Today’s comic from The Stack is Calling All Kids #26 (August 1949), the final issue of the series published by Parents’ Magazine Press. And good riddance too. The artwork, while not terrible, was second-rate, as were the stories, which seem to have been aimed at very young readers.
You've reminded me of a comic I used to get as a kid, which was only available through a single outlet: Catholic elementary schools. I present to you... the Treasure Chest!
Unknown artist for the above cover; the artists didn't always sign their art, and the archive I'm searching doesn't have a comprehensive list.
TC was an all-ages comic, more or less, and a true anthology in that it featured stories and strips that could be aimed at first graders, followed by stories for much older (eigth graders and Jr High) readers. It was published between 1946 and the early-to-mid 70's, was only available through the parochial schools, on a bi-weekly schedule throughout the school year.
Cover by Rembrandt. Seriously; what other comic could boast that?
There was a lot of emphasis on religion (stories about Christ, his parables, biblical figures, etc, as well as features on current day religious interests) and what we'd today call family values, but there were ordinary fun comics as well, including regular adventure features like Chuck White, Reporter and the occasional comic serial like Henrietta, The Flying Flivver. (One of my favorites, and it appeared before the classic Fred McMurray Absent-Minded Professor movie.)
Cover by Frank Borth. (Alas, it's a wrap-around, and the gag makes no sense unless you can see the back cover, which I have no access to.)
While most of the writers and artists were pretty much house artists, there were several outside pros who did assignments from time to time, like Dick Giordano and Joe Sinnott. Sinnott, in fact, drew a serial adventure in the mid-60's about a newly elected president taking office and facing a team of assassins intensely dedicated to his murder -- an interesting little tale that only took on a real significance when you reached the final chapter and discovered for the first time that the new President was black, a detail carefully withheld by clever staging throughout the story.
This is the cover of Treasure Chest with the first chapter of the "Pettigrew For President" story, which predicted the first black US President being elected in 1976. Well, they were only off by three decades...
Unknown artist for the above cover; the artists didn't always sign their art, and the archive I'm searching doesn't have a comprehensive list.
That’s Paul Eismann. I don't know much about him other than he did a lot of work for Treasure Chest.
Other comic book greats that contributed to Treasure Chest included Murphy Anderson, Bernard Baily, Reed Crandall, Graham Ingels, Jim Mooney, and Joe Orlando.
I bought a stack of mostly golden age stuff online in the mid-90s that had a few Treasure Chests in the mix. I never got around to reading them, as I started moving around the country shortly after. Didn't know about the Catholic school angle!
I bought a stack of mostly golden age stuff online in the mid-90s that had a few Treasure Chests in the mix. I never got around to reading them, as I started moving around the country shortly after. Didn't know about the Catholic school angle!
Yeah, and in the 60's it put some of us young comic book readers in a bit of a bind. In my case, specifically, I had parents that outright banned comic books of all stripes in our house because of the whole Frederic Wertham fol-de-rol of the previous decade, and at school we had the Church encouraging us to buy Church-approved comics. (My folks used to dither about allowing us harmless cartoon books, but eventually decided the simpler course was an across-the-board ban.)
TC cost a dime a copy for a few years longer than the mainstream books, but at my school, at least, we had to buy them by semester subscription. Once in a while there would be extra copies that they would put on a shelf for any interested party during lunch and recess, which is how I read most of my copies.
Other comic book greats that contributed to Treasure Chest included Murphy Anderson, Bernard Baily, Reed Crandall, Graham Ingels, Jim Mooney, and Joe Orlando.
Yeah, I knew about some of the others, especially Crandall who seemed to do a lot of work for TC.
I didn't know about Ingels, though; his presence seems somehow ironic...
Other comic book greats that contributed to Treasure Chest included Murphy Anderson, Bernard Baily, Reed Crandall, Graham Ingels, Jim Mooney, and Joe Orlando.
