buttock

That is a beautiful book!!! That's a reprint. It's far too pretty to be real. Even so, it is probably my favorite Planet cover. Thanks for the kind words to all. I agree, this is probably my favorite in the whole run, with #5 being 1b. The color scheme on #2 puts it over the top.

I took that picture before I erased it.

I've been hemming and hawing about this book for a few years and finally bit the bullet. I'm so glad I did, it's incredibly nice.

Awesome pick up! I can't read the indicia, does it say when it was printed?

The #2's usually are. True. I've often wondered whether this was because publishers had higher print runs for issue 1s or because kids were more likely to save them. In the GA publishers would put a high print run on first issues, then scale back for #s 2 and 3 until sales figures came in and then printed #4 according to how well the first issue sold. That assumes monthly distribution and some other factors, but the rule holds in general. I'm not sure how long that policy was in place, maybe into the 50s or SA?

I looked into that a while back and my recollection (although I'm not 100% sure) is that somewhere I found CCA as the publisher for at least one of the CMO books. But I could very easily be confusing that.

Whoops on the Khaki Komics. I think I have Khaki Wacky, which is a CCA title, but not CMO. I've never paid enough attention to Liberty Guards, maybe because it is listed in OSPG. Is that a CMO book Jeff?

I do, but it's a beater. I'll see if I can get a scan up sometime for you.

There are 4 books like this that I'm aware of. Khaki Wacky -- I know of 2 copies AMF with AMan 23 cover -- I know of 2 copies Popular American Heroes -- I know of 2 copies Then another of which I know of only 1 copy. I had a picture somewhere, but don't recall what it was. They're probably a giveaway from CMO (Chicago Mail Order), I've tried to find catalogs from that time to see if there was any notation of a giveaway, but no luck.

The VOH 30 does have the gruesome factor, plus I love the bit of humor on the back sign ("Stomach Upset?"). However, I'm partial to the VOH 31 (the man's face beaten to a pulp with a mallet as the blood and rain mix together in the street lit by a red lantern) - sublime yet stupendous. I thought I was pretty familiar with EC, but I have never noticed that cover. You're right, it's great!

Is "smashing sock action" innuendo for teenage self love?

Great copy Ken!

Killer book! IIRC there is one more copy of that known. I was offered it some time in the 1990s and it was being called a VF at that time.

Yup. An undercopy. I love that book, that was the third copy I've owned over the years.

Had I known you needed it I would have sold it directly to you

I never thought of that, but I can't imagine trying to put a run of Combat Kelly together without a numeric list!

How many accidental dupes did you have?

I was the overbidder

There is at least one copy of "Crime and Penalty" in existence. I saw it about 20 years ago at SDCC at Terry Stroud's booth, but I don't recall the cover illustration.

That's a helluva way to start!

Everett was on a roll in Feb 1940! I always thought this was the 2nd swastika cover but it looks like it might be tied for second. Personally, I think the first swastika/anti-nazi cover was by Charles Mazoujian, although the design of the swastika was either intentionally or accidentally misrepresented. Moreover, this cover depicts coordinated carpet bombing, which was a Luftwaffe innovation (Condor Legion) first employed during the Spanish Civil War... I'm sure the dude I originally acquired this sweet book from would concur. This MMC 2 was probably the 1939 cover date book I was thinking of, although--as you note--it's a trifle ambiguous because the symbol on the plane is not quite a swastika. I wonder whether the cover was inspired by the terror bombing of Warsaw in September 1939, although the cover was probably already drawn prior to that assuming the book was on the stands a couple of months prior to its cover date. One thing I've always thought about this cover: Your city is getting the krap bombed out of it and a super hero arrives to help ... and he manages to take down maybe one plane? The interior story does involve Poland getting bombed.

I never cared for the Kirby portion of this run, but I have to agree with you on the tank! ( now sell it to me...)