Rune

I'm also using 18 x 24" Itoya, to avoid swimming I've put some pieces in Gerber 1418R (14 3/4 x 18 1/2) 4 mil Mylar D archives and fixed the Mylar to the black acid-free Itoya mounting paper inserts using Gerber clear archival double-sided tape. It looks like this and looks slightly like framing a piece (- Btw, pieces do not move inside the Mylar, well, maybe if you really shake the profolio, but I don't )

I'd never do that - but I've seen a nice painting showing people who trimmed art to fit in portfolios

BWS' unpublished cover to TOD #8 sold on HA.com yesterday, but although I'm a great fan of BWS I think the published ToD #8 is *much* better (Dracula looks weird on the BWS cover, like he's looking down at the ground and not really connecting with his dinner )

Thank you very much for creating this great set! https://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/SetTypeDetail.aspx?SetTypeID=4381

Yes and no My 9.6 is WP and my 9.8 is OW-W, and the 9.6 looks just as good to my eyes as the 9.8 - so I can't make up my mind if I want to sell the 9.6 I'll be happy to let you know if I decide to sell it.

I just sold Savage Tales #1 CGC 9.6 WP for $1400, according to GPA it's the second highest price ever recorded. The highest price was 1495 July 11 2004 - but back then Census was really low in numbers. So there may be increased interests in these great mags Reason for selling was simply that I have two of these mags in 9.6 WP and one in 9.8, and I don't need that many.

Another boardie freed two CGC 9.6 books from the holders and got back two 9.8 books. I guess it's all about statistics - with 9.8 WP you may generally get less damaged and less faded books compared to 9.6 OW-W. But there's no guarantee, especially when grading is subjective (even the OWL card may be difficult to use in some cases). I have one 9.2 book and a few 9.4 books, and I can't find any flaws - maybe I need better glasses Still I tend to sleep better at night with 9.8s, but like GhostTown I don't mind Spidey 9.6 books when 9.8s are much more expensive, carrying in mind that grading is subjective even for experienced CGC graders. I can see you care for great cover centering too - you've got an awesome Godzilla set!

You'll probably get another shot at #5 soon, there are 25 9.8s in the Census - but MyComicShop has #9 CGC 9.8 with pure WP - and there are just 3 copies in the Census - and because I've got one, there are really just 2 mags out there http://www.mycomicshop.com/search?ItemID=41724056 Originally I only wanted 9.8s with pure WP and near-perfect centering in my Savage Tales set, but after a few years my collection was going nowhere - so I've settled for 9.8s with OW-W or WP, maybe I'll upgrade some OW-W mags whenever possible (then again maybe one of my friends is right - he keeps saying that WP is not that important, in some decades everything printed before 1980 will be OW or worse; still I love the idea of trying to get the best possible page quality ) BTW, I just noticed your truly amazing Spidey collection - and AF SS #15 in 7.5 I'm trying to collect a few Romita Spidey books in CGC 9.6 or 9.8 with pure WP, and I thought collecting Conan mags was hard

Good luck with the sets and of course it's not a chore collecting these great mags, although it's time consuming - especially the time I spend manually searching for CGC books on the web, and currently I spend much time searching for art. I'll let you know if I ever consider moving some of these mags

Congrats - you've got some amazing mags! Going through your thread I'm still convinced I shouldn't collect much more than the first 10 or 15 issues, it's simply too much work. I think it took me 7 years just to collect the first 10 mags

Awesome covers - I'm a great fan of much of Hitch' work, but of course there're variations in quality as there are with other artists. Personally I greatly appreciate my FF 556 cover Those of us knowing the feeling of losing close relatives may relate to this piece in ways others can't - I think Hitch really nailed the expression of grief and despair in this piece I don't think Hitch is a threat or a menace, like Spidey he's doing an awful lot of amazing things

