PopKulture

Ha! As cool as I remember it. I went and checked too! I was going to post a scan...

I agree: it's tending towards that whole "improvement" stigma. Scribbling ironically would have probably resulted in a blue label.

I'm thinking it's the back cover fill-in. I'd call that writing on the cover, not color touch, but I guess it depends on the "intent" somewhat (which is always a tricky prospect as you would have to be able to read one's mind!).

Are you keeping it? And are you keeping it raw or subbing it? I guess what I'm asking is trimming the pages yourself an option? p.s. I know, I know...

Definitely in that catch-all VG range, but not all VG's are created equal, as we know. VG- to VG to me, so 3.5 to 4.0. The pages look great, and there aren't too many SA covers better than that. Murphy Anderson knocked it out of the park!!

It looks like a little wrinkle to the book lower right corner, but may be just the way it's lying. If you're a presser (and I've never), I'm thinking this would benefit. Is that a little staple rust on the lower staple especially? 8.0 to 8.5 as it lies.

Yes, it certainly looks like foxing to me as well, which doesn't seem to get dinged as much - go figure (odd, since some of it is STILL alive and can worsen in humid and dark conditions!!). Dust shadow lower right, but I can still see this one in the 8.0 to 8.5 range.

Dust shadows are tough. You see Church copies or Allentowns with them that get 9.2 and 9.4 all day long, and I know I've seen them on 9.6 as well. I think this book would net around an 8.0.

Yep, I fell in love with it way back when O'Brien's The Golden Age of Comic Books came out. All those nice full-size cover reproductions. Most collectors had never seen those books in person! I wish there was a whole series of books like that...

I agree with Capra: 8.5 likely. There's just enough wear at the lower corners and enough minor wear near the upper staple, plus a few spine ticks (minor) and some light scratches near the 'D' in "Deathlok" that may or may not be artifacts from printing and/or binding. That having been said, I wish mine was this nice!

Wow, that's an amazing house ad! I forgot about that one, as it's been a long time since I read that book. I do know an earlier FF had an ad for a pretty solid pair of early Marvels: Amazing Spider-Man 1 and Tales of Suspense 39!! It was either FF 12 or 13.

Yep, it's incredible. There are a lot of menacing, green hands on covers, but how many covers feature two menacing green hands?!

Wow, what a great snag - congrats!! The guys in tights curry a mighty slice of our collective attentions, but this is what four color dreams are made of.

That sucks! I hope you get some relief from the surgery. Rest up and follow the doctors orders so you can be back to lifting long boxes soon!

Looking through some of these pages, I saw the Nancy/Fritzi books and thought "that's likely going to be a Robot Man take if he doesn't already have it," and lo and behold I scroll down to see the "take." Congrats!! p.s. I just know you already have some of those holiday-themed Looney Tunes - otherwise, those would be too tempting to resist!

Some great pick-ups on a group of really nice Dells! Congrats!!

As I've experienced trimming Sunday comics, some of those pre-chips can likewise be created by trimming. I am however leaning towards no-trim on this specimen, mostly because the page reveal at the right can be explained at the spine.

I agree with this to the extent that everyone had their share of sub-par efforts, but I tend to believe artists in the earlier decades were under more onerous deadlines.

Tough to tell. There is a bit of rolling at the spine which would pull the cover in past the pages, but who knows? I've trimmed Sunday comic pages from newspaper sections enough to know that even a sharp razor can catch a few "pills" or crumbs of paper and result in small tears as the blade plows through more than cuts the newsprint. A few of those "nicks" look suspicious on your right-hand edge, but I've seen them result from factory trimming, so again, it seems inconclusive. I feel the more you wonder about trimming, the more likely you are to talk yourself into the opinion that a book has been trimmed. I've gone through it myself.

I hate foxing, so I'd take copy A all day. I go through this all the time with minor upgrades to various silver and bronze holdings. Trying to decide which VG+ book presents better often makes me think flipping a coin would be easier. Glad to see someone else perseverating likewise!

An obvious omission would be Raboy among the cover artists; Eisner has to be among the best storytellers; and I'd put Hogarth in any list of strip artists.

GS Spider-man 1 $12 GS Spider-man 4 $22 HOM 102 $18

First cover with national distribution, so that's still worth sumptin!

Wow, that is an amazing pick-up! When I was a youngun' hunting this stuff, that was thought to be her first cover; then, the Douglas Airview mag came to light, and later the British Leader. Still an amazing piece of popular culture!

Was Hef even relevant at that point? I believe that book might be too early to bear his image. Playboy was either in its infancy or soon to come. Marilyn I can see, sure, and I can see a little George Raft there...