OtherEric

Agreed. I’ve only got a couple others, and only this one scanned:

You are quite right to note just how charming that cover is. It's not at the GCD, were you going to add it or may I use your image to do so? My copy is the US version:

Eerie #29 thoughts: We've got Goodwin back as associate editor here as well, with just as little impact as he had on Creepy this time around that I can see. Cover: It seems like Ken Kelly is trying very hard to imitate his uncle here, and not really succeeding. The main figure just looks put together oddly. Loophole: The story does a decent job of showing how the paradoxes work in this particular story, but then goes for a classic cliche to end it. The Fiend Planet: Solid story and art, but nothing particularly outstanding either. The Bloodstaff: And here we have the debut of Rich Buckler, who has a decent number of Warren credits, and over 3000 entries at the GCD. He turns in some very good work here, as he generally did when allowed to work in his own style. The catch being, editors often had him do either his Jack Kirby imitation or his Neal Adams imitation, neither of which are as good as the originals, and frequently very swipe heavy. Gallery of Horror: Another creator debut: this appears to be Carlos Garzon's first comic work. Probably best known for his work with Al Williamson on the comic adaptations of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The story is a nicely moody piece of building horror. The Vorpal Sword: Ah, here we finally get the exciting but amusing type of story that Nick Cuti was so good at, after several pieces where he seemed to be learning his craft. The twist might not work for everybody, but for me it hits a perfect balance of funny yet logical that actually works with the piece. Add some great Sutton art and we have something that's not a classic, but a great example of two creators working together perfectly. Strange Gateway: Another case of them taking the tropes of a horror story to tell what is ultimately not a horror story. Not something I would want to see every story, or even every issue, but now and then something like this provides a great counterpoint to the rest of the issue. Easy Way to a Tuff Surfboard count: 10! We're up to double digits! Snow Job: And here we get the comic debut of Doug Moench. He is one of the major Warren writers, with something around 100 stories to his credit for them. And that's only a small percentage of his total work, with over 4000 entries at the GCD. (As a side note, it looks like his major credit with Rich Buckler was Deathlok for Marvel, if we're comparing new creators with large bodies of work in this issue.) The story itself is pretty well written with a fairly clever twist, but still falls into the solid B+ range, not any higher. I'm surprised this issue doesn't get more attention, given the number of debuts. I may have indicated the issue lacked any all time classics, but it's got an incredibly high baseline of quality, particularly given how many people are turning in their first pro work. Unlike the Creepy last week, the book was better than the sum of its parts, I think. Not the book I would hand anybody as their first issue, but possibly one I would give them as their second or third to give them an idea of what the title could do at time.

Allow me to add myself to the list of people who have had good transactions with this particular seller. In general, I'm fine with a very small number of bad feedback, some people will always complain. What would worry me more is several recent bad feedback, suggesting something has changed recently, and I'm not seeing that here.

Sorry I'm so late with my thoughts, but I'll get them in under the wire. I'll try to be quicker with the next issue, but no promises it will be right when the week begins this time. Creepy #35 thoughts: Cover: Ken Smith again. Again, not a bad cover, but some more variety in the color palette would be nice. Editorial: @Axe Elf covered the high points here, I'll just note that I am not including it in the "Easy Way to a Tuff Surfboard" count, since it's only one panel. Contents: It's good to see Archie Goodwin as Associate Editor, even though we know it won't really last long enough to have a major impact on the title. Vampirella is really the only book that's dramatically impacted by Goodwin's return this time, as far as I know. But we shall see. Tough Customers: Nice Sutton art on a story with a very EC feel. Legend in Gold: Honestly a fairly so/so story. Not terrible, but the sort you forget 30 seconds after you turn the last page. Polly Want a Wizard: Gorgeous Colon artwork. Howard Waldrop does his only story for Warren, and indeed the only comic story he has a solo writing credit on at all. Still, he's won a Nebula Award and World Fantasy Award, so we have grant that it's noteworthy that he's here. The story is good but not spectacular. Army of the Walking Dead: I wasn't as impressed by it as @Axe Elf was, but I'm not normally a huge fan of Syd Shores in general. Godslayer: Stillwell only does a couple of stories for Warren. Extremely nice artwork, it reminds me of Brian Bolland in places, and the story is quite interesting as well. Unfortunately, I don't believe it was actually continued. It's Grim: It really isn't, although as mentioned the psychological horror is a pretty standout idea for Warren at this point. The Druid's Curse: This seems to be the only credit at the GCD for the Brothers Ciochetti. I'm not impressed, personally. Gunsmoke Charlie: Alan Weiss only does a couple stories for Warren, but has over 700 entries at the GCD, unlike the Brothers Ciochetti. I actually liked the ending quite a bit, with Charlie regretting his deal on multiple levels. Justice: The ending works if you just kind of blow through it, and figure that he was put in the dungeon with the bodies of his victims to reassemble them to prove he didn't eat them. But then he thinks about delaying a year, which makes no sense. This wasn't a bad issue, but the extra material coupled with the lack of standout stories gets it rated lower than it would be otherwise. It's also interesting for the number of debut creators.

So help me, I used to have that edition of Life on the Mississippi. I possibly still do in storage. I didn't realize until a few days ago it was the first Bantam.

There's also the very simple fact that it's the first Ace Double, and the Ace Doubles have ALWAYS been coveted by collectors, at least since the early 80's in my personal experience and probably longer.

Agreed. Definitely the ones I see most, 2 and 3 in particular.

Agree 100% in almost all cases. But I think the Whitman Comics Presents #3 might be the lone DC Whitman where the Whitman version is more common than the regular one. Then again, it does have a wonderful Jose Luis Garcia Lopez cover.

I've only got a couple issues of the title. But they're good ones: Frazetta & Finlay!

I did get this today, finally. Not sharing a scan because it doesn't scan well, although it looks great in person. Also grabbed this one today, props to my store for knowing to specifically pull the Hughes cover for me:

Drawn for the smaller size? The image area is fairly tiny.

Now I'm wondering if this was a separate print run, or if they just razored out the pages in question. PLAYBOY was definitely printing multiple versions of any given issue at this point, going by the stars next to the P this is version 4 or 5 (I'm not sure if they did a 0-star version or not.)

Who the heck published that, anyway?

And with the unslabbed copy, you can actually read the Matt Baker story in the issue. Not that it's a particular highlight of his work, sadly...

Some more images since people are expressing interest. @Darwination called it when he mentioned the author list, the “and others” has some pretty heavy hitters as well:

I'm in the Bay Area, so my review will be late in the week.

Lots of great stuff in the Bay Area the last couple days.

Bookstoring in the Bay Area. A good day, super happy to get a Clayton Astounding.

I am, I got out of Seattle just in time to avoid our first freeze of the year.

A few Arkham House from Borderland Books today. The Smith wasn’t cheap but the others were under $15 each:

Found today as I’m visiting my sister in SF. An enormous chapter of Fear & Loathing on the campaign trail ‘72 in this one

Different publishers, different designs. Some were red and blue, some red and green, for that matter.