Golden Age of Comics October 29, 2006 - #46

In the 46th installment of the Golden Age of Comic Books Podcast, we discuss the Golden Age Frankenstein created by the great Dick Briefer for Crestwood Publications for their titles, Prize Comics and Frankenstein Comics between 1940 and 1954. The Golden Age comic book version of the Frankenstein Monster first got his start in Prize Comics #7 in December of 1940. The character started out as a terrible and destructive creature, causing death and destruction around the City of New York. Ultimately, the monster's creator, Victor Frankenstein, was phased out of the comics so a superhero character, Bulldog Denny could take his place and battle the Frankenstein monster. As WWII came to end, Crestwood changed its focus to humor mags, and Briefer followed suit, making Frankenstein a humorous feature starting in 1945. The "Merry Monster" got his own title, Frankenstein Comics in 1945. Crestwood stopped publishing the humorous Frankenstein stories with Prize Comics #68 and Frankenstein Comics #17 in 1949. With the rising popularity of horror comics in the early 1950's, Crestwood brought back the Frankenstein monster for more horror stories with Frankenstein Comics #18 in March of 1952. Briefer's monster rampaged through the pages of this magazine until it came to an end with issue #33 in October of 1954. If you are interested in reading more about the Golden Age Frankenstein by Briefer, check out Alter-Ego Magazine #41 (October, 2004) and The Monster of Frankenstein: Dick Briefer's 1950's Horror Classic by IMP Publications in 2006. In this edition, we also talk about the new Marvel Masterworks Atlas Era edition devoted to Tales of Suspense. As mentioned in the show, Michael Kelleher is responsible for some of the cover and art recreations in this book, and is auctioning some of his work to support the Hero Initiative. You can learn more about this November , 2006 auction at http://www.michaelkelleher.com. Happy Halloween! Enjoy the show! Golden Age of Comics Podcast #46 (Standard Mp3 - 35:17 - 16.3mb) Enhanced Golden Age of Comics Podcast #46 (M4A for iTunes - Coming Soon!) Golden Age of Comics Forum Topic for GAC #46

Golden Age of Comics October 8, 2006 - #45

In the 45th episode of the Golden Age of Comic Books Podcast, we talk about the Hangman who was created for MLJ Comics. The Hangman first appeared in Pep Comics #17 (July, 1941). He came into being after the death of The Comet, another MLJ Superhero who got his start in the pages of Pep Comics #1 (January, 1940). The Comet was the first superhero to die in the Golden Age of Comic Books. As the story goes, the Hangman's origin flows directly from the death of The Comet. At the end of the story the Hangman exclaims, "And now, I'll carry on his work! The Comet has died, but his spirit lives on...in the Hangman! Beware criminals, you cannot outrun your own conscience...nor escape the gallows!" You'll find all of the details in the podcast! You can find reprints of all of the Hangman stories at Goldcomics.com. I mention the new collected edition, Disney Comics: The Classic Collection. This hard cover edition (complete with plastic dust jacket) reprints the following stories from the pages of Four Color Comics: Four Color (1st series) #17 - "Dumbo the Flying Elephant" (1941) Four Color (2nd series) #12 - "Bambi" (1942) Four Color (2nd series) #49 - "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1944) Four Color (2nd series) #331 - "Alice in Wonderland" (1951) Four Color (2nd series) #446 - "Peter Pan" (1953) This is a great collection for the fan of Disney movie adaptations and movie related comic books from the Golden Age of Comics. We also have a Golden Age Market Report where we discuss the Davis Crippen "D" copy collection of 11,000 Golden Age comics from many genres. The collection was ammassed by Mr. Crippen and was provided to Heritage Comics Auctions this year for sale during its August 12, 2006 auction. Some of the notable sales: Detective Comics #31 - FN 5.5 - $17, 327.50 Detective Comics #33 (origin of Batman) - VG 4.0 - $7,767.50 Phantom Lady #17 - VF 8.0 - $8,092.50 Suspense Comics #3 (very rare) - VF 8.0 - $47,800 I hope you enjoy the show! Golden Age of Comics Podcast #45 (Standard MP3 - 14.7 mb - 32:51) Enhanced Golden Age of Comics Podcast #45 (M4A for iTunes - 17.4 mb - 32:51) GAC Forum Topic on Episode #45

GAC Guest Appearance on Komics Kast #41 - Ace: The Bat-Hound!

I was honored to have a guest appearance on Bruce Rosenberger's Komics Kast episode #41. Having heard Bruce's segment on the Silver Age Batwoman in Komics Kast #40, I told Bruce I would love to be on his show to talk about the Silver Age Bat-Hound. Bruce agreed and the rest is history! The Bat-Hound (Ace) made his first appearance in Batman #92 (June, 1955) at the very end of the Golden Age of Comics. He went on to have a total of 16 appearances in the pages of Batman, Detective Comics and World's Finest Comics. While not one of the main characters in the entire history of Batman, Ace was certainly an important sidekick of Batman and Robin during the early Silver Age. Here's a chronological listing of Ace's appearances in the Silver Age, including his last cameo appearance after the "new look" Batman began in 1964, and many of the 1950's elements of the Batman stories were abandoned. Batman 92 (June, 1955), "Ace, The Bat-Hound!" Batman 97 (February, 1956), "The Return of the Bat-Hound!" Batman 103 (October, 1956), "Bat-Hound, Movie Star!" (1st Silver Age Appearance) Detective Comics 254 (April, 1958), "One Ounce of Doom!" Batman 123 (April, 1959), "The Fugitive Batman!" Batman 125 (August, 1959), "The Secret Life of Bat-Hound!" Batman 130 (March, 1960), "The Master of Weapons!" Batman 131 (April, 1960), "The Dog that Betrayed Batman!" Batman 133 (August, 1960), "Batwoman's Publicity Agent!" Detective Comics 289 (January, 1961), "The Raven and the Wasp!" Batman 143 (October, 1961), "Bathound and the Creature!" Batman 152 (December, 1962), "Formula for Doom!" Detective Comics 318 (August, 1963), "The Cat-Man Strikes Back!" Batman 158 (September, 1963), "Ace: The Super Bat-Hound!" Batman 162 (March, 1964), "The Batman Creature!" World's Finest Comics 143 (August, 1964), "The Fued Between Superman and Batman!" Komics Kast Episode #41 (Standard MP3 - 15 MB - 32:31)