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Golden Age Greatness


OSJ

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Forgive me if this is old news to everyone, but I just stumbled on perhaps the coolest thing ever... I was about to commission a custom Marvel Legends figure of the Web from MLJ/Archie Comics and so was poking around the Internetz to find suitable images for my guy to work from (he knows his shit as far as Marvel & DC goes, but once you start talking GA characters he's pretty much lost). Anyway, after typing in "The Web MLJ" to Google I was directed to a link on Amazon which advised me that this was available for under $30.00 as an oversized trade.  A bit more poking around revealed that as far as  I can tell, the entire superhero output of MLJ, Nedor, Fawcett, etc. are available sliced and diced by character or by title as you prefer.  The idea of having the complete runs of certain GA characters without the filler strips is extremely appealing. Anyone else buy any of these? I'm about to go after the two below as well as the complete Hangman...

 Image result for web gwandanaland

 

ed61NwfbEyccL._SX385_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

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I am tempted by those, but basically that is all stuff you can get from Digital Comic Museum...obviously all public domain... and I kind of enjoy the filler. I do have a couple of their catalogs though, and I’ll probably bite on a couple of them.  I would be particularly interested in Daredevil, Cat-Man, and Miss Fury.

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yeah, i guess that's cool if you want a hard copy, but like Exec said, all of this is from scans that are available for free from DCM.  That being said, quality will vary. personally, i'll take the digital scans (and yes, i do have all of the MLJ stuff). 

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And that's the thing... There is something satisfying about holding a tangible book to read as opposed to just viewing on-screen. I love the DCM, it's great for research, etc.; but for simply kicking back and enjoying a comic, I much prefer hardcopy. I also absolutely love the concept of the books being organized by character. I got spoiled by the DC Archives and so I'd much rather the collections be organized by character than in the omnibus format that they were originally presented in.

I need to sell some shit on eBay to cover this stuff. I'm already seeing over $200 worth of books I consider "essential": Hangman 1 & 2, Black Jack, Web, & Firefly pretty much covers "essential", then we fall into the realm of "stuff that would be cool to have" and the list gets kinda out of control.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay! First order showed up! I have long believed that Al Camy was the best of the GA artistes. so I took the plunge and ordered The Complete Golden Age Black Jack from Zip Comics. Comes in at over 180 pages (well, 186 pages to be exact)... So here's what's on-deck:

The Complete Hangman Volume #1 (#179) $52.99 Volume #2 (#180) $47.99

The Complete Web (#1137) $25.99

The Complete Bob Phantom (#1237) $26.99

The Complete Firefly (#1313) $23.99 (Art appears to be "muddy", but what we lose in repro quality we more than make up for in theme. Seems to be primarily supernatural horror. 

The Complete Ghost vs. the Claw from Daredevil Comics (#1414) $23.99

Tempted to get a book or two of The Black Hood, as I have a soft spot for characters that migrated from the pulps to comics. The Black Hood is treated like a criminal by a police department that misunderstands his methods. Having read extensively in the pulp and assuming that the comic is more of the same, these "misunderstood Black Hood methods" would seem to include (but are not limited to): breaking and entering, assault and battery, kidnaping, torture, blackmail,  and jury tampering.  How can you not like a thing like that? 

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OSJ, i haven't looked into this at all, so forgive me if these questions are common knowledge.

hardcover or paperback? and where are the covers pulled from: actual comic covers or homemade images?

what's the paper quality and how well are the scans transferred over?

also, do they do custom comps?

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 10/29/2018 at 1:29 PM, OSJ said:

The Complete Ghost vs. the Claw from Daredevil Comics (#1414) $23.99

I love a lot of the Claw stories, especially the ones vs Daredevil and Rocky X. But I found the Ghost stories to be the worst of the series as Claw became more yellow peril and buffoonish. Losing some of the scariness and over the top cartoon nature of the earlier stories. He felt like another Axis villain. Which could be offset if the Ghost was more interesting, but he is the least interesting of the Claw enemies. 

