MisterX

I've only ever seen one copy of the Love & Rockets B&W prototype #1. According to the OSPG, only 800 were printed. Of course, now that I wrote that, I checked eBay and there's two copies for sale in the $500 - $600 range.

Kudos to thirdgreenham for a great Our Army at War! P.S. Other than reading the whole thread, does anyone know of a way to look up a specific seller to see if they're in the kudos thread? I suppose you could look up an old sales thread, find someone who bought from the seller, and PM them...

I don't know how I missed this thread the first time around, but good work, Zonker! (thumbs u A few thoughts: I agree with many of your observations. But, to me, the Bronze Age begins with Zap 1. I know, I know, it was published before 1970, so we will have to agree to disagree The artistic freedom granted to the lunatics in the asylum was influenced by the early Underground movement and led to the Independent B&W Publishing market. The Bronze Age definitely ends somewhere around 1983 and there is a Copper Age (although I'm not sure the CA really ends with the creation of Image). Think of all the BA genres that were dying or dead by the early 80s: war, western, funny animal, etc. Sales were down beause their was a shift in the attitudes of the readership and the "creatives." I started collecting off-the-rack in 1982 and I can't quite put my finger on it, but there was a sense of some kind of new momentum that swept away the Bronze Age. Was it style over substance? Hyper-commercialisation? I'm not sure yet... BTW: if you are a fan of Back Issue, the latest issue reprints a letter (circa '81) from Alex Toth to Jenette Kahn proposing a Wildcat series. As a big Toth fan, I find the letter almost...well, heart-breaking. Why? Because Toth is clearly struggling with an industry that has left his personal tastes far, far behind. I also think that because 70s Kirby always elicits such love/hate responses that it must have done something right. Think of all the comics you've read where afterwards you go, "meh." I don't think I've ever done that with a 70s Kirby book.

I've often wondered why the Enemy Ace isn't more popular. Is it because he's a morbid weirdo? Even his fellow Germans don't like him very much. What's funny is that while I'm guessing the Unknown Soldier was more popular at the time (with the sales to prove it), he seemed to have vanished from Comic Book Memory for a couple of decades. At least until recently. (Although a Vertigo reboot seems sacreligious to me.) Meanwhile, the Comic Book Critics continue to gush over the Enemy Ace stories. I never encountered much praise for the Unknown Soldier, except for maybe the Michelinie stuff. I wonder if Michelinie would have been able to do his interpretation of the Unknown Soldier without Enemy Ace paving the way first. Harvey Kurtzman did war stories through the eyes of the enemy, but never with a reoccuring character. I think Kanigher and Kubert really did push the envelope with the Enemy Ace stories. So...even though I'm a diehard Unknown Soldier fan, I'm going with the Ace.

Kudos to EggsAckley for a great UG trade!

Well oiled, quiet wheels...

Great Shadow pulps! And the stories aren't too shabby, either!

Very cool! (thumbs u

I think Where to Store Your Comics is a legitamate question. If you guys are so tired of getting asked, why not put a sticky up next to the How to Pack Your Books thread? And then you could put up a sticky next to it called What Kind of Scanner Should I Buy, and another sticky next to that called, Please Explain To Me the Mysteries of The Search Function Because It Is No Good And When I Use It I Get Pages And Pages of Utter Garbage.

No secret love for Panama Fattie, Shep? I have to admit I find Big Barda marvelously zaftig! Looks like I'll have to get around to picking up those later OFFs after all. But they'll have to wait until I finish my SSW/Unknown Soldier and Men of War runs.

Anyone? I spotted Ona on the cover of OFF 166, so that's a good sign. On the other hand, it looks like her parachute is malfunctioning...

Hey, guys -- so, whatever happened to Ona? I was catching up on my OFF reading, but my run ends with 150. (Well, I also got the Kirby stuff, not floppies but the HC that came out awhile back.) Kirby didn't pick up the story, so did Kanigher ever finish it? Did Ona prove to the Losers that she wasn't a traitor? Did Gunner ever get a chance to proclaim his love? Point me to the issues, if they exist!

Yow!

Who is this bobcat you speak of?

