...covering Australian comics
In-depth articles about the history of Australian comics and reprints.
Some Australian publishers started series at random numbers, but the first issue of a Magazine Management title was typically #1. Despite that, a few of its series mysteriously lack low numbered issues and probably don’t start at #1.
Two titles stand out: Angel and Daffy.
In August I purchased , mainly because I can't resist a mystery. I hadn't come across the series and didn't recognise the featured characters.
It turns out the comic has one Diet Slurp story, with the rest composed of reprints from US Quality's >Feature Comics (Perky) and Modern Comics (Will Bragg) that were a decade old even when this issue was published. But the source of the lead feature remained unidentified.
There’s a surprising wealth of international work in Australian comics, despite the dominance of US reprints—including one series reported as never published in English.
That feature was “The Blue Triangle featuring Dan Cooper”, which appeared two pages per week in The Australian Chucklers’ Weekly from v5#39 (23 January 1959) until about v6#30.
AusReprints has reached a landmark 30,000 Australian issues, both reprints and original work.
The comic that tipped it over the threshhold was Penny the Favourite Teenager #13 from Young's Merchandising Company. And it's an unexpected comic worth highlighting.
I've been puzzled by the publisher of the rare Australian series Little Trimmer Comic, but I've not seen a copy until recently.
It's one of those situations where I've wondered if respected Australian comics' historian John Ryan 'got it wrong'.
There are a few Australian comics that collectors look for that, most likely, were never published.
One well-documented case is The Phantom (Frew, 1948 series) #330 from 1966. The artwork was irretrievably damaged prior to printing and the following issue (#331) was brought forward to fill the gap. However, due to an oversight, the issue numbering was not updated, leaving a gap (although there was no break in publication).
Despite Mick Stone's disclaimer of "likely omissions", it's rare to find a comic by Australian creators missing from his checklist of Australian comics.
One possible addition to the index is , a mystery one-shot comic without creator credits. The title story, which takes up the entire issue, is not reprinted from a typical US source.
Most Australian comics from the Second World War are undated one-shots, making it challenging to know exactly when they were published. Sometimes it isn't even possible to be sure of the year of publication.
Comics from the Offset Printing Company (OPC) are a classic example. Most suggestions for dates seem to resort to a generic year in the early to mid 1940s.
AusReprints turned ten last year and it's time for an overhaul.
I'm receiving increasing reports of site errors. I appreciate it, since I frequently use the database off-line and don't see problems on the site. Most errors can be quickly fixed, but the real problem is that AusReprints has much the same technology as it did a decade ago.
While many Australian publishers disguised the international origins of their comics, H. John Edwards reprints were branded with the logos of US companies such as Fiction House, Standard and MLJ Magazines (Archie).
He also published a large line of original Australian comics with art by some of this country's most accomplished artists, including Larry Horak, John Dixon and Jeff Wilkinson.