Strong to the finich.
You probably thought I forgot about your questions! Let’s jump back into a couple of them!
King of the Moon declares
“How often does Olive Oyl slip some spinach into a dish on date night?”
First, how very dare you. Second, given all documented evidence, Popeye’s strength and stamina are increased by the swallowing (if not the digestion, since there’s barely time) of spinach, As such, I suspect the temptation on Olive’s part is not insignificant. However, one should refer to Larry Niven’s famous essay about Superman’s theoretical existence as a sexual being, “Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex,” for the potential danger to Ms. Oyl, despite the astounding amount of resilience she’s shown over the decades.
Walaka of Earth 2 crosses the dimensional barrier to ask
“Mike, what’s the best way for someone who is a wait-for-the-trade type to work with their retailer to get the books they want? Sometimes I see a first issue, and know I am not going to buy the monthlies, but really want to get the trade when it comes out. Is there a way to do a not-published-yet pull slist or something?”
Well, the way it’s always worked with me is…just ask! If it’s something that’s eventually coming in the not too distant future, or even the not-not too distant future, let me know and I’ll put it in my pull list file. And if I need to, I’ll make sure to make a note to order the thing in case it’s not already in whatever distributor’s system from which I need to obtain it.
Now that’s just me, and I’m very simplistic in my technological solutions…some stores have more elaborate systems in place that probably make the process even easier. But the upshot is…there should be literally no problem.
JohnJ jingleheimers the following schmidt
“Mike, Do you have a wish-list of a few titles from the 50s-60s that you’d like to see reprinted but don’t think either of the Big Two will ever actually publish?”
Since you specify the Big Two, Marbles and Duh-C, I’ll stick to titles from them, and friend, number one with a bullet on my list is this comic book series right here:
Okay, that’s a little later in the run, where things went…off the rails a bit, but still absolutely wonderful. The earlier issues were a little more what you’d expect from a comic starring Ol’ Ski Nose:
I want them all. In freshly-scanned and recolored oversized hardcover volumes. I know due to licensing reasons and, well, potential audience (are there enough weirdos like me out there to justify the cost of any reprinting, much less a refurbished one like I’m asking?) I don’t think we’re ever seeing it again. And to think…at the previous place of employment we actually had an Adventures of Bob Hope #1 just sittin’ in the case forever. I coulda started my collection there! Anyway, it’d be great to have these and the Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis book in print somehow as well.
Another book I’d like see and is also hindered by having been a licensed property, were the Fox and the Crow comics:
…based on a pretty much forgotten series of animated shorts that stopped being produced in 1950. The characters went on a while longer in the funnybook biz, appearing in other anthology titles at DC as well as having their own self-titled series as shown above.
Running as a back-up in later issues of Fox and the Crow were “Stanley and His Monster,” which eventually took over Fox and the Crow as the title characters for the last four issues of the series:
There’s no licensing agreement keeping this from reprinting, as far as I know, but again, demand probably isn’t there. When they had that Phil Foglio mini a couple of decades back, or where they showed up in those Kevin Smith issues of Green Arrow, that would’ve been the time for reprinting. But alas, that window has likely passed.
In addition, I’d like to see reprints of all the Sheldon Mayer stuff…we got that one Sugar and Spike Archives and that was it. But I’d also like to see Three Mouseketeers, Scribbly, all the short funny animal features that popped up here and there.
Okay, that was all DC stuff. I couldn’t really think of an Marvel book I’d like to see collected. Maybe Casey Crime Photographer?
I mean, sure, why not. I mean, aside from also being licensed.
Loooove the Stanley and his monster series. Shaunessy and Schnitzel are my favorite characters!
It’s that funny dialect which gets funnier when you read it out loud. More characters should be written with dialects.
Two things. First, I can’t believe you passed up the opportunity to call the Niven essay “seminal”. Second, Foglio’s Stanley and his Monster mini was beautiful. Truly wonderful.
Judging from the photo he’s taking, Casey the Crime Photography might also be Casey the Peeping Tom.
Not going to lie, I would be first in line for a CASEY, CRIME PHOTOGRAPHER reprint book.
A single Fox & Crow story was included in the book THE GREATEST 1950s STORIES EVER TOLD, but that reportedly was a mistake. The people who put the book together were reportedly unaware that this was based on a cartoon series, and assumed that DC owned the characters.