Yeah, I knew about some of the others, especially Crandall who seemed to do a lot of work for TC.
I didn't know about Ingels, though; his presence seems somehow ironic...
In honor of Halloween, here’s the cover of one of my first comics, DC’s Limited Collectors’ Edition (Presents Ghosts) #32. This was the tenth tabloid-sized treasury edition in the series, and my first of several to come. I'm not exactly sure when I got it, but it must have been close to Halloween in 1974. I do remember that I got it as something to keep me busy while my parents were visiting at another couple’s house, and we watched the Planet of the Apes TV show that night. That show only aired from September to December of 1974, so it was sometime in there anyway. (I loved that show by the way, and I ended up with six of the Mego PotA figures.)
Anyway, it has a great cover by Nick Cardy, and ten stories—all reprinted from the first six issues of Ghosts—including one by Jim Aparo—who, if he wasn't already, would soon be my favorite artist. (Yes, I always paid attention to the credits, even back then.) I no longer have the book; being oversized it got beat up pretty quickly and eventually fell apart from being handled and read so much. But how cool were my parents to get that for me when I was only four years old?
@nweathington I recognise that cover from this issue of Back Issue which I picked up in London's Orbital comics yesterday
Bernie Wrightson of course
@Caliban, Cool! I haven't had time to do more than flip through that issue. I fell way behind on Back Issue once I stopped proofreading it. I assume it was in John Wells’ article on Ghosts. I'll have to dig it out of the stack.
Today’s comic from The Stack is Four Color #715 (August 1956). Though the cover is signed to Howard Sparber, Sparber has stated he did no work on the comic books based on the Timmy newspaper strip he drew, first as a weekly in Collier’s magazine, then for the Chicago Tribune syndicate from 1948-59.
I’d never seen Sparber’s work, so I dug around, and from what I found, he definitely did not draw this cover. Sparber’s inking is much finer and flatter (less thick-and-thin linework) than what was done for this cover. Whoever drew the cover (which looks similar to a lot of Dell humor work) didn’t bother staying very true to Sparber’s designs, but the characters are recognizable at least.
Unfortunately, my copy is missing the cover, as well as several pages. The interior artwork, far from Sparber as it is, appears to have been done by the cover artist, and is quite good, and the stories are fun, as Timmy and his little brother get into all sorts of devilish trouble.
I just read Unwritten #41 yesterday, and I was struck by the cover. Not so much the artwork itself, but the concept. The yellow tape surrounding the house (especially this specific house) is indicative of a crime scene (very telling of the story inside), and the words on the yellow tape are taken from Richie Savoy’s dialogue in the issue, implying his words are those of warning. I continue to be impressed by this series and its exploration of storytelling. Here's the cover without the logo, etc.:
In honor of Halloween, here’s the cover of one of my first comics, DC’s Limited Collectors’ Edition (Presents Ghosts) #32. This was the tenth tabloid-sized treasury edition in the series, and my first of several to come. I'm not exactly sure when I got it, but it must have been close to Halloween in 1974. I do remember that I got it as something to keep me busy while my parents were visiting at another couple’s house, and we watched the Planet of the Apes TV show that night. That show only aired from September to December of 1974, so it was sometime in there anyway. (I loved that show by the way, and I ended up with six of the Mego PotA figures.)
Anyway, it has a great cover by Nick Cardy, and ten stories—all reprinted from the first six issues of Ghosts—including one by Jim Aparo—who, if he wasn't already, would soon be my favorite artist. (Yes, I always paid attention to the credits, even back then.) I no longer have the book; being oversized it got beat up pretty quickly and eventually fell apart from being handled and read so much. But how cool were my parents to get that for me when I was only four years old?
I always wanted this one, but have never owned it! I think I saw it in DC cross-ads at the time or just after. Of course, I was drawn to the Nick Cardy cover.
I lived for PotA in the 70's...and have been really enjoying the BOOM! Studios books recently.
