Flex Mentallo

The Flash Gordon volume has great art by Al Williamson and Reed Crandall! I don't really collect softcovers unless hardcovers don't exist - but I'm fond of Gulacy, who is rather poorly represented in collected editions IMHO. He is in the Star Wars volume though! and The Rook.

Dark Horse Archives - some of my favorite material here!

NuValiant. Moe or less complete here - I think there is only one hb I don't have, 'Livewire', which got unusually poor reviews. The indications are that the quality has fallen off a cliff since the company got sold. Note - I actually still have most of the original Valiants from the early 90's squirreled away in boxes! Valiant was a phenomenon, briefly, then. Print runs were very low, the first issues went under the radar, which sparked a feeding frenzy among collectors stampeding the stalls at London Comic Marts. But it passed...and eventually, so did Valiant.

IKEA! Here are the shelves to the left of the DC. [I'll post some details below.]

I know for sure that they'll get messed up if I display them properly! FWIW I have the following AE's: The Rocketeer Wally Wood EC Stories Best of EC vol. 1 Best of EC vol. 2 Xenozoic Tales Will Eisner The Spirit vol. 2 [will track down the first volume at some point] America's Best Comics [for the sake of the Arthur Adams pages] Starstruck Conan: Red Nails Miracleman On another subject, I was very impressed by your dedicated focus on particular artists, and most especially Paul Pope, who interests me though I have never gotten round to collecting him. I wonder if you'd be willing to show off the particular volumes you have? I suspect some of these are quite scarce?

Congrats on completing the Archives. I never quite got that far, and recently I offloaded the volumes I had that were duplicated in the omnibus format. I had a lot of fun during lockdown figuring out the best way to arrange my shelves, and ended up putting my Astro City and ABC hardcovers with the DC. [My Absolutes are on the opposite wall.] Apologies for the crappy photo - and the bendy shelves! As some will notice, there is an awful lot of shrinkwrap, which many purists frown upon. [The tongue-in-cheek comments in this thread are mild in comparison to the strong feelings expressed on other collected edition forums!]. I tend not to remove this unless I want to read a book. My long term plan is to put them all in brodart covers. Sharp eyes will notice that I hacked one of the bookcases to accommodate a radiator!

Enjoyed the tour! A beautifully curated library! Regarding AE storage, I just keep mine in their boxes, under a table!

I know what you mean - if it's got Wally Wood in the title, I'll probably buy it, even if I already have it. The vanguard books are nice. PSArtbooks are fairly comprehensive on the non-EC stuff, but their reproduction is quite poor. [Though I shouldnt carp, as they are the only publisher I can think of who reprints fifties horror sequentially by title/publisher.]

That's one omnibus I regret not picking up. I dithered - then it was gone. Here's hoping they eventually reprint it!

Enjoying catching up with this thread, as I've been collecting material in these formats for a number of years now. The biggest frustration for me regarding DC Archives is that they had trailed a new Captain Comet Archive that never got published. [Apologies if this has already been discussed - I'm only a third of the way through the thread] THE CAPTAIN COMET ARCHIVES • Captain Comet faces alien invasions and weird monsters from distant worlds in these stories from DC’s classic science fiction series STRANGE ADVENTURES, as well as his 1970s adventures! • Collects STRANGE ADVENTURES #9-44, 46 and 49, and SECRET SOCIETY OF SUPER-VILLAINS #2-6. It is very disappointing that DC became so leery about publishing new Gold, Atomic and Silver Age material, with the exception of the big three. I haven't bothered with the b&w editions. Thrilled that we are finally getting a Silver Age Batman Omnibus hard on the heels of the Wonder Woman. That gives hope that we'll see a Silver Age Superman volume. Maybe one day they'll give us more. A pity they cancelled this! But while we are lucky to have Bronze Age House of Mystery/Secrets, will we ever see the earliest issues reprinted? At least the forthcoming Phantom Stranger Omnibus will include the original six-issue run from the 1950s!

Thanks Walter! Congrats to @Straw-Man -well deserved, my brother!

Well, THAT was unexpected!

Resistant to the sharp price increase which must be a bigger problem than ever in today's market!

Yes, I think there are a few high grade-only collectors who pour gasoline on the bidding sometimes. One of them [not a boardie] is notorious for collecting multiples of scarce issues in high grade. Otherwise it does seem many want the great covers regardless of condition. [Like @lbcolefan I would pass on rusty staples.]

Another bout of panic while I hastily check to see if I kept my copy - phew!

All of which suggests to me that the collecting pool is still very limited... best keep it that way!

Very nice set of magazines, Randall! A few I'd not seen before, which is always fun. Are there more outer space covers out there like that Safari I wonder? This is the only one I have:

I tracked down the sellers other sold items and thought this great World of Men cover was an impressive sale of an uncommon book. [$352]. Does anyone know of any Men's Adventure magazine going for a higher price, or is that a record? And so long as no-one minds sharing, may I ask, what's the highest you've ever paid for a mag? I think the most I ever paid would have been around the $200 mark, but that was years ago, for a copy of the same Man's Action. Although I have no plans to sell my magazines, I have been wondering if we will see prices rise, given what seems to be happening to pulps...? Anyone have any thoughts?

That's a fairly tricky book - congrats on the pick up!

Astronomical!

people's obsession with collecting objects

How I envy you!

At first glance I misread this as 'lime payments'.

He keeps promising to complete it - I should live so long!