Amph 1001 Comic Books You Must Read: 280. "Superboy" #49

128. Wings Comics #101

[image=http://images.comiccollectorlive.com/covers/c90/c908811f-69d4-44b9-9e74-1d44a57a898c.jpg]

Writer: Uncredited

Artist: Bob Lubbers, George Evans

Fiction House(January 1949@1948 Wings Publication Co.)

"It took a few years for the Wings aces to switch from fighting the Axis to fighting communists. Captain Wings has the lead spot, while the Ghost Squadron added eerie fantasy to the post-war mix. Wings took its last flight in 1954."

 

129. Tessie the Typist #20

[image=http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110716203402/marveldatabase/images/thumb/1/12/Tessie_the_Typist_Vol_1_20.jpg/123px-Tessie_the_Typist_Vol_1_20.jpg]

Writer: Uncredited

Artist: Uncredited

Marvel(February 1949@1949 Timely Publications)

"No one did alliterative career girls the way Marvel did. In addition to Tessie--and isn't that a wonderfully busy office scene on this cover?--it published Millie the Model and Nellie the Nurse. Who knows? Maybe someday we'll get Patty the President."

 

130. "War Against Crime" #5

[image=http://www.bookpalace.com/acatalog/ECWarAgainstCrimeAnn1.jpg]

Writer: Johnny Craig, Al Feldstein

Artist: Johnny Craig, Graham Ingels

EC(February-March 1949@1948 L. L. Publishing)

"In the first title lauched by Bill Gaines following his father's death, Craig gives readers one of his trademark shady ladies, Ingels shows a flair for horror even in a non-horror story, and Feldstein offers a tale narrated by an electric chair."

 

EC comics' horror titles pretty much single handedly brought about the comics code authority in the 1950's, (or at least supplied the lion's share of the examples) so I can imagine what a "true crime" type of story published by EC Comics would be like. I bet there was some gritty stuff in there.

Max Gaines was Bill Gaines publisher father who started EC Comics. So it is also notable that this was the first published after Max's death. And of course, as we've seen time and time again, EC Comics was bought out by DC Comics, which I think has bought out every single entry on this list except for Marvel properties.

 

131. "Ka'a'nga" #1

[image=http://digitalcomicmuseum.com/downloads//t_Kaanga_Comics_01.jpg]

Writer: Uncredited

Artist: Tom Cataldo, Ruben Moreira

Fiction House(Spring 1949@1948. Fiction House Publishing)

"Ka'a'nga made his debut in Jungle Comics #1, and was in all 164 issues of that title. Perhaps the most successful of the Tarzan imitators, his own title ran 20 issues, until 1954, when Fiction House got out of comics."

 

132. Four Colour #223: Donald Duck

[image=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B5-1oeewfB8/SfOi33vS8eI/AAAAAAAAGAo/BZ9b4Am1wIQ/s400/FC0223_Donald_Duck_01fc.jpg]

Writer: Carl Barks

Artist: Carl Barks

Dell(April 1949@1948. Walt Disney Productions)

"In search of square chickens that lay square eggs, Donald and his nephews find a lost land whose squat inhabitants have Southern accents. Wonder and absurdity blend in an adventure that many consider the best Donald Duck tale of all."

 

133. Millie the Model #18

[image=http://images.wikia.com/marveldatabase/images/3/34/Millie_the_Model_Vol_1_18.jpg]

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Dan DeCarlo

Marvel(June 1949@ *Sphere)

"This issue starts DeCarlo's decade-long run on "Millie" and his equally long collaboration with Lee, who genuinely enjoyed writing this book. A master of drawing both comedy and sexyu women, DeCarlo was the primary Betty and Veronica artist in later years."

Stan Lee? Seriously?

 

Well, if Jack "King" Kirby more or less invented the romance comic, I don't see why Stan Lee couldn't have worked on Millie the Model.

Not to mention his doing so led to one of the best single comics I ever read, where they did a fake crossover with Millie and the Sentry in the Age of the Sentry miniseries.

 

134. Raggedy Ann and Andy #38

[image=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3659/3325338037_ec2451cd49.jpg]

Writer: John Stanley, Walt Kelly

Artist: John Stanley, Walt Kelly

Dell(July 1949@ Western Printing Co.)

"Based on the popular children's books by John Gruelle, Ann and Andy enjoyed a healthy run in comic comics aimed at pre-teen readers. However, in the title's later issues, Stanley added a distinctly darker tone to the duo's adventures."

 

135. Captain Marvel Adventures #100

[image=http://images.wikia.com/marvel_dc/images/9/9c/Captain_Marvel_Adventures_Vol_1_100.jpg]

Writer: Otto Binder

Artist: C. C. Beck

Fawcett(September 1949@ Fawcett Publications Co.)

"Captain Marvel knew how to celebrate an anniversary. "The Plot Against the Universe" has a retelling of Cap's origin, Talky Tawny, the wizard Shazam in deadly jeopardy, and Sivana's most diabolical scheme ever..."

 

Geez, the list here sure does love Captain Marvel....I suppose it is a special anniversary issue, but is a retelling of his origin really a must read, especially with all the other Captain Marvel/Marvel family entries on this list?

