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In 1947 , U.S. custom categorized the last Golden Age appearance of Nelvana & Mr. Monster as a pamphlet , result in duty direction , and a court proceeding that tells us about this strange release .
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Super Duper Comics # 3(F.E. Howard , 1947 ) is well remembered by comical book collector today as being one of only two prosperous Age appearances of Mr. Monster . Created byFred Kelly , the character began life as Doc Stearn in Bell Features’Wow Comics # 26 , run throughWow Comics # 30 , next appear inCommando Comics # 22 , and then becoming Mr. Monster in the final control panel ofTriumph Comics # 31 . Famously , creatorMichael T. Gilbertstumbled across a written matter ofSuper Duper Comics # 3sometime in the 1970s and was inspired to revive the graphic symbol . Gilbert ’s Mr. Monster debuted in Pacific Comics’Vanguard Illustrated#7 ( cover dated July 1984 ) , and has appear in a number of mini - serial and special in the decades since . Super Duper Comics # 3is also far-famed for being the last Golden Age coming into court of the legendary Canadian superhero character reference Nelvana . Created byAdrian Dingle , Nelvana first appeared inTriumph - Adventure Comics # 1 , run throughTriumph cartoon strip # 31 , and was also feature in the now - iconic 1945Nelvana of the Northern Lightsone - shot .
Several of Bell ’s original core 1941/1942 claim , includingWow Comics , Commando Comics , Triumph Comics , and others , ended in 1946.Active ComicsandDime Comicswere later shortly revived as color reissue series . After event # 31,Triumph Comicshad an odd additional 1946 issue calledNew Triumph Comics , which was CheslerPunch Comicscolor reprints , and was also later revived as a color reprint series . It has beennoted by historianIvan Kocmarek thatseveral of the feature film that ended with those rubric in 1946 hold back notices that they would continue in full color . But this did not take place as planned . As explained inJohn Bell’sInvaders from the North : How Canada Conquered the Comic Book Universe , " As the war neared its end , Cy Bellborrowed $ 75,000 and buy a huge offset public press from the Cleveland Plain Dealer . Determined not to be give the axe by the influx of American comic , he issued two colour comic book in 1946,Dizzy Don ComicsandSlam - Bang , and planned for an ambitious line of novel claim . He also began to arrange for statistical distribution not only in the United States , but in the United Kingdom , as well . Bell seemingly encountered a major obstacle , however , when the federal politics refused to authorise the leverage of newsprint in the quantities that his company call for . deter by this and other problems , Bell Features ceased publishing its own titles and start reprint U.S. cartoon strip for the Canadian and British markets . "
Nelvana , Mr. Monster , and other feature film that had been slated to continue in color eventually did so for one final time in the Golden Age , not from Bell Features , but in F.E. Howard Publications’Super Duper Comics # 3.Frank E. Howardhad grown plans for the title . Using Cy Bell ’s strategy of pushing into the U.S. market with Bell characters and even using Bell ’s publish press , Howard made a substantial fiscal wager that he could succeed where Bell had failed . The United States Customs Court caseCarey & Skinner , Inc. ( an import factor ) v United Stateschronicles what happened here , with descriptions of testimony from Howard and Cy Bell . As explained in the document , Bell ’s role here was as representative of Rotary Litho Co. , Ltd. , the pressman ofSuper Duper Comics # 3.Kocmarek has some fantabulous screen background on this company , which was determine up with the anticipation that they would take on other clients after buy their large people of color press . At issue in the case was a shipment of 328,965 copy ofSuper Duper Comics # 3 , which customs officials classified as pamphlets rather than periodical , and per the Smoot - HawleyTariff Act of 1930 , assessed a 7.5 % duty on the shipment rather than appropriate it free entry , as periodical would commonly receive .
To unpack Howard ’s testimonial in footing of his explanation about the first two issues ofSuper Duper Comicsrequires some setting of the rapidly evolving international trade policy of the post - WW2 era . We ’ve already explained the end of Canada ’s War Exchange Conservation Act Section One on August 1 , 1944 . But UK patronage insurance policy subsequently come into play in this guinea pig . With the UK essay to restart and reconstruct much of their industry and their saving directly after WWII , on September 24 , 1945they instituted a banon non - essential imports from the U.S. , and carry on to heavily throttle U.S. imports through much of 1946 . Heavy restrictions on imports from Canada and Australia were also put into place , easing inthe early months of 1946 , but still with some bound throughout that year . Restrictions on imports from the U.S. to the UKbegan to easein late 1946 , and several countries attempted to normalize external trade with the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ( although as we have seen , this did not prevent Canada from banning the import of printed U.S. comics with FECA afterwards that year ) .
As was the case with WECA , the UK restrictions on U.S. import also include material that could be used to reprint comic leger . This resulted in a brief windowpane in 1946 during which UK publisher could not reissue U.S. material , but Canadian publishers could licence U.S. comic book textile and export those comic strip to the UK . One method of doing this was to print these comics with a normal cover charge for distribution in Canada but with a 6 - pence price print on the first page of the comic book . Coverless copy were then transport to the UK .
