Lee K

Yeah, day thirty has arrived And I've no time for comics today, instead, I must prepare myself to fight: clean the burrs off my axe, polish my sword, and pack the carriage for the drive out to the tournament field. Thank you all for thirty days of great reading, I feel inspired to find some of the books you love and give them a read. Happy Hunting! Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Or, my annual trip to Golden Age Collectables Once, when I was a teen it was the only local shop that carried old comics, and in my pea-brained teen mind that had to be good, they had a full page advertisement in the the Comic Book Price Guide, which I believed to be cannon back then... I purchased many books from them over the years as a late teen and into my early twenties. Many of which I read once and put away. A reveiew of these cherished treasures revealed a number of books that I wouldn't waste my time or money slabbing, mostly mid grade books with poor centering and other issues. But every year on Black Friday I still wander through Pike Place Market and I take a moment to see what's in the display case at GAC. Last year it was a slabbed, mid grade, restored copy of Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen - some early issue, but not issue #1. This year, I'll try to remember exactly what their prize issue is and post it later. I hope everyone has enjoys today whatever their rituals, I'm going to ho enjoy Seattle and her weirdness with my wife. Happy Hunting! Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Every day Today, and every day, I am thankful for the obvious things: my family, friends, health, and home; and the less obvious things: our long-distance association, art, and community. Happy Thanksgiving & Happy Chanukah Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Ever feel like your story wasn't all wrapped up? July 1961, August 1963. So when you feel like you have some more story to tell, and the book your stories see print in is episodic in nature, you get to wrap up your loose ends. Although these two frog-people look totally different, they are meant to be the same race of undersea dwellers, bent on a disagreement with the air breathers of the surface world. What do I love? The same pink sky tying it together on the cover, and the same protagonist on the inside, visiting the undersea world. Does it have anything to do with DC's regular continuity? No. There is no Aquaman, no Sea Devils, no Superman to help us with our conflict, mankind has to figure it out themselves. Fish people is a regularly occurring theme in Strange Adventures, but the deep, blue sea really was as new to us as outer space in the fifties & sixties. And one day, I'd love to have them all. In the mean time, Happy Fishing! And Happy Thanksgiving Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

26 days in, and I'm running dry on ideas to journal about But, I do have these nice books to send in and add to my two primary sets, the go-gos and Strange Adventures. I just don't think anything is going to happen until after Christmas. But once again, I am back to "I don't have any invoices at CGC" which at least means I am not continuously disappointed in my turn around times, or my grades...but, when I log in each day, they all say 'shipped safe'. Even if I still can't add them to my sets yet. So, excluding what I intend to have signed at ECCC, these are the next ones up... Happy Hunting! Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Or whatever happened to a bunch of guys with no powers at all, going out and challenging the world? No, really, an entire genre. Well, if you can call three books a genre. Blackhawk, Challengers of the Unknown, and Seadevils - all DC, or at least all DC eventually as Blackhawk was a Quality series for its first 107 issues, until Quality went under in 1956/7 and DC picked up the rights. Special powers: none Skilled: Blackhawks are skilled pilots, Seadevils are scuba men, Challengers, nothing really...they were men and a couple of token women, who went out and checked weird stuff out with their wits and their equipment. But with the middle of the SA, that just wasn't cool enough for the readers. What I don't get, is that (until they were changed I In the mid sixties by editorial demands) the stories are well written. Early books in these runs are good reads, but falling readership forced editorial changes which chased off the remaining loyal readers...sad. Ah well, that's my stream of consciousness rant for the day, together with a pretty picture. Happy Hunting Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Yep, my grades finally came in... Fifteen books. Three go-go checks One Strange Adventures One Weird War Stories Ten shark covers for my buddy's Christmas, some of those being books I bought for him. And some being books Ronnylama bought for him... The go-go checks are ok, An 8.5, a 9.2, and a 9.4 - they'll be added to my sets eventually. Right now they are all being rejected as not available for their slots. I do have to say I'm a disappointed with the 8.5, I must have really missed something on that book as I expected a 9.2. The 9.2 I am pleased with, only copy graded for one of the romance titles. Hard to find, and very much needed to complete the set. The Strange Adventures came back 7.5 (yay, 24 points) but it did have a small tear in the lower right portion of the cover from mishandling. Twin Cities pedigree, and it does fill a hole in my set, albeit an entire grade lower than I'd prefer as a minimum. Like the Strange Adventures issue, the Weird War Tales was added to make the fifteen book minimum after I realized one of the shark covers I was going to submit had a pulled staple at the centerfold. From my personal collection, it came back a 9.0, and if too will be added to my set once the registry lets me. My buddies shark covers came back pretty sweet. Kona #3, Dell, 1962, 9.0 ow/w (expected 8.5) Adventure Comics #441, DC, 1975, Don Rosa, 9.4 ow/w (expected 9.6) House of Secrets #145, DC, 1977, 9.4 ow/w (expected 9.4) Flash Gordon #30, Whitman, 1980, 9.6 white (expected 9.4) Airboy Comics V7#11, Hillman, 1950, Crippen D, 5.5 ow (expected 6.0) Sub-Mariner #57, Marvel, 1973, 9.2 ow/w (expected 9.4) Sub-Mariner #66, Marvel, 1973, 9.6 ow/w (expected 9.6) Tarzan #243, DC, 1975, 9.0 white (expected 9.0) Bionic Woman #2, Charlton, 1978, 9.0 white (expected 8.5) Gold Key Spotlight #9, Gold Key, 1977, 8.5 white (expected 9.4) All in all, I think he'll be happy with his Christmas sharks. There's blood in the water! Happy Hunting! Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