Your posts have been fantastic, as always, @nweathington. Between you and @Chuck_Melville and all the awesome regulars here, it's like a class in comic book covers, artists, and history.
Comments
Unknown artist for the above cover; the artists didn't always sign their art, and the archive I'm searching doesn't have a comprehensive list.
TC was an all-ages comic, more or less, and a true anthology in that it featured stories and strips that could be aimed at first graders, followed by stories for much older (eigth graders and Jr High) readers. It was published between 1946 and the early-to-mid 70's, was only available through the parochial schools, on a bi-weekly schedule throughout the school year.
Cover by Rembrandt. Seriously; what other comic could boast that?
There was a lot of emphasis on religion (stories about Christ, his parables, biblical figures, etc, as well as features on current day religious interests) and what we'd today call family values, but there were ordinary fun comics as well, including regular adventure features like Chuck White, Reporter and the occasional comic serial like Henrietta, The Flying Flivver. (One of my favorites, and it appeared before the classic Fred McMurray Absent-Minded Professor movie.)
Cover by Frank Borth. (Alas, it's a wrap-around, and the gag makes no sense unless you can see the back cover, which I have no access to.)
While most of the writers and artists were pretty much house artists, there were several outside pros who did assignments from time to time, like Dick Giordano and Joe Sinnott. Sinnott, in fact, drew a serial adventure in the mid-60's about a newly elected president taking office and facing a team of assassins intensely dedicated to his murder -- an interesting little tale that only took on a real significance when you reached the final chapter and discovered for the first time that the new President was black, a detail carefully withheld by clever staging throughout the story.
This is the cover of Treasure Chest with the first chapter of the "Pettigrew For President" story, which predicted the first black US President being elected in 1976. Well, they were only off by three decades...
Other comic book greats that contributed to Treasure Chest included Murphy Anderson, Bernard Baily, Reed Crandall, Graham Ingels, Jim Mooney, and Joe Orlando.
TC cost a dime a copy for a few years longer than the mainstream books, but at my school, at least, we had to buy them by semester subscription. Once in a while there would be extra copies that they would put on a shelf for any interested party during lunch and recess, which is how I read most of my copies.
I didn't know about Ingels, though; his presence seems somehow ironic...
The Simping Detective is in the prog at the moment in one of the best OMG stories in recent 2000AD history
David Ammerman
George Cox III
James Dean Pascoe
Took 3 PEOPLE to do this cover.
Chap Yaep
Si Spurrier and Simon Coleby
Oh it could be worse,have you ever seen anything from Dagger Comics?
Garrett Berner
Adam Pollina
Bobby Rae
Anyway, it has a great cover by Nick Cardy, and ten stories—all reprinted from the first six issues of Ghosts—including one by Jim Aparo—who, if he wasn't already, would soon be my favorite artist. (Yes, I always paid attention to the credits, even back then.) I no longer have the book; being oversized it got beat up pretty quickly and eventually fell apart from being handled and read so much. But how cool were my parents to get that for me when I was only four years old?
I recognise that cover from this issue of Back Issue which I picked up in London's Orbital comics yesterday
Bernie Wrightson of course
I’d never seen Sparber’s work, so I dug around, and from what I found, he definitely did not draw this cover. Sparber’s inking is much finer and flatter (less thick-and-thin linework) than what was done for this cover. Whoever drew the cover (which looks similar to a lot of Dell humor work) didn’t bother staying very true to Sparber’s designs, but the characters are recognizable at least.
Unfortunately, my copy is missing the cover, as well as several pages. The interior artwork, far from Sparber as it is, appears to have been done by the cover artist, and is quite good, and the stories are fun, as Timmy and his little brother get into all sorts of devilish trouble.
Daniel Brereton
I lived for PotA in the 70's...and have been really enjoying the BOOM! Studios books recently.
Your posts have been fantastic, as always, @nweathington. Between you and @Chuck_Melville and all the awesome regulars here, it's like a class in comic book covers, artists, and history.