RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Comic Books Comics with odd numbering systems

I was recently looking at DC 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR. It begins with issue 4 (there is no 1-3). The series lasts from issue 4-13 under this numbering, each issue with a different title.

It's further complicated by the fact that each issue of 7-13 actually has two numbers and while a having SUPER SPECTACULAR number, is also an issue number of SUPERMAN, BATMAN, FLASH and other series.





If that were not complicated enough, the series made a slight title change for issues 14-22, to 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR.

For all these problems, these issues present some great Golden Age material, such as (issue 4) 5 splash pages of Berni Wrightson art, just as he was reaching his prime. And two wraparound covers by Neal Adams(DC-6 and DC-13). Along with Golden Age Batman (DC-14) from DETECTIVE 31-32, and the first JLA-JSA crossover story from JLA 21 and 22 (DC-6).

And (DC-13) a fantastic Golden age collection including 2 stories by Lou Fine (The Ray and Black Condor), Jack Burnley (Starman), Sheldon Moldoff (Hawkman), Howard Sherman (Dr Fate), and a 2-part 1942 Superman story.

Another is DC's LIMITED COLLECTORS' EDITION, which likewise magically begins with issue 20, and it's anyone's guess what would explain the missing previous 19 issues.

The series changes title to ALL-NEW COLLECTORS' EDITION for issues 53-56.
Then back to LIMITED COLLECTORS' EDITION for issue 57(WELCOME BACK KOTTER).

Back to ALL NEW COLLECTORS' EDITION for 58 (SUPERMAN VS. SHAZAM, by Buckler).

LIMITED COLLECTORS' EDITION for 59(BATMAN'S STRANGEST CASES).
Then back to ALL NEW COLLECTORS' EDITION for issue 60(RUDOLPH'S SUMMER FUN).

Then FAMOUS FIRST EDITION for issue 61 (r SUPERMAN 1 from 1940).
Then back to ALL-NEW COLLECTORS' EDITION for issue 62 (SUPERMAN THE MOVIE, photos and articles about the 1978 movie, on glossy paper)!


And of course from a few years prior, the FAMOUS FIRST EDITION Golden age replica editions, which also double as LIMITED COLLECTORS' EDITION issues.

DC SPECIAL SERIES is another series that went through some wild changes in its last few issues. From 1977-1979 being a sporadic giant-size special of pretty nice new and reprint material (the highlight for me being a complete reprint of the Wein/Wrightson SWAMP THING series, the first two issues with new wraparound Wrightson covers, and the BATMAN SPECIAL with work by Nasser, Rogers and Golden).

Then with 18 and 19, went to a digest-size format.
Then back to a comic in 20-22.
Then back to a digest in 23-24, then a tabloid 11 X 14" size like LIMITED COLLECTORS' EDITION for issues 25 and 26, and a Marvel/DC crossover (SUPERMAN VS. HULK) for the last issue!

If you don't know the title to search under, that last issue is really hard to find.

Back in the day The costs for mailing permits were such that publishers found it cheaper to rename a book than renumber it. That usually explains why a "new" title didn't start with 1

Aha!

With other titles, it's somewhat clear or even obvious what the series title was re-named from. ALL-AMERICAN COMICS, for example, became ALL-AMERICAN MEN OF WAR, switching from a superhero anthology title to a war comic.

It's weird that these series I listed above have absolutely no visible source they were continued from.

DC's 80 PAGE GIANT (from 1964-1969) series, like the 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR line (1971-1975), has many issues (beginning with issue 16) that have both an 80-PAGE GIANT issue as well as being an issue of the regular series of the characters they feature.

SUPER DC GIANT, issues S-13 to S-26 (1970-1971), and 27 (1976), is another series that has no discernable predecessor to explain its first 12 issues.

80 PAGE GIANT (1964-1969) seems to have changed its title to just GIANT for issues G-57 to G-89 (1969-1971). These likewise had a G-number in the series that doubled as an issue of BATMAN, SUPERMAN, WORLD'S FINEST, JLA, JIMMY OLSEN, LOIS LANE, or whatever series' characters were featured in a particular issue.


From 1969-1971. At which point they were replaced by the DC 100-PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR line.

Some of the wild shifts in editorial direction and bizarre title change just make me laugh.
CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS took a horror direction to exploit the shift in reader preferences of the period, to CAPTAIN AMERICA'S WEIRD TALES in 1949. That mercifully only lasted 2 issues.

Some of the most famous series that emerged from this kind of weird numbering and title changes were the EC titles:

WEIRD FANTASY emerged from a series titled A MOON, A GIRL, ROMANCE (issues 9-12) and before that MOON GIRL AND THE PRINCE (issues 1-8).

