[Yoc]

Oh WOW, you weren't kidding about that site!!
Thanks!

If one goes onto the Grand Comicbook Database and does a search for any title the results will be listed with the following options:
Country     Title      Series      Issues      Covers
Under covers it will say 'Gallery'.  Click on that to see all the covers in order for that title on GCD.  It's a very handy feature when trying to track down a book in one of these old photos.

Thanks again for the pointer!
-Yoc

[JVJ]

Upper right is a copy of "Fantastic Adventures" pulp, Yoc.
and I guess I thought you were saying that you looked up the PHOTO in the GCD, not the covers. That much I did know about.

JVJ

[JVJ]

Here's another one from fotosearch, Yoc,


You can go here to view it close-up.
http://www.fotosearch.com/RTF001/57539554/

Peace, Jim (|:{>

----------------
Comics in this picture-
Upper left to right-
Foxhole#1 (Oct'54), Gang Busters#41 (Aug-Sep'54), Astonishing#35 (Oct'54), Superboy#35 (Sep'54),
Hoppy#93 (Sep'54), Gene Autry#90, Archie#70 (Sep-Oct'54), Unknown Dell, WDC&S#167 (Aug'54),
Chip & Dale ?, Looney Tunes#154 (Aug'54), Little Lulu#74 (Aug'54), pulps,
Bugs Bunny Vacation Funnies#4 (54), Unknown Walt Disney book.

-Yoc

[Yoc]

Ah, now we understand each other.
Nope, these photos have been collected over the years visiting websites, etc.

Another odd collection I've kept is those 'Comicscope ads' mostly in Fox but others as well.
An odd toy I've never understood how it could work.  Wouldn't the light from behind show both sides of any comic page projected onto a wall?

Hey, thanks for adding a new one to my collection!

[JVJ]

Ah, now we understand each other.
Nope, these photos have been collected over the years visiting websites, etc.

Another odd collection I've kept is those 'Comicscope ads' mostly in Fox but others as well.
An odd toy I've never understood how it could work.  Wouldn't the light from behind show both sides of any comic page projected onto a wall?

Hey, thanks for adding a new one to my collection!

You're welcome, Yoc,
And I always thought the Comicscope had to be something akin to an opaque projector. Never seen one, so I could be wrong...

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[Yoc]

Hi Jim,
I've added a small file of pictures taken from an eBay auction for a Comicscope.

Now up on the site.
Enjoy!

[rez]

An odd toy I've never understood how it could work.  Wouldn't the light from behind show both sides of any comic page projected onto a wall?

I had an old projector type deal that may have been along those same lines which somehow used the light to project out the lens using a mirror to project the face up image the projector was sitting on

unlike the common projector that uses a transparency and a light source from beneath thru that transparent plastic sheet with words or images on it.

That is if that was what you were making reference to.

[John C]

That certainly sounds like an opaque projector to me.  Did it work something like, say, this?

http://www.finkbuilt.com/blog/make-an-opaque-projector/

It makes some sense that comic book companies would sell a cheap one.  The artists would probably be familiar with the device if they had worked on any murals, and it doesn't look like it'd be very hard to manufacture a cheap version, if you had a bunch of lenses and prisms handy.

[JonTheScanner]

Is the comicscope a projector at all?  Are you are referring to those things that help you draw "real life images" rather than project an image onto a screen?  Those are the things I saw advertised in comics.  These drawing aids actually make no projection at all.  What they do is essentially serve as a beam splitter (half silvered mirror).  When you look into it, you can see both the paper on the flat surface and the image in front of you.  Then if you manage to keep your head very very still you can "trace" the image of what you see on the paper.

A true opaque projector would be much much easier to use -- and much much more expensive.  Too expensive to have been offered for sale in a comic I think.

[John C]

No, I've definitely seen the "project your comics onto the wall" advertisements.  Fox (OK, not the best example) had quite a few of them, and I'm fairly sure I've seen others.  It can't be anything except an opaque projector.  (I do know the things you're talking about, but don't recall seeing them for sale in comics before, say, the '70s.)

As you can see by the article I referenced, it wouldn't be all that hard to make them.  Make them well?  Well, that's another story, but if you have a line on mirrors and lenses, I'm pretty sure you could make a fuzzy projector that would wow an eight-year-old from the 1940s.

Ah-ha, confirmed!  Being very curious, I got a patent number off the image here:

http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/category/topic/comicscope

and then grabbed the patent here:

http://www.google.com/patents?id=pw9zAAAAEBAJ&dq=2301114

And hey, look who the owners are:

VICTOR S. FOX.
ROBERT W. FARRELL.

No, I never heard of'em, either.

So, there you have it.  The Comicscope was a vastly simplified opaque projector that probably used a cheap lens and required the user to supply his own lighting.  So, basically, it's a cardboard box, which is certainly more than cheap enough to sell for the price of a couple of comics...

[JVJ]

Ah-ha, confirmed!  Being very curious, I got a patent number off the image here:

http://kirbymuseum.org/blogs/simonandkirby/archives/category/topic/comicscope

and then grabbed the patent here:

http://www.google.com/patents?id=pw9zAAAAEBAJ&dq=2301114

And hey, look who the owners are:

VICTOR S. FOX.
ROBERT W. FARRELL.

No, I never heard of'em, either.

So, there you have it.  The Comicscope was a vastly simplified opaque projector that probably used a cheap lens and required the user to supply his own lighting.  So, basically, it's a cardboard box, which is certainly more than cheap enough to sell for the price of a couple of comics...

I just LOVE IT when you do that kind of research and share it, JC. The things we learn...! Thanks a whole lot!

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[Yoc]

Wow, thanks a LOT JC!!


To repeat - Everything you'd want to know about a Comicscope - who owned it, how it worked (with nifty diagrams) and the mystery of Captain America appearing on it before anyone should have known about him are all ON THIS LINK!

[Yoc]

Bottom left I can see ZIP 26 (May'42), MORE FUN 78 (Apr'42) and FIGHT 18 (Apr'42).


They're reading Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #27 (Dec'42)

[Yoc]

Here's a couple I figured come from 1946.
A cute one of some kids where the third boy from left is Marvel Mystery #70 (Mar 46) and on the floor -Science Comics #1 (Jan'46).


Here's a San Fran corner spinner rack -


I can see Our Gang #29 (Dec'46), Punch & Judy v2#5 (Dec'46), Frisky Fables v2#9
Unknown Bugs Bunny, Polly Pigtails #10 (Nov'46), Cookie #4 (Dec-Jan'47).

[JVJ]

Here's a couple I figured come from 1946.
A cute one of some kids where the third boy from left is Marvel Mystery #70 (Mar 46) and on the floor -Science Comics #1 (Jan'46).

The boy on the left is reading a Four Favorites. I'll leave it to someone else to ID the issue.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[Yoc]

Good eye Jim.
No idea which issue, not enough to go by.

[John C]

Wow, thanks a LOT JC!!

To be fair, the real credit clearly goes to Google and a certain Mr. Mendryk for making the information available.  Had I bothered to thoroughly read the first page, I might even have noticed that I didn't need to pursue the patent number, since the information is already there.  (Though on further searching, I was able to see that Farrell thought there was something to the idea of a personal projector--he has two further patents of vaguely similar concept in '45 and '46 filed by the same lawyer.)

Gotta love the Internet.  It's not long ago at all that a question like this would've been relegated to the "gosh, I hope I eventually meet someone who knows the answer" pile.  Now it takes thirty seconds.

[Yoc]

These kept me busy for a while...

Top row left to right,
Blue Bolt v7#7 (Dec'46), Egbert #4 (Wint'46), Modern #56 (Dec'46), Prize #62 (Nov-Dec'46)

Second row from top:
4 unknown bks, Funny Stuff #16 (Dec'46), Unknown, Mutt&Jeff #25, Unknown S book, Buzzy #10

Third row from top:
Wilbur unknown #, several behind the boys.

Boy on left is reading Mutt&Jeff #25

Another picture to follow...

[Yoc]

This one is nuts with 40+ books!

I wish I could zoom in better but here goes - (anyone catching a mistake please shout out!)
Left Rack, Left row top to bottom:
Unkown, unknown, Young Romance #2 (Nov-Dec'47), Terry & the Pirates #7?, Pep #47?, Real Clue v2#9 (Nov'47),
Boy Comics #37?,  Crime Does Not Pay #57?, Joe Palooka #15 (Dec'47), All Funny #20 (Nov-Dec'47)

Left Rack, Right row top to bottom:
Jack In The Box #15 (Nov-Dec'47), Master Comics #?, Frankie #7 (Fall'47), Joe Palooka #15 (Dec'47),
Oscar #3 (Fall'47), unkown, Buzzy #16 (Nov-Dec'47), Batman #43 (Oct-Nov'47),
Headline #26 (Sep-Oct'47), All Star Comics #37 (Oct-Nov'47)

Right Rack, Right row top to bottom:
Screen Comics #14?, Archie #29 (Nov-Dec'47), Cookie #9 (Oct-Nov'47), Sensation #71 (Nov'47),
unknown, Funny Stuff #27 (Nov'47), Superman #49 (Nov-Dec'47), More Fun #127 (Nov'47),
Real Fact #11 (Dec'47), Capt. Marvel #79 (Dec'47)

Right Rack, Right row top to bottom:
Green Lantern #28 (Oct-Nov'47), Prize Comics #66 (Oct-Nov'47), Action #114 (Nov'47), unknown,
Frankenstein #9 (Sep-Oct'47), Target Comics v8#10 (Dec'47), Georgie #14 (Jan'48),
Adventure #122 (Nov'47), Ozzie & Babs #4 (Sep'47), Wow #61 (Dec'47)

Anyone figure out the Unknowns?

[darkmark]

Boy, does this all give truth to the saying, "Man is in love, and loves what vanishes."

[rez]

Ya, what a blast to the past. Love these old pics.

Boy, does this all give truth to the saying, "Man is in love, and loves what vanishes."

[Yoc]

I've added a listing for the left rack on the above 1947-48 display case.
Anyone know the unknown books?  There are a handful.

More new pics to come!

[John C]

Leftmost at the top is probably George Pal's Puppetoons #17.  I can just barely make out some of the logo, and thankfully there's only one issue where somebody's head is alone at that height.  Beneath it, good luck.  You need the CSI computers on that one, to magnify the reflection of the book masthead off a car window across the street.

The book with the cluttered logo between Oscar and Buzzy...well, it looks for all the world to be named "Dawg," but I can't find any such title (other than licensed Deputy Dawg twenty years later).  Squinting my eyes in various ways turned up other dead-ends, like "haze" (and Hazel), "Dave," and so forth, but I can't find anything in that time frame.  I almost wonder if somebody wrote on a comic (or the rack's backing board" with a marker.  Hazel or Dave, for instance.  Ahem.  Or Dawg.

Between Sensation and Funny Stuff, I believe, is an issue of Blue Bolt.

And the book under Action should be All-American, no?  I don't have time to rifle around looking for the specific issue, but that's the only book I can think of whose logo matches.  The only alternative I can think of is one of the "lost" National titles, like Double Action, but that doesn't seem right at all.

[JVJ]

The book with the cluttered logo between Oscar and Buzzy...well, it looks for all the world to be named "Dawg," but I can't find any such title (other than licensed Deputy Dawg twenty years later).  Squinting my eyes in various ways turned up other dead-ends, like "haze" (and Hazel), "Dave," and so forth, but I can't find anything in that time frame.  I almost wonder if somebody wrote on a comic (or the rack's backing board" with a marker.  Hazel or Dave, for instance.  Ahem.  Or Dawg.

Between Oscar and Buzzy in an issue of Ha Ha Comics (probably #47

Between Sensation and Funny Stuff, I believe, is an issue of Blue Bolt.

Good eyes, jc. It's Blue Bolt Comics #v8#6 November 1947

And the book under Action should be All-American, no?  I don't have time to rifle around looking for the specific issue, but that's the only book I can think of whose logo matches.  The only alternative I can think of is one of the "lost" National titles, like Double Action, but that doesn't seem right at all.

The logo doesn't seem crisp enough to be a DC book. If you look at the other DC titles, their logos are among the easiest to read. This title is obscured by poor design almost as much as by low-rez.

Keen Detectives all...

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[Yoc]

Thanks for helping guys!
Stay tuned for a couple more fun ones.  Nothing as densely packed as the above but lots of fun.

-Yoc