Treasure Chest (of fun & fact) Volume 22, #7 [December 1, 1966]

   

  Every week, When I was in elementary school, it was a  treat when the teacher passed out our copy of Weekly Reader. It was a varying age appropriate booklet about 4 or 8 pages long filled with news, facts, activities, and cartoons. Usually, there was a giveaway or some other project you could take home and complete with mom and dad. February of 2012 was a period of some sadness when the publication was bought out by Scholastic and publication ended in favor of a cheaper (digital) method.

   So why all the talk about Weekly Reader if the comic book I am reviewing is called Treasure Chest (of fun & fact)? It so turns out that this rare gem that I unearthed at one of my all-time favorite used bookstores was the Catholic version of the Weekly Reader. Published by Ohio's George A. Pflaum, Treasure Chest was given to students at parochial schools on a bi-weekly basis from 1946-1972. 

    In this issue of Treasure Chest, students would've learned about the weather balloon experiments of the Piccard Brothers, solved brainteasers using toothpicks, watch a young man fly a plane when his flying instructor has a sudden heart attack, better understand the rules of scoring in bowling, and much more. With assorted gags, riddles, and fun facts; this comic might not seem like much but for 1966 this was cool stuff.

    Treasure Chest was known to have employed comic book legends such as DC's Murphy Anderson, EC's Joe Orlando, and Graham Ingels, as well as Marvel's Joe Sinnott. This is pretty odd since, during the comics scare of the 1950s, community groups led by the Catholic church organized comic book burnings, many of which featured art by the aforementioned artists.

    Though this issue doesn't feature any work by those comic book legends, this comic is about as rare of some of their pivotal works. But if I have learned anything from the TV show Pawn Stars, rare doesn't mean valuable. This book's condition is pretty beaten up and I had to be ultra careful since the pages wanted to break away from the staples. But for an almost half-century old educational comic, it was still readable and didn't feature any pen or pencil marks on it. ( I would actually consider getting this book slabbed at a free grading event in the future to keep it better preserved.)

    An interesting look at American Catholic school life during the mid-1960s. If you are a fan of silver age books, comics aimed at children, or free publications from yesteryear, this is definitely something to look out for to add to not just a comic collection to your overall book collection as well.

   Worth Consuming

   Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.