Book Description
The story of I.W Publications is fascinating. In the late 1950s, when the comic world went into a slump, Israel Waldman hit on the idea of buying up storage facilities and physical materials of defunct comic companies. With the letterpress plates in hand, he started to churn out cheap reprints of comics from these (and other companies). It was done without regard to intellectual property rights, and of course most of his books were entirely illegal - - but since most of the companies were no longer around, that didn't bother him much. In 1958, and again in 1963-64, Waldman produced a total of 332 issues covering 118 different titles. The numbering was erratic, the contents didn't always match the cover, and the quality varied widely. Interestingly, I.W. did produce one original comic (Marty Mouse, 1958) and many of the books had original covers by well-respected artists of the day. The I.W. Reprints (aka Super Comics) are pooh-poohed by some collectors today, but the true comic fan and historian see them as a part of history, alternative versions of stories - and for the reprinter today, with most of the books now in the public domain, occasionally better versions of stories than we can find in their original form. BLAZING SIX GUNS was a ten-issue anthology, whose title was probably decided when I.W. Realized they had the cover plate for BLAZING SIX-GUNS #1 (Avon 1952)-- one less thing to think about, right? The comics this series was 'derived" from ran across many publishers from the late 40s through mid-50s, and while some stories are unattributed, many were drawn by the top masters of the day. We have five of those issues in this, our first volume. This is an economical black & white version of our great collection! Gwandanaland Comics(TM) is dedicated to the concepts, spirit, and the laws which govern copyright and the public domain. We are committed to publishing only those comics which are verified to be public domain; we will not under any circumstance, publish works which are the property of another person or company, whether or not the work is defended or claimed. We consider this to be an absolute. We take great strides and efforts to ensure that our books are legal and ethical. If you have any reason to believe we are unintentionally in violation of copyright, or have any questions about any book or our process, please write to us at [email protected]. Thank you.