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Strange Tales Collecting Thread !
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Started by Frederic9494,

2,876 posts in this topic

Dad&Son-migration

Dad&Son-migration

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Posted

Anyone know which issue is the official start of the "monster" issues as compared

to the earlier "horror" issues? I think it's around #65-#70 or so.

 

I've wondered that myself... I have issue #66 and it's the early horror style then the next issue I have is #75 which is Taboo...monster stuff... haven't seen the covers to the others ( or can't remember them at this point. ) I think the early prototypes started at #68 though.

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Frederic9494

Frederic9494

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Anyone know which issue is the official start of the "monster" issues as compared

to the earlier "horror" issues? I think it's around #65-#70 or so.

 

I've wondered that myself... I have issue #66 and it's the early horror style then the next issue I have is #75 which is Taboo...monster stuff... haven't seen the covers to the others ( or can't remember them at this point. ) I think the early prototypes started at #68 though.

 

From what I see on www.comics.org, #66 is the last horror, #67-69 were S-F, and from #70 it's monster galore! (starting with the Sphinx in #70)

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Rosland

Rosland

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Then the question is why? What caused the Atlas/Marvel staff to shift focus from

horror to sf to monster? Were sales declining? Too much devilish competition? Some

sign of the times? Also, how did this correlate with the start of ToS and TtA?

 

Looking at the census:

ST #70 was August 1959

ToS #1 was January 1959

TtA #1 was January 1959

 

What was so special about mid/late 1958 to cause this?

 

Questions, questions, questions...

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Frederic9494

Frederic9494

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Posted (edited)

Then the question is why? What caused the Atlas/Marvel staff to shift focus from

horror to sf to monster? Were sales declining? Too much devilish competition? Some

sign of the times? Also, how did this correlate with the start of ToS and TtA?

 

Looking at the census:

ST #70 was August 1959

ToS #1 was January 1959

TtA #1 was January 1959

 

What was so special about mid/late 1958 to cause this?

 

Questions, questions, questions...

 

Good questions, especially when you compare S-F vs Monster era :

 

TOS #1 (January 1959) - #4 (July 1959) : S-F

TTA # 1 (January 1959) - #4 (July 1959) : S-F

ST # 67 (February 1959) - #69 (June 1959) : S-F

 

Then starting in August/September 1959 the monsters start in the three titles 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

Could it be linked to some movie (or movie genre) that became popular in the summer of 1959 ?

 

Searching on the web I found the following movies from year 1959 :"Giant Gila Monster", "Behemoth, the Sea Monster", "Gigantis, the Fire Monster" and "Monsters of Piedra Blanca" that have the same type of monsters than the one seen in ST, TOS and TTA from 1959 on...

 

Before 1959, big monsters movies were more S-F type. Maybe that's where Stan Lee got his inspiration.

Edited by frederic9494
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Dad&Son-migration

Dad&Son-migration

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Good questions, especially when you compare S-F vs Monster era :

 

TOS #1 (January 1959) - #4 (July 1959) : S-F

TTA # 1 (January 1959) - #4 (July 1959) : S-F

ST # 67 (February 1959) - #69 (June 1959) : S-F

 

Then starting in August/September 1959 the monsters start in the three titles 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

Could it be linked to some movie (or movie genre) that became popular in the summer of 1959 ?

 

Searching on the web I found the following movies from year 1959 :"Giant Gila Monster", "Behemoth, the Sea Monster", "Gigantis, the Fire Monster" and "Monsters of Piedra Blanca" that have the same type of monsters than the one seen in ST, TOS and TTA from 1959 on...

 

Before 1959, big monsters movies were more S-F type. Maybe that's where Stan Lee got his inspiration.

 

Great research guys!! thumbsup2.gif Those dates aren't coincidence. My personal opinion was that these titles and JIM pre-hero spoke about the times and pop culture and you can really pick up on the evolution of the stories based on popular themes for the days. As Strange Tales got on in the later years. I believe the effect was the same with the Nick Fury -- SHIELD stuff as mid to late sixties culture picked up on the spy and espionage theme ala.. James Bond

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Sharkey

Sharkey

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It's definitely interesting -- what I'd consider some of the more well-known and high profile "giant monster" movies like THEM! (1954) or "It Came From Beneath the Sea" (1955) were done in the early to mid-1950s. Many of the pre-hero giant monster ideas were clearly lifted from some of these movies and similar stories -- but they came 5 to 6 years after some of the more popular giant creature movies. But remember 1955/56 launched Godzilla, so it's possible that the comics were just a few years late in picking up on this concept, but once they did there was no stopping them! Gorgo which was a Godzilla clone, was a 1960 movie, so maybe the genre was just a late-bloomer for comics? confused-smiley-013.gif

 

In addition other things happening in the late 1950s early 1960s were flying saucer sightings like the very famous Pacific Sightings in 1959, on the heels of Roswell NM in the late 1940s, etc -- and a lot of the pre-hero stories reflect the concerns of alien invasions, giant creatures (many of them extra-terrestrial in origin), and witchcraft. In 1957 the Russians launched Sputnik, and the whole Red Menace issue took on new life.