That is beautiful!

Finally took time to ho to the theatre today And I was pleased. And my wife enjoyed the movie too, although I think she spent half of it watching Sif & critiquing her armor in her mind. (My wife fights too) I was pleased with the story and surprised with the first epilogue. For some reason, when I was young, I never got into Thor. Now that I am very much older, I am saddened by that. Because behind the facade of mutant mayhem and spidey stories there is a series I missed with beautiful art and clever, engaging stories. Today Thor is the single Marvel Comics book that I buy each month. I just wish it had always been on my reading list. Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

And before it was Batman team-up It was possible to have team-ups of two DC heroes not named Batman. Now, most of the go-go check era Brave & the Bold issues are Batman team-ups, simply due to the fact that Batman was everywhere while the 1966 TV shows was playing. The Brave & the Bold is a favorite of my childhood, because I often didn't have a quarter every month for a book, but here I didn't need to know what had gone on the month before to understand what was happening in the issue I bought. Happy Hunting! Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

.? That's right, it's business day sixty nine, and I woke to find my value submission has finally advanced to quality control. YAY! With the addition of Don Rosa to the guest list at ECCC, maybe my friend can take the Don Rosa pedigree book that he's getting as a Christmas gift and crack & have is personalized & signed...something like; from my collection to yours, Don Rosa. At least now I anticipate having the books in hand before Christmas so I can wrap his gifts. Happy Hunting! Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

I have to live it... Not the terrible, wear a suit & tie every day and retire to a monotonous cubical kind of corporation, although I will wear a tie today as my fifteenth anniversary with the company will be recognized. But still the plan a year in advance, so people with seniority actually get first choice at the good vacation slots, kind of corporate joy. What does this have to do with comics? Well, it's time to plan to meet some more of you great people, and to see a couple of you again. I just put in for my much needed vacation days for ECCC. And I'm high enough on the seniority ladder that I don't anticipate any difficulties in having that time off to spend with you. I look forward to seeing those of you that can be here. Sincerely; Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Rock, Storm, Gunner, Sarge.. Starting in 1956 with the first grey tone or wash tone cover (All American Men at War #35), and continuing in 1959 with the first repeating characters in a war comic (Gunner & Sarge, and later Pooch in All American Men at War, and late moving to Our Fighting Forces), DC made a name for itself in war comics. Sgt. Rock and Easy Company, the Haunted Tank, the Losers, Enemy Ace, Suicide Squad, the Unknown Soldier, Navajo Ace, a Balloon Buster, Lt. Liss' Hellcats, Capt. Storm, many of these characters went on to not only star in the existing war titles, but to either have their own book, or have the book they were featured in renamed after them. At the beginning of the go-go check period there were six titles, at the end only four remained. The long running All American Men at War becoming the first casualty of the turmoil at DC, and the short lived Capt. storm following a few months later. But, two quiet little keys exist in the go-go check period of war books as well. The first appearance of the Unknown Soldier, who would later headline his own book for years, and what may be the first DC work by Neal Adams, who is some artist guy I heard of once. I have one of these, I don't have the other... For now, keep your ammo dry and your head down, there's no medals for dead heroes. Happy (Nazi)-Hunting! Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Or getting 110% from CGC O, so I'm off on a turn around time rant again. My books have now been at CGC for sixty six days for a fifty nine day current turn around time submission. One day I won't have to pay an extra $10 per book in order to get them back within the quoted time periods. And that'll probably be the one day that I don't have any pending submissions... Ah well... It still looks possible that I'll have them back in time for Christmas. Happy Hunting! Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

