Karl M

I believe the Kirby and Royer pages were removed from a 1979 D-Con (Dallas Comic Book Convention) program.  This is the flyer that promoted it. 

On 11/20/2023 at 7:19 PM, sledgehammer said:

now, I'm curious how many other places that this Romita version showed up. Did they usually include the pinup pages in the masterworks books?

Since Romita is my favorite artist of all time, it's really hard for me to believe that this was not an actual cut and paste job, that this was not Romita actually screwing up the proportions this badly. With the coloring misfires, including the shirt, being the same color, as only one pants leg, it's just a very bad look.

A few years ago I pointed out that Romita had done his own version of one of Ditko's classic Spider-Man poses, for one of the 711 Slurpee cup designs. I just can't figure out why this would have been done in the first place, unless there was a point where they needed to use the original art, and it had been damaged. there's really nothing about Ditko's art here, that looked wrong. It was probably just somebody making a call, that really had no business deciding that.

weird.

I don't know why the Marvel Tales version was updated (and I agree the Romita head was likely cut out from somewhere and pasted on), but Marvel did stuff like this fairly often in their 1970s reprint books.  Sometimes dialogue as well as art was changed to reflect current events or to make an old character look more like the current version.  Colors were almost always different - original comics weren't consulted, and colorists worked from b&w stats.  I think they only got guidance for costumes and hair and skin color.  That was true even with the original Masterworks before the re-boot.

Per the GCD, this pin-up has been included in quite a few collections, but I don't know how many, if any, are the altered version:

Marvel Tales (Marvel, 1966 series) #30 (April 1971), #31 (July 1971)
Marvel Masterworks (Marvel, 1987 series) #5 ([October] 1988)
Amazing Spider-Man Masterworks (Marvel, 1992 series) #1 (March 1992)
Essential Spider-Man (Marvel, 1996 series) #1 (December 1996) [black and white]
Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man - Barnes & Noble Edition #3 (2004)
Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus (Marvel, 2007 series) #1 (2007)

On 11/20/2023 at 5:28 PM, sledgehammer said:

yes, it is. do you have any idea if it was intentional? Romita did an unusually poor job. The head is way too large. is it possible that the original artwork was damaged, I don't know, but I don't know why they used this version for the book. I thought that they were using copies of the original comics to create this.

My guess is they focused on photographing the stories and thought of ads and extraneous stuff as "bonus" material they could source off the internet scan sites.  And then someone grabbed the wrong pin-up.  I don't haven any of the books (yet), but I've seen them, and some of the ads appear to be of much lower quality than the story pages.  Thanks for confirming the pin-up!

On 11/8/2023 at 3:55 PM, sledgehammer said:

Completely wonderful book.

I read somewhere that the Ditko Peter Parker/Spider-Man pin-up from ASM 20 was replaced in the Tachen book by the Marvel Tales 30 version that had the Romita-drawn paste-up head for Peter - can you verify?  Below are the original ASM 20 and MT 30 pin-ups.  Thanks.

On 9/24/2023 at 9:10 AM, Bandelier said:

Check that out. 38 issues of Superman-Tim (starting with #3 Oct 1942- #41 Dec 1945). The original owner had bound them into three volumes with two pipe cleaners holding them together along the spine. The first 10 or so have 2 pages of Action Comics stories (Action Comics #55 - #64); including the first appearance of Toyman; published in the July '43 issue of Superman-Tim - two months before the first appearance in Action #64... How cool. Apologies to the underbidder!

I just sent you a PM on these - I have full scans of 92 of the 94 issues, something I've been working on for decades, and it looks like you scored the 2 I'm missing.  I'd be interested in buying them or trading for them, or just sending you $ to do scans/flat high-res photos for me.  Please let me know.  Thanks!

