King and Country Capt. Nick Magura

Sundry Collectibles will be on vacation from July 30 through August 4th, so for the next few days I am going to pull a few items out of the archives and give a brief description of what they are and why I have them in my collection.

Tuesday, July 31st.

What is it?:  King and Country AF-009 Capt. Nick Magura

Why do I have it?:  I like this set and built a diorama using this figure.  I am currently working on another diorama using other figures from this set.

Nick is in the lower left describing his mission to a fellow pilot

Queen of the Westerns - Dale Evans Issue 3

Sundry Collectibles will be on vacation from July 30 through August 4th, so for the next few days I am going to pull a few items out of the archives and give a brief description of what they are and why I have them in my collection.

Monday, July 30th

What is it?:  "Queen of the Westerns" Dale Evans Comics #3

Why do I have it?:  Early Alex Toth artwork in this issue.  Check out the splash page for the Sierra Smith story...fantastic!

Huey, Dewey and Louie from the Art Corner

I recently acquired this card of Huey, Dewey and Louie riding the Dumbo ride at Disneyland.  It is one of a number of Art Corner cards that are not impossible to find but are also not very common.  Until this one showed up on eBay recently, it had been quite some time since I had seen one for sale.  Some collectors get a little confused by this card.  Why the blank spaces where the "boys" are talking?  I thought I would clear up that question with today's blog.

Huey, Dewey and Louie showed up in the Disney "Universe" very early.  First appearing in a comic strip in 1937 when they are sent to visit Donald.  They were soon after incorporated into various short films and were rather popular characters.  As brothers, they tended to talk over each other and complete each others sentences.  Seen here is a panel from Walt Disney's Comics and Stories issue #102 from March of 1949.  In the fifth panel, Huey, Dewey, and Louie can be seen eagerly volunteering to help Donald find a horse thief.

So, there you have it!  People who bought this card were, I think, meant to fill in the front with something like "Aunt" in one bubble, and "Sue" in the next bubble.  It's as simple as that.

Until next time...

Military Toy Soldiers

One hobby that I only recently have been involved in (and I am only now getting to after almost eighty posts), is that of military miniatures.  I literally stumbled onto this hobby as one of the very few stores in the country that specializes in this sort of thing is located in my home town of Los Gatos, California.  If you are ever downtown, drop by Sierra Toy Soldier Company, and you'll find that (at a minimum) it is interesting, and you may find that you want to buy a figure or two to place on your desk at work, or perhaps more!  A few years ago...that is precisely what I did when I bought a figure of Napoleon in his dress uniform made by William Britain.

There are many manufacturers of figures, and today I feature the low end and the high end of the hobby.  Plastic figures are still being produced, and today when my kids and I were in the store, my boy wanted this Indian warrior toting a rifle.  It's an anonymous plastic figure by Britains, but for what it is, it's pretty good, with multiple colors and the like.

On the other end of the spectrum are figures that are hand painted in Russia by expert craftsmen.  This particular figure is the Dauphin Charles of France from the battle of Poitiers in 1356.  It is beautifully executed with details that can really only be appreciated when looked at it under a magnifying glass.  You cannot look at these figures and not think about the history they represent.  And that's the intriguing part of this hobby.  In this case, the battle of Poitiers was one of three important English victories in the Hundred Years War; a war that reverberates even today in French and English national identity.

I am in the midst of building a WWII diorama with King and Country 8th Air Force figures.  I will show that in a future post.

Until next time...

Disneyland, Monsanto, and the Los Angeles Dodgers

One of the side benefits of collecting Disneyland post cards is that you can often get an interesting glimpse into someone's vacation if the card you have has been used.  More often than not, people comment on the great weather in California and all the fun stuff there is to do.  But occasionally, you get the random comment about last nights meatloaf at Marge's house, or the new baby that they saw at the relatives house.

The card I feature today is (from a collectibility standpoint) totally unremarkable.  Monsanto had the Hall of Chemistry at Disneyland, along with the House of the Future and other exhibits in the early days of the park.  These post cards must have been free, because even today they are easily found and at any given time there are many of them available on eBay (usually overpriced).

But this particular card is interesting because of the reference to the Los Angeles Dodgers on the back.  The card is dated and post-marked October 9th, 1957.  The Dodgers played their last game at Brooklyn's Ebbets field on September 24th, 1957, by which time the ownership of the team had already made the decision to move to LA.  This card gives one fans reaction...and the added note that they hoped the team would be named the Angels!  (See the link for the rather interesting history of the name and origins of the present day Angels in Anaheim)

Some collectors shy away from used cards, but sometimes the brief peek into history can be rather interesting!

