Ken Aldred

I only remember him from the slightly trippy-sounding posts he made in the Water Cooler, which ended up seeming very one-note.

Doing very well !

I concur. The POS Giant-Size X-Men 1 I was sent as a NM / M was why I made much the same post earlier on in the thread. Cynically, my conclusion back then was that you’d just be sent anything that was in stock at the time of receiving your cash. Incredible that one of them had the status of Overstreet advisor.

Very good example. An extremely common book boosted by film hype.

This will be the new, revised, OW / W page grade for raw comics ... Starts around 1 min 30 s If only Mylars or slabs had been used, then perhaps this could've been avoided?

It was very easy to pick up a copy of Nova 1, especially the All-Colour Comic pence version, and I have no recollection of speculation on it in the 70s. A favourite BA comic of mine as a kid, but its Green Lantern / Peter Parker mash-up hasn't aged well. Howard the Duck 1 was a hot comic, especially if you wanted a cent copy. Fear 19, the first appearance, was pricey for a while. I don't recall any speculation before the film in the 80s. Very strange to see the Blu-ray on sale in Sainsbury's a few months back.

In the series a limitation was placed on the Gems and Gauntlet, only working within the universe in which they were created. In an early issue of New Avengers, an attempt was made to create a Gauntlet effect between Earth 616 and another universe, which destroyed all but one of the Infinity Gems, probably through incompatible vibrational feedback.

It’s a 60s comic, and judging from his hair he’s perhaps hoping it’s just a very bad hallucination.

That one was unfortunately destroyed completely in modern comics’ Secret Wars, Marvel‘s Crisis on Infinite Earths, and has been rendered non-canonical.

It would be worth buying for the cover alone. And yes, canonical, a big word, is a good word as well.

Despite some superficial similarities, these characters, May and Ben Barker, were never intended to be prototypes for Spider-Man’s relatives.

Too Silver Age DC.

Mermaid in a wheelchair, covered by a blanket, just like Superman’s Lori Lemaris. Not the only story using that idea. References to seaside and shells in first two panels.

Guessing she’s a mermaid like Lori Lemaris.

Yup. That’s the very, very tragic scene I referred to.

Great starting point. Mine was a reprint of Batman 251 in a mini-digest comic, late 70s. One of his best stories, and perfect synergy with some of Neal Adams' career-best artwork; a BA classic.

A classic writer from my Bronze Age childhood, and a very sad loss. One of his runs that hasn't been mentioned yet is his excellent Copper Age 80s Iron Man, not so much for the super-heroics, but for the descent into worsening alcoholism, dysfunction, loss, and eventual homelessness of Tony Stark, a progression from David Michelinie and Bob Layton's earlier 'Demon in a Bottle' storyline. A very dark, powerful and ultimately very, very tragic tale, also making it necessary for someone else, James Rhodes, to become his Golden Avenger replacement. Overlooked when compared to his more famous 70s relevance material such as Green Lantern / Green Arrow, but still, a later example of his trademark, socially-orientated storytelling.

Three of the best artists ever to work on Batman. The remastering of the Bronze and Copper Age stories is excellent. Particularly impressed with the presentation of the Jim Aparo material; a simpler style than Breyfogle and, for me, much more of a noticeable enhancement when compared to the original newsprint version.

The problem here is that from these two you would probably have received an extremely overgraded copy or one with restoration. Perhaps not too bad only if you were incredibly patient and willing to wait decades for the market to compensate.

The same thing is happening now with darts in the UK. Hugely popular on TV only a decade or two back.

50c or $1 drek comic books will more than likely follow that pattern, as due to further apocalyptic hoarding scenarios, high-quality, cushioned toilet roll will continue to escalate in black market price and become as unaffordable as an Amazing Fantasy 15, forcing the use of cheaper alternatives by the general public as well as by fanboys.

Dominated by digital format comics.

I'm at episode 8, and this is one of the most boring super-hero series I've ever watched.

146 to 153 Hour of the Dragon, reprinting Giant-Size Conan 1 to 4, Savage Sword of Conan 8 and 10, Conan Annual 4 and 5. Roy Thomas’ adaptation of Robert E Howard’s 'Conan the Conqueror' novel. The first three Giant-Size issues are the most impressive art-wise, with excellent Gil Kane pencils brilliantly enhanced by Tom Sutton’s inking; ultra-detailed and a grimy, earthy quality to the finish which perfectly suits the Dark Age setting of the material. The Kane art in the fourth Giant-Size is still good, first somewhat softened by Frank Springer’s inking, and then, in the later pages, thankfully just about surviving Vince Colletta’s attempt at erasing and ruining the pencils. Excellent remastered art and colouring up to this stage. The final two sections of the original REH story were published in black-and-white in Savage Sword magazine, and the colouring here is very disappointing. In issue 8, Kane’s last, there’s poor inking and, for me, some absolutely terrible, muddy, dull colouring. In issue 10, pencilled by John Buscema, the art’s fine, but the colouring is a bit washed out. The story adaptation is a page turner though, and classic Bronze Age Marvel sword-and-sorcery. The two Conan Annuals are Roy Thomas’ continuation of REH’s novel, more about Conan’s reclamation of the kingdom of Aquilonia, the last attempts by his rivals at getting rid of him, and his relationship with the former harem slave girl and eventual queen, Zenobia. Again, perfectly readable Bronze Age Conan. Being from colour newsprint books, the remastering of John Buscema and Ernie Chan’s art is back up to an excellent standard. Recommended, but with a caveat about patchy, remastered art in places.

His Jonah Hex stories were consistently good, and, even more so, his Spectre stories in Adventure Comics an all-time classic version of the spirit of vengeance.