Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Krazy Kats

As Woody Gelman's band of merry artists grew in the mid 1960's, Topps started branching out into more esoteric items as the decade wore on. In what must have been a fit of MAD Magazine inspired inspiration, 1967 saw a 16 "card" limited issue called Krazy Little Comics marketed.

The genesis of this set was previously looked at here, as part of a longer piece on Presentation Boards:


As we will see momentarily, this board is more advanced that most as it uses artwork that would see issue in 1967.  Many of the boards were merely mockups created from previous issues that were altered to show a conceptual idea.  The set title though, was still to be tweaked by changing the "C" to a "K". There is some artwork known for the wrapper as well; not sure if this was used for the actual release or frankly if it's even artwork but I think it is due to the uneven inking:



Most references call this a test release but I think it made it to a second stage as there are too many indicators of a retail issue.  While test wrappers are known (and would be one of the first of their kind), I have found pictures of packs and boxes scattered throughout the web.  Here is a nice flat from a prior Heritage auction:



It's clearly a 1967 issue based upon that production code.  Here a few more shots of boxes and the like, giving credence to the "more than a test" theory:


That little beauty is from comprehensive Spiderman blog with over 8,000 collectible shown of America's favorite webslinger (wow!).

Another reason I lean toward a limited release is that you cna find these with relative ease compared to true test issues.  They are more properly in the "scarce" category I think and prices for nice, raw books have fallen to about $35-$40 from $75 or $80 of late, although a new find could also explain the drop.

The artwork is stellar which makes a lot of sense as it was done by Wally Wood and Gil Kane, with stories by Roy Thomas.  Wood effected many of MAD's comic book parodies in the 1950's and is considered to be one of the finest comic book artists of all time while Kane and Thomas worked on many of the comic books that were parodied. In fact a study of Wood, edited by Bhob Stewart, notes that "some nervous corporate lawyers" put a halt to the series. Considering how much effort had been put into the set, there must have a huge threat of litigation to make Topps pull back.

Each book was eight pages, including front and back covers.  As seen on this uncut Tarsam book consigned to Probstein123, there was only one panel shown per page:



I thought I would do a visual checklist of the sixteen covers, since they have all popped up on eBay of late and are not well known otherwise:







As Topps proved with Wacky Packages, parody and satire can be accomplished without copyright being infringed, so the legal issues Topps was afraid of could instead have been related to the back covers.  Here's a better look at the back of Tarsam:


No funny title, just a direct steal of Popeye.  Here's some more, the GI Melvin and Aorta ads probably caused the Topps legal team some serious heartburn:







Really killer stuff, too bad it got squelched.  And remember the MAD connection?  Here is a final parting shot courtesy of www.madcoversite.com:













Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Doeskin Off My Nose

I've already posted this over at the Modern Hobby Guide blog as an update but not everyone here checks over there so forgive the duplicate posting. An earlier post on these cards can be found here.




Marty Krim, one of metro Boston's finest Non Sports dealers, has passed along a checklist for the Doeskin cards that were issued in small tissue packages around 1955. As detailed in the Modern Hobby GuideDoeskin drew from two Topps issues: 1952's Wings and 1955's Rails & Sails. As also detailed in the book, no checklists had been confirmed and the set count was indeterminate but thought to be 100 from each contributing Topps issue.

Marty has set the record straight now and determined there are 160 total Doeskin cards.  80 came from Wings and another 80 from Rails & Sails (40 trains and 40 ships).  The Wings subset runs from #1-80 and the Rails & Sails from #81-200 but 40 numbers are skipped in the latter.  While it seems cruel to skip number such an issue, I doubt anyone was ever able to complete a set of these in the 1950's.  I don't think there are that many sets around even today as these are seldom seen. The word from Mr. Krim is that it's hard to find cards even in EX, no surprise given the method of distribution.

Marty has a huge stock of the Doeskin cards (hence his wonderful checklist) and can be contacted at martykrim@gmail.com if anyone out there is interested in purchasing same.  Marty also has a huge selection of other Non Sports cards as well and is one of the good guys in the hobby so feel free to pepper him with orders!

This also means the Doeskin "side checklist" for Rails & Sails in the Modern Hobby Guide is incorrect as it has 20 too many possible cards shown. I never developed a side list for Wings as there was virtually no information available at the time I wrote the book. In addition, The ACC # for Doeskin Wings is F381 and for Doeskin Rails & Sails it's F378.  I treat them as a single issue below but that is not definite.

