OtherEric

GCD has his first work as Archie Giant Series Magazine #2, which was code approved. The timing is close enough that the two aren't incompatible; he could have been working for them in late '54 but didn't actually appear until '55. Given how iffy credits from the era are, we may never know for sure.

Thank you for this. Still a little dead space, but I think overall it looks quite a bit better.

Fair enough; although I don't think Bob Bolling did either. I could be wrong on that point, I frequently am.

Beyond has "The King of the Elves", which apparently Disney was trying to turn into a movie for a while several years ago. The idea of Disney doing a PKD adaptation is mind-boggling. Fantastic Universe has "A Surface Raid".

Fair enough, I'll keep my eyes open.

Both of them, actually. I think I may have one or two of the Charlton Flash issues that AREN'T obviously miscut or misbound somewhat...

I just realized one more creator from the 50's who we do still have with us: Arnold Roth, who is better known as a cartoonist than for his comic book work, but did stuff on Kurtzman's Trump, Humbug, and Help.

Onto the Charltons! The title continued with no gap, other than the publisher change.

I never did see those digest with Bok covers from page 1 show up, and those were the ones I was most eagerly looking for...

Eerie Annual 1972 thoughts: Cover: Now this is more like it! This seems to be John Pederson's only Warren cover, but at least in concept it's one of my absolute favorites. Norman Rockwell does Pickman's Model is just a brilliant idea for a cover. To be fair, I think they slightly screwed up on the layout; the picture is clearly designed for a full size Eerie logo and the caption to fall beside the model's head, above the easel. The way they actually did it, with the small logo, there's a little too much dead space on the cover. Monster Gallery: Nice use of spot color to enhance what was already a pretty good page. Fair Exchange: I'm never going to say reprinting Neal Adams is a bad choice, but this isn't his best work for Warren so far and I personally wouldn't have given it the 3-peat. Deep Ruby: I stand my description of the story as magnificent, just like the previous two times we've seen it. But it's still a 3-peat. Spiders are Revolting: Still one where I respect the craft more than personally like it, but it's a solid enough choice that hasn't already been reprinted. In Close Pursuit: I'll just repeat my earlier conclusion: A minor masterpiece by a master whose work I don't care for. A good choice for the annual even if, like the previous story, it's not one I personally care for even if I think it's good craft. ...Nor Custom, Stale...: An excellent Craig story that hasn't been reprinted, and they even fixed the Cousin Eerie image at the end that @Axe Elf was annoyed with the first time. The Monument: Not my favorite work by Toth, but Toth is one of those artist I never actually dislike. This one is a 3-peat again, but the previous reprint was from Eerie #16, pretty early in the dark ages, so at least it's been a while. Monster Gallery: Without even the context of "this should have been in issue #13" it's utterly ridiculous. Fly: A Ditko story that hasn't been reprinted is a strong way to end the issue. So, a definite step up from last week. I think the overall selection of stories was marginally better this time, although once again they clearly forgot to check to see what had already been reprinted. And the cover goes from one of my least favorite to one of my most favorite. But it still has a distinct feel of being thrown together carelessly; they just got luckier on their choices this time.

Good news! I have a cure for earworms like that, and purely coincidentally it involves a Beatles song as well. Any time you get a song lodged in your head like that, start singing "Strawberry Fields Forever" to yourself. This will instantly overwrite any other song you've got stuck in your ear at the moment. But it will also disappear within about five minutes, leaving you free of earworms until you catch your next one. A friend taught me that trick about 15 years ago now. I thought it was a joke at first, but it really does work.

A few in today courtesy of @PopKulture. I think these best fit this thread, although the digest size books like these really are sort of their own thing:

A few from @PopKulture today:

In today, thrown in as a bonus in a box from @PopKulture's recent sale. Not quite comics, but definitely fun, from 1948 and 1955 respectively:

I have no hard info. I can say that, at least on the Murder Mystery Monthlies, the earlier volumes are generally easier, with the last three being famously hard to find. It seems to me that issues 7-11 are a bit harder than the surrounding issues, as well, but that could be wartime paper rationing, or just that there are several popular titles in that range.

In today, from @PopKulture's recent sales thread. For somebody who insists they're not trying to collect all the Four Colors I sure seem to have trouble resisting them when I see them, don't I?

I know I said one post a day, but wanted to share the issue I just got in from @PopKulture's sales thread. This one has "Breakfast at Twilight", which is a marvelous title:

As was this, after PopKulture asked if it was one of the ones I still needed. Which is was, I'm at 45 of 49 on the MMM's now. Thank you again! (The catch being, three of the four I need are probably in the top 5 hardest issues to get...)

And some Avons. The 269 was, incredibly, thrown in as a bonus.

So, I got a box of books in from @PopKulture's recent sale. Those are going to be popping up all over the forums for the next hour, since I discovered that PopKulture's idea of packing material is to throw in more books. The Woolrich is a stated 2nd Pocket edition.

It sounds like you're doing well in relative terms, compared to many other people I've known who had strokes. But that's not meant to diminish the lousy bits. Good luck, we're all still rooting for you, and thank you for the update.

Whoops, grabbed the wrong image. Could have happened to anybody. Here's the right one:

Finishing off the King run, the Charltons start tomorrow: