New Things Quality

A few things to note…

Women of the DC Universe:
Phantom Lady Bust

1. Quality Collectibles!

I started a page at Cosmic Teams devoted to collectibles based on Quality characters. See it here!

2. Kid Eternity news!

There's a new interview at Comic Book Resources with Jeff Lemire, who is penning the return of Kid Eternity! Lemire gives up some surprising tidbits concerning the nature of the DCnU, saying:

"As far as I know, and I might be corrected on this, the "National Comics" titles are out of continuity because I know that there is a Madame Xanadu one and it has nothing to do with the New 52 Madame Xanadu. So no, I don't make any reference to any other DC Universe character. It is a self-contained, totally out-of-continuity take on the character. We just kept the original name and stuff."

 Also, he'd originally wanted to include Eternity in his Justice League Dark title.

I'm sensing a theme...
Classic Photography #1 (Autumn 1956)

3. Arnold Magazines!

I've been quietly adding to this section, which focuses at length on Arnold Publications, the offshoot of Quality Comics by Busy Arnold that limped along when the comics ended, from 1956-1958. I daresay it's the most complete list yet, although I'm still missing a few cover scans.

The rarest of all are the pulp digests, which never appear on ebay. I found two on Amazon.

I'll publicize it more when I've written it more fully, but it already contains lots of notable scans from the issues I've acquired:

• Introduction
• The Sweats
• The Pin-Ups
• The Digests

Arnold Magazines: Man's Exploits #1

After publishing Quality Comics, Busy Arnold began Arnold Magazines in late 1956. I'm in the process of writing up a larger article on this subject, but wanted to share some spicy scans from one of his mens' adventure magazines, Man's Exploits. These images are from issue #1 (June 1957), and the cartoons are by Bill Ward (signed "McCartney"). 

As I was finishing the Quality Companion, I was just learning more about this endeavor and it is covered briefly. My work online seeks to catalog the entire operation, which was edited by Quality’s Al Grenet and Dick Arnold. Jim Amash spoke with both of these men for Alter Ego #34 (March 2004). George Hagenauer also wrote a sidebar in that issue, “Busy Arnold’s Other Magazines,” which summarizes the genres of this era nicely. All were published either bimonthly or quarterly.

This issue was part of the largest category of magazines,  the men's adventure magazines, or "sweats": Rage for Men, Man's Exploits, Gusto, and Courage. Each of these also contained spreads with ladies posed in various states of dress on beaches, in nature, and in the boudoir.

I have to abundantly thank Frank Motler (a men’s magazine indexer) and Phil Stephensen-Payne (who runs Galactic Central). They selflessly offered their knowledge and data to me during this process. Galactic Central compiles information from many sources and includes checklists and cover images. 

[ spicy images after the break! ]

Read the work-in-progress at Cosmic Teams: Arnold Magazines: The Sweats