What's your favorite MLJ title?

[clayface]

Mine's Top-Notch, just because of the great story quality throughout the run.

[fulltimer56]

Mlj?

[clayface]

MLJ, the company that created the teen character Archie in Pep Comics, in the early 1940's.

[MrBedrock]

Having much luck getting a response to that, Vince? I heard the crickets and came to help. Hangman is my favorite MLJ title, though Pep comics through about #35 is the run I would most want to complete. For those who don't know what MLJ is, well it is the publisher that eventually became Archie.
Here are a few...
http://www.bedrockcity.com/images/pep1.jpg

[MrBedrock]

http://www.bedrockcity.com/images/pep8.jpg

[MrBedrock]

http://www.bedrockcity.com/images/pep17f.jpg

[MrBedrock]

http://www.bedrockcity.com/images/hangman6.jpg

[clayface]

Some fine examples, Richard. I would have to say that the Hangman stories hold up the best when reading them today, especially the Lucey and Fuji ones. Pep 1-35 would be the most collectible, along with the Hangman run. Next to Top Notch, of course.

*Chirp* *chirp*

[MrBedrock]

You know, Vince, I have never been a big fan of Top-Notch. I should probably try to read more of them, but the characters have never been that appealing to me. Which issues/characters do you like the best in that run?

[clayface]

One of the things about Top Notch is that the quality of the stories and art didn't seem to disappear after the first five issues like many GA books. I really like the early wizard stories and of course the Black Hood stories. Kardak was entertaining and the Firefly was really cool. So was Bob Phantom and I even liked Fran Frasier. Streak Chandler of Mars, in the early issues was one of my favorites. I will admit that there's an emotional attachment, because when I started collecting again, one of the first GA books I picked up was a Top Notch 9 and that issue was such a great read that I was determined to complete the run, which I did. Not a great financial investment, but some cool covers and decent stories, by GA standards. So a lot of it is intangible. If you look at Top Notch 23, you'll See that Harry Lucey did the Wizard story and he was one of my favorites. I'm not saying that TN was the best, just my favorite MLJ. The Archie connection has something to do with it, also. Top Notch 10 is one of my favorite TN covers. I'm getting a bit jaded now and the whole investment side of the hobby has turned me off as well as the extremes some people will go to in this hobby, it's almost as if my enjoyment of the hobby is running on fumes.

[Red Hook]

Big Black Hood fan here. I think he deserves a revival.

And his adversary The Skull is a WHOLE lot scarier than that Red Skull fella' ever was.

[clayface]

When I was trying to complete the run, there was a two part story that began in Top Notch Laugh #30 called "The Son of the Skull". It was a great story, but it took me forever to find issue #31. One of the agonies of reading what you collect. Another agony was the last issue of Top Notch, issue 27, before it changed to Top Notch Laugh. The Firefly story where he travels back in time, a captive of the Queen of Sheba, was a to be continued story....well, it was never continued as the book turned into a humor book retaining just the Black Hood. That drove me nuts, but also had a bittersweet appeal about a bygone era and the changes that were occurring.

[Jeff]

My favorite title is Shield-Wizard.

[Shadow-wolf]

I really like Blue Ribbon Comics starting with Issue #9