Don’t 'cha just hate it when something like this
happens?
[Cue "Film Noir" music!]
Ya order a comic that’s been a longtime nagging hole in yer
collection from an online retailer. Ya
choose “GOOD” condition, either because o' th' price or it’s th' only condition
available. Ya expect a “GOOD” condition comic ta be far from perfect in its appearance (…not unlike many comic COLLECTORS) –
but ya know yer gonna get a complete an' very readable copy.
Den… Er, THEN, it arrives, an’ ya find that someone’s put a BULLET
THROUGH IT!
…Okay, okay… Some kid, back in the 1950s simply assaulted it
with a HOLE PUNCH! But, the singular
punch looks SO NEAT, going completely through the book, that it LOOKS like a
precisely fired assassin’s bullet!
 |
| A NORMAL, NON-PUNCHED COPY! |
And, such was the case with the copy of Dell Comics' ANDY
PANDA # 16 (Cover Date: November 1952 / January 1953).
Below is the front cover of my copy.
Note that, while bagged and boarded, this flaw is hardly noticeable to
the casual glance.
It is at the spot where Andy's right glove intersects with Charlie Chicken's right arm. Look closely...
Here’s a CLOSE-UP of the area on the front cover.
A clean shot, er… PUNCH, that goes all the way through,
mutilating dialogue balloons as it went!
Finally, the exit wound, er… PUNCH, through the back cover!
Fortunately, I have a very good relationship with this
online retailer. They stand behind their
products, and their commitment to me as a customer. A suitable replacement copy has already been received.
 |
| Now, it looks more like THIS! |
Oh, and it’s not as if *I’m* completely innocent of
mutilating or otherwise defacing comic books, as this very shameful post
describes!
Oh, and let’s not even consider the horrors of something I
did in my own immediate-post-toddler and pre-kindergarten years! ...And, to a Carl Barks story, no
less!
...They weren't "lucky, lucky ducks" on that fateful day!
Then again, maybe they WERE!
17 comments:
Ya know, there actually WAS a comic book that had an actual bullet hole shot through it! Check around the web for images of Jab #3 from Adhesive (1993).
Don't feel bad, Joe. That damage you did to the Donald Duck comic book is nothing compared to the damage that someone at some point did to my Brazilian Bugs Bunny comic book (particularly to an ad in that book for a Jetsons comic book), which can be seen here: https://pelayogazette.blogspot.com/2017/10/covers-and-ads.html
While I didn't have comic books as a toddler, I once cut some family photographs that wouldn't fit in a certain album down to size, so that they would fit. I thought I was doing a good deed, but when I proudly showed what I had done to my mom, she was not happy!
JoeC:
Yes, I actually do vaguely remember that repugnant bullet-hole stunt! Whatever that comic was, with a purported bullet-hole pre-shot through it (though maybe it was a HOLE PUNCH too - a lot safer that way), it was NOT designed for READING! …And READING is the only true value of a comic book! I said it then, and I still say it now!
That was a very bad period for American comics as a whole, save DC, Gladstone, and a few stragglers like “Innovation”! Stunts, gimmicks, and false monetary values preached by a magazine called “Wizard” took precedent over story and art. …And, for those instances where art *was* a factor, it was the be-all-and-end-all, rendering “story” to nothing more than a narrative that was completely in-service to “pin-ups of impossibly muscled characters with equally impossibly large guns”!
Marvel and Image were the two greatest offenders in this way – and, like so many things in life, the bad-guys “get away with it and win”! Marvel is now such a key part of the Disney empire that it overshadows Mickey and Donald (The “Shiny New Toy Syndrome” at its worst!), and Image is behind the TV phenomenon “The Walking Dead”! There’s no justice!
As for that “magazine” suckering kids with the promise of (false) profits… I guess it really was some sort of a “wizard”, as once it’s readers wised-up to the fact that the foil-covered comics (including those with optional bullet holes) were not worth anything, they abruptly "DISAPPEARED" from the comics hobby, leaving a damaging big burst bubble in its wake!
I saw it happen with neighborhood kids, who used to ask me to take them to small local comic shows. How quickly they were gone! At least when *I* “left comics”, it was for girls! Not because I found myself stuck with a worthless pile of crap! …And, when I returned to them in young adulthood (with girls still well and truly in the mix), MY comics still provided me with great enjoyment – and do so to this day! What can those former kids now say about theirs? … Assuming they weren’t discarded as worthless trash. The COMICS, of course... not the kids!
The still-annoying practice of multiple-covers aside, I’m glad we've returned to some sort of “normal”, where story-content has, once again, become a more prominent driving force.
