vaillant

It’s probably not the plot, but the overall atmosphere – aside from the magic you can get at age ten or so, the atmosphere is markedly different from all of the other stories (except, you guessed it, "The enfant terrible" that initially fools you but ends on the same wavelength of Kurrgo… with an added gracious humour. And a new alien race too…)

Am I the only one annoyed by these "photocopy comic books" appearing on eBay now?

I still remember clearly when I read #7 as a child. It was among my favorites. In hindsight, it is obviously meant to rekindle the "sense of wonder" of early science fiction, while "mainstream" science fiction in the 1960s was about to lose it (with the exception of a few authors), so I won’t say it was "pretty standard", not by science fiction means anyway.

"Middle-ages"? Huh…

I think I voted #5, 16, 23, 57 and 86 (although I love #85 as well).

At this point I believe the hypotesis which makes more sense is that of file copies of some kind, but not of a publisher, as they are varied. Maybe some kind of institution? But "Int" as "internal" would have made sense if they were of a single publisher – hey maybe they are copies which were held by the FBI or some super-secret service! ::

I voted for 4-5, don‘t recall how many, but it seems #16 and #57 are righteously "winners"!

If it helps, none of these so far had been published in Italy. Very little Golden Age material did, and the earliest Timely material is from rare italian journals from 1945, after the liberation (Captain America). Maybe they were set aside for possible submission to a foreign publisher interested in them? But I see they range from 1939 to 1944…

It's an early Doom with the best cover, imo and a killer copy. Sounds like a no-brainer to me. I'm missing this title, I would be happy with a low mid-grade copy. For the best cover, however, I’d vote #16 before #23…

Thanks Ray, I'll do that - just checked, and I have 57 already. The Doom/Surfer stories are some of the most interesting to me. They are. It was a great, not predictable storyline. I just expressed a preference, but probably the Surfer-powered Doom is a greater story told in the span of a few issues. I am sure I have at least one issue in "indecent" grade…

Here in Italy there are still a lot of older people collecting. Many huge 1930s-40s material collectors have died, but at conventions you see a lot of people over 60-70.

I always loved the cover, better than previous Doom ones. I do not precisely recall the story, I haven’t been reading it for a long time, but it’s a beauty to have in high grade, better than some earlier ones (like #17). #5 is a classic in its own status even if the cover has not much "impact".

Multiple storyline infraction! I think we'd have to break them down as 61-63; 64-65; 66-67. (Yes, I know there's a lot of overlap, but that could be said for all of 'em!) It’s the unifying atmosphere for me, it has always been. The Surfer-powered epic Doom story clearly ends in #60, and then a sense of mystery, unease, impending danger lurks in, from the most remote corners of consciousness… After #68 it’s not the same thing, although there are highlights.

Well, you know what I nominate, always: FF #61-67! ::

I was very glad to be of help to Harry, and Kaspar undercopies are more than often… That #48 has a nice paper quality. I hadn't considered thinking about it reasonably...I usually just go with my default settings. Kidding aside; I just sold off the vast majority of my 1-150 ASM run, but the Master Planner Trilogy stays right here with me! choosing between those two arcs would be like choosing between Pizza or Chinese...... two totally different things. GOD BLESS.... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) Hmm… Not to me. The stories are very different, true, but not the Marvel spirit in its essence, so I’d vote for… both!

Let’s hope BZ is doing well. I have also to say these E.R. Burroughs books and the pulps look wonderful even to "non fans"…

Of course, that is a general rule. If it’s a scarce GA book and the price is right, I could buy without a grade, but these would be exceptions.

its been happening more and more in the last year. Some sellers feel that the time saved and disputes avoided is worth more to them than the amount of lost sales by people who just pass over these kind of sales. I personally disagree with that method, but happily support their right to employ this strategy, as it saves me money I might have otherwise spent, and leaves additional cash in the market for buyers to spend in my sales threads. I agree completely. Lack of adequate information is also a downward pressure on price. The more information a buyer has the less risk you are asking them to assume in buying your product. The less information the greater the risk and the more of a discount will be necessary to cover that risk. The other side of the story, however, I think has to do with the imagination, not putting a specific grade leaves it open for the buyer maybe to think its better than it actually is, of course the imagination can work in the reverse also. I would never buy a book without a stated grade here. If I have a stated grade, I could have perplexities about it, but I am buying based on the picture AND the stated grade. If I have just the pictures, I am buying almost blindly, unless I know the seller (of course, with most of you I could buy blindly, but not with a seller I do not know).

The earliest Kirby work was heavily influenced, among others, by Lou Fine, and it’s not that "accomplished", one could say "jarred" in english? As far as the Schomburg covers I believe some are striking and/or well thought, others obviously not. And I generally prefer his later science-fiction painted work, for which I have known him first. I like Uncle Sam turned into a comic book character a lot, as it has a sort of preternatural character. The Grand Comics Database files him under "superhero, war, occult", and I find it just perfect. Captain America… he was meant by Kirby and Simon as a "response of what was happening in Europe with Hitler from the perspective of young men with a relatively limited experience" – that’s, by memory, how Jack Kirby explained it to me. Simon surely talks about it in his biography too.

I love this story..... GOD BLESS... -jimbo(a friend of jesus) When I read it first I thought it was absolutely original: the way Lee and Kirby were able to still conjure the "sense of wonder" (and good "ingenuity") of american classic science fiction was amazing, and it was brought forward up to the end of the 1960s. Hyper-futurism and sense of wonder: science and technology's horizon in the Marvel age was not overshadowed by ominous clouds of a sinister tomorrow: even in the "Him" storyline, charged with ethical implications, the worry which would have taken hold of "traditional" science-fiction "growing up" (and dying) did not touch Stan Lee's vision.

Anyone heard about Chip after he told us he contacted the hotline and was feeling better?

The question you raised is interesting, not because of the joke, but because we have the word "design" ("disegno") in every field, except the graphic field. In matters of law ("disegno di legge"), in architecture, meaning a plan ("un disegno"), in furniture and objects design ("disegno industriale") etc… "Grafica" used to mean painting or "fine art", but since "design" was adopted around the 1960s as a calc from english I realized that we never used "disegno" as in "disegno grafico", and that’s very interesting – and revealing – about the fact that the book's conception (and printing matters) were incorporated in the modern logic of "design" but they were with us since Gutemberg. Etimologically graphics have not much to do with design, aside from the book's (or the page) overall "lay out". What did you use in english when they "designed" books in the 16th century? Was the word already there to mean "progettare" (because that’s how "design" would translate in italian, but not the other way around…)

I am a graphic designer. Only thing, in italy we do not use the word "design" (disegno) in this field, so I am "un grafico". I guess I am safe. I wonder what "igordesign" would mean. That he designs igor?

You'll be back. -J. I don’t think so… Roger66 is now the new owner of my former copy.

That More Fun #70 cover is wonderful: in some ways it looks like things italian artists were doing at the same time, it also reminds me a Hit Comics that I have. I love these "superhero stopping airplane pilots" covers…