{"id":2806,"date":"2021-04-13T09:50:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-13T16:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/?p=2806"},"modified":"2024-01-10T09:54:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T17:54:05","slug":"maggies-world-090-1961","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comic-con.org\/toucan\/maggies-world-090-1961\/","title":{"rendered":"Maggie’s World 090: 1961"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MAGGIE’S WORLD BY MAGGIE THOMPSON<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maggie’s World 090: 1961<\/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 this 90th \u201cMaggie\u2019s World,\u201d it seems appropriate to look at milestones. And hey! April 2021 is a pop culture anniversary of sorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to Comic-Con\u2019s archive of \u201cMaggie\u2019s World\u201d columns, readers can visit my earlier comments on the history of the world of comics collecting. The #32 (September 2015) outing was titled \u201c55 Years and Counting,\u201d And #39 (April 2016) was \u201c2016 Fanniversary 55.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now it\u2019s April 2021: time to celebrate a milestone again\u2014and remember more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Pioneering comics fans found these (cover-dated April 1961) on local newsstands. DC superhero issues cost a dime and, if we read the tiny type, revealed the editorial names and addresses. But DC hid contributors\u2019 names and the full addresses of fellow fans.\u00a0Action Comics\u00a0<\/em>#275 [Story by Jerry Coleman, Wayne Boring, and Stan Kaye. Circulation 485,000.]\u00a0The Flash<\/em>\u00a0#112 [Story by John Broome, Carmine Infantino, and Joe Giella. Circulation 305,000.] TM & \u00a9 2021 DC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Six decades ago<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

In #32, I summed up some of what it had been like for comics lovers when comics fandom got under way. \u201cWhat was the meaning of Billy Batson\u2019s magic word? Didn\u2019t Mary Marvel have a different meaning for the same magic word? \u2026 The public had forgotten. Just \u2026 Forgotten. \u2026 Although we\u2019d been able to buy copies from newsstands less than a decade earlier, by September 1960, such treasures could be found only in second-hand shops.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In #39, I paid tribute to the anniversary of the first comics fanzines (released in spring 1961) that were soon joined by many, many others: an environment that would grow into a continuing, influential world of publications focused on the artform. (And, by the way, the spring of 1961 itself was the 35th anniversary of Hugo Gernsback\u2019s science fiction magazine Amazing Stories<\/em>, in which were published names and full addresses of science fiction enthusiasts. That quickly united a national community of sf fans\u2014including Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who would go on to co-create Superman.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So consider the extent to how much we didn\u2019t know in early 1961.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To begin with, we had had almost no reference material to consult for the facts. A few library books were available (if the local library collection happened to include them). I bet I\u2019ve listed them before, and their primary focus was on comic strips, but in any case:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1942<\/strong> Martin Sheridan, Comics and Their Creators<\/em> (Ralph T. Hale): strips, one chapter on Superman, one chapter on animated cartoons<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1943<\/strong> Thomas Craven, Cartoon Cavalcade<\/em> (Simon & Schuster): cartoons and strips<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1947<\/strong> Coulton Waugh, The Comics<\/em> (Macmillan): strips, one chapter on comic books<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1959<\/strong> Stephen Becker, Comic Art in America<\/em> (Simon & Schuster): strips, one chapter on comic books<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh, there was one book that focused on comic books, but it was not in admiration:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1954<\/strong> Fredric Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent<\/em> (Rinehart)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, it was part of the reason that nostalgia played such a large part in activating comic book collectors a few years later. Because it changed the types of comic books that were on newsstands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Little Lulu\u00a0<\/em>#154 was the third issue of that title priced at higher than a dime, and we didn\u2019t know who the \u201cMarge\u201d was who was providing the contents, though the tiny print helped us to guess (incorrectly). [Story remains uncredited to this day. Circulation 313,011.] \u00a9 2021 Classic Media, Inc. Meanwhile,\u00a0Uncle Scrooge<\/em>\u00a0#33 was coming out quarterly, and (judging from the credits) it looked as if Walt Disney himself was spending his days writing and drawing the stories. [Story by Carl Barks. Circulation 853,928.] But hey! Dell had raised its prices! \u00a9 2021 Disney Enterprises, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
With that as a foundation \u2026<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

