Randall Dowling

Here's my current copy (forgive me if I posted it before, getting old). It was part of Jon Berk's collection.

Did you win this auction? Looks like you did! It looks like a copy that I used to own (date stamp and placement). It's a great book and worth every penny if you ask me!

This thread and the one in CG is best example I've seen of the saying "A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth puts on it's shoes."

I used to own that Habit cover with the wolf until a few years ago when I sold it to someone here on the boards. Still have a few of his other pieces. This one is my favorite:

Some very high quality reading material in that bad boy!

Like you, I crack just about all of my books. And in doing so, I've altered the census for all of those books. I keep the label with the books but that doesn't change the fact that the census is no longer correct.

To the OP, very sorry this happened to you. It's really heartbreaking to see what happened. However, it seems to me that while you may not have a nice copy of that book, you do have something far more valuable in your life- the love of someone that supports you. And, to me, that's the most touching part of your story. Happy Holidays,sir!

As if I know anything that you don't!

I'm just going to add one more thing based on my experience. Because of their size, the prevalence of black front covers and/or black back covers, the paper stock, and the fact that they didn't fit well into most comic boxes in the 70s and 80s (early days of comic book storage), magazines are generally tougher in high grade than their comic contemporaries. Significantly tougher. It's one of the fun parts of collecting them. It's not like if you have enough money, you can just buy a 9.6 or 9.8 of pretty much any issue. There are certain books that are legitimately scarce in high grade.

Others can chime and feel free to clarify/correct me, but my understanding of the census reflects the following factors: Skywald was a "me too" company in many ways in that they were following a few years after Warren had established itself. I think part of the motivation for starting the magazines was based upon a period at Warren when the quality of material dropped substantially and they saw an opportunity to upend their position. As such, their initial print runs were a bit more substantial but nowhere near the runs for Marvels and Warrens. Later the print runs would drop substantially as they found their market position and Warren caught it's next wave with the Spanish Invasion and took off again. Even though the covers were well done, the interiors were substantially less in quality from other material, another reason for comparatively lower demand and print runs. By the end of the runs, as with all companies at the end of their life, cashflow becomes an issue and you start trying to cut costs to stay afloat. One of the ways publishers do that is by using cheaper printing materials, cheaper printers, cheaper content creators, etc. By the time Nightmare 20 was getting produced, they were pretty much done (last issue was 23). All of these factors contributed to magazines that had lower print runs, were collected less for decades, and had cover stocks that are more easily damaged. There are certain common flaws in the later issues like staple tears at the top staple (or at least stress there). So, the result is that Nightmare 20 would be a tough book no matter what, but on top of all that, it's John Byrne's first published work and so there are non-magazine Byrne fanatics that have copies as well. Current census is 10 copies with (1) 9.4, (1) 9.2, (1) 9.0, and (2) 8.5s. And that's after 20 years of some very dedicated magazine collectors trying to get the absolute best copy in a 9.8 or a 9.6. I'm not saying that they aren't out there. But the best I've ever seen in person was probably a 9.0. And I'm kind of a Byrne fanatic...

In case you're not familiar, he literally wrote the book on pulps. As in "Bookery's Guide to Pulps". One of the great things about these boards is the wealth of knowledge these guys have. It's really appreciated. https://www.budsartbooks.com/product/bookery-s-guide-to-pulps-related-magazines-second-edition/

Am I the only one that keeps finding phallic symbols on this cover?? And no, don't get judgey with me. I'm not the dirty one.

Man, I'm sorry to see this. I've been there. Recently. This looks like a clear bait and switch to me, FWIW. One of the tougher things I've run into collecting magazines that most don't consider collectible (non-comic, non-pulp), is that people ship them in all manner of packaging. I've received a Detective/Crime mag where the guy cut 2 pieces of cardboard to the exact size of the book and then sandwiched the magazine between them. And wrapped the whole perimeter with high adhesive duct tape... It was impossible to get out without damaging the book. And of course the duct tape tore most of the spine off along with pieces of the body and cover around the rest. It looked to be high grade from the photos when I bought it. Less so, when I finally got it out. I'm with SA, send that puppy back. Tell them you want the other one.

