- Digital Comic Museum
Available in Hardcover and Paperback Editions. Makes a perfect gift for the Comic Book collector in your life. About The Author Guy Naslund has published hundreds of books on a wide variety of topics.
Thank You. Previous page. Print length. Publication date. See all details. Next page. From the Publisher You can use this book to catalog your comic books, track their value, and log their sales. Try a virtual family staycation for less.
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Back to top. Get to Know Us. Make Money with Us. Amazon Payment Products. When Comic Media became defunct, the company sold its titles and characters to Charlton. Their major competitor in books of comic strip reprints was Frederick A. Stokes, who died in To reprint comic strips, the company offered, for 25 cents, a square-bound paperback format of 52 pages of black-and-white strips between flexible cardboard covers.
Bringing Up Father Mutt and Jeff. Dell Publishing Co. Eastern Color Printing Company was involved with several of Dell's earliest comic book ventures, although the exact nature of each partnership is not always clear.
The company's comic book division folded in , although Dell continued to publish the occasional book with comics content, including newspaper strip collections. Dell became part of Bantam Doubleday Dell in , ceasing to exist as an independent company. Publishing D. Publishing enters the publishing market around , with several 'song sheets'.
In late , D. Richard Davis is listed throughout as editor, publisher or president, with V. Albus listed as vice president ; the editorial address throughout is 30 Rockefeller Plaza, NYC, which was subsequently used by another comic book publisher, P. Publishing ; no other connection is known at this time.
Eastern Color Printing Company At first it was only newspaper comic strip reprints. Eastern incorporated in , and soon became successful by printing color newspaper sections for several New England and New York papers. In addition to publishing its own comic books during the 40s, Eastern did the printing for the majority of publishers in the comics industry.
An article in the Hartford Courant dated Feb. Of these 65 million issues, more than 40 per cent are printed in Connecticut. Eastern struggled financially from the s to , when the business closed, a victim of changing printing technologies. It kicked off with the publication of the bawdy humor magazine Captain Billy's Whiz Bang and expanded into a magazine empire with the first issue of Mechanix Illustrated in the s, followed by numerous titles including True Confessions, Family Circle and Woman's Day.
Fawcett Comics, which began operating in , led to the introduction of Captain Marvel. The company became a publisher of paperbacks in with the opening of Gold Medal Books. In , the company abandoned its roster of superhero comic characters in the wake of declining sales and a lawsuit for infringement by the Captain Marvel character on the copyright of the Action Comics character Superman, and ended its publication of comic books.
It was purchased by CBS Publications in and subsequently underwent dismantling and absorption by other companies. Fiction House, Inc. By the late s, publisher Thurman T. The later-day owner's comics division was best known for its pinup-style good girl art, as epitomized by the company's most popular character, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. Fox Feature Syndicate, Inc. Fox and business associate Bob Farrell. DC sued claiming he was an illegal copy of Superman.
After losing at trial, Victor Fox dropped Eisner and Iger, and hired his own stable of comic creators. Fox would be known for his low page rate and poor quality control. Actual years of activity were mid to early mostly as Fox Publications, inc. Following the establishment of Comics Code Authority in the mids, Fox went out of business, selling the rights to the Blue Beetle to Charlton Comics.
We do reserve the right to limit uploads to this section when needed. Harvey began a shift to licensed characters when in they took over as the radio hero Green Hornet's publisher from Holyoke after six issues.
Harvey added additional titles such that most of their titles were licensed. The company ultimately became best known for characters it published in comics from s onward, particularly those it licensed from the animation company Famous Studios, a unit of Paramount Pictures, starting in Hillman Periodicals Founded in by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher. It is best known for its true confession and true crime magazines; for the long-running general-interest magazine Pageant; and for comic books including Air Fighters Comics and its successor Airboy Comics.
In Hillman began publishing paperback books. There were several series of abridged mystery and western novels published in the larger 'digest' size. These lasted until Hillman's early titles included costumed superheroes.
Hillman ceased publishing comic books in , while concentrating on magazine publishing. Associated publishers Nita Publishing Co. Reportedly, Waldman came into possession of a printing company and among the assets were the production materials for several hundred comic books previously published by various publishers as well as a limited amount of previously unpublished material. Waldman equated possession of production materials as the right to reprint and I.
The later half of the company's existence, it published comics under the Super Comics name. Usually these companies were out of business, but not always. The first and most successful crime comic, Crime Does Not Pay spawned dozens of imitators.
