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[OtherEric]

Oh, they're on the list for next time, Jim!  (Assuming Jon doesn't beat me to them.  )

On another tangent, I need some input from my fellow Kelly fans and I need it soon.  How rare is an unused copy of the Peter Wheat Coloring Book going to be?  The bidding on the one on ebay is already over $75; and I need to figure out how likely another clean copy is likely to show up before I can figure out if I want to go any higher.  This is definitely a rare Public Domain Kelly artifact; and getting a clean copy to scan and make available is, to my mind, important.  I don't expect exact answers, but I want an impression from my fellow Kelly experts how long it's going to be before another one pops up; it will influence how much I'm willing to try and spend.  Because other than people on this site I don't trust anybody to scan and make the material available.

[JVJ]

On another tangent, I need some input from my fellow Kelly fans and I need it soon.  How rare is an unused copy of the Peter Wheat Coloring Book going to be?  The bidding on the one on ebay is already over $75; and I need to figure out how likely another clean copy is likely to show up before I can figure out if I want to go any higher. 

I'm not the right guy to ask, Eric, so I hope some other GAC folks can answer your  question. $75 for ANY comic-y thing is WAY out of my league.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[OtherEric]

I'm not asking advice on how much I should spend, that has to be my decision.  What I'm asking is how rare you think it is, which is something where I would trust your opinion.  I do know $75 is definitely hitting my limit if the issue was just getting a copy for myself; but since the book is in the public domain there is a real question to my mind if another chance to make it available to everybody will come around any time in the foreseeable future.  That's what I'm wondering; and why I might be willing to spend more.  Given how rare all the Peter Wheat stuff seems to be I imagine a unused copy of the coloring book is even harder to find.

[narfstar]

Here are two coloring/activity books that I will be posting here after I get them. Not exactly comic books but I figure that there might be some interest here especially in Willie the Worm. Not sure how colored they are but I got them pretty cheap.

STAR COLORING BOOK: SAFETY FIRST STORIES
FOR CHILDREN (1953) #2                  1 Good @ 8.20-30%=$5.74
http://milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=fullsize&issue=79222111236%202


ANIMATED FUNNIES FEATURING WILLIE THE
WORM #1                                 1 Fine @ 8.20-30%=$5.74
http://milehighcomics.com/cgi-bin/backissue.cgi?action=fullsize&issue=03845364379%201

[JonTheScanner]

Given how rare all the Peter Wheat stuff seems to be I imagine a unused copy of the coloring book is even harder to find.

I don't regularly (or even as often as seldomly) go looking for coloring books, but finding an uncolored coloring book is quite rare indeed.  The only exceptions are for more recent things like Star Wars where collector mentality had started to take hold and fans purposely preserved things in unused state.

[OtherEric]

I don't regularly (or even as often as seldomly) go looking for coloring books, but finding an uncolored coloring book is quite rare indeed.

Neither do I, Jon.  I DO go looking for Kelly material, though; this is the only coloring book I can recall hearing of him working on.

[JVJ]

I'm not asking advice on how much I should spend, that has to be my decision.  What I'm asking is how rare you think it is, which is something where I would trust your opinion.  I do know $75 is definitely hitting my limit if the issue was just getting a copy for myself; but since the book is in the public domain there is a real question to my mind if another chance to make it available to everybody will come around any time in the foreseeable future.  That's what I'm wondering; and why I might be willing to spend more.  Given how rare all the Peter Wheat stuff seems to be I imagine a unused copy of the coloring book is even harder to find.

I understood, Eric,
I was trying to say that because of the price, I am totally unaware of such things - heck, even of their existence. It's like looking down the right hand column of a menu at the prices or looking at the prices of an apartment or a house before looking at the actual information about them. My knowledge is pretty much confined to things I might actually acquire. Good luck with your quest.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[OtherEric]

Fair enough, Jim.  Thank you for your input.  I don't often spend more than $40, either.  But it sometimes happens. 

[OtherEric]

Just a heads up for my fellow Kelly fans: I did get the coloring book.  It wasn't cheap.  I'll be posting it for everybody to see as soon as I get it.  And if six other clean copies show up in the next three months I'll be irked. 

[Yoc]

LOL, congrats Eric!
Oh, what's that - eBay just listed a massive find of them  - onsale for $1 each???  Wow eh?

[narfstar]

Oh did I forget to mention that I have two in duplicates box 

[OtherEric]

So, I ordered copies of what was labeled as "Peter Wheat News" 19 and 43; I figured the 43 was clearly mislabeled and if the 19 was mislabeled I could at least replace the bad pages in my original scan.

I was wrong; I got exactly what was advertised.  Peter Wheat News 19 and 43; 43 has Hubbard art.  You will note that neither Overstreet, the GCD, or the Fort Mudge most even knew the title ran past 30 or 36.  So, to put it mildly-WOW.  There's a special thrill in discovering books that were not previously known to exist, isn't there? 

Look for scans later tonight; I've been dithering but I think I'm going to post them as 8-page items files; first the 4 pages as published then the four story pages in correct order and orientation. (Amusingly, the 43's cover feature is the Peter Wheat coloring book.)  The story in 43 does end in a cliffhanger, so who knows how many issues actually exist?  Not that a cliffhanger is proof of a continuation, but it makes it seem marginally more likely to me that they would finish the serial since I suspect the produced the 3-part serials as a whole.

