AndyFish

Giant size MR. Tracy from Harvey-- stunning condition-- this one is flat, square and clean!

Whoops, lied, gotta post TORCHY too. Love this series.

And how about a little SUSPENSE! Always love the design of these covers.

Got a lot at Baltimore-- I'm posting here and in the Cigar thread. I don't want to hijack so I'll limit it to a couple a day... First up, MYSTERY TALES-- always loved this cover-- had a rough 2.0 copy years ago so I was happy to find this upgrade.

And lastly (for today anyway) this great POPEYE Ghost Cover-- love the one eyed sailor's lack of reaction here...

And I don't collect Captain Marvel Jr but I just might start after finding this one...

Speaking of Clowns, got this one from HEROES AREN'T HARD TO FIND at Baltimore...

Oh man picked up so much in Baltimore I don't want to hijack the thread, so I'm going to post a few here for the next few days-- I've also going to post some in Pre-Code Horror too-- even thought I'd rather just one Golden Age thread. First up, Captain Marvel Clown Cover-- I'm a sucker for clowns and I love the original Captain Marvel so this was a no brainer.

Wanted that Ramona cover recreation too-- missed it by about five mins.

It is already happening, but like working digitally the work is going to be differentiated based on the skill of the creator-- in the above example of comic art being shown (the one in BW specifically) the layouts are clumsy and the lettering is amateurishly placed. In art school 200 years ago I had a professor tell me if digital camera's had been around Michelangelo would have used them. Will AI be a tool actual artists use to create masterful work or will amateurs play artist? I think there will be a little of both. But all the whining in the world is not going to stop technology. I've long been on the boat that CGI is ruining movies, I'm no longer seeing SFX artists create an image using an actual camera and a variety of techniques, I'm watching the results of a technician punching in keystrokes, and what is created looks like a video game to me, and there is nothing more boring than watching someone play a video game. Take the 70s James Bond film THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, not a classic by any means, even in the Bond Cannon, but there's a scene where a car is jumped from one broken bridge over to another and it spins in mid air before making a perfect landing-- there were NO TRICKS used to create this effect other than a stunt driver making it. Today it would be CGI-- but back then it was actually done and because it was there was nothing fake about it. But what do I know? These Marvel movies are one step away from being complete CGI Animated films and they are still pretty popular.

As an artist who does sketch covers at shows I can attest to the fact you can't draw on that particular outer paper you're showing in the example, it's a protective covering. Okay you could draw on it with a Sharpie but you're not getting the best and smudges are likely. For that matter sketch covers themselves for some books are often lousy quality-- nothing worse than someone handing you one of those -- and handle blank sketch covers very carefully because hand oil effects that way ink will sit on it.

And last but certainly not least I love Bucket Head-- the fastest man alive is somehow able to run with a bowl on his head!? But far more to the point I love the artwork that was used on the title. Really some of the best in the biz.

If you ask me which is my favorite Golden Age company based on actually reading the stories I'd have to go with Fiction House. FIGHT COMICS and PLANET COMICS have some of the best art and stories anywhere. Picked up this last issue of FIGHT COMICS... And as far as sidekicks go-- you can have Robin, Speedy or Aqualad-- give me Woozy Winks-- because if you're going to have someone help you fight crime-- why not a dough faced incompetent to make you look good?

I love Captain Marvel, which is why I hated the SHAZAM! Movie (I thought the Winnebago TV Show was better). Been finding some good Fawcett's recently. Like Worlds Finest Fawcett's can still be found cheap.

Got quite a few pickups over the last couple of weeks-- I don't want to overload the thread but here are a couple. First up, WORLD'S FINEST #16-- I like the early square bound covers and they can still be found cheap. No respect for WF-- probably because a lot of them have pretty goofy covers-- I mean who wants a Detective Comics #31 when you could have bought Batman gardening! Even as a Bronze Age kid I would buy WF pretty regularly but it was always a reluctant purchase because it meant the newsstand was out of BATMAN, DETECTIVE or JUSTICE LEAGUE.

