Does it exist? Pt 2 by James Zee
How many Angels? About the same as Daffy!
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.
I’ve seen only Angel (Magman, 1958 series) #20 and Angel (Magman, 1958 series) #26. And just Daffy (Magman, 1958 series) #21 and Daffy (Magman, 1958 series) #22 are currently listed at AusReprints.
Is it possible that the first 19 or 20 issues don't exist?
The original US Angel series ran only 16 issues. And while the originals are 36 pages—compared with 24 for the Australian edition—there probably isn’t enough material for 26 or more issues. Australian #20 reprints early US material and there isn’t evidence of reprints of earlier printings. From what I've seen, it also doesn't look like issues are filled out with the original Angel newspaper strips by Mel Casson.
There’s a similar pattern for Daffy, but some extra evidence to suggest what might be going on.
Prior to Daffy #21, the feature was printed in at least three issues of the MagMan anthology Junior Comics Library (Junior Readers’ Press). The five recorded Daffy issues print five issues of US Dell’s Four Color and Daffy, almost sequentially.
Junior Comics Library also printed one issue of Angel in issue #10.
I don’t know the exact publisher listed for Angel and Daffy, but from the ACE brand on the cover, they are also probably Junior Readers’ Press and certainly part of the Magazine Management group.
Based these associations, it looks like Daffy #21 continues from Junior Comics Library, which has Daffy in its final known issue, #20.
Magazine Management sourced these reprints from US Dell, which took a similar approach of not starting at #1 with many titles. It trialled Daffy in three issues of Four Color before launching his own series starting at Daffy (Dell, 1956 series) #4.
This might not explain Angel—although it wouldn’t surprise me to find that issue #19 of Junior Comics Library (or there about) is an issue of Angel, followed by Angel #20 (or there about).
So my prediction is that both these titles spin out of Junior Comics Library: with Daffy beginning at issue #21 and Angel probably starting at issue #20.
The same approach doesn’t seem to affect earlier series spinning out of Junior Comics Library (Tweety and Sylvester; Will-Yum) or another earlier anthology that spawned other titles, Comic Hits.
However, Warfront clearly has no issues #1 to #24, and almost certainly continues from MagMan's Comics Library.
Early issues of some other series related to these anthologies have also not yet been logged (for example, the start of Tweety and Sylvester), and it is possible they don't exist.
If you have more issues of these series to help fill in the details, contact me via the link on my name above.