OtherEric

And the code approved part 2. @Tri-ColorBrian, you say you read the issue but you must have skimmed the introduction to this one:

Not even remotely impossible... although I think some of those sales predate this thread, to be fair. And now, since I figure people are curious, here's the Pre-Code part 1 of that story I mentioned:

Hey, sometimes people just get lucky finding books, it doesn't mean it isn't rare. What little research I did shows that, if nothing else, sellers are willing to flag it as the rarest issue.

Agreed on it being in the top 10 all time, as well as most important EC. I can't call it my first "grail", because when I found it it had never occurred to me that I could actually own a key book like that... so it bypassed the "grail" stage. It more or less introduced me to the idea that there were grail books at the exact moment I put it on layaway, so it never actually was something I hoped to get. We've had some discussions over "most important comics" on other threads here; I've argued rather vocally for MAD against people who only see superheroes. The influence the book had on all of pop culture in the latter half of the 20th century and even now is amazing once you start tracking connections. Even just within comics rather than the broader culture, I've argued you can track directly from MAD to the underground comix and from there to all sorts of things.

When I sold most of my EC's to pay rent... this is one of three I kept my copy of, along with the Mad #1 and Weird Fantasy #17. I know it's not everybody's favorite, but I consider Cowboy one of the funniest things Kurtzman ever did in MAD. Great Pickup, Raze!

I do love the Avon Fantasy Readers, I still need #6 myself. They live for covers that misrepresent the contents, but they're great...

Today's book, 3 Two-Fisted Tales to go! Something that occurred to me as I get close to finishing this run: Two-Fisted Tales is probably the title that best shows the history of EC in some ways. The first 4 issues, where it was a mix of adventure stories before going to pure war starting with #22, are in some ways the last of the Pre-Trend books; showing EC working its way to the classic New Trend War titles. And then the last 6 issues, which went back to being a mix of adventure stories, are of a very different sort, and it some ways it's the first of the New Direction books, even more so than Piracy. Anybody else have thoughts on the matter?

Is it the regular version on the left and the subscription renewal variant on the right?

This pales in comparison to the above, but here's my pickup for the day. It's the last issue I needed to complete Lester Dent's Genius Jones, which some people think directly inspired the DC character a few years later. This was by a fair margin the trickiest issue of the 6; the one-two punch of Woolrich and Hubbard puts it on two very separate groups want lists; and I represent a much smaller third group looking for it...

If the family didn't want to keep it (or there was no family to keep it), I cannot imagine a more worthy caretaker for it than you. What an awesome item!

New Trend to Pre Trend:

Given how cheap most of the New Direction books are, you don't need to want them very much to make them worth getting. Aces High in particular is excellent as well, Valor at least looks amazing; and I don't even think of ISF as a New Direction book. I certainly wouldn't pay the prices I would expect for the New Trend books for most of them, though. I think Impact #1 is grossly underrated... Master Race is one of the all time EC classics, New Direction or no.

I, oddly enough, found a coverless copy of that and then upgraded to one with a cover within a month, back in the late 90's. I found a good home for the coverless copy and still have the complete one. I've said something like this before: When people ask me what my "best" book is, I vary the answer depending on who is asking. Most people, who don't necessarily know a lot about comics, get told Mad #1 or sometimes even New Mutants #98, as something they can understand. The comic collectors, I'll normally say Adventure #247. But for the real hard core experts, Sugar & Spike #1 is my REAL answer if I had to pick just one. Most people, even a lot of comic collectors, don't get the significance. But for those of us who know about it, it is the very definition of a Grail book.

Good luck on your quest! I'm with you... "structurally sound, well presenting mid-grade copies" is my sweet spot. Although some of the very early issues I've taken lower grade books just to have them. My Adv 247 is pretty beat up...

Note to self: I have GOT to upgrade my copy of this one. Such a stunning, underrated cover.

I would love to get a copy of that one, I think it's a great cover. I've only got one issue of the series. I like your avatar as well, although personally Troughton is my favorite Doctor.

Actually, seriously considering it. It would be as cheap as it gets to slab a GA book, I've got the complete NT edition if for some reason I feel the need to re-read it, and as I've said before I find "death of Jesus" as a slab notation a hilarious comment on our hobby.

Today's find at the local used book store:

I stand corrected, by the way. The indicia publisher is Educational Comics, Inc. Well, I was going to file this with the EC's even before I saw that. 9 dollars, including tax & shipping. Well spent, I think:

I'll actually pick a pulp as my right on the edge of possible grail: The February 1928 Weird Tales, with the first appearance of "The Call of Cthulhu". Given that it's a pulp, my only requirements are complete interiors, intact front cover, and- most importantly- decent paper quality. It's the paper quality concern than makes it hard to give an exact grade. It's definitely possible for me to get a copy, but it would require luck and good timing... they disappear fast when they show up, which isn't very often. Now, having given my choice that meets the criteria in the first post, I'm going to go ahead and show an example that I actually got a couple months ago, but if you had asked the question on March 1 of this year, it would have been my answer instead: Shock Suspenstories #6. It's rapidly getting out of my range in a condition worth having, but a combination of ECCC being cancelled so I had a decent chunk of book cash handy, and @EC ed cutting me an amazing deal, I was able to get this copy. It still cost me more than my next two priciest books combined, but worth every penny:

I always find the Dime Detective (and Dime Western) with prices other than 10c hilarious....

I first encountered it while collecting early editions of the Oz books. It really seems to fit what we're looking at here best.

I was mentioning this over in another thread; but the term we're really looking for is "state", not "printing". Distinct variants from within the same print run are different states. It also can be used when there are known to be more print runs than actual variations in the books, so when 2 or more print runs are indistinguishable they're a single state.

I've probably bought close to 1000 books from them over the years; I've had to return exactly 1, and that was quick and painless as those things go. It wasn't even the sort of error I blame them for; the book was sold as cover detached and it can be easy to miss if a loose cover is on a different issue of the title.

I've gotten some very good pulps and digests from mycomicshop.com. The current catch is their pricing on pulps and digests can be all over the map, I've gotten books for crazy low prices and I've seen digests listing for way more than you could find them elsewhere. The other thing you need to be aware of is mycomicshop.com are some of the most inaccurate graders I've ever seen. Almost everything unslabbed is at least a full point better than what they claim it is, and frequently closer to two points. I have a Four Color 402 that has to be at least an 8.5 that they listed and sold as a 5.0. I didn't say their consistent inaccurate grading was a bad thing, just that you should be aware!