Collected Comic Strip books

[InfoBroker]

This query I'm throwing mainly in the Historian's directions, but I'll gladly take answers and discussion from others.

In the 1994-95 timeframe, due to real-life things, I was disjointed from comic publishing at the time. But just prior to that, I was buying several ongoing series that were collecting some very very classic comics strips.

I have a very solid run of Popeye and Prince Valiant from Fantagraphics, and a good start on the Tarzan books of NBM.

Eclipse and Fantagraphics also began reprinting Pogo strips. Eclipse doing the comic books, and Fantagraphics doing the Star and King Features comic strips.

I'm curious as to how far all of these got before being cancelled. Also wouldn't mind pointers to places that might still be offering them at reasonable prices.

Thanks for any and all information.

-jb the "reading his Pogos this evening" ib

[jam]

can I just chip in here and repeat my wish that more comic strips would be collected into books!

Books that I can get my hands on over here in the UK!

I discovered the Popeye reprints late on in their run and so only managed to get the last two or three -- enjoyed them very much indeed.

I'd like to see more of the old classics available in this form.

I do buy new collections when I can get my hands on them : things like "Get Fuzzy".

On a personal note, I'd like to see collections of Stan Lee's "Spider-Man" strip, and also, from the time when "Star Trek : The Motion Picture" was out, the Thomas Waktarin (excuse me if I've spelt that name wrong) strip.

[Slam_Bradley]

can I just chip in here and repeat my wish that more comic strips would be collected into books!

Books that I can get my hands on over here in the UK!

I discovered the Popeye reprints late on in their run and so only managed to get the last two or three -- enjoyed them very much indeed.

I'd like to see more of the old classics available in this form.

Check out Checker Books. I have their first volume of Steve Canyon (1947 strips) and it's very well done. As of this date they have three Canyon volumes 1947-49. They've also put out two volumes of Alex Raymond's "Flash Gordon" and three volumes of Max Collins and Rick Fletcher's "Dick Tracy.

Checker Publishing

[jam]

Check out Checker Books. I have their first volume of Steve Canyon (1947 strips) and it's very well done. As of this date they have three Canyon volumes 1947-49. They've also put out two volumes of Alex Raymond's "Flash Gordon" and three volumes of Max Collins and Rick Fletcher's "Dick Tracy.

Checker Publishing

Yeah, I'm aware of Checker's output. I got the first "Dick Tracy" but -- I'm sorry to say -- it didn't do much for me so I never followed it up. "Steve Canyon" I am vaguely aware of; I guess I should be interested in "Flash Gordon".

I am buying their "Star Trek" Key Collections -- not really newspaper comic strips, sure, but very much appreciated nonetheless.

[Cei-U!]

There were four volumes of the Eclipse "Pogo" comic books and eleven of the Fantagraphics strip collections. Fantagraphics is going to be issuing Pogo in the same format as their "Peanuts" series. I don't know if they're starting over or picking up where Vol. 11 left off. The Fantagraphics "Thimble Theatre" set also ran eleven volumes. The first three collect all the Segar Sunday pages, the rest cover the daily strip. I don't know the volume count for the "Prince Valiant" books but there are a *lot* of them.

And if you find someplace I can pick up the color Popeye collections without signing away my firstborn, let me know. I wants 'em.

Cei-U!
I summon the arf arf arf!

[TheHistorian]

This query I'm throwing mainly in the Historian's directions, but I'll gladly take answers and discussion from others.

Glad to help.


Cei-U got more right than wrong. I'll clean up the bits and pieces.

Prince Valiant - 50 volumes. Color softcovers. The first forty cover the period where Foster was doing everything (toward the end with some help), and the last ten the period where he was only writing. There was a nice slipcase issued to house thm - each holds ten volumes. Series is complete as planned. The hardest volumes to get are (roughly) 1-9 and 34-40. There's some wiggle in there (2 is readily available, for example). The low numbers have been out of print the longest, and the last volumes of Foster's main run either sold very well or were printed short (or both), because the series was originally supposed to end after volume 40. I don't think the slipcase is readily available either.

Popeye/Thimble Theatre - 11 volumes. Black & White. The first four reprint Sundays, and the other seven dailies. Series is complete as planned. All volumes except the last two are hard to find. The Sundays command more money than the dailies, and the hardcovers more than the softcovers. Even though it is only eleven volumes, I'd rank this as one of the harder sets to complete at this point (Wash Tubbs would probably be out and out tougher, but each volume could probably be had for less - people love Segar).

Tarzan - 19 volumes (numbered 1-18 and 15B). Color (15B is B&W) hardcovers. Series is complete as planned. The first five (and part of 6) reprint the Foster Sundays, and the rest Hogarth era (15B is Rubimor). The hardest volumes to find are the later ones (15 up), as I'm almost certain that print runs were cut to come closer to demand. There are limited signed (by Hogarth) editions of volumes 6-18. There are two softcovers as well, each reprinting two of the original hardcovers.

Pogo (strips) - 11 volumes. Black & White softcovers. Series incomplete and unlikely to continue in this format. Run covers strips into early 1954. All volumes fairly hard to find.

Pogo (comics) - 4 volumes. Color. Series incomplete. Run covers up to Animal Comics 20. Softcovers not too hard to find. Hardcovers stupidly hard to find (even I don't have them all).

Fantagraphics is going to be issuing Pogo in the same format as their "Peanuts" series. I don't know if they're starting over or picking up where Vol. 11 left off.

