posted April 19, 2003 08:50 AM               

And it occurred to me: could/would DC consider doing Archives for stuff like Terry and the Pirates, Steve Canyon, Little Orphan Annie, Popeye, Li'l Abner, Krazy Kat, Wash Tubbs, Flash Gordon... you get the idea.

Yes, some of these projects have been done by other companies, but all of them eventually collapsed or had fairly poor reproduction.

DC is in a unique position to bring these works to the public in a durable, high-profile format.

Is this something that DC would consider? Is this something that fans would support?

I'll go out on a limb and say that comic strips were far superior to comic books in the Golden Age.

posted April 19, 2003 12:11 PM               

Some things, like the Raymond run on Flash Gordon , or Little Nemo, or the Foster and Hogarth Tarzans, or the Foster Price Valiant, have been done, and done pretty well, recently enough that it's almost certainly too soon to do it again. Indeed, the Prince Valiants are mostly still in print from Fantagraphics, and Little Nemo from Taschen in a huge, fairly cheap hardcover.

posted April 19, 2003 01:44 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by James Friel:
But I think there's room in the world for a good sharp clear set of Terry & the Pirates dailies.

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Oh, yes! I was very disappointed when the Remco/Kitchen Sink series "The Complete Color Terry and the Pirates by Milton Caniff - Sundays and Dailies Complete" bit the dust after 2 volumes.

I thought the NBM series was adequate for the dailies but not for the Sundays of course.

Jim Davis

posted April 19, 2003 02:34 PM               

Buz Sawyer -- I'd kill for this one. I have some reprints that were done by Dragon Lady Press back in the 80's and it was truly terrific stuff.

Prince Valiant -- Agreed that Fantagraphics has done an okay job. Still, certain volumes have been out of print for a very long time and don't look like they are coming out any time soon. I have doubts that Fantagraphics will ever keep the entire run in print.

Pogo -- Another wonderful series that died an untimely death. Again, Fantagraphics wasn't able to sustain this feature. Little Orphan Annie stumbled at 5 volumes, which was also a shame.

There are so many, some of which have been listed.

I'd really like DC to consider at least some of the strips mentioned. It's really something that could maybe draw in fans that never read some of this material.

Is there anyone at DC that we could contact to ask these questions, or are these boards monitored by DC personnel?

posted April 19, 2003 03:11 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by James Friel:
I'd support it. I'm a strips fan of long standing--I've even got a near-complete run of The Menomonee Falls Gazette.

Some things, like the Raymond run on Flash Gordon , or Little Nemo, or the Foster and Hogarth Tarzans, or the Foster Price Valiant, have been done, and done pretty well, recently enough that it's almost certainly too soon to do it again. Indeed, the Prince Valiants are mostly still in print from Fantagraphics, and Little Nemo from Taschen in a huge, fairly cheap hardcover.

But I think there's room in the world for a good sharp clear set of Terry & the Pirates dailies.
Or Russ Manning's Tarzan.
Or a complete run of Pogo, my all time favorite strip.
Or more Alley Oop and Little Orphan Annie. And the world needs more George McManus--let's have some Bringing Up Father.
And Modesty Blaise--a nice set of hardcovers that resemble the Titan Books run from the '80s would be great.

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posted April 19, 2003 04:06 PM               

I, too, recall a ton of stuff being made available from Kitchen Sink Press, but couldn't comment on the quality...

Funny - as a "kid" I was totally unaware of "comic strips". Don't know if my local New Orleans papers carried them or if I merely was ignorant of there existance.

My loss, I'm sure.

posted April 19, 2003 05:08 PM            

Also how about some Johnny Comet and Mandrake?
I've got some reprints from smaller compant's that did them as monthly comics, but a big hardcover would be a dream come true.

posted April 19, 2003 05:43 PM               

"All" those comic strips got by me...

