OtherEric

In today. Gaines File Copy! Nothing particularly special about the choice of issue, other than I like the Jack Davis cover and it was cheap:

In today. Not one I would normally post here, but... Gaines File Copy. And, even with two slight dings that bring down the overall grade, you can tell it's a file copy. It looks like it was printed this morning. Of course, this means I need to get serious about finding out how to get a book slabbed...

Agreed. Lovecraft may, with good reason, be a problematic favorite these days... but a problematic favorite is still a favorite.

I've got to ask on the EC's... originals, or reprints? Or a mix? (I could see using originals with, say, Panic or the New Direction books but the reprints for most of the New Trend stuff). Just beautiful shelves in any case. And good taste in what you've had bound... I don't have everything there, but I've got a lot of it and am looking for quite a few others.

It's not just USPS, sadly. I have a much cheaper book on the way to me via FedEx, and it's been within 40 miles of me since Sunday night. It's not even getting closer; looking at the various locations it's been tracked at it probably passed within 1000 feet of my apartment (assuming it was on the freeway) but it's still just jumping from transfer point to transfer point. At least I'm still getting updates. Glad your book showed up finally!

I really do need to track down the two Bart House Lovecraft paperbacks one of these years. I had never noticed that swipe before, even though I have both books!

A somewhat tangential question, since I'm looking at slabbing one of my NatLamps: What documentation do I need if I'm trying to submit something as a pedigree? I have a NatLamp from the John G. Fantucchio collection, but I only know that from the original sales listing at MyComicShop. I could print out the original listing, since MCS keeps those available.

If they're T & P books... Paging @Get Marwood & I, although it doesn't look like they've been around for a couple weeks.

This probably isn't a lot of help... but the Daffy Duck covers are originally from the Dell issues #26 and #27, from 1961. But, if you consider the different logo and the obvious editing out of the Gold Key/Whitman logo in the upper left corner, they're more likely taken from when the covers were reprinted in the Gold Key Daffy Duck issues #62 and #64, from 1970. Similarly, the Bugs Bunny cover was originally from Dell Bugs Bunny #68, but is more likely from #131 from 1970 as well. So the books are probably very early 70's.

A few Freas Astoundings:

Here's one that you don't see too often, although it's not as rare as its reputation back in the day (I think it was a Gerber 8, but not positive):

I just went for the Roy Thomas runs at the beginning and end... 1-60 and 190-235. Maybe one of these years I should fill in the middle... I also finished my run of Conan the Savage 1-10 a few months ago. MUCH harder to find than the Savage Sword issues, despite being only 10 issues.

Quick question: Did Freas ever do interior story art on a comic book, other than XXXenophile #7? He did a decent number of covers, of course, and at least a few illustrations, but that's the only comic story by him I'm aware of.

Just want to quote this for emphasis. I would add that, if you're not condition obsessed, and patient, you can probably do better than you think. There are still lots of deals out there, I've put together a collection beyond my wildest dreams from when I started collecting in the mid-80's.

I have too many complete runs to count off the top of my head. My most recent completed run was Two-Fisted Tales from EC, just got the last issue I needed for that a few days ago. My most extensive run, jumping multiple titles and series over the years, is the Legion of Super-Heroes. I have everything from Adventure 247 to the 1:25 variant of the most recent issue. I may be missing a few guest appearances, but I have every series they were a regular feature in.

Glad you're happy with the book! It's always nice to connect a book with somebody who will properly appreciate it. I just figured out that this is actually Freas's first cover for Astounding; in addition to being a classic. Now you're making me wish I had taken a picture showing the relative page color of the books when I had both of them. I decided I liked how the other copy presented somewhat better, and the page quality certainly wasn't bad... but believe me, it was not easy deciding which copy I wanted to keep.

Just wanted to join the group saying Mycomicshop tends to under grade raw books. I would say their grades on raw books average a full point lower than their actual grade.

I really should go dig my copy of that out of storage and reread it. Such a great book.

Such a tricky to find book. As near as I can tell, a fairly high percentage of the surviving copies have wound up in the UK based on my eBay searches back in the day.

I'm not sure the war books are the best in the line up... but I do think they are the most consistently excellent books. The others are all a bit more hit-or-miss, even if some of the hits are spectacular. Aces High is one of the only two New Direction books I think matches the New Trend for quality. (Piracy is the other.) Yeah, I'm sure I'm not alone in that. At least the damage is just to my fun budget, not my food or shelter or other essentials budget. I'm really lucky compared to far to many people.

I really do think the #40 and #41 are candidates for upgrades... the #41 for sure. And 31-33 could use some love as well. But overall it's not a terribly bad presenting set of readable copies: