On Gathering British Golden Age Material

 

 Thrill Comics no. 1, April, 1940. Does it exist? Well, yes but you might not think so if you looked for information.  William A. Ward's character The Bat appeared in that first issue and a later later edition of Extra Fun in 1940 -paper regulations and rationing was causing more than a few problems.

 I do wonder how many copies of annuals/albums saw print since most are basically published issues bound together so...unsold copies?

Anyway, let me tell you a story about cooperation amongst comic 'fans'.  In the late 1990s and early 200s I found my own books and scans supplemented by scans sent by an American who belonged to one of my Yahoo groups. I had two British comic collectors add a couple issues but they insisted that they did not want to be named although I did thank them using their online names later.

That was it. From 2002-2025 not a single person has helped to get old characters and strips back into print so that they are not forgotten. No money involved of course since the books hardly sell and I treat them as labours of love.

I managed to have a late friend scan the special issue of Back From The Dead (appearing in parts in War Comics (1940) and Topical Funnies (1941) before being compiled in whole in Picture Epics (1952).  My friend's scans were not up to much, or so I thought.  

I managed to find two other people who scanned their copies and....they matched up perfectly, ink fades and defects exactly the same as the copies my friend had sent. If each had scanned their own copies of  Back From The Dead then how could that be? As I got to know even more about the period I realised that it was down to rationing and cheap ink and paper and cut price printing.  Some of the defects in Swan comics also appear in the same strip in the annuals and clearly show that Swan was not wasting a penny and bound non selling issues made a good album -new money for old rope so it goes.

Recently I was sent a scan of a Dene Vernon strip -in fact the first Dene Vernon strip from Thrill Comics no.1, April, 1940 (the series ran from 1940-1946) but this one came from Weird Story Magazine no. 1, August, 1940 Dave Brzeski for that!  I thought this would be great as my copy of the strip was not great, however, after looking at the copy from WSM I found that apart from the small differences the quality was the same. This appears to have been another example of Swan needing "filler pages" and adding the Vernon story.

I have searched for...let's say a "very long time"..a copy of the first appearance of Krakos the Egyptian from New Funnies Autumn Special (1940) and then the series from Thrill Comics 1941-1946 but no luck. Denis Gifford would never slap a book on a scanner but he had a copy of the first issue with Krakos in and was selling it for £5 (he sold a lot via his Association of Comic Enthusiasts -ACE). Sadly, he passed away before I could buy. I do know that several ACE members had copies and Denis had sent me their details. Not one was willing to scan or sell when I later asked. 

The same thing happened when I tried to find the first appearance of William A. Ward's The Bat from Thrill Comics no. 1, April, 1940 -he took a quick jump over to Extra Fun!  No one was willing to scan or sell a copy and there were various excuses such as a scan making their comic less valuable (I hate to say it but a scan of a comic is not going to devalue an actual hard copy!).

Having just seen prices being asked by some sellers fro Swan comics -£250, £500 for an eight page comic????- I don't think I could afford  even a later issue currently going for £98 and that for 8 pages. 

I have spent a lot of money to date and I just wish there were people out there that interested in British Golden Age comics but there just are not. Speculators have latched on to Swan simply because they have heard the name and think that there is a burgeoning market for the books.

Cooperation over just the last 25 years has been near absent which is a pity as more and more old comic fans pass on and their collections and memories are lost.