Randall Dowling

I forget every other issue that had them. But pretty sure I've seen the insert in these others: Iron Man 168 Marvel Tales 149 X-men 167 Captain America 279 Thor 329 Avengers 229 Conan 144 Probably other issues, as well. I don't think these had the insert in every issue printed. May have been regional or similar to Mark Jewelers? I don't know.

I've posted this before over the years but I'll do so again here (apologies to those that are reading it twice). Back in the early 90s, I used to run a comic book store in the small Mid-western town where I lived. We had back stock on many books from over ordering in the 80s including issues like Fantastic Four 252 (which also had the Lakeside Tattooz insert). Some people were starting to ask when they bought a copy whether or not it had the Tattooz in the book for the various issues that were supposed to. To our surprise, very few of the books in our stock had the actual tattooz. They all had the insert, untampered with. But there were no tattooz inside the insert (you had to hold it up to the light to see if they were in there). So, we started asking regular customers if they had them in their books. Several went home and looked at their copies of both FF 252 and ASM 238 and were shocked to find out that their copies didn't have the tattooz either. What was remarkable was all of them had purchased copies and bagged them, put them away and hadn't touched them since. One customer's copies had come from subscriptions (anyone remember the kraft paper wrap around Marvel subscription books?), and he didn't have the tattooz. All had inserts, relatively few had tattooz. So, the only conclusion we could come to is that not all copies had tattooz in the insert to begin with. No idea what percentage but if one used the sampling from our little investigation, far less than half came with tattooz. Is it possible that some chumpy kids took the tattooz out of books on the newsstand without buying the book? Sure. But that wouldn't explain subscription copies or our backstock at the store. I personally don't think books without should get the green label. But I do think blue labels should note whether or not they are there.

One of my favorite stories about Voltaire (which may or may not be true) is that on his deathbed, as he was nearing the end, a priest came to see him. After sitting down on a chair next to the bed, the priest asked Voltaire if he would renounce the Devil for the sake of his immortal soul. Voltaire responded "This is no time to be making enemies." Even if the story is apocryphal, I still enjoy it. Print the legend and all that.

Just good, solid alliteration.

Routinely, the best thread on the boards.

I'd love to take you to a major art museum, like the Art Institute of Chicago or the Met in NYC. After spending an afternoon looking at those works with someone that can share some knowledge about them, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't feel the same way. It really isn't about "artsy people". It's about something much, much more. The fact that most people lack literacy doesn't mean reading is a waste of time.

I would guess it's more likely a warehouse find. Battle Cry is a great title.

That's a very cool book! I'm a big Chandler fan.

Yeah, same thought about that scene. This episode was better than the last but it's all a bit... amateurish. Which can have it's own appeal (agree with Greg's correlation with Dr. Who). But if I wanted to watch Dr. Who, I'd just watch Dr. Who.

No lies detected.

I feel like I keep trying to like this show and it keeps coming up short of my reach. It reminds me of a lot of drekky 80s comics- overly complicated stories that lack depth but try to make up for it with lots of references and cool words. Not sure I'll keep losing time to this show. We'll give it another episode or 2 yet, before abandoning all hope.

Wow! That's really saying something given your collection! Very cool book!

Yeah, likewise. Very enjoyable and looking forward to next season. We have multiple storylines that are on cliffhanger status and I'm interested in all of them. Well done!

Wow! That's really cool, Pat! I had no idea. I've come across your dad a few times due to my interest in reading about WWII. My grandfather fought in the Pacific theater as well so it's always been an interest of mine. Thanks for sharing!

You don't see this issue very often.

More girls!

Pretty sure Frazetta's comment wasn't about time spent. It was about lack of focus or attention to detail for the work. Ross treated all parts of the canvas with the same amount of detail. There is no focus, nothing he was trying to communicate. He was just making a landscape, and not very well at that. I think a pretty strong argument could be made that Bob Ross didn't understand light very well, either. Apparently, this planet has multiple suns and some very confusing flora (I don't know what that thing at the bottom right is but it's not a plant that grows on Earth).

Aren't the first two copies here the same printing? I don't believe that Bantam had multiple printings under the same issue number, in this case- F3067 (pretty sure this predates number lines on these books). My guess is that any printing differences are from age or lithographic process. @Surfing Alien, can you confirm (or anyone else that knows more than me, which is pretty much everyone)? As to the question of which one to collect, when I find a particular cover illustration that I like, I try to identify the first printing of it and pursue that. YMMV. Edit: Just looking at Bruce Black's notes on Bantams and it sounds like it's kind of a mess. I guess we'd need to see the copyright page to verify.

I guess P.T. Barnum was right, there's one born every minute.

Cool book! Yeah, anyone that's spent a bit of time collecting these non-comic mags has had the unfortunate experience of terrible packing and arriving damaged. The worst one I got was a package that was sandwiched between 2 pieces cardboard and then had duct tape wrapped around the perimeter. The cardboard was somehow cut to be the exact dimensions of the magazine inside, which was not in a bag of any kind... of course, I didn't know this going in so I took an knife to the edge trying to open it and, to my horror, inadvertently sliced the book before discovering that the duct tape was adhered to all sides of the book. The duct tape did not come off cleanly. It was probably a VF before it was sent. Closer to a VG- by the time I got the book out of that nightmare. It was like a horrible trap that was impossible to see coming. And I paid a lot more than $10 for that book. It's just the nature of buying these mags that people don't realize are collectible. The eBay gods are fickle gods that giveth and taketh away as they please.

Adventure is one of my favorite titles. Lots of amazing covers by great artists. Unfortunately, it's also one of the most difficult to search for.

I've never seen this before. Very cool!

You feel that strongly about it, Dave? You know bugs better than most but I've seen a lot of Warrens from that period with the exact same defect. I always thought it was just poor paper stock that tore at the edge when it was trimmed at production. It's always at the corners on the books I've seen.

I've always loved this cover. Harold McCauley is one of my favorite illustrators of the pulp era. So many beautiful covers for Amazing Stories and many other publications. I first found him by his covers for Imaginative Tales.

I wonder how many of us started our collecting of paperbacks with the Frazetta/Burroughs books in the Ace F series. I know it was the beginning of my interest 30 years ago. Great books, OE! Keep 'em coming!