Until next time...

Quick & Flupke in le Petit Vingtieme

As I mentioned in my May 17 post regarding the origins of Tintin, Hergé published Tintin in a newspaper supplement called le Petit Vingtieme.  As Tintin became more successful, Hergé created other characters and the little magazine expanded.  Starting in January 1930, two characters by the name of Quick and Flupke showed up in the pages of the magazine, stirring up trouble and being mischievous.

This issue is from March, 1930 and has Quick trying to cook up a chocolate and caramel treat.  It doesn't go well!  You don't need to speak French to get the gist of what is going on here...but if you do it's certainly good for a laugh.  If I am not mistaken, at the end he says (in my loose translation...based on my marginal French), "At the end of the day, these recipes are inedible once executed!"

Quick and Flupke went on to many more adventures but never saw the success that Tintin had.  Nevertheless it remains a fun addition to the universe of Hergé.

Until next time....

Mars Attacks Topps cards

One of the all-time classic collector cards series from Topps that was not related to sports was called Mars Attacks.  It was printed in 1962.  There were only 55 cards in the set, and they were not printed in great numbers because some felt they were too gory and Topps stopped the print run.  The cards are very collectible today and can fetch nearly $20 a card.

This month Topps is reprinting the set to celebrate 50 years since the original cards came out.  On a trip to Target with the family yesterday, there they were!  I caved in and bought two packs.  (A bargain at $2.09 each)

The story goes that the cards were inspired by the cover of Weird Science #16...another EC comic classic (see my July 19th post).  Wally Wood was the cover artist for that issue of Weird Science, and he also did the art for the original card set.

Vintage non-sport collector cards are actively collected by many die-hard collectors out there.  I have been known to dabble in this hobby...but it has only occasionally been a focus.

Until next time....

Goofy Comic Book Advertising from 1953

One of the bonuses that you get as a comic collector is seeing all of the crazy advertising that used to be printed along with the comics in days gone by.  Pick up a Marvel comic from the early 1970's and you are likely to see Arnold Schwarzenegger with some beautiful blonde on his left shoulder while he flexes his right bicep.  "Yes...you too can be like Arnold if you buy the "He-Man" program"...blah, blah, blah...(some things never change)

In the 1950's, it was no different.  The Charles Atlas he-man stuff (an example shown here) started way back...I have seen it in comics from the 1940's...not sure if it was there before that.  Given that Charles Atlas was born in 1892 though...I suspect one can find this sort of thing in earlier comics as well.

The other ads in the comics will range from the practical (small business ideas for kids), to the absolutely ludicrous (see below).  Todays example comes from Justice Traps the Guilty issue 54.  Printed in the summer of 1953, this issue has a bunch of stories adapted from "True Police and FBI cases".  It's this sort of thing that was partly responsible for the initiation of the comics code in 1954...parents felt their kids were being exposed to to much crime.  But the editor of the magazine clearly thought that adults were reading these books too.

This ad really speaks for itself.  Enjoy, as you are transported back to the era of the "Hair Destroying Germs"!!

Until next time...

Dinky Toys Model 29g and 281 Luxury Coach

As I have mentioned before on this blog, Dinky Toys were produced in both France and Great Britain.  The toys were originally meant to supplement the Meccano and Hornby trains, but soon after their introduction in Great Britain around 1932, they gained in popularity among the kids of the time...so much so that they essentially became their own product line.

According to Mike and Sue Richardson, in their fantastic reference on the subject, Dinky Toys and Modelled Miniatures, the term dinky actually is a "colloquial adjective of Scottish origin, meaning 'pretty, neat, of engaging appearance'".  And todays example certainly fits that description!

This is a model 29g or 281 Luxury coach.  The model was produced as the 29g from 1951 through 1954...and then renumbered as the model 281 from 1954 through 1959.  I frankly do not know how to tell the difference between a 29g and a 281, so I am not totally sure which vintage this one is.  But it doesn't really matter, does it?  It's a beautiful toy!!

When I originally got into this hobby, I was primarily buying and selling to make a few bucks and have some fun learning about these toys.  But I never had the heart to get rid of the buses that I acquired.  They are just way to cool to look at!

Until next time....

Northwest Airlines Douglas DC-4

The Douglas DC-4 was primarily a wartime aircraft, built from 1942 to 1947.  The military variant, the C-54 Skymaster, was produced in large numbers, 1170 according to Wikipedia.  But only 63 of the passenger version DC-4 were built.

The caption on the back of this card reads, "America's great cities are served by these huge luxury liners of the "Northwest Passage".  Travel in comfort and safety at cruising speeds of over four miles per minute."

