OtherEric

Agreed, neither of our reviews should be taken as gospel by anybody. But I do think that we can sometimes make others see stories in a different perspective, either better or worse, and that has a lot of value as well. In that regard, our reactions being further apart than has been typical so far is actually good... this would get boring if we agreed on everything! And for the record, I don't personally think Blazing Combat is at the top of the war comics food chain. If I had to choose one or the other I would say Frontline Combat is the better book. But the difference is fine enough that I won't argue with anybody who puts Blazing Combat first. I would have fun arguing with anybody who doesn't have those in the 1-2 positions in some order, though! (For me, Two-Fisted Tales is third, the Enemy Ace stories are fourth, and I don't have terribly strong feelings beyond that point.)

I think this may be the single issue you and I have disagreed the most on so far during the reading club. I agreed with the index that this was a "fine, fine issue"; and think it might be the best of the Blazing Combat issues, with the stories trying slightly different directions and being all the stronger for that. But as I've said before, if everybody enjoyed the same things it would be a boring world indeed.

Which means your Warrens are much higher grade than mine on average...

It's color fade. (This thread applies to 99.95% of books where people ask the question.)

I could see Rip Off Comix being described as ground level quite easily. I continue to find it amusing that Rip Off Comix #8 has Alan Moore's first published work in the US... and he's the artist, not the writer.

Very possible. There are just a few books I think the term actually does fit well, and the Star*Reach books are in that category.

In today. Does anybody know for sure if Stevens did the Kosmo Kat cameo on the cover? This is actually my second try getting this issue, the first one I got was missing the first four wraps, which meant only 4 pages of the Stevens story were available. The book was in otherwise such good shape I suspect a manufacturing error dropped a signature, rather than them being later removed. This copy is not as nice... but at least it's complete!

Well, a double handful if you're missing one finger... which somehow seems perfectly fitting for a batch of Eeries:

And a double handful of Eeries to finish off the night:

Then a handful of Creepys. Need to keep well ahead of the Reading Group, so a few fairly early issues, then a Christmas cover and one with a Wrightson story. The Christmas covers don't seem to be that broken out of the pack yet, but they're also not terribly thick on the ground either... I think they're gaining interest faster than the run in general.

So, a few more additions to the Warren collection today. First, a single Warren Presents:

And what I thought was a fairly minor $6 pickup- until I opened it up.

A few more issues, I've wanted to see the Jaxon history trilogy for a while now so I'm finally getting it started. And the Arcade #1 was the last issue I needed for the full run:

Got some additions to my underground collection today. To demonstrate that I am taking the suggestions seriously:

Just under 2/3 of my Vampirella run came from MCS. And the bulk of my creepy and eerie collections as well.

Skywald actually did copyright their color comics, as I understand it, but not their magazines. For reference: https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=3515

Blazing Combat #3 thoughts: My copy of the issue is from the John G. Fantucchio pedigree. Fantucchio actually drew a couple stories for Warren later, in Creepy #34 and Vampirella #5. Cover: An ugly cover... and I mean that in the most positive sense. Combat Quiz: I got 5 of 6. The art is a bit abstract compared to most of Torres's work, it almost looks more like Toth than Torres to me. Special Forces: A decent story, with some nice combat sequences. But it seems like it's trying to pull back slightly on the horror we were seeing in earlier issues; I'm not clear how much push back the book was getting by the time this issue was being put together. Foragers: Or maybe not, this one just shows how ugly conflict can get, from a different angle than most of the pieces so far. A very strong entry. U-Boat: An excellent piece by Goodwin and Colan, once again approaching things from a different angle. Survival: A dramatic change of pace even after the last two, this one is outright Science Fiction. A first rate piece by Toth & Goodwin. The Battle of Britain: A masterpiece by Wally Wood, who joins the Warren comic magazines finally after missing Creepy #1. I've sometimes said the best comic book artist of all time was Wally Wood on a good day... with the caveat that he had quite a few bad days, as well, and could be quite lousy on those. But pretty much all the stories Wood did for Warren were good days, at least art-wise. (The scripts are a bit more variable, as I recall- I think Wood is very underrated as a writer, but he had good and bad efforts like anybody.) I'm going with the view that this one was pure Wood, since Adkins's claim of assistance has been contested. (Details at the GCD entry for the book, if anybody is interested.) It's worth noting that Wood actually did the first Warren Horror comic story, back in Monster World #1, which we didn't cover in the reading group. That story will turn up in Eerie #11, and I'll have things to say about it there. Water Hole: A bitterly ironic ending sells another incredible art job by Gray Morrow. I like the full bleed pages effect, Morrow keeps experimenting. Souvenirs: Another dark story showcasing great art & the horrors of war and what it does to those stuck in it. I can't really add much to what the Warren index says: A fine, fine issue. I think this issue was starting to show where the book might have gone if it continued, heading in at least slightly different directions.

I feel the time for the price variants to be separated from the main list was several years ago. Including them creates a skewed picture of the most wanted Bronze books.

Found at the drugstore today. I had no idea they were doing a general release of this, after the SDCC exclusive a few years ago. Would have preferred a Spidey Super Stories logo, but I get why that would never happen:

Perfectly said, sir!

I get the impulse. I think sometimes fade is actually easier to detect when you DON'T have the book in hand and are just looking at pictures, because it just looks so odd and the book seems to be in good shape otherwise. It's very easy to get a "that can't be the problem" sense when you have it in hand.

I would make a snide comment about your hoarding, but I happen to have two copies of that one myself...

Fade. If you look at the lower right corner of the cover, something was covering it and the red is still there.

I may have ordered a copy of Quack #1 a few days ago when I figured that out as well... Although I consider Quack (and all the Star*Reach books) to not really be undergrounds. The "ground level" label really does seem to fit them in a way it does very few other books.