Australian reprints of American comic books
published between 1950s-1980s have become popular items with modern-day
collectors. During this period, the K. G. Murray Company dominated Australian
comics publishing, yet comic books were just one part of this phenomenally
successful publishing enterprise.
Kenneth G. Murray was a Sydney-based advertising
agent who also published two trade journals when he decided to launch Man
('The Australian Magazine for Men') in December 1936. Modelled after America's
Esquire magazine, Man proved to be a surprising success in
Depression-era Australia. By 1939, Man was selling 60,000 copies per month.
Murray was sufficiently confident of the title's success to launch a
digest-sized companion, Man Junior, in 1937.
With the end of World War Two and the easing of
paper rationing and new publication embargoes, the K. G. Murray Company (KGM)
entered the comic book market in 1946.
Between 1946-47, KGM published several one-shot
comics written and illustrated by Australian cartoonists. These included
Flameman (c.1946), a superhero strip by Moira Bertram, High Compression
(c.1947), an Italian Grand Prix mystery drawn by Albert De Vine and The
Lost Patrol (c.1946), an adventure set in postwar New Guinea, written &
drawn by Hart Amos.
Several of KGM's early comics appeared under the
short-lived 'Blue Star' logo, including Vernon Hayle's sci-fi comic, Man Out
of Space (1 issue/1946), Noel Cook's Treasure Planet (1 issue/c.1947)
and Royce Bradford's Valley of Doom (1 issue/c.1947). These early KGM
titles are extremely rare and today are worth upwards of $100 each.
KGM took a major gamble in 1947 with the launch of
Climax Color Comic, the first full-colour, original Australian comic
magazine. Considered by critics and collectors to be amongst the best Australian
comics of the 1940s, the Climax series showcased work by the some of the
country's best cartoonists, including Hart Amos (Nos. 1,3 &8), Moira Bertram
(Nos. 2, 5, 7-10 &12) and Len Lawson (Nos. 6 & 13).
(It's worth noting that this colour series was
actually preceded by KGM's black & white, one-shot title, Climax
All-Australian Comic, which also featured strips by Noel Cook and Hart
Amos.)
Joining Climax Color Comic that year were
KGM's new line of all-colour reprints of such popular American comic book series
as Superman and Batman (both from DC Comics) and Quality Comics'
Captain Triumph.
The American reprint titles were a runaway success,
with Superman alone averaging sales of 150,000 copies per issue! Local
artists often contributed back-up strips, either in the form of 2-3 page humour
strips, or adventure stories like Keith Chatto's Lost Island, Hart Amos'
hero Hurricane Hardy (who first appeared in Climax Color Comic)
and Peter Chapman's Derek Prentice.
The increased production costs associated with
producing full-colour comics forced KGM to fold Climax Color Comics and
publish its American reprint editions in black & white. The popularity of such
titles as Superman and Batman, however, ensured that KGM's comic
book line would not only survive, but greatly expand, in coming decades.
This didn't mean that KGM abandoned locally made
comics for good. In 1952, the prolific Hart Amos wrote and drew Magicat,
a super-powered cartoon animal that lasted just three issues.
KGM also turned several of its popular men's
magazine comic strips into spin-off comic book titles. The most popular of these
was Devil Doone (47 issues/1948-1971), which debuted in Man Junior
in 1945. Then came Flash Cain (c.1951-52/4 issues), which appeared in
KGM's Cavalcade magazine and was illustrated by Phil Belbin. Joining
these suave, playboy crime-fighters was the investigative reporter, Jimmy
Smart (2 issues/c.1957), who first appeared in KGM's Pocket Man
magazine, illustrated by both Phil Belbin and Peter Chapman.
The company's last Australian-made comic appeared in
1959. Smoky Dawson was based on the popular Australian Country &Western
singer of the same name. It was initially drawn by Albert DeVine, who originally
created the feature as a weekend newspaper strip. Andrea Bresciani drew later
editions, before the comic folded with its eleventh issue.
By the early 1950s, American titles completely
dominated KGM's comic book line, which now bore the somewhat misleading colophon
'Colour Comics Pty. Ltd.' on their covers. Early KGM titles were devoted to
individual characters, such as Superboy (who first appeared in DC Comics'
Adventure Comics), Green Arrow, Johnny Quick and The
Adventures of Congo Bill (all of which debuted in DC Comics' More Fun
Comics during the 1940s).
Typically, these titles would feature one or two
stories starring the lead character, followed by back-up strips. Early KGM
reprints frequently cropped the original artwork to accommodate advertisements
and sometimes printed two pages of artwork per page in landscape format, just to
squeeze an extra story into an issue!
During the mid-to-late 1950s, KGM appears to have
abandoned their solo character titles, with the exceptions of Superman and
Batman, and launched a string of giant-sized anthologies. Numbering anywhere
between 64-120 pages, these comics gave readers dozens of stories per issue and
were priced between 1/- and 2/- shillings, depending on their size.
This decision clearly proved successful, as KGM
continued to follow this format well into the early 1970s! Some of the longer
running titles from this period included: Tip-Top Monthly (120+ issues);
Mighty Comics (c.1958/129+issues); World's Finest Monthly (100+
issues); Century Plus Comic (102+ issues); Super Giant (18+
issues); All Favourites (88+ issues); Mammoth Annual (12+ issues);
All Star Adventure Comic (c.1961/89+ issues) and The Hundred Comic
(c.1956/95+ issues)
(At this point, it should be noted that the
publication dates and number of issues per title are estimates only, given that
most KGM titles remained undated until the mid-to-late 1970s!)
