Ken Aldred

Shanna the She-Devil 1

Just realised something. I can't access the boards at 9am GMT, when the next puzzle is due to be posted. Tend to be locked out 9 am to 10.30 am That's odd. Well not to fear, I doubt anyone will get this next one straightaway. I was a bit concerned that other boardies might have the same problem and a different start time would be better, but we've got that anyway. (thumbs u

Just realised something. I can't access the boards at 9am GMT, when the next puzzle is due to be posted. Tend to be locked out 9 am to 10.30 am

That's a great idea because, as you know already, I'll inevitably miss some through being on British GMT. The last one had been posted a while before I got to it. Maybe just lucky this time that the process I used led me to the right answer quickly.

No, I just love figuring out these puzzles. I'm absolutely fascinated by them. I'm not always on this sort of form, so hopefully I can continue participating?

Where Monsters Dwell 14

It does look more like Sal Buscema to me, particularly the faces. Nice cover.

Marvel Triple Action 5

That's a great collection of Adams Batman books. I've still barely started - the only one I've got so far is a very nice Detective Comics 404.

Would people like the 232 more or less with a different color scheme? I don't mind the 232 brilliant green, but I also do like the C-51 Batman Treasury artwork as well. What if the Bats 232 were similarly colored? Thats pretty cool,better than the green. (thumbs u +1 Thanks for doing this. The green of the original cover gives me eyestrain. I've always wanted to be able to focus easily on the shading in the background.

I actually like the way a narrow white line looks there. Very happy with it on my copies. (thumbs u

+1 I'll definitely get 232, featuring the key first appearance of one of my all-time favourite characters. Pity that the intense green makes it really difficult for me to look at and appreciate the cover.

It's undoubtedly a book to have. I just focused on my personal top 3 keys from Adams' work on Detective Comics and Batman. Those first, 234 at a later date, maybe?

I only collect books with Adams interior art, so I don't really think of Batman 227 as much of a key, although I agree that it has a brilliant cover. It simply isn't something I'm that bothered about owning. I'll be perfectly happy if I eventually manage to acquire the following books in high grade presentation... Detective Comics 395, 400, 402 Batman 232, 244, 251

My favourite single issue has always been Batman 251, where the Joker is portrayed as a much darker, sociopathic character, and which has fantastic interior art by Adams, doing both pencilling and inking.

yep that's the same whiny girly voice that i heard on the other end asking about a return on a over graded book, and the same voice i heard when he said he never rec'd the book when i was a teen. I can picture him using the pity play strategy very successfully, time and time again.

I think he was. I was selling comics locally the last decade, and his name was nothing more than a modern day Boogie-Man equivalent, and then *poof* he suddenly re-appeared about 3 years ago. I'm guessing a new generation is ready to be duped... Lots of my younger friends and customers don't know who he is and do shop at his booth at his cons... Buyer beware folks. Which is exactly why discussions of this nature are so very important, in order to prevent widespread abuse vanishing under the radar, out of sight and mind and, as you've said here, to break the cycle.

Very cool, Bob! (thumbs u An opinion that can be trusted.

(thumbs u That kind of fear and cautious reserve sounds like a very sensible strategy in this case. I wish I'd had some of it back then.

I hope he treats his patients better than he does his comicbook customers. Yes, that's very chilling to think about.

Being treated with such remorseless disregard is very infuriating and, like you, I've had several such 'one-trial learning' experiences down the years. Bob Storms is a fantastic example of the opposite paradigm, someone who treats the customer with consideration and respect, and who I'm confident and happy going back to, time and time again.

That was at the top of their 80s Marvel ads. (thumbs u

Only honest explanation would be that he has a PhD qualification, maybe? The best explanation I've heard is he overgraded his credentials. Oh, I totally agree. (thumbs u I said it was an honest interpretation, I didn't say it was any good.

Only honest explanation would be that he has a PhD qualification, maybe?

I don't know much about Gerry Ross. Does he have a similar talkative egocentric profile? I'm more familiar with his former partner at One Million Comics, Robert Crestohl. He seemed to fit this profile quite well. In the catalogue I got from him, prior to making the naive 'one-trial learning' error of ordering from it, there was a Chuck-style self-aggrandising story about how his comics money was being invested elsewhere in producing a crime film. A fiction about gangsters, if I remember correctly from back in late 1984, rather than autobiographical recollections from a career as a 'comic book dealer'.