{"id":2550,"date":"2016-06-07T10:18:00","date_gmt":"2016-06-07T17:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=2550"},"modified":"2024-01-09T10:22:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T18:22:05","slug":"maggies-world-041-qlrm-gsv-xofy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/maggies-world-041-qlrm-gsv-xofy\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggie\u2019s World 041: QLRM GSV XOFY!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maggie\u2019s World 041: QLRM GSV XOFY!<\/h1>\n\n\n
Maggie Thompson<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"HD<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In today\u2019s comics world, there seems to be an ever-expanding population of websites, user groups, Facebook fan pages, and apps as part of the wider network of \u201csocial media.\u201d Today\u2019s wider network leads me to consider the comics clubs of days gone by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were some radio-comics crossover promotional clubs\u2014most famously remembered by essayist Jean Shepherd in \u201cThe Counterfeit Secret Circle Member Gets the Message, or The Asp Strikes Again,\u201d reprinted in 1966 in In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash<\/em>. \u201cThere it was! My simulated gold plastic Decoder pin. With knob. And my membership card.\u201d According to Shepherd\u2019s comedic exploration of Ralph Parker\u2019s childhood, he had waited anxiously for his Little Orphan Annie<\/em> code badge. He had yearned to decrypt the messages that were part of the Ovaltine-sponsored radio show (based on the Harold Gray strip that had begun in 1924, was introduced on radio in 1930, and went national on NBC in 1931).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ovaltine\u2019s manufacturer had realized the potential value of a club to encourage sales. (\u201cI sat for a long moment in that steamy room, staring down at my Indian Chief notebook. A crummy commercial!\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Ralph\u2019s dismay, comic book publishers, themselves, soon sought to establish their own networking in-groups. (This was at a time when such terms as \u201cnetworking\u201d and \u201cin-groups\u201d were not yet in vogue.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shazam! A Golden Age Club<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Dell Comics eventually tried it, and I may still have my membership certificate and \u201cgroup picture\u201d of its (licensed) characters somewhere. How to join? You just subscribed to a Dell series. The 1950 ad in Henry<\/em> #15 (Sep-Oct 1950), for example, noted that you\u2019d get \u201cfree from Henry\u201d: \u201cA handsome full-color Membership Certificate with pictures and signatures of all DELL COMICS characters! Pocket-size Membership Card lifts out in a jiffy. You\u2019ll be proud to show it off. Special invitation to join INNER CIRCLE is included. Saves you money on other fine DELL COMICS!\u201d The certificate guaranteed that \u201cwrite your name here\u201d \u201cis a member of the DELL COMICS CLUB in good standing and entitled to all privileges for one year from the date stamped on this card.\u201d (At a guess, the \u201csaves you money\u201d consisted of other subscription offers.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The wisdom of Solomon put together a newsletter to club members in 1942 and begin a marketing network. Hey, kids! Club card! Badge! \u00a9 2016 DC Comics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But that was a later manifestation. Nearly a decade earlier, Fawcett had pushed its Captain Marvel Club with energy, including a newsletter and information on more \u201cswell premiums.\u201d \u201cBargain X\u201d brought America\u2019s Greatest Comics<\/em> #2, Gene Autry Comics<\/em> #2, Minute Man Comics<\/em> #3, and a color picture of Spy Smasher for a quarter. (\u201cBargain Y\u201d of other Fawcett items cost 50 cents, and \u201cBargain Z\u201d was a 12-issue subscription plus a copy of Gift Comics<\/em> for $1.20.) \u201cSome bargain, isn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We got the things and stuff like the kid\u2019s wearing. \u00a9 2016 E.C. Publications, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Building Brand Loyalty Among E.C. Fan Addicts<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

But one fan club program did drive completists to newsstands in the early 1950s. It didn\u2019t hurt that Bill Gaines\u2019 E.C. line featured memorable short-short stories with high impact drawn by a stable of distinctive artists. And it didn\u2019t hurt that its titles were aimed at what are now called \u201cYoung Adult\u201d readers. The year before the Comics Code began the process of sending the art form back to the nursery, E.C. began to build a mailing list of fans willing to pay to belong to its fan club to get news of upcoming issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