WEIRD SCIENCE emerged from SADDLE ROMANCES (issues 9-11), before that SADDLE JUSTICE (issues 3-8), and before that HAPPY HOULIHANS (issues 1-2).

Both series (WEIRD SCIENCE and WEIRD FANTASY series both ending with issue 22) were merged into a short-lived WEIRD SCIENCE-FANTASY (issues 23-29) and then again retitled as INCREDIBLE SCIENCE FICTION (issues 30-33), around the time the comics code began.

It's kind of hilarious, how these titles flailed all over the place, retitled back and forth from romance to western to science fiction, in various reincarnations. Bill Gaines was most proud of his science fiction titles, and struggled to keep them on the stands despite the fact they weren't selling. They had some of the best storytelling (see "Judgement Day" in WEIRD FANTASY 18, that I posted in the Pre-Code stories topic), in stories by Wood and Williamson, and adaptations of Ray Bradbury stories, even one by Harlan Ellison ("Upheaval" in WEIRD SCIENCE-FANTASY 24, June 1954).

In their desperate reach for improved sales based on popular trends and splicing together of genres, they came up with some pretty goofy book titles.

From my opening post, here are DC 100 PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR issues 4-22, every issue, online for your reading pleasure:


http://12comic.com/comic.jsp?id=19022708224097h7


I'm loving this website! I have about half of them, and this way I can read the ones I don't have, and if I like them enough, purchase the actual issues to fully enjoy.

DC-4, the first one, is a reprint collection of DC mystery 1950's/1960's comics material, except for 7 pages of new (1971) early Berni Wrightson pin-ups. I bought this issue on Ebay several years ago at a great price in Mint condition. This allows me to read it without messing up my perfect copy.
When I have the option to buy comics in VG or Good, I often do, so I can read them without worrying about diminishing their condition by reading them.


These 100-pagers present many classic Golden and Silver Age stories, along with several gorgeous wraparound covers, mostly by Adams, and even present a few inventoried never-before-published Golden Age stories. It was really cool to see the stories that would have been the last issue os SENSATION COMICS, that till these 100-pagers were inventoried and went unpublished for 20 years.

Throughout the 1970's across several titles, there were many Golden Age stories pulled out of inventory and finally published as backups. I recall a "7 Soldiers of Victory" unpublished script toward the end of Aparo's Spectre run that ran in the back of ADVENTURE COMICS 438-443, one of them drawn by a new to the field (Aug 1975) Mike Grell, among other artists. The full story having art by Dillin/Blaisdell (438) and Chaykin (438), Lee Elias (439), Grell (440), Chua (441), Garcia-Lopez/Royer (442), and Dillin/Blaisdell (443), a mix of both Silver Age and current artists of that time.

Wow. Total nostalgia dose. Thx Wondy,

Yeah, I love how these are scanned from the original dox-matrix printings, and how it includes all the interior pages and house ads. The next best thing to holding the original in your hands.

In some of the series at the site, you can see they were scanned from collected trades or hardcovers (such as the Wein/Wrightson SWAMP THING scans), but for the most part these are scanned from the originals, and fully preserve the original reading experience.

Some of these I'd previously never seen, some of them I have, others I used to own and either traded or misplaced over the years. Many of these are hard to find even if a comic store has them in stock. Instead of having them in a DC 100 PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR section, they have the individual issues in with the SUPERMAN or SGT ROCK or whatever is on the cover. These babies are tough to find, and only in the age of the internet has it become more easy to complete a set.

Great that these are available online.

For my money, the best of the bunch is issue 13 (a k a, SUPERMAN 252) a fantastic collection of Golden Age material.

http://12comic.com/issue.jsp?id=190227082243rrn2&cu=9

* a 2-part Superman story from 1942 issues of ACTION COMICS 47 and SUPERMAN 17, signed Siegel Shuster (but ghost art by John Sikela).
* A Jim Sherman Dr.Fate story from MORE FUN COMICS 57, July 1940.
* a Moldoff Hawkman story from FLASH COMICS 24, Oct 1941
* a Lou Fine Black Condor story from CRACK COMICS 18, Nov 1941
* a Bernard Baily Spectre story, also from MORE FUN COMICS 57, July 1940.
* a Jack Burnley Starman story from ADVENTURE COMICS 67, Dec 1941.
* another Lou Fine "The Ray" story from SMASH COMICS 17, Dec 1940.
* and the odd story out in the bunch, an Al Plastino Superman story, from SUPERMAN 146, July 1961. I wish this one could have been another Golden Age story to fill out the book, maybe a Jack Cole POLICE COMICS story, or a Lou fine Uncle Sam story from NATIONAL COMICS.

But regardless, it's a great representative collection of stories, from the core of what are considered the peak years of the Golden Age.

There’s no way to download all these for off-line reading is there?