Cat-Man_America

Agreed, more than a bit far fetched, David! Thanks for your comments, I respect your opinion, as I do Dark Knight's. I hope my fellow boardies will forgive me the indulgence of a fairly lengthy reply, and let's not lose sight of the fact that the big news here is gator's return! For which I am duly grateful and fully agree that the place aint the same without him! You asked, what happened to the so-called second world and the answer is, it kind of disappeared when the wall came tumbling down! The term "First World" refers to so called developed, capitalist, industrial countries, roughly, a bloc of countries aligned with the United States after World War II, with more or less common political and economic interests: North America, Western Europe, Japan and Australia. "Second World" refers to the former communist-socialist, industrial states, (formerly the Eastern bloc, the territory and sphere of influence of the Union of Soviet Socialists Republic) today: Russia, Eastern Europe (e.g., Poland) and some of the Turk States (e.g., Kazakhstan) as well as China. "Third World" are all the other countries, today often used to roughly describe the developing countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The term Third World includes as well capitalist (e.g., Venezuela) and communist (e.g., North Korea) countries, as very rich (e.g., Saudi Arabia) and very poor (e.g., Mali) countries. Third World Countries classified by various indices: their Political Rights and Civil Liberties, the Gross National Income (GNI) and Poverty of countries, the Human Development of countries, and the Freedom of Information within a country. The term "Fourth World" first came into use in 1974 with the publication of Shuswap Chief George Manuel's: "The fourth world : an Indian reality" The term refers to nations (cultural entities, ethnic groups) of indigenous peoples living within or across state boundaries (nation states). As for me I work a lot in mental health & often with people suffering from stress and other disorders which significantly affect true quality of life. Such a high percentage of people will suffer from mental ill health in their lifetime it too could be thought of as a fourth world cultural entity - or at least as a community of interest! Stress-related illnesses are on the rise in the West and stress is a greater killer than we generally recognise - though there are strong indications that the recognition has begun to permeate and re-shape our outlook and values. I'm no expert, but much of this seems to me to be a product of capitalism, (for which read not a political interpretation but a values one based on materialism) - and to some extent on factors related to urban living. As for poverty, there are many layers to it - but it is possible to live a comfortable life in - say, an indian village - with very little money or possessions. And there are over a million villages in India alone. There are many contradictions! There are a great many people living lives of abject misery - but they are not confined to third world countries and of course not all misery is based on economic indices. I have found the East both humbling and enlightening. All I can say is that among village people in the third world I have never found more open hearts, made more friends, been more enriched, felt more loved, been more fulfilled. I admire gator for his work in Thailand, which I hope he has found richly rewarding and free of infectious diseases (ie cholera and hep B)! And envy him because he is going back in September! Now there is something to look forward too! I actually reconsidered that last comment as possibly being a bit too caustic after posting it (given the state of the world we live in), and removed it prior to your response. For the record, your reply was very astute, well informed and greatly appreciated. ...but I don't recommend opening with that monologue at a comedy club. I was trying to toss in a bit of levity, hence the jest about the missing second world. I guess I aimed a bit too high or too low with that one. BTW, you still haven't told us what you have against pets (creature comforts)!

Sweet book Vern (thumbs u That's bangin' bro!

First, let me welcome Gator back to the good 'ol US of A. Even though the local Thai constabulary shorn him of his hair and made him wear funny pants they obviously didn't find his stash because he's back home safe and sound! If there's a first world and a third world, what the heck happened to the second world? Your spirit of adventure is moving, but when my dormant yearnings are awakened I just head for the nearest Thai restaurant. (thumbs u What do you have against pets!

Beeeeautiful!

+1 (thumbs u

That's a beauty, Surfer; definitely a key book in any Timely or Marvel collection. Great catch, dude!

Nice book, sufunk! But having passed through the looking glass into the GA world of good girl art, mad-hatter horrors and legions of colorful costumed characters fighting for just causes can one ever really leave?

