sfcityduck

Hard to pick a favorite Foster panel if you are limited to just one. But, I think this may well be mine:

Of course, Kirby also swiped Foster for the Demon. Foster: Kirby:

Foster swipes are everywhere by some of the biggest names. A famous one by Kirby surprises many. Here's Foster: Here's Kirby:

Here's Frazetta homaging Hal Foster back in 1949:

You're not going to be disappointed! Telerites is absolutely right that a lot of comic artists were inspired by and swiped Foster. But very very few could draw in the Foster style with minimal clean lines that created incredible detail. Frazetta and Wood, when they they put in the effort, could reach that level of detail and composition - but very few others. Too often, artists just swiped Foster's compositions because, well, he was the best and there were so many that it made a comic book artist under a deadline's life much easier. Moldoff's early Hawkman stories often swiped Foster and Raymond. Swiping was common, and swiping from Foster seemed especially popular. Examples: Kane swiping Foster's Tarzan: Some say the whole Batman origin story was a swipe of Prince Valiant (I say it was inspiration). Wood swiping Foster's Prince Valiant:

Frankly, the comic strips of the 1930s and 1940s are artistically superior to the comic books of the same time period. They also were profoundly influential on comic book artists, most of whom dreamed of becoming strip artists. But if you want to read great adventure strips that hold up to today's eyes, I'd say the following are essential: * Edgar Rice Burrough's Tarzan: The Sunday Comics by Hal Foster (Dark Horse Books - 3 oversized vols) - This is the beginning of the perfection of the adventure strip. * Prince Valiant by Hal Foster (Fantagraphics - 19 vols and counting) - This is the perfection of the adventure strip. If you are going to buy one strip reprint - this is it. * Definitive Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim by Alex Ramond (IDW 4 vols) - This is the next best thing to Foster. * Scorchy Smith and the Art of Noel Sickles (IDW 1 vol.) - This is the artist who taught Caniff how to improve his drawing and who ghosted a lot of classic Terry and the Pirates. But, to understand what Sickles did you also need to get Terry and the Pirates by Milt Caniff (IDW 6 vols) - This is the best daily adventure strip ever. If you are going to buy only two strip reprints, after Prince Valiant then you have to get Terry/Scorchy! * Rip Kirby by Alex Raymond (4 vols) - A completely different take on the adventure strip and an incredible remaking of Raymond's art style into an amalgamation of Foster and Caniff. After that, you can go a lot of different ways. I'd recommend picking up a used copy of Milt Caniff's Dickie Dare, a precusor to Terry and the Pirates, just to gain a better appreciation of Sickles' impact on Caniff, and also Steve Canyon by Caniff to continue the adventure from Terry and Male Call by Caniff to supplement it with some WWII texture. I'd also recommend picking up Titan's Tarzan by Hogarth and Flash Gordon by Barry (not as good as the original artists, but still pretty awesome to modern eyes) to continue the adventures of those characters. If you want to delve into some great stories with cruder art, try Buz Sawyer and Captain Easy as both great options that are sure to remind of the art of 1930s Superman and the stories are fairly entertaining. I also like the Superman strips and Sundays by IDW. Finally, if you can tolerate a more trippy and prissy style of art, by one of the greatest artists ever, and don't mind a form of adventure which is really something else, than pick up the Complete Little Nemo by Winsor McCay (Taschen 2 vols). This straddles the line between adventures strips and other genres. But, for me this is definitely a must-have. I'd make this my number three choice. There are many many other great adventure comics out there being reprinted - Buck Rogers, Secret Agent X-9, MIss Fury, Wonder Woman, Batman, Beyond Mars, Skymasters of Space, Jet Powers, Zorro, etc. Have fun! But, I strongly suggest you start with Prince Valiant and Scorchy/Terry.

The primary worry of the OA guys is manipulation of the market itself.

Here's the WW 1 that sold. The extras probably made this copy a steal: https://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?id=677327

They are actually referred to as "solicitation copies." A WW 1 (sold last year) and 2 (offered now). See here: https://www.comicconnect.com/bookSearch.php?title=Wonder+Woman&issue=2

Again, my guess is "no." As with the the Action 1 9.0, this is just the ground the game is played on.

And the WW 1 and 2 review copies?

I'd suggest you read the above thread, especially around page 33 or so. Posters on this board known for their knowledge stated it started as an 8.0. And I was told by a Metro employee the same thing at SDCC as he disparaged the book (presumably the party line of Metro was to disparage the book prior to the auction in an attempt to lower the price for their client - Hariri). On other threads on this book, we learned the chain of ownership starting with its storage for years in a cedar box. A really interesting story. But not one that supports it was graded once.

If that bothers you, then you don't want to know the story behind the "Famous First Editions" of the 70s and the laminated Action 1.

CGC says "Edgar Church (Mile High)"

The Action 1 that sold for $3M went 8.0 to 8.5 to 9.0. The Denver CA 1 which is now a 9.4 started, if I recall correctly, as a 9.0. So this is not an isolated instance. Seems like either CGC's grading (and paper quality) standards are declining over time or the pressing techniques are really improving (especially as they can now upgrade PQ).

Actually, 8.5 c-ow went to 9.0 c-ow and then 9.4 ow:

Except for the page quality upgrade, it looks like the answer is "yes" based on the spots on the man in the foreground to the right of the black circle.

Why? They were called Mile High's when the whole concept of charging a premium for a "pedigree" was first invented by Chuck, and there is no doubt that dealers owe him a huge debt of gratitude for that. Other pedigrees are also named after the stores that discovered them, and most pedigrees don't reference the orginal owner - more likely a purely marketing name ("curator") or place name ("Allentown") designed to hide the OO's identity (and I suspect that is usually the dealer's choice, not the OO's). I think Chuck deserves the credit he gets by the reference to his store in the MH/Edgar Church books.

Verzyl family's Mile High copy. But, the photo of the MH copy might be cropped. The corners are super sharp and there seems to be less paper on the top AND bottom than on the 9.4.

For comparison:

Human Torch, Captain America, and Subby are pretty much co-equal in my mind, and there's a very good argument that HT and Subby were more important than CA during the GA. They definitely had more GA appearances than CA (although Robin had more GA appearances than Batman, so maybe that doesn't matter). And Marvel Comics 1 is the first Marvel comic. And that means a lot. So while you may end up being proven right, I don't think you should be. We'll see.

No. CA 1 is by far the more common in high grade. 9.8, 2x 9.4, 2x 9.2, 9.0, and undoubtedly more to be graded as its a 1941 book. MC 1, in contrast, is a 1939 book. MC 1 has more character first appearances, more historical value, is rarer, and is just cooler IMHO. So I'm hoping it beats out the CA 1 9.4.

Look down four lines. The discussion has started, with pic!

Highest graded, but the Verzyl family's Mile High copy is still out there and it is reputed to be "perfect." Of course, that one's a November reprint too. LoL!

I'd guess that CGC and its competitor just use different names for the same thing and CGC's "file copy" is its competitors "archive copy." But, I could be wrong.