Doohickamabob

So, I finally finished my 3-comic run of pre-code horror comics with William Ekgren covers. These are the only things this mysterious 1950s artist ever did in the comic-book industry: Strange Terrors #4, Weird Horrors #6, and Weird Horrors #7. To build this little collection, I had to settle for low-grade copies, because the higher-grade copies ain't cheap!

Hey, here's a Superman question that maybe you can answer.... What's up with his suit? I mean, somebody's shooting a freaking machine gun at him -- doesn't the fabric fray?

There seem to be many cover images that echo each other. For example: If Superman isn't spinning something, then something's making his head spin... I'd post #17 and #26 as well, but I don't have #17...

Those 3 Wonder Woman covers are awesome. The early Wonder Woman comics are under-valued for how great they are. When Hollywood producers get their acts together, they'll make a modern Wonder Woman movie, and the value of the comics will explode. Mark my words. All they have to do is make a W.W. movie that is slightly better than mediocre, and every parent in the world will take their little girls to go see it.

Who wrote that dialogue? You can hear the violins in the background...

Dang that's some primitive stuff! But in a good way...

Awesome. I am happy to be a bad influence.

Must be cold...

That comic also has a great back cover. Several Ziff-Davis comics have back covers almost as cool as the fronts.

Hey everybody, thanks for the positive responses. I appreciate it. In regard to your question about interiors, I have some left-over images from some dupes I sold a while back. Here are a few. The following are from Captain Science #4. I find the stories and art comparable to Planet Comics or Strange Adventures from around the same time period. The following panels are from Chilling Tales #13. One of the stories was drawn by Matt Fox, who also did the cover. The next are from Chilling Tales #15. Imagine what kinds of nightmares the kids who read this ended up having. Maybe I should move this over to the pre-code horror thread. This is my favorite panel (lots of neck eating going on in these comics):

I think Mr. Scarlet did it in the ballroom with the candlestick....if you know what I'm sayin'...

The same artist must have done the diagonal streaking of these backgrounds. I love it!

After a couple years of slowly searching and adding, I recently completed a full run of the sci-fi/horror comics released by Youthful Magazines from 1950 to 1953. For whatever reason, the publisher changed the titles as follows: Captain Science (#1-#7), Fantastic (#8-#9), Beware (#10-#12), and Chilling Tales (#13-#17). Here's the group shot: A few interesting things about this run: -- Most of the comics have a stark red/yellow/green color scheme, giving them a bright poster-paint quality. -- Most of the comics tout their feature story in a postage-stamp sized box at the bottom, though there's a lull in the middle of the run where the featured title is just floating on its own. -- The Captain Science run alternates red and yellow titles and background (with one exception -- the green title of issue #5) -- The covers of Captain Science #3 and #4 are swipes of Wings #94 and (to a lesser extent) #91. Anyone know the story behind that? Was it done with permission or was it outright theft? -- Captain Science #6 and #7 have Wally Wood/Joe Orlando covers, ranking them with other Wood/Orlando covers of the period like Avon's "Rocket to the Moon" and "Space Detective." -- With Fantastic, the covers get a lot greener and the shift from sci-fi to horror is complete. From that point on, all the titles have a skull-and-crossbones. -- Beware #10 has the only white title -- and exclamation point -- of the run (not a big deal, but it looks kinda neat as the centerpiece of the photo). -- After Beware #12 the title was continued by another publisher, Trojan, with the same font/design and numbering (perhaps to cheat on postal codes). If anybody knows the story behind this split-off, please chime in. My hunch is that one of the main writers or publishers had creative differences and left Youthful Magazines, taking the title with him. The Trojan run of Beware comics is also cool, with issue #10 featuring a classic Frank Frazetta cover. -- Three of the Chilling Tales covers are by Matt Fox, formerly a pulp cover artist for Weird Tales (alongside Margaret Brundage). These are the only covers he ever did for comic books, effectively tying William Ekgren in ratio of impact to output. I think Fox went on to do inking for Batman or something. I love his style -- it's very childlike, if your child is Eddie Munster. -- Matt Fox's three covers are the few in the run to cheat the red/yellow/green pattern by including lots of blue/purple and more textured backgrounds, with wispy clouds and smoke. -- With Chilling Tales #14, the skull-and-crossbones stops playing peek-a-boo behind the letter "C" and emerges in front of the "C." -- I found Chilling Tales #16 about ten times harder to acquire than all the other issues in the run. I suspect the "Mark of the Beast" bondage/ghoul/hell-pit cover is a prime factor in the issue's scarcity. I can imagine this comic being among those burnt by parents during the days of the anti-comics senate hearings. -- The horror stories in these comics are GREAT -- that is to say, creepy as all get-out.

Why is Mr. Green Jeans trying to kill Lilly Munster?!

That is one hairy arm / hand / set of fingers!

Is she planning to date those men, or eat them?

I am probably ruining my chances for presents this year, but...

Looks like somebody left Santa some pot-laced cookies.

Must be one of those situations where the seller primarily sells other types of items, then comes across golden-age comics on the side, and doesn't really know or care what they're worth. Ah well... For all the great deals I've missed, I've nabbed a number of good ones too.

I was just scanning some eBay sales and I noticed this completed auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320452522292&_rdc=1 Or do an Advanced Search on listing #320452522292 Argh! Why didn't I see that? Who was the lucky bidder -- anybody here? What a steal!

I didn't realize that there was so much animosity aimed at the army cooks. The food must have been really bad on the front lines. Exactly! The slop they fed was so bad, soldiers wanted to tattoo U.S.A. right through their #(%@* hearts!

These are Korean War (1950-1953) comics, but I thought people would find them interesting: Notice a trend there?

Wow, you all really rose to the occasion on this. If you own these, I am extremely jealous. A little later I'll put together my own picks.

Like this? In no special order but I don't have either of the Giants which may make the list and the later Teen-age Romance are also not in my collection of scans. Beautiful! You exceeded my expectations. I take it these are your all-time favorite Baker romance comics. Nice choices!

You people rule when it comes to these Baker comics. I can't imagine ever having a collection nearly as impressive. Now for a few questions, which you can answer at your convenience... (1) What are the Top 10 Baker romance comic issues? (2) What are the Top 10 most valuable Baker romance issues? (3) What are the Top 10 sexiest Baker romance issues? (4) What are the Top 10 non-romance Baker comic issues? Answer preferably with 10 photos placed in neat 5x2 rows for maximum effect!