... One of the reasons given for the dislike of the go-go check banner was that it "used up" valuable space on the cover with no measurable gain. A review of go-go check examples makes me question this explanation. As can be seen below, it was typical for paste ups and cover blurbs off all kinds to encroach into the go-go check area, even the masthead is sometimes overlayed in such a way as to obscure the checked pattern. Today I consider the go-go checks an excellent thematic element that helped tie my collection together into a whole. Forty six years ago, someone with the power to instigate change didn't agree. Happy Hunting! Lee P.S. Don't you just loathe a hole in your set? To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

5 of 20 Or 130 of 520There are days and even months that the go-go check collection expands by leaps and bounds, and other months where if doesn't do anything at all..it jus sits there, mocking me. But the years have produced some successes in the set. Earlier in 2013 I finally surpassed the 1/4 mark. That's right, I now own one in four of the go-go checks, slabbed, and excluding those copies that are less than an 8.5, or restored (not every purchase has been a winner)...I have tracked down books from all but eight of the different series that I need books from, and of the ones I don't have, the absence of Green Lantern, Sugar & Spike, and Superboy are a matter of choice. One easily remedied.Of course, there are many runs that I only have a single book from, and many of those will become the very last books I secure, simply as a mater of scarcity.Earlier today, I considered whether it would be feasible to capture a single image of all of them, to show them off, but that idea has been shelved as not attainable for the moment, although I do have an idea how to get there one day...(bigger room).But as a played with laying out my books, I also rediscovered the successes I have had, one run is complete, and another is complete if I ignore that one issue is a 7.5.,.And the big run, Action Comics is 25% complete as well. I know I could complete Action by throwing money at it, but there has to be something more than just throwing money away...I have to find them, to hunt them down, and secure them for the set.I did, on the other hand, manage to get an ok shot of my Actions all together to share.Happy hunting!Lee KTo see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Use the Journal feature to: Well, to journal. Right? To share some deep thoughts about our shared love of colored pictograms? To form bonds over hundreds or thousands of miles. Occassionally to complain a wee bit about service times... To meet people that I would never have met otherwise - except Ronnylama, who shops at the same LCS that I do. WEIRD - That's what that is. But then again - we'd been shopping at the same LCS for years and hadn't met already - so maybe not. Anyway - I think you're all really durn cool people - no matter what you collect or read. I may prefer my DCs, but I read 'em all - the 'big' players and the indies - GA, SA - new books off the rack. Sometimes, you all post about books that I purchased as a 20-something-year old - that you remember from your childhood... I'm glad I have gotten the opportunity to share with you, and to learn from your sharing... Some day - I might even collect a run of CGC'd Marvel books...maybe In the interim Happy Hunting! Lee K Below - why I love DCs Korak To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Or game... Is to time travel. With so many of making a post per day, the posts are scrolling off my feed pretty fast and I'm missing some great writing and some insightful responses to my posts on the fist go round. So now, I like to travel back in time, look at my journals for the past week, and catch up on any late responses...I'm glad I did, there was more good reading there. Now, I look forward to all you & your daily journals to flesh out my day's reading. Happy a Hunting Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Or, at least the other set that I pursue currently As if 530+ books in the go-go check set were not enough to keep a man occupied, those books also reminded me of some of the other books I really loved as a child. Three things I loved more than anything else: Sci-fi reprints, Justice League of America, and Weird War Tales... As I started working on the go-go check collection, I purchased a number of raw books to submit myself as well as acquiring slabs. Of course, I read them. Send in reading them, I was reminded how much I loved the Science Fiction stories that I had read in From Beyond the Unknown, a reprint set from the seventies, and one that I may yet collect for the memories. Only now I was in a position to collect the books that those stories originated in. Most of them, or most of the cover stories anyway, are from Strange Adventures in the many, many years pre-dating Deadman and Neal Adams. Many with beautiful Carmine Infantino covers and art, or Murphy Anderson covers and art. With the internet, I was no longer restricted to the poor copies I could find locally - but I was able to find books that I wanted at a reasonable price, layer issues anyway. Early issues aren't difficult to find either...just the books from the middle & late fifties - those books suck to find that present well...but I love them, and they are still more reasonable than copies of a Mystery in Space. When the day comes that the go-go check collection is complete, or as complete as it is going to get - and I sell it - the eighteen issues of Strange Adventures will stay behind. Because. For now Happy Hunting! P.S. Grade my books! I'm getting tired of the delay. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

There are many options But I found this one first To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