Gleason's crime titles along with horror titles by EC Comics became targets of increasing criticism of the influence of comic books. This pressure eventually led to the formation of the Comics Code Authority in Magazine Enterprises Published primarily Western, humor, crime, adventure, and children's comics, with virtually no superheroes.
Several featured excellent covers by Frank Frazetta. Other original characters include the jungle goddess Cave Girl, drawn by Bob Powell, who also worked on their superhero title The Avenger. In late , Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster collaborated once again with editor Vin Sullivan, on a new oddball hero book called Funnyman, a slapstick-comedian hero.
Both as a comic book and as a comic strip, however, the character failed to find an audience. Magazines, Inc. Goldwater as M. The initial Archie characters were created in by publisher John L. Goldwater and artist Bob Montana, in collaboration with writer Vic Bloom. They first appeared in Pep Comics 22 cover-dated Dec. Archie was a huge hit which led to the company changing its name to Archie Comic Publications in Archie Comics the title of the company's longest-running publication, the first issue appearing with a cover date of Winter Starting with issue 70, the title was shortened to simply Archie.
The flagship series was relaunched from issue 1 in July with a new look and design suited for a new generation of readers, although after 32 it reverted to its historic numbering with Archie Comics characters and concepts have also appeared in numerous films, television programs, cartoons, and video games.
The Shield was a forerunner for Simon's and Kirby's Captain America, being published 13 months earlier. Archie would flirt with superheroes over the decades but their fame will always be for their Archie line of books still being published today. Novelty Press a. Premium Service Co. Novelty Publications; a.
Among Novelty's best-known and longest-running titles were the companion titles Blue Bolt and Target Comics. Material for the book was supplied by Funnies, Inc. Basil Wolverton's Spacehawk made its Target Comics debut with issue 5, and ran for many issues. Blue Bolt's title character superhero was created by Joe Simon, and Blue Bolt 2 July featured the first pairing of the longstanding and pioneering creative team of Simon and Jack Kirby.
In , due to the growing criticism over violence in comic books, Novelty Press sold its assets to Blue Bolt cover artist L. Using his new assets, Cole began his own company, Star Publications. Orbit Publications to Orbit Pub, also known as Orbit-Wanted, was an American comic book publishing house operated by the female publisher, editor, and cartoonist Ray Herman.
Parents also published Humpty Dumpty from the s through the early s, until it and Children's Digest were sold to the Saturday Evening Post company. Prize Comics Group Prize Comics also known as Feature Publications, was a subsidiary of Crestwood Publications, operated from to Already an established pulp magazine publisher, Prize jumped onto the superhero bandwagon with their first title Prize Comics.
Briefer would continue with a book named for the character starting in Today it's one of Prize's better known characters.
Simon and Kirby would launch the romance comic genre in late with their Young Romance title which was a huge success for the publisher and spawned dozens of clones. Crestwood gave up publishing comics in , selling off some of it's titles to publisher DC Comics. It continued to publish humor magazines, such as Sick, up until Quality Comics Founded by Everett M. Comic Favorites, Inc. Notable titles included Blackhawk, Feature Comics, G. By the mids, after a foray into other genres such as war, humor, romance and horror, the company ceased operations with comics cover-dated December Many of Quality's character and title trademarks were sold to National Comics Publications now DC Comics , which chose to keep only four series running.
Rural Home A group of loosely tied fly-by-night publishers using prepackaged material, many using black market supplies of paper at the end of World War II; mutual tie-ins unclear.
Enwil listed as copyright publisher. Some titles continued by Orbit Publications and others by Charlton Comics. Spark Publications Established and owned by Ken Crossen, who was the creator and writer of the Green Lama. Most of their comics was produced by a studio run by Jerry Robinson and Mort Meskin. The combination of Robinson, Meskin, and Raboy, using similar styles gave Spark's books a sort of house style. Solely a publisher of superhero comics, the company was too small to survive the shrinking of the market post-World War II.
Imprints - Aragon Magazines, Inc. Argyle Magazines, Inc. Gillmor Magazines, Inc. Key Publications Key Publications, Inc. Media Publications, Inc. Readers should be aware they are known for their gory contents. Star Publications In , publisher Novelty Press sold its characters and artwork to cover artist L. Co-owner L. Cole contributed distinctive and highly collected cover illustrations to many Star books. John Publications Archer St. John, who had a background in journalism and advertising, founded St.
