Flex Mentallo

WORLDS OF FEAR #3

Oh yeah!

Caveat emptor. There is a risk involved in buying anything. "Give me first refusal if you ever decide to sell" is not the same as "Sell it back to me for what I paid." And so on. What matters is what the agreement was at the time of sale. I've come to the tentative conclusion that there is no such thing as an unspoken agreement. Sometimes situations arise - I can think of one quite recently that got somewhat entangled, and in the end it was my own fault for not thinking everything through at the time a deal was brokered. But the bottom line is, where viewpoints differ, can they be reconciled? Sometimes my own viewpoint has changed accordingly.

I think that is very cool Jeff. Dr. Love showed a lot of unholy passion and enthusiasm for the genre, and apparently it was contagious Congrats! Fixed that for you. (Telerites got in first with the unholies but anyway) Anybody know that story?

I wish I still had it!

A different way to compare would be to ask how much the highest graded pedigree copy of JIM 6 would sell for relative to the highest graded pedigree copy of MM 6? There'd be a pretty big imbalance in favor of MM 6 would there not? Note: The JIM 6 hasn't sold for either the $6000 offer or the $8500 ask. Given the price asked on a 7.5 JIM 6 (as the highest graded) I would imagine that if a 9.0 or 9.2 were to pop up it would be priced at well over $10,000. The last 9.2 Marvel 6 sold for a little over $16K so they are do get comparable. Obviously the Mile High copy of Marvel 6 would go for at least double the 16K, so yes the scales are definitely weighted in Marvel Mystery's favor. But what I really find interesting is the fact that demand for pre-code Atlas has grown so tremendously that we could even be having a conversation comparing the two. I've always been able to sell Atlas horror fairly well, but historically they have not been the most desirable of the '50s comics in general and horror in particular. EC, Farrell, Avon and others were what were hot. Atlas would kind of tag along as horror would go through its periodic hot cycles. But now Atlas is driving the bus to such a degree that I would say it is maybe the single hottest genre in not just the '50s back-issues but in all of comics in terms of percentage price increases. Well. I can say having seen, as a collector of PCH for 25 years, a few of those periodic hot cycles, that going back 20+ years or so ago - at least for my circle of fellow horror collectors - we were hot on the trail for the Bailey cover Weird Mysteries, Mr Mystery, Weird Tales of the Future, and the 'classic' individual issues of other titles. Black Cat 50, TofT 15, Beware 10 etc etc. The Gilmor books we found especially hard to track down even in low grade. Honestly, Atlas wasn't on the radar for my little circle with the exception of Menace 5. We saw Atlas books more readily than the others I mentioned - we didn't feel compelled to buy them when we saw them. But if you were extremely fortunate and stumbled on a Weird Mysteries 6 or a Beware 10 you jumped on them immediately. I remember distinctly the day that Mark Haspel and Brian Faracci brought a chunk of the newly-discovered Spokane books to Carbo's old church show in NYC. It was the Gilmors everyone was fainting over. Mr B is dead-on correct. The price increases on Atlas has been staggering. Interesting comments Jon. I remember those days as well - though on my side of the Atlantic, even mid-grade books were hard to come by, and we relied heavily on a couple of dealers willing to send catalogs abroad - and Harley Yee turning up at cons. I found Atlas horror to be relatively scarce even then - but like you, everyone was focused on more high profile books. Weird Terrors and Horrific, Mr Mystery, Weird Chills. I had this idea to try and collect all PCH titles in vg. I think I managed to get a couple of hundred of them, and very very few were in decent shape. At the same time, I had most of the Menaces, but never thought twice about them. When you go looking for a book and it falls into your lap without effort, as a fine copy of Menace #2 did, you gain a false perspective on relative scarcity. I wonder if there is a particular reason for the dearth of Atlas PCH in higher grades? Were the print runs low? Were they read to death rather than collected? Or is it just the absence of file copies? Where would Harvey and EC collectors be without those? In the same boat as the Atlas collectors I imagine?

Congrats Jeff. Wonderful black cover. It certainly seems a lot nicer than the given grade. I'd be curious to know what reason the notes give.

Is there a story there? I've only heard information 2nd hand so whether it involves an erupting volcano, the Walking Dead or an alien abduction I couldn't say. Maybe someone else can chime in. Whatever the answer, it's certainly ironic. When did the Mystery Tales buyer drop out, I haven't really noticed a change in demand. Weren't there some strong HA auctions recently...there still seems to be nothing in the way of inventory. Did the Mystery Tales buyer drop out or did he achieve his goal and grab all available inventory? Given what he as willing to pay I always wondered when he'd eventually empty his pockets.

Is there a story there? I've only heard information 2nd hand so whether it involves an erupting volcano, the Walking Dead or an alien abduction I couldn't say. Maybe someone else can chime in. Whatever the answer, it's certainly ironic.

Is there a story there?

You certainly have a way with the ladies Jack.

Much like myself.

The gardens are quite overgrown and have an atmosphere all their own. (They are a quiet haven from the teeming city and a discreet rendezvous for courting couples.) Here are a handful of the many photos I took on my last visit in 2008.

It was in these gardens that tea plants were first imported from China, leading to the establishment of tea plantations in Assam, Darjeeling and Ceylon (aka the isles of Serendip).

The Great Banyan is the largest tree in the world, at more than 330 metres in circumference.