Here is the Doeskin checklist:



NO.
SUBSET
SUBJECT
DESCRIPTION

1
WINGS
T-33
U.S. AIR FORCE JET TRAINER

2
WINGS
MIG-15
RUSSIAN JET FIGHTER

3
WINGS
XC-120 PACK PLANE
U.S. AIR FORCE TRANSPORT

4
WINGS
LINCOLN
BRITISH BOMBER

5
WINGS
F-51 MUSTANG
U.S. AIR FORCE FIGHTER

6
WINGS
AT-7 NAVIGATOR
U.S. AIR FORCE LIGHT TRANSPORT

7
WINGS
PBY CATALINA
U.S. NAVY PATROL BOMBER

8
WINGS
B-26 INVADER
U.S. AIR FORCE LIGHT BOMBER

9
WINGS
XF-91
U.S. AIR FORCE JET FIGHTER

10
WINGS
F7U CUTLASS
U.S. NAVY JET FIGHTER

11
WINGS
VAMPIRE
BRITISH JET FIGHTER

12
WINGS
B-57 CANBERRA
BRITISH JET BOMBER

13
WINGS
SUNDERLAND
BRITISH PATROL FLYING BOAT

14
WINGS
PB4Y-2 PRIVATEER
U.S. NAVY PATROL BOMBER

15
WINGS
T-28
U.S. AIR FORCE ADVANCED TRAINER

16
WINGS
WYVERNE MK. 2
BRITISH TURBO-PROP FIGHTER

17
WINGS
BALLIOL T. MK. 2
BRITISH ADVANCED TRAINER

18
WINGS
F-47 THUNDERBOLT
U.S. AIR FORCE FIGHTER

19
WINGS
HUP-1
U.S. NAVY HELICOPTER

20
WINGS
HERMES
BRITISH CIVIL TRANSPORT

21
WINGS
L-17 NAVION
U.S. AIR FORCE LIAISON CIVIL PRIVATE PLANE

22
WINGS
F3D SKYKNIGHT
U.S. NAVY JET ALL WEATHER FIGHTER

23
WINGS
AM MAULER
U.S. NAVY ATTACK PLANE

24
WINGS
B-36
U.S. AIR FORCE STRATEGIC BOMBER

25
WINGS
F8F BEARCAT
U.S. NAVY FIGHTER

26
WINGS
F-80 SHOOTING STAR
U.S. AIR FORCE FIGHTER-BOMBER

27
WINGS
SEA ATTACKER
BRITISH NAVY JET FIGHTER

28
WINGS
F6F HELLCAT
U.S. NAVY FIGHTER

29
WINGS
P2V NEPTUNE
U.S. NAVY PATROL BOMBER

30
WINGS
AVRO JETLINER
CANADIAN CIVIL JET TRANSPORT

31
WINGS
C-121 CONSTELLATION
U.S. AIR FORCE TRANSPORT

32
WINGS
C-74 GLOBEMASTER 1
U.S. AIR FORCE STRATEGIC TRANPSORT

33
WINGS
F-84F
U.S. AIR FORCE JET FIGHTER-BOMBER

34
WINGS
F4U CORSAIR
U.S. NAVY AND MARINE CORPS FIGHTER

35
WINGS
FIREFLY
BRITISH NAVY FIGHTER

36
WINGS
C-125 RAIDER
U.S. AIR FORCE ASSAULT TRANSPORT

37
WINGS
C-46 COMMANDO
U.S. NAVY -R5C

38
WINGS
PE-2
RUSSIAN ATTACK BOMBER

39
WINGS
AF GUARDIAN
U.S. NAVY ATTACK PLANE

40
WINGS
C-82 PACKET
U.S. AIR FORCE TRANSPORT

41
WINGS
R60 CONSTITUTION
U.S. NAVY STRATEGIC TRANSPORT

42
WINGS
IL-12
RUSSIAN TRANSPORT

43
WINGS
HASTINGS
BRITISH MILITARY TRANSPORT

44
WINGS
AJ SAVAGE
U.S. NAVY COMPOSITE POWERED ATTACK BOMBER

45
WINGS
F-82 TWIN-MUSTANG
U.S. AIR FORCE FIGHTER

46
WINGS
XF4D SKYRAY
U.S. NAVY JET FIGHTER

47
WINGS
T-6 TEXAN
U.S. AIR FORCE TRAINER

48
WINGS
C-123 AVITRUK
U.S. AIR FORCE TRANSPORT

49
WINGS
JRM MARS
U.S. NAVY TRANSPORT

50
WINGS
METEOR
BRITISH JET FIGHTER

51
WINGS
B-29 SUPERFORTRESS
U.S. AIR FORCE STRATEGIC BOMBER

52
WINGS
IL-10
RUSSIAN ASSAULT BOMBER

53
WINGS
B-45 TORNADO
