Robot Man

As a rule, I’m not a real big New Direction fan. Overall, the stories just don’t match up to the pre code stuff. The art is wonderful but the stories in general on most of them are a bit bland. Way above most of the other post code stuff but still a little boring. I love Aces High and Piracy. Valor is full of off the hook great art but the stories are just OK. Other than Master Race, the rest of Impact is a struggle for me. The other two are pretty much un-readable for me. Other than completing a full EC run, I have no real interest in them. Just my 10 cents...

I would also agree with Gomer. If I were plunking down my Mercury dime, I would choose WS16 for the same reason. That, and the fact that it has one of Woody’s best covers. So iconic, influencal and represents the era and genre so perfectly. WSG 29 has “that cover” though... Insides are good (hey an EC after all), but not on par with WS 16. As was said, get them both. Take your time and find the right copy for the right price. They are usually both fairly available and I don’t see either taking a huge price spike suddenly. I would man up a little on the 29 though. Dark cover shows all the flaws and this is one you really want nice. And just to make your life more difficult, you might want to consider WF 21 as well. Underrated Frazetta cover and great interior as well...

Mailman brought me a cool one today. Just the way I like ‘em. Smooth, tight spine, no tears or creases and white pages. Just enough insignificant little defects to keep the price affordable...

1950's Hot Rod Diner!

That was Carl Macek. Maybe I was wrong on the photo ID. It was a LONG time ago. So, maybe the first photo is Carl and the second is David Belmont. Yeah, Carl had a cool shop for a while by UCLA after he broke away from Terry and David. The three of them had very large holdings of the San Francisco books. I bought several Timelys from Terry that sadly, I no longer own. I remember them bringing them down from the Bay Area and seeing piles of them. Beerbaum has stated, that he only sold a few at a time to many people. I suspect that is partly true because when I visited his shop he would only let only buy 3 or 4 at a time. I suspect though, if you had the cash like these guys did or Redbeard, you were obviously able to get quite a few at one time. And yeah, the old Shrine shows were epic. So much great stuff came out of there in the day. Now, it's mostly washed up movie stars, new comics and porn...

Bound copies vary all over the place in condition just as raw books do. Some like the horror ones above were random reading copies bound by a fan. I have others that were bound by publishers as office files copies. Depending on storage, they vary from tanning reading copies to glossy, white paged copies. Some have been trimmed and some have not. They are usually either sewn in and or glued at spines or simply 2 or 3 hole punched. They are all very unique and usually one of a kind. Are they "restored"? No, I prefer the term "desecrated". But due to this, they still exist and can be easily read and enjoyed as the freaks of nature that they are. I have never, nor will I ever remove them from their current state. I believe they have more interest and value the way they are. Either you like and appreciate them or you don't. Value? Real hard to put a number on them. Depends what they are, depends on the condition and the interest of the title. There is some one on the bay who keeps putting up wonderful bound volumes at auction. Some are runs and some are single books that are bound. He puts stupid numbers on them. Much more than a high grade unbound copy would go for. I doubt he ever sells any. If I were to sell mine, they would go to auction. I know they would go way higher than I think they should. Why? Because, they are unique and people get emotional and caught up in the frenzy. People who love them will pay up because of what they are. I have two volumes of slightly used but pretty high grade Duck Four Colors. All of the Barks issues. As well as as #1-40 in two volumes of Uncle Scrooge in high grade (but sewn and trimmed). I know for a fact that other Barks fans like myself would jump at the chance to have these. Nothing like reading issue after issue of the classics in one sitting without having to worry of removing them from mylars and putting them away. I also have a publisher volume of Wings #1-12. Who wouldn't pay up to be able to pursue and read them all at one time. I would describe them fully and let the market decide. I'm sure I would be surprised...