 

So you have a LOT of things coming together in the late 1950s, early 1960s that stoked the imaginations of the public (and Stan Lee!) at the time. And thank goodness they did or we would not have had these wonderful comics! cloud9.gif

 

 

 

Then the question is why? What caused the Atlas/Marvel staff to shift focus from

horror to sf to monster? Were sales declining? Too much devilish competition? Some

sign of the times? Also, how did this correlate with the start of ToS and TtA?

 

Looking at the census:

ST #70 was August 1959

ToS #1 was January 1959

TtA #1 was January 1959

 

What was so special about mid/late 1958 to cause this?

 

Questions, questions, questions...

 

Good questions, especially when you compare S-F vs Monster era :

 

TOS #1 (January 1959) - #4 (July 1959) : S-F

TTA # 1 (January 1959) - #4 (July 1959) : S-F

ST # 67 (February 1959) - #69 (June 1959) : S-F

 

Then starting in August/September 1959 the monsters start in the three titles 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

Could it be linked to some movie (or movie genre) that became popular in the summer of 1959 ?

 

Searching on the web I found the following movies from year 1959 :"Giant Gila Monster", "Behemoth, the Sea Monster", "Gigantis, the Fire Monster" and "Monsters of Piedra Blanca" that have the same type of monsters than the one seen in ST, TOS and TTA from 1959 on...

 

Before 1959, big monsters movies were more S-F type. Maybe that's where Stan Lee got his inspiration.

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Dad&Son-migration

Dad&Son-migration

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Ok.. finally got around to scanning the books Steve sold me. Here's Strange Tales #89 CGC 7.0, #93 CGC 8.0 and Annual #1 CGC 7.5. Thanks to Steve as I know he loved these books very much. thumbsup2.gif sorry for the blur as my scanner doesn't seem to do slabbed books well no matter what I try.

 

ST89.jpg

 

ST93.jpg

 

STAnnual1.jpg

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rodan57

rodan57

Posted
Posted

Then the question is why? What caused the Atlas/Marvel staff to shift focus from

horror to sf to monster? Were sales declining? Too much devilish competition? Some

sign of the times? Also, how did this correlate with the start of ToS and TtA?

 

Looking at the census:

ST #70 was August 1959

ToS #1 was January 1959

TtA #1 was January 1959

 

What was so special about mid/late 1958 to cause this?

 

 

 

Jack Kirby

 

Steve Ditko

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Guest

Guest

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Just on a side note.

Looking at the registry it is a little scary when you look at Doug's run against the rest of us. Though I'm fairly confident there's probably at least a dozen collectors out there that could make a serious impact on this registry listing (predominantly the guy sitting on all the unslabbed Curator ST's). But it's like a cliff top fall from his 1st place position to second place, and beyond.

I think when Doug does eventually sell off his ST's run (hey, he's been sellling off his 'I'll never sell, I'm a collector' ASM's, & of course #107, 135 generous listings...). Things will be looking a little different.

And essentailly it would be really great to see other collectors listing their runs on the registry, in contrast to the all conquering Scmell.

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Dad&Son-migration

Dad&Son-migration

Posted
Posted
Just on a side note.

Looking at the registry it is a little scary when you look at Doug's run against the rest of us. Though I'm fairly confident there's probably at least a dozen collectors out there that could make a serious impact on this registry listing (predominantly the guy sitting on all the unslabbed Curator ST's). But it's like a cliff top fall from his 1st place position to second place, and beyond.

I think when Doug does eventually sell off his ST's run (hey, he's been sellling off his 'I'll never sell, I'm a collector' ASM's, & of course #107, 135 generous listings...). Things will be looking a little different.

And essentailly it would be really great to see other collectors listing their runs on the registry, in contrast to the all conquering Scmell.

 

I've pretty much given up on thinking I'll ever be able to afford Doug's stuff. I think 99% of us could write ourselves out of the equation. Who can afford a 9.8 and still have anything left to buy throughout the year?? My goal is to try to crack at least the top 5 with both pre-hero and hero. I want a collection that I can be proud of but also be realistic and within my budget. Until a large windfall of cash comes along I'll be happy with the "thrill of the hunt"

thumbsup2.gif

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Rosland

Rosland

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Well said. The hunt is the thing, it's actually kind of sad when a run is completed.

 

Personally, I hope Doug's runs are never broken up, but passed to another

well-heeled collector or maybe a museum;-)

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