The Black Hand ®

I looked at TN 1-6 and two is the only one. I'll keep checking.

And the Wizard panel was done by Ed Ashe and the Air Patrol by Irv Novick.

here

Finaly figured it out. I'll be looking for more early MLJ splash pages.

There are only a few comics that I've seen or heard mention of on the boards which have full page panels integrated into the story earlier than Spring 1940. Detective Comics #'s 11 (Jan 1938) and 16 (June 1938) Fantastic Comics # 2 (Jan 1940) Speed # 1 (Oct 1939) Top Notch # 2 (Jan 1940) Does anyone know of any others? I own copies of Detective Comics 11 and 16 so I can post photos of the pages in question for those issues. Can someone else provide photos from the Speed, Top Notch, or Fantastic? I've been trying to put the three pages from TN2, but it doesn't seem to work the way it used to. I have then in my picture files, but I can no longer figure out how to do it. I used to be able to browse and find the picture, make an attachment and then convert that to an image url or whatever it's called. I can't do it anymore.

I would think that the fact that Centaurs get no respect, would be a blessing for collectors, since it would keep the prices low. When I started collecting mlj's again, back in 1997, one of the appeals was the lower prices and of course, the fact that I loved Archie as a kid. That, along with some good, although hit and miss stories and cool covers, made it a perfect fit for me. The whole focus on comics as investments and all that go along with that ( market manipulation,slabbing,Snake -oil salesmen, pressing and resubmission,non-disclosure of restoration, overhyping of substandard books,dealer/collectors as cult figures) is one of the things that takes the joy out of collecting and keeps people like me from buying more books. Like in the goldrush, the people who actually blazed the trails and worked their butts off finding the gold, stood below all the secondary industries that sprung up around them....sucking up the money and the glory, but doing very little of the work. Having stood up on my soapbox, I must say that threads like this one, that appear to have a real passion for the comics, along with the expertise of people like JB and the contagious enthusiasm of collectors like Sacentaur, are a ton of fun to read. Some of my favorite covers are in this thread...some amazing images, one has to wonder how the stories were and how some of these books were recieved when they first appeared on the news stands. I would also have to assume that a lot of these books, with now iconic cover images, probably weren't collected much until the Gerbers came out and weren't saved as much as the DC and Timely books. It's hard to imagine a finer cover than that Amazing Man 22...what an incredible image. Anyone ever see the original art for that, or is it lost?

I'm aware of all of the above. It was discussed on another thread. That's why I said it was "one of the first." As in maybe one of the first ten times in the history of comic books. That's pretty early in my eyes. (thumbs u Top Notch# 2 had 3 of them!

Right, Top Notch 2 from January '40 had some nice one page splashes as I recall. Some pretty amazing stuff. I've found a lot of things that go against the prevailing wisdom of early comic lore . A lot of these things, like the 1 page splashes, are just because a lot these books, while they've been collected, haven't actually been read by some collectors. The prevailing wisdon for a long time was that Marvel Mystery # 4 was the first Nazi war cover but that was absolutely false, it was Top Notch #2 which was the first Nazi war cover with a swatzika on the cover battle scene. It took a long time for Overstreet to half heartedly correct this.... wouldn't want to devalue Marvel Mystery 4 now would they.

I like the girly pulps. Even though it's just decaying paper, I like them.

Holy moly! What don't you have, BZ? . I bet he doesn't have the mummified body of Lon Chaney!

That is so generous of BZ! Good man!

Doesn't professor Supermind look a bit like Lenin?

Hey BZ, did you really take a magic marker through the name? Do I detect a note of disapproval with my methods. Youbetcha

Hey BZ, did you really take a magic marker through the name?

Yes I agree......there is something strangely disturbing about that. Although I daresay there are a few on these boards would might grow excited by this.

I would love to be able to change this white and slate background. Hopefully that will come soon. My one question about the change is.....why?

Wow - amazing collection!! That's pretty cool. I've alway's wondered why blb's never got anywhere near the respect that comics got.....until I read one. Still, the covers are cool.

Can we change the colors like we could before?

So what to do if you're CGC. Actually fix the problems or focus on PR and ignore the problems. Ouch my eyes. Bye Bye for now.

My contrast on my LCD blows now. I can't see the lines very well and my eyes hurt. After a while I become listless and no longer wish to be critical of CGC or any of the self promoting, self important dealers/ collectors on the boards. I'm also beginning to appreciate greggy more and that's scary.I'm now seeing white spots and trails in front of my eyes after only typing this much. Oh the hell with it! I'm gonna go read some Bark's duck books!

Oh mama! Once again, how wonderful to see such rich colors on an unslabbed, high grade collection that's not being promoted for anything other than the joy of sharing and collecting.

Ain't that a heck of a thing!

I meant this one too. Way Cool!

Way cool!

Slam Bang, Silver Streak, Shield Wizard ...all of them please.