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EC ed

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Everything posted by EC ed

  1. for today's mail call - a bit of an upgrade to my raw VG/FN'ish copy. Would still love to upgrade issues 3, 5, 6, & 7 of this title...but talk about TOUGH
  2. Hi is indeed! @Pacole Phil is a great guy - top notch! We've done quite a few deals together over the years behind the scenes, usually involving him buying my EC undercopies (I also sold him that Phantom Lady #17 ).
  3. So now let me share what has happened in 2024 that has reinvigorated my quest to obtain all 478 books on my completist checklist. Some of you who have been paying attention to stuff that goes on around here may have already guessed... There's so much I want to say, but I'll try to keep it brief. You know how there are often really cool stories associated with the acquisition of a rare book? Well, this one ranks right up there... About one month ago to the day, I see a post here in the "Newbie Collecting" forum by @flip25 that basically says "I just found this book in some old stuff I inherited from my Grandparents/Dad...does anyone know anything about this?" It was a copy of KO Punch . This makes 7 copies I know of in existence, but who's counting ? (there are 4 CGC slabbed copies + 1 raw copy that sold on eBay about 10 years ago + 1 hole-punched raw copy that sold on Heritage about 15 years ago...+ this copy that Flip just uncovered) I reached out to Flip and explained my collecting quest, and it resonated. In the end, Flip decided that he could do a lot worse than doing a deal with me. I understand that Flip was getting advice from some other boardies as well, and apparently the general consensus was that I'm not too much of a jerk, and that he could indeed do worse than allowing me to be the next custodian of this treasure. To those of you who helped in this way, thank you! And to Flip, I SALUTE YOU - really, really cool of you - not everyone would have done this Here she is now, resting comfortably in mylar + microchamber paper: Notice the distribution stamp from the Iowa Department of Health...the raw copy that sold on eBay years ago also had this stamp...go Iowa!!! Here she is alongside my other (non-Reddy Kilowatt) EC promos: Now, the only things missing from this picture are Out of the Past a Clue to the Future, and Church that was Built with Bread. If anyone finds a copy of those laying around in an old box somewhere please let me know
  4. So, a quick summary recap...if you rewind a couple of pages in this thread to the end of 2017, I was talking about my "missing 10" ECs: Across the Seas in a War Torn World Church that was Built with Bread KO Punch Out of the Past a Clue to the Future Picture Stories From the Bible Complete Old Testament 6th printing Picture Stories From the Bible Complete Old Testament 7th printing Reddy Kilowatt 1B (Reddy Made Magic, 1956) Reddy Kilowatt 2B (Light's Diamond Jubilee, 1954) Reddy Kilowatt 3B (Space Kite, S. Calif. edition, 1956) Wonders of Wire Rope As of the beginning of 2024, here is what this list of "missing ECs" looked like (after incorporating recent acquisitions and updates to the "completist list" I outline above): (1) Church that was Built with Bread (2) KO Punch (3) Out of the Past a Clue to the Future (4) Reddy Kilowatt 3B (Space Kite, S. Calif. edition, 1956) (5) Reddy Kilowatt 3C (Space Kite, S. Calif. edition, 1957) (6) Picture Stories From the Bible Complete Old Testament 8th printing (characterized by a blank price circle on the front cover) Yes, as of the beginning of 2024, I was missing 6 of the 478 ECs from my new and improved completist list: 5 seemingly impossible to obtain promo comics + a Bible book printing that I have never seen for sale (but isn't supposed to be terribly hard). The only one of those 5 promo books that I've ever seen for sale is the KO Punch...which I missed out on at auction. Missing out on the KO Punch was a (gutwrenching) key event that left me dejected and led me to start rationalizing how I could redefine my completist list to not include the promos (i.e., they were not copyrighted by EC, I argued to myself...)
