the collection: recent additions
Been in a bit of a collecting lull of late, mostly sticking with new comics releases and the occasional “ok I can’t pass this up” splurge, this sheet of Walter B. Gibson’s memo paper being among them…
Been on a Spectre kick lately, too…
Scratch one off the “comics I must own before I die and even then” list…
With No. 6, DICK TRACY SMASHES THE BOMBING RACKET, I’ve now only one more to go to complete my set of the 1934 Goudy Big Thrill booklets…
And, finally, in “I’m sure I’m now on a list somewhere” additions...
1970s Shadow “Crime Fighter” toys, ctd.
Finally added this piece to my collection of the delightfully strange and anachronistic 1970s Madison SHADOW toys – because every 1930s crime fighter needs a programmed 'computerized' 1970s supercar (the box was split and opened long ago; just glad to have it):
Think I've only a few pieces left to go – a large copter, jet, and costume, IIRC – but here's a shot of this mini-collection inside The Collection as it stands now:
(Who knows what evil revs in the hearts of men?)
THE SHADOW promotional matchbooks, 1945
Second of my two promotional matchbooks for THE SHADOW radio show, from 1945, joined The Collection today. While this latest procurement has far better and more inventive visuals, the first one still has some of the matches inside.
According to Martin Grams, Jr, in his definitive history of the radio show:
The aforementioned, still-combustible set…
Not sure if there are more variations of them or if I now have the only two variants. If so, very cool. If not, please correct me.
The Collection, 2023w26
Slightly mortified that, while I amassed most of The Collection in only a few months, there's enough stuff on my overflowing shelves to be considered a lifelong collection – but, as K reminded me, I've had this space and the things populating it in my head for the better part of 30 years. Anyhow, here are a few of the treasures that I’ve added to the overflowing Paintshop shelves this week…
First up, this 1943 Dick Tracy postcard, from part of a set released by Coca Cola to soldiers and their families during WWII. I have a set of the 1942 issues, but these ‘43s are exceedingly rare. No clue what the other ‘43s look like:
Next up, this 1950 Line Mar Japanese tin Superman (in yellow garb - Mighty Mouse meets Fleischer?) wind-up toy, in which the Man of Steel lifts a tank. Not sure if it still works as I don’t have a key (adding one to the list of things to procure) but I am, nonetheless, in love with this little gem:
Continuing the Superman trend, this 1940 Saalfield puzzle, which is, when assembled, a beautiful, full-color piece of early Superman art:
Next, a mid-70s Shadow bagatelle game, from Madison, the same group behind that odd bunch of similarly-branded Shadow merchandise I wrote about a few weeks back. Been looking for this one for a long time.
And finally, a few of the (major) additions to the comics collection. The two issues of SHADOW COMICS are Volume One, issues two and three (Spring, 1940) while the two AMAZING SPIDER-MAN issues are 11 - Ditko! second Doc Ock! - and 31, the start of the seminal “Master Planner” story (need to get issue 32 to complete the story) and the first appearances of both Gwen Stacy and Harry Osborn.
A banner week, to be certain.
Tatjana Wood color guide
Among my most prized pieces in The Collection is this original color guide for page four of Denny O'Neil's second of two Bats / Shadow encounters from the 70s, BATMAN Vol. 1, No. 259, hand-colored by the unsung hero of that era, colorist extraordinaire Tatjana Wood. First picture is the original color guide, second is the page in the printed comic itself.
THE SHADOW, No. 1 (Bernstein / Rosenberger; Archie, 1964)
That was... something – and we haven't even gotten to the superhero costume iteration of The Shadow, who has, in Archie Comics' telling – of which I'm going to write about each of the eight issues here because such is my capacity for self-flagellation – become a blond-haired, blue-eyed commie-smashing, karate-chopping, Secret Service-I-guess Cold War super-spy, Lamont Cranston as The Man From UNCLE which has me crying the same as he faces off with a turtle-necked Shiwan Khan and his sunglass-ed and similarly clothed minions.
Here's the rub, though: excepting the blond/blue superhero change, in the hands of better writers, The Shadow as Cold War spy-smasher – Chakyin (along with Helfer, being the only ones to have successfully brought The Shadow to present-day) started going there in MIDNIGHT IN MOSCOW – could have worked; The Shadow was the (proactive) head of a spy ring to begin with, the perfect melding of detective and spy genres in the ink-black streets of a pulp/Depression-era NYC.
