American publisher Classic Comics Press, its focus on newspaper strip reprints, continues to offer much of its back catalogue at discount.

If you live in the United States, this is a great opportunity to pick up some smashing titles, which come accompanied by great background material.

(Sadly, with international postage costs now twice the price of a book, the cost of buying direct from the publisher is prohibitive to all but the most dedicated of newspaper strip fan).

Classic Comics Press has been reprinting classic American comic strips since 2006, with its debut publication of Leonard Starr‘s Mary Perkins On Stage.

Classic Comics Press continues to offer reprints of that strip, along with Stan Drake‘s The Heart of Juliet Jones, The Cisco Kid by Jose Luis Salinas and Rod Reed, John Cullen Murphy‘s Big Ben Bolt, Dondi by Gus Edson and Irwin Hasen, and Buck O’Rue by Dick Huemer and Paul Murry.

The work in these books is simply terrific, José Luis Salinas for example a huge influence on a number of other artists, not least of them his son, Alberto Salinas,

Classic Comics Press also has a separate imprint, Classic Illustrators Press, their inaugural volume focused on the career of illustrator John Richard Flanagan (1895-1964).

Items in their catalogue are available here through AmazonUK, but they are full price.

It’s unfortunate that international postage costs are conspiring against this publisher for British fans of their work, but it well deserves highlighting here.

• Check out Classic Comic Press at classiccomicspress.com

CLASSIC COMICS COLLECTIONS ON AMAZON UK

• Leonard Starr’s Mary Perkins On Stage on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

Reprints of the classic Reuben award-winning comic strip

• Stan Drake’s The Heart of Juliet Jones on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

In the 1950s, small-town soap opera stories meant for a romance-hungry female audience with newfound economic clout saturated all forms of entertainment, ranging from movies to the Sunday funnies. But even for the boys, there was something exciting about the artwork. There was no one who drew beautiful women like Drake, while Jones had an uncanny ability to get into dangerous adventures that every newspaper strip fan would appreciate.

• The Cisco Kid by Jose Luis Salinas and Rod Reed on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

Classic Comics Press plans to reprint the entire run of the The Cisco Kid by Jose Luis Salinas and Rod Reed in eight volumes

• Big Ben Bolt by John Cullen Murphy on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

Big Ben Bolt followed the adventures of boxer and journalist Ben Bolt, drawn by John Cullen Murphy, written by Elliot Caplin

• Dondi by Gus Edson and Irwin Hasen on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

Classic Comic Press only published two volumes of this strip and have no plans to continue

• Buck O’Rue by Dick Huemer and Paul Murry on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)

The adventures of square-jawed, square-shootin’, hopelessly naive cowboy Buck O’Rue and his beloved horse Reddish, his nearly equally beloved sweetheart Dorable, and all of the bad men of Mesa Trubil, The Town without a Country

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

Categories: Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, US Comics

Tags: Mary Perkins on Stage, Newspaper Strips, Paul Murry