John Publications in In the early s St. John became friends with artist Matt Baker, who provided most of the book covers for the company. It reportedly was a huge hit.
After the St. John comic books came to an end in , the company continued to publish its magazine line into the next decade.
Comic book collectors club free download -
Harvey began a shift to licensed characters when in they took over as the radio hero Green Hornet's publisher from Holyoke after six issues. Harvey added additional titles such that most of their titles were licensed.
The company ultimately became best known for characters it published in comics from s onward, particularly those it licensed from the animation company Famous Studios, a unit of Paramount Pictures, starting in Hillman Periodicals Founded in by Alex L. Hillman, a former New York City book publisher. It is best known for its true confession and true crime magazines; for the long-running general-interest magazine Pageant; and for comic books including Air Fighters Comics and its successor Airboy Comics.
In Hillman began publishing paperback books. There were several series of abridged mystery and western novels published in the larger 'digest' size. These lasted until Hillman's early titles included costumed superheroes. Hillman ceased publishing comic books in , while concentrating on magazine publishing. Associated publishers Nita Publishing Co. Reportedly, Waldman came into possession of a printing company and among the assets were the production materials for several hundred comic books previously published by various publishers as well as a limited amount of previously unpublished material.
Waldman equated possession of production materials as the right to reprint and I. The later half of the company's existence, it published comics under the Super Comics name. Usually these companies were out of business, but not always. The first and most successful crime comic, Crime Does Not Pay spawned dozens of imitators.
Gleason's crime titles along with horror titles by EC Comics became targets of increasing criticism of the influence of comic books. This pressure eventually led to the formation of the Comics Code Authority in Magazine Enterprises Published primarily Western, humor, crime, adventure, and children's comics, with virtually no superheroes.
Several featured excellent covers by Frank Frazetta. Other original characters include the jungle goddess Cave Girl, drawn by Bob Powell, who also worked on their superhero title The Avenger. In late , Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster collaborated once again with editor Vin Sullivan, on a new oddball hero book called Funnyman, a slapstick-comedian hero. Both as a comic book and as a comic strip, however, the character failed to find an audience.
Magazines, Inc. Goldwater as M. The initial Archie characters were created in by publisher John L. Goldwater and artist Bob Montana, in collaboration with writer Vic Bloom. They first appeared in Pep Comics 22 cover-dated Dec. Archie was a huge hit which led to the company changing its name to Archie Comic Publications in Archie Comics the title of the company's longest-running publication, the first issue appearing with a cover date of Winter Starting with issue 70, the title was shortened to simply Archie.
The flagship series was relaunched from issue 1 in July with a new look and design suited for a new generation of readers, although after 32 it reverted to its historic numbering with Archie Comics characters and concepts have also appeared in numerous films, television programs, cartoons, and video games. The Shield was a forerunner for Simon's and Kirby's Captain America, being published 13 months earlier.
Archie would flirt with superheroes over the decades but their fame will always be for their Archie line of books still being published today. Novelty Press a. Premium Service Co. Novelty Publications; a. Among Novelty's best-known and longest-running titles were the companion titles Blue Bolt and Target Comics. Material for the book was supplied by Funnies, Inc. Basil Wolverton's Spacehawk made its Target Comics debut with issue 5, and ran for many issues. Blue Bolt's title character superhero was created by Joe Simon, and Blue Bolt 2 July featured the first pairing of the longstanding and pioneering creative team of Simon and Jack Kirby.
In , due to the growing criticism over violence in comic books, Novelty Press sold its assets to Blue Bolt cover artist L. Using his new assets, Cole began his own company, Star Publications. Orbit Publications to Orbit Pub, also known as Orbit-Wanted, was an American comic book publishing house operated by the female publisher, editor, and cartoonist Ray Herman.
Parents also published Humpty Dumpty from the s through the early s, until it and Children's Digest were sold to the Saturday Evening Post company. Prize Comics Group Prize Comics also known as Feature Publications, was a subsidiary of Crestwood Publications, operated from to Already an established pulp magazine publisher, Prize jumped onto the superhero bandwagon with their first title Prize Comics.
Briefer would continue with a book named for the character starting in Today it's one of Prize's better known characters. Simon and Kirby would launch the romance comic genre in late with their Young Romance title which was a huge success for the publisher and spawned dozens of clones.
