K. G. Murray Publishing Company was an Australian company which was well known for reprinting American comics for the Australian market. Most of these were straight-forward reprints without significant editing or curating. But for a brief period from 1980-83, they rebranded as Murray Comics and started to do some interesting things. They created what I believe to be the first character-centric collected editions, predating modern TPBs by 10-20 years. Of course these were very different -- magazine-sized inexpensive black-and-white reprints -- but the curation of the content is the unique thing here. For the first time, characters like Zatanna, Hawkgirl, and Black Canary had their "own title" composed of their various features and backup stories. As someone who is endlessly curious about the development of the female superheros in popular culture, these books are a crucial turning point - exemplifying the shifting of public focus toward these often neglected "secondary characters" since the late 70s.
I have acquired seven of these Murray Comics reprints and adore them all. There are lots more, including A-List DC characters like Wonder Woman and Supergirl, but I focused on the heroines that never had the solo treatment before. Male characters also got the Murray treatment (I especially like the Man-Bat issue). There are several more issues on my wishlist, but it may be another 10 years until I can procure another so I'm not waiting to post.
These magazine-sized reprints are in black and white and printed on newsprint with covers very similar to traditional comic book paper. I believe the mascot, Murray the Cat, was only active from 1980-1983.
Below is an example of the kind of graphic editing you find in these books. To create a continuous story, they often doctored the final "to be continued" panels and (unfortunately) often removed the title splash pages at the beginning of the next chapter. Below is an example of how they mirrored Huntress's face to keep the story flowing. the color version below is the undoctored reprint and the b&w version is from Murray.
The publication dates printed inside the books are suspect. The seven issues I will be featuring in this post all say either 1980 or 1982 in the fine print. However, in researching the stories involved, I realized these dates were likely generic copyright blurbs and not held to the same standards that comics and magazines use. For instance, the cover date might say 1980, but the stories inside might be from 1982. The dates I included in this post are my personal estimates based on the included content.
I'm going to start with the publication that started me down this path: Huntress.
I have always adored the Helena Wayne version of Huntress who was active in DC Comics from 1977-1986 when she was killed and eventually replaced by Helena Bertinelli (spoiler, they eventually merged into the same character again). Helena Wayne was the queen of backup stories - starring in over 45 six-page solo adventures. I always wanted these collected (and they eventually mostly were in recent years), but this surprising first attempt was way back in 1982. I discovered this book in the early 2000s but couldn't get a copy for over a decade.
HUNTRESS
Murray Comics - 1982
96 Pages
WONDER WOMAN #271, Sep 1980
WONDER WOMAN #272, Oct 1980
WONDER WOMAN #273, Nov 1980
WONDER WOMAN #274, Dec 1980
WONDER WOMAN #275, Jan 1981
WONDER WOMAN #276, Feb 1981
WONDER WOMAN #277, Mar 1981
WONDER WOMAN #278, Apr 1981
WONDER WOMAN #279, May 1981
WONDER WOMAN #280, Jun 1981
WONDER WOMAN #281, Jul 1981
WONDER WOMAN #282, Aug 1981
WONDER WOMAN #283, Sep 1981
WONDER WOMAN #284, Oct 1981
WONDER WOMAN #285, Nov 1981
Note: All of these stories (and more) were reprinted in color in Huntress: Dark Knight Daughter in 2006 and again in Huntress: Origins in 2020.
HAWKGIRL
Murray Comics - 1982
96 Pages
DC COMICS PRESENTS #37, Sep 81
WORLD'S FINEST #262, May 1980
WORLD'S FINEST #266, Jan 1981
WORLD'S FINEST #267, Mar 1981
WORLD'S FINEST #268, May 1981
WORLD'S FINEST #269, Jul 1981
WORLD'S FINEST #270, Aug 1981
WORLD'S FINEST #272, Oct 1981
WORLD'S FINEST #273, Nov 1981
WORLD'S FINEST #278, Apr 1982
While none of these stories are the typical solo features or backup stories we see in the other Murray collections, it's notable that Hawkgirl had spent over 40 years limited to supporting character status and never had her logo featured on a cover before this.
