Randall Dowling

Deadly Hands of Kung Fu 10, 9.4, Glossy and fresh, looks like it was just printed. Has a great retelling of the origin of Iron Fist with the first appearance of Steel Serpent. $100

Rampaging Hulk 9, 8.5, Pennsylvania Dutch Copy. Beautiful copy of a very tough book with the classic Earl Norem cover showing the original Avengers. This pedigree is known for freshness and gloss on books. Would grade higher if not for ink transfer on front and back covers. Purchased as a 9.4 from one of the major comic dealers. $80 Sold to speedcake @ 20% Off

Savage Sword of Conan 9, 9.2, Classic Boris cover, this copy has glossy, wet looking colors on the cover with a nice clean white back. Tough book to find in grade these days. $110 Sold to David the David @ 20% off

Vampirella 1, 2 French, 6.0 average, These aren't reprinted copies of the Warren mags with price changes, but rather the original US interiors supplemented with articles and other information on the monster/horror scene in Europe. The number 1 is the original issue before they reprinted with the yellow border. Very difficult in nice shape as these mags are extra thick with stiff covers. I purchased these as part of a set that all looked like they were purchased new and then set aside for the last 50 years. $200 for the pair. Sold to bounty coder.

Creepy 29, 8.5, A nice clean copy with great gloss. One of the very tough Warrens in any grade let alone higher grades. $110 Sold to jrbaxter

Eerie 25, 9.0, A gorgeous classic Steranko cover with great gloss and page quality. Finding a better copy than this is not only super tough but most likely very expensive as well. $160 Sold to eyersman @ 20% off

A quick note about my lame scanner. For whatever reason, it seems to add artifacts that make books look dirty or worn when they really aren't. Feel free to request photos for clarification.

Vampirella 15, 9.2, Classic cover by Sanjulian with a notoriously difficult black background. One of my favorites. This particular book looks new with excellent page quality. $140 Sold to jr70

Here's what's left: Vampirella 15, 9.2, $140 $112 with 20% off. SOLD! Eerie 25, 9.0, $160 $128 with 20% off. SOLD! Creepy 29, 8.5, $110 $77 with 30% off. SOLD! Deadly Hands of Kung Fu 10, 9.4, $100 $70 with 30% off. Vampirella 26, 9.2-9.4, $110 $77 with 30% off. SOLD! Eerie 117, 9.0, $40 $28 with 30% off. SOLD! Vampirella 25, 9.2-9.4, $120 $96 with 20% off. SOLD! Eerie 31, 9.2, $80 $64 with 20% off. SOLD! Eerie 14, 9.0, $60 $48 with 20% off. SOLD!

Chasing a couple grails and have to let go of some quality material sooner than planned. Opportunities abound as many of these books took me a long time to find copies this nice. The usual rules for this thread apply: -No HoS or Probation list buyers -No buyers that I have on ignore (you probably know who you are but if you're not sure, I'll let you know) -No shipping to Canada unless I've sold to you before (pretty much just one and he knows who he is ) -Payment via Paypal or Venmo (Venmo preferred). -Shipping via USPS Priority for $12 for the continental United States. Shipping for Canada will be quoted. -First in the thread wins and prevails over pm offers -Returns accepted for 14 days after delivery Feel free to pm with offer or questions. I'm always open to reasonable package offers. My Kudos thread is here for those that don't know me: Thanks for looking!

Eerie 41 is a classic! So good they used the cover again on Ring of the Warlords.

Ha! Posted the same story at the same time!

Man, when I started this thread, I didn't realize it's Friday. To address a couple of posts, both me and my friends read comics from all publishers. Image, Dark Horse, Dynamite, and other independents have had some successes in the last 30 years, as have Marvel and DC. But the misses far outnumber the hits. Here's a few exceptions that come to mind but it was tough coming up with even these 3.

Wow... you don't see those everyday!

Nice. Welcome to the boards.

You know, that's a good point. The stories are so thin (also the comics themselves) that they have gotten really, really boring. A good friend of mine recently described his experience reading a modern comic as such- "When I got finished reading page after page of minimal story and bad panel layout, I felt something that comics never made me feel before- old." So, yes, it's going to be hard to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear when you've got very little story to work with.

I know this isn't what you intended, but I actually think this is the making of a great story. Done well, I'd be much more interested in this than another fairy tale about "beautiful" people. Or "average" people that are (shockingly) transformed into being "beautiful". Undeserved challenges, overcoming adversity, fighting against the worst aspects of society and coming out the other side, on top- these are potent ingredients for a great story.

Yep! These are great covers from the days of looking at the newsstand and being thrilled by the hints of different stories in each book. I still remember very clearly seeing FF 243 at the local drug store where I grew up. It had just come out and me and my friends couldn't wait for the next issue after reading 242. And then, I saw the white cover with Galactus and it did not disappoint! Nice choices!

Exactly what I'm talking about. Man, that's bad!

One of the great losses for me in comics is that over the last 30 years, covers slowly became increasingly about some character pose or other. As a kid growing up in the 70s and 80s, most of the covers had to do with the story inside. But that's when comics had stories that were worth reading. I'm not saying that there weren't pose covers back then. There were. But they were iconic and well done (think Amazing Spider-man 100). Today, every artist- from average to talented, just phones in a pose cover. And I think comics are worse for it. Feel free to post any that you feel are great non-pose covers from the last 30 years. I'd love to see them.

That's a great bunch of mags! @namisgr has an excellent eye for quality! My order from him is due to arrive in the next few hours...

So, it's settled then. Let's just say it- Hulk 180 is the first appearance of Wolverine. Hulk 181 is the second appearance, first cover appearance. It was ever thus.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Hope you enjoy the day and find some R&R because tomorrow, it's going to be time to work off those extra calories.

"Dealers" being bad people is a very old stereotype, in many cases well deserved. The greater the dollar amount, the more tempting it is to compromise basic values and ethics for just a little bit more. For what it's worth, my take on dealers is that there are two types: Type A: A fan of the medium that realized he/she could find pieces for collectors and is reasonably fair when it comes to pricing. They care about their customers and nurture long term relationships. They are typically very knowledgable and value pieces as best they can relative to all other art on the market. Unfortunately, they are few and far between. Type B: Someone who looked at art (or comics, or pulps, or whatever) and saw an opportunity to jump in, jack up the prices and make a bunch of money. To them, the art is just a means to an end and they don't really care about collectors. In fact, I've run across a few that seem to have the P.T. Barnum attitude toward their customers. These individuals are like leeches in the market. They add almost no value and inflate prices artificially. Some will say that Type A are fools that may be leaving money on the table. But Type A is who I'm looking for to purchase from, not because their prices may or may not be less, but because that's who I'd rather give my business to. YMMV.

Patrick is one of the great people to work with on the boards. I purchased a couple books from him and it was just as expected. Thanks, Patrick!