PopKulture

On 7/26/2024 at 9:51 AM, mstrange said:

Screen Test Wee Hours 1966 Anthony Dean Bonofils cvr? VF/NM $35

 

 

Gene Bilbrew cover. 

On 7/25/2024 at 3:13 PM, ChiSoxFan said:

Sharp-looking book with great colors, and it's one of my favorite covers from the run!

It is a wonderful cover from a series with some of EC’s best covers, like issues 6, 7, 12… 

On 7/24/2024 at 5:24 PM, Darwination said:

I can imagine that strips would be fun to collect but probably oh so difficult.  I gather most of the time they get sold as individual pages?  The right Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon or Little Nemo in Slumberland would look amazing framed on the wall.

A lot of dealers indeed have individual pages for sale, but since packing and shipping such a large and delicate artifact is half the battle, I believe most collectors search out lots, often ten to twenty pages. Sometimes they’re consecutive pages, while other times they’re a collection of more random dates. For the serialized strips like Flash, Prince Valiant, (Richard) Tracy, etc. where continuity might matter more, I have seen dealers offer complete years (or half-years). Myself, I just like to have a few examples of each of the seminal strips as well as the obscure ones. I know almost all the key strips from Nemo to Terry have been reprinted, but as you allude, there’s just something very tactile and satisfying about thumbing through and experiencing the originals. 

On 7/21/2024 at 1:02 AM, Darwination said:

Shout-out to @dickymoe74

All-Story Love Tales Weekly v082n06 (1939-03-18.Munsey)

Great cover blurbs and a cool effect with the "ghost" clothing against the all red cover.  All these love pulps DM's sent me will make it to Internet Archive in due course -

That fadeaway technique was used with great commercial success by Coles Phillips, and less famously so by other illustrators like Valentine Sandburg. Coles’ Life covers (1st series) became really hot for a spell about fifteen years ago. In his day, Phillips attained a level of success nearly equal to that of Parrish or Leyendecker. They’re definitely worth a peek. 

On 7/24/2024 at 2:22 PM, jimbo_7071 said:

That one's gorgeous. Do you know whether the original art exists for many of these? (I'm asking out of curiosity only because I wouldn't have the budget.)

Those pages are from the Des Moines Register which featured Buck Rogers pages opposite Tarzan frequently from about 1933 to 35, when Tarzan was abruptly ended and Flash Gordon started (albeit, not with the inaugural strip). The color saturation of those mid-30s sections is really strong, as are a few others like the Denver Post and the Detroit News. The earlier examples I posted are also from Des Moines Register sections, but they weren’t as vibrant before 1932 or so (but still wonderful to behold in their original form!). 

On 7/24/2024 at 2:22 PM, jimbo_7071 said:

That one's gorgeous. Do you know whether the original art exists for many of these? (I'm asking out of curiosity only because I wouldn't have the budget.)

Anecdotally, I’ve seen a lot more Tarzan originals than early Buck Rogers. I’m sure a search of the old Cochran art catalogs or the Heritage archives would shed more light on the survival rate. Myself, I was priced out of the art market when I was younger and even more so now that I’m older! 

On 7/23/2024 at 6:34 PM, vyprgt2 said:

I've purchased each issue new since #7 

Ahhh… that classic Porky cover. 

That was my first, and I recall it being the first for many others as well. 

On 7/22/2024 at 7:29 PM, rjpb said:

RACKET SQUAD #12

 

Under appreciated Ditko cover. 

You’re correct in that it is somewhat forgotten today, but it was one of the earlier “classic covers” as broken out in the Overstreet guide (I know, I’ve been looking at back issues of the guide lately). 

(An interesting tidbit: long before Suspense 3 or Startling 49, the Colorama issue of Black Cat was listed as “classic” and issue 50 was not!)

On 7/22/2024 at 9:07 PM, jimbo_7071 said:

I'm familiar with the strip, but was his first appearance in this pulp in a strip reprint, or were there also text stories?

@Darwination, feel free to answer. The question is for anyone who knows the answer.

The basic mythology was fleshed out in the Amazing Stories ish pictured previously, but the character as we all know him came alive in the comic strips - first a daily strip and later a Sunday page - about a year after the Armageddon 2419 AD story. 