Thank you - #1 is a great book. Thinking of it, actually to me Conan the Barbarian #4 is the true Conan the Barbarian #1, like Roy Thomas has explained: "From the beginning I had wanted to adapt Robert E. Howard‘s stories as well as make up so my own, but our contract with the REH estate gave us rights only to use Conan, not any particular stories. Now I got permission from Glenn Lord in a letter to adapt the story in which the Cimmerian is chronologically youngest—"Tower of the Elephant," which had quickly become my favorite Conan tale of all-as an issue of Conan. Either Marvel or I-I suspect Marvel-paid a little extra for the right to adapt the story, but at this point I‘ve totally forgotten how I swung that or how much it cost. Working with Howard's actual prose, not just my couple of pages of accompanying notes, apparently turned Barry on, and he did a wonderful job. From the time Barry drew "Tower of the Elephant," there was no looking back for either of us." Excerpt from "The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives Volume 1" 2010 (the foreword by Roy Thomas). In an interview May 1998 Barry Windsor-Smith mentioned that Conan the Barbarian #4 was quite special to him: "Roy had sent me all of the Lancer paperbacks some months prior to our beginning the first issue, so my prior affinity was merely months old but, as it happens, that made my perceptions energetic and fresh because I was utterly hooked by Howard's writing style. "The Tower of the Elephant," in particular, was a real head trip, to use the vernacular of the time".Excerpt from "Comic Book Artist" #2 Had Marvel not acquired the rights to adapt Robert E. Howards original Conan stories, Marvel's Conan the Barbarian books would probably never had reached similar popularity. Published during the year 1971 these Robert E. Howard adapted stories won the "Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards Best Continuing Feature". Roy Thomas also explained in the extra material on the 2011 Conan Blu-Ray movie, when Marvel's Conan books were selling at their best, Marvel's Conan earnings were twice as high as Marvel's earnings on The Amazing Spider-man and The Fantastic Four combined. Thus Conan the Barbarian #4 is the key book in my opinion - sorry if I got carried away!

The Palmiotti/Gray run is awesome - some of the best books I've read in a long time As I've grown older I seem to appreciate the - dare I write - more realistic Jonah Hex stories more than super hero stories, thus Jonah Hex is ageing like great wine. Actually I tried to read the Fantastic Four Omnibus (Kirby) some months ago, but I had to put it down - I felt like a grown man reading comics made for children. I don't get that feeling with Hex, especially the Palmiotti/Gray run (actually it's no joke, those stories are truly hardcore ) I don't actively collect Johan Hex CGC books, but I did buy a cover last year and was lucky the find the CGC book too: http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1352497 http://www.myslabbedcomics.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=43127&GSub=2564 There's simply nothing better than the old Jonah Hex covers! Good luck with the run

I've got all #1-24 + Annual #1 books in CGC 9.8 except #11 (Carlo/CarlD has the single #11 9.8). I've used a flash trying to bring out the nice colors on the covers, so here's a non-OA tour of the great old covers if anyone wants one ;-) http://www.myslabbedcomics.com/GalleryRoom.asp?GSub=2512 (It's like keeping a garden and I've just updated all texts in the CGC Registry - https://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/SetGallery.aspx?PeopleSetID=9292 - but not yet on MySlabbedComics, and photos are generally bigger and better on MySlabbedComics)

If it wasn't because I could be accused of blasphemous writings I could have introduced these pieces in one sentence: "When visiting the CAF church, suddenly I saw God and two angels" I think an improved title to this thread could be "Amazing Spider-Man Romita covers #40, #46 and #61 now on CAF" - just now I saw this thread only by accident. To better show the fantastic and historic art I've tried to make photos bigger, sharper and I've enhanced the contrast slightly: If put on HA, could #40 be the first OA super hero cover to reach $1 million (I only remember one Frazetta painting - which strictly speaking wasn't even comic art - and a Tintin piece going for more than 1 mill). Strange why #40 hasn't been highlighted on CAF a week ago.

I did think that Dennis probably had cleaned your new amazing Spidey cover - it looks much better now. I wouldn't consider removing glue stains or anything that has nothing to do with the original art as a problem - but for Conan #4 I would have preferred a less invasive solution. Of course getting the piece to look the best vs. preserving the original may be quite troublesome, I don't know how hard it would be getting an overlay to fit To me Conan #4 is very special - like Roy Thomas has explained: "For #4 I decided to do something different. From the beginning I had wanted to adapt Robert E. Howard‘s stories as well as make up so my own, but our contract with the REH estate gave us rights only to use Conan, not any particular stories. Now I got permission from Glenn Lord in a letter to adapt the story in which the Cimmerian is chronologically youngest—"Tower of the Elephant," which had quickly become my favorite Conan tale of all-as an issue of Conan. Either Marvel or I-I suspect Marvel-paid a little extra for the right to adapt the story, but at this point I‘ve totally forgotten how I swung that or how much it cost. Working with Howard's actual prose, not just my couple of pages of accompanying notes, apparently turned Barry on, and he did a wonderful job. From the time Barry drew "Tower of the Elephant," there was no looking back for either of us." Excerpt from "The Barry Windsor-Smith Conan Archives Volume 1" 2010 (the foreword by Roy Thomas). In an interview May 1998 Barry Windsor-Smith mentioned that Conan the Barbarian #4 was quite special to him: "Roy had sent me all of the Lancer paperbacks some months prior to our beginning the first issue, so my prior affinity was merely months old but, as it happens, that made my perceptions energetic and fresh because I was utterly hooked by Howard's writing style. "The Tower of the Elephant," in particular, was a real head trip, to use the vernacular of the time".Excerpt from "Comic Book Artist" #2 Had Marvel not acquired the rights to adapt Robert E. Howards original Conan stories, Marvel's Conan the Barbarian books would probably never had reached similar popularity. Published during the year 1971 these Robert E. Howard adapted stories won the "Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards Best Continuing Feature". Roy Thomas also explained in the extra material on the 2011 Conan Blu-Ray movie, when Marvel's Conan books were selling at their best, Marvel's Conan earnings were twice as high as Marvel's earnings on The Amazing Spider-man and The Fantastic Four combined. Conan the Barbarian #4 is a key book in my opinion, and thus the original art cover of great historical importance.

