OtherEric

Being absolutely serious here: What's most significant or indicative of the Golden Age is the sheer diversity of genres. Picking one misses the point. Kirby Superheroes. Baker Romance. Barks Funny Animal. Walt Kelly Fantasy. Kurtzman Satire. Wood Science Fiction. Eisner Crime. Ingels Horror. Mayer Teen Humor. Wolverton Pure Weirdness. Frazetta Anything. What's most significant... is everything. And the fact that, more than any other period, they were indeed trying everything.

I'm actually most fond of 19 and 22... because those are the only fox issues I have! (Well, I have a coverless 23 in a Fox Giant, but since we're talking covers...)

I bought comic books at that address many times as a young pup. I can't believe / didn't realize it had sold comics since the 40s. mind blown. http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=c1b5ba9b-e2fa-43d9-9ace-843ca4d4e2cd excerpt: "Part of Vancouver's history, the store opened in 1946, as Ted Fraser's Book Bin at 1247 Granville at Davie. The original location was 6,000 square feet on two floors and one of the largest used bookstores in Western Canada. In 1963, Fraser and his manager, Eiran Harris, were charged with "possession of obscene material for the purpose of publication, distribution or circulation" when police seized several naughty titles, such as Whip Some More My Lady and Sin Teacher. They appealed all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, but were eventually convicted and fined $3,400. The store changed names, and hands, a few times before Mabee bought the business in 1988." Sadly, it had to change location a few years back and is now out of business, but it was a fixture for a long time. GIven the 1946 opening date, it probably sold the tail end of the whites in Vancouver right out of that location. It's always sad when a good bookstore goes away. It's interesting to me just how much this copy has traveled up and down the coast. Released in 1942, wound up in Vancouver at some point after the war. Made its way down to San Fransisco somewhere in the next 50-60 years, where my sister bought it as a birthday gift for me at Kayo Books, and now it's in the Seattle area in my collection.

I've shown this one over in the pulps, but I don't think I've posted it over here in the Canadian thread: The US issue with the story was July 1942, so it had the generic "Flag" cover that all the Street & Smith issues had that month. Not sure if this was the only new cover for the Canadian series, though.

I was just thinking the same thing, and generally agree with you. Curious how other collectors feel that Finlay's covers have fared over time (personally I prefer his interior illustrations over his cover work)? I tend to agree with you on Finlay's interior work over his covers- his style on his B&W work is clearly the baseline a LOT of pulp artists were trying to imitate. His covers don't stand out nearly as much compared to his interiors. With that said, his covers are generally well above the average for pulp covers; it's just that he wasn't clearly the best in the business, unlike his interiors. I've shown this before, as well, but my favorite Finlay pulp (well, digest) cover:

And got this pair in the mail just now. Low grade; but even so crazy cheap for the pair. I can't argue with the general agreement that Brundage was the greatest of the Weird Tales cover artists. But Finlay was absolutely amazing as well. A nice issue featuring a verse from REH, a Lovecraft reprint, and a lot of Finlay interior art as well. Another Finlay cover, a Jirel of Joiry story, and two Lovecraft stories, including the first appearance of "The Evil Clergyman". Which may be the least regarded of all the solo complete Lovecraft stories, but there's no such thing as the first printing of a Lovecraft story that's not a very nice addition to a collection.

I had seen that write-up as well. Very nice pick-up!

I've posted this before. But to honor the 80th anniversary of the cover date, I figure people won't be too upset if I show it again:

I meant 'just' in that it wasn't a story, not trying to downplay the actual poem. I actually just ordered a couple more Weird Tales from 1939, one of which has another Howard poem. Looking forward to seeing those.

"Everyone is showing their Howards." Like everybody even has Howards to show in the first place! OK, I've gotten one in the past few months. Just verse, though:

Just got this this week; unlike other books I've seen with the Four Star brand this one was actually printed & published in Canada even if Superior hadn't officially taken over the title:

What a neat item! I know I recognize the art, but I'm not sure who it is. It's not Mayer, but other than that I'm not sure. (I am sure once somebody says who it is I'll go "of course, why couldn't I remember the name", but that's a separate issue. :-) )

Just picked up a set of the Popped Wheat giveaways, not posting all of them because I'm sure everybody has seen them dozens of times. But here's one just to give this post some color: These books are famously some of the most common books of the era, of course. But does anybody happen to know exactly why there are so many of them around in high grade? I'm guessing a warehouse find, but I've never heard the story.

*slow clap* Congratulations!

May dig out a few more pulps once others have hit the thread, but this looks like the last of what's handy:

And one of the classics:

Right, pulps it is:

Actually had been meaning to post these since ECCC, just never got around to it; and this seems like a good thread for them. Only two issues of an unusual pulp-comic hybrid:

Let's see what I've got lurking in the bucket off hand... Of course, the pulps are where the theme really thrives: Nut sure I have a lot of comics I could add, but I've got plenty of pulps...

It's definitely not high grade, just a solid reader. But I'm very happy to finally add a copy to my collection:

You said it. I've shown this one before, it's obviously trashed. But I've had it for over 20 years, and it's one of the first two precode keys I ever got. And to this day I remember the sheer weight of history I felt in my hand when I first got to read it. As wonderful as reading a reprint or a scan is- and thanks to the internet and the current age of reprints, I've gotten to read more golden age comics that I ever would have believed possible when I first got that Mad- there is NOTHING that compares to having the original book in your hand, and the ability to read the exact same book somebody bought off the rack new back when it came out.

Oh, nice one. THREE John D. MacDonald stories in there, I would dearly love to find a copy!