Posted in: Comics, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Promise Collection, Star Sapphire

The Promise Collection 1947: True Crime, True Love, Synthetic Gems

"One point which I can't stress too strongly is: Don't write down to your readers," noted a young Stan Lee in his November 1947 Writer's Digest call for professional writers to consider the comic book market.  About 25 years old at the time, Lee had already written a number of comic books read by the young man who assembled the Promise Collection, who was likely around 16 years old by this time.  "It is common knowledge that a large portion of comic magazine readers are adults, and the rest of the readers who may be kids are generally pretty sharp characters. They are used to seeing movies and listening to radio shows and have a pretty good idea of the stories they want to read. If you figure that "anything goes" in a comic magazine, a study of any recent copy of Daredevil Comics or Bat Man will show you that a great deal of thought goes into every story; and there are plenty of gimmicks, sub-plots, human interest angles, and the other elements that go into the making of any type of good story, whether it be a comic strip or a novel."

"Another consideration of prime importance is: Decide which comic magazine you want to write for before you do any writing," Lee continued noting the growing diversity of his field. "The various magazines in the field have editorial differences which are almost always amazing. A story which Timely Comics would consider exciting might be deemed too fantastic by True Comics, Inc., and Classic Comics, Inc., would have very little use for the type of story preferred at Fiction House! Each comic publishing company has its own distinctive formula, and the only way to really grasp this formula is to read the magazines."

Welcome to Part 15 of the Promise Collection series, which is meant to serve as liner notes of sorts for the comic books in the collection. The Promise Collection is a set of nearly 5,000 comic books, 95% of which are blisteringly high grade, that were published from 1939 to 1952 and purchased by one young comic book fan.  The name of the Promise Collection was inspired by the reason that it was saved and kept in such amazing condition since that time. An avid comic book fan named Junie and his older brother Robert went to war in Korea.  Robert Promised Junie that he would take care of his brother's beloved comic book collection should anything happen to him. Junie was killed during the Korean War, and Robert kept his promise.  There are more details about that background in a previous post regarding this incredible collection of comic books.  And over the course of a few dozen articles in this new series of posts, we will also be revealing the complete listing of the collection.  You can always catch up with posts about this collection at this link, which will become a hub of sorts regarding these comic books over time.

September Through December 1947 in the Promise Collection

Stan Lee's now-familiar enthusiasm for the business of comic books was well-earned as 1947 began to draw to a close.  Publisher's Weekly had just reported that the industry had published 540 million comic books over the prior year, and even the consternation of various state-level police organizations as discussed in our last post was getting some pushback in the media, with a few organizations offering a more nuanced view of the matter.  A widely-published AP newswire article reported that "Dr. Lawrence G Thomas of the Stanford University school of education reported at worst comic books are not nearly harmful enough to merit banishment from the home." While a largely-positive article in December 1947 McCall's reported on the findings of Frank Cohen, the director for a then well-regarded NYC facility for juvenile defenders called Youth House, who noted, "Overindulgence in the comics is not the cause of the disturbance, but only a symptom of it. You can't change things by denying these children comics; you have got to understand why they crave them."

But despite such expert opinions, another figure who would have nearly the impact on the course of comics history that Stan Lee would have would also step onto the public stage during late 1947. In March 1947, the U.S. Post Office seized copies of the nudist magazine Sunshine & Health on the basis that it was obscene.  As hearings on the matter were held in December 1947, Fredric Wertham took the stand.  While approving of the publication of nudist magazines as being good for children by showing "people without clothes in the natural surroundings of sun, air, and water, engaged in wholesome outdoor activities," Wertham would use this platform to criticize comic books in no uncertain terms.

"The reader gets the impression that all women are young and pretty…" Wertham claimed, with what would become his showman's penchant for exaggeration and generalization of the field. "At all times in all locales they run around barefoot in brassieres and panties, the classic costume of the pinup, and much more provocative than complete nudity. In almost every comic magazine, the girl is bound, gagged, about to be tortured, sold as a slave, chained, whipped, choked, or thrown to wild animals. At the last moment, the heroine is rescued but only after the reader has seen the suggestive and shapely love object abused in some way."