There's a real killer line-up of artists in this one: Heath, Toth, Severin and Kubert. (And Glanzman, yes, I appreciate him, too.) This one has a black border, so lots of spine stress marks, etc.

This one, too. Joe Kubert was on fire those years. Really creative covers, interesting use of the logo, all those war covers are really spectacular. I think, after he got embroiled in opening his school, that his covers suffered a bit after that. They were still neat, but not quite the creative highs of those late 60s/early 70s gems. Shep, can you post OFF 133? I know there's no action on that cover, but I really dig the atmosphere and the way Kubert draws the logo in the sand.

I love this cover.

Neat post! SSWS 204 -- never seen a copy better than a VF+. SSWS 154 I think used to be tough, but I see high grade copies popping up on Clink all the time...hmmm...no, I won't go there. (I bought a VFish SSW 154 from Dale Roberts back in '03 I think, kind of wished I had held out longer. Of course, in '03 I'm not sure there was high enough demand to unlock many HG copies.) G.I. Combat 141 was hard for me to find in even a VF (thanks, thirdgreenham!). I got a killer GIC 142 form Diamond's eBay store, of all places. GIC 151 was tough for me to find in HG. OFF 127, still casually looking for an HG upgrade copy -- no luck. OFF 134, tough issue, maybe all the Toth fans grabbed them back in the day? Weird War 5 and 36, YES! Super tough, I'm still looking for HG copies. Men of War 26 -- last issue, I've never seen anything better than a Fine come up. When I started collecting war books, I went for the 52-pagers first. Most of them I could track down in VF-VF/NM, but there were a few tough hold-outs. SSWS 158, 162 OAAW 236 (I see more now), 241,244 GIC 146, 151 OFF 134 I'm also still looking for HG copies of SSWS 171,172 and 187.

Kudos to --- ArAich Shiverbones and Thirdgreenham Three of the best sellers on the boards. But you already knew that!

Just found this helpful website for researching pulp covers. Here ya go -- http://www.philsp.com/lists/p_magazines.html

Hmm...to sum it up, I hate buying the same comic twice. And those poor comics imprisoned in plastic cry out for me to free them.

I agree, Shep! Lately however some of late BA SSWs I would like to have in HG have been showing up on Clink, so I've been bidding as high as I'm comfortable with, and losing every time. These issues seem to be everywhere in VG/FN condition, but harder (at least for me) to find in better shape. And I always crack 'em to read!

Are you the dude outbidding me on those slabbed late Bronze SSWs with the Unknown Soldier? (thumbs u

I also dig the Kirby & Severin Losers, and all the Alex Toth stuff. I think most of us agree these comics were very well done. Guilty BA war pleasures for me: 1) Combat Kelly and his Deadly Dozen (Marvel) I love this series. It's so over-the-top. And the last issue is just great. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it, so I'll just say, mmm..."Wild Bunch" and leave it at that. 2) War is Hell 9-15 (Marvel) A great concept that never quite found it's footing. Still, having Death as the antagonist gave the title some juice. 3) The Unknown Soldier (DC) What can I say? Bob Haney is a maniac. A few stories were trully awful, like #261, but overall I really enjoyed the rest of the run a great deal. I like the preposterous espionage stuff. (I also enjoyed all the Unknown Soldiers stories in SSW.) 4) Blitzkrieg (DC) This title could have been great. A little too ahead of it's time, probably. I love the Kubert covers. I also got the feeling there were going to be some great character-conflicts amongst the German soldiers. Too bad it got cancelled. 5) Savage Combat Tales featuring Sgt. Stryker's Death Squad (Atlas/Seaboard) Can't go wrong with Archie Goodwin, Al Williams, Jack Sparling and Alex Toth! People who dismiss this because it's an Atlas book--you're missing out on some good stuff! Oops! Forgot one -- 6) Weird War Tales 93,97,100, 102, 105,107-112,114-119,121,124 The epic Creature Commandos storyline! Yes, this is flat-out ridiculous. But they're fun. The early J.M. DeMatties issues are full of great pathos, as the creature commandos grapple with being turned into fighting monsters. The later Kanigher issues are really wild, you can tell he really enjoyed cutting loose and not having to stick so closely to "real" WW 2 story constraints. Or he was huffing butane. One or the other.