Surfing Alien

I'll probably post this elsewhere as well but I know there's some Atlas logo lovers over here. Amazing Detective Cases, April 1944. I don't usually get too excited about photo covers but it's nicely colorized and this is the only issue of the series with an Atlas logo. It's a pretty early usage

FTFY Nice Pops

I don't like The Spine Tics... or The Bindery Chips either

Back to the creepy covers... I like a nice minty fresh Dell once in a while. They have a certain charm. Cover art by Gerald Gregg. 1946, Golden Age goodness Mapback of "Pollock and the Porroh Man" by H.G. Wells.

Uncredited, and I haven't seen any guesses.

I'd go see The Good Girls open up for The Nipple Covers

Love Romance Series No. 1 was the last of the three I acquired. It took years to find one

calling @catrick339

Walter Popp's cover girl is gritty and excellent - and this one is a great read to boot. Calling the dude a "Heel" is kindness, he's a real POS

This article about Hitt is more colorful and entertaining than a dull Wiki... https://www.criminalelement.com/orrie-hitt-the-shakespeare-of-shabby-street-hall-of-fame-pulp-brian-greene/

I've read quite a few Hitt novels and many of the JD novels I collect. The theme that runs through quite a few of the JD books in particular is a "stand-up" guy, whether a policeman or social worker, who gets caught up trying to save some salvageable soul in the gang, who is usually a beautiful girl, slightly under 18, who they develop a soft spot for and end up falling in love with. I've been surprised at the number of them that end up blatantly sleeping with them as I thought there was a code in place back then where that was a no no. Most of the Hitt novels I've read have been more of the Horatio Alger type where the protagonists are lower or middle class workers who can never get a break, and the plot of the book involves them having a chance to "make it big" in some way that would compromise them (sleeping with someone, using questionable business tactics, both, etc.) and how they resolve that dilemma.

Would be a great name for a Boardie Band

Really? They just sent me an offer for $1250. Oom yeah.. I need that number in the corner... yes'm 😄 https://www.ebay.com/itm/256466849868?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=be6F0ALMQOq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=XwvppebcTg6&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY So this just went at auction for probably what it's worth. https://www.ebay.com/itm/364819520611?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=be6F0ALMQOq&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=XwvppebcTg6&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY I think this whole "every graded pulp is now worth a thousand dollars" will whither on the vine as it should and the power to the people will be restored. I'm not a hater, I just think Bob Overstreet was right to promote gradual increases, even when local conditions sent a few books skyward.

I remember when I first saw this cover, a nice copy sold on the bay for about $250, and I started looking for any decent copy under $300 and it just so happened that this was the time of changes, around 2021, and no nice copies came up. Only pukey beaters priced at $500+. No thanks.

The whole "Paperbacks From Hell" thing puzzled me when I first saw it but I recognize it now for what it is

All the crazily priced CGC pulps on the bay now seem to be sitting. As well they should. Very few overall look to have sold.

The thing that puzzles me the most is the thousands of modern trade paperbacks listed on ABE for hundreds of dollars each, I mean there are thousands of them, to the point of being highly distracting when doing a search sometimes. All books that can be had for $10-30 but someone is listing tons of them like this. I keep thinking it's some kind of inventory/tax scam

One of those books that I'd get, just for the Hector Garrido cover art - no one cares about the book I've always had other more important things to go after when one has come up though, it's just not an important book to me but one I wouldn't say no to a gift

A few observations/agreements here - Paperbacks are still dirt cheap compared to other collectibles - I've been buying and selling for years now and the vast majority of cool books can be had between $20 and $100 whether golden age or newer. There's no one search that can dragnet the field. The listing methods vary so widely, I know of recent sales higher than those but they are still pretty rare, if only because the truly rare never come to market. The market is highly cyclical/volatile. I've seen collections with the real goods come to well advertised auction/market that caused a plethora of 3 figure sales in a short time, and I've seen droughts of such things so no narrow time period can capture what's happeneing. That said, there's plenty of 80's books that go for high dollar - the Halloweens included. I didn't even know about those until I happened cross a minty copy of "III" about a year ago and it sold very quickly for $125 in my store. Many books in the 80's had relatively small print runs and there's a ton of fans out there to support them.

Sweet copy. I love that cover but man those add up quick in the storage space department

But...but ... that's the very definition of a wraparound cover Love looking at this one. I have a nice copy but really want a 9.0 or better. It's very tough to find without wear on those dark spine edges. I know we've been over this book before, but you don't need a hi-res image to see that the folds of the stage curtains at the left of the top front cover are painted, uninterrupted into the spine panel, and that the floor at the bottom left front is painted over and under the dancing Salome and head of John the Baptist at the bottom spine area. It is also apparent that the plate protrudes onto the front panel and her dress on the spine protrudes into the front and back panel. The stage curtain was just an ingenious way for him to create a screen in the middle of the painting to create some separation between the main scene and the other acts in the book. Now if you want to argue that it's not a wrap around because it does not all depict one scene, that's a different argument imho

Wisdom right there I have no idea how my daughter could be graduating college this year I love how well she is adulting but I sure miss her toddler-hood, it all happens so fast