What's Out There That You're Unlikely To Ever See?
Nov 3, 2018 11:00:49 GMT -5
shaxper, Roquefort Raider, and 4 more like this
Post by chadwilliam on Nov 3, 2018 11:00:49 GMT -5
So how is a hip, young stallion such as myself spending this divine Friday evening? Yeah, you guessed it - reading up on rare Superman comics.
So in 1988, to mark his son Daniel's Bar Mitzvah, Godfrey Bradman commissioned DC to create a special Superman comic involving his son to be handed out to party guests. Pencilled by Curt Swan, it looks - cover and all - like the Bronze Age Superman story we might have gotten had Crisis/Man of Steel been delayed a month. It sounds as though about 200 issues were made and from time to time, they'll turn up for sale with a $1000 or so price tag attached.
It's strange for me to think that there's a Curt Swan drawn Superman comic out there from a decade where his stuff abounds, with one exception - this comic that was created to be off limits to anyone not attending Daniel Godfrey's 1988 Bar Mitzhah.
firewireblog.com/2013/03/11/obscure-this-island-bradman-superman-comic-sells-for-5000/
I've often wondered why nobody has commissioned an artist to come up with, say, a 13 page story that they alone could possess (or pool their resources with a small group of likeminded fans to do the same) and it seems that on this occasion at least, somebody did.
Does anyone know of anything like this or any other set of circumstances which resulted in the creation of a completed comic that was never officially released?
A few that I know of:
1. All those comics which were abandoned due to the DC Implosion of the 1970's. A Joker tale involving the Justice League of America which was advertised but never released, has found its way online in the form of Xeroxed copies of the original art, for instance.
2. Speaking of The Joker. There is an alternate version of Batman 428 in which Jason Todd lived (it was written and pencilled due to the short interval of time between determining whether Robin would live or die and having to send the comic to the printers) though whether it's a completely different comic from the version which was released or the same but with a few pages changed is unknown to me.
3. The K-Metal from Krypton. In 1940, Siegel and Shuster decided to continue the evolution of their Superman creation and so decided that Lois Lane would discover his identity and they would be partners. DC nixed the idea, but the script (and some original artwork) is out there and the art has actually been completed by a joint team including Jon Bogdanove. www.fortress.net.nu/k-metal/?page=0&w=1920 I guess this one doesn't really count, since it is easy to find and I have read it, but since this is for fun, why be so stringent with the rules?
So, what else is out there? A giveaway comic that was created for a company that went under before it could be released? An X-rated Stan Lee penned Spider-Man script involving Lee and Steve Ditko's mother which Ditko felt uncomfortable drawing? A comic given out to accountancy schools in which The Hulk details the right and wrong ways to file taxes? Let's hear it!
So in 1988, to mark his son Daniel's Bar Mitzvah, Godfrey Bradman commissioned DC to create a special Superman comic involving his son to be handed out to party guests. Pencilled by Curt Swan, it looks - cover and all - like the Bronze Age Superman story we might have gotten had Crisis/Man of Steel been delayed a month. It sounds as though about 200 issues were made and from time to time, they'll turn up for sale with a $1000 or so price tag attached.
It's strange for me to think that there's a Curt Swan drawn Superman comic out there from a decade where his stuff abounds, with one exception - this comic that was created to be off limits to anyone not attending Daniel Godfrey's 1988 Bar Mitzhah.
firewireblog.com/2013/03/11/obscure-this-island-bradman-superman-comic-sells-for-5000/
I've often wondered why nobody has commissioned an artist to come up with, say, a 13 page story that they alone could possess (or pool their resources with a small group of likeminded fans to do the same) and it seems that on this occasion at least, somebody did.
Does anyone know of anything like this or any other set of circumstances which resulted in the creation of a completed comic that was never officially released?
A few that I know of:
1. All those comics which were abandoned due to the DC Implosion of the 1970's. A Joker tale involving the Justice League of America which was advertised but never released, has found its way online in the form of Xeroxed copies of the original art, for instance.
2. Speaking of The Joker. There is an alternate version of Batman 428 in which Jason Todd lived (it was written and pencilled due to the short interval of time between determining whether Robin would live or die and having to send the comic to the printers) though whether it's a completely different comic from the version which was released or the same but with a few pages changed is unknown to me.
3. The K-Metal from Krypton. In 1940, Siegel and Shuster decided to continue the evolution of their Superman creation and so decided that Lois Lane would discover his identity and they would be partners. DC nixed the idea, but the script (and some original artwork) is out there and the art has actually been completed by a joint team including Jon Bogdanove. www.fortress.net.nu/k-metal/?page=0&w=1920 I guess this one doesn't really count, since it is easy to find and I have read it, but since this is for fun, why be so stringent with the rules?
So, what else is out there? A giveaway comic that was created for a company that went under before it could be released? An X-rated Stan Lee penned Spider-Man script involving Lee and Steve Ditko's mother which Ditko felt uncomfortable drawing? A comic given out to accountancy schools in which The Hulk details the right and wrong ways to file taxes? Let's hear it!