Note: This was published 24 years before the first solo Hawkgirl series.
BLACK CANARY
Murray Comics - 1982
96 Pages
DC COMICS PRESENTS #30, Feb 1981
JUSTICE LEAGUE #201, Apr 1982
WORLD'S FINEST #261, Mar 1980
WORLD'S FINEST #262, May 1980
WORLD'S FINEST #252, Sep 1978
WORLD'S FINEST #282, Aug 1982
WORLD'S FINEST #283, Sep 1982
Note: These stories mostly feature Black Canary as a supporting character for Green Arrow. For a collection of her early solo stories check out DC Archive Edition: Black Canary from 2001 (reprinted as Black Canary: Bird of Prey in 2021).
This Murray book is notable for featuring her logo for the first time, roughly 9 years before her first solo series.
BATGIRL AND ROBIN
Murray Comics - 1980
96 Pages
BATMAN FAMILY #20, Nov 1978
DETECTIVE COMICS #495, Oct 1980
DETECTIVE COMICS #487, Jan 1980
BATMAN FAMILY #11, Jun 1977
DETECTIVE COMICS #505, Aug 1981
DETECTIVE COMICS #506, Sep 1981
DETECTIVE COMICS #492, Jul 1980
DETECTIVE COMICS #493, Aug 1980
DETECTIVE COMICS #490, May 1980
This Dick Giordano cover was originally a pin-up in Detective Comics #485 (Aug 1979). I always loved this art and thought it a shame to be hidden in the back pages.
Although there are plenty of Batgirl and Robin team-up stories out there, this collection seems to inexplicably feature solo stories from each.
ROSE AND THORN
Murray Comics - 1983
96 Pages
SUPERMAN #336, Jun 1979
LOIS LANE #124, Jul 1972
LOIS LANE #122, May 1972
LOIS LANE #122, May 1972
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #188, Jul 1982
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #189, Aug 1982
LOIS LANE #125, Aug 1972
LOIS LANE #128, Dec 1972
Rose and Thorn is a classic character with a Jekyll-and-Hyde motif who is in desperate need of a modern collected edition. She is a consistently relevant character that no one talks about. I was surprised to discover her currently living in the 31st century with the Legion of Super-Heroes. This Murray book collects 8 of her early solo adventures (there are dozens).
SUPER-HEROINES
Murray Comics - 1982
96 Pages
WONDER WOMAN #291, May 1982
WONDER WOMAN #291, May 1982
WONDER WOMAN #292, Jun 1982
WONDER WOMAN #292, Jun 1982
WONDER WOMAN #293, Jul 1982
WONDER WOMAN #293, Jul 1982
DETECTIVE COMICS #508, Nov 1981
DETECTIVE COMICS #509, Dec 1981
DETECTIVE COMICS #510, Jan 1982
This issue primary collects a multi-part story from the pages of Wonder Woman where all the main DC Heroines unite against an alien tyrant, the Adjudicator. This type of team-up wasn't uncommon, but none were ever collected together like this before.
ZATANNA
Murray Comics - 1982
96 Pages
BRAVE AND THE BOLD #169, Dec 1980
DC COMICS PRESENTS #18, Feb 1980
WORLD'S FINEST #274, Dec 1981
WORLD'S FINEST #275, Jan 1982
WORLD'S FINEST #276, Feb 1982
WORLD'S FINEST #277, Mar 1982
WORLD'S FINEST #278, Apr 1982
JUSTICE LEAGUE #191, Jun 1981
Similar to the other Murray collections, this issue is notable for featuring Zatanna as title character for the first time ever - predating her first official DC Special solo by more than five years. She had been around for nearly twenty years but had never stood in the spotlight. Which was ironic considering her career.
Cheers!
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