Say, ...are you the dude responsible for the Appalachian pedigree? http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQrPpk_cEqjzmqyLOmW-u0amqsUE7gW8USpZRTDg2xWfoPTx1eQuA

Knowing that, why would anyone leave the tape on the bag when they pull the comic out? Anyone that does deserves to have the tape stick to the front of the comic. True, but have you ever tried taking tape off mylar? Not pretty. Simple solution (especially for valuable books): double-bagging, ...larger, sealed mylar bag on outside; interior mylar bag untaped/unglued. (thumbs u

Mostly I collect GA books, but here's a nice Ditko Strange Worlds image taken at the same time I was photographing other books in my collection... Enjoy! (thumbs u

That PM#1 is a real beauty, Doohickamabob! From your scans it's about the best copy of that "Vital" book I've seen; real eye-popping color. Congratulations!

That's a beauty! Do you have a #2? 2nd series? Not yet, but I'm workin' on it! (thumbs u

My only Hitler depiction cover, but it's a great one (S&K on steroids). The not-so-subtle symbolism of Pandora's box vis-a-vis Hitler's "Trunk of Terror" is perfect.

Those are all great images BB Gun ...and you picked two of my favorite Cole Police covers (25 & 26) to boot! This copy of Silver Streak #7 isn't the Mile High book that I regrettably sold long ago, but it's almost as nice in every way. While there are several GA books in my collection that I like almost as much, this remains my fave, with a spectacular Jack Cole cover and four awesome Cole illustrated stories (38 pages of Daredevil, Silver Streak, Dicky Dean and Pirate Prince)... For Cole fans, it just doesn't get much better than this!

Nice Raboy!

Thanks, Surfer! Lloyd Jacquet file copies in high grade are sweet, and the provenance of this one is very interesting. other than the pay copy, and it doesn't say "jacquet" on the label, this is the only one i have. Nice looking book! (thumbs u BTW, I find it interesting that the corner character labels only lasted for about 6 months, then quietly disappeared. Nothing like that would reappear until silver age Marvel heroes emerged in the early 60's. There must be some story behind this.

Thanks, Surfer! Lloyd Jacquet file copies in high grade are sweet, and the provenance of this one is very interesting.

I have a number of CGC'd books coming back this month; in the meantime, here are several Subbies that I don't recall posting earlier: Right now I'm on the road with the wife in San Diego so posting images is challenging, but I am frequently checking the board. WOW! So many great Timelys have been posted here recently; if this keeps up I'll need a prayer rug! (worship) (worship)

Nice upgrade, Billy!

That's a beauty, mikephoen!

That's a beauty; classic cover! (thumbs u

Caps rule, Surfer; that's an awesome comic. Congrats to Billy for snaggin' that puppy! The more Caps the merrier, so here's my #57...

I can't compete with that. Lech Walesa I did sit next to Lee Corso in the airport last night I got hugged by Felicia Day at ComicCon last summer

in Brodie's defense, the kangaroo did attack him first... The jury is still out on whether it was an unjustified attack. Judging from the Kinks Mason fishing expedition and the Rip Regan/Power Man cover, maybe that poor misguided kangaroo just thought Steve was trying to mate with him!

comics.org says that it is Rip Regan the Power Man on the cover: http://www.comics.org/issue/732/ But it looks like the colorist (or maybe even the cover artist) never bothered to read the story because this is what Power Man looks like inside: and Kinks Mason's story looked like it was starting pretty kinky: and Shark Brodie met up with a kangaroo from the matrix: Well, those yellow tights do seem to vindicate Power Man, ...if not the front cover colorist. But Kinks Mason's deep sea fishing fantasies and Steve Brodie's animal abuse issues are just plain WRONG. In fairness, I probably shouldn't convict Steve Brodie on the prime facia evidence, ...he should go before a kangaroo court.