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On 10/30/2018 at 12:19 AM, twiztor said:

OSJ, i haven't looked into this at all, so forgive me if these questions are common knowledge.

hardcover or paperback? and where are the covers pulled from: actual comic covers or homemade images?

what's the paper quality and how well are the scans transferred over?

also, do they do custom comps?

Twiz:

Sorry I missed this, you probably think I was being rude, but I don't recall getting pinged about a new post (I see that I owe Vic a reply, too). 

Anyway: These are oversize trades (wish that hardcovers were an option, but these things are spendy enough as it is. Paper quality and reproduction is on point. The covers are generally drawn from interior splash pages or ads.  As to comps, I would imagine so, just a matter of tracking them down.

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15 hours ago, Victator said:

I love a lot of the Claw stories, especially the ones vs Daredevil and Rocky X. But I found the Ghost stories to be the worst of the series as Claw became more yellow peril and buffoonish. Losing some of the scariness and over the top cartoon nature of the earlier stories. He felt like another Axis villain. Which could be offset if the Ghost was more interesting, but he is the least interesting of the Claw enemies. 

I find myself in your debt, good sir! One of the truisms about collector geeks like myself is that just because we don't have something it tends to increase in value in our estimation regardless of the true worth of the thing.  Since I know that you love the Claw and are very up on your Lev Gleason stuff, when you speak, (or write) I listen/read. The Ghost has always been of interest to me since I first read about him in the Comic Collectors' Handbook, where he shares a page with the Blazing Skull... One of the constants has been that I couldn't afford Daredevil 5-20 way back then and the books have more than kept pace with my income level staying right on that line that could spell D_I_V_O_R_C_E_ if I decided to get cute and buy them. 

So to make a short story reasonably short, I looked on line and sadly, have to agree with you. The Ghost is just another Lev Gleason B-Team guy like the Silver Streak. Now if the art were transcendent, I could find a lot to forgive, if the stories had any kind of "oomph" to them, I could forgive the Ghost being as bland as a stalk of celery, if only the Claw were portrayed as truly scary and maniacal, as opposed to an over-large buffoon... But no, it's Lev Gleason, the true masters of putting all their eggs in the Daredevil basket and leaving everything else as roadkill. 

I know, that's template that a lot of publishers followed, build everything around your superstar and the hell with everything else. Works okay, until you let said superstar get run out of his own book by the Little Shitheads.  I much prefer what MLJ and Fawcett did with books like Zip and Wow; you have a bonafide lead, but you don't scrimp on the rest of the strips so even if Mary Marvel isn't your thing, there's some swell Commando Yank or Mr. Scarlet to read. Steel Sterling has never done a thing for me, but with Blackjack and the Web on hand, who cares about the lead strip, the so-called back ups frequently got the same number of pages. So anyway, thanks, money that can be better spent on something I'm more likely to enjoy, like maybe... Inferno? Firefly? We'll see...

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  • 3 years later...

good bump, i've been seeing Gwandanaland pop up more frequently with people praising their compilations. i've dove even deeper into the digital front, so not something i really need, but i do think this is a very cool service that they offer. i'm actually surprised they don't get hit with more C&Ds since i regularly see stuff that isn't public domain (or is, at best, legally dubious) but if they can do it, more power to them.

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4 hours ago, bobholly138 said:

Talked to the owner of Gwandanaland and he does lots of research to make sure stuff is PD.

i have read multiple statements from the owner and do believe that he tries his best. but "proving" something is in the public domain is actually pretty difficult. there's no easy checklist to go off. i've worked with the guys on DCM (and to a lesser extent CB+) for years and it is a constant source of guesswork and frustration.

i remember a couple years back Gwandanaland had to pull a bunch of Captain Marvel collections they were offering due to copyright. i've always wondered/worried about some of their Pep Comics/the Shield releases but they seem to be legit. i guess it's just a little too legally gray area for me.

they seem to do nice work and i have heard from numerous people that bought their books and thoroughly enjoy them, so i'm not trying to put the company down. i hope they remain successful.

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