AJD

OK, a very nice box of comics arrived today courtesy of the redoubtable @edowens71. Ed is very kind, and as well as unloading selling some of his nice undercopies to me, lets me use him as a shipping agent as well. Many thanks Ed! Here's an Owens hand-me-down, and a very nice one at that. It's everyone's favourite offbeat EC New Direction title. I like Jack Kamen's Dali-esque cover image a lot. It's always hard to pick an interior page from these because of the slow pace and dialogue heavy nature of them. I picked this one because it struck me that Ellen Lyman is being set up for one of those scenes where she takes off her glasses, lets her hair down and gives it shake, transforming her from librarian to hottie. That never happens, but a guy can dream, right? #hotlibrarian (Maybe I need some Psychoanalysis myself? )

I think there are many of us looking for "a decent, affordable copy" of that book. Give me yours please. Until then, I'll have to console myself with the first Australian edition.

Jungle #144 was 1952. I agree with @1950's war comics- that's an expensive toy, even if you could make a thousand of them. I was away visiting family this weekend, and hit a couple of second hand and antique stores. I found a few good books, and this, for $10: This find made me unreasonably excited. It's the first Australian magazine I've found with a war bonds cover, and it's in great condition. My wife loves it (she's an easy touch for 30s and 40s illustration). We think we'll frame it under UV glass and hang it on the wall. Edit: I should mention that it's a big magazine too - 41 x 29 cm ( over 16" x 11") which makes its condition more remarkable.

I may never leave the house again.

I went and looked at the first pictures before I saw the CGG grade. I thought it started as a textbook 4.0, then took a hit, then was resuscitated. Good result overall, even if it was a roller coaster ride.

Correct. An AJD No Prize (TM) for you. The Indicia says 'PRINTED IN CANADA'. The cover stock has a notably different texture. it's quite 'grainy' and rough to the touch.

Thanks Harry. I don't have to find the box now. One thing that always jarred a bit with me was the whole JJJ hates Spidey thing - and never more so when ASM has just saved JJJ Jr.

Best of luck on finding a nice book before the end of the year. It's nice to see some other run collectors around. Especially in the golden age forum, it seems that everyone is about classic covers these days.

OK, as they say in the classics, " It's time to separate the wheat from the chaff, the men from the boys and the awkwardly feminine from the possibly Canadian". (An AJD No-Prize(TM) if anyone can place the quote.) This was going for $20, so I gave it a home in the growing Commonwealth Collection(TM). According to the GCD it has the same contents as the US edition. Only the ads have been changed. The local ads are in B&W but the rest of the book is colour (do Canadians use the 'u'?): One of the most obvious gaps in my collection was finally filled by a purchase at Heritage today. Hint: More when it arrives.

Just another great Jungle Comic. Stellar colours on this one. Beware of the mandrils. As well as the apes, constrictors and lions.

I have a copy of that annual in my long-neglected silver age box. I agree that the art in the Dr Strange story is excellent. Ditko's more trippy work is up there with Kirby's dots and collages. "By the flames of Faltine" sounds like a line Alan Rickman's character might have said in Galaxy Quest. While I'm here, may I please clamour for a review of the Spidey story from ASM #1?

Here's a comic that's a bit odd. I bought it by "mistake" in an MCS auction. I saw it going at a reasonable price, and I was going to buy some books that closed later. Well, the reasonable price got bid up, and I was sucked in by then. It still wasn't too bad (about $70) but more than I should have paid for it. The L.B. Cole art on the cover was the appeal. Oh, and the other books went for more than I wanted to pay, so I shelled out for the international postage for a book I didn't really need after all! Still, I was really curious to see what "PictureScope" was. What kind of gimmick had they cooked up? It must be something pretty special, right? Have a guess as to what it was before opening the spoiler tag below. That was a few weeks back. I feel better about it now it has arrived and is kind of a fun thing to own.

No, I was in Tokyo. Went to a few comic stores to check them out, but manga doesn't really do it for me and I didn't find any western comics. Here's a safety tip though - when it's six floors of comics, they start out very innocent on the first floor, and go steadily downhill after that. By the fifth floor we were in an ugly place. I have no idea what was on the sixth.

It's fine, you just need a nice sharp new blade and - as Mr B says - work slowly.

Yeah, 4.5 maybe. Definitely not 5 or higher.

Have you got the book in hand? It looks like a nice copy, but I'm a little concerned about what might be some moisture marks around the staples (or it could be just rubbing from pressure where the staples lie inside). And I'm not sure what the spots along the spine on the back are?

Carry on chaps. Just got back from overseas, and I'm a little fatigued to post anything. But I like your work.

Hey Andy, nice to hear from you again! No worries about posting some pictures here - happy to see someone else post some Australian books. This thread shouldn't be too bad pics wise. I went through and reloaded all of the ones I could edit. The GA forum Australian and war bonds threads are pretty sad though, and I plan to update those over the summer. You can see a bunch of my Aussie comics in my gallery. I'll keep an eye out for the Daredevil. I noticed there were some Australian marvel reprints listed on eBay today, like this nice Sub Mariner #1.

I have one of those...

Beautiful stuff Frank. Thanks for posting the inside pics.

Can't you do the local pickup and then just mark it paid on ebay? You don't have to take the risk of shipping, your customer saves a few bucks postage and ebay gets paid.

What Point Five said - just wonderful. That book has been on my want list for years. Ever since it was cheap enough for me to afford one.

A zombie bull! Would make a nice bookend with a zombie elephant... (TFTC #32)

So there is - I'd forgotten that. A search on eBay for "Life Magazine 1953" shows that pretty young faces weren't that rare. But, yes, it's that particular issue on the inside cover of Mad #11, alongside their own cover, with the text "beware of imitations".