AJD

You are right, of course. What I should have said was "the MiG-19 depicted by Aurora bore no resemblance to the real thing". More in my journal here. Google is my friend. Though the story is not without a twist!

To each his own Hep. I do like the strong red colour, but I'm underwhelmed by the composition, especially with the two bears visually overpowering the stars of the show.

Does anyone here not have a FC178?

Great stuff Hep, as usual. Just a few random remarks. The Revell "dambuster" Lancaster kept me occupied all of Christmas Day in 1973. It's dated now, but it was a fine kit in its day. The "MiG 19" is an interesting story in its own right, since it never existed - I old the story in my journal a while back, since the same non-plane ended up on the cover of some Wings comics. Ms Dorian/Vetri is a fine piece of work. Agreed about the Stones v The Beatles, though I continue to enjoy both. The difference is especially true for the Mick Taylor years. The first few bars of the Animals House of the Rising Sun never ceases to amaze, and The Kinks are sadly underrated. In a coincidence, "Death of a clown" was playing on my iPod while I was reading your post! Was the 1967-72 comic buying hiatus your only one? I didn't buy a book between 1977 and 1987, and had a shorter layoff around the turn of the century. My current collection dates from 2005.

Lovely - any chance of some inside images?

A couple of L. B. Coles to add to my jungle/GGA collection. I think it's fair to say that these are best admired for the awesome covers. The stories tend to be a bit . And the interior artwork ranges from workmanlike... ... to, err, not so workmanlike. On this page (from #20) a young woman with an eating disorder and a hair do from a B-52s music video inexplicably stabs a badly taxidermied cat* and then hurls it at another. Even more inexplicably, both the stabbed and unstabbed animals then become animated and flee the scene. *Or maybe dog - that's how bad a job it was.

Two great titles. TFT 40 has A terrific story about the battle at Dien Bien Phu.

I already posted this in the GA ducks thread, but I thought I'd log it here too. Despite being a big Barks/Scrooge collector, I'd always resisted this one. For two reasons, I think. First, the cover doesn't feature Scrooge (and actually isn't all that good). Second, I don't have any great love for the story. I never had an Australia copy in my formative days (not surprising, as according to the Inducks it was only reprinted in 1949 and 1962, both before I was born). I think my first copy of the story would have been in the hardcover Barks Library. The UTC page is an obvious one here. Ladies and gentleducks, presenting Mr Scrooge McDuck: Here's a close up of the first appearance: I love the lamp! (You might well ask whether I really love the lamp, or if I'm just saying that because I saw a lamp...* ) I bought the book from Heritage, and am now very happy to own a copy. I only need to add some staples, the absence of which went unremarked on by Heritage! *

Given that the Barks Uncle Scrooge run from FC386 to Uncle Scrooge 71 was the first run I put together about 10 years ago, it's surprising (to me at least) that I waited so long to add this one to the fold: I got this from Heritage, graded at 2.0 It seemed significantly nicer than that in hand, so I leafed through to inspect it carefully. It took me a little while to notice that the book has no staples! They had evidently rusted a bit, and there are small migration spots in the CF and the covers. So it makes sense to have removed them for conservation. I'm OK with all of that - in fact I'm delighted with this flat and nicely presenting book with OW/W pages. And I think 2.0 is fair enough... but don't you think that it should have been mentioned in the auction description? I happen to have some 1947 Dell staples that I have cleaned up after taking them out of a cheapie Smilin' Jack, so they'll probably end up in this book. Here's the main reason for owning this book: Some nice touches here that I'm not sure I really noticed before - the lamp in particular, but also the statue, portrait and bookend.

If you look at the LHS of the 'U' in punch, you'll see the same crease, which suggests that it is/was a whole book bend. (I'm guessing it wasn't pressed?) I got a raw Dell duck book from Heritage that looked nicer than the grade they assigned, but had a bend (less obvious than this one) and got a 5.0 from them. So I'll guess that here as well - a very nicely presenting 5.0!

Yup - some surprisingly good results for those of us who were hoping something might slip off the radar.

Looks nice Frank. I have a few high grade copies around that one and they are really enjoyable.

Here's one of my last pickups for 2017. My 43rd Australian Fiction House book. For the UTC look, I chose this noirish backup story. I suspect this is a case of the art working better in B&W than it did in colour. The story was originally in Jumbo #163, which is one of the last few, when the title became more of an anthology of styles rather than just jungle stories. It even has a grammatical error to delight @Duffman_Comics!

I feel your pain guys. But try being in a completely different time zone if you really want some scope for missing opportunities to bid. I recall waiting to bid on a lot in a Heritage auction, and just as it came up (a bit after lunch on Monday here)the chairman of our company knocked on my office door and asked if I had a minute. "Sure... ".

I will not gloat I will not gloat.... etc. I guess this served me right. (Opinions welcome)

Would appreciate your thoughts on this book. I tempted fate by posting it in the 'last pickup of 2017' thread in Gold (and gloating a little) before I had it in hand. I have it now, and am deeply suspicious of the cut of the book and the sharp edges. It's also noticeably smaller than another Thrilling I have, as well as being off square. Here's a close-up of the edge of the back cover with a black backing. I have trouble reconciling what I see there with a production cut. The page edges don't seem to have the 'V' shape either. It didn't help my mood when two other books from the same seller also look suspicious... So, collective wisdom: does this book look trimmed to you, or is it funky production?

Anyone else see a dog/wolf in that top left panel? If I was going to guess, I'd say a Dell, maybe Rin Tin Tin.

Very nice - not quite the scenery of climbing around here right now! Whereaabouts were you?

Since we got the new year before almost anyone else, I guess it's fitting that an Australian kicks this off. Bought this in the Heritage weekly - which finished after lunch on Jan 1 here.

Popped up on eBay on the 30th as a BIN at a price I liked. Mine now.

You can see a Snowy McGann strip in its newspaper format at the National Library of Australia site. Here's the same strip, from Feb 28 1954. (And a big tip of the Akubra to @Duffman_Comics for the info and the Giant Size Phantom scans.)