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), and the start of the Canadian comic book industry and those wonderful Canadian war time comics known as the “Canadian Whites.”
We should be able to come up with a couple of creative ways to celebrate this event. My own effort to get Canada post to acknowledge our own comic books the way that they acknowledged Superman’s 75th anniversary fell flat but here are a couple of things that we hope will happen:
- Rachel Richey should have her Fred Kelly/Doc Stearne/Mr. Monster reprint book out.
- Though Overstreet doesn’t seem that interested in a section in its guide on the Canadian war time books, it looks like Chapterhouse might be interested in our effort to independently put a small, soft cover edition out by Canada Day.
- The future looks good for my own book on the Bell Features war time artists with reproductions of original art pages from the period to come out by the holidays at the end of 2016.
- Walter Durajlija has been tossing the idea of a celebration/party at the Canadian Comic Corner at Big B in Niagara Falls around the time of Niagara Con in June.
- I hope we can have panels celebrating this anniversary at some of the major cons throughout the year.
- Maybe the Shusters, which will be held at the Montreal Con this summer, can in some way recognize this anniversary.
We do need to think of additional ideas that could push this anniversary into the wider public consciousness and perhaps garner some print and other media presence. Any suggestions and ideas are welcome. How about a set of collector’s non-sports cards featuring characters from the Whites with first appearances, runs, creators, powers and other details on the back? Nice packet of 6 in a wrapper with special inserts…?
While 2014 was an explosive year for the Canadian war time comics as we dragged them out of the past into our collecting consciousness again in a big way and a good number of the books themselves surfaced on the market, 2015 has been a relatively quiet year with fewer books exchanging hands but with two essential reprint collections coming out: Hope Nicholson’s Brok Windsor and Rachel Richey’s Johnny Canuck. Also this past year we had Walt open up the Canadian Comic Corner at his Big B Niagara store which has a significant Whites display and great potential for growth.
In the coming year, I hope that we can bring all the energy to the upcoming 75th anniversary of the first Canadian comic book that such an occasion demands and deserves.
But I didn’t want to just do a year-end perspective for this column and, in fact, I also wanted to revisit the idea of values and collectability when it comes to the WECA comics, or Whites, or Canadian war time comics, or whatever we want to call them. I’ve tried to feel my way through this in a couple of past columns (the older Top 20 and more recently WECA Worth) but thought it was time again for a little rethink.
Respected Overstreet Advisor, Walt D., the Golden Horseshoe’s Super-man of comics and local comic promotion, who is himself coming out next year with a volume on investing in comics through Chapterhouse, has always said that above all, comic values are character driven and the peaks of comic value in a run, a title, or even a genre coincide with the first appearance of a character. This is an undeniable central axiom of comic book values and points directly to the first appearance of Nelvana making Triumph-Adventure Comics No. 1 lending that book the notoriety of being the most valuable comic.
I suppose we have to throw those pesky reprints of American material such as the Captain America Annual and those Super MLJ reprints of Pep 22 out of the loop because their value points are fueled by American collectors and they are, after all, just reprints. The four March 1941 reprints of Fox material could also be placed in this category, though American collectors don’t seem to be aware of them as much.
So for all you speculators and traders, the most valuable Canadian war-time comic at this time should probably be Triumph-Adventure No. 1 (one restored 4.0 copy in the CGC census) with Dime Comics No. 1 (and the first appearance of Johnny Canuck with two copies in the CGC census, a 9.0 and a 5.0) coming in second. These two seem to stand out clearly above the rest.
After these comes a tier of other No. 1’s such as Robin Hood Comics Vol. 1 No. 1 (a tabloid format book that has yet to turn up); Better Comics Vol. 1 No. 1 (the first true Canadian comic book with Canada’s first comic book superhero – The Iron Man and 3 copies in the CGC census, two at 7.0 and one at 6.0); Freelance Comics Vol. 1 No. 1; Lucky Comics Vol. 1 No. 1; Wow Comics No. 1 (the first Bell Features comic); the first issues of Grand Slam and Three Aces Comics; the two other Maple Leaf first issues of Rocket and Bing Bang Comics; the other Bell Features first issues and so on.
Somewhere in that mix we have to put the first cover appearance of Nelvana in Triumph-Adventure Comics No. 2 as well as the much sought after Nelvana 15 cent compendium from 1945 with its iconic cover. Then there’s a bunch of one shots including Top-Notch Comics from Hillborough, Famous Adventure Stories from Educational Projects and Your New World, that Maple Leaf looking book put out by the government of our most western province, and the later full-colour Slam-Bang Comics No. 7 from 1946.
