Odd Comics

There were no issues of Robot Comics produced by Renegade Press in 1987. Unless you count this Issue No 0. Which means one issue was published. So why didn’t they call it Issue No 1 ???

Charlton Bullseye appeared for 10 issues in the early 1980s and featured a very odd assortment of SF, Sword and Sorcery and Funny Animal strips. Early appearances of Arn Saba’s Neil the Horse and Bill Black’s Nightshade (soon to be seen in AC Comics) can be found in some issues.

There were 7 issues or 10 issues of the extremely adult Dr. Wirtham’s Comix & Stories depending on how you counted them. Issues 6, 8 and 10 were found by turning issues 5, 7 and 9 upside down !!!

If you subscribed to Giant Lois Lane Album there was a very long wait between each of the 14 issues. It appeared annually in Australia through the 1960s and early 1970s.

Charlton Comic Book Guide for the Artist-Writer-Letterer

This magazine from 1973 was an interesting concept. A “how to” manual with good solid advice on how to set out a script and basic advice on lettering and artwork. I’m sure Charlton, along with all the other comic book companies of the time received unsolicited submissions in biro/pencil/on the backs of cereal packets! This was a nice thing to hand out to people explaining that a good starting point was to produce something neat,clean and tidy. Useful advice included keeping a “swipe file” and “plenty of erasers”. I presume this magazine was sold at conventions as well as being available by mail order/with subscriptions.

This magazine was the first time I’d seen the Comic Book Code spelt out in its entirety.

The Old Robot

        

                    

                                   

                                                    

                                                                     

                                                   

From Charlton Comics Outer Space No 18 from August 1958.

The Final Charlton Comic?

Charlton Comics’ Professor Coffin 21 had a cover date of February 1986.Typical of Charlton’s strange numbering system it was only the third issue of the title. I’m sure it only contained reprints although they didn’t admit to it. They even seem to have lost the bar code !!

This must be one of the last..if not THE last comic Charlton ever issued. Unless YOU know otherwise?

Out of this World

Alan Class Comics’ UK science fiction anthology comic “Out of this World” ran for 23 issues in the mid 1960s. If you look the title up in the Grand Comics Database Cover Gallery they claim that issue No 1 came out in 1962. I believe it was later than that.. possibly 1964 or 1965. I bought these comics new off the spinner racks in 1966 and 1967. In fact I continued to buy similar Alan Class reprint comics with titles like “Suspense” and “Uncanny” until the company ceased publishing in 1989. ”Out of this World” consisted of 68 black and white pages for a Shilling. (That was 5p in pre-decimal money.) That was also the same price as a 36 page Marvel or DC comic…but the US comics did have the luxury of colour.

Matters are complicated by there being no date EVER on any Alan Class book. And without  the problems of a date on the cover there was always the possibility of repeat printings or even unsold warehouse stock appearing in the shops a few years after the original print runs. With Alan Class comics anything is possible.

You’d  think Alan would have reprinted the Charlton books in order using the Charlton covers, but no that would be too logical. These books contained a mixture of Charlton SF stuff, Captain Atom, Marvel monsters…even early adventures of the Mighty Thor with the covers often giving no clue to what was to be found inside.

For example what is most interesting about Alan Class Comics “Out of this World” No 17 is that it contains (for possibly the first time in the UK) a reprint of Spiderman’s Origin story from “Amazing Fantasy” 15.

Lets just enlarge that last panel. I wonder if Stan Lee and Steve Ditko realised quite what an impact Spiderman would have. Still, its a powerful line for a then obscure story in an obscure “Fantasy” Comic Book.
     “With great power there must also come – - great responsibility!”                            A few Politicians should heed that!

Postscript. There was a second series of “Out of this World” that ran for 10 issues. The GCD have definitely got their dates mixed up here. They have No 1 being published in 1964 and yet the cover clearly shows a price of 20p. That places the comic AFTER 1971 when decimal currency began. I think 1974 is more likely the correct date for these.

Alan Class Comics

Alan Class produced a range of black and white comics in the UK from 1961 to 1989..ish. I can’t be precise because Alan never put any date on any comic. All the comics were pretty much interchangeable despite the different titles like Astounding, Uncanny, Sinister Tales or Creepy Worlds. The contents were a mixture of 1950s and 1960s SF anthology material from the USA. This varied from ACG, Charlton, Atlas-era Marvel and sometimes Marvel Superheroes like early FF and Spiderman all mixed up without any continuity whatsoever. By the early 1970s Alan had used all the material in his posession and so just shuffled all the stories up and carried on publishing his magazines with reprints of reprints until slow sales and distribution problems ended the line in the late 1980s.

Here is Creepy Worlds 40 from the 1960s. The price throughout the 1960s was One Shilling for 68 pages. Note how Alan has invented his own version of a Comics Code stamp where he approves his own comic!! 

By Creepy Worlds 152 the material was coming around again. The price has increased to 10p placing this issue somewhere in the mid 1970s. Alan had removed the word “new” from the cover and evidently thought twice about his “approved” endorsement.

Four or five years later we have reached issue 186 and Alan evidently assumed his readers had forgotten the earlier issues and the same magazine re-appeared, now costing 20p.  

When these magazines were current very few comic fans seemed to bother to collect them. Now, in hindsight they are often the only place to read reprints from issues of ACG’s “Adventures into the Unknown”, early 1960s Charlton stuff and pre-monster Marvel/Atlas material from the likes of ”Marvel Tales”, “Journey into Mystery” and “Strange Tales”. Often very early 1950s “pre-code” stories from Atlas comics like “Mystery Tales” and “Uncanny Tales” would appear. My advice then is that if you see an Alan Class comic going cheap (and they usually do) then buy it..

For completeness here is Charlton’s Unusual Tales 29. It appears that here in the UK we had a far greater chance of reading this early 1960s Charlton material right through the 1960s and into the 1980s than comic buyers in the States !!! 

 

Here is the cover from Creepy Worlds 245 from the 1980s. Note how Alan Class has used the cover from Charlton’s Out of this World 1 from 1956. Not wanting to waste a word for one issue only the title changes from “Creepy Worlds” to “Creepy World” !!

This is the back page from Astounding Stories 115. It seems that Alan Class is advertising for back issues of his own magazines!! The address is certainly the same. Perhaps he needed them to copy so he could re-issue them once more?? I wonder if he still has a collection of pre-war UK comics? I am aware that in 2007 Alan put his file copies up for sale at 30th Century Comics in London. There are sill some issues currently available.