 

136. Headline Comics #37

[image=http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/2/27722/727722-headline_37_thumb.jpg]

Writer: Uncredited

Artist: Vic Donahue, John Severin

Prize(September-October 1949@ American Boys Comics Co.)

"When Joe Simon and Jack Kirby assumed the editorship of this title, they switched its format to true-crime stories. The burglar on the cover is Kiry himself, who was guilty only of fudging that 'true' part in the name of exciting stories."

 

137. "The Spirit" (September 11, 1949)

Could not find the cover image

Writer: Will Eisner

Artist: Will Eisner

Register and Tribune Syndicate(September 11th,1949@ News Syndicate Co.)

"Eisner follows the previous week's mildly whimsical tale with the deadly serious "Ten Minutes", a tight depiction of the last 10 minutes ofr a man's life. It's not just one of the best Spirit stories; it's one of the best comic book stories of all time."

 

138. Walt Disney's Christmas Parade #1

[image=http://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/1665542-L.jpg]

Writer: Carl Barks, uncredited

Artist: Carl Barks, Bill Wright

Dell(November, 1949@ Walt Disney Productions, Inc.)

"Donald and Scrooge do battle over a gift for Huey, Dewey, and Louie in the hilarious "Letter to Santa." This 132-page seasonal spectacular also stars Mickey Mouse, the Seven Dwarves, Cinderella, Dumbo, Bambi, and other Disney favorites."

 

132 pages is kind of crazy for a comic, even back then, when comics had upwards of 40-50 pages. Even factoring in special double sized issues, this one is huge. I wonder what the 1949 price was for this issue? If regular comics cost a dime back then did this one cost 30 cents? That would have to be a major decision for a kid.

 

I went and checked a larger image, and it was 25c, a big price in those days.

 

I'm a big old school Disney fan but one I haven't seeked out are the comics

 

139. Man Comics #1

[image=http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/4/62108-1282-95103-1-man-comics_large.jpg]

Writer: Uncredited

Artist: George Tuska, Syd Shores

Marvel(December 1949@ Newstand Publications)

"Did the readers of Boy Comics grow up to read Man Comics? If they did, they found two longer-than-usual adventures purported to be 'torn from real life, plus a clever "Are You a Detective"? short by Golden Age veteran, Allen Bellman."

 

Holy non-comic, comic Batman!

"Both Eighteen Page Stories Torn From True Life!"

Um, isn't the point of fiction to escape from real life? It's something that should be a parody....

 

I've read the Carl Barks story from that Disney Christmas issue, Letter to Santa. It's a gem. It perfectly satirizes Christmas greed; it's essentially Donald and Scrooge competing to see who can give the best gift to Huey, Dewey & Louie, but, of course, the longer the competition goes on, the less and less it's actually about the nephews and more and more it's about getting them the best gift so that glory can fall on the gift giver. It's those kinds of wonderful morals that really elevated the Barks Duck comics; I mean, sophisticated storytelling that gets into human flaws. These may be ducks, but they are also all too human.

I find the name "Man Comics" to be pretty absurd, but from that image, it's clear that the Revenge story here is about . . . an abusive father? I find that kind of mindblowing, actually, that such a violent image of a father abusing his child would be on the cover of a comic book in 1949. I'd be interested to read that story actually.

 

The unfortunate thing about Man Comics is that it can't possibly be as good as Seanbaby's parody rewrites with the same name.

 

140. War Against Crime #10

[image=http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/4/70556-11807-103554-1-war-against-crime_super.jpg]

Writer: Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig

Artist: Al Feldstein, Johnny Craig

EC(December 1949 to January 1950@ L. L. Publishing Co.)

"This otherwise nondescript comic is notable because it introduced the Vault-Keeper, narrator of the first in a series of outright horror stories. With issue #12, the title of the comic would be changed to "The Vault of Horror."

 

141. Archie's Pal Jughead #1

[image=http://images.comiccollectorlive.com/covers/3a9/3a97e7a5-5af2-4893-9d8f-ed4724e9b947.jpg]

Writer: Uncredited

Artist: Uncredited

Archie(1949 M.J.L. Publishing Co.)

"Jughead is the first of Archie's friends to get his own title. His character is still being formed here--he's on the football team in one story, not on it in another--but his aversion to girls has already been firmly established."

 

Not going to lie, when Archie announced they were introducing a gay character my first thoughts were "Oh, so Jughead's finally out of the closet?"

I used to read a lot of Archie waaaaaaay back in the day (They were, prior to the manga boom, the most easily accessible thing for a 90s kid not drawn in a facsimile of Rob Liefeld's distinctive... um... style, and that in and of itself was fascinating to me.) and Jughead remains the best part of the universe. Well, him and Reggie.

 

142. "Young Romance" #17

[image=http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRpbeyY-ybmarLlGOkFqbDIvJaF75IjZsR_uSzR-l8LgSGocvRaLw]

Writer: Uncredited

Artist: Jack Kirby, Joe Simon

Prize(January 1950 Feature Publications)

"The Girl Who Tempted Me" has been called a true masterpiece in its unflinching depiction of the romantic triangle between a righteous farmer, his wayward brother, and the brazen beauty they both love. This is not a gentle love story."