OtherEric

Huh. Ernie Kovacs got name checked on the After Hours #2 cover, then actually appeared on the Help! #2 cover. Nothing terribly exciting, but I find it an interesting coincidence.

Today's book. It took me a while to find a copy I liked at a price I liked... I think speculators are grabbing it for the MAUS connection.

I would accept William Stout as an honorary EC artist if I ever see him at a show, on the basis of the one we've seen and his work with Kurtzman on Dark Horse's New Two Fisted Tales. I think that's the one Hap has, but not positive off the top of my head.

That's the plan for the other copy, if Aragones every shows up at a show near me. But there's no hybrid gold/ yellow label so the Thompson copy is staying unsketched. I love your copy.

The obvious starting point is the Silver Age Green Lantern and Atom. But that's just a starting point, he had noted (if sometimes brief) runs on tons of characters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gil_Kane

That settles it... I have GOT to get my Panic #6 cleaned, pressed and slabbed. The pedigree label looks awesome on EC's.

I'm sorry your book fell apart. I love the fact that the ad for Golden Age Collectables is still almost complete accurate. The Seattle phone number may be out of date while the address is still right, the Vancouver store seems to still have the same phone number but has moved a couple doors away on the same block. (Or possibly they just renumbered doors or expanded or something, I've never been to that location.)

I wanted to argue this point, but the first major counterexample that comes to mind is Weird Al. Who has done some awesome stuff that I love, but is as much commentary on the music as anything.

I doubt that's a unique set, but I bet the number of people who have all five are probably in the single digits...

At least a few genuine keys mixed in there. You’re right, an interesting cross section. note to self: try to find a vintage issue of Marvelman or one of the related titles as a type sample for my collection. My collection of UK books prior to the mid-70’s is nonexistent other than a couple of T&P stamped books.

Nice! I think I was aware Heinlein had a couple stories in Argosy, but I didn't know they were reprinted in that collection.

Creepy #15 thoughts: Cover: This was six hours work? That's crazy. Frazetta is known for having reworked and reworked many of his paintings, but as often as not I prefer the earliest version. He was never satisfied and I think that worked against him in many cases. Not his best Warren cover but definitely a classic nonetheless. City of Doom: Goodwin is definitely channeling Howard & Lovecraft in this one. Ditko's art is excellent, as always, but not particularly standout among his Warren work. I know I've read some of the other Thane stories but I don't remember them at the moment. Still worthy of note as the first original non-host Warren continuing character, I believe. It's worth noting that this predates Marvel's Conan by years... it's definitely riffing on the original Howard stories, but it's not borrowing from Marvel at all. Adam Link, Champion Athlete: I suppose it's worth noting that Orlando does just fine art on the serial, and Binder is too skilled a professional to turn in something that's actually bad. But I just can't bring myself to care. At least this is the last appearance, although I seem to recall a later letter column claiming that it was going to continue. The Adventure of the German Student: Goodwin turns in a good adaptation and Grandenetti draws the heck out of it. I can absolutely see Grandentti's skill here... he's a extremely skilled artist doing things that I can absolutely appreciate on a craft level. But I just don't like it personally. As I've said before, the problem here is with me, not Grandenetti... I certainly won't argue with anybody (such as Richard Arndt) calling this the best story in the issue. The River: Craig turns in a magnificent story here. The layout on the second page is brilliant, and while I can't call the twist a huge surprise it doesn't really matter... this is all about mood and it delivers. Fan Club: Roger Hill is a noted comic historian, I'm pretty sure this is the same one. Does anybody know for sure? Loathsome Lore: Gil Kane! It's a shame he only did a couple pages for Warren. Another one of my all time favorite artists. The Terror Beyond Time: Adams cuts down on the tricks compared to his last story, and the ones he does use serve the story much better. Lots of room to play and lots of fun images, with Goodwin providing a solid story to allow them. Although the last page felt almost more out of time than the dinosaurs... who gives a cigarette to a man lying down and just now regaining consciousness? Overall, a first rate issue from cover to cover... even the bits I ranked lower were quite well done, even if I didn't care as much for them.

I, personally, stopped at 1. But to each their own, I'm not going to tell anybody else how to enjoy their hobby.

What an ood choice of GIF...

I think there’s a few in Famous Monsters. Not positive

I actually don't think any of the variants have July on the cover... or if one does, it's covered completely. One has a black box on the left covering July and Sept on the right in black. One has Sept as black on white over where the July was previously. And one has Sept in both places. Covers taken from the GCD, although one of them is actually my copy... I just don't have the original scan handy.

