{"id":2682,"date":"2018-10-02T14:54:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T21:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=2682"},"modified":"2024-01-09T14:57:50","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T22:57:50","slug":"maggies-world-065-obsession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/maggies-world-065-obsession\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggie\u2019s World 065: Obsession"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maggie\u2019s World 065: Obsession<\/h1>\n\n\n
Maggie Thompson<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Compulsion<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Could it be argued that obsessive collecting has its basis in research?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve read issues #103, #104, #107, and #110. But things happened in the issues I don\u2019t have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I have to search for #105, #106, #108, and #109.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once I\u2019ve found them, I can settle down to read the complete sequence of events that led Character A to defeat Villain C\u2014oh, and in the meantime, I\u2019ve just discovered that #106 introduced Sidekick G! Bonus!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a compulsion to uncover history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the same thing goes for researching creators\u2019 storytelling styles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or maybe it\u2019s simpler than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe I just like almost everything I\u2019ve ever seen by a writer or artist\u2014and the idea of finding more makes it a justifiable quest for more enjoyment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever the motive, the compulsion to complete a collection is often basic for a collector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing New<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

There used to be a story that pseudonymous cousins Manfred Lee and Frederic Dannay (who wrote mysteries together as the equally pseudonymous \u201cEllery Queen\u201d) set out to build a complete collection of all the detective novels that had been published. When they achieved their goal, according to the tale, they donated the entire collection to a research facility of some sort\u2014and began to build a second complete collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t find that anecdote in a quick online search, so it may be apocryphal. But it sure sums up an appeal of collecting. An<\/em> appeal, not necessarily the<\/em> appeal. In any case, completists are not a new phenomenon. Because, as in the current world of \u201cGotta catch \u2019em all\u201d exemplified by Pok\u00e9mon, one of the driving forces is a simple yearning for completeness. And some of its motivation can begin with enjoying a popular work and exploring its sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shel Silverstein is better known for his children\u2019s books, which have become standards. But compulsive Silverstein collectors know he was also a cartoonist.\u00a0Take Ten<\/em>\u00a0\u00a9 2018 Stars and Stripes.\u00a0\u201cNow Here\u2019s My Plan\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u00a9 2018 Evil Eye, LLC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Admire a Creator?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

Many bookstores and libraries have the work of Shel Silverstein (1930\u20131999) on their shelves. Wiki says his books have sold more than 20 million copies. But people who grew up reading The Giving Tree<\/em>, A Giraffe and a Half<\/em>, or Where the Sidewalk Ends<\/em> may not know that his professional career began by working as a cartoonist with an adult audience. (To digress: That Wiki entry quotes Otto Penzler calling Silverstein a Renaissance man; building a complete collection of Silverstein\u2019s creations would be a challenge but a heck of a lot of fun, and you can start with other information in that entry.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original publication of Take Ten<\/em> (renamed and published for the mass market by Ballantine as Grab Your Socks!<\/em>) says this on its jacket: \u201cHere is Take Ten<\/em>, the first collection of Shel Silverstein\u2019s cartoons, taken from Pacific Stars and Stripes<\/em>, Army Times<\/em> and his untapped top drawer.\u201d It\u2019s fun to note that the jacket copy was obviously written in expectation that the first Silverstein collection would not be the last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Pogo was Walt Kelly\u2019s best-known creation and appeared in a variety of publications in addition to comic books and comic strips. Got these?\u00a0Pogo Primer for Parents (TV Division)\u00a0<\/em>\u00a9 2018 Walt Kelly. Pogo in\u00a0Jack and Jill<\/em>\u00a0May 1969 \u00a9 2018 Walt Kelly.\u00a0Jack and Jill<\/em>\u00a0\u00a9 2018 U.S. Kids.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Or Maybe a Character?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s an ongoing project at the moment aiming to examine a rich supply of decades of work by Walt Kelly (1913-1973).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His best-known creation was Pogo Possum, introduced in Animal Comics<\/em> #1 (1942). [Digressing: As an admirer of Kelly, I became a completist in my search for the 30 issues of that Dell series from Western Printing and Lithographing Company. Challenges included looking for Kelly\u2019s work in stories he didn\u2019t sign. He didn\u2019t sign the feature in #16 based on the one-shot Famous Studios character \u201cCilly Goose.\u201d Nevertheless, a completist would react to the characters\u2019 conversations: Cilly: \u201cI make the best turnovers in Gooseberry Hollow.\u201d Her brother: \u201cThe best turnovers you ever made were three somersaults on the cellar stairs with your foot in a bucket.\u201d And \u2026 Cilly: \u201cThere are contests you can<\/em> enter\u2014boxing, wrestling, sprinting \u2026\u201d Her brother: \u201cI used to belong to a Western Sprinting and Lithographing Company. I can do the twenty yard lithograph in seven days flat.\u201d]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any case, created for comic books, Pogo<\/em> went on to appear in its newspaper-strip format starting in 1948. But a Pogo completist couldn\u2019t limit the search to newspapers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heck, once Pogo grabbed the attention of a wider audience via the Simon & Schuster collections begun in 1951, he popped up in a variety of unexpected spots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pogo Primer for Parents (TV Division)<\/em>, for example, was published in 1961 by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (Social Security Administration, Children\u2019s Bureau). Its message: \u201cT.V. watching could be a normal part of a balanced whole. Just like radio, comic books, formal education and love\u2026 \u2026Also milk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hey, Will Eisner completist! Got these?\u00a0PS Magazine, the Preventive Maintenance Monthly<\/em>\u00a0#18, 1954 Series.\u00a0The Spirit\u2019s Casebook of True Haunted Houses & Ghosts<\/em>\u00a0\u00a9 2018 Will Eisner.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Oh, Go On! Try<\/em> to Catch \u2019Em All!<\/h6>\n\n\n\n

When Don and I first began determined collecting, we printed wantlists in our fanzines. It was a time in which we were still unable to find such basic information as the titles associated with Dell\u2019s line of Four Color<\/em> comics. We\u2019d have been looking for all the comics by Carl Barks, if we\u2019d had any idea of the identity of the creator we then knew only as \u201cThe Good Duck Artist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s never too late to begin to build your own wantlist, although some projects would be more intimidating than others, of course. A wantlist for all publications with work by Jack Kirby, for example \u2026 Did I use the word \u201cprolific\u201d earlier?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, at least in that case, building the wantlist has been done for you already. (Check out TwoMorrows\u2019 Jack Kirby Checklist: Centennial Edition<\/em>). Now, all you have to do is get to work on your collection! Catch \u2019em all! How long could it take?<\/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