Ken Aldred

Sad news.

Really good artist. Followed him on Green Lantern and Milestone’s Icon, through the 90s in particular.

On 4/2/2024 at 3:11 AM, Chaz G. said:

I picked this up raw here from a boardie a few years back. As a Sienkiewicz fan, I couldn't pass up this foreign variant. Over time, it's become one of my favorites in my collection.

Interesting book. Panini did a lot of British Marvel reprint comics as well.

On 4/1/2024 at 9:53 PM, the blob said:

Were these worth something once upon a time or is that just some sort of Overstreet fabrication based on dealers having boxes of them they wanted to unload like Shadow 1 and Shazam 1 (before anyone cared about Shazam 1). I know if you grew up reading Mad in the 60s and 70s these probably feel pretty cool, but if you're under 50, I dunno, frankly, they're borderline cool for me and I'm over 50 and read Mad in the 70s.

 

I got quite a few of them from the Mile High dollar Specials sections, circa 1990.

On 4/1/2024 at 2:00 PM, Sigur Ros said:

Heard this belongs to another huge submitter...

With that miswrap it's clearly a gift grade.

On 4/2/2024 at 2:14 AM, SeniorSurfer said:

What's that panel from? Looks like Graham Ingels, EC, but I don't recognise the story or issue.

It's bugging me. 

On 4/1/2024 at 2:08 PM, KirbyJack said:

The best thing about these is that they have NO resale value, so I get to keep them til I die!

A terrible burden, especially when many of these comics contain great story and art, despite that.

On 4/1/2024 at 12:29 AM, MattrixAlien said:

We all, generally speaking, like having keys and books with value in our collections. But many of us also have comics taking up space in our boxes which wouldn't look out of place in a bargain bin  They might be comics you enjoyed reading and feel nostalgic about. What are the favourite near worthless books in your collection? Show us their covers.

Here's one of mine. Excalibur had gorgeous art by Alan Davis and Chris Claremont's writing was at it's most fun, focused on the adventures of a team of likeable characters. I loved this series for the 1st 12 issues as a kid. It's been described by more than 1 comic book influencer as a series without keys. (Strictly speaking there are a couple of issues with slight value say $5. But virtually the entire series across all volumes can be found in dollar bins.)  I've collected a few of the 1st appearances of the characters in the team including Lockheed, Rachel, Kitty (this is not cheap), Meghan in US comics etc which occur in other series. May never get Nightcrawler 

Davis also returned to the title later on, taking over writing as well, and those are good reads.

On 4/1/2024 at 1:22 AM, ADAMANTIUM said:

 

 

On 4/1/2024 at 7:06 AM, BA773 said:

Always was chocked by the violence of this cover 

Good Lord! Choke!

EC horror loved that expression.

(Although it’s technically a crime comic homage.)

On 3/31/2024 at 9:08 PM, CAHokie said:

If the market crashes that bad, they might not travel to shows at all. 

Yup.  I already felt I was going too far into Chicken Little territory with my post.

Problem would be that at 10 cents a copy and factoring in dealer operating costs, it wouldn’t make much sense for them to haul 10 cent boxes around to shows.

On 3/28/2024 at 4:45 AM, OtherEric said:

Completely agreed that Corben seems inherently suited to color more than B&W, there's a reason that a huge percentage of the Color Sections we eventually get in the Warrens are by Corben. 

He was one of the most talented colourists ever to work in comics. His airbrush technique was so warm and vibrant.

Must resist temptation to post the obvious Crime Suspenstories 22.

On 3/30/2024 at 3:36 AM, mrlatko said:

Picked the Twelve from a recommendation in this thread.  Started with issue 1/2 that I thought was a prequel introducing the new characters.  For the whole book I was thinking "Great job creating a modern book that looks and feels exactly like a golden age comic from the 40s!". Well, that's because I'm an insufficiently_thoughtful_person and these were actual Timely reprints with heroes I had never heard of before that Marvel was reviving to appear in The Twelve.  Doh!  The 12 issue series was really enjoyable.  Straczynski weaves a fun tale about 12 GA heroes who are put into suspended animation by the Nazis and wake up in 2008 to resume their crime fighting careers for the government. A poor man's Watchmen.  The art by Weston was quite good.  Like Secret Wars last month, I wanted more here.  This could have been an ongoing series for years and I would have supported it.

