OtherEric

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.

OK, that's a reprint of the Heinlein novel. Let's compare to the original publication: The 2nd issue is in lousy shape even by my easygoing standards, but it's fun to have. Along with the cover story and part 2 of Beyond this Horizon it has the original appearance of Asimov's "Foundation".

There is one character pulp I'm trying to put together a full run on, though, and I'm about 2/3 of the way there. It's one that doesn't seem to have got a lot of love in this thread, though. Let me correct that with a few of my copies. Still need 3 of the Purple Invasion issues, what an unique and fun series within a series that was. Back cover of this issue: I really want to hate cigarette ads on general principles. But the Chesterfields ads just blow me away time after time with just how good they look. It's faint and obscured by the cover art, but as near as I can tell the stamp on the cover says Library of Congress, Periodical Division. Which leaves me wondering how the heck the book got to me... Pretty sure this is the only character pulp to end on an unresolved cliffhanger, unless you want to extend the definition to include John Carter.

I've only been grabbing pulps on any sort of regular basis for a year or two, unless you count the digests as well. I've got a mixed but fairly large collection of those. Mostly I'm trying to put together the work of certain writers. But I've gotten a few nice odds and ends; I'm trying to get at least one of every major character pulp. (Now if I can just figure out which ones actually count at "major"...) Had this one for years. The Black Bat stories aren't that great but the covers are just wonderful. I've actually got all the Captain Future appearances in Startling Stories, but only 3 in his own title. Was Edmond Hamilton the only author working on a series who got to use his own name, or have I forgotten somebody? In my admittedly limited experience, the Canadian editions like this are fairly scarce. While I may not be looking for that many of the original pulps on Doc, I do have the full run of Bantam paperbacks. Not in the greatest shape, but I'm pretty sure this is the only line drawn cover in the entire run of the Shadow. Once again, a series I mostly read in reprints; I just recently finished off the Pyramid/Jove run. Why is it that dealers who know enough to slap a higher price on the books don't know enough to clearly mark which of the two Steranko covers the book actually has? Got this for $5 a few months ago; I really need to sit down and read it.

Since at least a few people like this one let's show off Grag's other Startling Stories cover:

You want some Golden Age of Sci-Fi Pulp covers? I think these qualify!