E.C.\u2019s series had already featured letters columns (albeit without writers\u2019 full addresses and sometimes with amended content). The E.C. Fan Addict Club used high-quality material to reward its members\u2019 enthusiasms. The membership pin resembled those of respectable fraternal organizations. I still have my original package, complete with the \u201cSecond Class Matter\u201d mailing envelope with its 3-cent postage-metered label that included the message \u201cGO MAD! Join the E.C. FAN-ADDICT CLUB.\u201d Which was, face it, a done deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marvelous Membership Rewards via the M.M.M.S.<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

By the time the Silver Age was shining brightly, actual in-person clubs had coalesced here and there around the country\u2014thanks in part to DC and Marvel sharing the addresses of their letter-writers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Cleveland, Ohio, for example, a bunch of teens used to meet at the Cudell Center in the early 1970s, and Don and I eventually joined them. When I recently asked a guy who\u2019d been the president of the Graphic Arts Society (enjoy the acronym) if he could recall who\u2019d been a member, he cited (and I\u2019m using alphabetical order here): Charlie Brodnick, Bruce Burke, Leroy Crayton, Gary Dumm, Terry Fairbanks, Mike Hudak, Bob Ingersoll, Peter Kuper, Joe Rutt, Ted Rypel, Seth Tobocman, and Richard Yarmy. Membership came and went, and friendships did the same. The Cleveland-area fans who occasionally hung out together (some of whom occasionally got to see movies from Dave Massaro\u2019s collection) eventually included Dave Hogan, Wayne and Sherman Howard, Bill Thailing, and Pat Vaughn. And an impressive percentage of us went on to work in comics professionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Including \u201ca guy who\u2019d been the president.\u201d That\u2019s Black Lightning creator Tony Isabella.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It would be so cool to find an international treaty written on M.M.M.S. stationery. Think of how collectible it would be. Just saying. \u00a9 2016 Marvel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Realizing the advantages of building a devoted fan following from such an audience, Marvel put together a fan kit. The membership card (\u201cthese privileges are non-transferable\u201d) stated that the typed \u201cauthorized signature,\u201d \u201cIs a charter member in good standing of The Merry Marvel Marching Society And is thereby entitled to the adulation and admiration of all lesser mortals!\u201d Whereas the Dell Comics Club certificate was authorized by G.T. Delacorte, Jr., the M.M.M.S. card was issued under the actual authority of Benj J. Grimm, Grand Marshal (pro tem). \u2019Nuff said!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, Marvel\u2019s fan clubs and its premiums evolved, eventually culminating in a full-fledged kit for Wild Agents of Marvel before being discarded as a potential profit center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Now?<\/strong><\/h6>\n\n\n\n

This year, I\u2019ve begun to ask comics shop owners whether they have local clubs\u2014as opposed to simply serving the rush of customers on New Comic Book Day. And some do. I have the feeling that more group activities are to be found in the stores that sponsor gaming events\u2014given the attraction of in-person gaming. Nevertheless, some retailers provide a venue that\u2019s more than a Magic: The Gathering<\/em> meeting spot. Might there be companies (or, heck, creators) out there already offering a membership packet (perhaps with secret code) to unite their most rabid followers? Let\u2019s keep an eye out for fan insignia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, did you keep your kit from the Captain Marvel Club? (It was a comics club promoted, by the way, by an actual feature film\u2014Frank Tashlin\u2019s Good Humor Man<\/em> of 1950\u2014and a spin-off Fawcett special issue.) If so, you can read the title this month. If not (Spoiler!), substitute \u201cA\u201d for \u201cZ,\u201d \u201cB\u201d for \u201cY,\u201d and so on. But let\u2019s keep that a secret among our comics club members, OK?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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