1955 Fibber Mcgee and Molly Article

Say No To Coverless Copies-1952

Just spotted this very prominently displayed on the top third of the splash of a 1952 Boy Comics issue. I'm sure most of you know of the practice of vendors returning only the covers of the to 3rd of the covers to the distributors for credit. After 30 years in book retail, I've yet to figure out how this ever came out anywhere NEAR accurate but still...the practice continued at least into the early 2000s when it was replaced by an affidavit system where we just counted the stripped covers by price point, then threw them away, sending only the gathered stats. Like that makes any MORE sense. That said, it was fairly standard practice when I was a kid in the '60s to see bundled 3 or 4 packs of coverless copies of everything from comic books and detective mags to "men's sweat" mags and True Story-type periodicals, all for virtually no cost! The reason, of course, was that the value stayed in the cover with the rest of the product presumably destroyed.  And yet many a mom and pop grocery and law abiding citizen made extra money by selling or distributing these NO-cost items. ANY profit was straight to them with no cut to the publisher, the creators or the original distributor. Not a penny. The practice continued at least up into the early '80s. By the time I was managing a bookstore, we had to literally rip the items in half twice. VERY time consuming on things like Marvel's New Universe titles that never sold!

This Lev Gleason notice is the earliest reference I've seen to the practice although something tells me it dates back to the '20s at least. I know John Goldwater got his start repackaging and reselling some of Louis Silberkleit's returned pulps to different markets but I think that was more a business deal than this questionable practice.

Suggestive Archie Panels

People seem to enjoy this type of thing. On Facebook I have multiple galleries of random Archie panels--some intentionally funny, some unintentionally funny and some funnier in context with other out of context panels. Here's a selection of everybody's seeming favorite--the out of context suggestive panel!

Old Time Movies On DVD Now Working!

http://oldtimemoviesdvd.com

Problems are finally worked out on the new DVD website and here's a selection of some of the cool stuff we offer.

One of my favorite sitcoms as a kid, Ann Sheridan is the matriarch of a family of sharpshooters in the old west. The series was a hit but Sheridan died halfway through the season so the show was canceled.

Gene Deitch's awesome and hilarious minimalist cartoon adventures as seen originally on CAPTAIN KANGAROO.

Willard Waterman, radio's second GREAT GILDERSLEEVE, stars in rare episodes from the mid-fifties TV version of the long-running sitcom.

A wide-ranging selection of comedy highlights from one of show business's true renaissance men.

If you think Groucho was funny on his TV show, you should see the bits that didn't make it on the air!

One of the great serial heroes, Buster Crabbe became quite popular as a stalwart cowboy do-gooder, seen here in no less than 21 prime examples.

And speaking of serials, here's Tom Tyler in what's been said for many, many years to be THE greatest action serial of them all! Shazam!

Back Issue # 78 Now Available!

In comic shops this week and with digital editions available now on the Twomorrows website, please check out the latest edition of Michael Eury's BACK ISSUE for some WEIRD articles...including my own look back at WEIRD MYSTERY TALES.

My Mac Art

Some of this has appeared on the blog before but I was looking through my files of computer art this evening and realized how damn GOOD I am at it! So here it is again, along with lots of stuff never seen here before.