Ken Aldred

Very sad. Starting to see more frequent loss from my teenage, formative Bronze Age period.

Thanks for pointing that out, Jimmers. I didn’t realise that the bag and board were so tenth-rate as well. Shows my inexperience with eBay. So easy to get done over there.

The mylar and fullback at least doubles the actual value.

I hope that these generations grow up in an environment considerably less prejudicial, toxic, and with less in-school indoctrination than I experienced in the late 60s and 70s. I discussed this with someone I know whose son is mixed race, to emphasise how much went on back then, starting with my first year at primary school as a four-year-old. Our teacher would have us do a tie-dyed T-shirt in the morning, maybe bake an apple pie, and then, and this is where it takes a turn away from innocence, read us picture book stories far worse than that Dr Seuss tome. One had a title including the word Sambo, about why some people out there aren't quite as pasty as the rest of us. This, I might add, was a Church of England / Anglican / Episcopalian faith school, not the Hitler Youth. So, my country really was that intolerant and detached back then. Jimmers brought up the sexism of Benny Hill, but the Brit boardies here recall far, far worse TV from that time such as Love Thy Neighbour, and the weekend peak-time, BBC favourite, The Black-and-White Minstrel Show, and feel deeply embarrassed and shamed that they even existed. Transition was starting to occur, with my gran an extremely old-school xenophobic, and my mother exactly the opposite, very progressive and liberal. So, I hope I've done my best to learn and transcend some considerable, antiquated, dark, judgemental programming, especially after going to more cosmopolitan environments such as university in London in the 80s. The images in the Dr Seuss books could be reinforced in education as inappropriate and untruthful stereotypes, but the propagandist nurture which I experienced at the most impressionable age, well, the teachers or parents should now know better, and, without censorship, the hope is that they'd get the balancing act right.

I'd better not post here again, then. Maybe play it safe, go back there, and resurrect the Lancashire Kitchens Appreciation Thread. Universally admired, controversy free.

Fin Tutuola? Law and Order SVU

I concur. I have a copy as well. A great selection of stories from across all of EC's genres. A brilliant book.

Decades since I've listened to Body Count. Didn't think a great deal of it even at the time. I recall their song "There Goes the Neighborhood" being somewhat racist, or, was that irony?

Interesting. Ahead of its time that one. Just read that it's going to be China's technique of choice for screening incoming visitors for Covid. It was on Apple News in the UK. So, topical, and unlikely to be pulled.

Best thing. They're well behind the times. 50 years or so, not just a little.

That hasn't been enforced over here for decades. Even in the 70s you had Tomb of Dracula, and magazines such as Psycho, distributed on the newsstands.

Confrontation, as uncomfortable as it might be, can be more positive than sanitising or burying history. A learning process that can help distance from the errors of the past.

A shame it's only a limited appearance. Always nice to have Jimmers back.

It's inevitable.

I'd considered that one, as in Asian culture the "reversed" (original) version has no such stigma attached to it.

Will Eisner is one of my top ten comic creators of all time, apart from his depiction of Ebony, which was quite appalling. I wouldn't ban those images, as they could also be seen from a contemporary perspective as being quite pitiful, and with that response, an indication that perhaps, hopefully, we've moved on and become more inclusive; a repulsiveness that could still help distance further from historically xenophobic attitudes.

Especially burning literature, which applies both to comics, and outside the field of interest as well, of course. Here it's transforming into an online equivalent.

Unfortunately, the OP has returned during a period of the most Dickensian extremes between the haves and have-nots that this field of appreciation, reading, collecting, or speculation has ever seen, and the writer’s subjective quote has never been more apt to apply than it is now... “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

I do the same with the books too. They mean a lot.

I have to truly admire the strength being shown here in both John and Aaron’s posts. I really do.

Some of the nicest gestures ever made to me by a boardie seller were during Howard Greber’s final year here. Out of the blue he PM’d me with several offers of generosity... - A Freak Brothers 1 first print slab, an excellently-presenting 9.0 with great OW/W page quality for an underground. Even more so, priced at half GPA. - A raw Weirdom Illustrated 13, publisher file copy, Richard Corben’s first comic work, graded a cheap 9.0, actually a stunning-looking copy, closer to 9.4 . - He also said that as an extra surprise he’d got me a copy of a Richard Corben self-published ashcan, signed by the artist, and had thrown that in the package as well. All great books; mementos of one of the most thoughtful, generous and sadly-missed boardies.

I have a couple of these mini-series in a Dynamite digital comics bundle which I haven’t got around to reading, so I’ll take this as a recommendation.

Being on a limited budget... All of them.

45 to 67 Planet Hulk (23 issues in total) Fantastic Four 533 to 535 Prelude which has the Hulk vs Thing battle in Las Vegas which finally provokes The Illuminati into exiling Hulk into space. Great version of Hulk, with a strong resemblance to Tor Johnson. Interesting storyline about how best to protect the kids of a famous super-powered family from harm. Incredible Hulk 88 to 91 Slow, but the first part serves to illustrate that on Earth Banner isn’t practically distanced enough to avoid social altercations that might cause him to transform. Shot into space around the Earth with the excuse of being asked to defeat an orbiting threat, the android storyline is quite dull. Then, he's trapped inside a warp drive spacecraft and exiled by The Illuminati to a distant star system. New Avengers Illuminati one-shot Quite good : The story about The Illuminati voting on what to do with Hulk, the verdict being get him off planet. Nice art. Incredible Hulk 92 to 105 Classic trope about an Earthman adrift on an alien world, at first captive, fighting his way from the gladiatorial arena to freedom and eventually leadership. This is actually a great Hulk story; well-paced, consistently solid artwork, uninterrupted by needless digressions into largely irrelevant cash grab mini-series. Just keeps going and maintains your interest from beginning to end. Amazing Fantasy 15 (2nd series) Good story introducing Amadeus Cho, bridging Planet to World War Hulk.

Magnus 0 and 12, Harbinger 0, Rai 3 and 4 were also quite hot.