Relationship of DC and Marvel Silver from 1955 to 1961.

[NoImSpartacus]

You seem focused on DC and Marvel/Atlas. What about the big sellers from that time period - Dell, Classics Illustrated and Archie? Sales were much higher on those books during those years than DC and Atlas. Dell's sales were so high that they were not involved or impacted by the creation of the Comics Code Authority.

You are correct in that I had only focused on DC and Marvel/Atlas. Perhaps without the enclosure of the others like Dell, Classics, and Archie my study could be skewed. I will start looking into them as well and see how they compare. Lets see what the figures show and if they can relate.

 

 

Kev,

Are you the man who has great knowledge in the pre-code area? The reason I ask is because I collect good girl, monster, sci-fi, space books and wish to look into purchasing one nice pre-code sci fi space piece that shows blatantly as pre code on the cover. If I was going to do that, can you recommend a cool pre code cover in the sci-fi space realm that one could collect. Or a choice of 2 or 3.

 

Oh Yeah, Forgot. Top 5 stars for all. Absolutely GREAT indepth replies to my post. From all our answers, the story of 1955 to 1961 is coming together.

 

 

[Kevin Boyd]

Kev,

Are you the man who has great knowledge in the pre-code area? The reason I ask is because I collect good girl, monster, sci-fi, space books and wish to look into purchasing one nice pre-code sci fi space piece that shows blatantly as pre code on the cover. If I was going to do that, can you recommend a cool pre code cover in the sci-fi space realm that one could collect. Or a choice of 2 or 3.

 

Hmmm, I'm an amateur historian of the industry itself, so I'm not really the guy to ask for specific covers as I haven't spent a lot of time looking at them, at least not enough to make a lot of recommendations. I could try to find my Gerber guides and see if there's something that really catches my eye.

 

However, some of my favorite sci-fi covers are the Frazetta Buck Rogers covers on Famous Funnies, particulary the Octopus cover on 215 (I think). Al Williamson did some great sci-fi covers for EC, and I've seen some pretty cool sci-fi covers on golden age Planet Comics.

 

Povertyrow is the horror master but he might have some suggestions.

 

Kev

[rob_react]

bump for an interesting thread.

 

For a cool sci-fi cover to pick up, look no furhter than Planet Comics. AWESOME GGA covers.

[garthgantu]

You seem focused on DC and Marvel/Atlas. What about the big sellers from that time period - Dell, Classics Illustrated and Archie? Sales were much higher on those books during those years than DC and Atlas. Dell's sales were so high that they were not involved or impacted by the creation of the Comics Code Authority.

 

Kev

 

Yeah, this is why I think the CCA had to be part of the cause of the circ issue... even though the superhero books got the stamp, the funny animal, teen humor and other "inoffensive" titles fared far better in the mid- to late-'50s. I think there must have been a perception - mostly on the part of parents, who were of course the target for all the propaganda against comics - that hero books were no better for kids than horror and the other stuff that was essentially killed off by the code.

 

How could Uncle Scrooge and WDC&S outsell Superman and Batman by what, about 10 to 1 ? Because

1) parents knew that a comic about talking animals was rated G

2) because the hero books didn't have the older crowd supporting them any longer, as they did up through the Korean War

3) because frankly, in many ways, the stories in Uncle Scrooge and WDC&S - at least the lead stories, written by Barks - were actually more clever and creative than a lot of the retreads being offered in hero titles.

 

That's my take, anyway