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Much as I love the old Comic Books such as those hosted here and elsewhere, thesedays I find the story behind the production of them just as interesting as what took place between those colourful covers.

Most of the publishers of GA books were like pioneers going into uncharted territory for the first time and some of these guys were REAL characters every bit as flamboyant as their four colored heroes.

Today many of these guys are 'Known Names' but others often through choice prefered to stay in the background and so today remain shadowy figures in comic book history.

Some like Quality's 'Busy' Arnold seemed popular with just about everyone who knew them, while  the Victor Fox'es of the industry no doubt got very few cards come Christmas.

Then there are those who 'Walked the line' Timely's Martin Goodman is a good example of this type, some speak very highly of him while others might have crossed the road to avoid him.

So whats the point of this rambling ?

To be honest i'm not so sure myself having come this far, basicly I'm trying to get a feel of who were the 'main players' during the hayday of the Golden Age how they measured up against each other and interacted and maybe shed some light on comics TRUE 'Mystery Men' guys like Harry 'A' Chesler for one.

Also worth examining are some of these 'behind the scenes' often even family connections between one company and another I understand such a thing existed between Timely and MLJ which 'Saved' Captain America but with the loss of his original shield.

input on any of the above welcomed.

-Nigel

[narfstar]

I too find this period interesting.  This is why I read things like Alter Ego.  The Chesler's and Fox's seem to have more info than the Timerson, Hardie's and Stanley's.  People who went through mutliple complanies with many names to make tracking publiction nearly impossible.  My very ecclectic GA collection came about by trying to get at least one book from each GA company.  A task that would have been a lot easier and cheaper if all the surragete companies was known.  When you through paper rationing into the mix and all the company/not really companies popped up....  Yes it is facinating stuff.

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  When you through paper rationing into the mix and all the company/not really companies popped up....  Yes it is facinating stuff.

'Vital Publishing' was a good example of this, the imprint that the first issue of Plastic Man and a couple of Spirit issues was published under.

To this day its not totally clear just who/what they were but the bottom line seems to be it was a move to secure the use of extra paper which was then in short supply due to the war.

Indeed Alter Ego is a great resourse for information on this subject and almost every interview with a comics pro of that time yeilds a little more info but you need to put all the bits of this complex  jigsaw together to see the bigger picture.

-Nigel

[Yoc]

Eisner is another name and his 'Dreamer' graphic novel an excellent look into that early time near the birth of the Golden Age we so love here.

Another excellent source for publisher info is Nolan's Niche by comics historian Michelle Nolan featured on the CGC site:
http://www.cgccomics.com/news/enewsletter.asp#

Starting in November 2002 and STILL going strong - each monthly update features either a different title or publisher giving a quick background on each and notes particular issues of interest for collectors thinking about paying out the big bucks trying to buy these often expensive books.  Well worth checking out.

Finally our own Mr Goldenage - Richard Boucher wrote some very interesting histories on several GA publishers that were once featured in his sadly now dead site - Good Guys and Gals of the Golden Age.