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"O joy! Be still my beating heart!" You may recall me mentioning the above tome in an addendum to a recent post on FRANKIE STEIN. No sooner had I found out about the book than someone put a copy of it up for sale on eBay, which I bid on - and won! I received it today and, indeed, 'tis a thing of exceeding and unparalleled beauty.
Every KEN REID Frankie and JASPER The GRASPER strip from the pages of WHAM!, LEO BAXENDALE's 'Super-BEANO' from the 1960s - with top-notch reproduction on superb-quality paper. Considering what it would cost to obtain the individual issues I don't already have, the book was an absolute steal - and I just can't comprehend how the seller could bear to part with it. (Though I'm glad he did.)
Apparently, only 20 copies of the book were professionally published at the behest of a private collector whose identity remains unknown. God bless 'im, I say! I noticed the other day that a hardback deluxe edition of the back page DALEKS strips from TV CENTURY 21 was once advertised on eBay, but speculation was rife that it was a fraud and the ad vanished. Perhaps, if it really existed, it was a privately-produced collection similar to the Frankie Stein one, above.
If anyone knows anything about the background of either collection, feel free to share your knowledge in the comments section. There's no need to mention any names - the date of publication, original price, etc., will more than suffice for this interested collector.
******
UPDATE: I've since been advised that the book was published in 2010.
25 comments:
There's also a Ken Reid in Smash book, which shows all of Ken Reid's strips in Smash, obviously.
I think it was Irmantas (who writes Kazoop blog) who was selling them originally, on behalf of the person who made them.
Yeah, I read about the Smash! book - and I think there may have been one for Pow!
Not so fussed about those ones 'though, to be honest - but the Frankie Stein one was a must-have.
I'm surprised you didn't bid on it yourself, George, what with your growing appreciation of Wham!
I was considering bidding on it, but I don't have £47 to spend.
You'll just have to cut back on the booze, ciggies and women and start saving your pennies. Another one will be along at some stage.
"...a private collector whose identity remains unknown"
How about Bob Monkhouse...I seem to recall reading that he had the largest private collection of Frank Bellamy originals; perhaps he had other favourites as well (and could well afford the luxury of a small print run of such specific material)...?
Could be, I suppose, but I meant 'whose identity remains GENERALLY unknown' - someone's bound to know. And it would depend on when the book was published as well, because BM has been dead a few years now. To be honest, B, I'm more interested in WHEN than in WHO.
I have a similar book, the one titled Ken Reid In Smash!
It collects the entirity of Queen Of The Seas and The Nervs, and was worth every penny of what I spent on it, definitely!
It came from Phil-Comics, if that's any sort of clue to the origin of it?
Hopefully one day this "someone" will put together a complete Jonah collection...
I'm sure that would be a dream come true for Jonah fans. However, it's unlikely it could be sold publicly without attracting the attention of DCT's lawyers.
I wouldn't mind the Smash! volume at a reasonable price, THB, but I was a big Frankie Stein fan as a lad and absolutely had to have the Wham! one.
'Tis a miracle it has not attracted attention from IPC Time Warners lawyers. Truth to tell I would doubt anyone there has clue one that they own Frankie.
Agreed. If asked, they'd probably say "Frankie Who?" If they won't exploit the character, then it's books (and blogs) like this that help keep interest in artists like Ken Reid and his work alive for future generations.
I read somewhere that in 1971, that there were only some 200 creative people in the USA, who worked in the mainstream comic-book industry (the artists, writers, letterers in the big companies DC, Marvel, Archie, Charlton, etc), of course the underground scene was at its zenith then, but that was really a drop in the ocean, as the big boys' circulation then, were over 16.5 million per month! One knows that some of the artists/writers who worked at the birth of comic-books some 30 odd years earlier, were still at work.
I wonder how many creators were working here in Britain, for the uk comics industry at that same time?
You can still find many of the American titles or strips, no matter how obscure, the original comic-books, or as hard-copy reprints, collections or online scans. But British comics are a totally different story. The fan base is too small. The interest for American comic-books far outweigh the home-grown variety here and the evangelists for British comics dwindles each year. Even the interest in European comics (Asterix and Tin Tin for eg) is far stronger.
Yes, there is no financial incentive for the current copyright holders to do anything with the many hundreds of properties they own or the hundreds of thousands of pages in their vaults (I really don't know if they hold anything tangible, be it real or online).
Can the interest grow here? Well, Dennis the Menace is still visible and the names of Dan Dare and Judge Dredd retain a recognition factor. But, Frankie Who? Jonah Who? ... Leo Who? Ken Who?
(Jake)
Well, it's true that the recognition factor is not the same for most British strips and creators of yesteryear (beyond those who read them as kids) as American ones, but one of the things that struck me about the 'Ken Reid In Wham!' book is just how well-written and drawn the strips are. A lot of them are not only funny, but are funny on different levels. When one looks at the quality of Reid's art, one would think that a modern readership would be able to enjoy the material whether or not they had any nostalgic affection for it. It stands on its own two feet and doesn't necessarily require the support of sentimental attachment to do so - the quality is self-evident. You'd would think that such material should be able to sell if it was packaged and advertised in the right way - one would hope so! That's why it's important to keep these strips alive in some form for a new audience - as people like myself who do blogs like this one try to do. Hopefully the copyright holders will reap the benefits of such efforts in the long run.
Time Warner would have to prove they owned Frankie. Lets see them find a contract. We could be in for a long wait. Like forever.