When I was in art school a professor told me a story about a buyer asking a seller if he'd take 30% off a painting he had in a gallery show-- the artist agreed and when the painting was delivered after the show 30% of it had been cut off. There's a general rule of thumb that you don't ever ask an artist for a lower price-- that's what agents are for. In this case I don't see it as the same thing-- but I agree 1000% that I would have said that's out of my price range-- how about $200 for a quick five min sketch right now and if he said no walk away. I'm going to guess that you're still waiting for the cover sketch-- I know nothing about his reputation and have found all of the Kubert's to be upstanding folks-- but the pattern of taking work at a show and then promising to mail it seldom works out no matter who makes the promise.

Also taking the following House of Mystery 306 $25 Unexpected 179 $10 Billy buckskin 3 $35 Rawhide Kid 25 $45 That'll knock me into the 30% with the other takes. Thanks!

Going to take... HOUSE OF MYSTERY 286 - $20 HOUSE OF MYSTERY 303 - $25 FAMOUS MONSTERS 101 - $15 Two Gun 48 $15 Wyatt Earp 24 $45 Billy Buckskin 1 $65 Battle Action 15 $75 War Adventures 6 $75 And I'm still digging but I'm sure I'll find two more to get me to 30% off So More To Come! Thanks Jimbo!

Keeping in mind the photo I posted wasn't the specific book I saw- in that case the book had faded and so had the CGC Label-- in the example I have that label is crisp and blue-- so my guess would be this one was faded before it was graded (sounds like the start of a limerick there), but the one I saw DEFINITELY was affected by the afternoon sun.

I was always in the camp that if you're buying books and they are graded by a reputable grading company like CGC (acetate-gate shall pass) then the grade is the grade-- to the point that I'd confidently buy a book in an old CBG Style ad with little worry-- for those of you who don't remember CBG- it was THE premiere weekly newspaper for comics collectors and many of us paid extra to get our copies shipped quickly so we could be the first to pounce on ads from various sellers-- and those ads never had pics so you saw a DETECTIVE COMICS #38 VG/F you either wrote a check and mailed it in hoping you were first and that the seller's grading matched yours or you called and asked them to describe the defects to you over the phone-- but no pics! Can you younger collectors even imagine that? Well, I have enough confidence in CGC that a 8.5 is a VF+ and like a dealer I'd done business with many times over I would be confident in what I would get- but then I walked into a comic shop on one of my many convention tours this year and saw something like this (and for the sake of not embarrassing the shop I swiped the photo from the WORSTEST EBAY DEALS thread here on the boards, it wasn't the same book but it was one of similar value)... N Now I'm not going to argue whether CGC graded it this way-- and if they did my whole world is upside down but said book was displayed up behind the register along with many other prized books and the afternoon sun was casting in on the whole display. When I asked to look at the book the owner took it down and handed it me and I said "It's a shame it's faded." to which he took it back, looked at it and tried to explain it was likely a printers error. Well that's not the point of my story-- this is-- as CGC books are graded and then put into circulation I have to imagine this type of thing happens -- an owner stores it improperly essentially destroying the grade. Myself I grade a book based on condition but then the final look is the color. Color is extremely important to me. Recently I ran across a PLANET COMICS #58 a 5.0 with absolutely GORGEOUS color and a 6.5 with slight color fade-- the 5.0 was the same price as the 6.5 but the color was the deal maker for me. My question to you, my CGC fellows and gals, is how important is fading to you in assigning a grade?

It isn't easy- and it's awful trying to work if people are asking you to sign things-- so you just get rolling on a piece and have to stop. You also don't want to be rude to someone who wants to talk to you at the show. On the flip side, I need to be doing something at these shows so I can't sit at my booth and just stare ahead, or push sales-- that's not my nature, so I'm glad to get something to keep me busy but it's why its important not to overbook. It's also awful to go back to the room and keep on working, I've done it for charity pieces that were being auctioned off, but we really get some networking done after the show.

