in San Francisco.

Note: Pedigree stories can be looked up on-line for more specifics.

 

[Primetime]

If you are into paper resources, the Gerber Photo journals have been a long time resource to study tons of golden age covers listed A-Z in two big, glossy paged, color volumes 

[lowball]

On 3/29/2023 at 5:42 PM, Cat-Man_America said:

There actually might've been some books kept in footlockers and brought back from overseas, but they'd be difficult to identify without a stamp of some kind. It would be unlikely that they'd fall under pedigree status because of the conditions under which they were kept, but they'd be noteworthy nonetheless.

There are examples of pedigreed books that parents keep for sons who collected them before serving overseas, in at least one case (If memory serves) ...the San Francisco pedigree... a serviceman's parents kept buying the books he liked and set them aside in his room so they'd be there for him when he returned home from the war. According to the story, when notified he'd died in the pacific, the parents closed off the room and that's where his collection remained until broken up between family members at some point after the parents passed away. The never opened books were sold in the early 70's in varying lots to a collector's book store in San Francisco.

Note: Pedigree stories can be looked up on-line for more specifics.

 

That's a great story!

[lowball]

On 3/29/2023 at 5:56 PM, Primetime said:

If you are into paper resources, the Gerber Photo journals have been a long time resource to study tons of golden age covers listed A-Z in two big, glossy paged, color volumes 

I'll check those out. Thanks!

[Cat-Man_America]

On 3/29/2023 at 5:05 PM, lowball said:

That's a great story!

Here's a link to Comic Book pedigrees; this site was developed by Matt Nelson, CGC's President and provides brief synopsis of stories associated with recognized pedigrees...

http://www.comicpedigrees.com 

PS: The two volume coffee table sized Gerber Photo Journals that Primetime mentioned are an excellent GA reference!

Good hunting! 

[The Black Hand ®]

On 3/28/2023 at 10:03 PM, KCOComics said:

Alex Schomburg is probably the most prominent cover artist during WWII. 

As for titles, Captain America, Marvel Mystery, Action Comics, Superman, All Select are a handful by Timely and DC. 

Pep Comics, Uncle Sam, the black terror, the short lived "Daredevil battles Hitler" is pretty wild... The list goes on and on. 

The most dramatic in my opinion is Hangman #3. Lots and lots of great ones though. 

Also, Pep 20 and Zip 22. Great war time covers.

[lowball]

On 3/29/2023 at 8:06 PM, Cat-Man_America said:

Here's a link to Comic Book pedigrees; this site was developed by Matt Nelson, CGC's President and provides brief synopsis of stories associated with recognized pedigrees...

http://www.comicpedigrees.com 

PS: The two volume coffee table sized Gerber Photo Journals that Primetime mentioned are an excellent GA reference!

Good hunting! 

Great resource, thanks again