On 7/21/2024 at 7:18 PM, Robot Man said:

 

Check out Chamber of Chills 19 there… it doesn’t even have a “classic cover” notation! At least not on the right, where it usually is located…

CGC must’ve run the well dry of “classic” designations by assigning that moniker loosely of late to every pulp with a skull, skeleton, almost-naked girl, girl in a tube, etc…

On 7/22/2024 at 12:27 PM, Robot Man said:

Down to Rangers #3 and about 20 Planets to be done with FH..

All Fiction House?! That’s super impressive! Those early oversized Jumbos are tough! 

Big historic runs like that are a testament to persistence.  

On 7/22/2024 at 10:10 AM, Robot Man said:

So, instead, I settled on this early turn of the century advertising heavy chipboard hanging sign for $25. Early football? Soft drink. A steal.

Close… he’s a rugby player. It’s a British brand. 

On 7/20/2024 at 11:19 PM, gadzukes said:

Nope.  An old piece of celophane going across almost the entire front cover   

I'm thinking a 1.0 - 1.5

Still.... cool cover.

 

It’s a great Cole cover, and one that doesn’t seem to come around too often. 

On 7/20/2024 at 11:46 PM, Frisco Larson said:

Wow, that's a cool memory! This copy has a funny story to it. Although I haven't been the last 2 years, I was a yearly regular at the Chicago Con since the mid 90s. Well, at one point, Metro would either send me an e-mail or call me, saying they're going to be there, do I want them to bring anything for me to see? This copy JUST went up on their site. I told Frank to put it down for me, I'd pay for it in person in Chicago. I also had a few raw books coming too. So, I buy this copy and maybe 15 minutes later I'm at Ricky's table (Bedrock City) showing him this treasure that I was over the moon to get ... and Vinnie walks up. He sees the book, does a double take, then proceeds to tell me how it's his favorite Everett cover and a Larson to boot ... and he wants to buy it from me!!! I inform him that I just bought it 15 minutes ago from THEM!!! He had NO idea it landed in their inventory!!! He asks how much it was (I think I paid $1550) and Ricky says, "Well heeell Vinnie, give him 2 grand for it" to which Vinnie says, "OKAY!" I decline saying that I just got it and had been searching for a nice copy for a long time. Vinnie then says the standard, "If you ever wanna sell it, PLEASE call me" to which I reply, "Yeah, sure thing, or some equivalent response." I couldn't believe that he didn't even know that they had it!!! That must be the way it is when you have acres of inventory!!! 

Just that recollection makes an already great book even more priceless! 

On 7/20/2024 at 11:16 PM, Frisco Larson said:

Great minds think of Everett!!!    It's my favorite cover in the run and there are some really good ones! 

I believe I first saw it in Crawford’s Encyclopedia of Comic Books, and in black and white at that. It was even more glorious years later when I saw it in color!  

On 7/20/2024 at 8:52 PM, Frisco Larson said:

That’s the FIRST gator cover I thought of! 

I’ll take Quick Trigger 14 and Western Thrillers 2

I’ll take Set B Planet of the Apes   

On 6/20/2024 at 3:09 PM, buttock said:

Maybe there's a little off-gassing, but it's probably inconsequential.  Especially relative to what the book itself releases.  

This. 

The comic is the more volatile of the two by far. The comic poses a greater risk to the board than the board to the book. 

If it’s within one’s budget to use Mylar and halfbacks (or fullbacks) for everything, that’s great, but my bronze Richie Rich comics are going to remain in their poly prisons for the foreseeable future. 

On 6/13/2024 at 5:14 PM, bc said:

Highly fun book to read 

It's the only PHM annual - it pulled from all the "Big 4" titles at the time.

Great thread idea!

-bc

Unless you include Millie the Model… 

On 6/6/2024 at 7:53 PM, Sarg said:

CGC is completely drunk on "classic cover." Somebody, please shepherd them to sobriety and rein them in before they ruin pulpdom with their facile overzealousness. 

I’ve similarly called them out for handing out the “classic cover” designation like Tootsie Roll Midgees on Halloween, but this is one of the ones I almost agree on: the whole BEM (bug-eyed monsters) phenomenon in pulps surely should score at least one classic cover, and this or Captain Future winter ‘43 are the obvious choices.