{"id":131,"date":"2021-05-11T15:56:03","date_gmt":"2021-05-11T15:56:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=131"},"modified":"2023-12-04T16:56:58","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T00:56:58","slug":"maggies-world-by-maggie-thompson-maggies-world-091-remembering-the-forgotten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/maggies-world-by-maggie-thompson-maggies-world-091-remembering-the-forgotten\/","title":{"rendered":"MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON Maggie’s World 091: Remembering the Forgotten"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maggie’s World 091<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Remembering the Forgotten <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Maybe you\u2019ve had one of those moments: I was in a used bookstore and discovered a number of \u201cclearance\u201d bundles. The bundles were tightly wrapped bunches of comic books, and only the front cover of the top one and the back cover of the bottom one were identifiable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d figured that the bundles consisted of random comics but I wanted the ones on top of each of the three (cheap) packages, so I bought them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got them home, I was surprised and delighted to find that each package consisted of issues that were similar to the one on top. And the reason I\u2019d wanted two of them was that I used to read those titles when I was about 10 but hadn\u2019t collected. I\u2019d kept an eye out for some but hadn\u2019t found any cheap\u2014until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That brought to mind the fact that many series I used to buy ended when I was otherwise occupied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Many Golden and Silver Age comic books were based on other pop culture aimed at kids. DC\u2019s Real Screen Comics #7 (August-September 1946) starred The Fox and the Crow. (TM & \u00a9 2021 DC) Howard R. Garis\u2019s Uncle Wiggily (Dell Four Color #349) appeared in novels, comics, and even in a game. (\u00a9 1921 Howard R. Garis)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
What was going on?<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

There were a number of convulsions in the marketing world of comic books. Dell, for example, tended its own newsstands for a long time. You didn\u2019t necessarily find DC series alongside Dell series alongside Classics Illustrated <\/em>titles alongside Fawcett comics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there were different genres. Remember Warner Bros.\u2019 \u201cMary Jane and Sniffles\u201d stories? They ran in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics <\/em>alongside stories featuring Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig. Sniffles first appeared in 1939 in the movie cartoon \u201cNaughty But Nice\u201d (created by Chuck Jones). And way back in the day, the character of Mary Jane was added to his stories. Initially, she was able to use magic sand to take her down to mouse size: \u201cMagic sand, magic sand, make me small at my command.\u201d But I think some kids were actually throwing sand in their hair in imitation, so the magic was eventually changed a bit, and the magic words were \u201cPoof, poof, piffles, make me just as small as Sniffles.\u201d Simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I digress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Actor Lash LaRue licensed his name and image to Fawcett. The cover of Lash LaRue Western<\/em> #46 (January 1954) read, \u201cMore pages of your favorite comic character.\u201d (TM & \u00a9 2021 DC) Katy Keene was created by Bill Woggon, who maintained contact with his designing fans. Katy Keene Comics <\/em>#16 (May 1954) (\u00a9 2021 Archie Publications, Inc.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There was an enormous variety of magazines in comic book formats. Sometimes, comic books were linked to movies being released. The comic book adaptations let us revisit films via Dell\u2019s Four-Color<\/em> series. Sometimes there were movie or radio or TV series featuring characters so entertaining and popular that they could provide ongoing new stories whether or not their other formats produced many stories themselves. (In the 1940s and 1950s, I almost never saw Donald Duck cartoons in theaters\u2014but Carl Barks turned out many, many classics anonymously. And some of those are now being reworked into TV stories.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were anthology comics devoted to horror, gangsters, romance, sports, cowboys, jungle folks, science fiction, and the proverbial funny animals. And then there were ambitious campaigns to keep comic books from kids entirely. The artform didn\u2019t get shut down, but it was a near thing. And the 1954 Comics Magazine Association Code, which meant some genres of comics (crime and horror) just went away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(And, by the way, because of the different distribution systems, would-be readers often had to visit a variety of stores in order to find all the comics that were published each week. Even if the kids cared about completing a collection, it doesn\u2019t mean a specific store owner cared whether all the copies went on the newsstand.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Direct Market<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

In 1977, Phil Seuling set up a distribution company with which to supply comic book shops, and at that time much of the focus of comics was on fantastic characters, especially in stories that presented a variety of super-abilities and the impact that those abilities would have on people who were involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the customers enjoyed the stories and, often, preordered what they preferred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Characters who had entertained especially the younger readers found their circulations suffering in competition. John Jackson Miller\u2019s Comichron website has recorded circulation figures from Statements of Ownership, and, when the statements began in 1961, the highest circulations were for Uncle Scrooge <\/em>and Walt Disney\u2019s Comics and Stories<\/em>. (Superman<\/em> and Superboy<\/em> followed.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Miller analyzed comics shop sales (as differentiated from Statements of Ownership), by 1991, they seemed to be wall-to-wall superheroes. The industry was booming, but\u2014at least where customers could find all the current series\u2014masks and capes were everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mind you, genres have evolved, and (for example) the Archie cast of characters is still very much out and about. But, on the other hand, I\u2019m enjoying the variety of reprints that are beginning to find their way to my shelves. And now I\u2019ve got bundles of more memories waiting to be opened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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L. Frank Baum\u2019s Ozma of Oz <\/em>was the third novel (1907) in the Oz <\/em>series, bringing Dorothy and Ozma together for the first time. John R. Neill illustrated it. Eric Shanower and Skottie Young adapted it to full comic-book treatment in 2011. (\u00a9 2021 Marvel)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
In addition \u2026<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Well, heck. L. Frank Baum (1856\u20131919) collaborated with artist W. W. Denslow (1856\u20131915) to produce The Wonderful Wizard of Oz<\/em> in 1900, and, four years later, Baum began his collaboration with the artist John R. Neil (1877\u20131943). The world of Oz was so intriguing that others eventually continued the series in a variety of venues, and The Wizard of Oz <\/em>film was a success in 1939. But that film had so locked the characters into a specific approach that Return to Oz <\/em>in 1985 was deemed too dark, and that was that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or was it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because today\u2019s creators returned to the stories a while ago, and Eric Shanower and Skottie Young adapted some of Baum\u2019s novels for a new audience. Have you seen their versions?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hey, what are characters that you used to enjoy that might find new audiences today, if creators revisited them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Me? I\u2019m going to settle down to a stack of stories featuring Fox and Crow. I\u2019m curious to revisit characters I haven\u2019t seen for\u2014gosh!\u2014more than half a century. (And, yes, I\u2019m well aware they evolved beyond their simple beginning in Columbia cartoons.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maggie\u2019s World by Maggie Thompson appears the second Tuesday of every month here on <\/em>Toucan!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Filed Under<\/p>\n\n\n

Contributor<\/a> <\/span>Maggie Thompson<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Written by<\/p>\n\n\n

Maggie Thompson<\/div>\n\n\n

Published<\/p>\n\n\n