[OtherEric]

I think the reason for Green Arrow and Aquaman lasting goes back to 1946; there was apparently a decision to turn Adventure into the "Superhero" anthology and More Fun into the Humor anthology.  Detective and Action were never purely Superhero back then.  So it boils down to dumb luck and the sales on Adventure being good enough to not need to tinker with; we could almost as easily had Shining Knight or Johnny Quick continue without stopping.  I suspect they only survived because there weren't non-superhero strips in the book to survive when the page drop came, and it wasn't worth creating new features.

[JVJ]

I think the reason for Green Arrow and Aquaman lasting goes back to 1946; there was apparently a decision to turn Adventure into the "Superhero" anthology and More Fun into the Humor anthology.  Detective and Action were never purely Superhero back then.  So it boils down to dumb luck and the sales on Adventure being good enough to not need to tinker with; we could almost as easily had Shining Knight or Johnny Quick continue without stopping.  I suspect they only survived because there weren't non-superhero strips in the book to survive when the page drop came, and it wasn't worth creating new features.

I think you're absolutely dead-on, Eric,
It was the luck of the draw (hey, that's a DOUBLE pun when applied to Green Arrow!) and nothing more. Just as I believe that it was pure luck that Flash was chosen to be "updated" in Showcase. I'll bet you that by the time Showcase #4 came around, the editors were cursing themselves for setting themselves a task to create a "new" character every month. So they just grabbed a sentimental favorite (perhaps) from the past and figured it was an easy ride for that month.

We look back and figure it was planned, but odds are that it was simple expediency.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

ps. That Peter Wheat 26 is a pure joy. It's one of the few downloads that I've actually saved. I hope you find more of them.

[JonTheScanner]

So it boils down to dumb luck and the sales on Adventure being good enough to not need to tinker with; we could almost as easily had Shining Knight or Johnny Quick continue without stopping.  I suspect they only survived because there weren't non-superhero strips in the book to survive when the page drop came, and it wasn't worth creating new features.

Weisinger was involved in the creation of Green Arrow and Aquaman and not Shining Knight or Johnny Quick so he might have had more attachment to those two features.  I doubt he had any financial interest in them.

[John C]

Yeah, I didn't think there was some massive conspiracy, but it seemed peculiar that the 1944 merge provided no mixing whatsoever, even as the superhero lines were in decline.  You'd think the lifeline would've gone to the characters with the best returns across the line, rather than whoever happened to already share a spot with Superboy.  Especially when Wonder Woman (as far as I know) has never been a real commercial success.

(Or maybe I did think there was a conspiracy.  After all, DC hasn't exactly let their other acquired properties take the spotlight.  Well, except for Black Canary and her absurd cigarette girl outfit, I guess.)

[OtherEric]

And, dredging up a old thread:  I said earlier that I thought the reason Green Arrow and Aquaman survived when others didn't came down to the Adventure/ More Fun content shift.  Looking at that now, I think they decided on the contents first, and only after the fact swapped the titles.  My current suspected order is they decided to change Adventure to a humor title and brought Dover & Clover over from More Fun to join Genius Jones.  Since they then had a slot in More Fun, they moved Shining Knight over as the best feature.  Only then did they realize the titles sounded backwards and swapped them.  I'm not sure what features I would keep if I was really looking at both books for the best, but if the plan was originally to make the hero book Adventure I think they would have started with the Adventure features and then add the best from More Fun, not vice versa.

I've just had Adventure Comics on the brain recently, what with the revival coming soon.  Picked up a few fun pre-code issues, including 161 with a Frazetta Shining Knight.  Beautiful stuff, I would love a collection of Frazetta's DC work.

[Yoc]

One wonders why a collection of Frazetta's DC wasn't done Years ago!
Heck, people have reprinted him forever and even started new comics by other artist based on his paintings.

-Yoc

[OtherEric]

I've been checking on the GCD; as near as I can tell a collection of Frazetta's DC work would be 17 stories; 101 pages.  Throw in a 1/4 size cover gallery, since he didn't do any covers, and a couple intro pages, and you could have a very nice 112 page HC.  I know I would buy one in a heartbeat!

[Yoc]

But they never ask us do they Eric.  I hear a Sugar and Spike collection has been BEGGED for by the fans for Years and nothing.... its all very sad. 

[BountyHunter]

I forget which school, but there's a college (I want to say the University of Minnesota, but that doesn't sound right...

I believe you're thinking of the comic collection at Michigan State University:  http://www.lib.msu.edu/coll/main/spec_col/nye/comic/

--Ken Q

I have a question about the Michigan State collection.  I just looked at the index on the site.  Do they have ACTUAL copies of all those comics?  Or is it basically just an index keeping track of old comic books?

[phabox]

Did'nt DC put out a couple of 'Deluxe' issues featuring Frazetta's stuff sometime back in the late 70's early 80's ?

-Nigel

[narfstar]

http://www.comics.org/covers.lasso?SeriesID=11323

Masterworks series two Frazetta and a Wrightson

[Yoc]

Oh wow, and I even own those! 
Dang is my memory going south!

[kquattro]

I have a question about the Michigan State collection.  I just looked at the index on the site.  Do they have ACTUAL copies of all those comics?  Or is it basically just an index keeping track of old comic books?

They have the actual comics on site. From what I understand, you have to make an appointment if you are interested in viewing any comics. I'm sure if you called the MSU library, someone there could give you all the details.

--Ken Q

[Tarzanofthecats]

I've really enjoyed reading through this discussion and the arguments on these ages. I can almost say I agree a little with everyone as silly as it sounds. When I grew up and as a kid started seriously collecting comics in 1961 rather than the haphazard once in a while it was pretty clearly understood that the "Golden Age" of comics was this era that ended in the late 40's. There was no name for the time after that and I can't even recall when I first started to hear of a "silver age". But to a fan you could definately see styles, genre and trends moving forward and backwards in time in the comics that were available then. I had zero interest in the horror titles and crime titles that older brothers of friends may have had - I was really interested tho in their Action comics of the late 50's which clearly belonged with the Actions of the early 60's. You could literally feel a new era of comics being born around you with the Justice League, Superboy Legion of SH in Adventure, the breakout and birth of the Marvel titles like FF and Daredevil and Iron Man. By the end of the 60's the winds of change were clearly blowing - i once thought I was outgrowing comics then but with a little hindsight it is pretty clear to me that I just didn't grow with or care for the change. To me the silver age as we now call it pretty clearly dies in 1969-1970. You have the end of the 12 cent comic, Mort Weisinger leaving in 1970, and things like the birth of Conan.

From that point on comics very rarely caught my interest. And with the 80's and big hair it fell completely away. Still, it was pretty obvious even in the moment that another era of comics began in 1986 or so.

For the most part this matters not a bit what you call various times. But there are pretty clearly various era of comics whatever you want to call them.

[JonTheScanner]

They have the actual comics on site. From what I understand, you have to make an appointment if you are interested in viewing any comics. I'm sure if you called the MSU library, someone there could give you all the details.

Randall Scott is (or at least was) the man to ask for.