[narfstar]

Well Rez I would but I already have it done just need to edit which I am doing now.  Since both of us have a copy makes me wonder if it is as rare as stated.  Prize Frankenstein 21 or 26 is listed as a Gerber 8 but appears to be pretty common.

[John C]

Well Rez I would but I already have it done just need to edit which I am doing now.  Since both of us have a copy makes me wonder if it is as rare as stated.  Prize Frankenstein 21 or 26 is listed as a Gerber 8 but appears to be pretty common.

And I've got a third, which I was literally just about to put on the scanner before the contents of this thread sunk in.

[rez]

Well, it is good to know that the site will have the first copy of it.
Viva la goldenagecomics.co.uk!

It may not be as rare as the original author of the Overstreet designation listed, but then again out of all comicdom how many familiarize themselves with the goldenage?
Perhaps the next Overstreet might have it listed as scarce if many more report to own a copy.

That's funny as I was eyeballing it for a scan also. Might your copy have any better cover pages than the one I showed? If so, maybe we could put our best foot forward into the provision for the years to come by presenting a cleaner scan.

Cheers

Well Rez I would but I already have it done just need to edit which I am doing now.  Since both of us have a copy makes me wonder if it is as rare as stated.  Prize Frankenstein 21 or 26 is listed as a Gerber 8 but appears to be pretty common.

And I've got a third, which I was literally just about to put on the scanner before the contents of this thread sunk in.

[narfstar]

My copy is coverless   Thanks to you Rez I added, and give credit for such, your fc,ifc,ibc and bc scans.
You are welcome to download the copy from my ftp and either you or j are welcome to provide better scans than my digital pics for any pages.  This book did take awhile to do and to edit.  I scanned it awhile back and just edited it today by cropping the pages.  Half size allows for two pages to be done at once but then I split them.  I have the joined scans if anyone thinks they would prefer them.  I did live some of the scans joined as the Dinky Dinkerton titles read across the page. 

[Yoc]

Thanks Narfstar.
I've download your book and combined it with the paper scans I already had for some of the Black Orchid stories.  They were shared by Ricahrd B on one of his many Yahoo groups a year or so back but were incomplete.  I think you'll find they look nice to the eye.

[narfstar]

Great
I never have a problem with someone improving on any of my offerings.

[rez]

Wanting to run this by to get an ok for a scan...
Sparkling Stars No.10 Holyoke 1946

[Yoc]

Never been scanned AFAIK.

[phabox]

As I may have mentioned before I have Sparkling Stars Numbers # 009, 011, 018 and 022 sitting WAY down my scanning pile and I seem to recall that 'King Faraday' also has a few issues of this series so maybe one day we might see a decent run of this title on the site.


-Nigel

[narfstar]

Looks great to scan away REZ

[rez]

Alas that's the only I have from that title. Just glad it's not a dupe from someone else's previous scan.
Yes, sounds as to the making of a nice run for the site.

As I may have mentioned before I have Sparkling Stars Numbers # 009, 011, 018 and 022 sitting WAY down my scanning pile and I seem to recall that 'King Faraday' also has a few issues of this series so maybe one day we might see a decent run of this title on the site.


-Nigel

[Aussie500]

Seems no one uploaded our two sparkling Stars issues to my usual source l will have to grab them later, Sparkling Stars 15-17, 23 and 25 are scanned 15 is a fiche scan and 25 seems to be missing about 3 centrefolds (12 pgs) but l am not sure about that, l will upload them to the site later today. Thanks for volunteering to scan 10 for us rez.

Edit - Well l thought l could fit in sorting out the Holyoke section, nice simple small section could not possibly take that long to do could it? WRONG! Why is it Golden Age publishers cannot publish all their comics under the one publisher name or even 4 names, but no wait, there are more!

Cookies to the person who can find me the scan of Whirlwind Comics #2 (1940), l want to closely inspect it.

[rez]

Well,Aussie, there's #10 in rez folder... I think.
Can't believe the trouble I ran into on this one. After scanning half the book discovered the centerfold was missing.
The top staple was off the spine and in a distance then the whole book was kiddywhompus askew which made for some exciting scanning.
Then I'm wondering if Filezella timed out before all the files transferred.
Too much time passed between my last scan and forgot some of the processes involved.

