Ken Aldred

You paid how much for the first appearance of Crackerjack Jackson? An absolute steal. Congrats.

Quite a few Spectacular Spider-Man covers. Here's a compilation...

Galaxian was my favourite as a teenager. Later, Galaga.

Thanks! They’re great.

Zero Hour : Crisis in Time Showcase 94 issues 8 and 9 (two 10 page shorts introducing Extant = 1 book) Zero Hour 1 to 4, and 0 Time gets obliterated with pretty much the same effect as we saw in the original Crisis on Infinite Earths. The mastermind behind it was a surprise at the time, and I always found Dan Jurgens’ stories and dialogue at the very least entertaining. Not anywhere near as good as the 80s original, though. Some of the art, Jurgens pencilling and Jerry Ordway inking, is actually excellent. An interesting period piece in that it features quite a number of characters introduced in the 90s that didn’t take off at all, and have now faded into oblivion. 6 comics 2023 total = 435

Marvelfangirl

More goats, please.

Well done. Classic gorilla cover.

I knew we'd get a British response to the cover. I resisted. Until now.

Hellblazer Vol 1 : Original Sins Hellblazer 1 to 9, Swamp Thing 76 and 77 Still, for me, classic horror comics. Jamie Delano's style might seem slightly verbose, but it suits the genre and material really well, and he provides a great start to the series, and to building Constantine's jaded, cynical personality. John Ridgeway's art is gritty and also very well-matched. The Swamp Thing crossover issues by Rick Veitch and Alfredo Alcala are good, a very significant story for that character's journey as well. 11 comics 2023 total = 429

I can understand that. I got the Nova issue involved in the crossover, which was available in the UK as a 12p All-Colour Comic variant, but Spider-Man at the time wasn't distributed here, so I had to find ASM 171 as a more expensive 35c import a while later. One of the first I ever bought as a kid. I ended up a bit disappointed because the 'murder mystery' resolution was atrocious. Shouldn't have bothered.

The initial Nova Corps mini series, the set up for Annihilation, was very good, and the main series started well with the introduction of Knowhere and Cosmo the Space Dog, but then it lost its way a bit by being included in one crossover event after another. Worth a read, though.

Marvel would probably have an attitude similar in principle to Howard Rogofsky’s… ’A subscription crease, if carefully applied, is not considered a defect.’

What’s the highest grade given to a creased subscription copy that somehow, miraculously, has survived further damage while in transit?

I know what you mean. I’d considered it.

Technically a much better fit than this one…

I’m very fond of it, as it was one of the first titles I connected with and bought on a regular basis when I started collecting seriously back in 1977. That said, nostalgia aside, it’s fairly standard, generic Bronze Age super-hero material. Also remember that the final storyline gets concluded in John Byrne’s first run on Fantastic Four, issue 208 up.

As a videogamer, I keep going back to this cover and imagining the ape side-scrolling like Donkey Kong.

Great choice. Gorilla cover as well.