Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
Discussing the minutiae of comic book collecting.
The first happened during the WECA period itself when, in 1945, Bell Features decided to issue 6 compendiums of stories from earlier issues. These took features already published and brought them together in large (68 pg.) books that sold for 15 cents.
A brief interview with Peter Maresca at CBR caught my interest about his restoration process in relation to working on Titan's Flash Gordon series.
Our Undervalued Spotlight today shines for the first time on our favourite God of Thunder the Mighty Thor - Issue #165, dated June 1969, and is a Stan Lee/Jack Kirby collaboration.
Let me then try to point to a few times in the WECA books that specifically locate the action on Canadian soil or at least, in some way, make it clear that the story is taking place in Canada or, finally, directly connect the story to Canada.
Superboy #68, DC Comics, Oct/Nov 1958 Superman turned 75 back in June and it got me thinking a bit about old Sups and his current situation. Here’s the hero of heroes, the grand daddy of them all and yet we…
I wish I had something new and exciting to report but the first six months of this year was just a continuation of what we saw in 2012: a weak Bronze Age, a steady Silver Age, and a stellar Modern Age.…
The brief seventies awakening to and appreciation of the Canadian war-time comic industry began with Michael Hirsh and Patrick Loubert’s November, 1971 publication of the compendium of Bell Features material they called The Great Canadian Comic Books (Peter Martin).
Punisher Limited Series #1, Marvel Comics (January 1986). A sure fire way to tell if a comic book is hot these days is to head to a comic con and see if you can find the book on dealer’s walls.…
Our FanExpo panel on the Canadian Whites was held on the final afternoon just a couple of hours before the whole show closed down. We ended up getting just about 50 people in the audience… not bad for a relatively esoteric and arcane subject.
A fun and fast paced adventure through 19th century Turkey, Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant delivers in print form. Lovable ne’er-do-well Delilah Dirk is an Indiana Jones for the 19th century. She has traveled to Japan, Indonesia, France, and…
FanExpo opens today and I have the good fortune of hosting a panel on Canadian war-time (WECA) comics. I urge all readers who are attending FanExpo on Sunday to attend this panel if they have the opportunity because we expect…
Another excellent volume in the march of Hal Foster’s creation, Prince Valiant Volume 7: 1949-1950 shines on Princess Aleta. You might think that birth of Prince Valiant’s son Arn at the end of the previous volume would have slowed down…
Fan Expo is indeed upon us and I for one am looking forward to the event. Toronto’s Fan Expo has moved into the 100,000 attendees range putting the show up there with San Diego and New York which is a…
Avrom Yanovsky was born in Krivoy Rog, in the southern Ukraine in 1911 and two years later his family emigrated to Winnipeg. His parents were political activists and were involved in the Winnipeg general strike of 1919. During the twenties…
Tales to Astonish #13, Marvel Comics, (November 1960) “Kirby Mosters”, mention that to any seasoned comic book collector and they will immediately get it. “Ah yes, the old Atlas stuff, great f‘n covers eh!” Indeed. Marvel Comics as we know…
ComicLink’s July Featured Auction was a low end affair, in preparation for their gigantic August Featured Auction apparently. I found five items that called out to me and was taken aback by their relatively low finishing prices. While these pieces…
Oscar Schlienger was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1905 and he received some training at the Cole des Beaux-Arts in Geneva in portrait painting. He emigrated to Canada and settled in Montreal in the summer of 1930 and worked there…
Captain America #217, Marvel Comics (January 1978) The comic collecting community is currently enjoying a bit of a gold rush. Forget reacting to movie news, enough people are actually panning for any and all 1st appearances in hopes of actually…
Sid Arnold Barron was born in Toronto on June 13, 1917 and from his obituary written by Tom Hawthorn for the Globe and Mail in 2006 (he died on April 29 in Victoria) we learn that he was an…
The 43rd edition of the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide has just hit the stands and I couldn’t be more excited. No comic book collector that calls him or herself a comic book collector should be without a guide. It’s essential…