If you are curious about the cartoons, you should begin at the beginning, and then skip straight to the end. The original, “The Fox and the Grapes,” is a Frank Tashlin creation that is still quite funny, and is also a legitimate piece of animation history (Chuck Jones has sited it as a big inspiration for the Road Runner series). The final three–“Robin Hoodlum,” “The Magic Fluke,” and “Punchy de Leon”–were produced by the innovative studio UPA, and while they are not among that studio’s best work (go to “Rooty Toot Toot” and “Gerald McBoing-Boing” for that) they are visually distinctive. What came in between was mostly routine.
I note that Stanley & His Monster did put in a memorable appearance in an issue of SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP…in a story that also featured Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis (well, nearly).
As for what needs to be collected by Marvel, the answer is obvious: Bill Everett’s run on VENUS.
It is interesting that those last dozen issues of THE ADVENTURES OF BOB HOPE carried the Comics Code seal, given the explicit prohibition against vampires, werewolves, and the walking dead. I suppose DC argued that it was not really violating that rule: Dr. Van Pyre may have looked like Bela Lugosi, and he slept in a coffin, but he also moved around freely in the daytime, so he was probably not an actual vampire. Professor Von Wolfmann never transformed; he always looked the same, and so one can say that he was not actually a werewolf, just someone with a glandular problem that left him covered with hair. As for Zombia Ghastly, she was a zombie in name only; the comic never really explored what that meant.
Or maybe the CCA just did not care. It tended to be relaxed on these points in the cases of curious comics, as demonstrated by the many flagrant violations in Archie’s TALES CALCULATED TO DRIVE YOU BATS.
Man, I’d love a reprint of all of Phil Foglio’s stuff from DC. Stanley and His Monster, Angel and the Ape, Plastic Man and his bits in Secret Origins and Who’s Who in the DCU. Just put all in a big HC.
Good to see your list. Way back when, I actually had all the Neal Adams drawn issues of the Hope and Lewis comics.
My wish list from DC continues to be for Rex, the Wonder Dog and Detective Chimp. Gil Kane and Carmine Infantino artwork, all.
From Marvel, I wish they would do artist collections of war and Western books from the 50s and they did do that with Kirby’s war and romance stories. If they could do Gene Colan or Russ Heath books, I would be dazzled.
I have no idea why I typed “curious comics” when I meant “humorous comics.” My apologies to anyone I mystified.
So long as we are fantasizing about unlikely collections from DC…I visualize a book which I have entitled “Strange Adventurers.” It collects all the short-lived series that appeared in “Strange Adventures” in that brief period between Star Hawkins and Deadman: A-Man, Immortal Man, Split-Man, the Enchantress…and if DC wants to add Moolah the Mystic and Professor Eureka, I will not complain. If the book needs some padding, the one-off stories “Beware the Gorilla Witch” and “The Crazy-Quilt Man” (which feels a bit like a try-out) can be included. This would provide the cover image…
https://www.comics.org/issue/20804/cover/4/
…though this would work as well:
https://www.comics.org/issue/19893/cover/4/
Weren’t the Venus comics already collected in Marvel Masterworks editions?
Absolutely to Turan’s suggestion. I was always hoping to see more of these collections while DC was putting out their Showcase Presents volumns.
Alas, it was not to be.
I really wanted a Showcase Presents: Captain Comet, especially.
I’m not sure if DC finally released an Archives edition of the Captain Comet stories or not.
One was scheduled. I never saw it released and, if it was, it is long out-of-print, although I got the idea that DC actually canceled it.
I’ll go with the complete Captain Comet as my choice, although it may have been collected at some point.
Chris V: The Captain Comet Archives was indeed canceled before publication, though oddly I find it listed for sale on a couple of sites. I will do them the credit of assuming that they are not trying to scam anyone, but merely did not ever update their listings.
Marvel published a Masterworks collection of VENUS, but it included only the first nine issues, and Bill Everett’s run began with #13. This was a case in which a project was sabotaged by the obsessive-compulsive completism of comics fans. Interest in VENUS is focused almost entirely on the last seven issues, when it was a straight-up horror comic. However, Marvel HAD to begin at the beginning, when it was a romantic comedy. So, of course, Volume One sold poorly, and we never got the Volume Two that was actually wanted.
For the youngsters among you to whom that last paragraph may have been meaningless, I will provide a couple of illustrations.
This is what Marvel chose to reprint:
https://www.comics.org/issue/7063/cover/4/
This is what Marvel chose to not reprint:
https://www.comics.org/issue/9300/cover/4/
I ask you: Which would have sold better?
Turan:”This is what Marvel chose to reprint:
https://www.comics.org/issue/7063/cover/4/
This is what Marvel chose to not reprint:
https://www.comics.org/issue/9300/cover/4/”
an Archie (Betty & Veronica) rip-off or some good, cheesy horror! I’ll take the horror book!