What are Spire Christian Comics?
SCC was the inspiration of Al Hartley. He was primarily an illustrator who worked on numerous comic art projects starting in 1945 and running through the 1970s. After becoming a Christian, he became disillusioned with the art that he was being asked to produce for the Marvel magazine Pussycat in the late 1960s and began looking for an outlet in which to relate the Christian gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ. He was asked by publisher Fleming H. Revell, brother-in-law to Dwight L. Moody, to adapt the novel The Cross and the Switchblade into comic book form (below). This was the first SCC to be published and the year was 1972. Other book adaptations such as God’s Smuggler and The Hiding Place soon followed. Not long after this, Hartley received permission from John Goldwater, president of Archie Comics, to use the Archie characters in a series of Christian-themed Archie comics of which Archie’s One Way was the first (below).
There are a couple of websites with links below which provide a great and detailed history of Al Hartley’s career in comic books. For information on Al Hartley, or from Wikipedia you can find info.
A list of all titles published by SCC that were written by Al Hartley as well as interesting history on the publishing history of SCCs is also available. I believe this list to be complete. They also break them down into useful categories of "Biography", "Archie", "Bible Story Adaptations", "Book/Movie Adaptations", "Kiddies Christian Comics" meant for younger readers and "Miscellaneous".
Price and Publisher Variants
Not shown in the website above are all of the price and publisher variants for SCC. In the early 1980s, Hugh Barbour, a relative of Fleming H. Revell, acquired the rights to the SCC books and reprinted many of them under the NEW Barbour Christian Comics indicia. An example of the possible different variants of a given issue is shown below. While it is true that for a given issue of a title it is fairly easy to find a copy, gathering all price variants of single issue is not so straightforward. I have found that the .49 copies are typically harder to find than the .35/.39 copies. I do not have print run data to back this up and is only an observation based on how often items become available on auction sites such as eBay. For instance, the issue titled "Attack!" I have never seen for sale on eBay in the .49 cent version, only the .39 cent version although I am quite sure the .49 cent version exists. For information on the extant variants the best resource is the Grand Comics Database. To find the issues published by Revell, search by Publisher and type in "Fleming H. Revell". To find the Barbour published issues, search by Publisher and type in "Barbour". It can be seen that there are a great many more issues to add from the Barbour Publishing Company of Hartley's books. An example of the different variants for a given issue of one of the Spire comics is shown below with Archie's Sonshine.
Archie Sonshine variants: (left to right) .69c New Barbour Edition, .49c, .39c, and no price Fleming H. Revell editions.
The Hiding Place variants: (left to right) .49c New Barbour Edition and .39 c Fleming H. Revell edition.
Jesus variants: (left to right) .49c New Barbour Edition and .49c Fleming H. Revell edition.
Challenges Associated with Collecting the Comics
Depending on what you value as a collector, there are certain challenges associated with collecting SCC. For If you are not concerned about condition or price variants, you can collect nearly every SCC title and issue in a short amount of time by diligent work on eBay and have a lot of fun receiving and reading these books. If higher grade condition is a priority, there are two challenges to consider. Number one is that these comics are typically purchased to be read and so have usually seen a lot of wear by the time they make it to an eBay auction. Number two is that these comics are not typically collected by mainstream comic collectors nor sold by comic dealers. As such, they usually fall into the hands of garage sale goers and antique shops and others who do not have experience in grading comics and conveying those points important to condition. Some of the best condition SCCs are from lot finds that were purchased and ended up in an attic or garage and then make it to the auction site 30 years later. A primary difficulty with collecting price variants is that often the comics are sold in lots and a picture is taken of them from about 10 feet away and it is difficult to see the cover price without asking the seller. Usually the seller complies but it makes the search a little more tedious. Also, I have found the Overstreet Price Guide to be very out of touch with these issues and sometimes they have the publication information correct and sometimes they don't. The Guide will sometimes list the variant versions but they are nearly always incomplete.
In the 38th Edition of the Overstreet Price Guide, Overstreet Advisor Doug Sulipa writes that "The Spire titles are by far the most collected of the genre (Crhistian Comics). These 19 Archie titles are always in the highest demand at 125-150% of Guide. Scarce Archie Spire titles include: Archie and Mr. Weatherbee, Archie's Circus, Archie's Date Book, Archie's Festival, Archie's Roller Coaster, Archie's Sports Scene, and Christmas with Archie. There are about 38 non-Archie Spire titles and many completionists that want them all. Spire comics are typically found in G or VG condition, with FN copies being uncommon and VF or better copies being scarce. The bestsellers are Hansi the Girl Who LOved the Swastika, Hello I'm Johnny Cash, and Tom Landry and the Dallas Cowboys."
Different Opinions on SCCs
One thing you will find if you get very far collecting SCCs is that many people have very strong feelings towards them. Some experience nostalgia and joy upon reading or re-reading them and others feel anger and resentment and even describe the Archie books as “creepy”. This is the typical range of reactions to the message contained within the comic pages and shows that Hartley presented this message in an effective manner. These responses are part of the reason these comics are still interesting and relevant to many people today.
The main thing to remember is Have Fun collecting and reading and best wishes from me to you and your family!!!
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