OtherEric

I think the 107 is the rarest of the 12 covers Cole did for Target/ Target Western/ Flaming Western, myself. I found a copy a few months ago (and think I posted it here); it's not exactly rare but it's on the scarcer side.

I suppose strictly speaking this really should go in a Atlas thread, but I hope you'll forgive me:

Nice! I've always liked that Adventure #65 cover, I don't think it gets quite the respect it deserves. And Adventure is always a book worth getting.

And a look back at this thread suggests Spirit sections count. I'm afraid I can count my collection of those on the fingers of one hand. But this is one of them, and of all 645 issues there's none I would rather have: This was my favorite story from the run long before I ever owned the original, and running into it at the ECCC a couple years ago is one of my all-time favorite finds.

And here's the book I picked up at my local store today, the one issue of Animal they got in was the one issue I needed to complete my run of the series: Other than those slight creases in the lower right corner it's really a very nice copy.

Another beautiful cover, with the mixing of Kelly's style on the toys with the more traditional Santa Claus. I'm always amazed that Kelly got a cover credit on these. A few years later, it's unsurprising that they want to highlight the creator of Pogo. But at this point Pogo is just a feature in Animal Comics.

And, not a comic as such, but a bit of related promotional material for Peter Wheat: This is about the size of a comic book in width, and about an inch shorter. A neat little oddity by Kelly!

What wonderful covers. AJD. Always have slightly mixed feelings on the Our Gang issues. They're obviously well done and feature some excellent storytelling. But it seems to me like having Kelly work on something with no fantastic elements was not using him to his full ability.

Let's get some seasonally fitting covers in here: I've got the #126 on the way, I'll post that when I get it if nobody beats me to it!

Posted this over in gold a while ago, but might as well drop it in here: Easily the highlight of my collection!

I've only got a couple issues from the Classic Comics era, but both are (O): A book with obvious crossover appeal, and one of the earliest horror comics. One that's not as obviously appealing to the average reader but that I think is dramatically underrated. Why? 50+pages of Matt Baker artwork, 6 of which were not in any printing other than the 1st!

A few I've found in the past couple months- or even earlier today in the case of the Thrilling Mystery! Not that anybody will notice my post with the amazing G-8 painting right before it, of course. THAT"s amazing!

Oh, I envy you those two! The 11 has a Walt Kelly story, and the 16 is the only issue I'm missing for the run from 15-25. (After the #25, my collection is insanely spotty until issue #80; it's dumb luck that I've got 17-19. Picked up a collection of 8 issues from 15-24 for under $100 a few months ago, I'll try to post a few of those covers here soon.)

Just got this one, it seems to be the scarcest of the Target covers Cole did. Now I just need to get the Flaming Western Romances #3 as the honorary last Target cover...

I may have to start pecking away at the Looney Tunes title soon because of the Mary Jane & Sniffles stories. I must discourage you from this course of action; I need to finish my run of the stories first. Right now the one that's bugging me is the first Mary Jane & Sniffles Four Color, the last couple of copies I've seen did not go cheap.

And to add to my collection of Target Covers I posted earlier, here's one I just won on eBay. I hope I don't jinx myself by posting the scan from the auction before I actually get the book in my hands:

On the Pogo series, issues 1-4 were 52 pages at 10 cents, 5-8 and 14-16 were 36 pages at 10 cents, and 9-13 were 52 pages at 15 cents. (I think those are the exact issues; I don't have the books at my side right this second.) So, while the pricing may in part be tied to Kelly's popularity, it's actually fairly understandable within the title itself. Dell pricing in general does get weird at points around here, though! (I think there are a fair number of issues from various titles known to have 15c variants in the late 50's; but they seem to be more than a little scarce. I have one issue of Looney Tunes that I didn't even notice the price oddity on for years)

OK, this isn't technically a Pulp as such. But this still seems like the right thread to post it. Book is complete, not brittle, pages slightly tanning but not a lot. I figure it was worth the $10. :-)

And, as promised: This one is cover to cover Kelly, 68 pages. An unmitigated delight!

I still don't know that I consider the FC 71 a key book. It's definitely a beautiful one I want to get my hands on sooner rather than later! I do have the FC 92, with Pinocchio and Donocchio. Another very fun book; and also neat in that Kelly was one of the animators who worked on Pinocchio. And, since I don't think it's shown up in this thread yet: I love the picture frame covers on Animal 17-24.

Just bought a Fairy Tale Parade #1 off eBay from Lone Star; I'll scan and post that once I get it in my hands. Disregarding for a moment the handful of pages Kelly did for DC, and some of his cover only books, I think that gives me all but one of the major Kelly keys. I've got Animal Comics #1, Four Color #105, Pogo Possum #1, Fairy Tale Parade #1, and Adventures of Peter Wheat nn (#1). Other than the Our Gang #1, are there any books I'm forgetting?

I'm pretty sure the #2 is Kelly, as well. The painted covers were signed by Arthur Jameson; and the FC 87 isn't a Kelly cover either, but the rest are all his. Not sure if Kelly did anything on Fantasia off the top of my head, I know he worked on the Crows sequence in Dumbo and on Gepetto inside Monstro for Pinocchio. Which makes the comic book version of Pinocchio one of the very comics where one of the animators also drew the comic book. If nobody else beats me to it I'll pull that one out and scan the cover in a day or so. I wouldn't say no to a Kelly cover a day; I don't have that many of his WDC&S's. My current project- other than my continual efforts on Peter Wheat, of course- is trying to put together his Four Color issues.

Here's a few Peter Wheat issues: I've got more, but those are the ones where I have the raw scans handy at the moment...

Let's see if I can get this thread on Target: OK, even by my low standards some of those are clearly placeholder copies. But it's still one of my favorite runs of covers. My favorite is the 9/8, which rarely if ever is mentioned as a high point. But to my mind it's one of the most impressive bits of composition in a cover I've ever seen. Just beautiful; no one thing you can point to as what makes it work but as a whole it just amazes me every time I see it.

Just got a few more issues from my personal pet project of the past few years: Adventures of Peter Wheat. It's still not a very high profile title, but it's extremely hard to find and very well done. In reverse order: #38. One of the earliest Al Hubbard issues. Hubbard is not exactly what I would call a big name, but he had a couple of long and underrated runs on series; Mary Jane and Sniffles in particular is a favorite of mine. His Peter Wheat work pales in comparison to Walt Kelly's run, but is extremely good on its own terms. #30. But, as I said, Hubbard's work is nothing compared to Walt Kelly's run on the title. Since the covers double as the first page of the story, they rarely pop like some of the interior shots do once the story gets rolling. For my money, Peter Wheat is Kelly's finest work in comic BOOKS as opposed to strips. #25. This is actually part 2 of 4; and since I found #26 a couple years ago (and then was able to figure out which issues the storyline actually ran) completing it has been my personal most wanted book. It's not flawless, but taken as a whole it's an absolutely amazing 64 page fantasy-adventure by Walt Kelly that I think is only not regarded as one of the greatest pre-code stories of all time because almost nobody has ever seen the whole dang thing! This was the last issue I needed to put together the story, and for me at least it's as exciting as any find I've ever made.