Comics Unlimited #54 - coming in 2024!

by Nigel Brown

Now that Alan Austin’s posthumous book about comics and his story collection about bookselling have been published, the preparation of Comics Unlimited No.54 is underway, again with the permission of Alan’s literary estate. As with his books, this is a non-profit project in Alan’s memory.

Comics Unlimited No.54 will be the final issue of that fanzine, which will include a celebration of Alan’s immense contribution to UK fandom in the 1970s and early 1980s.

It will give an opportunity for any previous contributors to Fantasy Unlimited and/or Comics Unlimited to be back in the fanzine one last time, with personal memories and anecdotes about Alan, and letters to ‘Mail Unlimited’.

For contributor guidelines, please send an inquiry to Nigel Brown at:

nigelbrown47@aol.com

Any contributions need to be received by 31st January 2024

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Comics Unlimited: My Life as a Comic Collector and Dealer

Alan Austin's memoir of life as a Comic Collector and Dealer is still available on Amazon, now with an index. Clicking the book cover link will take you to the book at the UK Amazon site, although it can be easily found on other country Amazon sites.

The Adventures of Bernie Burrows, Bookseller

Alan's book of short stories about bookseller Bernie Burrows is a very entertaining read, and is inspired by his years as a bookseller of crime fiction. Again, clicking the cover icon will take you to the UK Amazon site, although it can be found on any country Amazon site.

Overlooked Gems : Sugar and Spice #99

 

©DC 1992. Sugar and Spike #99

This past Sunday afternoon I purchased a real gem of comic history in immaculate condition for 50 cents (it was 50% off weekend at my LCS, Graham Cracker Comics) instead of the usual $1. The original price of the comic was $1 US/60p UK thirty-one years ago, so I picked up a bargain.

The comic in question was Sugar and Spike #99, printed under DC’s Silver Age Classics reprint banner, hitting the stands on Feb 18th 1992.

Sugar and Spike comics are very difficult to pick up in decent condition due to the fact that “kid’s comics” were generally read and re-read and passed around until they fell apart and few have survived as reading copies, let along collectible editions.

A cursory inspection of eB*y shows that good quality back issues up until issue #98 published in 1971 are very rare, and a look specifically at eB*y’s UK storefront shows very few Sugar and Spikes that may have made it to the UK in the sixties and early seventies.   I saw only one comic for sale with a T&P stamp for 5p. The Comic Book Price Guide for Great Britain states that Sugar & Spike was imported into the UK from issue #25 Nov 1959, but copies to be found in the UK are either "scarce, very scarce, or rare".  I cannot remember ever seeing a copy on the spinner racks of my youth in England.

But somehow Sugar and Spike #99 gets priced as if it is a reprint issue (about £2 GBP), whereas it is in fact a genuine first edition of all new content. 

Sugar and Spike had suspended publication back in 1971 due to the failing eyesight of creator Shelly Mayer. In the early 1990's, following Mayer's successful cataract surgery, there was a plan to re-launch the Sugar and Spike title, picking up the numbering after #98 (Cover Date Oct/Nov 1971), but due to the untimely death of creator Shelly Mayer, the only issue ( targeted for #99 ) was published as one of the ten issues selected as a DC Silver Age Classic to commemorate the end of comic printing at the World Color Press in Sparta, Illinois after a period of 37 years, with the move to new printing presses.

It was the only comic in that ten-issue series with new content, and thus was the LAST ALL-NEW DC comic printed at Sparta!  Why isn’t this comic in huge demand???? It is a landmark publication.

Go out and buy this issue!   Seriously, the four pages of editorial matter and reminiscences by Don & Maggie Thompson, Anthony Tollin, Denny O’Neil, Dick Giordano, Paul Kupperberg and Bill Gaines of Mad magazine at the back of the comic detailing Shelly Mayer’s immense contribution to comics history (he recommended Superman as the strip to debut in Action #1) is worth the price of admission alone.

I wish you all a peaceful Thanksgiving, wherever you may be.

Will the real Jason Bard stand up?

And……..WE’RE BACK!!

Apologies for the delay between blogs but sometimes life and other pursuits get in the way.  And sometimes it’s just writer’s block.

©DC. The evolution of Jason Bard from establishment square to hip cool dude

I’ve had an interest in private detective literature for many years, and have often wondered why comics do not seem to have created a lasting Private Eye protagonist. Reading Raymond Chandler’s famous lines defining the Private Eye, it is hard to see how the classical definition could translate effectively to the comics page, perhaps because the main characteristics of the protagonists are to be beaten up and lead an interior life. 

“Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. He is the hero; he is everything. He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of honor—by instinct, by inevitability, without thought of it, and certainly without saying it. He must be the best man in his world and a good enough man for any world.

