dgillock

Schomburg according to Overstreet. Everett according to the GCD. I'm going with the Overstreet on this one. One vote for Schomburg.

Recently acquired on Ebay: A "little" beat, but cheap and complete with some nice pages. Now if I could just find a cheap LG #1...

I blew off the Big Apple Con this past Saturday, but I did go by and see Roger at Time Machine and he gave me a sweet deal on these four Crime and Punishments: I'm especially fond of the cover of 56... A bit too much thought seemed to go into some of the Lev Gleason b&t covers...

I can also offer up this slightly OT scan to keep the thread going: Marvel Science Stories 08/39. Two months before Marvel Comics #1 with some nice Frank R. Paul interior illos.

I'm a little embarassed to admit that this is currently the only Timely in my collection. I sure would love to have more, but they are generally out of my price range: Low grade, for sure, but still one of my favorite covers of the run. I've always been a sucker for a Van der Graff (sp?) generator! I do have my very hopeful eyes on a lower-grade MM #10 right now. If I can keep selling at a regular clip it might be mine within a few months.

Here's a complete change of pace. 1951 Ziff-Davis baseball comic, marked #10 but it is actually a 1st issue. In my 20+ years of collecting, I've never seen a copy of this book before. "Edited by Bob Feller", no less. $5 at a flea market.

Centaur- Thanks for the scan. Nice to see this early example of Biro's work! He was a far better writer than he ever was an artist, but I've always had a soft spot for his drawings.

I did a search on the GCD and there are no hits for Biro on any Centaur books. But... This article from Scoop says that Biro did work on Star Rangers and Star Comics. Checking OS, Biro is listed as having done the covers for Star #6, #9, & #10. #10 is actually a Centaur book, as opposed to a "Chesler/Ultem". No art credits for Biro on Star Rangers, but Bob Wood is listed as having done art in issues 8 to 10 (10 also being the first "Centaur" in this title). No info on whether Biro was scripting stories in either title, but it's a good bet that he was. So whatta say Centaur, do you have some scans for me on that Star #10?

I also recently discovered that Biro & Wood created Boy King (you know, from Clue) for Hillman. They were also the creative force behind the first Airboy stories. My collection is beginning to make a bit more sense to me now. Centaur, you probably already have some Biro scripted books already and don't even realize it. For instance, one of the first publishers he worked for was... Centaur!

That pretty much would be any Lev Gleason. Biro was a one man army. Along with Bob Wood (an interesting character in his own right), they wrote, drew, and/or edited a large part of LG's product. Personally, I think that the height of their output was the Daredevil's, Boy's, and Crime Does Not Pay's from the second half of the 40's. I've also taken quite a liking lately to the very late DD's (#100 and up). These are sort of like the Little Rascals, but with more involved stories. Great article about Lev Gleason, Biro, and Wood here, in particular about Crime Does Not Pay: Linky

Awe, come on Centaur, don't be an ageist! There's a great introduction at the start of that DD story. Biro would often stick these at the front of his books and often there is some great stuff there about his feelings towards the industry, his audience, and his competition. Here's a transcription: "No one likes violent change- unforced humor, the natural result of a situation is always more hilarious. Tree-ripened fruit is tastier than a hot-house quickie! Daredevil takes it's time but gets there just as fast and stays longer and will continue to do so as long as we retain our close touch with the desires of America's comic audience. This is no simple thing for some publishers to do! It necessitates having to concede that the average reader is above a moronic IQ- that he is, on the whole, logical and has a brain to think with. The mistake of some of our competitors, evidenced by your countless letters that we have carefully digested, is that they underestimate your intelligence! We don't bat 1000, but our average is constantly climbing. That proves we're on the right track- as long as you readers keep us abreast of your taste. This Daredevil story is "Evidence #1"! I'm sure that after you've read it, you'll see my point- and you are responsible! It was your wish- therefore my command!" -Charles Biro. Heady stuff for 1947... Like I said, the guy was way ahead of his time. He pre-saged much of what Stan Lee went on to do with Marvel I think. He really put a personality behind the product.

You mean you want me to actually open this copy!?! Just kidding! Here you go, with excellent art by Dan Barry: The cool thing about this issue is that it involves DD's identity being revealed to the public by the press. The twist is that it is actually revealed. No imaginary story, no erasing people's memories, no tricking them into believing they are wrong. Biro was so far ahead of his time as a writer, it's scary.

Nice Black Terror for the price! I'm not so sure that I would do too much playing around with it unless you are just looking to experiment. But, you can buy archival, removable tape at most art or framing stores. If you wanted to try to stablize the spine, that would be a good place to start. Here's what showed up in my mail this morning: Aside from a 1/4" tear on the right edge of the front cover, the book is pretty much spotless. It was sold as a VF- and I paid abut the FN- price. Needless to say that I will continue to watch the seller's auctions.

This showed up in the mail today: Nothing like kids with machine guns! Very pleased with the copy considering how inexpensive it was. I'm getting dangerously close to completing my "pre-crime" run of Headline Comics (though I know #8's gonna hurt).

Picked this up in trade recently. A lower grade copy, but still one of my favorite GA Superman covers:

Thought I'd post a scan of this oddity for any early Quality fans that might be out there: This is a copy of the "half issue" of Feature #26 (it's listed in OS), 36 pages with a single color cover and a four-color interior. Strange item and I can't image why they would have produced it- maybe test marketing a cheaper product. My copy begins with Jane Arden and ends with Charlie Chan. If anyone knows of a copy of the other variant (which should contain the Clock story from the regular #26) drifting around, feel free to PM me.