  5. 2023 2023 was a pretty slow year for the collection - I only brought in 3 ECs. First, and most importantly, I nabbed that non-code version of Saddle Justice #6 I posted above - I only had the code version before that. Second, I upgraded my raw VG'ish copy of VoH #31 to a slabbed 6.0, courtesy of Bedrock City ( @MrBedrock ). Third, I snagged an upgrade for Saddle Justice #3 off of eBay...the page quality isn't great, but it's not easy to find a copy better than 6.0 (my previous best was a raw GD/VG'ish copy):
  6. 2022 Let's see...what happened in 2022? 2022 saw the liquidation of one of the great EC collections of our time ...by our very own @mrmitchgro. Thankfully, I was able to haul in a few upgrades from Mitch before they hit the auction block: Mitch and I had been collecting buddies for a long time - he has helped out my collection immensely over the years. We've done deals in person over beers. Actually, that International Comics #4 is a book that I sold to him (I found a lower grade copy I was happy with, while Mitch was obsessed with uber-high grade books...so, I sold it to him....which of course I regretted ). So, when he liquidated, he had mercy and sold it back to me - it's come full circle. I miss you, Mitch!
  7. So, having now discussed all of the corrections to my completist checklist, allow me to share some collecting highlights from the past few years.... 2021 In the last half of 2021, on eBay I found a sweet copy of one of the promo books I was theretofore missing: Reddy Kilowatt #1B (1956). [Note: if you want to know more about which Reddy Kilowatt promo books these alphanumeric codes refer to, check out this link: https://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/ec.php ]: So now, the only EC Reddy Kilowatt promo books I'm missing are the two "Southern California" editions of "The Space Kite" (the last two books shown at that link I referenced just above). I laid my books out in the same order as they are shown in the graphic at that link above so that you can see what's what...if you care :
  8. Those are definitely interesting, but it's all about defining the boundaries of "EC Publications." Early on I had to make a philosophical decision about these Superior books...my rationale is that they are NOT technically EC Publications, they are Superior Comics publications (which is an indisputable fact) - see, it says so right there on the CGC Label . I'm sticking with that, and don't try to change my mind!
  9. Hi Andrew! Hope all has been well! It was a little harder for me to find the non-code version, but I think that was probably just the way it randomly played out at the time I was looking. I know others who have the non-code version who need the code version. So, 50/50 is probably a good guess.
  10. Now...what has the collection been up to for the past few years since I last posted? For that, I need to shoot some scans...back later!
  11. Edit: there are a few promo comics that were published shortly after 1956 - upon further reflection, it feels right to include those in my Completist Checklist; however, I'm personally still going to cut off Mad Magazine at issue #30 (December 1956) for reasons discussed earlier. COMBINING ALL OF THIS: let me post an updated Official EC ed's EC Completist Checklist (version 03/12/24, which incorporates all of the updates I discuss in the last couple pages of this thread)...note that there are now 478 issues here, compared to the 470 on the original (incomplete) checklist back on page 1: Promotional Comics (18 issues total): Across the Seas in a War Torn World (*note: published by, but not copyrighted by EC) Church that was Built with Bread (*note: published by, but not copyrighted by EC) Desert Dawn KO Punch (*note: published by, but not copyrighted by EC) Lucky Fights it Through (*note: published by, but not copyrighted by EC) Out of the Past a Clue to the Future (*note: published by, but not copyrighted by EC) Reddy Kilowatt issues 1A, 1B, 1B-reprint, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2C-reprint, 3A, 3A-reprint, 3B, and 3C (*note: published by, but not copyrighted by EC) Wonders of Wire Rope (*note: published by, but not copyrighted by EC) *this note about published vs. copyrighted relates to a post I made some years back...to preserve my sanity, I rationalized that I only "need" to have all the books that were copyrighted by EC...a convenient "escape clause" because some of these promos seem impossible to obtain. But, we'll see how that goes... Pre-Trend Titles (133 issues total): Animal Fables #1-7 Animated Comics #1 Blackstone the Magician Detective Fights Crime #1 Crime Patrol #7-16 Dandy Comics #1-7 Fat and Slat #1-4 Gunfighter #5-14 Happy Houlihans #1-2 International Comics #1-5 International Crime Patrol #6 Land of the Lost #1-9 Modern Love #1-8 Moon Girl and the Prince #1 Moon Girl #2-6 Moon Girl Fights Crime! #7-8 A Moon, a Girl...Romance #9-12 Picture Stories from the Bible Old Testament (1946) #1-2 Picture Stories from the Bible Complete Old Testament, printings 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 Picture Stories from the Bible New Testament #2-3 Picture Stories from the Bible New Testament #1 (1946 reprint) Picture Stories from the Bible Complete New Testament, printings 1, 2, and 3 Picture Stories from the Bible Complete Life of Christ, 25-cent variant, blank price variant Picture Stories from American History #1-4; #2 distributor cover variant Picture Stories from Science #1-2 Picture Stories from World History #1-2 Saddle Justice #3-8; #6 Comics Code seal variant Saddle Romances #9-11 Tiny Tot Comics #1-10 War Against Crime! #1-11 New Trend Titles (284 issues total): Crime SuspenStories #15(1); #1-27 Crypt of Terror #17-19 Frontline Combat #1-15; #9 "yellow" variant Haunt of Fear #15(1)-17(3); #4-28 Mad #1-30 (inc. 3 cover variants of issue #28) Panic #1-12 Piracy #1-7 Shock SuspenStories #1-18 Tales From the Crypt #20-46 Tales of Terror Annual #1-3 Three Dimensional E.C. Classics #1 Three Dimensional Tales from the Crypt of Terror #1 Two-Fisted Tales #18-41 Two-Fisted Tales Annual #1-2 Vault of Horror #12-40 Weird Fantasy #13(1)-17(5); #6-22 Weird Science #12(1)-14(3); #4-22 Weird Science-Fantasy #23-29 Weird Science-Fantasy Annual #1-2 New Direction Titles (34 issues total): Aces High #1-5 Extra! #1-5 Impact #1 (yellow variant), #1 (white variant), #2-5 Incredible Science Fiction #30-33 M.D. #1-5 Psychoanalysis #1-4 Valor #1-5 Picto-Fiction Magazines (9 issues total): Crime Illustrated #1-2 Confessions Illustrated #1-2 Shock Illustrated #1-3 Terror Illustrated #1-2
  12. SECOND: "we" now realize that there are two versions of Saddle Justice #6...one which bears a seal indicating conformity to the "Comics Code" (a predecessor to the infamous Comic Code Authority (CCA)), and one which doesn't. So, this adds 1 book to the EC Completist List. Here are both versions (look under the 10-cent price graphic):
  13. FIRST: we need to revisit my post about the Picture Stories from the Bible minutiae from 2021 (back on page 10 here)...we've figured some other stuff out. Back on page 10, I was still talking about there being 9 printings of Picture Stories from the Bible Complete Old Testament, and that only printings 7, 8, and 9 were "EC publications." Well, long story short, we now think that there are 11 printings, where printings 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 are "EC publications." Of course, this will alter my EC Completist List. If you want the long story (which I won't belabor here), there is a fantastic article by a fellow named Chris Boyko in the recent EC Fan Addict Fanzine #5 that explains everything: Here's a pic of part of the first page of the article (notice the shout out to some fellow named "Ed Owens" in the last line of the first section of text ):
  14. Wow...almost 3 years since I've posted in here! I'm glad this thread hasn't been archived and closed to further comments . It's time for a post, because something astonishing has just happened (i.e., a new acquisition). But, before I reveal what that is, I need to get this thread caught up to speed on a few other matters, which will take a minute...
  15. Bible Tales for Young Folk/People (Atlas, 1953). SOLD TO thirdgreenham Complete 5 issue title run, $200 to Jimbo, I'll cover shipping (USA and Canada); (I bought issues 3, 4 & 5 from Jimbo himself!) #1 VG (4.0): tearing around staples; cover creasing, looks like a bit of light blue crayon markings on FC #2 VG- (3.5): cover edge chipping; heavy diag. creasing LRFC #3 VG (4.0): general wear, creasing, a few tears along cover edges; "KENDAL" written in ink FC #4 GD (2.0): pretty rough...cover edge tearing; 1" upper spine split; interior cover edge tanning; cover barely hanging on to top staple; heavy spine/reading wear #5 VG (4.0): couple of cover edge tears; small triangle piece missing URFC; weak spine
  16. Thanks for the tag...but looks like you all have already gotten to the bottom of this - nice work! I've never seen these before either! Very cool!