OtherEric

Today's book. Has the classic Wrightson adaptation of Lovecraft's "Cool Air". It surprises me that Warren only did two Lovecraft adaptations. (And one Derleth/ Lovecraft "collaboration", but those don't count.)

Find marginally less fragile copies... the worst ones will disintegrate if you try. Then be very, very careful.

Here's a seriously oddball item, but it's magazine size and partly comics, so I figure it fits well here:

Blazing Combat #2 thoughts: Cover: Not quite as good as the #1 cover, but arguably even more brutal. Continuing the trend of the title being extremely good... but not nice or fun. Frontispiece: I'm not sure what Morrow is trying to convey with this piece, it seems to be mixing the heroic and the exciting with the horrible in a way that muddles any message. Landscape: I don't rank this story as highly as some others, but there's no denying its power. Saratoga: A bit of a change from all the stories so far, relying on people not necessarily remembering their history for the twist. It's arguable that, ironically, the single person most responsible for the US winning its independence is its most legendary traitor. MIG Alley: A fairly conventional war comic, nicely drawn by Al McWilliams. Face to Face: Another story showing the brutality of war and the cost to those who fight them. Kasserine Pass: Great Torres/ Williamson art, a bit less dark in overall tone while still showing the cost of war. Lone Hawk: Stunning Toth artwork, and the twist at this point is the main character actually surviving. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Bishop Combat quiz: I got 5 of 6, nice Torres art. Holding Action: War takes many different tolls of people. Stunning Severin art. I think this was, overall, a much stronger issue than #1. The first issue, while brilliant, was a bit too oppressing as a whole. This one has a far better balance, and is more effective as a whole book... the first issue was just too relentlessly grim to continue for more than a single issue or two. This one has its share of darkness but isn't worst-case scenario every single story.

They thought it looked better for some reason? They replaced the logo on all the small covers as well.

This, full stop.

And it finally arrived. I wanted to get, if not a super high grade copy, a better than average by my standards copy of this issue, given that it's such an iconic cover. I think this one qualifies. Also: Warren Vampirella run, issues 1-112, Annual, Special, and the Harris #113: DONE!

Snagged at the local store today. I somehow wound up with one of the non-Hughes variants when the issue first came out.

Just the gif won't cut it this time, I fear:

I dunno, Ditko had work in a lot of the U.S. issues of Out of This World, so why wouldn't there be Ditko stories in the UK version as well?

If we find a single copy with all nine stamps, my counterproposal is we add another 20 pages to the thread while drinking heavily. Although I'm not sure many people will notice the difference.

Not a lot of books I've put a lot of work into upgrading, but this one was a pain to find a copy at all, much less a half-way decent one. But when looking for a half-way decent one I tripped across one that was more than half-way there. I need to get it slabbed one of these days soon:

I think it's time to face that I'm never going to complete my run and cash out on what I've got. Mostly very low grade, but with the 17 and 18 that may not matter at all...

Found at a local store today:

I'm going to be a day or so late with my thoughts, I had mando OT today. I can't say I agree with the list of best stories; although they're all excellent. "Master Race" I agree with, but for best Spirit story I'm going with "Plaster of Paris", personally. That shows up in the Warren run as well, though.

It could have been a 9.0, but NO, you actually had to look at the cover. We've warned people about doing that with this issue...

"Bated breath" is perhaps slightly strong, but I do look forward to your weekly contributions to the discussion here!

Top of my current want list is Shock Supsenstories 18, and an upgrade on 5, to complete my run of the title. Probably the first issues of WS and WF after that.

And having given it a look, it's pretty good Giordano art, given that it's based on a movie based on a TV show that nobody in America had ever heard of, much less seen, at that point. The Daleks themselves actually look like Daleks, not some mess based on a poor description. I would rate it as slightly better than the average Dell movie adaptation... not a high bar to clear, but not embarrassingly low either. Don't get me started on the colorist, though:

If you wanted Wonder Wart-Hog stories, you could have included Help! in your Warren reading list...

Hardcover was limited to 500 S&N copies. The softcover was also mail order only so not super common either… The highest guess I’ve heard on the SC print run is around 5,000 copies.

Yes, and a low grade one at that. Not really looking for the HC, although I’m open to getting it if the opportunity ever presents itself.

I’ll need to reread it when I get home, I don’t remember the comic version at all… which is rarely a good sign.