BangZoom Posted August 14, 2007 Author Share Posted August 14, 2007 Top Notch 2 from January '40 had some nice one page splashes as I recall. Some pretty amazing stuff. I've found a lot of things that go against the prevailing wisdom of early comic lore . A lot of these things, like the 1 page splashes, are just because a lot these books, while they've been collected, haven't actually been read by some collectors... There are only a few comics that I've seen or heard mention of on the boards which have full page panels integrated into the story earlier than Spring 1940. Detective Comics #'s 11 (Jan 1938) and 16 (June 1938) Fantastic Comics # 2 (Jan 1940) Speed # 1 (Oct 1939) Top Notch # 2 (Jan 1940) Does anyone know of any others? I own copies of Detective Comics 11 and 16 so I can post photos of the pages in question for those issues. Can someone else provide photos from the Speed, Top Notch, or Fantastic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.A.tor Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 Can someone else provide photos from the Speed, Top Notch, or Fantastic? ahh, there in lies one of the problems with slabbing...after entombed, really hard to enjoy the interior of the book! hopefully someone will prevail (I had the Fant 2, but it is slabbed) rick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hand ® Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 Top Notch 2 from January '40 had some nice one page splashes as I recall. Some pretty amazing stuff. I've found a lot of things that go against the prevailing wisdom of early comic lore . A lot of these things, like the 1 page splashes, are just because a lot these books, while they've been collected, haven't actually been read by some collectors... There are only a few comics that I've seen or heard mention of on the boards which have full page panels integrated into the story earlier than Spring 1940. Detective Comics #'s 11 (Jan 1938) and 16 (June 1938) Fantastic Comics # 2 (Jan 1940) Speed # 1 (Oct 1939) Top Notch # 2 (Jan 1940) Does anyone know of any others? I own copies of Detective Comics 11 and 16 so I can post photos of the pages in question for those issues. Can someone else provide photos from the Speed, Top Notch, or Fantastic? I've been trying to put the three pages from TN2, but it doesn't seem to work the way it used to. I have then in my picture files, but I can no longer figure out how to do it. I used to be able to browse and find the picture, make an attachment and then convert that to an image url or whatever it's called. I can't do it anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hand ® Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 Finaly figured it out. I'll be looking for more early MLJ splash pages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hand ® Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 (edited) here Edited August 14, 2007 by The_Black_Hand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacentaur Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 Great stuff BH, thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted August 14, 2007 Author Share Posted August 14, 2007 Thanks, BH. I didn't realize Jack Binder was such a capable artist. I usually wonder if the kids back then were impressed with full page panels or thought they were getting gypped out of some story. In this case, I'm certain it was the former. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hand ® Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 And the Wizard panel was done by Ed Ashe and the Air Patrol by Irv Novick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted August 14, 2007 Author Share Posted August 14, 2007 And the Wizard panel was done by Ed Ashe and the Air Patrol by Irv Novick. Interesting that there were three stories with full page panels. Presumably the editor was instructing the artists to do that. Are there other Top Notch Comics from that time period with full page art? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hand ® Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 I looked at TN 1-6 and two is the only one. I'll keep checking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Hand ® Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 I've checked the first few Peps and nothing, same with Blue Ribbon 1 and 2. I'm not sure about 3. Same with Shield Wizard. I'm thinking that for the first half of 1940 it was exclusive to Top Notch 2. Why that is and why there were 3 of them in one book, I'm not sure. But that... along with the first Nazi war cover makes TN2 even more special to me. Pound for pound, Top Notch had some of the best reading, on a consistant basis for it's run, than any other MLJ. IMO. I'd be curious to see if any other brands were experimenting with full page splashes in the first few months of 1940. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted August 14, 2007 Author Share Posted August 14, 2007 I've checked the first few Peps and nothing, same with Blue Ribbon 1 and 2. I'm not sure about 3. Same with Shield Wizard. I'm thinking that for the first half of 1940 it was exclusive to Top Notch 2. Why that is and why there were 3 of them in one book, I'm not sure... Initially when you said that Top Notch # 2 had full page panels produced by three different artists, I thought that must indicate that they were instructed by the editor to do that and they had his blessings to experiment. Now that it appears that the full page panels were an isolated event, I'm beginning to wonder if Ashe, Novick, and Binder were all pals who hit upon the idea as a way to produce pages faster. Maybe it was an idea that the publisher or editor thought was cheating them and the readers of content so they discontinued that practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted August 14, 2007 Author Share Posted August 14, 2007 ...I'd be curious to see if any other brands were experimenting with full page splashes in the first few months of 1940. Speed Comics #'s 1 (Oct 1939) and 6 (Mar 1940) both had full page panels so apparently Harvey Publications wasn't forbiding the use of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Point Five Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 You know, I suspect there are a few more full-page panels tucked away in early Fox books. I've definitely seen story pages with two-panels-per-page that were obviously done to speed things up and make a deadline. And since we're talking 1940 layout innovations, Superman #6 (Fall '40) has some of the earliest full-page splashes as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstrange Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 I've checked the first few Peps and nothing, same with Blue Ribbon 1 and 2. I'm not sure about 3. Same with Shield Wizard. I'm thinking that for the first half of 1940 it was exclusive to Top Notch 2. Why that is and why there were 3 of them in one book, I'm not sure. But that... along with the first Nazi war cover makes TN2 even more special to me. Pound for pound, Top Notch had some of the best reading, on a consistant basis for it's run, than any other MLJ. IMO. I'd be curious to see if any other brands were experimenting with full page splashes in the first few months of 1940. Thanks for looking BH, BZ, and others. They splashes you posted were more than just fillers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstrange Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 Thanks, BH. I didn't realize Jack Binder was such a capable artist. I usually wonder if the kids back then were impressed with full page panels or thought they were getting gypped out of some story. In this case, I'm certain it was the former. I've always liked Jack's Mary Marvel and Wow covers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted August 15, 2007 Author Share Posted August 15, 2007 Name the comic and issue number of where this image appears on the cover. Hint: It is NOT from Picture Stories From the Bible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbcomicbox Posted August 15, 2007 Share Posted August 15, 2007 You know, I suspect there are a few more full-page panels tucked away in early Fox books. I've definitely seen story pages with two-panels-per-page that were obviously done to speed things up and make a deadline. And since we're talking 1940 layout innovations, Superman #6 (Fall '40) has some of the earliest full-page splashes as well. check out the interior to Whirlwind Comics 1- one of my favorite esoteric GA books....jb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetteon Posted August 15, 2007 Share Posted August 15, 2007 Name the comic and issue number of where this image appears on the cover. Hint: It is NOT from Picture Stories From the Bible. That has a very sneezer mouse golden age comic feel to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BangZoom Posted August 15, 2007 Author Share Posted August 15, 2007 That has a very sneezer mouse golden age comic feel to it. Does that mean you're ruling out all the pre-code horror titles? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