Yeah, other than the smog, good times! I was a little older than you probably and could drive from Pasadena to the Valley. I was pretty good friends with David T, Terry Stroud, Carl Macek and the gang at ACBC. They would let me into the back room where I saw piles and piles of un-processed GA and SA collections on the tables and the floor. They were buying stuff that walked into the store faster than they could process and sell it. I remember I got a few nice Timelys out of a few piles of maybe 200 of them that walked in the store one day. I was always learning and discovering so much stuff due to the massive amounts of books in there. They were then, as they are now a bit pricey, but they had the goods that nobody else had. They had quite the parties in the off hours. They were the "rock stars" of the comic biz in LA. Lots of girls and "intoxicants". Good times. Here are a couple of old photos. The first one is I believe, David Belmont. Just look at the stacks of SA next to him. I can't remember the name of the other guy in the 2nd photo. Look at him eating over a pile of un-bagged EC's.

I was an early contributor along with Redbeard and Bob Nastasi of SOTI and censorship books. I discontinued contributing when I noticed that he wasn't including my data in the guide.

No, I ready took the Tec before you walked up to the rack. I left to go home and get another dime for the Action...

But then you got that cool Detective #33 or maybe Mystery Men? Then there are all those cool Centaurs... Choices, choices...

Grizzly Bears?

Or even better, someone posts an old newsstand photo with a kid standing in front of it. How many of you have ever fantasied you were that kid with only one dime? Which one would you buy? I’m sure all of us faced that delimma more than once in real life as a kid... OK, how about a test? You got a shiny Mercury dime... What do you pick and how long does it take you?

Just couldn’t help yourself Richard? I’m pretty sure I would have had to do the same thing. The temptation to just open up that book would just be far to great... I once had a factory sealed 1950’s Marx Toys Untouchables play set. A VERY rare one still stapled shut. I would look at it once in a while, tempted...I finally couldn’t take it anymore and just sold it for a wad of money. Kind of the way I feel about graded comics and maybe the reason I have so few of them.

These are your under copy “trade bait” copies? I am of the school that his better non romance books are really heating up right now. APC, for years, was a dead title, Baker cover or not. I scooped up as many as I could at great prices in nice grades. Just can’t touch them any more. I think the folks that chase the romance ones have gotton wise to this now.

Think ALL of us either do or have done that on occasion. Somebody posts a group shot of various books. Say they have 5 books in 5 rows. How many of you have had to choose which one in each row you would take? Or even better, someone posts an old newsstand photo with a kid standing in front of it. How many of you have ever fantasied you were that kid with only one dime? Which one would you buy? I’m sure all of us faced that delimma more than once in real life as a kid...

I do the same thing. I don’t sell a lot of books below $5. When I do, I usually have one box of each. Bagged and boarded with color coded stickers and box clearly marked. Usually pretty good deals. I am of the belief, that I don’t want to work too hard lo LOSE money... Speaking of stickers, there always a few soup stains on the menu of life who pull off the stickers hoping I won’t remember the price. Instead of telling them I take them away, drop them on the floor behind the table and tell them they are no longer for sale. It’s fun to see the look on their face. Some have even actually said “I’ll give you $5. For that one”...

Gracias mi amigo! All I really do here is bore many folks with my non comic book junk. I humbly request that you use that vote for Mr Bedrock. A fellow GA collector who has served the collecting community for probably 40 years.

Lordy! What booth! I'm sure they will come. Heck, I see enough on that wall it would almost be worth a trip from the West Coast!

Better save some goodies for Torpedo Con or I will have to shop with some of the other "lessor" dealers...

An amazing run. Love the Saunders covers. Especially the last one. Full of what PCH is all about!

Cheap paper. I know some of the last ECs were printed by Charlton known to be the cheapest in the business... Gaines saw the writing on the wall and wanted to save as much as possible before everything caved in.

Probably. Maybe the original owner knew some one in the business? I know I had all my Cochran EC reprints bound and the cost was about $25. per volume in today's dollars so it was probably real cheap when these books were published. What is so odd is that the contents are so random. It was like some one took an handful off books and had them bound just because... I have a few other fairly random bound volumes. Not quite as diverse as this but similar. This one is just titled "Horror" and contains random PCH books from 1952 I believe.

I guess he’s been saving up...

Jim is always a first class buyer. Prompt payment and great communication. Don’t hesitate to buy from or sell to him. A credit to the boards!

My first thought. Greatest lyric in rock n' roll! As much as I like George's guitar playing, gotta go with the original...