AusReprints - Ayers & James

An Australian 'Yank' brand

Don Winslow Yank Comics: (Ayers & James, 194-?).

Although new on-going series were restricted during the war years in Australia, Ayers & James managed to create a distinctive brand identity for its line of one-shot comics by prominently featuring the word 'Yank' in its titles.

The many variations on this theme included Tip Top Yank Comics, Yank Comic Cuts, Star Yank Comics, Favourite Yank Comics, Famous Yank Comics, Gripping Yank Comics, King Hit Yank Comics, King-Hit Yank Comics, Hot Shot Yank Comics, Thrilling Yank Comics, Wonder Yank Comics, Yank Adventure Comics, Yank Komics and Don Winslow Yank Comics.¹

King Hit Yank Comics: (Ayers & James, 194-?).

These titles were composed of a relatively consistent set of newspaper strip reprints, headlined by Don Winslow,² a character starring in a popular film serial in Australia during the early to mid-1940s. This was backed up with features such as Sergeant Stony Craig,³ Alley Oop,⁴ Captain Easy and Wash Tubs,⁵ Boots and Her Buddies,⁶ Freckles and His Friends,⁷ Mickey Mouse, and Donald Duck⁸.

There is no obvious common source for these strips. The first two were syndicated by the Bell Syndicate (later absorbed into the North American Newspaper Alliance), the Disney strips are from King Features and the remainder from Newspaper Enterprise Association (United Media).

Popular Yank Comics 53: (Ayers & James, 194-?).

Ayers and James experimented with comic formats, including an early tabloid size (The Big Five Yank Comic), standard Golden Age, landscape/two-up, narrow portrait, and pocket sized. Most were black and white, with a few in colour (such as Yank Comics in Color and "Yank" Color Comics)—with the word typically spelt the America way: 'color'.

In conjunction with claims such as '6d price in Australia', it seems this 'Yank' branding sought to convince readers they were buying foreign imports.⁹

Donald Duck and the Mummy's Ring [nn] ([1944?])

Donald Duck and the Mummy's Ring: (Ayers & James, 194-?).

After the end of the war, when publishing restrictions were relaxed, the 'Yank' comics gained lead stories reprinting characters from US Quality Comics and settled into two ongoing series with consecutive numbering, >Famous Yank Comics (mainly featuring Kid Eternity) and Popular Yank Comics (headlining The Doll Man). Some issues included other Quality characters or Will Eisner's The Spirit, which was being reprinted in Quality's Police Comics at the time.

Ayers & James's only other identified comics during the war period were a handful of Australian Disney comics,¹⁰ which were produced prior to W.G. Publications commencing its long-running reprint program in October 1946.¹¹ These titles drew from the US Dell comic books, usually with a lower page count and different mix of stories to the Dell originals. Some of the stories and covers were badly traced, a common practice at the time to create camera-ready black and white line work.¹²

References

Only a few comics did not use the title, such as Crackajack Color Comics. 'Crackajack' was used as a subtitle on some other comics and it is possible it was intended as ongoing brand before adoption of 'Yank" naming. Notably, the regular reprint feature Freckles and His Friends was published in the US in Whitman's Crackajack Funnies. A number of Whitman properties (Walt Disney Picture Books) were used at this time, suggesting a possible relationship.

Don Winslow of the Navy, created by Lieutenant Commander Frank V. Martinek as a recruitment tool, was distributed by the Bell Syndicate from 1934 to 1955. Martinek hired Leon Beroth as art director and Carl Hammond to do layouts and research. Later creative personnel include Ed Moore, Ken Ernst and John Jordan. The series was popular during the war, leading to a radio serial between 1937 and 1943; Books from Grosset & Dunlap from 1940; two film serials in 1942 and 1943; reprint comics in several contries including US, UK and Australia; and original comics, Don Winslow of the Navy (Fawcett, 1943 series). The strip ran in the Courier Mail in Brisbane from 17 August 1936 to March 1937, with the movie series on screens across Australia from late 1942 through to at least 1945. See www.toonopedia.com.

Sergeant Stony Craig and his U.S. Marines, distributed by the Bell Syndicate, was created in 1937 by writer Frank H Rentfrow and artist Don Dickson, with later art by Gerald Boucher (1940-44), Bill Draut (1944-45) and Lin Streeter (1945-46). The strip featured in Famous Funnies (Eastern Color, 1934 series) from 1939. Linking with a contemporary movie, further stories featured in Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics (Eastern Color, 1946 series) and Stony Craig (Pentagon Publishing, 1946 one-shot). Stony Craig was probably not published in Australian newspapers. See lambiek.net.

Alley Oop, created by Vincent T. Hamlin in 1932, was syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association from 1933. Later artists on the strip include Dave Graue (1973-2001) and Jack Bender (from 1990). The strip continues to be produced by Jack and Carole Bender. Alley Oop also appeared in The Funnies (Dell, 1936 series) and brief stints in its own series from the late 1940s to the 1990s. There were a few Big Little Books from 1935 and a back up animated segment for the 1971 Archie Saturday morning show. Alley Oop was probably not published in Australian newspapers. See www.toonopedia.com.

Captain Easy, Soldier of Fortune was created by Roy Crane in 1933 and syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association. The strip, which spun off from Crane's 1929 strip Wash Tubbs, ran until 1988. Sunday strips aftter 1937 were done by Les Turner, who took over the entire stip from 1943. Later artists include Walt Scott, Mel Graff and Bill Crooks, before the strip ended in 1988. See en.wikipedia.org.

Boots and Her Buddies, created by Edgar Everett 'Abe' Martin in 1924, was syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association. In addition to reprint comics (Standard, 1948 series; Argo Publications, 1955 series), the character appeared in an illustrated novel (Boots & the Mystery of the Unlucky Vase, Whitman: 1943). Boots and Her Buddies was probably not printed in Australian newspapers. See www.toonopedia.com.

The Freckles and His Friends strip, created by Merrill Blosser and later assisted by Henry Formhals, was syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association. Whitman used the character for a Big Little Book and there were various comic book reprints including Crackajack Funnies (Whitman, 1938 series), Red Ryder (Dell, 1941 series) and his own title from Whitman (1934 one-shot), Standard (1947 series) and Argo Publications (1950 series). Freckles and his Friends was probably not published in Australian newspapers. See www.toonopedia.com.

The first Disney newspaper strips were syndicated by King Features with production done in-house by the Disney studio. Mickey Mouse began in 1930 and the diverse Silly Symphony began 1932. Donald Duck made his first comics appearance in Silly Symphony in 1934 and became the star in 1936/37 before getting his own strip in 1938. Several Australian newspapers featured Mickey Mouse from as early as February 1938 (The Courier Mail, The Advertiser, Western Mail) and Donald Duck from as early as July 1938 (The Argus, The Mercury and Western Mail), with Disney's cartoons widly screened in cinemas from 1930. See en.wikipedia.org.

John Ryan concludes, "It is doubtful if anyone was fooled by these deviced, particularly those who had grown up with American comics." p 165, John Ryan (1979), Panel By Panel: A History of Australian Comics, Cassell Australia Ltd.

Possibly 18 comics in total. See Kevin Patrick's Barks' Ducks, Redux!, quoting an estimate from Roger Morrison.

See Australian Disney Comics. Even after WG Publications took over Disney comics, Ayers & James retained rights to other non-comics Disney properties. It printed a Walt Disney Annual in 1951 (or 1950).

See Kevin Patrick's Barks' Ducks, Redux!.

Ayers & James by James Zee

An Australian 'Yank' brand

References

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