Cat-Man_America

If Mitch had done nothing besides accidentally drawing national attention to comic values, that would be something, but there was more vision to his purchase since both he and Theo agreed to this price which caught the public eye when he was featured on Tom Snyder's Tomorrow program. Was he featured on a national TV news show as a novelty interview because the idea of a high school kid paying so much for a comic was unheard of at the time and considered crazy by the general public? Perhaps, but the attention his purchase drew to the hobby is inestimable. While it's arguable that the hobby would've grown and developed independent of this the recognition did put things on a faster track. Prices started changing and we now have a billion dollar investment hobby with no end in sight. I've had the good fortune to spend time with Mitch and see some of his collection. He took my late wife and I out to dinner a couple of times in San Diego during SDCC visits. He helped me make a valuable collecting connection with Theo Holstein, who's a very aloof, savvy collector/dealer, that allowed me to broker a couple of deals that would've been impossible otherwise. Bud is a friend and one of the first people I got to know outside of Oklahoma fandom, simply via a fluke since I met Jerry Weist first having become acquainted through his Squa Tront semi-prozine earlier. We both hung out in Jerry's "suite" that weekend at the motel ...I'm thinking it was a Trade Winds... that hosted HoustonCon. His second floor room was ideally situated to get back and forth from the dealer's room so we spent a lot of time using his room as a base of operations discussing collecting interests and getting to know each other. I made some very good friends that weekend who've lasted a lifetime. PS: Interesting timing, it looks like Elvis is in the building! (Hi, Mitch!)

Three separate tiers of value/interest, as far as Im concerned. I have absolutely no personal problem owning encapsulated books in apparent high grade that are restored, better yet conserved. OTOH, I'm less enthusiastic about the qualified designation, except perhaps for the rare green label with replaced staples which used to receive the Qualified designation. What would turn me off with Qualified is trimming, missing pages, missing coupons, etc., if that's how it's designated. Also, too much restoration might drive me away from a book regardless of how it's priced, but that's definitely on a case by case basis. Bottom line, I think Conserved and Restored books are going to become more important to the hobby as time goes on and rarer books are obtainable or affordable in no other way. Collecting GA requires strategizing given the deep pocket demand, IMO. I'm also an advocate of filler books ...basically photocopy reproductions... to stand in for books that aren't easily acquirable. While filler copies have no demonstrable value in the collector marketplace, they serve as reading copies and to fill-in in runs that are all but impossible to complete. There are times when it's preferable to have a nice non-encapsulated reading copy that isn't as fragile as a lower grade well worn original. My , no extra charge for the caffeine!

This is entirely possible if war related art featuring locations had to be submitted for final government approval before distribution or if someone at Timely ran the cover art past a government official before it went to press. There was cooperation between publishers and the government during WWII especially related to anything involving war related propaganda. This story obviously came directly from Schomburg as he signed off on adding it to his biography; I'd trust the source in lieu of evidence to the contrary.

Turkey to Germany...

WTTB! Misunderstandings happen. You and Mitch are both foundational icons in the collecting community. And to be sure I'm covering all the bases ...and don't leave the Astros out... so is the tall Texan from Houston (he's the Bedrock of the community in a different foundational sense). Sorry that I missed these additions to this thread Thursday, otherwise I'd have added my meager 2 cents earlier. Very happy to see you here, Bud. Cheers, Cat

You're Bud Lite, ...I've known Bud since HoustonCon '69! ...And I'll imbibe brews with you, Bud and Mitch anytime!

I've occasionally used top-loaders and back boarded mylar for raw books. From my experience top-loaders add sufficient spine protection even for lightweight back-boarded mylar. I don't see any serious drawbacks to it's use under controlled conditions and the nominal weight of top-loaders is a win/win for short-box & long-box transport. I'm sure some folks have negative opinions about top-loaders generally because of vinyl plasticizers used in manufacture pose questions about their suitability for archival use, but if you're sealing books in mylar with acid free boards it should protect the pulp paper from exposure to plasticizer related age deterioration. I wouldn't recommend using poster sized top-loaders for original art pages or other oversized collectible unless also sealed in mylar or you have it on good authority that the top-loader's plastic is archivally safe.

