Retro Comic Rewind: Stamps Comics

Some comics spell down successful past arsenic masterful examples of the trade and are beloved by aggregate generations. And others extremity up astatine the landfill. In this series, I’ll beryllium looking backmost connected immoderate forgotten bid to amended recognize what benignant of comics our ancestral nerds were speechmaking successful the days of rotary phones and grounds players.

Today’s subject: Stamps Comics!

I picked this 1 for the WTH origin alone. Stamps Comics? Seriously? Who is going to work a comic publication astir stamps? Let’s find out.

The conception down the bid is simple: each contented reveals the stories down existent stamps that picture humanities scenes. Most of them are U.S. stamps, but determination is simply a respectable showing of stamps from the remainder of the world. This is not ever a bully thing, arsenic I’ll explicate successful a moment.

Throughout its 8 issues, Stamps Comics covered events that would entreaty to your stereotypical young antheral reader: warfare stories, sports history, the Wild West, and truthful on. As for however close these “historical” tales are…

Some of them are intelligibly the effect of a definite magnitude of effort. One communicative adjacent debunked the story that Abner Doubleday invented baseball.

Was not expecting this overmuch sass from a comic astir stamps.

But successful different stories, they instrumentality humanities legends astatine look value. Later successful Issue 1, they assertion Buffalo Bill rode for the Pony Express, a “fact” which has never been proven. Worse, their depiction of Gabon’s “leopard men” (also successful Issue 1) is flat-out racist: it portrays the French assemblage authorities arsenic heroes, portion the killers are simple, superstitious brutes. Several issues usage radical slurs.

In inactive different stories — and this is the worst offense, successful my sentiment — they gloss implicit accusation that makes their designated heroes look bad. A communicative from Issue 8, “Slave Train,” inexplicably praises the Belgians for ending the Arab-controlled enslaved commercialized successful the Congo. Never caput that the Belgians’ ain crimes successful the portion were truthful heinous that adjacent their chap colonizers created the Congo Reform Association to get them the heck retired of Africa.

By Issue 4, the publication became noticeably sloppier, with the creators sometimes telling immoderate communicative they wanted, careless of the stamp. In a peculiarly atrocious case, they spotlight a Swiss stamp printed to commemorate the Olympics, yet the accompanying communicative is astir a Canadian player’s actions during the Stanley Cup. The past sheet adjacent admits that there’s nary transportation beyond the information that some impact hockey.

Wouldn’t beryllium amazed to larn Wildey was a elephantine Rangers fanboy.

Things spell wholly disconnected the rails successful Issue 8, erstwhile they assertion we don’t cognize who designed the Cologne Cathedral due to the fact that the designer made an ill-fated woody with the devil. Source, please???

The thought of Satan sitting astir doodling plans for a cathedral is beauteous funny, though.

It’s weird that a comic that touts the galore thousands of fascinating stamps successful the satellite seems to person tally retired of stamp-related worldly truthful fast.

The penning crossed the full bid is beauteous mediocre (as is overmuch of the art), with precise stiff and unconvincing dialogue. That said, I did larn immoderate things astir past — the communicative of the Four Chaplains, for lawsuit — and each contented besides includes proposal connected however readers tin physique their ain stamp collections, truthful I wouldn’t accidental it’s a full waste. But I’m not amazed Youthful tapped retired aft 8 issues.

In each seriousness, I was a beauteous nerdy kid, and I tin spot myself getting into thing similar this, adjacent though it’s decidedly got a “White Man’s Version of History” vibe. People of colour tin lone beryllium atrocious guys, victims, oregon “primitive” folks with quaint small customs for america to gawk at. Women mightiness arsenic good not exist.

I uncertainty a comic similar this would get a changeable today, since stamp collecting is obscurity adjacent arsenic fashionable arsenic it utilized to be. Even if it was, whoever published specified a comic would person to instrumentality greater attraction erstwhile researching and choosing subjects to cover. And possibly prosecute immoderate amended writers. And halt “fixing” past to marque achromatic radical look amended erstwhile they don’t merit it.

“And they’ll lone termination 25,000 people to bash it!”

Want much vintage goodness? Check retired erstwhile editions of RCR: Race for the Moon.