Crestwood gave up publishing comics in , selling off some of it's titles to publisher DC Comics. It continued to publish humor magazines, such as Sick, up until Quality Comics Founded by Everett M. Comic Favorites, Inc. Notable titles included Blackhawk, Feature Comics, G. By the mids, after a foray into other genres such as war, humor, romance and horror, the company ceased operations with comics cover-dated December Many of Quality's character and title trademarks were sold to National Comics Publications now DC Comics , which chose to keep only four series running.
Rural Home A group of loosely tied fly-by-night publishers using prepackaged material, many using black market supplies of paper at the end of World War II; mutual tie-ins unclear. Since I moved here, Steve has helped me rebuild my comic book collection, much of which was destroyed by a tornado almost 20 years ago.
The rebuilding process has been slow. Now what? I disagree. The Ancient One is supposed to be almost timeless, an above-it-all, sort of asexual, deeply spiritual and mystical figure. Or male for that matter. Hell, it was the original portrayal of the Ancient One as an aloof, bald, monk-like Asian male that was the stereotype. But people have to have something to bit—.
Carl wears a cowboy hat every day. Like most third places, the comic book shop I visit is an independent, locally owned, small-scale establishment operated by people—in this case Steve, his partner Linda, and their sole employee James—who seem to know everyone in the neighborhood.
These third places bolster ties though communication, discourse and interaction. They help create shared localized meanings, shared responsibilities for safety and security and cultivate community commitments Herrmann, ; Jeffres et al.
She walks across the room, picks up an X-Men comic off the shelf, and shakes her head. Not only are people wasting their money on this crap, but the entire idea of mutants is anti-Christian! The woman throws the comic across the store and storms out. And that mutants stand in for all of us who feel different or ostracized. You know? Fans have reappropriated the term and are now happy to wear the term geek as a badge of honor. While we call ourselves geeks freely, we are reminded that here in the rural South we are sometimes still stigmatized, and that in some cultural milieus there is still a stigma attached to comics.
Yet, comics have been used as evangelistic tools for decades, and comic book numerous stories from the Bible come in comic book form Thielman, You cannot get new readers if every plotline is spastically threaded all across everything. While female customers are not as rare as seeing a penguin in New Jersey, in my six years as a patron I have noticed that the King Comics clientele fits this description. It is hegemonically masculine. Hegemonic masculinity is a continuing concern for organizational and business scholars Denker, ; Hunniecutt, ; Watson, It is well known that geeks are discursively positioned as a subordinated form of the masculine ideal De Visser, Outside of comic book texts proper, the masculinism of geek culture can be see online, in cosplaying, geek journalism and the GamerGate controversy Chess and Shaw, ; Kendall, ; Malone, ; Reagle, Unsurprisingly, like the entertainment industry in general, recent revelations confirm that a masculinist culture pervades not just comic books, but the comic book industry as well Baci, Unfortunately, television portrayals of geeks often contribute to the reification of geek masculinity Herrmann and Herbig, ; Salter and Blodgett, Due to the hegemonic masculinity of geek culture, I keep one of my favorite fandoms secret for years: Confession: I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer when it was on the air in the late s.
I never missed the show, and I was glued to my television when it was broadcast. I would sit in front of the television, with the lights off, and the shades closed, and watch the Chosen One and her Scooby Gang take on the forces of evil. It was funny, it was smart, and it completely captured my imagination.
I do not tell anyone about my Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom. I am an adult, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer is sometimes like a comic book: a little cheesy, a little campy, definitely off the beaten path.
From Twin Peaks to Kolchak to Alien to Army of Darkness, I have always loved horror and the weirdly supernatural in my popular culture consumption. Furthermore, I was interested in the metaphors, the discourse, and interpersonal relationships between Xander, Willow, Giles, and Buffy.
Finally, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a feminist series. Baglia, I stopped caring whether people knew how much I cared about the show, about my Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic collection, about my Buffy the Vampire Slayer action figures, my trips to conventions to meet Buffy the Vampire Slayer actors, or the rest of my Buffy the Vampire Slayer geekdom.
I discovered there was an entire subculture dedicated to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that the Whedon Studies Association existed, and that a lot of people smarter than I were doing academic research on the series. This, along with the realization that some of my academic friends also loved Buffy the Vampire Slayer, helped lift the stigma. It seems foolish now that I look back on it.
