Dr Carl

My apologies for being away from the thread all week. Oh man... what a week! Thankfully, I’ve got two days to spend with my daughter, wife, and friends on the boards! Ok, let’s talk about what’s on the shelves and award prizes (at last): Bottom shelf: Black Hammer 1 (variant cover), Black Hammer 1 (2017 convention edition), Black Hammer 2 Middle shelf: More Fun 61, Tec 25 Top Shelf (back): Son of Origins of Marvel Comics, Origins of Marvel Comics, Marvel’s Greatest Superhero Battles Top Shelf (front): Stan Lee Presents the Amazing Spiderman (Volumes 1, 2 and 3) So... what to do with prizes... we’ve got the wonderful Crops068 getting the bottom row & 1/2 the middle row... and then we’ve got the appropriately-named Valiant-Man getting the missing book from the middle row (More Fun 61). Let’s just give you both prizes. That seems only fair. Just PM me and let me know if you’d prefer a great read from the world of graphic novels or if you’d like me to pick up a few moderns for you when I’m at the comic shop this weekend

You would be right! Nicely done... It’s in a competitors case, as it’s part of the run (hiding behind the #25) of Tec 25 to 37 all from the DC archives. The competitor was able to verify the authenticity of the books heritage, and put “from the DC archives” on the label. (Oh, one important clarifier: In that run from Tec 25 to 37, I’m only missing one book... yes, Tec 27.)

and true! You, my friend, have the best memory

Very nicely done ... any guesses on the Marvel collections on the top shelf?

That sounds totally fair. Let see if anyone can make them out, and, if not (and assuming you’ve named all the books correctly), we’ll crown you champion. Anyone else want to give it a go... or do I already have a possible ?

Oh, and while I’m thinking of it... another very strange place where I recently found comic books (this time for sale): A new flower shop opened in town. Turns out the owner’s husband is a comic book collector, so at the back of this florist’s shop are a bunch of moderns — new weekly’s and modern slabs — for sale. Never through I’d find comics in a flower shop, but hey, if a Detective Comics 27 (or was it an Action 1?) can show up behind dry wall, anything’s possible!

I’d say, to win the prize, and to add a touch of challenge, can you also identify the the slab with UN in the name ... it’s a Golden Age classic cover... and behind the Spider Man readers are three classic comic collection volumes — can you name them? I think victory may be within reach here! And we may soon have a winner!

I love comic books. Given you’re reading this, I bet you do too. I‘ve loved ‘em since I first started reading them in 1978. That’s a lot of love. They were good friends when I had few, and their stories gave me hope and healing when I needed it most. (Thank you, Stan Lee and countless others!) So, when I began my new YouTube series, What if a Therapist Reported the News?, I wanted my comic books in my background. Take a look at most any of the episodes here.. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW3MmwKez76a51rQRp17qwQ ... and you see them to my right. I’m sure that’s an unexpected scene to viewers watching a therapist, perhaps as unexpected as watching a therapist report the news! That got me wondering... what are some of the strangest places you’ve seen comic books? Curious minds want to know! P.S. Just for fun: I’ll find some really good comic-oriented prize for the person who can name each of the visible comics/comic-volumes in the background of Episode 5!

Wonderful! I'm particularly envious of those last two SS 9.8 books (the ashcan and the Moon convention copy), as those are missing from my collection. (And, my apologies for the late reply. I've been away from the boards for a while and just now found my way back.)

I’d describe Black Hammer as “warm” right now, as opposed to “hot”. The books are selling at roughly consistent prices (with some going a little high, and others low). Issue 1, unslabbed in VF/NM or better, consistently sells for $20-$30 (regular cover) and $150-$175 (SDCC 2016 cover). That being said, the entire Black Hammer Universe is licensed to Legendary, a large production studio, who'd like to use these characters to populate interconnected TV and movie worlds. I know Jeff’s been working on the scripts, but it’s a long haul to final production. I’m of the opinion, given Jef’’s skill and Legendary’s desire to market a superhero universe, that this’ll happen, and I’d expect prices to jump when they do. With that in mind, I’d propose holding off on slabbing now, and once a launch date is announced for one of the Black Hammer projects, I’d slab then. Hope that’s helpful guidance.

Jeff does his best work when he takes he can take his time to develop characters both on their own and through their relationships with the people around them. Whether it’s his work on Animal Man, Sweet Tooth, Descender, or Black Hammer, if you give Jeff 24-40 issues, he almost always knocks it out of the park. But, give him five issues and ten characters and the story can feel a little hurried and the ending a little forced. Too bad Jeff didn’t have the chance to let BH/JLA unfold a little more in a 12 issue series, because there were rich moments, but those got mixed in with plot lines that had to move too quickly to fit into a 5 issue arch. I have faith Jeff will right the Black Hammer universe in his next series. Too bad this one wasn’t all you and I had hoped for. That happens sometimes, even to the best of writers.

Black Hammer 13, Page 17: A Team is Born (in Pencil) Sometimes we’re called together by circumstance, sometimes by fate, and sometimes… well, just sometimes by the courageous words of one Abraham Slam. These nine panels tell the story of how five of Spiral City’s greatest heroes came together to form one incredible team. Not all pages are created equal, as this page proves, and I’m sure we all understand why it’s neighbors were fraught with envy: a heartfelt origin story, check… four heroes each claiming a panel of their own, check… humor coupled with charm, check… and, perhaps most importantly, the sort of heartfelt storytelling and relational interconnectedness we've come to expect from the remarkable world of Black Hammer, check. In the prophetic words of Abraham Slam, shared in the final panel as our page says goodbye, “Together no matter what”.

Black Hammer 13, Page 17: A Team is Born Sometimes we’re called together by circumstance, sometimes by fate, and sometimes… well, just sometimes by the courageous words of one Abraham Slam. These nine panels tell the story of how five of Spiral City’s greatest heroes came together to form one incredible team. Not all pages are created equal, as this page proves, and I’m sure we all understand why it’s neighbors were fraught with envy: a heartfelt origin story, check… four heroes each claiming a panel of their own, check… humor coupled with charm, check… and, perhaps most importantly, the sort of heartfelt storytelling and relational interconnectedness we've come to expect from the remarkable world of Black Hammer, check. In the prophetic words of Abraham Slam, shared in the final panel as our page says goodbye, “Together no matter what”.

Black Hammer 13, Page 22: A Hero At Last (in pencils) Sometimes, we’re called to greatness… by the voices of those that came before us… or, in Lucy’s case, by the call of the hammer once proudly wielded by her father. When we answer that call, as Lucy does, life transforms us, and in a moment we become something new, something grander than we were before. This page ends chapter one of the Back Hammer Universe, but, by introducing us to the new Black Hammer, Lucy Webber, it opens the door to a whole new world of bravery and heroism.

Black Hammer 13, Page 22: A Hero At Last Sometimes, we’re called to greatness… by the voices of those that came before us… or, in Lucy’s case, by the call of the hammer once proudly wielded by her father. When we answer that call, as Lucy does, life transforms us, and in a moment we become something new, something grander than we were before. This page ends chapter one of the Back Hammer Universe, but, by introducing us to the new Black Hammer, Lucy Webber, it opens the door to a whole new world of bravery and heroism.