DC editor Irwin Donenfeld Was in the unenviable position of trying to find something to stall or reverse the current sales trends, DC was losing readers and Marvel was gaining them at nearly the same rate. Go-go checks were thought up. A strong, visual banner at the top of every DC title, so you could identify your DC books easily on a spinner rack or a magazine shelf, where only the top was visible. They ran for 18 months, which coincided with DC's best sales of the sixties. But those sales also coincided with the Batman television show. Many of the artists are quoted as having hated the checks, since they were preprinted on the art board that was provided for the covers. Irwin is quoted in some places as having said, I thought they'd add something, but they didn't. (Paraphrased from source). In mid 67, Donenfeld was fired,and Carmine Infantino took his place. Carmine is known to have said on multiple occasions thathe hated the checks. But I do not know why. He cancelled them immediately. Happy Hunting! To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

And Brandon Shepherd Because. I also really enjoy Brian Bolland's work - enough so I picked this up. It has some handwriting at the bottom in Bolland's block -script where he writes how he isn't happy with the anatomy. I don't think this was used for a cover - but it does look familiar, as if maybe he re-imagined it and used it for something later...or maybe I've just seen so many Bolland WW covers that it looks familiar. Happy Hunting! Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Because. So more than once I've been asked, "why this set?" My decision making process was fairly easy, I love SA DC, but I'm unable to compete financially for key books from the early silver age, I just don't have that kind of money to spend on my second hobby. But, I wanted to have clear guidelines to keep myself from buying books all willy nilly and not having anything at the end of the period that I was proud of. I also didn't want my focus to be so narrow that I was unable to find anything for my collection for long periods of time, as that would lead to wandering the web & auction sites and buying stuff that was off target. So I looked at what I liked. I have always felt that the go-go check covers stood out from their mid sixties brethren from every company, and since I would be collecting these books slabbed, the covers were important to me. When I began researching, I discovered a huge set, all with the same theme, that existed during a short period of many firsts and lasts as DC went through a period of turmoil. There are even a couple of books from the month before the go-go period that I could have added to the set, Teen Titans #1 & Showcase #60 (1st SA Spectre), but now that I've requested an actual competitive set I won't, because even if they could belong, they don't have checks. Without looking at my list, a few of the firsts from my set... First time a character without their own title gets an "annual" - Supergirl in Action 334 First Parasite First DC war comic set in Vietnam First SA plastic man First Batgirl First SA Catwoman First Animal man in costume First Enchantress (June Moone) First SA appearance of the GA Green Lantern, the GA Atom, & the GA Sandman First Poison Ivy First Neal Adams art at DC First Bwana Beast And so on, and so on... Are they all big keys? No - there's only three big keys: Poison Ivy (Batman 181), Catwoman (Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane 70), and Batgirl (Detective 359)... And that's nice, because there's only this three books that I have to 'save up' for. Soon, why (supposedly) DC did the go-go check marketing...and why Carmine Infantino killed it when he took over editing duties. For now: Love is in the air! Happy Hunting! Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Or how I choose books for Signature Series Since my main collecting focus doesn't intersect a whole lot of live, con attending creators, I have exactly zero signature series go-go check books - although there are TWO books that I do not own, that Neal Adams did artwork on that are part of the collection. (PM me if you have either in VF+ or better and are willing to sell) So instead of doing like Fleas & Ts, and trying to get every possible signature on my primary focus(es), I work in reverse. First I find out who is coming to the local con, as it is the only one I am assured of attending, then I see what they have done over the years, and then I select a book or ten from their works that either is in something I collect raw or would have slabbed, or I simply love. This year, as an example, I have several Bagley's from his Justice League run, Cho's & Loprestri's from Red Sonja, and Art Adams from a bunch of odd places, as well as a single cover by the Dodsons. Anyway, I keep adding books to the pile, until con approaches, at which point I determine my budget and start trimming. With five months until con, I already have more books ready for signature than I could possibly afford to have signed and slabbed. Some will get set aside for another day, and a few may even get signed and not slabbed, and if this year is anything like last year, at least one artist will fail to show and those books will come home unsigned. With ECCC 2014 be the year of the massive signature? I don't know, but I hope so. Happy Hunting! Lee K To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

Or: my 59 day current turn around time submission is at business day 60 today, and hasn't been advanced to QC yet... So. Graded. As of twelve days ago...and just sitting there, hanging out with the other books, but now that we have exceeded the current turn around time posted on the website for this level of submission, I haven't any clue how much longer I have to wait, 2 days? 12 days? 20 days? Or will they magically be done today? I know Tnerb journalled about adding clearer, more concise steps for us fanboy collector types to follow our submission with, but that is unlikely in the extreme, so what's a poor boy to do? Ah well, five of those books are intended to be Christmas gifts, so hopefully that's enough business days away so that they make it back in time. If not, I can always give him what CGC gives me. Happy Hunting! Lee L To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.