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“Truth is Truth” – Alex Toth on Carmine Infantino

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In today’s day and age when all we hear is praise from one professional to another, it’s worth remembering that, sometimes, creators in the comic book industry just don’t get along for whatever reason.   This previously unseen letter from Alex Toth to a friend of his (I’m not at liberty to reveal the name of the recipient) is a classic case.   The only thing removed from this letter is text totally unrelated to the subject at hand.   The letter was written in January 1976, shortly after Jenette Kahn took over from Carmine Infantino as DC Comics publisher. Toth and Infantino went back to the late 1940s when they both began working at DC.   Joe Kubert had rented an apartment and used it as a studio, sharing the space with Toth along with other artists such as Irwin Hansen and Frank Giacoia.   Infantino never worked there, but often visited and recounted several times later how the artists, and others, would socialise and discuss each other’s work.   While at DC Tot

Literature Calculated to Encourage Depravity Part II - Banned Comics: 1937 - 1959

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Part II in an unlimited series . The two questions that are often asked in regards to the banning of comics within Australia is why were they banned, and what titles were banned.   The answer to the first question isn’t as difficult as it might seem.   Comics were banned for two main reasons; the first reason was due to the practice of American publishers using countries like Australia as a dumping ground for overstock and the second, which we’ll shortly come to, was more obvious. On the 5 th of December, 1939, a statement was read in the Senate by Victorian senator Donald Cameron questioning the importation of pulps, comic books and syndicated strips and their impact upon Australian writers and artists.   Cameron, a Boer War veteran, had worked as a printer and editor, among other jobs, was highly educated and used to winning arguments without resorting to screaming or intimidation.   Cameron’s style was described as such, “he was equally capable of gently-mocking irony,

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