Ducks to Chickens...

I'm probably whistling in the wind here, but I tend to think of Creig Flessel as being the James McNeill Whistler of comics. Given the variety of subjects he was tasked to do at DC and his chameleon-like ability to render in other styles his own involvement is sometimes difficult to pin down without a signature present. Conversely, Schomburg's work can usually be identified by style alone with no signature present visa-vie Norman Rockwell's commercial work requires no signature. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McNeill_Whistler

It's Schomburg ...or Xela, reversing Alex in his airbrushed alias. Alas, comparisons are inevitable, but they merely had different styles; in this instance, I don't consider one artist better than the other (like Froggy, they're just different -- extra points if you can figure out that reference). "Deadlines" was the name of the game for comic publishers. What Schomburg could do that Mac apparently had difficulty with was meeting tight schedules under pressure, consistently. But in addition to meeting tough deadlines, he even branched out to different publishers! Schomburg was able to speed up or slow down his craft to produce more deliberate, contemplative painted work of increased complexity for magazines and book cover dust jackets which paid a premium for finished paintings. To be absolutely clear, I love Raboy's work, especially the technical perfection of it. Most of his best covers look posed and poised, like his hero is advertising some undisclosed hair product. You almost expect an ad inside for this elusive product the publisher has been keeping secret. To put it another way, Schomburg's work looks like gladiatorial combat captured in motion at the moment of greatest tension or mayhem, while Raboy's work looks like a perfectly timed and posed snapshot by the hero's publicity team who were traveling along with him. Raboy's smiling heroes were rarely if ever under any kind of stress or if they were they never let it show. In the next scene you'd expect the hero to be making a public appearance with an autograph line forming. In their own wheelhouses each artist had impressive success. Raboy went on to newspaper comics (Flash Gordon) and lucretive advertising work; Schomburg continued between cover work in pulps, digests, magazine covers and hard cover dust jackets. After his tenure with Fawcett Raboy produced the beautifully rendered albeit short lived Green Lama series at the end of WWII, then he seemed to leave comic books behind focusing primarily on Sunday comics and advertising work. Sadly he passed too young in the early 1960's, so it's impossible to know whether he'd have had a comic book renaissance. Schomburg periodically revisited comics and SF becoming a fan favorite into the 1970's and 80's. Sorry, must be the caffeine!

...and the occasional tomato or tuh-mah-toe. (I'm, teasing, and just playing ketchup) We're both in agreement except in respect to nuance. I'd never describe Schomburg's work as "cartoony" and while his pen/ink work is often wildly busy, he never loses his center of interest. Other artists might turn out a busy cover that completely loses the central character(s) or focus, not Alex. Alex's style lent itself to occasional whimsy or clever observation, adding caricatures or humorous reactions in illustrations to draw in the viewer. But he had far less of an exaggerated style than cartoon inspired artists like Jack Cole (on the high end) or Gill Fox (on the lower end). Like you say, Raboy was indeed a very stylized illustrator, to my way of thinking in the vein of Rubimor (Ruben Moreira), Reed Crandall or Jack Binder (although Binder did utilize whimsy on occasion in his illustrations reminiscent of Windsor McCay's creative genius from my POV). While I don't agree with every brilliant philosophical utterance of the late great Stan Lee, he did make an astute observation (excelsior!) in suggesting that Alex Schomburg was the Norman Rockwell of comics. Not everyone considered Rockwell the greatest American painter or even the best commercial artist, but he was prolific, well loved & recognized as America's greatest portrayer of human reaction and cover composition.