Okay, diatribe done! Let’s get back to Andy, Charlie, Yogi, and Boo-Boo! Who do you think will fall off first? My money’s on Yogi!
Kid-me did do some things to bits of my collection that I regret (nothing quite so "valuable" as first-edition Barks, though, all reprints; and my mucking-about actually had purpose). For instance, two or three Lucky Luke books. You may or may not know that Franco-Belgian funny-western comic series, but the recurring antagonists are the four Dalton brothers (not actually the historical characters — it's complicated), and they usually look like this:
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/0/77/1383200-lucky_luke_08_1024x768.jpg
Notice the thick mustaches. However, in their first few stories, they looked like this, with tiny toothbrush mustaches:
http://lh3.ggpht.com/__Bu-SHfzI8g/Si33SIR1TBI/AAAAAAAAAF4/D59NnRMVUCY/10_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800
This irked kid-me, who had been introduced to the long-whiskered versions first, to no end. I thought, surely the artist was making a mistake, and I'll be doing him a favor by correcting it — you can guess the rest. It's not scribbles — I daresay it's actually pretty convincing — but it's what it is. And I did with a black-ink pen (for extra realism), so it's not like I can fix it.
Jaime:
I guess we all have our personal shame (“I’m SORRY, Carl Barks!”), and our share of atrocities perpetrated on our comics by good-intentioned individuals!
Back in 1969, when Gold Key had begun pasting “Name and Address Labels” on their subscription comics, a well-meaning aunt tried to “steam-off” the label from the comic – with disastrous results! And, to boot, that comic was DONALD DUCK # 126, which was one of the very last covers Carl Barks would ever do… So (“I’m SORRY AGAIN, Carl Barks!”)
HERE is Jaime’s Brazilian Bugs Bunny link, for greater ease of reading!
And, hopefully, when you cut those photos, you didn’t cut the heads off! I could live with an “edited ankle” or something like that… but, mind you, please do leave those heads intact! :-)
Achille:
GREAT STORY! And, unlike my own sad tale, it indicates that you were BORN to be a true comics fan… collating content data, noting continuity gaffes, and correcting them in the best way you saw fit! A hearty “Yay for You!” for your efforts, which I daresay were a far sight better than mine!
HERE is the first link, and HERE is the second!
Of course, I shudder to think what might have happened if you saw the “American-Styled Beagle Boys”, vs. either the “Skinny, or Bowling-Pin-Body Italian-Styled Beagle Boys” at that same formative age!
WHOA! Forgive me for that cryptic comment (above by a few replies) about “ Andy, Charlie, Yogi, and Boo-Boo! ”
That actually refers to a FUTURE POST that I have not released yet!
When I have a lot of other writing work to do along with all the other life-obligations, I sometimes “store up” Blog posts to keep the Blog fresh, and release them as-needed! And, that reference was to one of those “stored posts”!
Sorry for the confusion!
3 possible excuses:
You could say it belonged to Norton Juster - it was his inspiration for THE HOLE BOOK
You could say it belonged to a famous gangster caught in the crossfire at a gangland shootout while stepping outside a malt shop, too engrossed in the antics of Andy Panda and Charlie Chicken to see his makers..
Or you could say it was owned by Elvis Presley during his "Peanut butter & banana sandwich" decline, using it for target practice, 'cause that's the way Elvis worked.
It bugs me a "hole punch" when I get one in that type of condition!
But speaking of childhood atrocities to comics--remember Silly Putty? One of its features that was proudly advertised was that you could press the Silly Putty onto one of your favorite comics and you'd get the image reproduced on the surface of the putty! Well, it depended on how expertly the stuff was wielded...and how long the stuff stayed on the page. Many's the early comic that I unintentionally ruined in this way--but that was in the days when I valued the Silly Putty more than reading (it was just before I learned to read). Pages would stick together, or the putty would leave a large dark stain. In trying to pull pages apart that had been stuck together thus, the pages would sometimes tear. One Dell issue of Huckleberry Hound got this treatment (can't remember the issue number, but he's on roller skates, pink background cover) so for many years I had to "enjoy" it with the telltale signs of Silly Putty use. In recent years I finally obtained a truly nice copy of this same book. I still have the old one with its stains--but it was sort of beat up when I inherited it, so at least it wasn't in that great shape to start with. A couple of years later, of course, I was much wiser and did not risk my precious comics by duplicating that stunt.
Much worse was when I cut up some Sugar and Spike comics to get the cut-outs--didn't take any story pages, but still--I was old enough to know better by then! Alas, the follies of youth!
‘Rehab:
I love all three of your suggestions! You’ve brought the “hole picture” into focus!
And, any gangster who’d emerge from a malt shoppe reading the latest copy of ANDY PANDA is MY kind of gangster! Move over, Cagney and Robinson!