On 8/27/2023 at 6:34 PM, 1950's war comics said:

it;s a poor comic

Maybe, but I'm comfortable calling it Fair or 1.5.  The book spine hasn't completely split; just the front cover and the first few pages have come loose (al least so far).  It's probably technically brittle, but the pages in the last 2/3 of the book are actually pretty supple.  Not saying I'd do it, but I bet a long strip of tape along the spine or a couple of added staples would keep it whole and make it look GVG, and I've seen plenty of books like that which sell raw for 1.5-2.0 prices (Terry's Comics has always had a slew of them, some of which I've bought).

A few years ago, I had dozens of cheap 1950s comics with split covers or split spines that I sent to mycomicshop, and they graded them as Poor and offered to buy them at their Poor prices.  I had them returned to me, stapled the spines, sent them back, and they were then graded as Fair.  Which I always thought was kinda goofy, but I guess a "functional" comic book is worth more even if it's only an amateur alteration that's making it so.

Thanks for the grader's notes - never saw those (I actually didn't realize they were public).  The book looked so pretty in the slab I thought the grade might have been on the harsh side, but with spine splits top, middle and bottom and the cover detached at the top, it was indeed generous.  Looks like a full split was inevitable.  Oh well, lose some, lose some.

I bought this book several years ago from Sid Friedfertig, long-time hobbyist and major contributor to the Superman Dailies books put out by IDW.  Sid said the book came from DC editor Jack Schiff's estate, which he was helping settle.  The book is hard to find, so I was happy to get it, and as a long-time DC fan, I loved the Schiff connection.

After a year or two, I cracked it out from its 3.0 CGC slab.  I reached 3 or 4 pages in and turned those pages, and to my horror the cover and 3 pages fell cleanly off.  At that point I stopped, except to check the center of the book where the binding still seemed intact.

Anyways, I'm guessing no more pages will go anywhere unless they're fully turned, and maybe another 5 or 6 pages will come loose with any handling.  Other than that, the book looks pretty nice.

So, was this perhaps a 4.0 that CGC downgraded to 3.0 because some pages were starting to loosen, and after I made the mistake of cracking it - I'm guessing it's now a 1.5?

I've been reading the boards for about 15 years, but rarely post.  I was going to put up a Want To Buy post for a couple of Superman-Tim booklets I've been searching long and hard for, but I no longer see the WTB/FS forums listed.  I think I read somewhere that they only appear after a poster reaches a certain number of posts?  Can you confirm if that's true, and how many I would need, and if it matters what forum(s) I post to?  Thanks.

On 8/13/2023 at 1:39 PM, adamstrange said:

• Contributed scans to many reference book projects

Jon was kind enough to do some scans for me (from his copy of New Fun #4) for a personal project of mine some years back, and I'm sure I was a complete stranger to him at the time.  His articles in CBM 25 years ago played a role in enticing me back into the hobby after a long absence.  So very sorry to hear of his passing. 

Anyone have a raw copy of More Fun 9?  Unless I missed it, I didn't see one in the thread, and its inside back cover still needs to be indexed for the Grand Comics Database (I'm a contributing editor there).  I also would love to have a decent scan/photo of that inside back to complete my own fiche/digital copy.  If it helps, I'd pay something nominal (maybe $20 via Paypal?) to get one that's complete & legible.  Microcolor used a coverless copy for its fiche version way back when, so fiche and online scans appear to be a dead end.  Thanks for any help!

P.S. the only other Platinum/Golden Age DC stuff that GCD still lacks are the complete contents to the rare Freihofer promo book from the 1940s, and the first Ton of Fun page from Flash 96 (it leads off with a gag featuring a piano).  I have an educated guess as to the Freihofer's (reprinted) contents & order, but hope to someday get verification, and the online scans/fiche for that Flash issue all appear to have the same corrupted image for that Ton of Fun page.    I'd consider buying a really low grade/coverless copy of Flash 96, but they don't seem to pop up very often  ; I've also PMed boardie and Flash supercollector tabcom to see if he can help.

18 hours ago, MrBedrock said:

Flash Comics 71 - coverless. $25

 

I'll take this one

Also looking for coverless or beat-but-complete & cheap Flash 21,26,42,48,57,60,64,77,86-90,92-94,96,100

You're right - when I found the Martian guy in issue 22, I assumed that was a first appearance, but after further research it turns out the  Adventures in the Unknown stories in All-American 20-25 were actually a sequel to the stories in AA 1-12.  Same Martians.