KGM's editorial team made crude attempts at
disguising their comics' American origins. Prior to 1966, all references to
dollars and cents were erased and converted to sterling currency. American place
names were often replaced by references to Australian and New Zealand locales.
It's highly unlikely that many of their readers were fooled by these clumsy
alterations, or that they even cared.
KGM had dominated Australian comics publishing
throughout the 1950s and 60s with their line of DC Comics reprint titles, the
most popular of which were Superman and Batman. However, their dominance would
be challenged throughout the next two decades by the continuing importation of
full-colour comics from America, along with the growth of Australia's specialty
comic bookshop market.
The late 1960s and early 1970s saw changes made to
KGM's comics' line-up. The most noticeable of these was the new Planet Comics
logo, which began to appear on all KGM titles during this period.
Superman continued to dominate KGM's titles,
appearing in his own Superman Supacomic (180+ issues), Superman Super
Library (40+ issues) and Giant Superman Album (35+ issues), while his
spin-off cast members appeared in their own titles, including Lois Lane Album,
Jimmy Olsen Album, Superboy Album and Supergirl.
Batman, too, had his own comic, as well as appearing
in other KGM reprints, like The Brave and the Bold, where Batman teamed
up with another DC Comics hero in each issue.
Other KGM titles, such as Wonder Woman Album
(5+ issues) Green Lantern and The Flash, featured DC Comics'
'second-tier' characters, featuring a mixture of late 1950s 'Silver Age'
stories, with more recent 1970s adventures.
America's Marvel Comics had not been reprinted
locally since the mid-1960s, when Horwitz Publications ceased their line of
Australian reprints, such as Sgt. Fury, Kid Colt Outlaw and
Strange Tales. Strangely enough, several new Marvel titles, such as
Warlock and Werewolf at Night, began appearing in KGM's Super
Giant (18+ issues) during the mid-1970s!
Non-superhero titles also continued to be published
under the Planet Comics banner, including Combat Zone Album, along with
several Westerns, including Bumper Western Comic, Ringo and The
Fastest Gun Western (36+ issues).
KGM's line expanded in the mid-1970s to include new
reprint titles from other American comics' publishers. These included local
editions of Judomaster, Yang, Vengeance Squad, War
Heroes, Grand Prix and Monster Hunters, all of which were
originally published by Charlton Comics between 1963-1979. KGM published local
editions of Warren Publications' popular black & white horror comics, such as
Creepy, Eerie and Vampirella, all of which featured advisory
labels stating they were 'Rated M for Mature Readers.'
The late 1970s saw KGM briefly return to full-colour
comics, arguably in response to competition from colour television, which
debuted in Australia in 1976. KGM published colour editions of Superman
and Batman & Robin, along with several titles based on Hanna-Barberra's
popular TV cartoon shows, including Top Cat, The Jetsons and
Huckleberry Hound.
Planet Comics gave way to a new-look logo and image
in 1980. The line was renamed Murray Comics and now featured an all-new company
mascot, Murray the Cat, who offered readers the chance to subscribe to a range
of Murray Comics titles.
It was not uncommon for Murray Comics to revive
titles that had last seen print under the company's old Planet Comics logo. For
example, the 1970s-era Super AdventureComic title (80+ issues)
was revived in 1983, featuring a different line-up of superhero characters.
Murray the Cat, however, didn't last the distance
and was replaced in 1983 by the far more mundane-sounding Federal Comics
imprint, to coincide with the parent company's new name, The Federal Publishing
Company. During this period, Federal launched a new range of black & white and
full-colour DC Comic reprint titles, including The Daring New Adventures of
Supergirl (1983/2+ issues), Federal Comics Starring Batman (1983/6+
issues) and Justice League of America (1985/11+ issues). These colour
editions bore the DC Comics logo with the legend 'Australian Edition - All
Colour' and featured the promotional byline 'Federal Comics are the RAGE!' to
reinforce the message of Federal's then-current cinema advertising campaign.
By 1984-85, Federal Comics' line-up included colour
and black & white reprints of several Marvel Comics titles, including The
Amazing Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk (7+ issues) and The Mighty
Avengers (5+ issues), as well as film tie-in editions like Conan The
Destroyer. Federal Comics tried to emulate the fan club appeal of Marvel
Comics by introducing a letters' column for local readers.
Sadly, none of these changes could save Federal
Comics from oblivion. Local comic collector and publisher Richard Rae, writing
in Comics in Australia and New Zealand (The Haworth Press, 1994), claims
that Murray/Federal were printing 20,000 copies per issue, most of which went
unsold. He argues that the company not only did not understand their product
(thinking their reprint titles were in fact the original editions!), but they
also failed to respond to competition from Australia's specialty comic shops.
Rae claims that his own Sydney-based shop, Comic Empire, sold more copies of the
original American edition of Spider-Man than Federal did of its reprint
edition Australia-wide!
Federal Comics appear to have ceased publication by
1986, almost forty years after its founder, Kenneth G. Murray, created such a
sensational impact on the Australian comics industry.
This article originally appeared in the February 2003 and March 2003 editions of
Collectormania magazine
(www.collectormania.com.au). Kevin Patrick can be contacted at Buzz Productions,
PO Box 1055 Camberwell VIC 3124 Australia, or via email at: buzzproductions2001@yahoo.com.au.
Article reprinted with permission.
