Boy, I really do love coming across old photographs showing either people of times gone by reading and enjoying vintage comic books, or else comic books on sale back in the day. I always grab scans of these pictures whenever I come across them, and I’ve serialized a bunch of them here. But I have still more–so here are more photographs of Comics in the Wild. I’m guessing at this point that we’re going to see some repeats come up in this series, as it’s been so long sine I did the earliest installments of it. But hopefully there’s enough new here to be of interest.
We’ll post more of these sorts of pictures in the weeks ahead.
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
You should take all of these pics and make a book….
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The girl with Swamp Thing, wow, that’s so much from my tween years. Except not knowing any girls who were into comics.
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Okay, let’s see…
1. SUPERMAN 30 – 9-10/44
2. TARZAN 72 & LITTLE LULU 87 – both 9/55
3. WONDER WOMAN 98 – 5/58
4. SWAMP THING 5 – 7-8/73
5. SUPER DUPER COMICS 3 (and only) – 5-6/47
6. No covers visible, but given that they’re pages of 4 and 5 tiers, I’m going to guess late 30s/early 40s, the 5-tier one likely a newspaper strip reprint?
7. ADVENTURE COMICS 470 and LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES 262 – 4/80
8. HOUSE OF MYSTERY 62, MARINES IN ACTION 12 (both 5/57) and BATTLEFRONT 46 (4/57)
9. THOR 139 – 4/67
10. Can’t see any of these clearly. Maybe there’s a TARZAN? A BLACKHAWK? A SUPERMAN?
11. That’s the 9/11/39 issue of LIFE, at least, with Benito Mussolini on the cover. And BEAU GESTE opened in July 1939. The only comic I can see clearly enough to identify in TIP TOP COMICS 42 (10/39), which went on sale around the same time as that issue of LIFE.
12. MYSTERY MEN COMICS 6 (1/40) and SUPERMAN # (Winter 1940).
13. Grr. Why did I spend time peering at the blurry covers on 12 when this is a larger, clearer version of the same photo?
14. HOPALONG CASSIDY 19 (5/48) and AIRBOY 50 (4/48).
15. TRUE AVIATION PICTURE-STORIES 12 (2-3/46), EASTER WITH MOTHER GOOSE 103 (1946) and SUPERMAN 40 (5-6/46)
16. No covers.
17. Ahh, what a display! TOMB OF DRACULA 1 (4/72), MISTER MIRACLE 6 (1-2/72) and BOBBY SHERMAN 1 (2/72), among a plethora of other clearly identifiable books.
18. NATHANIEL DUSK II 1 (10/85), MOONSHADOW 4 (9/85) and SWORDS OF THE SWASHBUCKLERS 3 (9/85) catch the eye. “Comicenter” is a terrible name. Is it pronounced “Comic enter” or “comi center”? I would call it Hulk Head Rack.
19. Chris Nye is doubtless not displaying comics of the same vintage, but, at least, his collection includes AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 1 (3/63), ACTION COMICS 16 (9/39) and MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS 17 (3/41), the lucky little sh — enterprising young fellow.
20. You think this might be another collection, but there’s SPEED COMICS 21 (8/42), POLICE COMICS 11 (9/42), BOY COMICS 5 (8/42) and CRIME DOES NOT PAY 23 (9/42), so they seem to be from about the same time.
21. VAMPIRE TALES 5 (6/74) and LIMITED COLLECTORS’ EDITION C-23 (Winter 1973).
22. Another amazing display, mostly of logos! But there’s CROWN COMICS 19 (7/49), HUMPHREY COMICS 6 (7/49) and BLACK CAT WESTERN 19 (9/49).
23. X-MEN 118 (2/79) for a happy young man.
24. CAPTAIN MARVEL JR. 66 (10/48).
25. FLASH 164 (9/66).
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I made an attempt to ID as many as I could in this (admittedly wordy) blog post:
https://davidmorefield.com/a-visit-to-the-newsstand-ca-1971/
I absolutely love this photo.
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The “comics center” shelves reminded me of the inside of the old Captain Blue Hen right on Main St., in that beige, converted, old Victorian house.
What’s with the young dude with the bottle against his nose? Snorting soda?
“Super Duper Comics”, featuring Mr. Monster!
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Though I do miss the days when comics were literally EVERYWHERE, I begin to suspect comics are now read more than they have been since the early 50s. But now, they are read virtually. My youngest grandkids will hardly think of reading books on paper!
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I would bet money the seventh picture in the column is of the last newsstand in Milwaukee on the of Third St. and Wisconsin Ave. I hope to always remember the excitement I felt when my father would actually stop (illegally parking in an alley) and let me and my brothers buy some comic books. I know it was from that newsstand that I got my copy of Avengers King-Size Special #2.
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interesting that newsstand circa 1979 is packed with direct sales versions!
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