Robot Man

I have only seen a picture of one. So, I know it existed. Might have been a small regional bottler. The sign I pictured is a nice tin litho example. It is 6” x 13” and probably from the 1930’s. My wife picked it up for me in one of her buying trips. Stoked to own it!

If you love the book more than the price you paid, you did not over pay. I have found than when I have paid up for a book, in time it has always turned out to be a deal. I’m a “keeper” so the need to flip for a quick profit never figures into my decision. The Promise collection was no “attic find”. An amazing collection in amazing condition. I know a lot of savy collectors paid up for books for their personal collections. These folks know that if they hang on to them, they will do just fine financially. The flippers, are taking a cold bath. At the end of the day, as it has always been, there are folks who have plenty of money and there are folks who just either don’t or have other priorities.

Nice group Don! Ever run across a bottle for this soda? Been looking for one for quite a while.

I have only gotton one sketch cover…

I don’t have the comic but at least I’m in the Bill Barnes Air Warden club!

From my perspective, there were no “modest” Promise purchases. Hell, I couldn’t even justify buying a strip reprint book at those prices…

I had the opportunity to buy a decent copy around 1972 for $35. Problem was, I had just bought a complete set of EC annuals and the run of Piracy for all the money I had, $100. From the guy. He said he would hold it for me but a week later when I scraped up the money, he had sold it…

Love the Spectre! One of my favorite GA superheroes. I just read his two part GA origin in a DC reprint just the other day. Makes Superman and Batman look like choir boys.

Distributed by news dealers I assume. Too big for a paper insert and made of light chip board. Only seen a couple others and the only one I ever had the opportunity to buy.

Actually, I have very few of these. Just don’t run into them much out here.

Finally got a suitable copy of this at a reasonable price. Been looking for some time. The sexual tension is how you say "interesting". Glad to cross it off the list. And, just for fun, I thought I'd include a few more items that are WAY harder to find than this Spirit Section...

It’s raining pre trends! Just picked up this one. These are all very elusive. This seems to be one of the most common from this title. Feldstein cover + 2 stories with an Ingals story as well and a great house ad. Romance books seem to be all about Matt Baker. I think Feldstein should get more credit. The pre trends are just so much harder to find than the new trends. I have learned to jump on them when I see them. Can’t be too choosy. I have a lot of work to do on this title.

Is 7.0 the best grade a pulp can receive?

Indeed! Although I wouldn’t call myself a “gentleman” I rigged it up with some fat round wound strings to give that cool Scotty Moore punch sound. Hasn’t been in the case since I got it.

I bought this nice 1959 Gretsch guitar about a year ago for about 2/3rds the price of that HA copy. I am MUCH happier with this than another comic…

I pony upped a bit more thinking I might have a chance but no dice. It is my least favorite of the “big four”. I already have the other 3. But I still want a copy. Maybe not if the HA copy is the new bench mark…

I agree. You should have at least gotton second choice… I got a few of my dad’s Big Little Books and his Buck Rogers gun from my grandmother. My brother didn’t care he got his 22 rifle.

I thought I was bidding large for the My Romantic Advs 49 that closed last night on the Bay for just under $400. Somebody got a steal!

Now if you were a loyal reader of Gunfighter, what a surprise it must have been when this one replaced it. Sure came a long way from Fat & Slat…

Finished up my run of Gunfighter. Hard to find all of these. They seemed to get better and better as the run went along.

Two great books. Great reads with first class stories and art. No other publisher consistency put out such quality war comics. Such underrated books.

Nice score! Sadly I don’t have a Canadian #1 but was lucky enough to find a #5.

A cool, cheap antique store pickup. I know westerns “are dead”, but this ain’t no corney Dell western photo cover…

I was kind of afraid of that. I looked at the dealer list and only saw Harley and Sibra who would have been targets for my wallet. I imagine if I did some serious box diving and found “that one guy” at every con I might have been a little disapointed. This years CalCon was a bit disappointing for me. I set up as a dealer and wasn’t sorry by any means. I’m 20 minutes away and a table was reasonable. I noticed right away that the crowd seemed a bit light. It is usually elbow to elbow and packed all day. I left about an hour and a half early and made about half of what I did last year. I heard a bit of dealer “grumbling” but mostly from those who brought super high priced (maybe overpriced) stuff. I mostly bring lower priced but unusual GA/SA stuff that goes to readers, run fillers and folks who just like old books on a budget. As a buyer, I found that “one guy” with some cool GA priced right. Might have been the weather. We had a pretty massive storm predicted starting on Sunday. Or it might have been the market it’s self whereby, folks are just holding back a bit. Next show coming up is WonderCon on Easter weekend. Bad weekend for a show anyway. Last year it was a little “thin” for both buyers and sellers. I am going with a full wallet to buy but don’t expect much. Are comic cons slowly dying? Are prices to the point where setting up at shows or traveling to buy just isn’t worth it? Even at smaller vintage comic dealing shows? I hate to think this. I MUCH prefer a live show over the internet. Both for comic dealing as well as the social part of it. Appears this might be the case everywhere and not just limited to the West Coast. Any opinions?

Nice RR art Mark! Although I have a few cool original pieces, I have never dabbled there much. Art has always been a “crime of opportunity” for me. Here is an unusual piece I picked up with a couple others years ago. Maybe a bit less desirable due to the character and the fact it is a photo cover but fun none the less.