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| Image copyright DC COMICS |
Oh, am I a happy chappie! A mere 15 minutes ago as I type this, I took possession of a full set of all 14 issues of SUPER DC (a sort of DC superheroes version of FANTASTIC, which reprinted MARVEL strips) that came out back in the 1970s. I well-recall buying the first issue in a shop called CORSON'S, and pausing to pore through its pages in the open-but-covered bicycle area of the local community hall less than a minute from (and in view of) my house - I just couldn't wait!
Going by the copyright date inside and the shilling price on the cover, the comic seems to have been produced and published in 1969, but it didn't go on sale in my area until towards the end of 1970. Perhaps the publisher, TOP SELLERS, tried it out in England first before selling it in Scotland, because there's a slight difference in size and indicia typeface between the two #1s I have, suggesting it may've been reprinted. I'll have to compare them to the third #1 I received today.
A goodly number of years ago, I bought the first 13 issues from (I think) the late ROGER WILSON of WONDERLAND TOYS (he sold various other stuff as well), but #14 proved elusive. Amiable ANDREW KERR sent me scans from his own then-recently acquired copy some months back, which I was going to use to make a facsimile, but I never had time to get around to it. Then, at the beginning of this week, I saw the complete set for sale on eBay as a bundle, so, in order to get that final ish, I bought the lot.
I'll still be looking for another issue #14 so that I can complete my first run (I don't mind having two sets), so if anyone has one they want to sell or swap, get in touch. I have a few spare early issues that I'd be only too happy to exchange for that one number, if anyone's interested. Any takers? Incidentally, I did have the comic back when it first came out, so it's a bit of a mystery as to why it's so difficult to find nowadays. Perhaps the print-run on that ish was minuscule?
And in case there are one or two of you who didn't already know, MARVELMAN 'creator', the late MICK ANGLO, was the comic's editor and drew some of the covers and internal illustrations. Collector, historian and cartoonist, the late DENIS GIFFORD, also had some cartoon strips in the monthly mag from time to time.
And now I've got all 14 of them - lucky me!
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Update: I've now got that other #14 I needed.
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Made up for you Kid! For years I thought no.14 was just a myth!
ReplyDeleteAndrew, you'll never believe this, but I was just updating my earlier post where I'd used your image of the cover (was replacing it with my own) and was about to add your name to this one ('cos I'd forgotten, sorry), and whaddya know? No sooner do I get here than I find you waiting.
ReplyDeleteWow! - You've got #14! Good things come to those who wait! Any chance of showing us the text stories? I'd really love to see them! ( or even a copy of them from AK's scans, if he wouldn't mind? )
ReplyDeleteYou know, I only deleted those scans from my mediafire account a few days ago. If you want I'll re-upload them but I tell you that they're only raw scans with no cleaning up or even cropping.
DeleteCheers Andrew, that would be great! But will you tell me whereabouts I can find them? I'll see if I can contact you through Google.
DeleteJP, the text stories from the first six issues have been up on the blog for ages, scanned from the comics I already had. (Type Super DC text stories into the Blogger search box.) I'd planned to put some more up tonight anyway, so check back later.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know about those you've already posted, I was asking about the pages in #14, but as you have another complete run, if you were to also show the prose stories from issues 7 to 13 as well I'd be really grateful.
DeleteAnyway, I'll check back later, as you say. Cheers.
The text stories in #14 weren't superhero ones, JP, but I'll post them anyway, when the time comes. Just noticed that you commented on one of the previous posts.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Andrew, but I've still got your scans. I'm sure JP won't mind waiting a short while to see #14's text stories, seeing as how they're not superhero ones anyway. Thanks again. (Or was your comment directed at JP? In which case, I'm sure he'll respond.)
ReplyDeleteHi Kid, yes it was for JP : )
ReplyDeleteIt's still a mystery to me why we have those generic stories in this issue. Do you think Mick Anglo knew it was the last issue and so wasn't prepared to pay for the use of Batman and Superman for the text stories?
Not a 100% sure to be honest, Andrew. Being a monthly comic, any low sales would have been known about in advance, I guess, but the decision to cancel may have been a last minute thing (as with Amazing Fantasy #15), which may account for the absence of an editor's 'goodbye, thanks for reading' note in the comic. As for the choice of text stories, if there were still some TV Tornado ones to re-use, they may have needed abridging first, and if Mick Anglo DID know it was going to be the last issue, he maybe thought it just wasn't worth the bother. (I'm assuming that the stories he used were reprinted from somewhere else - I could be wrong 'though.)
ReplyDeleteBack again!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I recognise that cover- I clearly remember Super DC ran a text feature on the Legion of Super-Heroes in the first few issues. It may well have been 1970 before I saw the comic. My aunt bought the first couple of issues for me- she had been reconciled with my dad, her brother, after a falling-out. He had a cancer scare circa 1969/70 and the family subsequently met up more often for the next five or six years.
I remember very eagerly anticipating the feature on the Legion of Super-Pets. The first image I saw of that august group was in a reprint of Adventure Comics 365 in a Double Double comic some time ( weeks? months?)later.
It surprised me then, today, to see the final issue I'm sure I must have read
I remember having issue 14 as well, Dougie, and I was surprised to learn, many years later, that it had been the final issue. I suspect that may've been because I bought some of the later issues out of sequence to their release.
ReplyDeleteBy that I mean I bought some of the 'later' issues published BEFORE #14 AFTER I'd bought #14.
ReplyDelete