In 1961, we had nostalgia and a few dealers specializing in back-issue books and magazines. That\u2019s what Dick and Pat Lupoff had started with in 1960 in their science fiction fanzine Xero<\/em> #1, which contained the first installment of the comics-focused series All in Color for a Dime<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we had as reference material was what we\u2019d hung onto through the years and what was currently on the nation\u2019s newsstands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comics that were cover-dated April 1961 came from these publishers with roughly this many titles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • 2 American Comics Group<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 2 Prize<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 9 Archie<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 11 Marvel<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 15 Harvey<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 27 Charlton<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 28 DC<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 28 Dell<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Added to those were George A. Pflaum\u2019s Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact<\/em> and Gilberton\u2019s releases of its Classics Illustrated<\/em> and Classics Illustrated Junior<\/em> titles with their own distribution channels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Figuring that there were 124 or so titles out there\u2014with the contributor credits on many (most?) hidden\u2014there were a lot of questions to be answered and\u2014with newsstand comic books having begun a little over a quarter-century earlier (in 1934)\u2014a lot of history to be explored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One information source for fannish researchers was the Statement of Ownership that periodicals circulated via second-class mail were required to post. For 1961, we could eventually see such figures for average paid circulation per issue as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    • Forbidden Worlds<\/em> 178,600<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Richie Rich<\/em> 220,000<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Showcase<\/em> 240,000<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • The Brave and the Bold<\/em> 245,000<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Archie<\/em> 458,039<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Edgar Rice Burroughs\u2019 Tarzan<\/em> 509,355<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"
      In his editorial in\u00a0Comic Art\u00a0<\/em>#1 [circulation 75], Don pretty much summed up the story of how we got into self-publishing. Recipients of the issue responded with enough contributions for us to bring out #2 in August 1961. \u00a9 2021 Maggie Thompson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      And (though new to the game) we could guess at which companies were approximating their figures. And which titles were doing well. And, yes, analyses could be tricky. For example, Uncle Scrooge<\/em> #33 [March-May] had an average circulation that topped the field at 853,928 per issue, according to today\u2019s Comichron website. Comichron (from which I grabbed this data) points out that Uncle Scrooge<\/em>\u2019s circulation was highest\u2014but it was a quarterly. More time on the newsstand meant more time to find and buy a copy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Also of note regarding sales that year: Comichron\u2019s John Jackson Miller says, \u201cThe average [mean] circulation of all titles publishing Statements was above 300,000 copies for the last time in 1961.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Mind you, the Silver Age is generally considered to have begun years before, with DC\u2019s Showcase <\/em>#4 (September-October 1956). But\u2014look at its name\u2014it just provided trial balloons. Happily for superhero comics fans, though, that experimental balloon lifted the industry to new levels of reader involvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In the June-July 1961 issue of DC\u2019s The Brave and the Bold <\/em>(#36), Editor Julius Schwartz involved fans directly, printing names and addresses of letter writers\u2014and including contributor credits (Gardner Fox and Joe Kubert) for the stories in the issue. The curtain hiding information and history was being pulled back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      By the autumn of 1961, DC editors were reaching out even more to nostalgic fans, with \u201cFlash of Two Worlds\u201d combining Silver and Golden Age Flashes in The Flash<\/em> #123, Showcase<\/em> #34 introducing the Silver Age version of The Atom, and Marvel joining in, with Fantastic Four<\/em> #1 (November 1961) kicking off Silver Age versions of Plastic Man, Invisible Girl, and Human Torch. What a year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Details, details<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

      Mind you, we were still figuring out how to build and care for our collections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      We\u2019d piled our comics in stacks, put them in drawers, whatever. Had we figured out plastic bags at that point? And why were old comics pages turning brown? And was \u201cMagic Tape\u201d really a good idea?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      I think we\u2019d figured that one out at the time, actually. And we\u2019ve learned quite a bit more in the last 60 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      It seems to be a pretty good time for long-time fans and new readers alike to celebrate this 60th Anniversary together.<\/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<\/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