ALL-AMERICAN COMICS #6 * Popsicle Pete * Gaines Gaffe

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Title: ALL-AMERICAN COMICS No. 6
Place Published:
Publisher:DC [Indicia: All-American Comics Inc.]
Date Published: September, 1939
Description: CGC certified: Fair/Good (1.5). Grader's notes: "Detached cover; dried glue center of interior spine; spine of cover completely split & back cover re-attached with tape; taped tear interior front cover." Cream to off-white pages. Provenance: The DC UNIVERSE COLLECTION.

GPAnalysis: No reported sales in this grade. Lowest-graded sale is a 3.0 that sold for $540 in 7/18.

Overstreet: "Last Spot Savage; Popsicle Pete begins, ends #26, 28." CGC Census: 13 graded copies (11 Universal, 1 Qualified, 1 Restored). Gerber's Photo-Journal Guide Scarcity Index: 6 ("Uncommon: 50-200 copies").

Credits: Cover: Sheldon Mayer. Scripts: Jerry Siegel?, Al Smith, Gene Byrnes, Edwin Alger, Robert Ripley, Percy Crosby, A.W. Nugent, Richard Rick, Edwina Dumm, Carl Claudy, John Wentworth, George S. Kaufman, Moss Hart, Jon Blummer, George Storm, Harry Lampert, Fontaine Fox, Sheldon Mayer, Art Helfant. Art: Bill Smith, Stan Asch, Al Smith, Burr Inwood, Gene Byrnes, Calvin Fader, Robert Ripley, Percy Crosby, A.W. Nugent, Richard Rick, Walter Galli, Edwina Dumm, Jon Blummer, George Storm, Harry Lampert, Fontaine Fox, Sheldon Mayer, Art Helfant.Gaines' Greatest Gaffe: "On a December day in 1937, [editor Sheldon] Mayer was looking at a comic strip that was being submitted to McClure for possible syndication in newspapers. The strip was called 'Superman,' and its creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, had been trying to sell it for four years. But comics were controlled by middle-aged men, whose ideas of adventure began with 'Tarzan' and ended with 'Slam Bradley.' Mayer reacted to 'Superman' with the enthusiasm of youth. 'This stuff is great,' he told Max. 'Let's do something with it.'

"The wheels in Max's head began turning. He was handling the printing of Harry Donenfeld's new Detective Comics and knew Donenfeld was thinking about putting out another adventure magazine. Max had Mayer paste the strips into comic-book form, then sent 'Superman' to Donenfeld. In a month or two, the Man of Steel made his debut as the lead feature in Action Comics. On seeing the cover, which showed Superman holding an automobile above his head, Donenfeld is reported to have had a fit. 'Nobody's going to believe this,' he said. 'It's impossible.'

"Donenfeld, as the world now knows, was wrong. 'Superman' not only was able to lift a car, he could turn the comic industry upside down. Within a year, Action Comics was the biggest money-maker in the business. As for Max, well, he had a fat new printing contract for his presses, but that was all. In what Bill today calls 'the biggest boo-boo in the old man's life,' Max let the hottest property in comic-book history slip through his hands." — Frank Jacobs, The MAD World of William M. Gaines. Lyle Stuart: 1972: pp. 57-58.****************************************
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