“He will take no man’s money dishonestly and no man’s insolence without a due and dispassionate revenge. He is a lonely man and his pride is that you will treat him as a proud man or be very sorry you ever saw him.

“The story is this man’s adventure in search of a hidden truth, and it would be no adventure if it did not happen to a man fit for adventure. If there were enough like him, the world would be a very safe place to live in, without becoming too dull to be worth living in.”

There have been many attempts over the years - from Slam Bradley in the Golden Age, through Steranko’s Chandler to Nathaniel Dusk more recently. In the early 70s DC brought us Jason Bard, one of two unique creations from Frank Robbins for DC (the other creation being Man-Bat, developed in collaboration with Neal Adams).

 The first Jason Bard story was published at a time when Batman fans were catching the scent that something “big” was going to happen, which in a few months time was to be revealed as Dick Grayson heading to college and Bruce Wayne moving to an apartment in Gotham.  Robbins had been writing stories over on the Batman title for a year, and the lead Batman story in Detective for a similar period. 

As far as the fans were concerned, most had no clue that the Frank Robbins who was writing Batman and Detective was the same artist and creator of a famous newspaper strip. Jason Bard bears very little resemblance to Robbins’ signature hero Johnny Hazard.

The choice of the name Bard (i.e. The Bard) is presumably a play on the name of other famous Private Eyes (Marlowe, Spenser) whose surnames held literary allusions.  Robbins was a great film buff, with 600 to 700 movies on tape (according to his widow Fran Rowe Robbins in an interview in Comic Book Creator #1). Film Noir was one of his favourite genres and so it is no surprise that he chose a private detective as his first creation at DC comics, debuting in the Batgirl backup story Detective Comics #392 (Oct 1969).

© DC. Cover of 'Tec #392 with no promotion of Batgirl/Jason Bard

The lead-in to Detective #392 (Oct 1969) was a gangland based Batman story, which set the tone for the unheralded introduction of Jason Bard in “A Clue…..Seven Feet Tall”, in part one of an 8-page Batgirl back-up a story written by Robbins, drawn by Gil Kane and inked by Murphy Anderson - quite a power team for an unheralded intro.

Kane’s artwork is top-notch, with Barbara Gordon looking a lot like Mary Jane from Kane’s Spider-Man days.

Bard is introduced as a disabled ex Vietnam vet with a knee injury (he needs a cane to get around), ex Marine Recruiter, now studying criminology . Babs observes that fictional disabled investigators can be very successful - "Max Carrados , Nero Wolfe, Ironside…"  

©DC. Establishment Square JB tries a hip line on our Babs Gordon

Later in the story Batgirl saves Jason’s hide because his trick knee gives way. Only 8 pages and ends on a sort-of cliffhanger.   The second part of the story (Detective 393) was again 8 pages. Jason Bard goofs again - his trick knee again causes him to fall, and Batgirl again saves the day.

So Bard is introduced as a non-threatening foil for Batgirl. A bit of a square who affects of hip lingo, taken to wearing formal brown or green suits, with potential for an Ellery-Queen like “Did you spot the clue?” breaking of the fourth wall.

Reader response to Bard’s debut in the lettercol of Detective #396 was muted. Gary Skinner of Columbus, Ohio liked Batgirl being a secondary character and applauded Robbins’ writing. Bernard Williams gave a vote of confidence for Jason Bard returning, but all in all, Bard’s debut was not a big splash.

The next Batgirl back-up in the same issue (Detective #396) was again graced by great artwork from Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson.  This time Jason asks Barbara Gordon out on a date, but this time Babs gives Jason the brush-off. Perhaps she doesn’t like his brown suit. She’s focused on the trail of the Orchid Killer in a 9-page part-one. 

In issue #397 Bard intervenes again to save Batgirl, only to mess things up when his trick-knee fails. Bard later confesses he followed Barbara out of jealousy that she might be seeing someone else. Already the trick-knee gimmick has outworn it’s welcome, and it is clear that the character of Bard needs major retooling. 

The lettercol in Detective #401 virtually ignored the Batgirl/Bard story from four months earlier.  All focus was on the teaming of Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams on the Batman lead story in #397. Steve Beery of Alma, Michigan noted that Bard always appears as a bumbler.

It was seven months later when Bard returned in the Batgirl backup in Dec #404 (Oct 1970) “Midnight Doom-Boy”.  This time art is by Gill Kane and Frank Giocoia.   Giacoia does nothing for Gil Kane’s artwork - Kane would have hated it. In the later lettercol Steve Beery wrote “Frank Giacoia’s inks seem to reduce Gil Kane’s active, fluid pencils to choppy rubble.” 