Well...four miles a minute is about 240 miles an hour...a little over a third the speed of a modern sub-sonic jet.  And I guess huge is relative.  Seating 86 passengers with a maximum take-off weight of 73,000 pounds was indeed pretty remarkable for the day.  In modern terms though, a 747-8 seats 467 in a three class configuration and has a maximum take-off weight of 987,000 pounds (!!).  Someday...I suppose this will seem small and slow.  When that will be, though, is anybody's guess!

Until next time...

Weird Fantasy 17 - Ray Bradbury

This is my fourth comic book post in a row, but I just got this in the mail today and could not resist!

Back in the early 1950's EC was printing comics that were frankly ahead of their time.  They may have been controversial at the time, but isn't that the way it is so often??  The controversial is frequently (not always...but frequently) the stuff that is cutting edge and most interesting.  Today, I find that a lot of cutting edge and controversial comic books are just plain stupid and juvenile.  Perhaps I would have said the same about these if I grew up in the time...but today they are a pleasure to look at.

Wally Wood, Albert Feldstein, Joe Orlando, Bill Elder and Al Williamson were responsible for the art in this issue...and it's all worth the price of admission.  Feldstein's cover is a classic.  And the Ray Bradbury scripted Wally Wood apocalypse story is an interesting vision of the future from 1953.  The future?....August, 2026.  Lots of automation in the home, some of it realized today, but nothing resembling an iPad I am afraid!

Until next time...

"Just OK" and Better Comic Art

Not too long ago, my daughter asked me if I could go out and get some Chip 'n Dale comics for her to read.  How could I say no!  She was familiar with a modern version of the characters, so I went out and found some older Chip 'n' Dale comics for her.

We were looking at these books tonight, and I thought they would make for an interesting blog on the topic of "good" comic art vs. "just ok" comic art.  I am not an artist...just a consumer of comics with an eye that has seen many a comic book.  After a while, you start to see stuff, and realize, "Oh...that's a nice page!"  Take these two pages...one is from 1960, the other from 1978.  While appreciating a drawing is a subjective thing...one of these pages is, I think, a little better than the other.  Without reading further, care to guess which one is which (in your opinion)?

The one on the left is, if you look carefully, done in a "heavier" style.  It is less detailed and doesn't really jump out at you very much...it's kind of flat.  It is from 1978 and is typical of a lot of these types of comics from that era.  The work on the right has a finer line, carries more detail, uses shadow effectively and just comes off the page better than the other.  Do you agree with this assessment...or not...or do you think I am seeing things?

This type of thing could be taken to extremes.  If I put a run of the mill artist's page up against a Frank Frazetta or Neil Adams page, you would be able to see the quality (or lack thereof) right away.  I think this example, from two rather non-descript books, shows that there is a wide spectrum of ability displayed out there in old comics.  Even just a little difference in the work can go a long way.

Until next time....

The Amazing Adventures of Buster Crabbe!

Today I have another great Alex Toth comic book to present to you.  This Buster Crabbe cover is from 1954, just prior to the implementation of the Comics Code in America.  When I look at this cover, it reminds me quite a bit of Wally Wood and his work at EC, or even Frank Frazetta.

I particularly like the tag line at the top of this magazine, "SPACE -  JUNGLE - WESTERN"...in other words, for a boy looking at this mag on the rack in 1952, this mag had it all!!  

Until next time...

Walt Disney's Christmas in Disneyland!

Dell comics in the 1950's are a real treat to any Disney fan.  Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, Four Color comics, and a host of other character titled comics (Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooge, Mickey Mouse, Goofy, etc...) were all part of the universe of Disney comics at the time.  

Occasionally though, special issues would be published.  One of these special issues, Walt Disney's Christmas in Disneyland, is a Dell Giant Comic from 1957.  Even though we are in the middle of summer (in the Northern hemisphere at least)...anytime is a good time to look at this holiday classic!  This book is "Giant" becaue it has about a hundred pages and is packed with stories and games for kids of all ages to enjoy.  

Several separate stories are featured, all essentially "told" by Santa Claus to two kids who have hitched a ride with him to Disneyland on Christmas eve.  The general order of the book is as follows:

• Santa takes the boy and girl (Taffie and Timmie) to Disneyland where they land in Adventureland and board an explorers boat.  This is followed by Santa telling the story of Donald Duck in The Black Pearls of Tabu Yama...another awesome Carl Barks story! 

• They next ride the Stagecoach in Frontierland, where Santa tells them the Mickey Mouse story The Iron Horse to Lonesome Gulch.
• They move on to the Rocket Ship ride and Santa tells them a story with Chip'n Dale called Christmas Spirit.
• Heading over to the Skyway, Santa tells the kids a Scamp story...you know Lady and the Tramp's pup Scamp.  The story is called The Hero.