 

Glad you liked it.

On 3/28/2024 at 8:27 PM, namisgr said:

It's the staple under the cover and holding the interior pages together.  When it produces a bump on the cover surface, it's a production feature.

With that said, in looking through the Heritage auction archives at 9.8 copies, I certainly couldn't say that this copy looks nicer or sharper.  But I'm neither a professional grader or potentially subject to motivated grading.

Still an issue you see on ‘lesser copies’, and at this level I’d expect something approaching perfection.

A ‘superior’ copy with aspects of ‘inferior’ presentation. I’ll invoke Emperor’s New Clothes Syndrome on this one.

Apologies for the excessive Kirby air quoting.

On 3/28/2024 at 2:52 PM, BrashL said:

Looking at it a little closer on the hi-def scans. The bottom right front cover isn't perfectly aligned, you can see the interior pages. Not sure if that's a twisted spine or just the way it's in the case. Also, the upper right looks a little, idk bent or indented, certainly not a sharp edge.

Am I seeing things? Are these to be expected now for a 9.9? I'm seeing some YouTubers get surprising 9.8s for books with color-breaking spine ticks so I wonder if we really are looking at updated grading guidelines. 

I've seen a 9.8 with a spine that looked rougher than the one on my 9.0

Far from being perfectly flat and aligned.

Couple of years ago it might’ve been the first million dollar Bronze comic.

Let’s hope there’s no SSS.

Just watched it in 4K.

An incredible range of inspired choices of animation styles. Virtuoso level.

Grateful that a fantastic super-hero film has finally come along again.

On 3/23/2024 at 5:12 PM, kimik said:

What are the terms of the deal with Marvel for the Spider-Man properties. My guess is that is driving some of these decisions as well. Use the characters or lose them.

The main motivation for Gwenpool not being Gwen Stacy and instead made into a different character altogether by Marvel, so that Sony could be deprived of usage rights.

On 3/26/2024 at 4:36 PM, F For Fake said:

Strikeforce Morituri 1-31

This series was a favorite as a kid, but I never finished it up, and was curious about what I'd think of it nearly 40 years after the fact. So, I picked up the full run on eBay, as it's much cheaper than trying to buy (if you can find them) the three out of print trade collections. And really, I'm glad I read it this way, as it is SO much more nostalgic, smelling the newsprint, seeing all of the ads that were burned into my brain as a kid. That era, from 86-89 or so, is the nostalgia sweet spot for me, and this really took me back.

So, Strikeforce Morituri was an odd duck back in the day, as it wasn't tied into the Marvel universe (except for a couple of tangential connections down the line), was borderline mature readers, and featured a crazy sci-fi concept: Earth has been invaded by an alien Horde, and in response, humanity creates their own superheroes. However, the Morituri process that gives them their powers also shortens their lives, meaning they will explode spectacularly in a year or less.

It's a simply but very effective hook, and over all, this series feels much more in line with what Epic was doing at the time, than a regular Marvel comic.

I'm happy to say that the Peter Gillis run, issues 1-20, held up much better than expected. It's a pretty great comics series. It's a mid-80's superhero comic, so there's plenty of that post-Claremont melodrama and soap opera writing, but the concept is a winner, and the stories are suitably grim. You truly never know who is going to die and when, and you grow to care about the characters for the short time you spend with them. The aliens are baffling and amusing, with their scrotal neck-sacks and penchant for adorning themselves with American pop-culture items. The whole thing enterprise is idiosyncratic enough to make it stand out from the pack.

And of course, there's Brent Anderson on art (except for a couple of fill-ins by the likes of Whilce Portacio), many years before his seminal run on Astro City. He's still finding his sea legs here, but the work is still pretty fantastic. Well composed, naturalistic, great use of shading and dimension. Gillis and Anderson together really make this book sing.