In this story, Batgirl is now breaking the forth wall as well, talking to the audience. This would become a recurring motif in the Bard stories. Babs inexplicably now seems to have taken a shine to Jason Bard, as she finds Bard is framed for Murder. Jason Bard’s makeover has him now as a cool dude working undercover (presumably as a gay male hustler), wearing a cowboy jacket like Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy. I don't recall Philip Marlowe resorting to this. We find Babs in tears half the time, worrying about our now-cool undercover P.I.

©DC. What's with "A Strangely Changed Jason..."?

The next second part of the tale appears in issue #405, “The Living Statue”. Needless to say, Batgirl saves the day and secures the proof to get Bard sprung from jail in the final two panels, which seem to bear little resemblance to Gil Kane's usual artwork, as though they were hurriedly redrawn to close out the case.  

It is over a year until Bard appears again in the pages of Detective, taking us to July 1972, having skipped completely over the "25 cent/48 page" DC era.

©DC.  Jason Bard gets his own series in Detective #425

In Detective #425, Bard gets his own backup series "The Master Crime-File of Jason Bard.", with Batgirl relegated to being a supporting character.   This is the first of six cases which redefine the character -  the “Open and Shut Case’

©DC. Detective 425. Our Jason has been hitting the gym

In this first story our Jason has obviously been working out as he jumps out of the sofabed in his P.I. office. He now dons a trendy shirt, but still matched with a tie, and pipe. But now sporting a longer 70s haircut replete with long sideburns. "Fan favourite" (ahem) Don Heck is on the art chores.

Bard gets involved in a case of a woman asking Bard to deal with her brother who has gone mad. In time-honoured fashion, we find that a femme fatale was the true villain, and the story ends with a “did you spot the clue” moment for the audience.

Case-file #2 in Detective #427 was titled “I Wake Up Dying”.  It starts in medias res with Bard fighting his way from drowning in the back of a sealed truck as the vehicle sinks into the water, and recalling how he got there. The story moves at a cracking pace towards its resolution. Don Heck gives the artwork his best shot. Again there is a clue for the readership to spot, and (spoiler) the wife was the murderer.

The Detective #429 letter col had praise from Mike W Barr opining that "The Open and Shut Case" was the best short detective story since Elongated Man. All writers asked for Heck to be teamed with a good inker.  This issue had “Case of the Loaded Case’ (#3) . Joe Giella was teamed on inks, which was an improvement on Heck’s scratchy style.  Again there was a clue for the reader to find

©DC. Detective #433. Would you know Murphy Anderson inked this?

Detective #431 featured the story "Crime on My Hands" , this time teaming Don Heck and Murphy Anderson. The same team worked on "Case of the Forged Face" in Detective #433.  Even Anderson’s famous style was no match for Heck's scratchy pencils and awkward poses.

©DC . Frank Robbins story plus art. Great Stuff. Detective #435

And so finally we come to Detective #435 “Case of the Dead-On Target”, written AND drawn by Frank Robbins himself. We now see what Robbins was hoping to achieve all along. Bard is finally a cool dude - wearing a light blazer.  Great artwork from Robbins - for the first time a really FUN Jason Bard story, not a little inspired by Johnny Hazard. 

Only seven pages long, it concerns the murder of a skydiver witnessed by Bard. Without being too obvious, the murderer aheres to Private Detective literary conventions.

©DC Love the black humour and innovative angles on this page

But it was to be the last story with with Bard headlining his own strip, and the penultimate with Robbins’ involvement.  

Archie Goodwin took over Detective with #437, with the comic dropping to bi-monthly ; the lettercol was devoted to Goodwin talking about plans and the need to revamp the comic’s direction, and carried no comments on Robbins' superlative Jason Bard story.  With issue #438, the comic went to 100-pages and again the lettercol was devoted to discussing why.  So #439 was the first issue to discuss previous Detective stories in the lettercol, which focused on #437, the first in the new look. 

Robbins did bring Bard back one more time as a supporting character in Batman #252 in October, and that was that.  Soon Robbins was to move over to Marvel, leaving his Jason Bard creation (along with his Neal Adams co-creation Man-Bat) behind in the hands of lesser talents.

After Robbins’ departure, DC never really knew what to do with Jason Bard, other than using him as a supporting character in various Batman stories by other writers, with the last appearance being in Batman and The Outsiders #16 in 1984, thirty-nine years ago.

Re-reading Detective #435, I would have loved to have seen more Jason Bard stories written & drawn by the great Frank Robbins. DC missed a trick.

© Ian Baker

 

All in Colo(u)r For A Dime

© ACE. My original paperback copy.

Back when I started seriously collecting American comics as a twelve-year-old around 1971, I quickly became aware that there was thirty-plus years of comics history that I’d missed at that point. Whereas I’d picked various Batman comics back around the time of the Batman TV series, and knew then that I liked the 80-page Giant reprint comics much better than the then currently-new items, it did not really dawn on my seven-year-old brain in 1966 that the stories in those Giants that I really liked (especially Batman drawn by Dick Sprang) came from a previous era.

