Cat-Man_America

I'm still planning on attending the Sundae Summit, but it's a tougher climb this year with glacial melting. Keep your camera's powder dry for this rare sighting, ...my daguerrotypes are investment quality!!! If arriving, I'll be traveling with my buddy Clark (GreatCaesar'sGhost) and show up on the scene around noon give or take, Daylight Saving Time notwithstanding...

I perceive aggressive Promise Collection spending and subsequent losses without benefit of lubrication as a perfect storm of misguided judgment. Yes, newbies dropping lots of bitcoin capitol into the market without analyzing anything besides top grade status and well publicized pedigree story is an ideal set-up for a rube fiasco, but there's never been a pedigree marketing strategy as efficiently spun as the one for these books. That isn't a criticism of any aspect of it, but the end result contributes to anxiety in the marketplace when there's as precipitous a drop in values as incurred by many examples from this collection. My two cents and change, not adjusted for inflation.

Colorized, probably or the color balance was corrected badly, but my guess would be sometime in '42 or early '43. You could almost estimate the month by backdating the Boy Commandos by the splash page of that story.

love story to the going rate...

no eyes to almost no eyes and lots of noise...

Normally, I refer to all 10 cent or more comics produced before the CCA as the golden age. But just for the sake of all my fellow obsessive folks ...a category in which many collectors find or lose themselves... just for the sake of ridiculousness, I've broken the GA into smaller groups that are about as anally retentive in the extremis as I can make them: Funny Book or Platinum era: Comics produced between 1934 and 1938 (before Action #1 changed the trajectory of comics; Sunday comic reprints and variety short subjects ruled) Gen-U-wine GA (pre U.S. entry into WWII; nice meaty sized books; costumed heroes introduced and flourished; with rare exception variety acts were the filler): 1938-1942 (early) Men in Tights Age (WWII era, economic tightening, dimensions and page count downsized as paper rationing occurred; colorful costumed heroes ruled): 1942-1945 (mid/late) Nuclear Nookie Age (atom bomb and bombshell era; decline of the superhero, blossoming of teen romance, western, crime and GGA ruled): 1946-1949 Wertham Age: 1950-1954 (aka Pre-code Horror...vampires, ghouls, skeletons and crazed psychiatrists ruled with cold war and juvenile delinquency fears and rampant paranoia)

My doubles (I probably should take more photos for a better group presentation where possible)... Signature authenticated copy (7.0)... 8.5 copy (not CGC) Raw under-copy... graded copy...

man holding a rat to evil femme fatale with a cat and bats...

Hoarding had a different context in WWII, especially with rationing limited resource commodities involved. Even today there are laws that vary from state to state that restrict holding and overcharging for commodities like gas and water. In the context of collectibles hoarding is an entirely different animal, and a sport of sorts, but not without risk (IMO, with SA to Modern books numbers it's of questionable value). That said, cornering some part of the GA market has been tried to some extent and may be feasible. The two clear examples that come to my mind are Stephen Fishler's acquisitions of Fox's Fantastic Comics #3 and West Stephan's collection of Cat-Man #28, the latter of which I've actually seen gathered together in one location...

Duet performance with a coffin to Bucky hitting sharp notes in a popular tomb...

Beautiful books, ...color pops, tight registration, sharp edges & spines! These look better than grade, the non-ped HT every bit as nice as the SF pedigree!

And this, an original composition so scary that I had to hide it in a spoiler!!!

Hmmm, December 1940, let's see... (street dates: Dec. 10th, 13th, & 15th)... These aren't CGC labels (6.0, 8.5; 8.5), so that visual must remain elusive!

Here's my Human Torch #4 (3); this hot number has a newsstand date of March 31st... And here's Marvel Mystery #19 (newsstand March 13th)... Alas, just two measly books from March (sorry)...

woman in fright to woman in freight (sarcophagus)...

Several more Church copies... ...provided for those more interested in visuals than our verbose text stories (to meet 1940's postal regulations)!

Yep, one of Rowena Morrill's creepiest horror paintings, commissioned for Theodore Sturgeon's The Dreaming Jewels (Dell PB)...

strategically placed hands to strategically placed metal idol's arm...