posted March 31, 2003 08:19 AM            

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James, when I said I agree, I thought you had included Sandman in your list. So I guess I don't agree. However, after Sandman, my front-runners are the same as yours.

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posted March 31, 2003 11:51 AM               

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I agree with you about the likely reason for Superboy's delay--the way the initial talk about this volume was phrased made me mentally overrule that, but I'm having second thoughts.
The reasons I tend toward the AS/BAACB compilation are that:
a) all three books involved are scarce,
b) there's been talk of doing them for a long time (Bob Wayne mentioned to me about 3 years ago that Big All-American was something some people at DC wanted to do), and
c)"broad appeal" could refer to the breadth of the material covered--over a dozen features--the ultimate anthology archive.

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posted March 31, 2003 11:55 AM               

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Sandman would, I guess, be my #3 or 4 choice (either just before or just after Comic Cavalcade). The source material problem would argue for it. I don't know how "broad" the appeal is, though.

Much as I love it, I'm afraid I think Newsboy Legion is too obscure to qualify.

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posted March 31, 2003 02:28 PM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by James Friel:
I agree with you about the likely reason for Superboy's delay--the way the initial talk about this volume was phrased made me mentally overrule that, but I'm having second thoughts.
The reasons I tend toward the AS/BAACB compilation are that:
a) all three books involved are scarce,
b) there's been talk of doing them for a long time (Bob Wayne mentioned to me about 3 years ago that Big All-American was something some people at DC wanted to do), and
c)"broad appeal" could refer to the breadth of the material covered--over a dozen features--the ultimate anthology archive.

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I'd love a done-in-one like this. I haven't seen the map, would this fill a whole Archive?
Chris

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posted March 31, 2003 05:07 PM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by CMCINTYRE3600:
I'd love a done-in-one like this. I haven't seen the map, would this fill a whole Archive?
Chris

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An oversized one--the two issues of All-Star were each 64 pages, and BAACB was a whopping 128 pages.
Doubtless there's some filler that can be dropped out, but it's still gonna be a big volume if and when it's done.

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posted March 31, 2003 10:23 PM               

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According to the GCD, among the three issues, there's 212 interior pages of superhero material alone, plus the three front covers. There's also 30 pages of non-superhero hero comics and 10 pages of text stories, one of them illustrated by Sheldon Mayer.
Of the non-superhero comics, in addition to 14 pages of DC properties, there's 8 pages of Mutt & Jeff and 8 pages of Hop Harrigan, both of which were licensed, and rights for these would presumably be a problem.
Both of these also appear on the cover of the Big All-American. Perhaps this is what was meant by material becoming available--maybe DC now has permission to use the Mutt & Jeff and Hop Harrigan stories (or at least the single cover)?

Anyhow, with or without those features it would be a feast of Golden Age strips: Flash (3x), Green Lantern (2x), Wonder Woman, Hawkman (3x), The Atom, Wildcat, Scribbly, Little Boy Blue & the Blue Boys, Johnny Thunder (2x), The Whip, Ghost Patrol, Mr.Terrific, Sandman (2x), Gary Concord the Ultra-Man, The Spectre (2x), Hourman (2x), and Red, White & Blue (2x).

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posted April 01, 2003 06:56 AM            

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Possibly an All-Star/Big All-American archive is what Bob Greenberger was thinking of when he mentioned a prospective 256 page archive some time back?
To my way of thinking, this would have a broad appeal with the diverse range of characters, several of them being in the JSA.
Of course, the mooted 256 page archive could be Supergirl, with a protracted story-arc, spread over eight issues (I think), but if so why would Bob have been so secretive about this?
The relevant copies of Action Comics would have been easily available for Supergirl Archives #2, but not so All-Star Comics #1 and #2, and Big All-American. Bob would have held off making any sort of definitive statement about a 256 page archive of AA/BAA until the material became available, I would have thought.
Also, I don't think DC would have any problems about splitting up an eight part Supergirl story arc over two archives (it might be different if it was only one or two parts) - in fact it might encourage more people to buy Supergirl Archives #3!

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posted April 01, 2003 07:13 AM               

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quote:

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Originally posted by James Friel:

Of the non-superhero comics, in addition to 14 pages of DC properties, there's 8 pages of Mutt & Jeff and 8 pages of Hop Harrigan, both of which were licensed, and rights for these would presumably be a problem.
Both of these also appear on the cover of the Big All-American. Perhaps this is what was meant by material becoming available--maybe DC now has permission to use the Mutt & Jeff and Hop Harrigan stories (or at least the single cover)?

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I don't believe Hop Harrigan is licensed. I'm pretty sure DC owned the rights to that from the beginning. Then again, they had to buy Scribbly from Sheldon Mayer in the fifties, so who knows for sure. (and Batman from Bob Kane in 1968).

------------------
Bob Hughes
Who's Whose at DC Comics? Creator Credits and art samples from DC's Golden and Silver Age Comics, especially Superman and Batman profiled at:
http://www.supermanartists.comics.org/superart/superart.html

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posted April 01, 2003 08:21 AM            

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quote:

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Originally posted by whoswhoz:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by James Friel:
[b]
(and Batman from Bob Kane in 1968).

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This is the first I've heard of this. I was always under the impression that DC always owned Batman and that Bob Kane just had worked out some sort of an employment contract with the publisher which expired in 1968. Siegel and Shuster also had a similar contract, but theirs expired in 1948, and they were let go after that.

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posted April 01, 2003 08:23 AM            

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And that should read

quote:

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Originally posted by whoswhoz.

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My kingdom for an edit function!

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posted April 01, 2003 11:58 AM               

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I thought Hop Harrigan had been on the radio before he appeared in comics. Do I have my chronology backwards? If so, sorry for the misinformation.

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posted April 01, 2003 12:38 PM            

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A quick search of the Web has turned up Hop starting on radio in 1942. See http://otrsite.com/logs/logh1025.htm

The comic series begins with All-American #1, April '39.

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posted April 01, 2003 01:12 PM               

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Guess I was mistaken then.
So Mutt & Jeff is the only problem.

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