So, yes, I highly enjoyed, and very highly recommend the first 20 issues of Strikeforce Morituri.

Unforunately, the series continued for another 11 issues.

Ugh.

Written by James Hudnall, with art chores by a rotating cast of bland nobodies (though a young Mark Bagley does some credible work in the run), it doesn't take long for the book to be completely stripped of all of its charm and intricacy. This is some truly abysmal writing. The nuance and depth are completely jettisoned, as are most of the major plot-points. The alien Horde are dismissed casually in favor of some sort of story about assassins and a shadow government. You can practically feel the writer's eagerness to jettison everything that came before, to make way for the story he actually wants to tell. It makes no sense given what we'd read up to the point. Characterization is as flat as the bio on a baseball card. This is bad, bad stuff. Do not engage.

Still not sure if I'll ever get around to the five issue miniseries follow up, Electric Undertow, as Hudnall is the writer on that one as well. Feels like I should for the sake of completeness, but...eh.

Anyway, Strikeforce Morituri 1-20, if you haven't read them since they were published, or have never heard of them at all, give them a chance, and find a series that was way outside of the norm of what Marvel was publishing at the time. This is a sad superhero alien invasion soap opera, written ably and illustrated lovingly. Good times. 

Avoid 21-31 at all costs.

My total is now up to 56 for the year. Yeesh, and it's almost April. Not looking good! Meanwhile, I keep buying hardcover comics like they're running out of paper. I have an illness.

Good bargain box read.

Daredevil 158 to 191, What If? 28 and 35

All read in Masterworks format.

One of my favourite runs from when I was a teen. I followed it from 158 onwards, as I’ve always enjoyed seeing how up-and-coming artists evolve, and even from the first issue Miller’s clearly very talented. The first full volume, 159 to 172, is quite readable, though, of course, gets elevated with Miller gradually improving artistically and taking over writing from Roger McKenzie, reaching the peak of his storytelling ability and use of his Kane / Eisner / Krigstein influences; brilliant page / panel layout, design and pacing, impressive choice of camera angles and close-up or remote distancing, fluid figure work, amazing fight choreography, and more and more engaging stories. The second volume, 173 to 181, is the rock-solid classic period. Once the title goes monthly, perhaps there’s a slightly noticeable, heavier reliance on Janson’s inking, but it’s still peak Bronze Age material. It’s really the third volume, 182 up, where I start to lose interest a little.  The stories are still readable, though for me the extended Hand / ninja arc is the weakest and drags a bit.  Miller’s visual storytelling ability and page / panel layout is still exceptional and evident in his breakdowns, but it’s really more and more Klaus Janson’s art and Miller’s input becomes minimal, and the overall effect suffers considerably.  Of course, the run finishes strongly with Miller’s return on the classic “Roulette” issue.

36 issues in total

2024 total = 202

Sandman 8 error / editorial variant, Spider-Man 1 McFarlane Blue Lizard variant. There’s been an appeal of these for a long time.  Just as scarce price variants attract one sub-group of collectors; completists, obsessives, someone who simply likes a book that’s different in some way, any way, even if it’s minor to a larger audience.

It’s an established way that some collect comics, not really that absurd.

On 3/24/2024 at 7:26 AM, godzilla43 said:

and he remembers Jean Tatlock and there is some "artistic" sex happening like if you just put some weird stuff in the film well you put some weird stuff in the film and make a weird scene

The scene where she picks a copy of the Bhagavad Gita off his bookshelf and just happens to turn to the exact location in it of the Sanskrit version of ‘Now I am become Death, destroyer of worlds’, as desperate foreshadowing of his use of the saying at Trinity’, along with the gratuitous nudity in the scene, was a bit ridiculous.

Hardly great writing.

On 3/23/2024 at 11:52 AM, AJD said:

I just noticed this stinker on eBay.

Alan Davis is a favourite artist of mine, but that’s surprisingly poor. Ordinarily much better.