Gosh, forgot the publisher - guess I purchased these in the mid/late 80s, but I did get hold of Giacoia (sp) Sherlock Holmes and some Shadow strips, reprinted in comic form.

Maybe when I get rid of this "history bug", I'll have to investigate the strips.

posted April 19, 2003 07:16 PM               

I'm willing to go out on Peter Cool's limb and agree with him about the general superiority of comic strips.

-Scott
"Desperately waiting for more Polly & her Pals, George McManus and COLOR Captain Easy Sundays."

posted April 19, 2003 08:05 PM               

About the same time I was reading other continuity strips like Raboy's Flash Gordon, Rex Morgan, Mark Trail, and Dondi (believe it or not, there was a time when these last three strips were GOOD.

I was never into Terry and The Pirates or Steve Canyon at that age. I bought a whole pile of the Kitchen Sink Canyon reprints and enjoyed them a lot.

posted April 21, 2003 08:42 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Scott Nichols:
Since Rick Norwood is still plugging along with the Comic Revue, he deserves a plug.

---

Rick Norwood has also started a series of trade paperbacks reprinting Modesty Blaise strips. These are similar to the Titan books that someone mentioned - three complete stories per volume. He's published two so far, with more on the way.

Norwood's books are nice, and he deserves a lot of credit, but I's still like to see a complete run of the Modesty Blaise strips in Archive-style hardcovers.

posted April 21, 2003 12:07 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Jason Michael:
I'd love to have a collection of Segar's Popeye- I just bought Fantagraphics Complete Popeye Vol. 10 and I'm loving it. (Haven't finished it yet!)
I believe Fantagraphics has mentioned that they'll finally be publishing Pogo Vol. 12 in the next year. At this rate I'll be long dead by the time they finish it.

I'm glad to hear thet--but the dailes alone are going to run 50 volumes, and then there are Sundays. I'll be dead by the time they get to 1960...
Jason

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posted April 21, 2003 10:16 PM            

I'd really like to see Wonder Woman (done in one, I think), assuming that DC can match the quality job done by Kitchen Sink. All the extra work they did on the supplementary material makes the Superman and Batman projects the best reprint projects I've ever seen.

I don't see the post now, but someone somewhere suggested the Swan years for Superman. Based on a comment by Bob G., I don't think this is too likely, but I'd prefer this over a continuation of the Kitchen Sink volumes. There's just too much Superman for me to ever think it's really going to happen.

I hope Fantagraphics reprints the Popeye collection. I'd buy it in a hearbeat.

Krazy Kat is currently being done by someone, I think Fantagraphics. They seem to be committed.

I'm hoping that Prince Valiant continues indefinitely. I don't think DC can do a better job than Fantagraphics.

Of course I want to see Pogo, but I want new volumes to be compatable with the old ones.

However, I don't see DC getting into this business. Kitchen Sink did most, if not all, of the work on Superman and Batman.

Scenarios where DC would get into this business:
1. Someone starts making a killing off of strip reprints.
2. DC hires Denis Kitchen.
3. Steve Canyon: The Movie (or fill in your favorite strip).
4. A resurgence in any of these strips popularity in current newspapers.
5. A package deal with a living creator, like Eisner. Unfortunately, I don't think many of the creators are living, and those who are aren't still productive like Eisner or Kubert.

Hey, what about the Green Berets by Kubert? I think its very low on DC priority list for Kubert material, but maybe in 10 years.

As far as PeterCool comment "I'll go out on a limb and say that comic strips were far superior to comic books in the Golden Age." I don't think you're going out on a limb. Comic books creators in the Golden Age were usually failed comic strip creators. The best comic book, The Spirit, appeared as a newspaper insert.

As to your questions in your second post:

Bob Greenberger, who is in charge of collected editions, used to read this board and post regularly. I believe he still reads the board and he is predicted to return to posting when the new boards are up (May?).

You may be able to ask him directly when this happens. Or you could write him.