BOOT

Great comments on the Civil War sketchbook. Looks like he drew it for his own amusement and to get a laugh from his friends. I *think* the final price was over 10 grand for this. Who knows if that is insane for a unique item like this. If I recall correctly, the seller told me it was won by a historical society in New York. Lots of these military comics have saucy content, as you might imagine!

Beauty! Truly rare!

More from A Few Scenes In The Life Of A "Sojer" In The Mass. 44th

Here's the earliest military comic I've seen. A Few Scenes In The Life Of A "Sojer" In The Mass. 44th A one of a kind sketchbook from 1863, during the Civil War. Never published. This was on eBay several years ago. Price got insane. Tried to get the seller to scan it for me before it was shipped off to the winner. These are the best pics I could get out of him... But enjoy them, cause you may never see this again!

Here's the one posted in Have A Cigar the other day...

Comic books produced by actual servicemen and women, during and after their service. Sometimes they weren't technically slick, but they all had heart. Great pieces of history! Posted one of these in the "Have A Cigar" thread the other day, then found another one. Have a few more, too, so rather than let them swim in Have A Cigar, thought they could use their own thread. Some are instructional, preparing men for safety, battle, and survival. Some make light of the hardships of service. All relate intense pieces of history from specific dates and places. Feel free to post other comic books about the military by actual service members! Here's one from 1939, about the author Nick NIchol's experiences in WWI. Check out the first sample. What a story!

Weird cover! Those little octopus guys are kind of cute.

Outrageous books on this thread recently. It defines "tantalizing."

Scrooge, you're too modest. You're one of the best and one of the founts of knowledge here. Evans can be tricky, especially when he was turning out lengthy stories. Easy tells are the squarish upper bodies/chests, the solid figure drawing during fights/action, the slightly squarish eyes.

Great cover!

Got this weird comic recently. Combination of cartoons, multipanel stories/gags, and comic pages. Love the provenance on the cover. Not listed in any Guide.

Thank you for playing. It's big George Evans. Hard to see with the lousy Canadian printing. He produced lots of other material for Fawcett at this time, including romance, horror, and Captain Video. Not listed as such in the Guide. None of the Bob Colts are indexed at comics.org.

Great Woody Woodpecker Chevrolet comic! Nice shape, too.

Nice! Is it the "Carter Oil" back cover version?

Mr. Sneekers is now doing 15-20 at State Prison. When he gets out, he'll be Mr. Ankle Monitor. Mr. Sneekers and his creepy vibe!

More Big Red...

Here is a run of "Big Red" comics, mostly by Frank Giacoia. These are 4 page comic book style inserts promoting International Harvester equipment that were bound into an agricultural magazine. Finding the individual magazines with them is a pain. Was lucky to find a bunch that someone had pulled out and collected. Hey, it's a comic about tractors, but you probably won't see these too often.

Fun and weird promo comics...

Picked up some weird giveaways lately. I'll also post them in the promo comic thread...

Re: The Anti-Hoover comic - it's what's called "self-covered." Many giveaway / promotional comic books were done cheaply for free distribution. They didn't add a slick cover to the "guts" of the comic book like commercial comics. So the cover paper is the same as the inside paper. This has comic stories inside, in black and white. Great stinging Opper cartoons. You think politics today is nasty!

Part 2

Here's the whole story, Scrooge. Anyone? Anyone? Part 1

That's a great early political comic, listed as rare in Overstreet. Fantastic!

Great show! Thanks for helping set the mood for Halloween! I applaud your choices of the Fantastic Fears, Horrific, and Web Of Mystery. You're right about pre-code horror being great to collect. I share your enthusiasm for the wild stories and art. Another nice thing is that among the many great comics, there are many not considered "keys." So if you're not too picky about condition, you can still get some great reading for few bucks. Here are five off the top of the stack, all got for cheap recently... Happy Halloween

I think the contents of Front Page Comic Book are clearly horror. But it's funny, some people get stuck on what's "first" and have a hard time changing. Archaeological discoveries near Clovis, New Mexico seemed to show people lived there about 11,000 to 11,500 years ago. It was called the earliest human settlement in the Americas. In the years since the discovery, informal but effective resistance to evidence of earlier settlements formed what is called "The Clovis Barrier." Even though there have been several finds that are clearly earlier than the site in Clovis, some experts just wouldn't acknowledge the new finds. Evidence has been ignored or even tampered with to prevent breaking the Clovis Barrier. Several new discoveries have resoundingly broken the Clovis Barrier, providing proof of human settlement thousands of years earlier. There's a lot of resistance in some parts to pushing back dates of "earliest" and "first." Some around here still think comic books started with Action 1. I hope Eerie #1 isn't horror comic books' "Clovis Barrier." Front Page has a mix of horror stories and a brutal crime story. The first story features The Man In Black, Bob Powell's personification of Fate, or in this story, Death. The story features the evil deeds of a Nazi pilot. The climax of the story features Death itself reaching right into the pilot's chest to grasp his heart and take his life. The second story (with art by Joe Kubert) shows a giant man-eating octopus, skulls and other bones of its victims in a pile below its deadly beak. The third story tells of a brutal gang of spies/criminals that blow up their victims with dynamite. Labels can be tricky, and some say Front Page is not a "horror comic" because its stories are not entirely "horror." Are the later issues of Tomb Of Terror with science fiction stories not "horror comics"? How about Quality's Web Of Evil? Most of what appear to be monsters and ghosts in their stories turn out to really be crooks or scheming relatives, like in Scooby Doo stories. So are they not really "horror comics"? Or what about Star's comics with the great L.B. Cole covers? Many of those have one original horror story with the rest being Fox crime reprints. Are those not "horror comics"? How about the cover of Black Cat Mystery #50? You could say it's not really "horror", more like an industrial accident. There is some denial about Front Page Comic Book. Maybe it's because the title itself doesn't scream "horror." But just look at that cover. In the background, a grave lies open, the corpse within exposed. In the foreground, a grave robber sprawls on the ground, his hands clutching, his head bleeding from a fresh wound. Above him, a vengeful ghost scowls down in anger as she holds a spectral knife. That cover wraps around stories featuring the figure of Death reaching into a man's chest to squeeze out his life, a monstrous man-eating octopus, and people being blown to bits. Sure it's a horror comic! And it was published in 1945. Not saying it's the first horror comic book (there may be some earlier), but it is definitely two years earlier than Eerie #1.