AJD

Time to bump this back onto the first page until, like an antipodean Bizarro world, it sinks out of contact with the known universe again. Here are two Tim Valour books by Australian artist John Dixon. I'll admit I bought them with flippage in mind, but when I got them in hand I decided they're going into the Oz box instead. If you're interested, I'll post the interior of the Hitler story in my journal (linked in my sig). I like the way Dixon has added his credit to #13 as an aircrew stencil on the canopy frame.

Clearly a quality control error, either on the label, or on the grading (looks trimmed to me) or both.

When they said the 9.2 Tec 27 is a seriously big book I had no idea how literally true that is.

One answer to your question is that only the highest graded copies sell for big bucks. With moderns, it's mostly 9.8s that are collectable. The price falls off very steeply as the grades go down. It won't be worth grading a 9.4 in most cases, and a 9.6 might be marginal. If you buy raw copies, you are far more likely to get a 9.4 than a 9.8

The new leader!

You shouldn't do the calculations in nominal dollars. $1.5 million in 2010 is equivalent to $1.74 million now due to inflation. (CPI calculator) So the return over the eight years is actually 18% in real terms, or 2.1% above inflation annualised.

We all know that size really does matter. I was looking at this spider-whomper Australian book from the mid 1950s, and it got me wondering what the biggest GA/AA book is. I know I've seen a few big 'uns around here, but can anyone top 340 pages?

I have quite a few Australian comics for which my copy is the source of all extant internet images. The first time I checked the GCD and thought "hey, that's the copy I just bought - what are the odds?" Now it's more surprising to find a different one!

I think I've found another aviation photo swipe. I had to mirror reflect the first photo, but what do you think? It's pretty close. The second photo shows the top of the boarding ladder, which the artist has also got right. (The aircraft is a Avro Cana CF-100 Canuck - and flying above it is a well-rendered Saab J-29 Tunaan.)

Wow, I thought I was being generous with 3.5 and 5.0. Have to ask: Andy, was that Millie corner torn when the book was submitted?

I do like dual priced comics, and the number is manageable. But I'm guessing those 54+ books might be hard to track down?

Don't be greedy Rich. Either would be a significant upgrade for me!

Well, one day all this will be mine, that is true. But in the context of the last book reviewed, let me remind you that this guy is Australian, and I'd have to beat him to the throne. And in case you're wondering, this is me:

I've found a few neat things while walking the dog. No comics, but just this week I found a nice bivalve fossil sticking out of the ground.

Gonna be hard to top that one!

If I lived in the US I would be going after the Dell Four Color run for sure. Such a fun mixture of genres. But postage on 1300 books kind of kills off the idea for me. The biggest run I'm working on is the Dell WDC&S run. I'm 10 short of having 1-100 and have a few dozen later ones of the 263 total.

I think a few of us are happy to own one that "isn't a stunner". Here's mine, from which there is little danger of receiving a stun. It is, however, very nice to have.

Still picking up the odd US edition of Planet Comics when the stars/cost/eye appeal align. Here's an agreeably affordable #42. I couldn't decide which page to include, so here's an UTC bonus two-fer. The rather stately Queen of Jupiter And an excellent Mysta (usually my favourite) splash panel:

The rest of us can't relate to that at all.

That's where I got mine too - great guy to buy from, and there are some nice ones left.

Very pretty! I'll reinforce the thread bumping with a couple of nice new yellow ducks of my own:

Yes, agreed. The 'atom bomb' story is so weak I was surprised that Barks wrote it. I had assumed it was one of the stories given to him by the studio to draw, but apparently not.

That would be why I said "alleged hilarity ensues". While I'm here, here's another Australian Jungle, with a mammoth splash panel. (<-- comedy gold)