The Bogeyman is Kendall Richards a mystery novelist whose knowledge of crime and human motivation had often made his help valuable to the local police. His assistance had been of such value to them in the past, that criminal mastermind Rusty Blade sent a few of the boys to rub him out. But the Richards easily defended himself from their attack, and they succeeded only in stealing his briefcase, to prove they’d been there. The briefcase contained his latest novel, “The Perfect Crime“, which described a murder that couldn’t possibly be solved. Blade, intrigued by the title, read it, and copied it precisely in ridding himself of the problem. But like all so-called “perfect crimes”, this one worked better in the story than in real life. Unknown to the would-be murderer, the victim escaped alive. He used their belief in his death in a plot to bring them to justice. Afterward, he continued to help the police as the Bogeyman.
Through the sands of time Thrilling Nostalgia Comics Group has found unpublished stories from the golden age. Really!!! Stories from the 1940s that were penciled, inked, and lettered BUT never published! Including stories of the Bogeyman. It’s an amazing story and Michael Finn stops by First Comics News to tell our readers all about this missing golden age gem.
First Comics News: Where did Bodeyman appear?
Michael Finn: The Bogeyman first appeared in Red Band Comics #1 (1944). In total, he appeared in 2 original comic stories and 2 original text stories in 1944-45, Zoom Comics (Dec. 1945) and Merry Comics (Dec. 1945). The Bogeyman was created by writers/artists working for Bernard Baily at his Baily Publishing shop.
Bogeyman also appeared in Red Band Comics #2 (1944) which is a complete reprint of #1 so that is not one of the original stories mentioned above.
1st: Where were these stories supposed to be published?
Michael: The indicia on the original art says they were slated for Spook Comics #2 and Spook Comics #3. Spook Comics #1 came out in 1945 and was published by Baily Publishing Co, owned by Bernard Baily.
At the very least, Baily’s studio packaged Zoom Comics and Merry Comics but Baily may have had an ownership interest in the publishing as well.
1st: Why weren’t these stories ever published?
Michael: Baily Publications closed down in 1946 and exited the Comic business.
1st: Who was Bernard Baily?
Michael: Bernard Baily was one of the original comic artists starting with Iger Studios in the 1930s. His art is featured in Action Comics #1 where he co-created and drew Tex Thomson which ran in Action for several years. He is probably best known for co-creating The Spectre in 1940 with Jerry Siegel, the co-creator of Superman, and, that same year, co-creating Hourman in Adventure Comics.
In the early 1940s, he founded Baily Publishing and began publishing his own comics, including several featuring Operas, that are extremely rare and hard to find. Many artists including Frank Frazetta, Gil Kane, and Carmine Infantino launched their careers with Baily.
Baily worked in comics through the 50s and 60s and even a bit in the 1970s.
1st: How did you get them?
Michael: Baily transferred all of the art/IP to one of his partners when he closed the business. I bought it all, including their copyrights.
1st: How was a separate story published only in the UK?
Michael: Bogeyman Comics is very rare – we think less than 10 exist today. There were no covers on these comics so the price was stamped on the first page. I’d like to save the story of how we think they were sold in the UK for a later day; we believe these stories were printed in Canada and sold only in the UK and only in 1946.
1st: How did you find the unused John Giunta cover for Spooky Comics #1?
Michael: Apparently, Bailey wasn’t sure who would be the star of some of his comics and had several covers done, featuring different characters. This Spook cover was one of them.
1st: Who are Mr. and Mrs. September?
Michael: They are a husband and wife detective team. Baily Publications did at least 2 stories with them. I think the artist, R. Woodcok is a pseudonym. Hopefully, some readers can help us figure out who actually illustrated the story.
1st: How much restoration was needed for this project?
Michael: Very little – the pages were all penciled, inked, and lettered. We did coloring and here and there we did some ink touchups on panels that were fully penciled and only partially inked. There were very few of those.
1st: Where can fans find Lost Tales of the Golden Age?
Michael: The Kickstarter is running now till Tuesday, November 14. Here is the exclusive link to the campaign for First Comics News readers: https://tinyurl.com/LTGAFC23
1st: What is the minimum pledge for a digital copy?
Michael: The minimum pledge is $10, and that gets you both Lost Tales of the Golden Age 2 & 3 digital.
1st: What is the minimum pledge for a print copy?
Michael: Print copies are $25 for both issues. We also have a catch-up pack that includes issue #1 for $30.
1st: For anyone on the fence about this comic, what is so cool about Lost Tales of the Golden Age that no true comic fan should miss it?
Michael: When are you ever going to find 80-year-old comic stories that nobody has ever seen? I felt like the men and women who worked on these stories deserved for the stories to see the light of day. We have 10-11 more issues of “Lost Tales of the Golden Age” coming out as we have some pretty amazing unpublished stories from some other publishers as well.
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