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[Yoc]

I'm adding a very incomplete scan that Darwination here found on the OddBall Comics board.

Note - this is a product of it's time and is not intended to offend anyone here.  Please judge it by it's historical importance and not the images contained within it.  While I'm pretty sure there shouldn't be much if anything likely to offend caution might still be suggested.

Going up shortly...
All-Negro Comics 001 [Jun'47]-16pg only     -oddballcomics

-Yoc

[darwination]

I'd add that there is no reason to be offended as this comic was drawn and published by African-Americans for African-Americans.  I sure wish we had the whole thing, dammit, but I applaud the scanner for his work on it...  I think it's a neat comic (I like the hardboiled Ace Harlem and I think he is a positive representation especially juxtaposed against what you see in a lot of the comics of the era - thinking mostly of jungle comics here).  I like a lot of the coloring and also the variety of the thing.  I have an active imagination (and it's been a bit since I read it), but I recall seeing some lynching subtext in there...

Fawcett had one called Negro Romances, I recall?  I thought I'd seen some other "race comics" on ebay besides that title in the historical vein but wish I'd scribbled the title down.  I know a little bit about the early race movies and black newspapers but am very intrigued by this topic.  I've gone searching about for pulps (or pulp fiction) meant for a black audience as well with no luck.  I've been surprised to find in my jaunts about the goldenage to learn that there were indeed at least a few minorities in the comics including comics giant Matt Baker (who I had absolutely no idea was black when I first came across his art) and Cal Massey.  A Massey splash from my scan of The Perfect Crime 12 (I have a few more of this title on the scan pile (scan mountain!>!>!) and issue 30 is around here as well btw):



I think he is quite talented...  Here's a link to a bit on his later art and how he feels comics contributed to his development:

http://www.octobergallery.com/artists/massey2.htm

I've seen a lot of things like this where GA artists who go on to more "legitimate" forms of art recognize that comics were the foundation of some later developments.

I seem to recall as well that in the early 50s there were a number of comics celebrating black athletes (Last of the Comanches has a back-up story on Joe Louis, there's a brand spanking new scan from Cape on Willie Mays I will get up if it's not here already, and I'm thinking Fawcett had some similar comics going on ?...).

I'd love to see scans of Negro Romances (or other titles) as well as any other "authentic" products of the black press...  Or even just a little info on the subject from any of you GA gurus round here 

Cheers,

Darwin

[Yoc]

Hi Darwin,
Michelle Nolan has done a great series on collecting comics over on the CGC newsletter section that she's been doing for a few years.  Well worth the reading too.

She touched on 'Negro Romance' here:
http://www.cgccomics.com/news/enews/2008/February/article6.asp
and here
http://www.cgccomics.com/news/enews/2008/March/article5.asp

[darkmark]

There may not have been that many black-oriented comic books pre-1970's, but there were black comic strips in newspapers intended for a black audience (which did exist, as did mags like Jet and Ebony).  I read of these a long time ago in the Journal of Popular Culture, and some were adventure strips that featured Afro-American heroes.  But it's been a long time since I read the article and I don't know a thing about 'em anymore.  Maybe one of the colleges around here has a copy and I can get the info.  So much for that.

[John C]

This may be of interest to some:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,779181,00.html

which has a bit more information than the Oddball article, which to me reads more offensively than the comic could possibly be:  "It simply doesn

[narfstar]

I have Perfect Crime 20 scanned with a Cal Massey story.  Will be put up next week when I am back on DSL.

[darwination]

Wow, thanks, all  .  You've pointed out a lot of cool stuff here.  Yoc, you've sold a copy of Michelle Nolan's book.  She appears to be on top of her game, lots of info in these two short little posts, and I'd very much like to read a larger survey of the genre.  Darkmark, I hadn't even thought about strips before, certainly a good angle for me to investigate.  I can definitely imagine how it would be easier for publishers to insert a strip or two aimed at minority audiences than an entire publication (something like many of the networks might do with say a black sitcom or few...) Jcolag, well I've spotted an inaccuracy or few in some of the oddball comics' posts and find a share of the statements there off-the-mark but forgive in the spirit of wackiness and fun.  The Tom Christopher page is superb!!  The description of Orrin hiding in the back room and his mother playing maid so that his father could pass is really striking.  I found the entire article well-written and informative.  Of course, I also appreciated getting to see the extra bits of the comic.  Narf, looking forward to The Perfect Crime ish.  I've really enjoyed the issues I've read thus far.  I think the covers are unique and the content above par.