I do too, but I can't remember the specifics either. I think @OtherEric has it pretty much right. I don't have anything to add.

I think this is why a lot of us are enjoying magazines so much. A lot of the precode artists ended up working for these magazine companies. If you look at the early Warrens, it's basically the stable of EC artists with a few notable exceptions (Feldstein, Ingels). And a few of the newer talents like Neal Adams, Jeff Jones, etc. It's a lot of value for your collecting dollar and many are not that easy to find in nice shape. I joke but I think you're approach is the right one, buy the tough issues first, be aggressive and don't look back. I've never regretted reaching for something that was on the outside of my comfort zone. I have lots of regrets about not taking down books when I had the chance. These are still the salad days of magazine collecting. Once more people figure out how cool these things are, a lot of these prices (record highs or otherwise) will look like bargains. And there are already certain issues that are becoming legitimately tough in grade (like Nightmare 20).

I know, right? @Gregd came to dinner with an appetite. And instead of waiting for the food to be brought to the table, he's decided to go right to the kitchen.

Not me but I have an idea who might have. He's the most voracious magazine collector I know of. His quest for high grade copies borders on maniacal. He purchases more magazines in a month than the average collector does in a year. And he won't be outbid no matter what. It's a matter of pride. I'm talking, of course, about @oakman29! Well, Oakman??? You want to step forward and acknowledge your role in all of this (he'll probably deny it and claim he doesn't really buy that much these days but we know better, don't we guys)??

A book I've been looking for in nice shape showed up today and I'm very pleased with it. It was clearly one of the more iconic images from Eerie Publications as they used it again and again on covers over the years. I've been looking for a nice copy of this (the first issue with this artwork) for at least 10 years!

Nice book, Jay! Basil's work throughout the 50s and 60s is pretty incredible.

Nice find! That's a tough set to nail down in high grade. I think I'm still missing the last 3 issues.

Where at? As a fellow Minnesotan, it would be good to know.

I would adjust your expectations and desires for golden age books. Here are my thoughts (for what their worth, apologies in advance for the long post): Page quality, writing on cover, tanning, condition- all of these things and more require flexibility when buying books that are over 70 years old and printed before most people ever imagined collecting comics. Having chased various GA books over the last 30 years, I can tell you that there are some books you're lucky to find a mid-grade copy of. If you wait, hoping for nicer book, you may never own one. Either that or open your wallet wide and be prepared to offer large amounts of money for books you're looking for. While there are times when I believe working on books makes sense, this is far from one of them, IMO. As others have said, the marks that you're referring to are part of the journey that book took to get here after nearly 80 years. Nothing is magical, everything has a trade off. Dry cleaning may take care of this but it may also have some unintended consequences . I don't see the value in shaking the dice. If you like the book (GA in particular), buy it, enjoy it for what it is, not what you want it to be. You can alway buy this copy and then search for an upgrade as you go. Many markings on books are actually identifiers from various collections. When I was younger, I absolutely despised writing on covers, date stamps, anything that wasn't there when the book was printed. Then I discovered the books from Edgar Church's collection. The coding on those books is part of what makes them both identifiable and special. This is true not only for that pedigree but also for many other collections, both formally identified and not. The markings are unique identifiers that make this book what it is (there's nothing sadder than finding a Larson copy where someone tried to erase his name thinking it would be better without). So now, I see writing on GA books a bit differently. YMMV. Consider that the writing on this book actually makes it better. Tells a story that you wouldn't get otherwise. Chuck Mars obviously dreamed of being a big strong man. So much that he filled out the order form on the back of the book. Thankfully for us, he didn't cut it out and send it in so you have his address as well in Cleveland. You can look it up and see where Chuck lived and grew up. Have some fun and see if you can find any vintage photos of the area. Maybe you find a picture of a newsstand or a drug store that was nearby in the 1940s (you'd be amazed how many postcards were made back then). The internet gives us awesome powers we never had before to search these things. And you get a great story about this book and the kid that loved it enough to save it in such nice shape. Last, but not least, I don't know why anyone would want Mary Marvel covers...

Wow!!! Nice haul, sir!!

Nice group! Winners all!!

She's using that camera on that Nazi's chin like a pro.