[Yoc]

Congrats on the new buys Eric!
I'm amazed this thread has gotten so many replies too.
Kelly must be a popular guy. 

[OtherEric]

What I'm wondering now is if I have the last existing copy of 43; since they were made to be cut up and all the usual suspects don't even know issues over 36 exist.  It doesn't seem impossible!  I'll be very happy to post this one so it's safe from destruction if my house burns down or something.

Does anybody here know how to inform the GCD that we're dealing with two different titles and set it up so I can post the covers I have?  Would it even consider these comics as such?

I suspect the thread is so popular because I'm obsessively trying to find out anything more we can about the series.  The fact that I seem to have meaningfully contributed to the information we have about it in the few weeks since I discovered it suggests that it's horribly unknown for a major Kelly work.

[Yoc]

Narf is your man on GCD things.  I'm sure he'll know what to do.

[rmdavidson]

I did a quick look around the web and found this page with some scans of a Peter Wheat 4 in 1 Fun Pack:

http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/public/default.asp?t=1&m=1&c=34&s=264&ai=44800&ssd=12/20/2003&arch=y

The top part of the Fun Pack pages may be Kelly reprints but the bottom portion appears to be redrawn by others.  It's hard to tell on the scans.  By 1949, Kelly was working on editorial cartoons and a local version of the Pogo daily strip for a New York paper and had very little time to do comic books.  Be very suspicious of any comics you see attributed to Kelly after 1950 (except Pogo Possum, of course).

Frankly, I grew up in the 1950's and I never heard of Peter Wheat in the cities I lived in.  So if it was a regional brand and a giveaway comic, it's no wonder they are hard to find.  I haven't found any info on Peter Wheat News after #30, either. 

I remember Al Hubbard from growing up reading his Mary Jane and Sniffles work in the Looney Tunes comics.  He also did many Disney movie adaptations.  Peter Wheat News #43 shows he is still using Kelly's model sheets.  Later on, he worked more in his own style.

Thanks for the great find and new information.

Richard

[narfstar]

Give me some info and I will set up the skeletons on GCD. Issues 1-43 I got but what is the starting and ending dates as well as size and binding. Thanks

What I'm wondering now is if I have the last existing copy of 43; since they were made to be cut up and all the usual suspects don't even know issues over 36 exist.  It doesn't seem impossible!  I'll be very happy to post this one so it's safe from destruction if my house burns down or something.

Does anybody here know how to inform the GCD that we're dealing with two different titles and set it up so I can post the covers I have?  Would it even consider these comics as such?

I suspect the thread is so popular because I'm obsessively trying to find out anything more we can about the series.  The fact that I seem to have meaningfully contributed to the information we have about it in the few weeks since I discovered it suggests that it's horribly unknown for a major Kelly work.

[OtherEric]

Issue 43 is tentative; it's the last issue known for sure to exist but nothing in it suggests it's the last.

First issue would be April 1948, 43 is is October 1951

It's only four pages so there is no binding; it's just one sheet of paper folded over.  The third and fourth pages are designed to be cut out and folded again into a smaller 4-page Adventures of Peter Wheat mini-comic.  (This is not to be confused with the regular Adventures of Peter Wheat comic.)

I'll measure the book later; it's roughly 7.5 x 11.  Bigger than even a GA comic but not quite Magazine width.

And thank you for your help!  +1 Karma!

[narfstar]

Peter Wheat News right?

[OtherEric]

Correct. Peter Wheat News.

[OtherEric]

The top part of the Fun Pack pages may be Kelly reprints but the bottom portion appears to be redrawn by others.  It's hard to tell on the scans.  By 1949, Kelly was working on editorial cartoons and a local version of the Pogo daily strip for a New York paper and had very little time to do comic books.  Be very suspicious of any comics you see attributed to Kelly after 1950 (except Pogo Possum, of course).

I remember Al Hubbard from growing up reading his Mary Jane and Sniffles work in the Looney Tunes comics.  He also did many Disney movie adaptations.  Peter Wheat News #43 shows he is still using Kelly's model sheets.  Later on, he worked more in his own style.

Thanks for the great find and new information.

I'm guessing the strip is a reprint; since Dragonel seems to be one of the bad guys in the story.  It's hard to tell from the small scans, but it does look possibly like Kelly.

I wasn't born until the 70's but my dad used "Now I close my eyes real tight..." as a nursery rhyme.  Mary Jane and Sniffles is one of the great underrated GA series; lost in the generally underwhelming Looney Tunes comics.

You're very welcome, I take a great deal of joy in sharing stuff with people.

[narfstar]

You're very welcome, I take a great deal of joy in sharing stuff with people.

Isn't it great that we have a batch of fans here who share that joy of giving so we spend our time sitting by a scanner just to think of the smile on someone else's face. Yeah we are nuts but it is a good kinda nuts.

[narfstar]

Skeletons are ready on the GCD
http://www.comics.org/scans.lasso?SeriesID=34943

[OtherEric]

Thank you very much, Narf.  The two covers I have are now up, with any luck somebody else will spot it's there and we'll see a few more.

[narfstar]

Anyone interested in the first 2 adv of Peter Wheat?
The Golden Age of Comics reprinted them in black and white in 1982 by New Media Publishing Don and Maggie Thompson. These are just xeroxed copies appear not to have any work done on them. Should I post them here? Would someone want to contact Maggie for permission. I do think they would be a problem in any case as they were public domain and look unretouched.