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drbanner

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    Infinite Bronze Horror Thread

    in Bronze Age Comic Books

    Posted

    And yes, Jeff Jones did have a sex change! foreheadslap.gif

     

    I'm continuely amazed at the things you can learn around here... smirk.gif

     

    Did/does he/she still work and, if so, what name does he/she draw under? insane.gif

     

    Jim

     

    Rob gave us the scoop last time around. Page down that thread for a link to a first-hand account from Jones.

     

    Does anyone remember that thread...WAY back in the day...where Jeff Jones was appearing at a convention and someone here was all excited to see "him" and posted about their shock (and NOT awe) upon seeing "him" at the show all dressed up and funky? I believe all posts before around 9/02 have been deleted for some reason, but it did cause a bit of an uproar around here when Jeffy revealed him/herself at the show! 893whatthe.gif

    Infinite Bronze Horror Thread

    in Bronze Age Comic Books

    Posted

    Wasn't the girl on HoS # 92 supposed to be a portrait of another artists girlfriend/wife that Wrightson admired? I recall reading something about this but confess to forgetting most of the details. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

     

    Jeff Jones' wife at the time, later Walt Simonson's wife? confused-smiley-013.gif

     

    I believe Jeff Jones "switched teams" a little later in his careeer... 893whatthe.gif

    Infinite Bronze Horror Thread

    in Bronze Age Comic Books

    Posted

    Cool, glad to see you guys agree. I was worried that I'd be slammed for dissing a sacred book. smirk.gif

     

    The availability of that book does make me wonder about the availability of the other late 60's/early 70's DC horror books - will the recent escalation in prices bring them out in similar numbers, or has too much time passed that the books have slowly degraded over time, neglected, under-appreciated, beat up after decades of abuse in the quarter bins? frown.gif

     

    However, HoS 92 is pretty much the only notable DC Bronze "1st appearance". The only other significant character introduced by DC during that time was Jonah Hex, and he's nowhere near as popular as the Swamp Thing. The other major DC Bronze Keys (GL 76, Detective 400, Bats 232/234, a couple of the early 100-pagers) introduce villains, or have no 1st appearances of note.

    Infinite Bronze Horror Thread

    in Bronze Age Comic Books

    Posted

    Jim, please contribute to the topic, and stop nitpicking on people. 893naughty-thumb.gif

     

    Who's nitpicking? It's a legitimate question... And I've contributed quite nicely to this thread over the last year so don't make any accusations I'm just here to cause trouble. Regardless, who designated you forum police today anyway?

     

    Jim

     

    It is a legitimate question, but c'mon Jim, you know the answer is "Because I'm hoping this book flies under the radar so I don't have to bid against fellow forumites who will drive the price up." confused-smiley-013.gif

     

    I rarely venture into the 35-cent variant thread, but wasn't there a big bru-ha-ha last year over this exact same scenario? Do posters in that thread point out all the variants that show up on ebay where the seller doesn't know what they have and don't include "variant" in the title or description (only the pictures show the books to be variants)? I suspect the variant collectors keep their findings under wraps until the end of the auction...I know I would! sumo.gif

    Infinite Bronze Horror Thread

    in Bronze Age Comic Books

    Posted

    12, 15, and some of the earlier 20-cent DC BA horror books are simply not available in high grade...and the demand is only increasing (read this year's OS market reports to get an indication of what to expect over the next few years in this area). I don't expect much, if any, dropoff in prices for 9.4+ slabbed BA horror over the next several years (DC anyway). The books are fairly available in 9.0 and below and don't really command a premium, but high grades are tough, tough, tough!

     

    Increasing demand along with limited supply = 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

    Infinite Bronze Horror Thread

    in Bronze Age Comic Books

    Posted

    Early bronze, DC horror has something else going for it above and beyond the horror genre - cover and interior artwork by some of the premiere artists of the day, at their peak. Specifically, there are lots of late silver/early bronze comic books collectors that collect anything by Adams, Steranko, Smith, Wrightson, Kaluta, the rest of "The Studio" artists, etc.,. That's personally what got me involved in horror (I collected Marvels based on character first, but as I "matured" I focused more on artists), and I pretty much only want the early bronze stuff. Kaluta did a lot of great horror covers after 1974 as well, but I'm not a big fan of the Dominguez, Aparo, or Kubert covers.

     

    So add the baseline number of "artist" collectors, to the upsurge in "horror" collectors, to the huge surge in BA collectors over the last 5 years and you have demand for these books coming from several different directions. I tend to believe BA Marvel horror (what there is of it) may be maxed out, but the relative scarcity of DC's to Marvels, combined with the factors delineated above, lead me to believe the popularity of DC horror is still waxing... 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

    Q&A Comic Production Flaws

    in Comic Book Grading and Restoration Issues

    Posted

    Mr. Production Defect Expert,

     

    I need a question answered on my HoM Dollar Comic. I'm wondering how CGC would interpret this tear at the bottom of the spine?

     

    91180428.jpg

     

    Larger pic can be found here.

     

    I've submitted dozens of dollar books and gotten many 9.6's and even a few 9.8's. I've received 9.4's with noticable bindery tears, and the one pictured below with a tiny bindery tear. That said, your copy has a chip actually missing, right? I don't see that getting a 9.4 but then again, on any given day... 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

     

    wfin252.jpg

    Infinite Bronze Horror Thread

    in Bronze Age Comic Books

    Posted

    #104 was the first all horror/mystery issue that didn't feature the monster or mad scientist angle prevalent in the title beforehand. #105 was the first issue which dropped "Tales of" and strictly went with "The Unexpected" (still with the all mystery format). Either one could be chosen as the first...

     

    Some could say the title didn't fully convert to the all mystery/horror format until Johnny Peril ended but if that was the case you'd have to go into the #120s and we know it started way before that...

     

    Shiver may have more to add...

     

    Jim

     

    Sounds reasonable.

     

    104 features a Neal Adams cover (which doesn't really have any bearing on the categorization of the book, but collecting his work is what pulled me into collecting the horror books originally) that could be considered horror-themed, so that's reasonable.

     

    105 has the name change, so that would also seem to fit (note that OS says 105 is the 1st 12-cent issue, but that is incorrect as 104 has a 12-cent cover as well).

     

    109 appears to be the 1st straight up horror cover theme with the witch (the 2nd interior story features a witch and matches the cover, with the Johnny Peril story being the lead).

     

    Both 104 and 105 pre-date HoM 174, so I guess either way the DC Bronze Horror genre started in this title?

     

    I'll peruse the interior contents of those issues later to see how the content measures up... 893scratchchin-thumb.gif