That's my thought too. It looks like some of the original inked art was changed too (or hidden beneath a stat) in order to extend the web.

Normally I think light restoration of comic art is a good thing, like gluing a stat to its original position when it has become detached. But I just saw this piece and I couldn't help thinking that something precious may have been lost in the restoration: Original Restored After checking HA.com I don't think the new stats can be easily removed: https://comics.ha.com/itm/original-comic-art/barry-smith-conan-the-barbarian-4-the-tower-of-the-elephant-cover-original-art-marvel-1971-/a/7084-92354.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515 Note that HA did disclose that the piece had been restored: "The upper margin has been closely trimmed right to the art; there's some overall wear and light soiling; and note that all of the masthead, logo, and type elements at the top are carefully color-matched replacements". I'm not sure I prefer the restored version On the original you can see some original art (one of the spider's legs in pencil) now being hidden and it seems that Barry Smith marked both placement of the title and comic code stamp in pencil. My question for this thread: what do you prefer, the original or the restored piece?

Just bought this one - I've been looking for 9.8 copy with WP and nice centering for many years, I think this one will be ok It contains some of my favorite Barry Smith stories (reprints), but I think this was the first time these stories were printed in black & white - as close as possible to the original ink... A few highlights from the mag - maybe this first page below hasn't been published first elsewhere

More great candidates for CGC holders There are few original art covers from these mags on Comicartfans (CAF), I only found covers to #2 and #3: http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=776860 http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=776861 - Luckily I did find them all here; there's just something special about painted covers from the 1970s http://pota.goatley.com/marvel/

Awesome covers - the original movie is one of my favorite movies of all time. Congrats, you've got some beautiful mags - maybe CGC should put them in holders

Thank you - yes, my SSoC #1 to #10 all 9.8 with pure WP (no OW-W or worse) was actually harder to collect than my Savage Tales set, I think I was lucky to pick up the single highest graded SSoC #9, so I guess it'll be very difficult to improve that set - I might expand it to #15 if I get the chance I'm not going to try to collect the first 100 issues, I think Topnot (Al) more than deserves the top spot. https://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/PeopleSetDetail.aspx?PeopleSetID=9549

Awesome book, congrats - I loved these books as a kid, have been considering collecting them in 9.8, but it's too much work

According to CGC winners get (see text in bold): "Awards will be presented in the following categories: The Three Best Golden Age Sets (comics published starting with Action Comics #1 (June 1938–1959) The Three Best Silver Age Sets (comics published 1960–1969) The Three Best Bronze Age Sets (comics published 1970–1979) The Three Best Copper Age Sets (comics published 1980–1989) The Three Best Modern Age Sets (comics published 1990–present) The Three Best Presented Sets (sets with the best descriptive text and images) The One Best Magazine Set The One Best Custom Set One Collector for Overall Achievement in Comics Collecting (based on a collector’s overall collection of Registry sets) Take the honors in one of these categories and you’ll receive a personalized plaque, an icon of recognition next to your set’s Registry listing and a one-year Collectors Society Premium Membership. Overall quality, balance and completion will all be important considerations — in addition to Registry score — when judging sets in competitive categories." Source: https://www.cgccomics.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=5883&2017-registry-awards

Thank you, Batmiesta & Jayman - yes, the time I've spend getting these 12 mags will probably keep me from starting to collect Creepy and Eerie 9.8 mags! BTW, I really appreciate the kind words; normally no one around me knows anything about my hobby, and probably don't care much (like *long dry cough* the wife), it's good to know I'm not the only one to appreciate these great mags!