The only variation on the #12 is in the position and nature of the dates. And there are three variants on Help #12, not two.

I find another boardie getting the book you were bidding on takes some of the sting out of losing, honestly. Not necessarily a LOT of the sting, but some.

On another note, here are better scans of some of my books from last week, specifically the Avons. I think the Avons are my second favorite paperbacks after the Ace D & S series books. One detail I didn't notice when I grabbed it: The Ship of Ishtar is a Canadian edition, with no number. It's Avon 324 in the US version, I believe.

I would be tempted to give you grief for not noticing that about two books side by side, but two pages ago I didn't notice I had posted two gorilla covers back to back until somebody pointed it out to me, so I've got exactly zero room to talk.

I find it hilarious that they had to rename Wicked Woman as A Woman Called Desire because 51 books earlier they had renamed End of the Road as Wicked Woman. A quick glance at bookscans doesn't show an earlier End of the Road, but G-114 was "The End of the Track", so maybe they were trying to avoid confusion with that one.

Eerie #9 thoughts: Cover: I'm trying to figure out why the cover doesn't work better than it does, given how most of the elements seem pretty good in isolation. I've narrowed it down to two things. 1) The logo cuts off the top of the mountain, so it's unclear if there's supposed to be something at the top of it. There doesn't have to be, but it feels like either way we're missing something. 2) That sweater, full stop. Seriously? Monster Gallery: Krenkel is SO GOOD and I wish he had done more for Warren. Fair Exchange: A good story with good art, but I feel Adams is experimenting for experimentation's sake a fair bit here. Interesting layouts, but I'm not sure they really serve the story that well in most cases. Some, yes... as @Axe Elfpointed out, the splash is magnificent. But overall this feels like Adams figuring out the tricks he will later use to great effect, but not yet using them particularly well. In that sense, it's a early story that gives a fascinating glimpse into his development as an artist. But it brings it down looking at the story on its own merits. Rub the Lamp: I've made my views on Grandenetti clear already, so let's see what I can find on Allan Jadro... Nothing. I've got nothing on him. They apparently wrote only this one story, and all references to them in a google search point back to this one issue. I wonder if it's a pseudonym? Terror in the Tomb: We're back on track with this story by Mastroserio and Goodwin. I've always been a sucker for Egypt and mummies ever since the King Tut treasures came around when I was a little boy, so this one is a delight. The Wanderer: The sweater works better in the story itself, I suppose. But you could have taken artistic license on the cover, Dan... Isle of the Beast: I agree the story doesn't play so much to Ditko's obvious strengths. But I think Ditko was relishing the challenge and just drew the heck out of it anyway. Great stuff. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge: One of the all time classic stories, drawn quite well by Jenney. I wonder if he deliberately based the look of Peyton Farquhar on Ambrose Bierce? Experiment in Fear: Nicely done in terms of craft, but I'm not sure it clears the bar of being good enough to get away with referencing the Holocaust in comic form. It's perfectly possible to do so and do so well... "Master Race" and "Maus" are, in very different ways, both on the short list of stories you could call the best comic story ever. But I think you have to hit a spectacular level to make it work, and I'm not sure this one manages it. What do others think? Overall, I found this a relatively weak issue... but as I've said repeatedly, so much of this part of the run is so good that there's still a lot to like here.

Here's a question that doesn't directly relate to the thread, but I suspect the people here would have opinions nonetheless: What do you consider the first Zatanna cover? The Witch on the cover of Detective 336 was retroactively revealed to be Zatanna in JLA 51 We get a large head shot... but only a head shot... on Atom 19. We finally get a full image of Zatanna as Zatanna on Green Lantern 42. I have all 3... but really wish I had a Hawkman 4.

Does anybody know if there was a warehouse find of late 1954 Charltons? When I was at Kayo books in SF last weekend, I got a copy of True Life Secrets #23 (11-12/54). The store owner said he had gotten a lot of about 50 copies at one point, and didn't understand why the book was so valuable. He had sold most of them but still had a handful, for better or worse I grabbed one of the lower grade, cheaper ones. On earlier visits, I've also grabbed copies of Crime & Justice #20 (09/1954) and Space Adventures #13 (10-11/1954). The Crime & Justice seems pretty commonly available, the other two less so... but the other two both have reasons for higher demand, and they don't seem terribly rare as these things go. So was just wondering if anybody knew about the background here? Were other Charltons from this time found in bulk as well? Sorry I don't have scans of the other two issues, not sure what box they're in at the moment...

A few Anniversary numbers... but not actually anniversary cover designs. 50/100/150/200