Little LuLu fans...question

[Adric]

I just discovered I love John Stanley's Little LuLu. I was always a big Carl Barks fan so it isn't too surprising this would grab me. And I'm not much into superheros...I like the silly ones....Plastic Man, Captain Marvel, Spiderman when he had all those smart remarks...

But here's the question. I always see the little lulu library box sets 3,5 and 6.....why are 1,2 and 4 so hard to come by? I guess I can get the Dark Horse reprints, but the quality of the slipcase sets is just too tempting!

Anyway, I welcome any banter about Lulu,

take it easy,

Adric

[Hintermann]

The only "Little Lulu" that I know is the character created by 'Marge' with her heydey in the 1950s & 60s. I have quite a few Dell / Gold Key comics of Little Lulu from that period. Is yours a different character?

It is intersting to know that you are a Carl Barks fan. So am I. Do you subscribe to the current Gemstone Disney comics?

[TheHistorian]

The slipcased sets were published in reverse order - 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. It should be pretty obvious that the print runs would decrease, as they figured out how many they were selling. I don't know why 4 is tough to find.

Prices have really dropped on these (expectable), but I think you'd still be looking at almost $1000 to put the set together... or you could go the easy route and just buy the DH volumes.

[T GUy]

The only "Little Lulu" that I know is the character created by 'Marge' with her heydey in the 1950s & 60s. I have quite a few Dell / Gold Key comics of Little Lulu from that period. Is yours a different character?


It's the same character, and the same series of comics produced by Western Publishing, who also were responsible for the Carl Barks duck comics that some may know as Walt Disney's ducks. :)

John Stanley also wrote Dell's Ghost Stories in the 'sixties. It's just occurred to me that this meant a shift in publisher from Western to Dell... hmmm... did any other creators do this?

[Hintermann]

John Stanley also wrote Dell's Ghost Stories in the 'sixties. It's just occurred to me that this meant a shift in publisher from Western to Dell... hmmm... did any other creators do this?

I have an absolutely massive collection of Silver Age comics from Dell and Gold Key. As far as I can understand it, Dell published many titles including Disney, Warner, MGM and others from the 1940s (the '4-color' comics) to the early 1960s. Gold Key took over from Oct-Nov 1962 and carried on till 1980 before handing the reigns to Whitman for another 5 years or so. Gold Key's heydey was between 1962 & 1967 when they published a huge range of titles in the same tradition as Dell. But by 1968, the rising paper costs and changing tastes started to affect the comics industry. That's why the later Gold Key & Whitman titles are so mediocre. By 1985, all of them had wound up.

Western Publishing Company based in Pougheepsie, NY, was the parent company for Gold Key. It appears that the handover from Dell to Western / Gold Key was a gradual one; some of the comics published under the Dell banner in the very early 60s quote Western as the parent company, though the actual Gold Key banner did not appear till late 1962.

But Dell appears to have reatained control of a few titles till almost 10 years after the Western handover. "Ghost Stories" comics are certainly among those, because I have Dell Ghost Stories comics published as late as 1971.

[T GUy]

Hintermann: As far as I can understand it, Dell published many titles including Disney, Warner, MGM and others from the 1940s (the '4-color' comics) to the early 1960s. Gold Key took over from Oct-Nov 1962 and carried on till 1980 before handing the reigns to Whitman for another 5 years or so.

I was going to explain this - at least as far as I understood -it - but then remembered this:

http://www.povonline.com/iaq/IAQ07.htm

Mark Evanier explains Dell, Gold Key, Whitman, Western Printing and Lithography, et cetera.

[Lone Ranger]

I am also a latecomer to the Little Lulu bandwagon.

It is pretty much the only title that my wife and I equally enjoy. We own quite a few of the original Dell issues, as well as some Tubby issues.

I have noticed the Hardcover collections on eBay, but the price is just too steep for my blood. I don't recall which issues I've seen, but I think they generally have starting bids of $80 or so.

For me, the Dark Horse volumes are the perfect solution. The are very affordable, have a good selection of stories and are a great size.

I think we own 6 volumes of the Dark Horse books - it's a bit wonky since we bought the first 3 or 4 before they started numbering them, and the numbering does not reflect the publication sequence.

I don't know why some of those Library sets are so hard to find, but if I had to blame someone, it would be Mr. Moppet.