So when DC began putting reprints into the back pages of 25-cent comics in the period Aug 1971-Jul 1972, my awareness of the depth of comic history became more acute, and I was eager to pick up any book that shed light on that mysterious “Golden” age, particularly if it reprinted comic covers.

The first historical work I purchased was the Ace paperback version of All in Color For A Dime, by Dick Lupoff & Don Thompson. Although the original publication of the hard-back was in 1970, I reckon that I obtained my paperback copy in 1974 from Dark They Were & Golden Eyed in Berwick St, Soho. I certainly enjoyed looking at the colour cover reproductions in the book, but somehow the dense, small print and tightly-bound margins dissuaded me from settling down to read it cover to cover. So the book sat on my bookshelf at my mother’s house well into the late 80s, then moved to a shelf in in our family home in Southampton in the 90s, before being packed away in a crate for the past 23 years. 

This week I decided to sit down to read the book - still pristine - but was unwilling to risk cracking the spine. So I looked for a hardback copy of the original publication on eB*y, and was lucky enough to get a decent copy for $25, and have settled down to read the robustly bound hardback.

© Arlington House. The hardback cover from 1970

What a brilliant book! Written at a time before people wrote in terms of the “Bronze Age”, it is essentially a set of eleven essays written by serious comic fans back in the late sixties, covering the genesis of the US comics industry and the various elements of its evolution. Plus some great cover repros! Of the essay writers, it is fun to read Roy Thomas as a fan who became a full-time comics professional, although final essay-writer Harlan Ellison also had some claim to subsequent popular success.

Contents on back cover.

The fascination of the book for me, published in 1970,  is that it was written by people who had been collecting comics since the late 30s and early 40s, and had quite a different perspective on the target audience for comics. For example, the introduction by Lupoff & Thompson is quite firm in stating that comics are for children, but also read by adults, whereas newspaper strips were designed for adults, that would also be read by children. It is worth getting the book for their observations alone.

I also highly recommend the chapter called “The Spawn of M.C. Gaines” written by Ted White, which explores the origins of the American comic book from first reprinting newspaper strips to the creation of new material. Many you will be familiar with elements of the history, but I am yet to read a more concise and entertaining account. White writes at a time when Siegel & Shuster were still peripherally involved in the comics business, and is quite objective about the lack of professionalism in their early work, as his is about Bob Kane’s on Batman.

Anyway, if you have an interest (and do not already have the book), I urge you to track down a copy of the hardback version. You won’t be disappointed.

© Ian Baker

Batman 1966 UK “Black Bat” Trading Card display box

Only a brief SuperStuff post this time around, but one which might give you a chance to re-live those days of seeing Batman trading cards for sale in your local tobacconist/newsagent.

Back in 1966 I bought my first pack of Batman trading cards - the “Black Bat” set - from a sweet shop (candy store) called The Cabin in Highland Rd, Southsea. The first card in the set was “The Riddler”, and I was hooked. I would go back to that sweetshop on a weekly basis along with my Dad, who used to stop by to buy 4oz of Needlers fruit pastilles, a particular favourite of his.  Each visit I experienced the thrill of seeing the cardboard box in which unopened wax packets of Batman cards lay.  Eventually, I asked the man who ran the shop if I could have the display box when all of the cards had been sold, and he kindly put it by for me.

I then used that box to store all of my Batman cards, as I collected the series of cards, and the four subsequent sets that quickly followed.

I kept that box until 1983, when I sold it (along with a number of other unique collectibles) to the Timeslip shop in Fawcett Rd, as I was amassing funds for a deposit on my first flat.

I’ve seen that box up for sale on eBay for £400 recently - and I’m convinced that it was my actual display box up for sale as it had a slight tear in the lid - and regretted selling it for £1 in 1983.

However, all of that regret is now swept aside as I’ve printed my own version of the box which looks just as good as the original, thanks to information in an article by Jeff & Bob Marks provided is issue #86 of Non-Sports card fanzine “The Wrapper” from October 1986.

© Les Davis, editor of "The Wrapper"

By using the image featured in The Wrapper, I was able to locate original colour images of the elements on the box, and create my own box! It now has pride of place on the shelf next to my desk.

I’ve included the image below should you wish to print your own box on photo card.

The dimensions of the box when completed measure 3 3/8” x 7 1/8” x 2”, so you’ll have to figure out how to print at the correct scale. (Remember this display box was designed to accommodate the UK A&BC versions of the  cards, slightly smaller than the Topps versions.)

© Les Davis. The Wrapper #86

Click to enbiggen

If I have the time and enthusiasm , I may have a go a printing a version with a base and a folding lid, but for now, this satisfies me.

If you have more than a passing interest in Non-Sports trading cards, The Wrapper is still being published. Take a look at The Wrapper website.