The MLJ Guys At Class! Groovy.

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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...

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 story96        3 Fly stories with cover115      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 TALES95        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!