It is obviously hard to determine the tone of this quote, but given its placement I don't think it was said awe and respect. Probably something more along the lines of questioning amusement along with a head scratch. It got me thinking about what is the least desirable genre of the golden age? Some of the old standbys, like teen humor, are now highly sought after. Crime is on the rise. Romance is starting to pick up. Westerns are still slow for the most part, though some publishers are picking up (EC, Atlas, Ajax). I would say Classics Illustrated but there is a very rabid base of Classics collectors which exist outside of the normal comic collecting community. Heck, someone said there were bidding wars for Dell Four Colors on Ebay! So what is it that nobody is collecting these days?
I started considering cross genres or subsets and I think I've come up with the least desirable type of golden age comic - Photo Cover Western Romance!
When I said that I was perfectly serious. But there was dual intent, both that I'm amazed in a good way because it takes genuine dedication to dig that deeply into the hobby to find some of them, and secondly amazed in a bad way because some of those books are so creepy that I'd never ever want to own them. But most of all, I'm amazed that there's a thread that showcases these crazy covers and I absolutely loved paging through it. That was the most educational thread I've read in months, and this one follows it up nicely, so thanks for both of them!
That being said, are photo cover westerns less sellable than high-HRN Classics?