Changing trade insurance policy gave rise to a number of comic leger published in Canada in 1946 also meant for export to the UK . Given comparatively small print runs that were split between Canada and UK release , and UK versions which are coverless and less likely to be right identified ( if they survived at all ) , these 1946 release are surprisingly little - documented , andstill being discovered today . While GCD tentatively identifiesSuper Duper Comics # 3as continuing the numbering ofsurrogate - publishedLatest Comics , the event distinguish in motor inn text file here do not match those details . Super Duper Comics # 1is described as an October 1945 release with black and livid interiors , while issue # 2 is explained as a intercrossed Canada / UK release in full color , with a normal cover in Canada and transport coverless to the UK . It ’s ill-defined whether this was an undocumented Canada / UK release from that brief 1946 window , or if this was subterfuge on Howard ’s part to attempt to explain thatSuper Duper Comics # 3was part of a serial . The actual cognitive content of what was identified as the first two issues of the serial publication was never address here .
It ’s clear that the evaluator found Howard ’s explanation on this front confusing . He noted that a coverless comic Quran which did not bear the Super Duper Comics title had been submitted into evidence as egress # 2 of the series ( " A copy of this 2d edition , minus cover , is in evidence " ) . The court also took annotation of other inconsistency in Howard ’s testimony : " From an examination of the instant record , which contains inconsistencies and mutually exclusive grounds , the following facts emerge : For the period of time from October 1945 to about August 1946 , F.E. Howard Publications , Ltd. , put out a monthly magazine , presumably under the title ofSuper Duper Comics , consisting of black - and - white comic with a four - colour cover . The 35,000 copies of each edition were distribute partly in the UK , partially in Canada . The Canadian transcript , unlike those shipped to the United Kingdom , hold in covers and give birth the several escort of issue . In June 1946 , the first full four - color version was published , and , as in the case of the monthly serial , was distribute in Canada and in Great Britain , with the Canadian written matter hold back both a cover and an issue particular date . moreover , there were indications on the cover page to the gist thatSuper Duper Comicsin four colors would thenceforth be published on a bimestrial basis . "
The motor lodge determination document then moves on to Howard ’s cause for not adhering to a bimonthly schedule . Super Duper Comics # 3was shipped to the U.S. in April 1947 , around seven months after the stated release date of consequence # 2 . While it can be historically supported that comic book publishershad lingering issue in find paperwell after the war , and certainly into 1947 , the judge was cark that Howard undersell part of his own testimonial by suggesting otherwise , noting that " witness Howard freely admit that his allotment of one carload of paper per month was fair to middling for publish 350,000 copy . " Howard nevertheless explained , " The delay was seek to get the thing rolling for American dispersion too and sample to conserve as much newspaper for me to use for the American , because there is a large dispute between printing 30,000 and 350,000 . Because I had to find suitable art for American distribution . And the amount was so increased , from 35,000 to 350,000 , I had to feel sufficient paper . I had to get contracts from clip allocator for the distribution of it . And it all learn fourth dimension . "
Howard ’s incentive for changing course and seeking the use of Bell material like Mr. Monster and Nelvana for the American market is also alluded to here . The shipment of number two to Great Britain had resulted in the British Board of Trade lift his permit for shipping to that nation . The reasons for this are unspecified here , but it caused Howard to rethink both his content and his statistical distribution strategy . After securing the use of goods and services of the Bell character reference , he made a commitment withIrving S. Manheimer ’s Publishers Distributing Corporation to distributeSuper Duper Comicsbimonthly in the U.S. for three long time . While leading a serial with a horror - themed superhero and a female superhero was not such a awful idea for the U.S. comic Quran market of 1947 , the newsstands were getting increasingly crowd together , and the market was evolving quick . As the conclusion notes , " The speculation was a fiscal unsuccessful person , and , as a consequence , plaintiff ’s exhibit 1 was the last edition ever bring out . "
Notably , Howard also write two issues of former Bell Features / Dizzy Don Enterprises titleDizzy Donbeginning around the same time asSuper Duper Comics # 3 , with no known trouble getting it into the U.S. , despite a similarly perplexing enumeration sequence and publication gap . That title is not cite in this Margaret Court document . The two issue of this serial that Howard shipped to the U.S. were also give out by Publishers Distributing Corporation . As for any program Howard had to useSuper Duper Comicsto pull ahead a beachhead in the U.S. food market , initial # 3 gross revenue numbers apart , it would have been more unmanageable to proceed without clarity on what he would have to do to getSuper Duper Comicsinto the periodical category for upcoming outlet . Now that the title was on U.S. Customs ' radar , it likely would have taken some eubstance in the release docket . As a publishing company with a history of unforesightful title outpouring and sporadic releases , Howard likely found that prospect problematic .
The challenge over theSuper Duper Comics # 3matter did not move quickly . The court ruling itself was made on October 15 , 1953 — over six years after the risible book had been shipped to the United States . Howard had presumably pay up the 7.5 % tariff shortly after the initial customs duty designation in an attempt to get the mark run into the U.S. and salvage the state of affairs , and had mount his sound challenge in an attempt to clarify his standing for succeeding take and withhold his tariff costs for this issue . If we presume that U.S. Customs officials assessed the advert valorem value of the mark run base on the pronounced cover terms , then this would have be Howard a fiddling under $ 2500.00 . Of course , by the time the opinion was handed down , the matter was of little relevancy to all parties involved . The court eventually upheld the customs official ’s decision at the port wine of entrance thatSuper Duper Comics # 3was not a periodic . It failed the " issued on a regular basis at state menstruation " requirement , and the reasonableness why did n’t matter .
Bell Features end cognitive operation in 1953 , while F.E. Howard seems to have cash in one’s chips the publishing business by 1949 or 1950 . We ’ll have more on Cy Bell and Bell Features , Frank E. Howard ’s unusual operations , andNelvana , among other topics , shortly .
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