Right now while I still remember, I'm going to up The Amazing Willie Mays NN (1954) scanned by Cape1736 very recently.  I'm not sure if he's a member here, but Cape is a champ pulp scanner and a good guy to boot.  His pulp output is truly prolific  .  Also, I'm going to up the Daring Love #1 Michelle mentions in the first post Yoc linked.  I was thinking that surely it would be here but I could not find it.  It's definitely a nice book with a gorgeous cover.  She mentions she'd like photocopies of the thing and wanted to do her one better by sending the scan but I didn't see a contact method...  I've got at least one "roll in the hay" harvey issue in my pile - I get a kick out of the farmer's daughter connotations.  There's a couple girlie pulps with beauties upon the haystack I hunt, too, without much luck yet...  I can't find who the scanner is on the Daring Love issue - no doubt one of the many Ditko freaks in scanland 

Please excuse if we already have the Daring Love or if Cape had planned to up his scan here himself (surely he's a member??).  This was his first comic scan and he did a great job, must be all that practice on the pulps 

[rez]

jcolag, Thanks for those links.

[darkmark]

For the black comic strips, you can start here:  http://www.clstoons.com/paoc/paocopen.htm
Until I read these pages, I had no idea Carl Pfeufer or Edd Ashe were black.  Y'learn something new every day...

[darwination]

Uploaded to FTP:

Terrors of the Jungle 020 (1952-12.Star) c2c (Marble River).cbz
Terrors of the Jungle 021 (1953-02.Star).cbr

and (if this one is O.K. a Super reprint from 1963?)

Terrors of the Jungle 004 (Jungle Adventures 10).cbr       Thanks to the unknown scanners of these last two.

I gathered these this weekend because I'd bought issue 21 of the title to scan. Sadly, I didnt realize it had been done!  I love Cole's jungle covers but apparently hadn't noticed that this one was scanned already, boo.  It only has 32 pages (I assume it's not quite c2c), so I will at least find out what pages are missing and perhaps restore the cover.  Would it be bad form just to scan my copy  I've got plenty of comics that need scanning but did pick this one up for more than my usual budget just so I could scan it    Or would it be better just to up the missing pages?

[Yoc]

Hi Darwin,
Thanks for the uploads.  I'm sure the horror fans here will enjoy them.


There's no hard rules for scanning.  If you feel you can do a better scan job on a book why not scan it?
We just have to be sure people know it is a Rescan when we share it.

Not sure what the rule on IW reprints are.  I've seen some others on the site so I'm going to add yours as well.  If Aussie can make the final call when she sees it.

Note - I'm Always looking for scans of IW's 'Great Action 9' if you ever see any or a cheap copy.  Contains three never reprinted Phantom Lady stories!

-Yoc

[phabox]

I Think the problem with most post 1956 reprints is that they have their own copyrights but as all of Waldman's Super/IW Stuff was pirated in the first place  I can't see it being a problem, you can no more 'Pirate a Pirate' than you can 'Kid a Kidder' !!! 

That my take on the 'I.W. Question' in any case.

-Nigel

[John C]

Well, the rule thusfar has been exactly what's legal:  Either the material and the reprint must both have fallen into the public domain (which is actually the case with almost all the Waldman books, as far as I know) or the reprint must be a strict reproduction, making any copyright unsupportable (like the fiche products).

Anything else, along the lines of the re-inked and re-colored DC Archives or redrawn Marvel Essentials, "filler" backup stories, reconstructed stories, and so on, are protected and wouldn't be the sort of thing the administrators would want to risk, I'd hazard.  Also, certain exceptions have been made for removing unretouched scans when the publishing business owner asks.

