Ken Aldred

Psychopathic detachment is often illustrated by a quote associated with Stalin.. ”A single death is a tragedy ; a million deaths is a statistic.” Which, given the context of those panels, makes their dialogue and thought processes very debatable.

As well as the ComiXology app I also have a third party app called Chunky, which I use for my DRM-free Humble Bundle purchases, and also transferable DRM-Free titles from ComiXology, such as my extensive Image collection. The upscaling on Chunky is excellent, making it a good choice.

Both Doom and Kingpin are obsessed with power and more than likely have psychopathic tendencies, one common symptom being lack of empathy and lack of true emotional connection. Contrary to the claim there, the worst can be devoid of that. So, those panels were pushing credibility a bit.

A 9.8 would look fantastic with a matching Sonic Disruptors slab.

A classic character created by Rob Liefeld. Incredible that the first series of his comic only lasted one issue. A beacon of 90s originality, and figurework which defined a decade ... A second series was published, but again, an unappreciative public led to only one issue appearing... And, then, a farewell one-shot to an audience with no discernible taste...

I didn’t mind her as a supporting character in X-Men. Claremont / Silvestri period.

I believe in the US you used to say at the time that ‘disco sucked’, as did this comic book, predictably. At least Skateman, from a couple of years later, debatably sucked a bit more.

I believe so, but it looks like he's going for a helicopter effect there, and hovering.

Yup. The company used to build it was Pym Construction.

Many of us do this on a limited budget, in a time when the prices asked for many back issues are sky-high, with other priorities to contend with and afford as well, and so in the current market it’s quite obvious that a collector might on occasion need to liquidate some items, in order to afford a book that’s more important to them. We don’t all have deep pockets.

I’ll have to read it. One I overlooked.

Yup. Then I can see there being a rush of demand on eBay and Facebook that will drive 9.8s up to maybe as high as an insane $10 level.

Even with a 9.8 candidate, you’d think twice at that nosebleed price.

I’d call a lot of Copper and Modern Age comics ‘quality’ if they deliver what happens to be good story and art for you personally, even if they’re still barely worth cover price as a back issue. So, quality is subjective. That might be trying to be too liberal, though, as the existence of some titles, such as Sonic Disruptors, is typically very hard to justify.

Yup. A shame that digital comics weren’t available back in the 70s, as my collection would’ve been considerably leaner than it is today, but likely not quite as selective as yours; pared down maybe to several hundred originals, rather than my actual situation now of hoarding over 10,000 in raws and slabs, and also several additional boxes of collected edition hardcovers. I would’ve focused just on getting high grade originals of my favourite issues, and having the rest in more compact digital format for reading. Same quantity overall, maybe, but more spatially economical.

I agree. Kirby, Steranko, Romita, Byrne, Colan, Zeck, Garney, Lee, DeMatteis, Waid, Englehart, Gruenwald, to name just a few that quickly come to mind. Plenty of quality reading there. I’m sure that many of the comics I enjoyed reading in the past might be considered drek by other collectors with differing tastes, and I have many more in total than on your list there. So, they have positive qualities for me, same as for your Captain Americas, regardless of quantity.

I agree. I’ve always had a very broad-based, unfocused interest in reading comics, and that unrestrained eagerness led me to accumulate far more over the same four or so decades. Now, due to digital availability, that same level of hoarding would be unnecessary for me.

Exactly. For a long-term, diehard collector, say, over 2 decades, accumulating 10,000 + items isn't that difficult. However, as has been pointed out in the Omnibus / Absolute thread, there are so many amazing hardcover reprint collections currently being published that I regret not having any more space to add these, thanks to storage being taken up by too much original copy drek. And, by now I have around ten years of collected editions to chase up, anyway, with many OOP, and even many recent books having very small print runs and selling out overnight. As you said, for this particular type of reading and collecting, it's a hoarding Golden Age; one, unfortunately, passing me by.

Dan Barry was quite a good artist. But, I've never been tempted to take a look inside.

Now I have a legitimate excuse to post this classic...

"Play a little louder to be heard" Drek, cranked up to 11.

Even as a metalhead, I see no reason for the existence of this...

The reason the skyscraper looks so small is that it was Hank Pym's disastrous attempt at entering the New York property development market. His size-changing ability affected his judgement about apartment and, therefore, tower block size, and his designs were far too small for the 1960s. He was simply ahead of his time, as for modern day, gentrified Manhattan, his apartments would now be considered extremely spacious.

Is this a Kirby original, Kav? Congrats!

Rick Jones is surprisingly nimble. Beating everyone except The Torch to the top.