vaillant

Hands Down, the singular severest bad azzzz across MCU as well as DCU imho ... I was talking about Darksied, not Darkseid.

Darksied is surely a fascinating villain.

One thing is speaking in person, one thing is writing on the internet. I would not assume that "people over 35" know how to discern: age has little to do with it, and besides you’ll find 80 year olds that are worse than some 15 year olds. :shrug: I was not implying at all that you should change the way you communicate: but it’s not true at all that "less is less". You will never "forestall" objections/misunderstandings/misperceptions just by "forethinking": if one is not much willing to reason and takes you "the wrong way" – that’s why I said that how your writing style "comes across" could be problematic, but it might just be me… I know for sure that right now, in many cases, I feel put off by the length of posts, especially if the topic is not so delicate to spend so much time on it.

That was pretty ridiculous. Some people have zero self control in posting where they shouldn't be. This.

#5 is such a GREAT story.

I feel like to comment because I hold both wombat and RMA in high esteem, and I’m sorry to see this misunderstanding. RMA, I believe most people would be agreeing with most of your reasonings, and with your care for principles, but I believe they are often put off by the verbose nature of your posts, and the fact that they might give an impression of presumpion. Which, I am sure, mostly it’s not there as you hardly take offense on a "personal" level, but that is the way they might come through. My 2¢, or better my 2 Euro cents, as they would say…

That's Dane's uncle (or some such), first appeared in TTA 52. That's easy to find. Yup, I recall this, it was Dane's uncle I believe. And the original one in the Atlas book is one of his ancestors, right? I love the Black Knight, one at a time… I just realized I might have the TTA #52, and in nice shape too… I have to check.

Thanks – Maneely is wonderful, and I always loved the Black Knight, but only recently learned it was already there in Atlas times! Of course, I know it’s the original one, not Dane Whitman. Now I just miss the villainous one from the Iron Man issue…

I just love your #18 as well, Stevie… Very solid for a midgrade book, as it presents like a high grade, it has very little flaws if you get past the spine wear… Do you mean it has a detached staple? If it’s your copy, destaple it, fix it and restaple it. Who cares? Plus, all Kirby's FFs are pretty, as KJ once said… We FF lovers are a special bunch…

Why two?

Right, it’s probably the inker (George Roussos/Bell?) – it’s an odd way to ink Ben, I usually prefer Sinnott or Chic Stone, but I love this cover too (and I missed #18 until recently, then picked a VGFN and upgraded to this very nice FN+ or so)-

I love the perfect centering…

While we’re at it, here’s my #18 – one of the nicest ones I have under #20, as they are a bit too costly for me now in higher grades.

I do the opposite. I collect everything but the keys because I can't afford the damn things. I hate that the movies are making the keys multiply. I used not to pay much attention to the so-called "keys" when I started. In fact, I went for my favorite issues, and when they happened to be "keys" I was annoyed because they were excessively costly. So, for example, I picked a #36 but skipped the #48 and only bought lowgrade copies of #49 and #50. Since when I restarted, obviously this "key frenzy" which is mostly artificially driven by hollow speculation bubbles has influenced me, but I always try to go for the issues I consider more meaningful, or that are considered best stories and/or more importants when I am not a "completist" (like I am with FF, Defenders and Dr. Strange). That’s what I do with most of the other Marvel titles, anyway. I have little to nothing of Atlas, but recently picked a Black Knight #1 (sorry, *Bronze_age_fan*… ).

I entirely agree, I bought just a pair of times from him, but you can’t be unsatisfied: books are always good as expected or better.

Here’s what I saw first, and I started to wonder who the "Burattinaio" ("Puppet Master") was – you gotta admit the green sinister light adds to the drama of the cover… P.S. Last december I bought a full run of this title where I originally read a lot of Lee/Kirby FF stories (including the "Him" ones). It covers FF up to issue #83 or so… then it ceased its publication.

#8 stood out as one of my favorite early stories, as – I have probably already said it elsewhere – the very first contact with the early Lee/Kirby FF for me happened with a collected edition (in italian) which had three issues covering FF #1-8 (64 pages each, three magazines). The cover that struck me the most was the one of issue #3, which featured the cover of #8 – so I pestered my dad to have it. And of course when I read the story I loved the conflict within Alicia's soul. In the same vein, like KirbyJack, when I was able to read more it was (I believe for Christmas) probably in 1978, when my dad bought me a bound volume and it included #30 and Annual #6, which remains among my favorites… The nostalgic element is not at the forefront, as they obviously made a fine choice because they are great stories. Billy, these Annuals in such a nice shape make me cry… especially Annual #3…

Surely a single section would be better… In fact, I was perplex he might be referring to the ongoing VCC, as I doubted he knew about it…

Why the VCC should be considered "NOT REAL"?

Love it!

I’m still wondering where Gary Stillman (the original owner of the book) might be right now…

I forgot to tell it happened in 1991! Still a good price, though. Here it is (sorry for the repost, but just for our new pal Harry)…

Love it!

30 was the first one i got off a spinner, and i was only able to get about 5 earlier back issues as a kid. i think 22 was the earliest book in my collection as a boy. Awesome! I have read #30 when I was about nine, in a great book compiling early Lee/Kirby classics (including #1 and Annual #6) and of course loved the poignancy of that story: Diablo’s temptation for the Thing was a really bad and subtle move…

P.S. I loved #24 because "The infant terrible" was one of the Lee/Kirby stories I have read as a boy. Another was "Diablo", and of course I had to have a #30 as well! And a #36… you get the picture! Just be patient…