[Yoc]

Thanks Rez!
I just checked it.  One page is upside down and another twice as large as the rest but the whole book is there.  So I'll add it to the site as is.

Thanks again.

[John C]

Edit - Well l thought l could fit in sorting out the Holyoke section, nice simple small section could not possibly take that long to do could it? WRONG! Why is it Golden Age publishers cannot publish all their comics under the one publisher name or even 4 names, but no wait, there are more!

My understanding is that Holyoke started life as a print shop, and ended up allowing some small publishers to publish using their address.  Amid this, they tried publishing their own work, including Blue Beetle, who they had the rights to for a while because Fox couldn't pay his printing bills.

Presumably, I'm even oversimplifying things, so yeah, I could definitely believe it's complicated to track it all down.

[rez]

So it was just page 5 that got by me being too large and upside down? Somehow it missed the edit.
I fixed it and am placing th whole book again in FileZilla.

Cheers

Thanks Rez!
I just checked it.  One page is upside down and another twice as large as the rest but the whole book is there.  So I'll add it to the site as is.

Thanks again.

[Aussie500]

Thanks rez for the new scan.
Actually it was possibly the paper rationing that got Holyoke the Blue Beetle for a time,they were just printing them for Fox. And there was certainly something very strange about the business practices of Temerson and his partner Ullman the amount of companies they seemed to go through even without the Rural home crowd and other associated companies. They actually got into comics in 1937 it seems buying up The Comics Magazine Company and  Harry "A" Chesler's Star Comics to form Ultem Publications which they then sold a short time later to Joe Hardie and Fred Gardner who began Centaur Comics. It is strange that they only had Ultem for such a short period of time before selling it, the debt that eventually forced Centaur into bankruptcy could have originated with Ultem. Temerson always had the money to pay up front for writers and artists and yet seemingly could not keep a company afloat for any length of time. l think the rumours of money laundering and mob links l will leave to the imagination, GA publishing research is becoming far to complex for me to handle.

[phabox]

It does seem to be a fact that Victor Fox DID go out of Business in the early 40's with a number of debts and sold off Blue Beetle his biggest earner to try and offset some of these, at this point Fox Features closed down and 'the man' himself vanished.

However like a true bad penny he reappeared just before the end of World War Two giving some people the idea that he had been 'at the front' something that seems unlikely given that Fox would have been in his 50's by this time.

Even stranger was thet he now seem to have Money behind him once again and with the help of the Iger shop set about rebuilding his Comic Book Empire.

One of the first things on his shopping list was his old 'Blue Beetle' title, by all accounts it had been a good seller for Holyoke and they were not keen on letting it go but 'somehow' Fox put the pressure on them to surrender it.

Ironicly no sooner did he begin republishing the book under the Fox banner that The Blue Beetle found himself  playing second fiddle in his own mag to busty reporter Joan Mason.

There are many stories and indeed 'urban myths' surrounding the sly Victor Fox who certainly lived up to his name and a member of this list and myself are working on a joint project which will involve unraveling some of these mysteries so if anyone out there has anything to add on this subject it would be a great help.

-Nigel

[darkmark]

Check out THE DREAMER by Will Eisner...Fox appears there as Mr. Reynard and Will gives some inside details about the lawsuit between National and Fox over Wonder Man, a Superman ripoff whom Eisner created at Fox's behest.

[phabox]

Thanks DM My mystery partner and myself already have that angle covered but for anyone yet to read 'The Dreamer' its well worth checking out.

-Nigel

[mr_goldenage]

Another book to check out is the Joe Simon Bio book whereas he has a meeting with Victor Fox and "His" -backer- . Robert Farrell........yes the same Farrell of Ajax/Farrell Fame of the 1950's.....who, published among other things the Phantom Lady, Samson, Black Cobra, Wonder Boy, and the Flame plus other titles. Does this give you all any ideas/connection thoughts? It does to me and I've been working on this for a while now....FYI y'all!

Richard Boucher PR Publications

[rez]

Want to get an ok on this one before scanning.
I see #46 is missing in the nice run of Boy Comics in the ComicsHouse/LevGleason folder.

[Yoc]

Go for it Rez!
Looking forward to seeing 'em.

[rez]

A new replacement Sparkling Stars No.10 zip file with the page 5 corrected is on the FTP along with a new file of Boy Illustories No.46.

[Yoc]

Both are now up on the site.
Thanks Rez!!