What’s going on here?

I like Astro City comics. By having just one person build the Astro City Universe over 25 years has given it a depth and cohesion lost with other titles that have had multiple creators passing through, changing stuff and then others changing stuff back. Many places and street names in Astro City are based on the names of old comicbook writers/artists which is a nice touch.

Anyway, I finally got round to reading my copy of Astro City 35 purchased in 2016. I read the first 7 pages. Then I realized the next 7 pages were identical to those first 7. Was this intentional or not? At page 15 the story continued for a further 7 pages. Then damn me but the last 7 pages of story in the comic repeated the 7 I had just read. I seemed to have half a comic but with technically the correct number of pages. I’m pretty sure I’d purchased that comic brand new at the time. The cover was flat and the staples in the middle were perfect and hadn’t been tampered with. Over the years I’ve had a handful of comics with double covers but in 50 plus years I’ve never seen half a comic get through production and out into the world in the shape this comic is in.

There was only one thing to do. Head over to eBay and buy another issue to see just what the real book was supposed to look like. Luckily one was available although at a slightly higher price than I’d usually pay for a second hand comic. Now I can compare and contrast to work out what exactly had gone wrong with my copy.

So, now I see what’s going on. Most current comics have a cover and 8 sheets folded and stapled in the middle to make 32 pages or 36 pages if you count the cover. My odd variant comic is missing the first 4 sheets but has the second 4 sheets twice instead. How on earth did this comic get out into the wild and into a comic shop? And is it unique or are there hundreds of this mis-pressing in circulation? In the old days before things went digital I’ve seen the odd case of a colour not printing correctly,or mis-alligned staples and sometimes comics sporting two covers but I have never ever seen a comic quite like this one before.

Waitin’ round to die

More Marvel Medallion-Coins

This comic was titled Amazing Stories of Suspense from issue No 3 until the end of the run apart from the times Alan reprinted the first two issues and couldn’t be bothered to correct the logo. Perish the thought that someone might get this comic mixed up with the other pence Suspense.

When I posted about these here last year I wondered how I had acquired one. I would have been unlikely to send money to the States in the mid 1970s even if I could have worked out how. I think I’ve found my answer within the covers of this Alan Class comic. Tales of Suspense 133 (and presumably the other Class comics published the same month) had adverts for the Medallion-Coins on the inside front and inside rear covers.

I’m sure I would have been far happier cutting an order form out of the back cover of an Alan Class comic than defacing a Marvel comic back then.

I wonder how many readers of an Alan Class comic in the mid 1970s would or could invest £10 to get a silver Medallion-Coin??

Was this the only time Alan Class comics contained an advert? There were ads for Encyclopedias in early 1960s issues but they were being sold by Alan himself. Sometimes the inside front and rear covers contained story but more often than not they were just left blank.

Veronica Yvette Bennett

Veronica Yvette Bennett 10/08/1943 – 12/01/2022

Their Army at War

I always liked these covers cleverly giving the effect that the comics were actually books. I’m surprised the concept hasn’t been used more often. Do you know of any other examples?