AJD

Love that Raggedy Anne and Alice cover Scrooge! That run of books has tempted me in the past, but hasn't quite made it onto my wants list... ... which is now one title shorter. Here's the other Aces High I mentioned in passing last week. There'll be a group shot of the run (of 5) in the group thread. Here's #1, with no Comics Code marking. According to the 'Ten Cent Plague' book over 80% of the print run of the first batch of New Direction books got returned because distributors wouldn't touch them without the code marking. If that's true, I don't know why these books aren't more expensive (or hard to find): and #3 and 5: #5 is the only one with a cover image that's not WWI, which suggests that they were trying to reach a wider audience. Clearly it didn't work because #5 was the last. These short New Direction runs are cool to collect - short enough to keep up interest without a long haul, and a footnote to the bigger EC story as well. What should I try next - Piracy, Valor... ? (I have Extra #4, and didn't think much of it, so it won't be that.)

A couple more for my War Bonds cover theme collection. (The Iwo Jima one is cross posted with the war Bonds thread, but I figured it was cool enough to post twice). This one is more interesting than I thought it would be - it's also noticeably bigger than the standard GA book. (I'm sure you all knew that.)

How cool is this one? Based, of course, on the famous Rosenthal Iwo Jima photo. If you check out the link, make sure you have a look at the newsreel footage of the flag raising. I hadn't seen it before, but it makes the scene look a whole lot less dramatic than the photo.

Got this one in today - a wonderful Jack Davis cover and the usual strong stories inside.

Jeez Louise... here you go. Why do I like these? Well, I'm sure that nostalgia plays a part - loved them as a kid in the late 60s early 70s. But I also like the pacing - they are like a Jerry Lewis film, with a headlong madcap rush about them. I like the way that Fethry always talks Donald around to his idiotic schemes, despite Donald's better instincts and the advice of his long-suffering cat. I'm even in print in my appreciation of Fethry - in WDC&S #669 (which also records my faulty memory for posterity, but c'est la vie). BTW - has O. O. Duck appeared anywhere else?

Love the Foxhole GermanFan - wonderful Kirby cover (and a book I thought hard about buying before you removed the temptation...) Here's a war book I just bought. This title combines my comics hobby with a lifelong interest in aviation. I've been after the run of five for a couple of years, but they just didn't come up in the right grades - until the last couple of weeks. Watch this space.

I think you'd get a blue label with a note 'Barry Smith written on first page'. Green labels are for unwitnessed cover sigs. Oh, and great book!

Can't help with a policy completely separate from H&C, but the Commonwealth Bank is very accomodating. My collection is broken out as a separate entry in the policy. I keep good records and update the amount as needed.

I just picked up these two: I might be the only person in the world chasing the set of eleven Australian editions of Fethry Duck. The G series (for 'Giant', although they weren't after the first half a dozen or so) was a bit like the Four Color series and had sub runs of various characters as well as a few one-shots. With these I now have all of the Fethry titles. When my camera batteries are recharged I'll take a group shot. You may be underwhelmed at your leisure.

Here's an Atomic Age classic. Flying saucer special! Complete with an atomic bomb panel and some good old fashioned Cold War paranoia: Great stuff. Now if was only the F+ the ebay dude promised....

Thanks 40Y, I enjoyed seeing that again - that story has a very 'solid' feel to it and is far better than many of the watered down ten pagers that Barks ended up drawing in the 1960s. It's been reprinted a few times and you can see the list here. I have it in the Barks Library edition.

Fantastic - can't have too much Walt Kelly!

I posted these in the Show us your ducks thread, but thought they could get a plug here too. This one reprints WDC&S 1 and 2 in their entirety - so contains a bunch of daily MM and DD strips. And this one reprints Four Color #4 - Taliaferro strips. (I don't have this book in hand yet). The WDC&S volume is really nicely done and the color printing has a nicely subdued period feel to it.

Just checked my boxes - I don't seem to have one. But congrats to swapto - I'll bask in the glory from a couple of hundred miles distance.

I am not worthy - that is just gorgeous

is this color or b&w? Color - and they have done a good job of reproducing the period four color look.

That's a lovely copy of #106 40Y. I really like the Walt Kelly cover - it's a good gag, and I love the look on Donald's face.

Agreed Scrooge, those are really charming books.

Some Atom Age sci-fi and GA Disney goodness It was a good week.

I like the planet covers too. Here's one I prepared earlier.

I did. And then I violated that rule on that first page when I posted a Strange Adventures. I guess that means sci-fi is ok here Recent eBay pickups.

Question for you all. The first post in this thread says there's already a thread devoted to sci-fi books. Can someone please point me towards it? The only one I could find (or recall) was this one, but that's a bit rich for my books - is there a more generic one?

This is probably old news to you all, but I just got this book in the mail yesterday: It reprints WDC&S 1 and 2 in their entirety, and has some essay material that explains how MMM morphed into WDC&S (tb will like this - it explains a gradual process) and some other bits and pieces. I had a ball reading it last night. I've also ordered this: Which I assume reprints Four Color #4. I got both for $26, which is fabulous value.

Just for fun, here's what the first issue of WDC&S in Australia looked like: This is the biggest image I can find. A VF copy would probably cost $2,000 - so I don't own one!

Thanks Peter (and others). I assume there's a small flaw of some kind on the back. I have a file copy #77 that looks similar at the front but has a 1.5 cm edge tear on the back and graded out at 6.5. Works for me! This is one of my favourite covers in the run. I'd like to have the Aussie reprint of it as well, but since that's on WDC&S #1, it would cost me twenty times as much - if I could find one!