THIS! My favorite part of these shows, after the vintage comics, is to discover an artist whose work I really like. You can't do that on the internet without knowing who to search for. Digging through boxes of Golden Age books with lesser titles I may have never heard of or seen is another plus-- can't do that online. I'm biased because I don't ever have to wait in a line, which would probably change my attitude quite a bit, but for me actually being at a show beats couch surfing any day, no matter how comfortable my chair is.

Well since nobody answered you I'll give you a rundown-- FanExpo is a lot like the old Wizard Shows, but if you've never been to a big con that doesn't do much for giving you a vision. I can't speak for San Francisco, or it being on Thanksgiving weekend which is going to have an impact on who's doing the show. Side note- I had a con organizer ask me why I thought a Thanksgiving weekend show was a bad idea-- "people love to shop after Thanksgiving!" he said-- it doesn't take into account the creators and dealers who have to travel to get to the show-- if you're local, sure you get up the day after Turkey Day and go set up-- but if you're coming in from anywhere that requires more than a few hours commute that means you're driving or flying on Thanksgiving or the day before (I Like to get to a show the day before myself). A lot of people won't want to do that. But assuming this show is like their other shows expect a giant hall, a good portion of vintage comic dealers (which is a nice improvement over Wizard), ditto creators and artist alley where you can get artwork or signatures from your favorite artists and writers or discover someone new. You'll certainly be able to find that POP Figure you're missing, those things are everywhere, and there will be a wide array of modern stuff, good prices on TPB and hardcovers, the occasional video dealer, and people selling masks and collectibles. If you're into celebrities from TV and Film-- especially genre things-- they'll be there and yes you have to pay for autographs or photos but prices vary and I'd suggest buying into a package for your favorites because they do a nice job of keeping lines moving. I'm not a celebrity guy myself, but I was able to say hello to Carl Weathers without any line or waiting whatsoever and the guy was Apollo Creed! Overall, I think they are good family friendly shows, I'm sure when @KevinBoyd has a minute between shows he'll chime in here with some official answers. Well worth checking out if you're in the area.

Well I speak from experience since I sometimes work on printed out digital blue lines and I've also penciled pages using a blue pencil, while I can't say for certain without seeing them, the top one looks like it's digital blue lines and the bottom one looks blue pencil. Why? When we do blue line print outs we're working digitally in the pencil stage-- and while you might begin your pages with some serious roughs you want what prints out to be as clean as possible for the inker (even if that's you) so working digitally it's easy to create a new layer over the roughs (still drawing in blue-- you reduce the opacity of the rough layer) and tighten up the "pencils", then you delete the layer with rough blue lines and you've got a clean set for inking. WIth the bottom page, the rough lines are all there, as if he was working in blue pencil which is extremely difficult to erase. Why do creators work in blue line? 1- a lot of us, myself included, use the John Buscema method of building up your drawing from very rough stick figures until it's got mass. 2- the blue lines don't show up in the printing process. 3- Because of #2 you don't have to sit and erase the pencils after everything is inked. Which leads to the last question nobody asked-- why not just digitally ink too? A lot of us like the feel of ink on a textured board, and drawing on a tablet often feels like you're drawing on glass. I use a Cintiq Pro 22 but I've got a clear piece of thin plastic that adheres to the top of it, allowing the digital pen to feel more like you're drawing on paper-- the digital pen also has a variety of nibs to mimic a closer feel to working traditionally, and digital saves time that's for sure-- but then you have no original for the secondary market. The other benefit to working traditionally is that you don't have the opportunity for endless tweaking which you do with digital, and that doesn't get deadlines met. hope this helps.

Apparently they are setup but not selling to the variants to the public, at least according to Bleeding Cool. The show itself for those who have DM'd me to ask about it being my hometown show, I can't say specifically but the Fan Expo in Chicago was very well put together, similar to the old Wizard Show but I thought there was more of an emphasis on vintage comics and creators there than Wizard had in years past. I've not done the Boston Show since it's first three years when it was first established in the early 00s so I can't say specifically, but if you've enjoyed Wizard's Shows in the past then I think you won't be disappointed. And I'm extremely sorry for those of you who thought I was ignoring the DM's-- I wasn't getting notifications but I've corrected that.