I suppose that this could go on for quite a while when you have to consider where the first appearances of Brok Windsor and Canada Jack and the rare three issues of Lightning Comics from 1944-5 and it’ll be interested how we sort all of this out in a first stab at a price guide.
Here’s a scenario… let’s suppose a 4.0 raw copy of Triumph-Adventure Comics No. 1 came onto the market early in 2016 at an eBay, Heritage or ComicLink auction: what price point do you think the winning bid would achieve? What would you be prepared to pay for it yourself if you had the funds to offer a solid price? Let’s say a similar grade copy of Better Comics Vol. 1 No. 1, what would the winning bid have to be and how high would you be prepared to pay for it? What sort of a buy-it-now price should be put on each book if you were going to let go of it that way?
Visions of sugar plums…. Have a merry Whites Christmas.
Great article Ivan. Merry Christmas to my fellow Canadian Whites collectors. This helps me in determining the number of copies extant of Triumph-Adventure Comics # 1. If two copies reside in the Library and National Archives Canada, than 3 more copies reside outside. One copy resides in my collection and one copy in the collection of Robert MacMillan. One more copy residing in the private collection of a person who wishes to remain anonymous. Therefore, 5 known copies this far. Six known copies, if you count the coverless copy that resides in the collection of Dan Maresca.
about the 75th anniversary thing, I would like to see a reprint collection for iron man or those anniversary vignettes that was made for batman and superman but for the Canadian white characters.
Stephen, thanks for noting the copes of Triumph 1.. I’ve been lucky enough to hold three of them in my hands and maybe if I get to hold your slabbed copy it will have been four of them.
Alex, I think we could see a couple of other reprint collections come out this year. Some TV vignettes would be great but I don’t think anybody or any network would initiate this because the old Whites heroes don’t have the branding power that those big two DC heroes have.
First and foremost:
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all the Canadian Comics Collectors and I hope you had many new Canadian books under your tree or in your mailbox this year!
While some might argue what are the best books to collect of the “Major” Canadian Whites and the the “Minor” Whites and reprints we can all be thankful that there are a wide variety in content, publishers even US stories to find a home for all patriotic Canadian to want and collect these published rarities.
There are the grounds for a healthy collecting community of all books that are Canadian Golden Age, regardless of whether Canada Post feels its too soon to have another Canadian coin or stamp at this time.
I have many other suggestions on creating a healthy collecting community that we can talk about (and talk about again) Ivan but I believe these are a few important ones to reiterate here.
1)Bring the “Spark of Life” to the Canadasowncomics.com website.
2)Polls after or before postings.
Some people I think in this interest will read and not want to post but will respond to a poll (for example , to what they feel is the top Canadian Comic and with a big poll list including all, not just the few based on known value by known collectors)
BTW, it’s Top Flight not Top Notch comics by Hillborough Studios
The Canadiansowncomics.com website is very static and it needs to be very dynamic with interactivity from current collectors and to bring out new collectors into the conversations..
Post your articles here AND on the site and create a forum there to allow people to want to contribute to it and converse.
Canada Post probably looks at it and doesn’t “see” a lively community but will in the future if it comes alive with discussion surrounded by the books and new content being added on display.
The Whites reprints that have come out and continue to come out help to create awareness to attract new interest and draw out old collectors but it is not reflected on the site but it would be a great place for all the world to gather and appreciate it.
I think more awareness in the broad community of old and new collectors of the original and reprint material and a place of collected discussion will lead to even more awareness that will make it a slam-dunk when it comes to Canada Post supporting a future anniversary commemoration to these books.
Great suggestions, Jim and thanks for pointing out the Top Notch / Top Flight error… what was I thinking?
Your suggestion about the canadasowncomics website are spot on. I’ve let the site slide far back into the wake of my efforts and it does need to be brought up to a front burner for the 75th anniversary year. Work on my book has been consuming most of my energy but look forward to the site being up-dated (including a forum) within the next couple of months. It’s a great site for understanding which WECA books can be considered keys (because of first appearances etc….. for example, I know that Walt has sent notes based on facts listed on the site to CGC when slabbing some of his books and CGC has added those facts to the blue strip notes). However, it does need to be made more of a community site. We’ll get working on that.
Your idea for polls makes sense as well. They do seem to make it easier to leave a type of response on a column without having to type out a full response.
Keep watching this space for more announcements….
Just a quick heads up that, in the future, it might be a good idea to check if anyone else would like to remain anonymous when it comes to details of their holdings. I personally know one prominent collector who prefers that these details remain private. Just thought you should know for future reference.
Duly noted! thanks Mel