More women than ever before are letting their geek flags fly Day, Although the numbers are hotly contested, female comic heroes are strong sellers, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ms. Marvel, Jessica Jones and Wonder Woman. Moreover, female fans make up between 30 and 40 percent of all comic book readers and geek television and movie audience members Berlatsky, ; McNally, However, like tax cuts for the wealthy, this gender parity has not trickled down to our local comic book shop.
One reason is the material and physical layout of King Comics itself, which can be considered hegemonically masculine. Scholars established that the use of space is an important characteristic of study for organizational and ethnographic inquiry Warren, When I first walked into to King Comics, I was intimidated by the vast rows upon rows UPON ROWS of back issue comic books, shelves of new comics and graphic novels, and multiple display cases of collectibles, including comic-based toys, games and figurines.
As the largest comic book store in the region and with its high ceilings, it is cavernous. It is also dimly lit. Posters adorn almost every inch of the walls. The rare and expensive comics are behind glass cases or behind the counter, like old high school sports trophies.
There are stacks of back issue comics everywhere, so it looks cluttered and disorganized, even though those comics are boarded, bagged and sorted so they can eventually be filed in their proper places.
The shop looks and feels like an overgrown man cave, with almost all of the symbolic and rhetorical trappings of masculinity on display Moisio and Beruchashvili, The only items missing to make it a stereotypical man cave are a college football game on a gargantuan television, a nude centerfold on the wall and a cooler full of cold beer on ice.
Is it any wonder few female customers are drawn to this particular shop? Orme noted that women have to deal with dual stigmatization, not only as comic book fans, but as female comic book fans in a hegemonically male dominated culture.
And yet, paradoxically, I participate in those norms myself, through geek culture argot and rituals. I just got back in the mail. They graded it as a 5. You told me you thought it be graded a lot lower than that. For comic book collectors, conversations about grading and CGC are important and ritualistic, and those conversations occur often at King Comics. Furthermore, rituals are an important point of connection and kinship in third places.
The lines that form outside of comic shops on Free Comic Book Day can be considered such a ritual. I have something for you, Strange Doctor. It just came in. I throw myself into my car and head downtown. You are not going to believe it. I see the cover.
I blink twice. I cannot believe what my eyes are telling me. Steve smiles a big smile. I am Ahab. This is my white whale. Within this rare book from is the first appearance of Doctor Strange. Taking the comic, I pace around the store, examining the cover. Going over to a quiet corner, I gently pull the tape and slide the book from its bag.
I carefully open it, inspecting each of the pages. When I look up, Steve, James, Bobby, and a group of regulars are staring at me smiling. They each have had their own white whale experience. They each have had this big ridiculously stupid smile on their faces. They know exactly how I feel. Congratulations and handshakes all around. This is a comic book shop ritual that helps create community. An hour later, Joe—full-bearded and barrel-chested—saunters into the store. Joe lays out his comics.
I watch as he separates them, first by title, and then by comic book number. This ritual lets comic book collectors examine the comics, and assures them that there are no skipped issues. I want to be fair to him. Best guess. Steve pulls out his Overstreet Guide, and then hops onto Ebay, checking prices online.
A speculator is interested in making the most profit. Although collectors will make some profit, they are predominantly interested helping like-minded collectors enhance their sets. Communication as ritual is not necessarily about sending and receiving messages. Communication rituals construct and constitute the social world, including selves, relationships, cultural practices and organizations, expanding the notion that collective identities are created in part through the narratives participants themselves author Brown, ; Herrmann, These rituals maintain the long and rich traditions of community at comic book shops.
However, as noted, they can also support and reify hegemonic masculinity. Denouement and discussion As an organizational autoethnographer I recognize that all possible conclusions are localized and situational.
And of course autoethnographic research is inherently biased in certain ways, as the research itself is, in part, about the researcher. As such, rather than a conclusion, I present a denouement and discussion. I start with various barriers to entry created through language and communication, and then turn to dilemmas regarding the economics of collecting. Throughout, I present ideas King Comics and its customers could utilize to overcome various barriers to entry.
Lastly, I discuss autoethnography as an applied organizational research method. The communication and the rituals at King Comics create the cohesive atmosphere of a Ritual at the third place. Through our participation in these communal rituals, we continued our stories as collectors, the organizational story of King Comics, while also fitting ourselves into the larger cultural narrative of geekdom.
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Excellent Value! Available in Hardcover and Paperback Editions. Makes a perfect gift for the Comic Book collector in your life. About The Author Guy Naslund has published hundreds of books on a wide variety of topics. Thank You. Previous page. Print length.
