Rucker Publications ' Rocket Man Comics features Gus Ricca ’s funny artist incubus pass over from the highly seek - after Punch Comics # 9 .
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Rocket Man Comics v2 # 1featuresGus Ricca ’s imagination of a risible artist ’s nightmareon its covering , from Canadian publisher Rucker Publications . We ’ve verbalise about this cover before , for its original coming into court onChesler’sPunch Comics # 9 . calculate out Ricca ’s intentions for his comic book of account covers is always part of the fun here , as we also late find in his highly - regarded mad scientist cover for theWeekender v2 # 1 , which originally come out onDynamic Comics # 11 , feature a character make Dr. Doom from Chesler ’s the Echo serial publication . Ricca ’s intenseDynamic Comics # 8coveris a particularly sick take on the Dynamic Man taradiddle of that issue . Ricca and his fellow Chesler artists are the victims of the repulsion of thePunch # 13cover . And perhaps similarly , his amazingPunch comic # 9and Rocket Comics v2 # 1 cover limn a risible book artist becoming the dupe of his own work as he sit at his draught gameboard . No assistant is issue forth because the phone cord has been thin . A CGC 1.0 copy ofPunch Comics # 9recently pass for an impressive $ 3,840.Rocket homo Comics v2 # 1is much more rare , but there ’s a copy up for auction at the 2025 March 13Canadian Golden Age Comics ShowcaseAuction # 40290 .
While Rucker Publications’Rocket Man Comicsis best know for its cover , it also represents a unique menstruum between two ERA of Canadian comic Christian Bible chronicle . As with most discussions beleaguer the beginnings and endings of historic comic book earned run average , the boundary between Canadian comics belonging to the WECA ( War Exchange Conservation Act ) era and the FECA ( Foreign Exchange Conservation Act ) era isthe subject of some debate . WECA Section One , which was put into effect beginning December 6 , 1940 and cover printed comics import and the import of materials needed to alleviate reprints , was repealed on August 1 , 1944,allowing U.S. risible books , magazines , and pulpsback into the Canadian marketeven before the end of World War II . However , a ten percent War Exchange Tax on all imports into Canada from non - Empire countries was bring down through October 1945 , andpaper continued to be hard to getfor both U.S. and Canadian publishing company for a considerable period of time beyond the end of the warfare .
This gave rise to a sorting of transitional menstruum for mirthful books published in Canada from late 1944 through other 1947 . Canadian authorities and publishing company ab initio believed that continue newsprint rationing in the U.S. would serve as shelter for domestic newspaper publisher after the WECA import restrictions were pilfer . The United States government would end its controls over employment of newsprint by vacate the rationing requirements of the War Production Board onDecember 31 , 1945 . While newspaper publisher shortages continued to be feel in North America in 1946 and into 1947 , a radical of mirthful leger and pulp publishing company in Canadaformed the Canadian Independent Publishers Associationin February 1947 to seek implication protections against U.S. newspaper publisher . On November 17 , 1947 , FECA was enacted and expressly prohibited the significance of amusing Holy Scripture and pulp , while allowing the import of newspapers and other case of magazines , giving salary increase to an era of Canadian funny al-Qur’an publishers reprint or repackaging U.S. material . FECA ended on January 2 , 1951,amidst industry predictionsabout its wallop on the Canadian comic book and mush publishing business .
In the interest of completeness , we should note that exceptions to WECA could be applied for , with one of the substantially - sleep with cases being the U.S. publishing company ofTrue Comics’ability to export to the Canadian marketplace , presumably on the earth that it was educational cloth . In future posts , we will also search the case ofSuper Comics’MLJ / Archie reprints , and the gripping showcase of theCanadian Captain Marvelversions , which were redrawn in Canada from the original scripts to circumvent the WECA Schedule One implication ban on " impression plates … minus films , transfer , proofs … " and other cloth traditionally used for unlimited reprinting .
But after August 1 , 1944 , Canadian publisher could reprint U.S. material if they wished , and while such separate for sure existed through 1945 and 1946 , newspaper publisher had a number of economical factors to weigh when considering whether to acquire the right wing to reissue U.S. material in the Canadian market . The advent of FECA in November 1947 made such decision much more clear - turn off . FECA blackball the consequence of U.S. comics , but unlike WECA did not ban the import of textile necessary to make offprint . And really , the member of the CIPA group must have seen the piece of writing on the wall somewhat earlier .
The exercise of Chesler material for some Rucker Publications releases likeRocket Man Comics v2 # 1might be think an interesting prelude towards the shape of the Canadian Comics industriousness that came with the advent of FECA . We ’ve previously document theconnections between Rucker Publications andLou Ruby ’s Super Publishing , while also noting that Lou ’s brotherMorris Rubywas the man behind comic Christian Bible publisher Superior through 1947 . Superior was also part of the CIPA group that lobbied for the FECA import ban . Given the historically interesting post of Superior continuing the enumeration of U.S. Chesler titlesDynamic Comics , Red Seal Comics , andPunch Comics , among other factor , it ’s interesting to trace back the before , interconnected Chesler material usage of Super Publishing and Rucker Publications .
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