• The Casey Jr. Train is up next where Santa tells a Li'l Bad Wolf story called Zeke's Sledmobile.
• In one of the highlights of the book (I think) they then ride Peter Pan's flight, where Santa tells a Peter Pan story where Hook Catches Santa.  

• The Mine Train is next, where the Snow White and Seven Dwarfs tale is told, Good Deeds.
• Finally, Santa takes the kids home and the comic book closes with several puzzles, games and craft ideas for the holidays.

All told...a packed issue to keep the kids and family entertained for hours...all for 25 cents (well, more than that today, but still)!!

Until next time...

The Lockheed L-188 Electra and NASA N429NA

It's been a while since I have spoken to an aviation postcard, so today I thought I would show a couple cards of the Lockheed L-188 Electra.  These are not vintage cards, but they are vintage photographs.

The Lockheed L-188 was a civilian version of the Lockheed P-3 Submarine chaser and was built starting in 1957.  It unfortunately had a rather spotty safety record early on, and was replaced by jet aircraft after only 170 were built.  Compare this to 757 total built for the P-3.

This aircraft has a special place in my past as I flew on the NASA Electra N429NA when I was in high school.  I had volunteered to work at the NASA Ames research center in the atmospheric research group.  They used to put exerimental platforms onboard U-2 aircraft, but also onboard planes like the Electra.  We would fly around collecting samples of the atmosphere at different altitudes and bring them back to the lab for analysis.  It was a boat load of fun!  

Last I heard...this aircraft was converted into a fire fighting aircraft by Neptune Aviation in Montana.  Here is another picture of the airplane during its conversion process.

Until next time...

Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea Issue #5

Back in the 1950's and 1960's, a lot of movie and T.V. cross over comic books were published by Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics.  Gold Key was actually the successor of Dell...you can read all about that on Wikipedia if you are interested.

These comics can be hit or miss when it comes to internal art-work.  Frequently though, the painted covers are fantastic!  This book was published in 1965, at the same time the T.V. series of the same name was running.  The series was rather successful, running four seasons from 1964 through 1968 - so it's no surprise that there was a companion comic published to go along for the ride.

Comics like these were sometimes challenging for the artists because they had to capture the likeness of the television characters accurately.  I have read interviews of some artists who found this challenging, and some just plain did not like having to do it (probably because they weren't that good at portraiture).  But the painted covers could go a little more over the top, and with the overlay of the real life actor on the front cover, a kid walking by the news stand would instantly associate the magazine with the T.V. show.

Unfortunately, a lot of the artists who did these painted covers are anonymous to us today.  The Grand Comicbook Database does not list the artist for this issue. That's too bad, because it really is a nice piece of fantasy artwork!

Until next time...

1958 Dinky Toys France Catalog

In collecting Dinky Toys, one of the more useful things to seek out are the original catalogs published by Meccano.  Books have been written on what was offered and when, but these catalogs allow you to date the toys using source material published by Meccano factory.  With the catalog I am showing today, I also have the price list...so you can also get an idea of what the kids (and their parents) were paying in 1958 for these little gems.

Seeing this catalog makes me want to go back in time, order the complete catalog, and then return to the present!  Above is a page out of the catalog that features some of the Dinky Toys available at the time.  The catalog also shows Dinky Supertoys, Hornby trains, and Meccano erector sets.  The 24A Chysler New Yorker (the convertible on the lower left of the left page) is a present day classic, and came in a number of color combinations.  Collectors will pay top dollar for the rare colors.  At 410 francs, it was one of the pricier models in its day (at least compared to the other cars offered here).

So...how much was 410 francs in 1958?  Well, that's rather complicated as that is the year that the French re-valued their currency and went to the "new" franc.  I looked for an answer online, but none was clearly available.  If anyone has a good answer here, I would love to hear it!

Until next time...

Later Disneyland Panorama postcards

Disneyland The Nickel Tour is the bible when it comes to collecting Disneyland postcards.  Engaging in this hobby without this book is essentially impossible.  The book is itself rather collectible...as copies on eBay regularly fetch between $200-$300.  

But, it is a static thing.  The catalog of postcards published by Disneyland continues to grow.  A few folks that blog regularly on things Disneyland (especially Ken over at Disneyland Postcards) have websites that catalog the cards that are not in the Nickel Tour.  And today I feature one such card.

