Hey, Hipsters -It's Like The MLJ Guys At Class! Groovy.

These are just some of the Class Radio City/Archie reprints.  Remember they are all in black and white and printing quality could be a bit hit-and-miss.  One of the printers told me that "You had to print such-and-such a number of copies. Toward the end of the print run things might not be as pristine as when they started!"

But Class reprinted Fly-Man/Fly stories, The Jaguar, The Mighty Crusaders from issue #1 -in fact, all the MLJ heroes could be found in various Class titles.

What I like is that the actual comic covers used in the US were reproduced so if you knew anything about these Archie Comics you knew what you were getting.

It's fair to say that until the early 1970s I had not seen any of the Archie heroes -the reason Class Comics existed was because we never had comic shops and newsagents got whatever comics got to the UK, mainly as "bulk" so finding a Fly-Man comic in a shop would be a rarity and might -might- be one of a very few in your part of the country.

When I walked into the Bristol Book Centre on Gloucester Road, Bristol, run by a rather "eccentric" American lady and former opera singer (I never asked), there were a row of cardboard boxes on a table as you entered.  I'd gone in mainly to try to find Fu Manchu, Doc Savage or other pulp books.  When I saw what was in the boxes I forgot about them!

But up to that time I had not seen many of the Archie characters in colour and some were new to me. But, as with a lot of Marvel comics, these Class issues gave us Brit Kids a glimpse into a comics world we had never heard of. We had seen and read Superman, Batman, we had seen Spider-Man, The Avengers in Odhams comic titles but these...

u

I'm just sorry the cover scans are not great on some of these but once I get to trying to catalogue the collection I have I hope to get better scans as well as more on the contents.

And believe me, this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to Class and Archie/MLJ hero reprints (Gerald Swan had reprinted Archie Andrews, Jughead et al in the 1940s/1950s).

So apologies for the meagre offerings but "one day"........

 

I actually forgot that Rick Offenberger at the Mighty Crusaders Network http://www.mightycrusaders.net/uk.htm gave this list of Class reprints of Archie MLJ hero comics:

Amazing Stories of 

SUSPENSE

85        3 Fly stories with cover  

86        1 Fly story, 1 Shield story

88        2 Fly stories with cover, and 1 Flygirl story

90        3 Jaguar stories with cover

90        1 Steel Sterling story with cover,  and 1 Fox story

97        3 Fly & Flygirl stories

100      1 Jaguar story

105      1 Fly story with cover

217      1 Fly story

224      3 Jaguar stories with cover

235      1 Fly story, and 1 Shield story

 

Amazing Stories 

SINISTER TALES

76        1 Fly story by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby

84        2 Fly stories, and 1 Flygirl story  

89        1 Mighty Crusaders, 1 Fly, and 1 Jaguar story

91        1 Fly story, and 1 Jaguar story

93        1 Jaguar story

94        1 Fly-Man, 1 Black Hood, 1 Shield, and 1 Jaguar story

220      2 Jaguar stories with cover, and 1 Fly story

 

Amazing Tales 

CREEPY WORLDS

100      2 Jaguar stories, and 1 Fly story

105      2 Fly story, 1 Flygirl story,  and 1 Jaguar story

107      1 Fly story

109      2 Fly stories, and 2 Jaguar stories

113      1 Fly story, and 1 Web story

165      2 Fly stories with cover

169      1 Jaguar story

243      3 Jaguar stories, and 1 Fly story

 

Strange Suspense stories 

ASTOUNDING STORIES

52        3 Fly stories with cover

55        1 Fly story, 1 Mr. Justice story, and 1 Black Hood story

60        1 Fly story

64        2 Fly stories with cover, 1 Flygirl, and 2 Jaguar stories

70        3 Jaguar stories with cover

71        3 Jaguar stories

94        2 Shield stories, and 1 Fly story

96        3 Fly stories with cover

115      3 Jaguar stories, and 1 Fly story

117      1 Jaguar story with cover

120      1 Fly

121      2 Jaguar stories with cover

122      1 Black Hood story, 1 Mr. Justice story, and 1 Fly story

124      3 Jaguar story with cover

125      1 Fly story

126      1 Shield, 1 Black Hood, and 1 Fly by Simon &  Kirby

130      1 Fly story, and 1 Flygirl story

144      2 Jaguar stories with cover, 1 Fly story

146      1 Jaguar story

161      1 Fly story, and 1 Flygirl story  

186      2 Black Hood stories

189      1 Fly story

 

Strange Suspense stories 

UNCANNY TALES

95        1 Fly story by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby

121      1 Fly story by Joe Simon & Jack Kirby

123      2 Shadow stories with cover

126      1 Black Hood story with cover, and 1 Mighty Crusaders  

155      1 Fly story

156      1 Mighty Crusaders story

 

Strange Tale of Suspense 

SECRETS of the UNKNOWN

94        1 Shield and Web story with cover, and 2 Fly stories

98        1 Mighty Crusaders story

104      3 Jaguar stories with cover

106      1 Fly story, and 1 Jaguar story

111      1 Fly story with cover, 1 Shield story, and 1 Web story

230      1 Shadow story, and 1 Fly story

247      1 Mighty Crusaders story, and 1 Fly story

 

If you want to find out more about these characters I'd highly recommend the MCN!