And if you find someplace I can pick up the color Popeye collections without signing away my firstborn, let me know. I wants 'em.

Pogo is not confirmed, at least to my knowledge. Suggested/want to/maybe is the last I recall. I could certainly be forgetting from some bit of a message in the TCJ forums though. I'm sure they'd start from the beginning though.

Color Popeye? Don't know what you're referring to there.


Where to shop? I can recommend a few places, but all in all it's a lot of luck involved. Print runs for everything in this niche of the industry are small - a few thousand for most items. I managed to build a strong collection because I was doing it at least five years ago, when there was very little market for this stuff (and shoppin in the era before eBay was a force kept prices down - people didn't think they'd finish sets) and more importantly, got really lucky a couple times just stumbling into the right store at the right time. Visiting that store fifty miles away paid off many times - dusty books sitting on the shelves for many years.

So, the people I'd check with are:

Bud Plant (and companion site Bud Plant Illustrated Books)
Ken Pierce
Stuart Ng
and of course eBay

As for reasonable prices... well I hope you already have the tough volumes.


If I can ever get some money together (i.e. be employed again) I am planning to get a site going dedicated to all this kind of information. I've got the knowledge; no reason to keep it to myself.

[Cei-U!]

Color Popeye? Don't know what you're referring to there.

The first four (thanks for the correction, apparently I can't read the spines of the books on my bookshelves from my desk) Fantagraphics volumes is what I was referring to. I have all the dailies.

Cei-U!
I summon the polychromatic effulgence!

[TheHistorian]

Those Sunday reprints are in black and white too.

[Cei-U!]

Those Sunday reprints are in black and white too.

Ah ha! Never having seen one, I didn't know that. I just assumed, with the usual results.

Cei-U!
Wiser now!

[Rob Imes]

Speaking of comic strip reprint volumes, there was a bargain available on a cool Yellow Kid hardcover through the Previews catalog recently. Here was the solicitation in the February catalog:

YELLOW KID HC by Richard Outcault
Sale! Was $39.95. America’s first wildly popular comic strip is reprinted here in its original color – for the first time in 100 years. In 1895 Outcault began drawing Hogan’s Alley, about a bald-headed kid named Mickey Dugan who wore a yellow nightshirt, and New Yorkers named him the Yellow Kid. Contains all his adventures from Little Nemo-like inventiveness to political barbs. Kitchen Sink, 1995.
HC, 9x12, 302pgs, PC
MSRP: $14.99

When it arrived in my shop a few weeks ago (along with a sale on an Alex Toth book, also a bargain) I noticed the original printed price on the book was like $55.00! But I got it for $14.99 -- actually, 30% off of that, too, since my shop gives a 30% discount on new releases!

The book itself is fascinating, a great read, and seemingly reprints every single Outcault strip featuring the Yellow Kid, most of them in color. It was interesting to read about how the Kid was such a short-lived character and yet made such a huge impact. The strip was only around for like 4 years if that. And curiously both Outcault, and his copycat at his previous newspaper where he'd done the Kid, both dropped the strip around the same time in 1898. If you are interested in the turn of the century period, this is a good book to get.

[Deathstroke]

I like how they collect the For Better Or For Worse strips in a rather timely fashion.

I think there are 18 or 19 volumes of the regular strip, retrospectives, and specialty books.

[TheHistorian]

People buy what they know. Collections of For Better Or For Worse, Garfield, and Dilbert are going to sell better than collections of King Aroo, Barnaby, and Sam's Strip, regardless of how wonderful the cognoscenti declare them to be.

[Aaron Kashtan]

People buy what they know. Collections of For Better Or For Worse, Garfield, and Dilbert are going to sell better than collections of King Aroo, Barnaby, and Sam's Strip, regardless of how wonderful the cognoscenti declare them to be.

First, just to reveal my ignorance, what's Sam's Strip?

Second, For Better or for Worse isn't in the same category as Garfield and Dilbert. It's well-drawn, at least compared to most contemporary strips, and deeply heartfelt. It's a labor of love and it probably couldn't be translated verbatim into any other medium, whereas most Dilbert strips would work just as well without any pictures. For Better or for Worse has been compared to Gasoline Alley, and I think that comparison makes sense.

[InfoBroker]

A quick google netted this sample, I'm sure ther are better ones.

If you ever come across any of the Menomonee Falls Guardians, Sam's strip was part of their then current repetoire. I loved having a weekly that collected a large segment of current strips, along with a strong sampling of historical classics, in one easy to digest format.

jb the "still red-faced from mixing up the Historians real non-de-plume" ib

[InfoBroker]

Wow Ken Peirce is still doing business. That is great! I think the first stuff I bought from Ken was from ads in the Menomonee Falls Gazette and Guardian, interestingly enough.

I think I did pretty good on Popeye, but my Prince Valaints trail out fast in their closing period. I.E. the stuff after 34 or so. I know I've got 27 and the handful after that, because If I remember right, they actually started there when they began publication. I thought that was a great idea, because a lot of the earlier Valiant material had been reprinted in many places (mostly European).


Has annyone ever come across any collected works of Red Barry and the Terrific Trio by Wil Gould? Graphic Story Magazine did a issue almost totally devoted to that strip, and interviewed Wil extenisvely. It was a tremendous insight into 1930s depression ara America, and the status that comic strips had in those days. The Gazette ran a small segment of material, but I always wanted to read more about the stories discussed in the interview, especially the prison on execution row sequence.

I see Ken has some Tarzan's... there's goes my tax return.

-jb the spend thrift ib