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Post by Calidore on Feb 5, 2020 20:34:39 GMT -5
As a general rule, I just avoid anything Ennis writes altogether. I just don't like his writing, and I don't find his 'humour' funny. I've never read The Boys, and I never intend to as everything I ever read about it indicates I would despise it with a passion. This is exactly how I feel. But credit where due, on Hellblazer he played it pretty straight, and it worked fine.
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Post by Calidore on Feb 5, 2020 20:38:10 GMT -5
Hellblazer is probably the most consistently strong ongoing series I've ever read. I collected over 250 issues and the only run I thought was "not so great" was Denise Mina's. It wasn't that the stories were bad, but it was very much "writing for the trade" and they were a lot longer than they needed to be. This could be an interesting topic of its own: Ongoing series with multiple creative teams that mostly or entirely kept a high level of quality throughout.
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Post by Rob Allen on Feb 6, 2020 0:22:20 GMT -5
A couple of questions triggered by this week's cover contest. I could do this research myself but it's bedtime, and someone here might know, or would enjoy looking it up.
The Adventures of Superman debuted on TV in September 1952.
1. Was it the first TV series based on a comic book character? If not, what was?
2. What was the second comic-book-based TV series? Was it the Sheena, Queen of the Jungle series from 1955?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2020 0:33:46 GMT -5
Are you including animated series? A quick look shows that Harveytoons, a syndicated animated series debuted in 1950.
There was also a Dick Tracy TV seres that ran form 1950-1952 if you want to include comic strip characters, and the Flash Gordon TV show in 1954. Also looks like a short lived Terry and the Pirates syndicated series (sponsored by Canada Dry) ran in 1953.
But if you are limiting it to live action tv series based on characters who debuted in comic books not strips, then yes those seem to be the first two.
-M
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 6, 2020 8:40:31 GMT -5
Are you including animated series? A quick look shows that Harveytoons, a syndicated animated series debuted in 1950. There was also a Dick Tracy TV seres that ran form 1950-1952 if you want to include comic strip characters, and the Flash Gordon TV show in 1954. Also looks like a short lived Terry and the Pirates syndicated series (sponsored by Canada Dry) ran in 1953. But if you are limiting it to live action tv series based on characters who debuted in comic books not strips, then yes those seem to be the first two. -M The Harvey cartoons predate the comics, as the comics were originally licensed for the characters, then Harvey bought the cartoons, themselves.
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Post by Trevor on Feb 6, 2020 9:54:24 GMT -5
Hellblazer is probably the most consistently strong ongoing series I've ever read. I collected over 250 issues and the only run I thought was "not so great" was Denise Mina's. It wasn't that the stories were bad, but it was very much "writing for the trade" and they were a lot longer than they needed to be. This could be an interesting topic of its own: Ongoing series with multiple creative teams that mostly or entirely kept a high level of quality throughout. Swamp Thing /end thread
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Post by Rob Allen on Feb 6, 2020 19:04:51 GMT -5
But if you are limiting it to live action tv series based on characters who debuted in comic books not strips, then yes those seem to be the first two. Thanks for the confirmation, mrp! I was indeed curious about specifically comic-book-based TV, whether live or animated. I'd never thought about it before, but when the Superman show started, Captain Marvel was still being published. I wonder if Fawcett would have fought the lawsuit harder if they had a successful TV series. Also, I think you may have misread the info on Harveytoons. The cartoons were created between 1950 and 1962, but the Harveytoons TV show is from the 1990s: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Harveytoons_Show
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Post by pinkfloydsound17 on Feb 6, 2020 19:18:19 GMT -5
I recently was chatting with some collectors older than I and they mentioned that back in the day, the Tattooz in ASM #238 were not included in every issue sold of ASM #238. Several collectors mentioned going to purchase them off a newstand and not finding anything inside. I highly doubt kids were ripping them out. So did they only get put into a certain number of books? Do the Tatooz not exist in newstand copies? Are there certain states that would have never known about the Tatooz until years later when it was decided that having that insert made the issue more valuable?
To me, it seems silly but I am someone who owns one with Tatooz and hey, I guess without it I would always feel like I was...missing....something.
Perhaps it is more rare to have an issue without this insert than it is to have one with it???