U.S. NAVY AIR FORCE JET BOMBER

54
WINGS
LA-5
RUSSIAN FIGHTER

55
WINGS
COMET
BRITISH JET TRANSPORT

56
WINGS
H-13D
U.S.A.F. & ARMY HELICOPTER

57
WINGS
PE-8
RUSSIAN HEAVY BOMBER

58
WINGS
C-97 STRATOFREIGHTER
U.S. AIR FORCE STRATEGIC TRANSPORT

59
WINGS
H-21
U.S. AIR FORCE TRANSPORT HELICOPTER

60
WINGS
FH-1 PHANTOM
U.S. NAVY JET FIGHTER

61
WINGS
B-47 STRATOJET
U.S. AIR FORCE STRATEGIC JET BOMBER

62
WINGS
L-20 BEAVER
U.S. AIR FORCE UTILITY-LIAISON

63
WINGS
FJ FURY
U.S. NAVY JET FIGHTER

64
WINGS
F-94
U.S. AIR FORCE JET INTERCEPTOR FIGHTER

65
WINGS
SHACKLETON
BRITISH PATROL BOMBER

66
WINGS
S-51 HELICOPTER
U.S. AIR FORCE

67
WINGS
A-20 HAVOC
U.S. AIR FORCE-LIGHT BOMBER

68
WINGS
IL-2 STORMOVIK
RUSSIAN ASSAULT BOMBER

69
WINGS
C-119 PACKET
U.S. AIR FORCE TRANSPORT

70
WINGS
DC-4 SKYMASTER
C-54-U.S. AIR FORCE TRANSPORT

71
WINGS
F-86 SABER
U.S. AIR FORCE JET FIGHTER

72
WINGS
VENOM
BRITISH JET FIGHTER

73
WINGS
H-19
U.S. AIR FORCE HELICOPTER

74
WINGS
TBM AVENGER
U.S. NAVY TORPEDO BOMBER

75
WINGS
CF-100 CANUCK
CANADIAN JET INTERCEPTOR

76
WINGS
F-84 THUNDERJET
U.S. AIR FORCE FIGHTER-BOMBER

77
WINGS
F-86D
U.S. AIR FORCE JET INTERCEPTOR

78
WINGS
SEA HAWK
BRITISH NAVY JET FIGHTER

79
WINGS
SA-16 ALBATROSS
U.S. NAVY UTILITY AMPHIBIAN

80
WINGS
202
CIVIL AIRLINE TRANSPORT

81
R&S RAILS
"SOUTH CAROLINA"
DOUBLE-ENDER TYPE

82
R&S RAILS
DIESEL LOCO
EGYPTIAN STATE RYS.

83
R&S RAILS
COMMODORE VANDERBILT
N.Y.C. RR

84
R&S RAILS
PULPWOOD CAR
LOUISANA & ARK. RY.

85
R&S RAILS
1902 "20TH CENTURY"
N.Y. CENTRAL

86
R&S RAILS
ARTICULATED TYPE
N. & W. RAILROAD

87
R&S RAILS
EARLY SWITCHER
0-4-0 TYPE

90
R&S RAILS
INCLINE
MAUCH CHUNK

92
R&S RAILS
DEMONSTRATION LOCO
STEVENS DESIGN

93
R&S RAILS
"JOHN BULL"
CAMDEN & AMBOY RR

94
R&S RAILS
EXPERIMENTAL LOCO
FONTAINE DESIGN

95
R&S RAILS
0-6-0 SWITCHER
MISSOURI PACIFIC RR

96
R&S RAILS
DINING CAR
PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD

97
R&S RAILS
SUGAR CANE CAR
PLANTATION USE

98
R&S RAILS
ORE CAR
GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY

99
R&S RAILS
AUTOMOBILE BOX CAR
N.Y. CENTRAL

100
R&S RAILS
PRIVATE CAR
DELAWARE & HUDSON RR

101
R&S RAILS
"JOSHUA RHODES"
FIRST PORTER LOCO

104
R&S RAILS
THE "HIAWATHA"
C.M. St. P. & P. RR

105
R&S RAILS
NARROW GAUGE
SANDY RIVER RR

107
R&S RAILS
THE "PIONEER"
FIRST CHICAGO LOCO

108
R&S RAILS
SUBWAY TRAIN
NEW YORK CITY

109
R&S RAILS
ELECTRIC TYPE
ITALIAN STATE RYS.

111
R&S RAILS
STREAMLINED STEAM LOCO
B&O RR

113
R&S RAILS
CAMEL TYPE
BALTIMORE & OHIO RR

114
R&S RAILS
"OLD IRONSIDES"