[darwination]

Overstreet mentions this one is used in Gershon Legman's Love and Death: A Study in Censorship from 1985, but I haven't read it, so I don't know in what context.  It looks like this is perhaps one of the more seedy and outlandish crime titles but I'm not really sure.  There's an oddly drawn panel of an icepick through the neck on this one, and the cover is certainly brutish enough.  You see men and women slapping each other plenty in the romance and crime books, but it seems to mark a character as a lowlife (as well it should) in the crime context.

Big thanks to Gambit for the edit on this issue.  I'm working on some other scan projects outside of the golden age at the moment but luckily have a couple guys that are helping me get some books done so will be dropping in at least sporadically for a month or two (and of course reading all the fine comics all the fine scanners are posting here).

I believe this is the first issue of this series to be scanned (always fun  ).  There were nine issues between 1948 and 1949 by D.S. Publishing. Enjoy,

Darwination

[Yoc]

Thanks Darwin,
It's now up!

[darwination]

My scan, Mouse5150 with a very nice edit, thanks Mouse!.  First issue of this title to get scanned, I believe... I'm pretty sure I bought this one because of the saucy tramp on the cover   

Cheers,

Darwin

[Yoc]

 
Oh my!  What a cover... yumm...

[darwination]

Been out of the GA swing but decided to treat myself today to a Harvey, First Romance Magazine 10.  Another of the voyeuristic threesomes so common on the Harvey romances of this era:



Enjoy,

Darwin

[Yoc]

Good to see you back Darwin.
Been enjoying your more unusual scans lately offsite.

Scans now up!

[darwination]

This one is not my scan but from a prolific pal of the anonymous variety.  He had a coverless copy and I snagged a cover from Heritage, which, though behind plastic, still looks pretty good.  If anybody has fills that would be great.  Or other issues, that would be greater.  This is a hot title!  This one and Pictorial Romances seem to be going for multiples of overstreet.  In related news I managed to snag a nice lot of romances from a Canadian dealer this weekend (of course I'm slow as molasses so don't get too excited):

My Secret Affair. #2. 1950. Superior
Love Romances. #9. No date. Bell Features
My Confession. #8. 1949. Fox
My Life. #7. 1949. Superior
Teen-Age Temptations. #9. 1954. St. John, NY
Romantic Secrets. #22. 1959. Charlton
Boy Meets Girl. #2. 1950. Superior
My Own Romance. #10. 1949
Youthful Love. #1. 1950. Export Publishing
My Past Confessions. #8
My Life. #12. 1950. Superior
Love Diary. #1. 1949. Comic Magazines
Romantic Marriage. #23. 1954. St. John, NY. Good.
My Life. #4. 1950. Superior
My Secret Story. #27. 1950. Superior
Girl

[Yoc]

Nice haul there Darwin!
Canadian whites can vary wildly in quality.  Poor paper and printing is pretty common, especially in early whites.  Superior hung on longer than most and I've seen some of the 50s books look not much worse than the norm.  Hopefully you'll be getting more of the better ones than not.

Looking at my own collection of whites I don't see any that are on your list so I'm looking forward to your scans some day down the road.


Unknown scanner's book is now up.  Sweet cover!
-Yoc

[darwination]

Here's the first of four issues of this Avon Series.  I came across scans of issue 3 and 4 this weekend so I wanted to do this one in return.  Any chance someone is sitting on 2 to complete the series? 

If 3 and 4 haven't made it to the site, I will up those as well. 

Cheers,

Darwin

[Yoc]

Thanks Darwin, they're now up.

[darwination]

Two scans today, both come from Bluejeff.  First up is Pictorial Romances 24 featuring Baker and Estrada.  He couldn't find much of a cover, though, so hopefully one will turn up.  Besides the female form, I think Baker does the smug male like no other, it'd be nice to get a quality image for this cover.

Also, Love Secrets 54.  I provided the raw covers, but Jeff scanned the rest and edited all of it. 



Thanks for these bluejeff. 

[Ontology]

Hey Darwin!
Thanks for all your scans, as always. And I have been particularly enjoying your all of your vintage magazine posts, too! That psychedelic era Haight-Asbury street stuff was excellent!!
-Ont