There are a lot of artists deserving of more attention. While I've already added my voice to those placing Alex Schomburg at the top there are others who catch my eye as well. While I love Lou Fine's work he definitely ran hot & cold; when he ran hot his work was dynamite and he turned out a lot of impressive interior work that deserves more attention. Jack Kirby was also an artist whose covers ran hot and cold (mostly hot) and his dynamic GA interior art was groundbreaking, evoking Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. Every publisher wanted artists who could work as creatively with panel design and flowing action sequences. One of the most underrated artists today seems to be Reed Crandall, his covers and interiors were consistently excellent, dynamic in motion, perspective and anatomy. I've already mentioned Mac Raboy's exceptional cover and interior art; his uncanny ability to convey effortless flight deserves special mention. Another personal favorite is Jack Binder, while he isn't credited directly with a lot of work via signing or attributions, his hand was in much of the work produced by his art shop and jobbed out to various publishers. The best of Binder's work reminds me of the flawless structural perspective and whimsey of Winsor McCay. Just for the "halibut" I'll post an example or two of Reed Crandall's and Jack Binder's cover work (not that anyone around here hasn't seen these posted before!) While dropping the names of artists given short shrift as GA favorites, let me also mention Craig Flessel... While not expecting these artists to get GA favorites list votes, they're deserving of honorable mention!

Interesting thread when you consider different parameters, like body of work, cover work, interiors, comic strip work, etc.; I would've probably included Mac Raboy to the main list of comic book illustrators for both covers and interiors. If we're talking specifically covers, my choice would be Alex Schomburg, hands down. But if interior art had to be part of the equation it would probably be a toss up between Wally Wood and Reed Crandall for the volume and overall consistent quality of work across a broad spectrum. If restricted to interior art I'd probably add Jack Cole to the list; his covers are awesome, but usually limited to just the central character(s) of interest or theme. His interiors, OTOH, were often wildly orchestrated, inventive affairs and stand out. Also, if newspaper comics are to be considered on the list, I'd agree for the most part with the inclusion of McCay, Foster, Raymond and add Eisner for his groundbreaking Spirit section work. Winsor McCay would be my favorite newspaper comic strip artist.

Don't know if this has ever been cleared up to everyone's satisfaction, but the cover of Marvel Mystery #8 appears to me to be by Schomburg and is listed as such in the MarvelFandom.com attributions. Some may think think this an Everett cover, but it doesn't look like his work from this period to me. Note: MM#8 wasn't listed among the covers officially credited to Alex, but that may just be an oversight. If anyone has opinions or evidence one way or the other, please share!

Dat's naught gist a collage, dat's a danged universe city!

The brass replacement works perfectly.

Almost forgot this one; I'm pretty sure it was the colors that grabbed me and wouldn't let go...

But you have to invest at least $1000 ...to be a grand vizier.

short, heavy comic relief sidekick to short, heavy comic relief sidekick...

My thoughts on cans of worms: if they have eyes and a mouth those ain't worms, ...they may be snakes! Always be careful handlin' snakes, they may be deadly.

We sent in a high resolution image rather than a scan. I can't say for certain that this was actually used, but it looks like my copy and I received attribution and a copy of the book. Before going to press the publisher might've eliminated the very faint pencil mark in the title logo; I'm pretty sure this isn't a Cole recreation given the exactness of the image to the comic and inclusion of the "This Stands For Honorable Service..." insignia on the right side of the cover. Anyway, the oversized Cole coffee-table book is an exceptional Flexi.

sidekick to brushed aside sidekick...

Thanks, they're both super nice copies. A scan of my copy was requested for the Black Light: The World of L.B. Cole flexi-bound book from 2015. Note: The Fantagraphics book is OOP but apparently still available on Kindle or through secondary sources at collector prices; it's still highly recommended.

I apologize for my earlier sarcasm; it was intended as a humorous reflection on my personal attitude toward these stickers. Since I don't solicit forth party grading, I produce my own coveted sticker, then charge myself for the honor.

Jimbo's CatMan #31 is absolutely beautiful, graded over 20 years ago, reposted for benefit of this discussion. The color registration is about 99% with very slight, inconsequential red shift to right, not perfect, but very close. The PQ can't be seen, but it's clearly noted on the label. Is that what makes this particular copy exceptional, ...or is it the sticker? Here's another copy from another cat's collection: Same grade, but slight, noteworthy difference of opinion in respect to PQ on the label, and no sticker. Alas, this poor unfortunate collector's trashy copy has a bit less writing on the cover, but lacks the revered sticker. Note: None of this takes away from the awesomeness of Jimbo's stellar copy. It's a superb book with or without a CVA sticker!