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Post by Rob Allen on Feb 6, 2020 19:52:39 GMT -5
I recently was chatting with some collectors older than I and they mentioned that back in the day, the Tattooz in ASM #238 were not included in every issue sold of ASM #238. Several collectors mentioned going to purchase them off a newstand and not finding anything inside. I highly doubt kids were ripping them out. So did they only get put into a certain number of books? Do the Tatooz not exist in newstand copies? Are there certain states that would have never known about the Tatooz until years later when it was decided that having that insert made the issue more valuable? To me, it seems silly but I am someone who owns one with Tatooz and hey, I guess without it I would always feel like I was...missing....something. Perhaps it is more rare to have an issue without this insert than it is to have one with it??? GCD to the rescue: www.comics.org/searchNew/?q=%22amazing%20spider-man%20238%22&search_object=issue&sort=alphaThe Direct Market edition had the Tattooz inside the front cover. The Canadian edition had them in the center. The Newsstand edition had no Tattooz, or at least they aren't mentioned. Searching the GCD for "Tattooz" shows that Fantastic Four #252 and Star Wars #69 had them also, but if their records are accurate, all three versions of the Star Wars issue had the Tattooz, while only the Direct edition of the FF had them. www.comics.org/searchNew/?q=Tattooz&sort=year
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Post by beccabear67 on Feb 12, 2020 21:54:50 GMT -5
I was thinking back on some of the early '40s comics I've been lucky enough to have had once... and I remember a few comics from the year 1945 being 'only' 36 pagers. There was a Whiz, a Wow, and a Jumbo from that year I know were thin. And a Four-color Bugs Bunny (#88) that was also thinner. I had one Jungle from 1944 that was at least 52, maybe even 68, and another Whiz from 1944 also that was fat, not thin... so:
Q1: was the ten cent 36 page format used for the very first time in 1945 or 1944, or even some other year? If it was ever used before was it the regular pagination of a regular title? Q2: Was it because of paper rationing? The Wow (#39) had Mary Marvel on the first interior page telling readers to add their comics to the collection drives for paper!
I'm thinking the answers might probably be in Kurt's book (which will probably appear on my doorstep tomorrow after I post this), but it's an interesting story the drop to 36 pages, kind of like Manhattan moving uptown over decades until it was wall-to-wall NYC, only this was shrinking. Okay, maybe more like the newspaper comic strips that used to be printed much larger than they are today.
The Fiction House and Fawcett titles returned to their regular thickness after the war's end and stayed that way for a few years before ultimately going down to 36 again for the last years of each publisher. Dell had some thicker comics at the same time they had 36 pagers... I had a fat Pogo with a 15 cent cover price dated the same month and year as another Dell that was thin and 10 cents.
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Post by Cei-U! on Feb 13, 2020 10:15:34 GMT -5
Comics started out at 68 pages, dropping first to 60 then to 52 as paper rationing was imposed by the government on all publishers, comic book or otherwise. The 36-page format first appeared prior to 1944 but was used for giveaways and other types of promotional comics. Timely was the first to produce a range of 36-pagers (all quarterlies), simultaneously stretching their paper quota and flooding the market with product. The Better/Nedor/Standard titles quickly followed suit. Fawcett and a few others used the 36-page format during the war but restored their books to 52 pages as soon as paper restrictions were lifted. Comics mostly stayed at 52 pages until circa 1955 (coincidentally about the time the Comics Code Auhority was organized), when the smaller size became the new industry standard. Hope that's helpful.
Cei-U! I summon the summary!
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Post by MDG on Feb 13, 2020 10:53:35 GMT -5
At least some pre-code comics were 36 pages—that was the standard for ECs and I think for other horror and anthology books.
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Post by beccabear67 on Feb 13, 2020 14:34:09 GMT -5
At least some pre-code comics were 36 pages—that was the standard for ECs and I think for other horror and anthology books. I remember Marvel Family #58 was thick while #62 & 64 were 36 pages. Also Whiz #143, Captain Marvel Advs. #148, Master Comics #133 all 36pages. Jungle #155 & 163, Planet #63, Wings #107 & 120 I had were also 36 pagers. I don't remember any E.C.s being more than 36 pages except the rare 'annual' issues. Thanks for that info Kurt!
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Post by berkley on Feb 14, 2020 2:17:53 GMT -5
Burne Hogarth's Tarzan: is it pretty much of the same quality from start to finish or does his style evolve over time? Are there any particular stand-out volumes, or ones to avoid?
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 14, 2020 13:21:16 GMT -5
Burne Hogarth's Tarzan: is it pretty much of the same quality from start to finish or does his style evolve over time? Are there any particular stand-out volumes, or ones to avoid? Well, like any artist who works on a strip for a period of time, the work is refined. I've only seen snippets of Foster and Hogarth Tarzan; but, I wouldn't say there is anything to avoid, depending on how you view the racist elements inherent in the character. It was one of the seminal adventure strips of the era, along with Flash Gordon, Terry & the Pirates and Prince Valiant.
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