I just found the match to the Freihofer's Martian image in AA 7, and yes, the Ultraman image is from the cover of AA 8, while the Red, White & Blue images appear to be from AA 2 and the Hop image modified from AA 7.

Looks like the Freihofer's was published subsequent to AA 8, but could have reprinted any combination of RW&B, Ultraman, Scribbly, AITU and Hop stories from the pre-1941 AA issues, with issues 7 and/or 8 the most likely sources.  Thanks for helping to narrow it down.

I just double-checked, and the "Adventures In the Unknown" Martian depicted on the Freihofer's front page didn't appear in All-American until issue 22.  The Ultra-Man series, however, ended with issue 19.  Also, I can't find a match for the that little "Adventures" image anywhere, so it looks like there might be some new or modified artwork on the Freihofer's "cover".

I thought maybe this book just reprinted 30 pages or 1 or 2 full signatures from a single All-American issue, but it looks like it has reprints from at least two and maybe several.

I'm assuming it's a 32-page book since it includes at least partial stories for 5 different characters.

I was fortunate to be able to scan Jerome Wenker's promos/giveaways before he sold his collection, but he didn't have this one (I think it was the only DC promo he didn't have, with the exception of 1 or 2 Comic Cavalcade "variations" and maybe "Johnny Everyman" (?)).

The only other oddball pre-1970 DC that I know I'm missing are 3 of the Special Edition U.S. Navy books (Jerome actually had all of them, but their bindings were too tight to scan (even with a hand/wand scanner) without potentially damaging them.  A couple of those can be found online as scanned microfiche, but the quality is pretty poor.

I thought I saw/read that Ian landed a copy of this book several years ago.  And I believe someone else - maybe James Halperin? - had a slabbed copy on their web site at one time.

Looks like this one might end up being a "white whale" for me.    Thanks for the responses.

This may be the only DC-related Golden Age book that's still uncataloged/undocumented.  I've been watching for 5+ years and have yet to see one for sale, and the last sale I've been able to find (7 years ago on Heritage) was for a slabbed copy with no info on the interiors.

I believe the book reprints stories from one or more issues of All-American Comics (issue(s) 12, 13 and/or 14?), but I'm hoping to find someone who can confirm the entire contents, reprint source(s) and page counts, or perhaps point me to a book, mag or site that has that info?  Or even sell me a really low-grade copy, if one is even out there?

I'm an amateur comics historian, and I'd love to be able to recreate this promo digitally as well as update its info on the Grand Comics Database.  I'd also be happy to pay someone for scans or clear digital photos of the entire book.  Thanks for any help! 

On 3/24/2019 at 10:38 PM, Readcomix said:

Here's a 1963 Dell Giant -- Universal Pictures Presents Dracula, the Mummy plus Other Stories VG (WAS $10) NOW $5

I'll take this if it's still available

On 3/31/2019 at 10:23 PM, Readcomix said:

Last heroes -- a pair of 1955 DC's, Superboy #45 and Jimmy Olsen #9. FREE WITH ANY PURCHASE, JUST CLAIM!

I'll take these if they're still available (and still free)

18 hours ago, Readcomix said:

World's Finest #36 back cover is present on this one, and spine looks nice. The book looks about as nice as coverless gets. $15

I'll take it

2 hours ago, catrick339 said:

Nibble  two:

All Star Comics 24

Coverless  complete,  but  the critters  have  been  at  the lower  LH  corner.   Mister Rat  was  kind  enough  not  to  nibble  through  anything  important, 
barely  brushes  the  lower  corner  on  a  couple  panels, 

Asking  $25  for  a  complete   reader  in  nice  shape.  Well,   except   for  the  rat  chew...

(I bought several books on the old site, but this new one doesn't recognize me - so this will probably look like my first posting, but it ain't) 

Hope there's more pre-'60s DC coverless/incomplete to come