OtherEric

A Merry Christmas (or whatever you celebrate at this time of year) to everyone here! Thank you all for making this such a delightful and friendly thread.

I can't recall seeing many Martin signatures before...

eBay. I actually bid quite a bit more… but nobody bid against me, so it went for the minimum.

Plus shipping, handling, and sales tax… but I was the lone bidder on an auction that started at one cent. The S&H was a little higher than usual but my total was still under $10.

Obviously a bit more with shipping and such, but here’s a Gold Key 1st issue I paid 1/12 the cover price for a few days ago:

KAYO is my favorite book store. I was bummed they weren’t really ready for browsing when I was there a couple months ago, but looking forward to seeing the new location when I get down there in May.

Lots of publishers did that. Ace is the first that comes to mind. What annoys me more is when they sometimes do and sometimes don't... Avon, I'm looking at you here. My few Graphics. I think I may have one or two more but they're not scanned:

I want to call attention to the fact that, with this issue, we're 1/4 of the way through the Creepy run. Not sure what, exactly that signifies, but it seems worth noting. We're even further into the run chronologically, closer to 1/3 of the way. Creepy #37 thoughts: Cover: A decent piece by Ken Barr, although as I seem to be complaining recently, the figures seem a bit static. Also, I'm having trouble keeping track between Ken Barr, Ken Kelly, and Ken Smith at the moment... there are a lot of Kens doing covers right now! Loathsome Lore: A good one by Sutton, packing a lot of storytelling into the single page. The Cadaver: The index mentions this as the pro debut of Chris Fellner, but they seem to only have about four credits in comics total, all at Warren. Despite creators with only a few credits, I was very impressed with the story, which plays as a black comedy version of Frankenstein, leading to a very effective and morbidly funny double twist at the end. King Keller: A decent story in its own way, but it doesn't really feel much like a Warren story to me. I Hate You!: I had high hopes for this based on the index, but it's a second-rate time paradox story that comes dangerously close to excusing the abuse theme by saying it had already happened. I'm getting the distinct impression the indexer doesn't have much experience with classic science fiction stories and is being unduly impressed by second-rate borrowings. Tender Machine 10061: Excellent art by Colon, I think shot directly from pencils. A solid, moody story that doesn't quite hold together perfectly but works more than well enough as a framework for the art. Coffin Cure: This Don Brown (there seems to be at least two with work at the GCD) seems to have only done a couple stories, one here and one for Skywald. The story seems pretty good up to the twist, but there's what I think it supposed to be a second twist at the very end and I can't make sense of the art in the last panel no matter how long I stare at it. The Castle: Amazing art by Boyette, with a solid but not spectacular story to frame it. The Cut-Throat Cat Blues: This is one of those stories where the conceptual audacity just blows right past any criticism I might have on the more basic technical levels regarding the script. It's a story that absolutely relies on Colon's experience with both horror and more cartoony characters and uses the color on the last page as a vital element in the story, not as a gimmick. I've got to give this issue very high marks, with a few very strong pieces. and even on the ones I was less impressed by I think had some strong elements.

Found at my LCS today:

Found cheap at a local store today.

The GCD says Raymond with a ?. Let's go with touched up reprint of a reprint and call it, if not good, the best we're ever likely to get at this point.

I'm counting on your review, because I just grabbed the 19-30 run off MCS (well, 19 I had to go to the Bay, but the others were MCS.)

I wasn't necessarily referring to anything in specific, other than the fact the character does have a massively long run that's still going today... and that this story, more than the #1, is where that starts.

Planet Stories are pretty affordable as well at the moment, with a few exceptions. I got 7 for under $100 total on a Black Friday sale. Some examples, not necessarily from the sale:

Found at a local store today:

My collection is about the opposite of high grade, with a few exceptions. I can’t think of any pulp where a high grade collection wouldn’t be difficult, though. Astounding from 1936 until it became a digest, perhaps.

About $5 an issue. I figured I should at least look, after having suggested it. I pretty much grabbed any late 1980 Whitmans they had cheap that I didn't have already.

And some Super Goofs. I apologize for sneaking in the Gold Key issue here, but it's the 1st issue and I figure people here would appreciate it:

And a couple Looney Tunes:

Since I was grabbing some stuff from MCS anyway:

I think that's Bill Nye the science guy, now that you mention it...

In today:

In today:

A very well spent $100 on Cyber Monday. I've already got a copy of the Summer 1946 issue somewhere, but this one is nicer. Up to 40/71 on Planets, it will be interesting to see how close I can get. But there's at least a couple absolute killer issues I don't have yet. (As well as a couple I do, at least.)