They seem to have proved they own the copyright to The Trigan Empire, so it might not be so impossible as one might imagine.
As a kid I did not appreciate Ken Reid's work very much. I first saw his stuff in the 1970's Faceache series. His artwork on that was so well delineated, a total contrast to the other strips I was used to. To my young eyes it was a mixture of realism and funny. Each panel was so intricate, it all seemed so well posed and staged, like a series of photographs. I suppose you would call it sophisticated. I just did not really get it, at that age.
I was not exposed to his artwork again, until I was in my thirties. When I used to go on holiday, I would buy an issue of the DC Thomson Classics from WH Smith at the airport. Now I saw Jonah for the first time! It was great stuff, visually entertaining, I could now see the genuine craft that he put into each panel. I wished that there was more. As I began to discover some of his other creations on the internet, I developed a greater appreciation for his style and professional draughtsmanship.
(jake)
He was certainly a master of his craft, Jake - one of the greats in the top tier of cartoonists. His work began to look a little stiff in later years, but it was still streets ahead of the standard of some modern cartoonists who worked on The Dandy in its dying days, for example.
Trigan was originally by Fleetway. They mayyy have had contracts. Lets see Time Warner produce contracts for anything published in Wham which was an Odhams comic. TW might think they own it but...
IPC absorbed Fleetway and Odhams in the '60s, and published Frankie Stein right up to the late '80s (and maybe even beyond). This included reprints of the Ken Reid Frankie strips, so...
So they assumed but this explanation reveals a whole 'nother side to things...
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/canadiancomics/message/790
In case link does not work here is the information in its entire content. I'm not saying he's right but it's interesting......
quote begins:
Hello,
I am sending this e-mail out as a response to some pretty nasty,snide and cowardly private posts to me after a recent innocent enquiry at comicsuk about back issues of FANTASTIC comic featuring the MISSING LINK and JOHNNY FUTURE.
At http://terryhooperhomepage.4t.com I have dealt with this matter in more detail under ODHAMS CHARACTERS -where you'll find the typed sale agreement wherein its noted I paid creator Philip Hebden £450 -after asking IPC Intellectual Properties and Fleetway about any claim to these action characters:both stated they had none. Marvel UK in the 1970s attempted to reprint the MISSING LINK/JOHNNY FUTURE strips mistakenly believing that because they were in a comic featuring reprints of US Marvel strips the characters were theirs;Philip Hebden at that time had tried to sell a new project with these characters which was rejected because Marvel UK thought they could get the original strips for free. They found out that the copyright holder was not a now defunct company but Hebden.
In 2002,Loki,at his internationalheroes site put a copyright tag of mine on most of the characters I purchased -but not JF or the ML for some reason.
THE CRYSTALS OF SENTIENCE strip ran in ADVENTURE 50-56 and IPC/Egmont got copies of these and were specifically asked to look at the strip to see whether they might be interested in publishing a more expanded version. They were not interested and showed no interest in the characters [clearly identified in bold print each issue as "originally having appeared in Fantastic comic and POW! Annual,published by Odhams,created by Philip Hebden"].
Let me make this very clear:In over 25 years in comics I have never lied,cheated or conned anyone -anyone- I have worked with/for and I was raised to make sure that my word is my bond. Its an honour thing which may seem out-dated by today's standards but my word given is never,ever broken. In the past a "little white lie" could have solved problems or saved me money but I always took the honesty route.
People seem to be suggesting that I'm "very naiive"/"trying to grab DC characters" and the nastier ones [whom I note hide behind stupid little pseudonyms] have even threatened to contact DC about me. Let them!
I'm here to produce comics to entertain and these are my final comments on the matter. Anyone wants to make an accusation they should identify themselves clearly and I will then take the legal action necessary.
Yes,I guess this is why I'm better known outside the UK. Its only in the UK that this type of nasty,cowardly lurker seems to exist. Its obviously a mental problem. My work is fairly well known -type in my name for a googles search.
Personally,I'm getting back to work.
Terry Hooper
20th July,2005
quote ends
Well, I'm not quite convinced that any of that specifically pertains to Frankie, but one thing I do know is that no strip called The Crystals of Sentience ever ran in Odhams' Fantastic comic or Pow! Annuals (unless it was the later Fleetway Pow! Annuals), so that's wrong for a start. (Or was Terry pointing out that the attribution was mistaken?)
It would also be interesting to find out if Phil Hebden was entitled to sell copyright on any characters he created, as publishers usually purchased copyright outright.
One thing is certain 'though - IPC/Fleetway/Egmont published Frankie Stein for years - including reprints of the Odhams material - and no one ever disputed their right to do so.
However, as you suggest, things may not be as clear cut as they appear to be - but then again, in some instances they just might be.
A big corporation can do what it likes confident the individual cannot afford a long drawn out legal battle. Doesn't mean it's right. The letter sounds sincere to me but that's just my opinion.
I wasn't disputing that the letter was sincere - I was merely pointing out that sincerity doesn't always equate with legal rights and agreeing with you that things aren't always what they seem. That cuts both ways on the matter 'though.
Sorry I wasn't suggesting you disputed its sincerity. I was only saying how I felt upon reading it. Yes I agree there's often two sides to every story. Perhaps we'll never know for sure who owns what...
And now we finally know who owns Frankie Stein and The Missing Link/Johnny Future strips - Rebellion Publishing.
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