Scarecrow:
You write: “It bugs me a "hole punch" when I get one in that type of condition!”
Ah! Good one! And, coming from an old punster like me, that’s a compliment!
This thread does seem to be a place for “unburdening ourselves of past sins against past comics”, doesn’t it? We should all feel a bit “cleaner” for the experience! Anyone else have something to confess? Send it right this way!
Every child of our generation had Silly Putty though, for the life of me, I can’t see why! Sure you could pull and stretch it, and roll it up into a ball, and all kinds o’ stuff like that there… but there wasn’t a whole lot of it in one of those “eggs” to actually make something out of. And it didn’t even bounce!
I guess the “egg” itself, and its utterly amazing ability to lift printed images off paper and onto itself was sufficient appeal.
By the time I finally had Silly Putty, I was careful enough with my comic books to not smoosh them with that strangely appealing, though foreign, substance! I limited my “inky transfers” to newspaper comics strips, which would most likely be tomorrow’s trash anyway. And, I must admit, seeing the comic panels “leap off the page” and onto my Silly Putty WAS fascinating!
Oh, and Sheldon Mayer ought to be put on trial for those “paper doll cutouts” in SUGAR AND SPIKE! I never did that either, but I’d imagine that there are far fewer “complete copies” available for those who collect the title today! …Oh, heh! …Just kidding about that “trial stuff”, Mr. Mayer! Online these days, ya never know who might take you seriously!
I used to think the egg used for holding silly putty was connected to Plastic Man, but I can't recall where that memory is coming from, aside from that memory pre-dating recent DC Comics stories depicting Plastic Man in some unexplained hibernation/stasis, within an egg/in the form of an egg..and that image was likely based on Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Strikes Again"...which doesn't insipre many questions. Pity.
And, any gangster who’d emerge from a malt shoppe reading the latest copy of ANDY PANDA is MY kind of gangster!
Be careful about asking for gangsters who read funny-animal comics, or you might just summon a certain Jack Napier. (On the other hand, they might also be Rocky and Mugsy, scanning that month's Looney Tunes comic to see if they're featured anywhere, and, if so, whether they should pay a nice little visit to any artist who doesn't do their awesomeness justice.)
‘Rehab:
I can’t recall any connection between Plastic Man and Silly Putty beyond their mutual ability to stretch!
But, I’m certain someone, somewhere must have lifted a comic book image of Plas with their Silly Putty, thereby creating another connection. The very idea of s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g an image of Plastic Man on Silly Putty would seem irresistible!
…Same goes for The Elongated Man, Mr. Fantastic, Captain Carrot’s Rubberduck, and any other “stretching hero” I might be leaving out. Even Stretch Armstrong… but not Archie Bunker’s pal “Stretch Cunningham”!
Achille:
If Jack Napier were to read ANY “funny-animal comic”, it would far more likely be THE FOX AND THE CROW, rather than ANDY PANDA! …Brand loyalty, you know!
And, for that previous comment, I should have supplied GANGSTER FILM LINKS for “Cagney”
and “Robinson”!
…After all, if I’m gonna write all this stuff, I might as well link to it now and then!
Those two GANGSTER FILM LINKS (which for the record were, as far I can see, SOUND-FREE) were both very interesting to me; I must say I've never been that interested in gangster films, which will be best illustrated by the fact that the film I most readily associate with Edward G. Robinson is Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity, where Robinson "played against type" as an insurance detective. (Well, that and his cartoon caricatures whenever something would ereference Al Capone.)
Achille:
ALL of my links are “Sound Free”, unless I explicitly warn you otherwise, therefore making my Blog generally safe to browse at work (though I’m not officially condoning that, mind you), or while the baby, or that fierce bulldog, is asleep – and needs to STAY that way!
I *LOVE* the Golden Age Era Warner Bros. Gangster films of the 1930s-40s! You can see that by perusing some older posts at this Blog. Especially those films starring Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney, and Humphrey Bogart – or any combination thereof! They had a different sensibility than the ultra-violent gangster films of today, yet they still made their point – especially those last few minutes of "The Public Enemy”!
Robinson, who’d you’d expect to be invariably typecast as a gangster, did successfully "play against type" more than one would think!
A dupe to a conniving woman in “Two Seconds” (1932), an evil sea captain in “The Sea Wolf” (1941), and even a very effective turn at horror in “The Red House” (1947)... just to name a few.
And, this past week, for the first time, I saw him play another great gangster role in “Hell on Frisco Bay” (1955)!
Finally, in “Double Indemnity”, I’d say Fred MacMurray (with Disney movies and “My Three Sons” in his future), ALSO "played against type"!
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