While Wertham's bombastic rhetoric seemed more design to whip up public sentiment against comic books rather than to describe the business accurately, Good Girl comic books continued to be a notable presence in the Promise Collection of late 1947.  The classic cover of Phantom Lady #14 CGC 9.6 from this period of the collection went for a record $90,000.00 in June 2021.  Phantom Lady #15 CGC 9.6 likewise went for a record price at $33,600.00.  A number of classic Alex Schomburg airbrush covers for Ned Pines' Standard/Nedor Better Publications titles like Exciting Comics, Startling Comics and Wonder Comics are also present in the collection of this time frame.

But of course, even in 1947, Good Girl comics represent a relatively small portion of the overall composition of the collection during this period.  New series debuts from the last four months of the year include The classic True Crime Comics #2 which includes the legendary "Murder, Morphine and Me" storyline is among the crime comics in the collection within this four-month time span. At the other end of the spectrum, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby bring the "true story" romance genre — already wildly popular in the magazine field — to comics with the debut of Young Romance.  And for all of the diversity of content present in the collection by the late 1940s, superheroes still made a strong showing. Batman continued to be one of Junie's popular favorites and the unbroken, high-grade runs of Batman and Detective Comics have produced several gems such as the Detective Comics #124 CGC 9.8 which sold for an incredible $120,000.00 this year.  Flash Comics #89 CGC 9.6 featuring the first appearance of the Thorn sold for $26,400.00.

The Awesome Power of Star Sapphires

Figuring out the real-world inspirations for characters, stories, and plot elements is one of my favorite things about vintage comic books.  It's the old cliche made real: I've learned an astonishing amount of history from unraveling the inspirations behind the comics.  The reasons can range from important to trivial, from complex to completely obvious.  Every so often it's as plain as the nose on your face — or the ring on your finger.  But that doesn't make such inspirations any less interesting.  In the case of the debut of Star Saphire in All-Flash #32 in late 1947, that inspiration also explains a lot about where the character went from there.

A company called Linde Air Products applied to patent a process for developing synthetic star sapphires (and synthetic star rubies) in mid-1947. Linde Air Products was a division of chemical megacorporation Union Carbide.  Linde had been making synthetic sapphires since World War 2 for military applications.  In the words of Linde Air Products magazine marketing from 1943: "Sapphire is necessary for the security of this country. Out of this jewel stone are made hard, long-wearing bearings for precision instruments. The various precision devices of a modern battleship require more than 4,000 jewels; about 100 more are needed in fire-control mechanisms. Modern pursuit planes and bombers require up to 100 sapphire bearings in their instruments. In other words, sapphires were a key to unlocking weapons of tremendous power.  Synthetic sapphires continue to have military applications to this day.

But with the WW2 over, Linde found a consumer market for the products of its synthetic processes. A coordinated media blitz accompanied the announcement of the technical breakthrough in the development of synthetic star sapphires, with rings and other jewelry featuring the unique gems available in stores at nearly the same time. What is a star sapphire gemstone?  If you're familiar with the iconography of the DC Comics character of the same name, then you already know — though you may not know that you know, so to speak.  A star sapphire is "a rare variety of sapphire that exhibits a rare asterism under specific lighting. When viewing star sapphire, a six-rayed star will appear to float across the surface of the stone. … Star sapphires contain unusual tiny needle-like inclusions of rutile. Aligned needles that intersect each other at varying angles produce the rare phenomenon known as asterism."  In other words, a star sapphire is a gemstone that displays a distinctive star pattern across its face.  Not unlike the iconic form used in the various versions of the DC Comics character.

Shortly after Linde Air Products' star sapphire announcement and marketing push, the December 1947 / January 1948 cover-dated All-Flash #32 featured the Golden Age version of the character, Star Saphire came to earth in a craft with a symbol that resembles an iconic star sapphire set into its surface, and seemingly wore a large star sapphire gemstone in a tiara. Appropriately enough, later versions of the character would wield a star sapphire ring — like its apparent 1947 inspirations, a gemstone which can be used to unlock great destructive power, reimagined into something beautiful.

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