PopKulture

Last of the trio of bargain books:

Another from the bargain bin circa 1989 at Joe Sarno's Comic Kingdom:

Back in 1990, thirty five cents would buy you a filler copy of Sergeant Barney Barker number one at the late Joe Sarno's Comic Kingdom on Chicago's North Side.

I kept it in its stale old poly bag all these years, and for nostalgia's sake, I probably will going forward.

No doubt, fifties, there are runs with more books, but per capita, it's tough to deny JIUW. Issue number 8 is one of my faves, along with the second issue which you posted. I'm not an aggressive collector (ie. eBay, HA, CC, etc.), so the chances of these showing up 'in the wild' anymore are slim, I know. Ergo, I'll have to admire from afar for now.

This 1936 book has the origin of Swee Pea!

 

What a weird-@$$ cover! Alice the Goon as the baby nurse. Strange stuff coming out of the Depression days...

(Yes - I'm really snooping around this many posts ago! I can't help it, lured in, as it seems, by the breadth of your eclectic assemblage!)

Okay, now you're killing me softly... That Everett cover is sublime, and I love me some Kirby monster mash! I've never held either of those issues in my grimy paws. Great looking books both.

p.s. If that Strange Tales 50 grades a 3.0, then the stuff I'm planning on posting might actually break into the negative numbers!

Robot Man - I can't argue the virtue of Suspense, as I am partial to it as well. It must be nice to be able to stroll over to the Atlas boxes and fan out a complete run like that. I'm dealing with some heavy hitters I can tell!

Jayman - All great books and titles you referenced and posted! It seems the early consensus leans pre-code, which is no great surprise. Are the later monster books of less interest to most of you? Me, I'm too much of a generalist: I like it all.

My current fever interest in Atlas compelled me to dig through some of my almost abandoned boxes where very low grade copies were relegated for years. Some of these came from a small OO collection which didn't include many issues, but did include a varied cross section - from Menace to Mille the Model, from Jann of the Jungle to Adventures into Terror, Sports Action to Western Winners, and so on. These reside with one-offs I picked up when I was a wee lad riding my bike to the junk yards, things like Buck Duck and Dolly Dill. Great memories. There are no 9.2's among them, but I'm enjoying pawing through them nevertheless.

Ouch, Johnny545, that must've hurt breaking up those runs. Of course, you were lucky to have them while you did!

That #28 you posted looks SO very fresh. Jealous!

For Atlas fans -

After browsing some covers over at Atlas Tales, I was once again awestruck by the sheer volume and (mostly) brilliance of some of our favorite 50's runs. I soon begged the question of which run I favored or coveted the most? Money being no object, of course.

The question first came to mind while I was viewing Journey Into Unknown Worlds, and I thought, hmmm, a title as good as any. Then I was soon savoring the delights of Marvel Tales and thinking to myself the early ones are killer, and their are more of 'em. In terms of sheer numbers, I soon recalled the lenghty runs of Journey Into Mystery and then too Strange Tales! Great stuff throughout, to be sure.

It's tough, but right now I'm leaning towards the aforementioned Strange Tales. There's plenty of pre-code horror and sci-fi, and all that Kirby and Ditko monster madness towards the end of the run. Even though Marvel Mystery is pictured on the site, that's more properly Timely than Atlas, so I'm ignoring that option.

So how about it, Atlas fans, what's your title of choice, and why?

Bravo, RobotMan! Truly wonderful pieces all.

I knew you'd have some killer games, and a great range, too, going all the way back to the Sunday funnies heyday with Harold Teen. Nice. The Superman examples make my mouth water, but I think that Popeye game board is my favorite. It reminds me of an old premium map. Awesome piece!

I never find examples like that, even in the wee hours before the markets open. It seems 60's and up are all the toy collector's syndicate allows to make it to market. You can find all the Kreskin's ESP you want!

Still, I have a fairly colorful display of games in my outbuilding of childhood classics like Twister, Radio Football, Lie Detector, Mouse Trap, Radar Search, Bash, Green Ghost, and of course Ker-Plunk! I love the assault of color and the rush of memories you get from such arrangements.

A far better Christmas present than a sweater or cologne. I need more of the same under my tree. Congrats!

Well, I appreciate quality... And that's just what those 'Film Fun's you posted are!! A few of them look newsstand fresh. The pickin' is not bad out West it seems.

Sweet book, Jayman! You gotta love those issues in the single digits.

Wow... truly wonderful space toys, RobotMan!!

I'm betting you have some awesome board games stashed away too?

It is highly likely that a lot of Baker's, Jetta's, and other DeCarlo stuff are sitting in long forgotten boxes in the homes of inactive collectors. There are probably more inactive collectors than active collectors out there.

I second this sentiment, as a recently re-engaged or recovering inactive collector myself.

Sorry for the tight crops on a few of these - I know you guys like edges and corners! (I scanned a few of these years ago for my flickr page.)

Interesting treatment here:

As promised!

From 1931:

Okay, one more early example of lithography, then back to the pulps!

Here are a few "old timey" examples of lithography:

Now back to our regularly scheduled pulps!

Very cool cover, PK. Thanks for sharing. I like the Red Rajjah one the best.

 

Love the early stone litho printing on those. It allowed colors that were out of the four color spectrum.

Can you elaborate on this? I know nothing about it.

Thanks, RedFury. I'm awed by the rate you seem to be adding holy pulp grails like those Magic Carpets to your collection. Major congrats!

There are quite a few sites online that can explain the stone lithography process better than me, but here's a brief intro in the context of something I also collect - antique cigar labels (though I like the boxes themselves):

http://www.cigarlabeljunkie.com/Html/StoneLith.html

Any single color - or ink - that could be conjured was applied directly to the image, one after another, individually. Laborious, yes.

Four color printing involves cyan, magenta and yellow (along with black), and although a wide range of colors is obtainable, the quality of the old handwrought images seemed never again matched (funny, coming from a four color devourer like myself, I know!).