On The Spinner Rack - Part 1
In which I tour the sporting side of the comics on display in my office, plus the usual updates on words written and spoken.
I struggled to develop a main topic for this week’s newsletter and was up against a time crunch. I’m writing this on Tuesday evening to get it done and staged before we travel back to Texas for a long weekend with family and friends.
Rather than continue to stare at the blank space where this intro should be I walked away from the laptop and settled into the library chair in my office with a mug of tea and my phone, and started to do some catch-up reading on some of the other substack newsletters I follow.
As it turns out two comics editors whose work I enjoy and follow, Marvel’s Tom Breevort, and Chris Ryall at Syzygy Publishing both have sections in their newsletters called On The Spinner Rack talking about the comics sitting in their office spinner racks - and here I am sitting next to mine - so why not borrow from the best.
Each side of my Spinner Rack is organized to follow a specific theme - so let’s start with the side currently facing my desk.
As I’ve sometimes mentioned here I have a Tumblr blog dedicated to the depiction of my favorite sport, motor racing, in comics.
So let’s drop the flag on a few examples from my collection that are on the starting line.
Starting at the top are several issues of the Charlton Comics group’s Grand Prix title that ran for 16 issues published between 1967 and 1970. Although ostensibly focused on the Formula One championship of the time, this particular cover features a Can-Am race (which many of the F1 racers at the time also participated in).
Next up we have Charlton’s Hot Rods and Racing Cars, one of the longest-running motorsports comics titles with 120 issues published between 1951 and 1973. While the issue out front is focused on drag racing the ones behind it cover sports car racing, F1, and NASCAR.
Hot Rod Racers was the original title of the book that was retitled Grand Prix after a fifteen-issue run between 1964 and 1967. These early issues are focused more on the American national road racing scene.
As we carry on down the rack we get to DC Comics short-lived licensed Hot Wheels series which only lasted for 6 issues in 1970/71. The real interest here is the artists who worked on the series were comics legends Alex Toth and Neal Adams.
We are back to another entry in the Charlton Comics family of motorsports comics, this time with the World of Wheels. The focus of this series was on those who race on two wheels. Running from 1967 to 1970 with just 16 issues published under this title.
The NASCAR Adventures title from Vortex Comics ran for 8 issues in 1991/92. Each issue was a mini-biography of a popular NASCAR driver of the time. NASCAR and comics have had an on-off relationship with several attempts at launching NASCAR-related series over the years (including one that I was lined up to write that almost happened, but didn’t - but that’s a whole other story).
The ACE McCoy issue fronts a couple of comics that collect and reprint some of the racing-related newspaper strips from the 1950s that focused on the popular dirt track oval races of the period.
And those last three rows? - My rotating collection of beat-up $1 bin reading copies of various DC 100-page Giants and Marvel’s Giant-Sized Annuals that I pick up as and when I find them. They have no real collection value, but they are packed with nostalgia value and a perfect item to just pick up and read on a coffee break.
Hope you enjoyed the tour down this side of the Spinner Rack - there are another three sides to go, so at some point, I may get around to sharing those too.
In the meantime - I hope you get to enjoy some good comics reading.
Alan
Other Stuff
Welcome new folks
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Brabazon Bits
Just a reminder that we will celebrate the UK launch of the Brabazon book at the Aerospace Bristol Museum on Saturday, June 7th.
I’ve also started booking some podcast interviews to talk about the writing of the book, as well as the Brabazon’s story. - More on those as details firm up.
“Bristol Brabazon: The Ocean Liner of the Skies and its Ongoing Legacy” will be published on 30 MAY, 2025 in the UK and 30 JULY, 2025 in the US.
There is now an increasing list of online bookstores where the book is available for preorder
Bookshop.org (US) - Any orders help out local independent stores.
Pen & Sword - Order direct from the publishers
Waterstones (UK) - Free shipping in the UK
Word Slinging
Work on the Casino Royale book took a backseat this week as I focused on a magazine article - now done and submitted - and made a start on a short story that is due before the end of April.
Podcast Procrastinations
Thanks to everyone who gave the new Chronological Christie podcast episode on The Secret Adversary a listen over the past week
It was our biggest week of plays so far. If you haven’t given it a listen yet you can check it out at https://creators.spotify.com/pod/chronologicalchristie
And for updates and reminders, you can also follow the podcast's Instagram account - https://www.instagram.com/chronologicalchristie/
Pages and Screens
Books Read in 2025 - “Manfred Von Richthofen: The Red Baron and the High Price of Glory” by Tim Miller-Graves.
By focusing on the short life and legend of “The Red Baron” this delivers the best most and most impactful book on aerial combat I’ve read.
It is the first one I’ve come across that examines the medical implications of dog fighting in the flimsy aircraft of WW1, especially around the lack of understanding of things like G-forces, oxygen deprivation, constant noise and vibration, as well as combat fatigue and the mental strain of being on constant alert in the air.
It also examines the psychological aspect of why a man like von Richthofen could be a merciless killer in combat (with 80 credited kills) yet be chivalrous to fallen foes, and a compassionate leader of men.
But the central thread is around the pressure put on this warrior to be a reluctant hero for his own people, who ended up admired and feted by all-sides including his enemies.
This passage really sums up the book’s central thesis:
“In a war of such terrible slaughter men such as von Richthofen were seen as rising above the senseless carnage into cleaner air where fading illusions of chivalry maybe sustained for a while.
(It was) a fascination managed by a media in thrall to government propaganda, yet ultimately damaging to the hero they proclaimed.”
Over at our online bookstore at Bookshop.org I’ve now added a new section listing books read so far in 2025, so you can pick up copies of any that interest you, while also helping out local independent bookstores.
Weekly Web Round-Up
Forest Comics & Books - We had a bit of a run on Batmobiles again this week, but there’s still some choice items available with more on the way.
Batman On The Cover - The journey through Batman’s comics publishing history continues through November 1969 with reprint and translated editions published in Norway, Sweden, and the UK
Racing Comics - This Action Annual from 1977 reminded me of teenage evenings at the Hyde Road stadium in Manchester watching Stock Cars in action - although I don’t remember any bursting into flames and taking off towards the crowd like the one shown in the background here.
Where on the Web is Alan?
You can now find links to all the places you can find me online, websites, newsletters, social media, and more in a single LINKS page on my personal website.
As always, thanks for joining me this week. If you know someone else who might enjoy the contents of this week’s newsletter, or just my weekly ramblings in general - please feel free to share by clicking the button below.
See you next time
Alan J. Porter
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