But this... this is something else: at best, a haphazard, soulless exploitation of a license that one would expect from a protein-deprived child playing with the same two action figures, each with a snapped-off limb.
Seven more issues and the superhero costume iteration await.
complete (for some reason)
Such is my love of the character and penchant for self-inflicted punishment that not only do I now have all issues of the entire 1964 “let’s make The Shadow a blonde no wait black hair is better superhero” Archie series, the last few issues of which were written by Jerry Siegel, but I intend to read them. And maybe write about them.
the collection: foci
As I seem to have shifted my collecting (re-collecting?) interests back to comics, finally starting my third era – the first being the early-mid 90s and the second being mid-late 2000s – thought it might be useful to share a few brief thoughts on why I've chosen to add what I’ve added to The Collection in this third era if only to solidify said choices for myself.
Early Silver Daredevil: easily my favorite Marvel character; I have a fascination with the yellow suit and the transition to the red and how haphazard his early issues felt: unlike other Marvel creations, there didn't feel like there was a grand design behind him and they were making it up as they went along (I know this was generally the case with the early Marvel, but it feels really pronounced with Daredevil). As I now have issues 2-7, my willpower on holding off on issue one is waning. Also have AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 16, featuring a Ditko DD in yellow suit AND Spidey - what more could I ask for?
(PS Electro would have made a fantastic full-time Daredevil villain.)
The Question: "Created by Steve Ditko" has a wonderful ring when you open up a comic. I just love the character – from Ditko's objectivist meanderings to O'Neil's left-wing eastern mystic / Kaine in KUNG FU to Rick Veitch and Tommy Lee Edwards's poetic ass-kicker (in one of my favorite representations of Metropolis ever) to the Timm-verse JLU iteration to Rucka's genius transformation of Montoya into the second Question: the character is one of the most elastic – a blank face and a suit tend to lend themselves as such – ever created; that he seems to be languishing again is more than slightly heartbreaking.
Early Silver Marvel in general: this was prevalent during my first era of collecting, largely guided by cheap back issues of early MARVEL TALES. In this present iteration, I've amassed a pretty solid collection of Lee/Ditko Spideys and the aforementioned Daredevil, but I'm also grabbing up important issues in the development of the Marvel Universe: the first Cap story in TALES OF SUSPENSE No 59; the first issue of the Hulk's own ongoing series, No. 102 (having spun out of TALES TO ASTONISH); STRANGE TALES ANNUAL No. 2, just because it includes a weird Kirby Spidey tale (I have a thing for Kirby drawing Spidey). Speaking of:
Kirby's Fourth World: have the omnibus, love the insanity behind all of it. NEW GODS, MISTER MIRACLE, and FOREVER PEOPLE first issues are in my possession as is Kirby's first DC work, SUPERMAN'S PAL JIMMY OLSEN 133. Not an active pursuit, but I'll always pick them up should the opportunity arise.
Complete runs of CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS (historical import and Perez art); BATMAN: YEAR ONE (Mazzuchelli Bats); Andreyko's MANHUNTER (several holes in my collection of one of DC's best series ever – which would be a perfect candidate for Max series adaptation: it screams for a merging of GOLIATH and PEACEMAKER, maybe a bit of ELI STONE thrown in); Bendis / Brubaker DAREDEVIL runs - had them all, lost them all in one of the moves; the Moench / Jones BATMAN run (still my favorite run in the whole of the character); I also need to get my hands on ALL-STAR SUPERMAN 12, as I have the first 11 issues then moved and all of it went to hell in the proverbial handbasket.
Outside of comics-comics: 1939-41 Superman merchandise – the early Siegel and Shuster iteration and the Fleischer cartoon version remain my favorite incarnation of Supes, the cornerstone of my collection being my 1939 Ideal composition doll as well as a first edition 1942 Lowther/Shuster ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN book and a 1940 Valentine’s Card featuring Superman about to punch a puppy because apparently that was a prerequisite for pre-war romance, IDK.
All foci above are, of course, in concert with the forever interests of The Shadow (I even have a complete run of the eight-issue Archie series coming because, in my passion for historical completion, I'm nothing if not a glutton for punishment) and Dick Tracy, though both tend to be more towards toys, radio premiums, and Big Little Books, but I still snap up comics whenever I see them.
Do I have any idea what I'll do with all of this? Not in the slightest: I did, after all, run a half-marathon distance with no desire to run an actual half-marathon (with numbers and people and such) and now seem to have opened my own comic shop / museum with no customers or intention to sell anything so who knows.