American comic books were rationed too

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Digifiend
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American comic books were rationed too

Post by Digifiend »

I never realised America was affected by paper rationing, just like the UK was, during World War II. Someone on Reddit posted this full page advert from Wonder Woman #8 (published 1944), which encourages readers to recycle the comic after reading it, and lists the full range of DC comics, with a message saying that by order of the War Production Board, some titles would be published less often. Did the British paper drive adverts ever go into this much detail about WHY the paper was needed?
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Adam Eterno
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Re: American comic books were rationed too

Post by Adam Eterno »

Digifiend wrote:I never realised America was affected by paper rationing, just like the UK was, during World War II. Someone on Reddit posted this full page advert from Wonder Woman #8 (published 1944), which encourages readers to recycle the comic after reading it, and lists the full range of DC comics, with a message saying that by order of the War Production Board, some titles would be published less often. Did the British paper drive adverts ever go into this much detail about WHY the paper was needed?
What a brilliant find! Great details as to the use of waste paper and no, I've never seen that kind of detail in a British comic
Last edited by Adam Eterno on 27 Dec 2016, 07:33, edited 1 time in total.

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philcom55
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Re: American comic books were rationed too

Post by philcom55 »

There's actually a short clip of a wartime wastepaper-drive towards the beginning of the film 'It's A Wonderful Life'. No doubt this practice led to the pulping of countless early copies of Detective Comics and Action Comics, causing them to be far rarer today than they otherwise would be. On the other hand I don't think the US Government imposed any kind of rationing on publishers as happened in the UK where supplies of Canadian paper and timber were all-but terminated by the War in the Atlantic (and even after the War an ongoing Balance of Payments crisis meant that paper rationing continued well into the 1950s!).

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Digifiend
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Re: American comic books were rationed too

Post by Digifiend »

The scan I posted clearly says that yes, the US government did impose rationing of paper: "Because the War Production Board has ordered a reduction in the use of paper, [these titles will appear less often] for the duration".

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philcom55
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Re: American comic books were rationed too

Post by philcom55 »

You're right Digi - I hadn't noticed that. It's interesting that there weren't any page reductions across the board though, and top-selling comics like Superman and Batman don't seem to have been affected at all.

matrix
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Re: American comic books were rationed too

Post by matrix »

This letter from Lev Gleason in 'Boy' comic 15 to his readers cuts straight to the point about their patriotic duties to reduce the page count in 'Boy' comics explaining how the loggers, timber workers are fighting on the front.

Daredevil comics also had a reduction in pages both lasting nearly two years.

I guess to readers of Gleason's comics it comes as no surprise considering his views on the war, his fight against crime, and his influence on the comics code that they would not do their bit to save paper.
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Boy comic 15 Paper rationing.jpg

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