Print

[FraBig]

Thanks Paw!

That's an interesting coincidence, Panther! I find it interesting too when it happens.

[FraBig]

Hi everyone!
I uploaded a new compilation featuring the Quality character Red Torpedo. He's a character that was brought back (just like the Red Bee) by Roy Thomas in his All-Star Squadron series. He's also had a bit of spotlight in more recent years in the 2006 Aquaman series (Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis).

I will copy the link here as soon as it will be available for everyone to read!

Here it is:
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=82946

[FraBig]

Hi everyone! I just uploaded the first part of a compilation about Hangman, the MLJ character. I have the second part ready but I'd like to ask you for an advice.

In the attachments there's the index for the second part, you can see that I put "Winter 1944" for Black Hood Comics #9, even if the official date would be "Winter 1943", because it's actually the issue published in December 1943, so it would be "Winter 1944" according to how they marked the previous Winter numbers in Hangman Comics (Black Hood Comics is the continuation of Hangman Comics).
In fact, if you notice, there's already a "Winter 1943", officially called "Winter 1942-1943", which is Hangman Comics #5.

Do you think it's more correct to put "Winter 1943" in Black Hood Comics #9 (thus having 2 issues with the same date) or it's more coherent to follow the same pattern as previous issues and call it "Winter 1944" even if it's not the official date?

NOTE: I couldn't upload the index because it surpassed 192KB, but I hope it's still understandable...

Thanks for the help!

[FraBig]

Hi everyone!

I have finally uploaded both parts of the compilation, I'll copy the links here when they will be available to read.

This is probably my biggest compilation ever, in terms of pages, because it's a total of 736 pages (Part 1 + Part 2).

The character featured is no other than the Hangman, one of the main MLJ characters at the time (together with the Shield, the Wizard, the Black Hood and Steel Sterling).
Hangman is a peculiar character because he was created to replace the Comet in Pep Comics, but they connected these two characters in a pretty smart way: he is actually the Comet's brother, who starts his superhero career in order to avenge the Comet's death (the first superhero death in comics).

Later on, he would resurface in Archie's Mighty Crusaders and then DC Comics would reimagine him as a supernatural character for their Impact imprint. Some years later (in the 2000s) he would appear in DC Comics' Mighty Crusaders, but the character had almost nothing in common with the original MLJ Hangman.

His issues feature art from Irv Novick and, especially, Bob Fujitani (a huge number of them is drawn by this awesome artist). The tone of the stories tends to be pretty dark and gritty, which is not something very common in 1940s superhero comics, at least not to Hangman's extent.

I hope you'll enjoy reading about this interesting character!

[FraBig]

Here they are!

Part 1: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=82984
Part 2: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=82985

[FraBig]

I've just uploaded a new compilation featuring the peculiar Quality character called 711.

All the appearances feature art by George E. Brenner, who is the creator of the Clock (one of the first masked vigilantes in comics). The story of the character is pretty peculiar for 2 reasons:
- He is an innocent convict, who escapes prison to defeat crime and then returns to his cell;
- He is one of the few Golden Age heroes to die in a Golden Age publication (the most notable is MLJ's Comet).

I will link it as soon as it will be available for everyone to read, I hope you'll enjoy it!

[paw broon]

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=83004
711 now available. Thanks Fra.

[FraBig]

Thanks Paw, as always!

[FraBig]

Hi everyone! I just uploaded the compilation of all of Amazing Man's appearances, divided into two parts. I will link it here as soon as it will be available for everyone to read.

[FraBig]

Here they are:
Part 1: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=83073
Part 2: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=83074

[FraBig]

Hello everyone! It's been a while since my last upload, but here I am again.

This time I uploaded a compilation about the Hillman character "Conqueror". He is one of the many USA-themed characters that spawned during 1941, after the debut of Captain America and the slowly increasing USA involvement in WWII. This character appeared in just 4 issues, but all of them have pretty good art.

The debut issue features writing and art from the incredible Bill Everett.

I'll copy the link here as soon as it will be available for everyone to read!

[FraBig]

Here it is!
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=83238

[FraBig]

Hey everyone!

I just uploaded a new compilation. This time it's another Hillman character, Zippo. He's a pretty fun one because he uses weird wheels attached to his feet in order to achieve superhuman speed. The art is pretty awesome too!

I'll leave a link here as soon as it will be available for everyone to read.

[paw broon]

Excellent Fra.  Should show up soon.  Meanwhile, you can find it here:-
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=83494

[FraBig]

Thanks a lot Paw, as always!!

[FraBig]

Here's a new compilation about another Hillman character, an even weirder one this time, Micro-Face!
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=85071

The trope of a character that can use radio equipment to "project" his voice was something oddly recurring in the Golden Age. The most notable example is DC Comics' Air Wave.