This card is one of a set of four numbered MP-10103, MP-10104, MP-10105, and MP-10106.  It is the same size as the older panorama cards that I have spoken of in my blog previously at 3.5 X 11 inches.  It is also a little mysterious to me.  A few years ago, a bunch of them showed up on eBay...and sold for just a few dollars each.  Since then, you see them occasionally, but not often.  I do not attend postcard shows regularly, so I do not know if they are common in that setting.  The card looks to be from the 1990's to my eye, but if that were the case, it would be in the Nickel Tour - and I don't see it in there (maybe I missed it?).  

Anyway...perhaps one of the readers of the blog can shed some light on this.  I have always wondered when this set was published and whether or not it was indeed sold in the park.

Until next time....

The Original Disneyland Cards vs. the D23 Reproductions

D23 is the official Disney fan club.  It gets its name from the year 1923, when Walt and his brother Roy started the Disney Studio.  For a fee, you can join the club and attend their special events held throughout the year.  At these events, they will give out collectible "members only" items for the fans as a reward for their loyalty.

A few years back, someone at D23 thought it would be a great idea to reproduce the original 23 postcards that were published for the opening of Disneyland.  When I first heard about this set, and saw it for the first time, I was a tad dismayed.  Below are two scans, one of the original P11876 card, the other of the D23 reproduction.

While at first glance this could be disturbing, the Disney postcard collector need not panic!  There are several characteristics that help distinguish between the cards.

First of all, if you look closely, you'll note that the reproduction card has been crop in a little closer.  This is the case on most of the D23 cards...but in some of the cases, it is rather subtle.  So, if you have the card in front of you, the next clue is the card stock.  The original card isn't your standard postcard stock like the original, but feels thinner and more flexible.

This is the original card P11876 (NT card #0001)

This is the reproduction D23 card P11876 (NT card #0001)

Finally, there is a semi-gloss finish on the reproduction card.  It is semi-gloss on both sides.  The original card can have a very high gloss on the front if in excellent condition, but will be a matte finish on the back.  

So there you have it.  For all of you out there who collect these cards, rest assured that passing one of the newer cards off as an older one is "not in the cards"!  (Sorry...that was pretty bad.)

Until next time...

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #29 - Minnie in Hollywood!

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories started out as a magazine that reprinted newspaper strips of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and other characters from the Disney studios.  It began publication in 1940, and it is still being published today.  There were a few short breaks in that period...but that is an impressive run none-the-less.  Issue #24 saw the first original story done for the magazine, and issue #31 the first work by the great Carl Barks.  In between these two important issues, the magazine featured a few longer stories, more reprints, and some non-comic text articles that are pretty interesting.

Issue #29 is from February 1943 and contains all of the elements mentioned above.  Donald and the nephews are on this Walt Kelly cover and the feature length comics in the magazine have Mickey Mouse and Thumper (the rabbit from Bambi) as the main characters.

But, this particular issue also has an article "by" Minnie Mouse, called Hollywood Chatter.  In it, the stories of some of the more famous child actors of the day are recounted.  Roddy McDowall is featured here, while Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Lana Turner and Jackie Cooper are also all mentioned.

The cool part about these magazines is that they go back to a time when comics really did entertain a kid for a long time.  With the multiple text stories like this one, it takes the better part of an hour to read one of these books (compared to 10-15 minutes for most modern comics).  And the content is still entertaining today!

Until next time...

Hot Wheels #5 - An Alex Toth Masterpiece

For today I thought I would break out an Alex Toth classic, Hot Wheels #5 published by DC comics in 1970.  Most comic collectors today aren't aware that there was a very brief run of Hot Wheels comics that ran in 1970 and 1971.  There were only six issues, but all the art was done by either Alex Toth or Neal Adams...two of the greats in the industry then or ever.

This book is one of Alex Toth's best.  He did all of the writing, penciling and inking here.  This was not something he regularly did, but it meant that he had total control of the work.  Toth was an illustrator.  Like his primary mentors Noel Sickles and Milton Caniff, he took his craft very seriously.  And his pages were practically cinematic.  They flowed the way a well made movie might...using perspective, figure placements, lighting and shadow to communicate story.  Toth didn't just draw his comic stories...he directed them.

Much has been written about Toth as he is truly one of the greats.  But I will leave off today with this quote from an interview published in the January 2001 issue of Comic Book Artist:

If I hated a script, I couldn't send it back to the editor.  I was capable of doing a "throwaway" job, to just "get it out," not see it anymore!  But, if really interested in doing my very best, not repeating myself, not falling back on easy ways out, because this script warranted better-than-average effort, I'd give 110%.  

Well..I will suggest that he was always interested in doing his best.  And this book is a great example of him at the top of his game.  I will be featuring more Alex Toth in future posts.

Until next time...