FIRST BALDWIN LOCO

115
R&S RAILS
GRASSHOPPER TYPE
B&O RR

116
R&S RAILS
MULTIPLE UNIT TRAIN
N.Y. CENTRAL

117
R&S RAILS
OPEN END DAY COACH
D.L. & W. RR

119
R&S RAILS
HIGH PRESSURE LOCO
D. & H. RR

120
R&S RAILS
CAB FORWARD LOCO
SOUTHERN PACIFIC RR

121
R&S RAILS
ACF TALGO
LIGHTWEIGHT STREAMLINER

122
R&S RAILS
STEAM LOCOMOTIVE
B.&.O. RAILROAD

123
R&S RAILS
RED ARROW EXPRESS
SWISS RAILWAYS

125
R&S RAILS
STEAM STREAMLINER
N. & W. RAILROAD

126
R&S RAILS
STEAM LOCOMOTIVE
UNION PACIFIC RR

127
R&S RAILS
SINGLE WHEELER
READING RAILROAD

128
R&S RAILS
STEEL BOX CAR
PRIVATE OWNER

129
R&S RAILS
BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE
4-2-0 TYPE

130
R&S RAILS
FIRST "ZEPHYR"
BURLINGTON ROUTE

151
R&S SAILS
FERRY BOAT
DOUBLE ENDED NEW YORK HARBOR

152
R&S SAILS
QUEEN ELIZABETH
LUXURY LINER

153
R&S SAILS
FISHING CRUISER
PLEASURE POWER BOAT

154
R&S SAILS
SUBMARINE
U.S. NAVY

155
R&S SAILS
OYSTER BOAT
CHESAPEAKE BAY FISHING BOAT

156
R&S SAILS
GREEK WAR SHIP
ANCIENT FIGHTING GALLEY

157
R&S SAILS
NET TENDER
U.S. NAVY

158
R&S SAILS
DUTCH BOTTER
ZUIDERZEE SAILING CRAFT

159
R&S SAILS
ORE CARRIER
GREAT LAKES FREIGHTER

160
R&S SAILS
TRAWLER
BRITISH STEAM POWERED FISHERMAN

161
R&S SAILS
FREIGHTER
GENERAL CARGO CARRIER

162
R&S SAILS
EGYPTIAN SHIP
OARED MERCHANTMAN

163
R&S SAILS
ENGLISH HOY
18TH CENTURY WORK BOAT

164
R&S SAILS
CATAMARAN
AMERICAN DESIGN

166
R&S SAILS
SUB-CHASER
U.S. NAVY

167
R&S SAILS
LIGHT SHIP
DANISH COAST GUARD

169
R&S SAILS
OIL TANKER
SEAGOING GAS STATION

170
R&S SAILS
STEAM PACKET
EARLY STEAMSHIP

172
R&S SAILS
S.S. UNITED STATES
PASSENGER LINER

173
R&S SAILS
HAWAIIAN LINER
LUXURY CRUISE SHIP

174
R&S SAILS
TORPEDO BOAT
U.S. NAVY PATROL SHIP

175
R&S SAILS
MISS LIBERTY
SIGHTSEEING BOAT

176
R&S SAILS
GLOUCESTERMAN
FISHING SCHOONER

177
R&S SAILS
RACING BOAT
"SLO-MO-SHON IV"

178
R&S SAILS
CRUISER
U.S. NAVY

179
R&S SAILS
CRASH BOAT
AIR FORCE RESCUE LAUNCH

180
R&S SAILS
U.S.S. INDIANA
U.S. NAVY 1894

181
R&S SAILS
TUNA CLIPPER
AMERICAN FISHING BOAT

182
R&S SAILS
HARBOR DREDGE
WORK BARGE

184
R&S SAILS
CONSTITUTION
REVOLUTIONARY WARSHIP

185
R&S SAILS
WHALE SHIP
FLOATING FACTORY

188
R&S SAILS
S.S. CARONIA
PASSENGER LINER

190
R&S SAILS
U.S.S. MISSOURI
U.S. NAVY

191
R&S SAILS
HASTINGS LUGGER
BRITISH FISHERMAN

192
R&S SAILS
SHRIMP BOAT
FISH TRAWLER

193
R&S SAILS
MINESWEEPER
U.S. NAVY

194
R&S SAILS
COBLE
ENGLISH OFFSHORE WORK BOAT

196
R&S SAILS
ROMAN TRIREME
WAR VESSEL

199
R&S SAILS
HOSPITAL SHIP
U.S. NAVY

200
R&S SAILS
FLAT TOP
U.S. NAVY AIRCRAFT CARRIER