This character is very similar to a double-appearance Centaur character called "The Voice", who first appeared in Amazing Man Comics #22 in 1941, you can check it out here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=14735
And his second (and last) appearance was in Stars and Stripes Comics #2: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=20222

Despite the similarities, 1943's Micro-Face seems to have had a slightly greater success.

[FraBig]

Just uploaded a compilation about Gunmaster, as suggested by The Australian Panther!

His series features artwork from the King Jack Kirby, which is always a pleasure to see. A pretty interesting concept of a gunslinger that uses guns to prevent gun violence, as the descendant of the inventor of guns.

I'll copy the link here as soon as it will become available for everyone to read.

[paw broon]

And here it is:-
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=85107
Thanks Fra.  Good work.

Not to be confused with the masked mystery man western of the same name:-
https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=761
Also in Six Gun Heroes.
We need a comp of this character also. 'Cos I'm a fan. Hint, hint, hint!!!

[FraBig]

Thanks a lot, Paw!

Interesting! I love Charlton characters, but they're often difficult to make compilations of because sometimes part of their appearances is not in the public domain. I'll see what I can do...

[FraBig]

Hi everyone!
Just uploaded a new compilation about a Rural Home character called Steel Fist. You guessed it, he's a guy with a steel fist who wears a colorful costume to fight crime! I'll copy the link here as soon as it will be available.

Here it is:
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=85123

[FraBig]

Hello everyone!
I am currently working on a huge project. I want to collect every appearance of Golden Age Blue Beetle, the policeman version of Dan Garret. My plan is to make 4 volumes, divided for each publisher Blue Beetle has gone through, something like this:

Blue Beetle Complete Collection Vol. 1: The Fox Years (1939-1942)
Blue Beetle Complete Collection Vol. 2: The Holyoke Years (1942-1944)
Blue Beetle Complete Collection Vol. 3: Return to Fox (1944-1950)
Blue Beetle Complete Collection Vol. 4: The Charlton Years (1954-1956)

When I'll upload them, I'll obviously need to divide them into smaller parts because the maximum I can upload is 200 MB each.
I'm currently working on the first volume, probably the most complicated one because Dan appeared simultaneously on 3 different series, and the order of the appearances can be tricky.

Firstly, I wanted to ask you what you think about this idea, and if you think it would be useful. I know we already have a section with Blue Beetle compilations, but the scans used there are a bit dated and I don't know if there are exactly all of Dan's appearances. The total of pages in the existing ones is around 1900 (all compilations considered), but only this first Volume is already counting almost 1000 pages alone for me.

Secondly, I'd like to ask you if somebody could provide better scans for Mystery Men Comics #28, which is the only issue that's still all fiche. It would be greatly appreciated. You can find the issue here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=25784

Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!

[The Australian Panther]

Frabig said,

  I am currently working on a huge project. I want to collect every appearance of Golden Age Blue Beetle, the policeman version of Dan Garret. My plan is to make 4 volumes, divided for each publisher Blue Beetle has gone through,

I think that is a fantastic idea!
Blue Beetle is one of the GA heroes featured on CB+ that I have not read much of, [Except for the Charlton stuff] and the reason is because, as you have mentioned, it's difficult to get them in chronological order.
Ome thing I would ask, though.
I am seriously indebted to those who have gone to the hassle of making archival compilations on CB+. Respect!
But one thing usually missing is a foreword page outlinging the names of the creators, the artists and writers. (Where it is possible to know)
Oh, also I think there was a Blue Beetle Newspaper strip too.
Go for it mate! Can't wait to read them.
cheers!         

[FraBig]

I'm glad to know you'd like it, Panther!

Concerning the authors, I usually don't put them in my compilations because of 2 reasons:
1) Most of the times they signed themselves, in particular the artist.
2) When they didn't sign themselves, the attribution may sometimes vary with time, so I don't want to write a name that may sometimes change in the future.

What I usually do is that I make an index at the start of the compilation with all of the issues featured, and their cover date. In that way, people can easily search them on this site or on Grand Comics Database and know exactly all the authors that worked on it. GCD surely has a much more complete information than what I can put in my index.

As for the Blue Beetle Newspaper strip I wasn't thinking about including it in the compilation, especially because I couldn't manage to find many of those. It's a pity because Jack Kirby worked on that. Also, they're in a different format and I fear they would not fit very well with the other standard comic book pages.

[paw broon]

Great project Fra.  I do like Blue Beetle and, as you probably know, there were French reprints.  We have an example
https://comicbookplus.com/?dli
In these comics the name is changed to  Steel Phantom.
I'm not sure if order of apperarances is a big problem as for the earliest stories there is no continuity.  Would it be better to simply go by publisher?
And no, I don't have a better scan of that issue.
Ooohhhh!!! Those cheesy pre-Ditko Charlton issues.  Love them. Classy? No.  Great fun? Yes.

[bowers]

I agree with paw and Panther. If anyone can do justice to this project, it's you, my friend! Cheers, bowers