WECA Comics and the War
While interviewing Nancy Lee, the niece of Doris Slater, a couple of years ago, a family anecdote she shared with me has stuck in my mind. Doris’ older sister, Minnie, was married to Ted McCall, a long time editor at…
Comic Book Daily
Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Comic Book Daily
Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Ivan Kocmarek
Grew up in Hamilton's North End. Comic collector for over 50 yrs. Recent interest in Canadian WECA era comics.
Read MoreWECA Comics and the War
Toronto Con 2016 Panel and Bell Promises
You may think that the above picture is some sort of study from Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” but it’s actually the panel from my presentation at Toronto Con this past weekend. From left to right it’s Gerhard, James Waley, Fadi…
George Menendez Rae
During the WECA period, Educational Projects in Montreal seemed to be putting out the poor cousins of those Toronto and Vancouver comics which were populated with fictional and fantastic crime and Nazi fighters of all shapes and sizes. Canadian Heroes…
75 Years of the Canadian Comic Book
Just like my last post, I am still mulling over ways to acknowledge and publicize 2016 as the 75th anniversary of the Canadian comic book (Better Comics V. 1 N. 1). I hope that my book on Bell Features artists (which should…
Merry WECA Christmas 2015
Here we are just a couple of days before Christmas and just over a week from the start of 2016 which will commemorate the 75th anniversary of the very first Canadian comic book proper, Better Comics Vol. 1 No. 1 (March, 1941),…
Eddy Smet Donates Whites to Western
About a month ago, Eddy Smet, a retired math professor from Huron College at the University of Western Ontario (1976-2006), long time comic book collector and former comic book store owner (The Comic Book Collector—there was also an Eddy Smet…
Forest City Con and Shusters 2015
The second edition of the Forest City Comic Con was held this past Sunday at the London Convention Centre. My day there began hosting an advertised panel with Patrick Loubert and Michael Hirsh. However, Patrick had apologetically written me midweek…
Patrick Loubert and Michael Hirsh
Patrick Loubert, who was born in Toronto in 1947 and Michael Hirsh, who was born in Belgium in 1948 but moved to Toronto when he was three and then to New York City for most of his teen years, were…
Should Comics be in an Art Gallery? These guys think so.
Comics as art “Words and pictures are yin and yang. Married, they produce a progeny more interesting than either parent.” ― Dr. Seuss Doing this column, with its necessary research and the knowledge gained from that research, has, by default,…
Gerald Lazare Canadian War Time Comic Book Artist
Gerald Lazare was born in Toronto on September 25, 1927 to parents who lived in the Junction and operated a millinery. As a four or five year-old , when his older half-brother visited on weekends, he would watch him making…
Johnny Canuck
Rachel Richey’s new collection of Johnny Canuck pages from the 28 issues of Bell Feature’s Dime Comics is a welcome addition to the bookshelf of any Canadian comic book collector and the libraries of anybody interested in Canadiana or Canadian…
Canadian Comics Corner
After last Saturday at Niagara Con, which seems to have found a more than viable venue in our Southern Ontario tourist hub and appears to draw more visitors each year, a bunch of us went back to the new Big…
Brok Windsor 1944-1946
The reprint package of Brok Windsor stories came out last month: Brok Windsor/Jon Stables (edited by Hope Nicholson), Bedside Press, 2015, and is a welcome addition to your Canadiana bookshelf and to your comic bookshelf in general. Overall, this is a…
1946 and the Rotary Litho Company Of Canada
1946 was the twilight year of denouement for Canadian war time comic books. With their slick American counterparts back in the swimming pool, they had lost some of the lustre that the protection of the Canadian government had afforded them.…
WECA or Not
This is a two-part post containing first my own, kind of orthodox, view on what constitutes a WECA comic followed by fellow WECA collector Jim Finlay’s view on a finer and more porous line of distinction between the WECA period…
Mel Crawford 1925-2015
Last week I received, from his wife Ginni, the sad news that Mel Crawford had passed away peacefully on Monday, Feb. 23. He had been in a long-term care facility for about the last year. Mel started out as a…
WECA Checklist
I miss doing this column and I wish I had enough hands and time to do justice to it and the other work I am doing. I certainly don’t want to give the impression that the column is dead. There’s…
100
I began doing this column on Jan. 3rd 2013 just after I had finished and sent off the long article I’d written on WECA comics for the Overstreet Price Guide which was finally published this year. I had been out of…
‘Twas the Night…
Presents and surprises are one part of Christmas, for some a huge part, but one can’t deny that it’s invariably a pleasant experience to get a gift, especially an unexpected one. My friend and fellow WECA book collector, Walter Durajlija,…
Stephen Lipson
There are a number of elite collectors of Canadian war-time comics. This tiny handful has managed to unearth these rare diamonds in the rough (in garages, barns, attics, trunks, and basements) and, through dogged persistence, ace detective work, and love…