PopKulture

I am likewise convinced. Sadly, I am similarly convinced most of them hold a lofty opinion of themselves as virtuous iconoclasts in the service of some higher calling. I wish they were as successful at crafting their own legacies instead of tweaking or obliterating someone else's. To think a female Thor, a Korean Hulk, a biracial Spiderman, a young black female Iron-Man (and whatever else I've missed lately) happened organically is delusional. It's lazy - and forced - and comes with enough self-congratulatory smugness to choke on. Yes, I know... (above) =

That is a fair point, as Kav conceded, and the Johnny Hazard strip was visually appealing (not sure he quite put Caniff to shame though), but I think Robbins became a low-water mark when he took on The Invaders. I've tried and I've tried to make excuses why I could actually, somehow, possibly-if-I-tried-really-hard like it; I just can't. p.s. Roth and Leiber - ouch. Did you really have to go there??

I can't believe how great these books look! Both the condition and the cover art from that period... Gil Kane was a genius at cramming contorted characters onto the covers and making it work.

I can similarly recall years ago when my best guy for pulps found ebay.

Fandom was Duck-crazed, no doubt. Plus the Duck books got bumps from things like Overstreet 7 (feature on Barks) and all the Duck paintings Barks was doing. As far as investments: no, the Duck giveaways didn't prove to be the investment the following books did (if you could find them in 1979): Fantastic 3 - $75 Startling 49 - $18 Suspense 3 - $21 Or how about a nice Cinderella Love 25 for $4.50? (that's four dollars and fifty cents, mind you)

Yep, covers have overtaken contents. Like it or not, we're in the slab era. Suspense 3, Fantastic 3, Detective 31, Action 7. But, hey, I do luv me a good cover as much as the next boardie.

It's so much "fun" to speculate on the particular ordering of books that I will never own... Just a few slight tweaks from Wayne-Tec's original list in forming my top ten. I think Pep 22 is a mega-key, but in my mind it just doesn't depose any of these heavyweights. 1. Action Comics #1 2. Detective Comics #27 3. Marvel Comics #1 4. Superman #1 5. Captain America Comics #1 6. Batman #1 7. Whiz Comics #2 (#1) 8. All-Star Comics #8 9. Flash Comics #1 10. All-American Comics #16

All-Star 8 wasn't even in the top 50. Price in 1979 in mint? $450.

I love the fact that the 1979 list includes WDCS 1 and Four Color 9. That Pep 22 is missing from both lists is quite interesting... And a darling book of the late 90's and early 2000's, Detective 1, is also absent from both lists.

Just for kicks, let's see how your 25 stack up against the Duck-heavy top 25 from 40 years ago. Here's Overstreet's list from 1979: Rank Issue Value 1 Marvel Comics 1 $10,000 2 Action Comics 1 8,400 3 Motion Picture Funnies 1 7,500 4 Whiz Comics 1 5,000 5 Detective Comics 27 4,500 6 Superman 1 4,200 7 Wow Comics 1 3,000 8 Captain Marvel Advs. 1 2,500 9 Walt Disney C & S 1 2,500 10 Captain America 1 2,400 11 Batman 1 2,400 12 More Fun Comics 52 2,400 13 Donald Ducks Tells About Kites (SCE) 2100 14 Boy Explorers 2 2,000 15 Marvel Mystery 5 1,800 16 Marvel Mystery 2 1,800 17 More Fun 53 1,800 18 Action Comics 2 1,800 19 Red Raven 1 1,800 20 Four Color 9 (DD) 1,800 21 March of Comics 4 (DD) 1,800 22 Donald Duck Tells About Kites (PGE) 1800 23 Donald Duck Black and White 20 1600 24 Whiz Comics 2 (3) 1,500 25 Donald Duck Black and White 16 1400 And honorable mention: 26 Mickey Mouse FC 16 1,400

And young people these days would really benefit from reading Orwell.

Do I at least get to specify that the majority of those one hundred posts be outside the arena of topics like key comics for under ten bucks?

Can this be yet another consequence of giving kids participation trophies and over-developing their self-esteem?

That is a bit ironic.

Great stuff across all the examples you shared! But you really can't go wrong with the bottom row of the above pic. That Adam Strange MIS is a bit of classic silver goodness; so, too, the Jimmy Olsen. Throw in one of the very memorable imaginary Superman tales from that era and you're firing on all cylinders!

Isn't that the truth? Think about the embarrassment of riches once enjoyed by fans - Kirby, Ditko, Romita, Adams, Colan, Steranko, Smith, Wrightson, and so on. And before them Frazetta, Wood, Feldstein, Toth, Davis, et al. Going back further you have Boring, Finger, Fine, Schomburg, Eisner, Cole, Baker... Nearly every boardie I'd wager with more than 100 posts would score near perfect on an exam of their representative work.

Hey... where'd the little Curt Swan example go??

Hmmm. Backgrounds. Dynamism. An understanding of actual facial expressions. What's up with that?? Man, I can recall reading and re-reading Smith's Red Nails adaptation and just marveling at the POVs and all the attendant detail. Just like in the above illustration, there were all sorts of tiled floors and mosaic-laden walls - add to that the menagerie of blood-spattered characters and you've got the foundations of some very memorable pages . By the time Smith was doing the Studio stuff I'm convinced he had a seance and channeled the better part of Alphonse Mucha's artistic soul.

I can't decide either. Remember when it took twenty minutes to read and enjoy a comic? Twenty years ago or so, I noticed books becoming more like... well, the above example: all flash and no substance. And in the aforementioned case, no flash either. Sure, Liefeld was part of it, along with all the imitators. It seemed there was little action, and splash after splash of muscles-on-top-of-muscles, distorted strongmen and busty sexpots with 14 inch waists. It seemed an exercise in quasi-pubescent artistic m@sturb@tion rather than storytelling.

Thank YOU!!

Take please!!

Take this and claim the Looney Tunes coloring book freebie

Thanks! I will definitely check out the link. I don't mind paging thru the whole catalog as I like to gape at all the other weird pop culture artifacts and historical items as well. I can understand a family wanting the anonymity, but at the same time, as a collector, I love to hear the stories of those great collections of yore.

I picture Richard like Scrooge McDuck, swimming around in one of those over-sized money bins, except the Bedrock bin is filled with high-grade golden age slabs. (That, and I can't reconcile Scrooge wearing an Astros jersey...)

I second that!! Especially since I didn't know that Hake's was auctioning books from a large collection as opposed to disparate consignments. Any information would be appreciated as to what appeared to be contained in the collection...