Robot Man

My first comics were late ‘50’s early ‘60’s DC war. My dad bought them and gave them to me after he read them along with Batman & Detectives. I loved the stories and art by Kubert & Heath. They also had continuing stories with characters that appeared in every issue. They still stand up well. Later I graduated to the Enemy Ace and the Unknown Soldier. Excellent reads.
Also of note, are the Revolutionary War tales of Tomahawk. The last couple years of Star Spangled are great cover to cover reads.

I don’t see grading of PBs for quite some time. Yes, they seem to be gaining some popularity but pretty far behind comics, and pulps. The big factor is the value. In order to ramp up for grading them, prices will have to rise considerability. I say, if you are not an active buyer, start buying what you want now…

That used to be a very common issue. I have owned maybe a dozen copies. Many found at flea markets and antique stores. But, like all pulps, the cheap supply has now dried up. A friend who is not a pulp collector picked up a vg copy at the LA Paperback show a couple months ago for $25. He just loved the cover.
@Ricksneatstuff has a nice copy. I’m sure he had to pay Dave Smith more than I paid for all the copies I’ve ever owned…

That used to be a very common issue. I have owned maybe a dozen copies. Many found at flea markets and antique stores. But, like all pulps, the cheap supply has now dried up. A friend who is not a pulp collector picked up a vg copy at the LA Paperback show a couple months ago for $25. He just loved the cover.
@Ricksneatstuff has a nice copy. I’m sure he had to pay Dave Smith more than I paid for all the copies I’ve ever owned…

That used to be a very common issue. I have owned maybe a dozen copies. Many found at flea markets and antique stores. But, like all pulps, the cheap supply has now dried up. A friend who is not a pulp collector picked up a vg copy at the LA Paperback show a couple months ago for $25. He just loved the cover.
@Ricksneatstuff has a nice copy. I’m sure he had to pay Dave Smith more than I paid for all the copies I’ve ever owned…

Yep, Frontline Combat and Two Fisted Tales to a slightly lessor degree. The stories and art are best bar none. I would also highly suggest Aces High. Just Awsome WWI avaition stores. And, yes pretty easy and affordable. And there are the reprints…

After the high price realized on the 3-sided trim with hole in cover in the HA auction, I thought I'd take a chance on this affordable and decent looking copy. Might be trimmed on one side but has WHITE pages:
 

UPDATE
Was able to find a picture of the rack from the 1962 National Periodical Annual Report.  Zoom and enhance and there’s the rack - so we knew what color it was.
Was able to use the topper photo from above to make a stencil.  https://www.facebook.com/RoseCreekBoutique
We got it restored.  I’m in North Florida - used the good folks at All Florida Sandblasting https://allflsandblasting.com for the sandblasting and painting. 
It looks awesome. 
Will be on display(sale? - IDK I really dig this rack) at HeroesCon.  Come check it out and say hi.  Iconic Comics FL  - Booths 545 and 547
So there you have it a fully restored golden age comic rack - all original except for the paint.
Thanks for the feedback and help up above!
 

It almost certainly was. And there's even an index of the comics that covers that period. Not being a collector, I don't have the index volume. @Duffman_Comics - do you have it, or know someone who does? The trouble is you probably have to know the story arc title.
Edit: The printed index probably isn't necessary. There's an online Phantom Wiki that lists all the daily and Sunday stories. You can click through the story title and the page (usually mostly blank, unfortunately) has a set of hyperlinks to reprints from various countries. None of the titles suggest the Roman soldier story, but they are all a bit generic anyway.
Edit the second: the complete dailies and Sunday strips have all been collected into books, and the Kindle versions are pretty cheap on Amazon, so you could get the 1965-66 volumes and see if you find your story.
They pop up rarely, but I think I've seen most of them at some stage - I don't really track them though. To make life more complicated, back in the 90s the publisher started including replica copies with the annuals. The replicas of #1 and #2 were pretty similar to the originals and I've seen a few scam attempts on ebay - "I don't know much about this comic but I know it's very old"... #3 had a small 'R' printed on the cover villain's cufflink and I saw one for sale as an original 'with one small ink stain on the cover'. Guess where the ink stain was? From #4 on they have a barcode, so are easy to spot.

nice news story on Shelton and his background --
 
 
https://youtu.be/E_G_MS8xal4?si=XY29cA24GxTAOy6Z

Picked this up recently reprints the later run of Venus including #17-19.  Just another reason to show my Venus #19 
 

Agreed, very happy to have gotten the FCBD book from MCS today.  Although it only reprints one story from the issue.
But it will do, and I can content myself knowing I've got these, at least:

Only one on the census

BIG loss to the medium and especially the UG movement. A wonderful lady who was a true champion to many forgotton and lost to time women creators. A heck of a nice lady as well.
RIP Trina! 

Thought I'd do a short review of the 8 Free comics I got.
I will preface this by saying, I am a GA guy and haven't bought more than just a handful of new comics in over 20 years... I can't comment on the Superhero books as I gave up on them a long time ago. 
I will grade these as I see them from worst to best.
#8 Overstreet Guide. Worthless to me. Based toward someone who knows nothing about comics. I already know about storage and mylars and am quite good at chiseling down dealers respectfully. Grade 0
#7 The Cursed Library. Archie has gone to Hell. I am a PCH guy so way hoping for something a little better. Grade F
#6 Eye Lie Popeye. I am a Popeye fan. Had all the characters (except the Jeep). Premise was how Popeye lost his eye. Quickly progressed into some kind of superhero slugfest. Terrible Annimie art. I guess I enjoyed seeing the characters. Grade D
#5 Tons of Strange. Gravitated to it because of the EC style cover. 3 full stories with a horror and sci fi twist. Bad writing and pretty terrible art. Somewhat readable but Bill and Al are probably rolling over in their graves. Grade C-D
4. Star Wars Two pretty good stories with decent art. The same ole, same ole but readable and entertaining. Disney has pretty much been beating a dead horse. Grade C+
#3 Flash Gordon Where Star Wars came from. predictable like Star Wars but some of the best art in the bunch. Someone was really trying to channel a bit of Al Williamson Grade B
#2 MAD Published by DC so everything was their characters. Classic satire stuff with some classic art and gags. One of the few with content only cover to cover as in the MAD tradition. A very fun read Cover was a bit disgusting though... Grade A-
#1 Atlas Comic Library. The one I was looking forward to the most. Excellent story choices, Horror, War and even humor. Back in the day when comics were lovingly drawn with a pen and original hand colored. Wish they printed it on newsprint. One of the greatest Bill Everett pre-code horror covers. My only complaint was the printing on the classic Wolverton story. Was a bit out of register. Grade A
All in all an hour or so of fun free reading. I say this every year, God help the comic industry. Computer generated art just has such a flat, gaudy quality in general. Stories are poorly written for the most part. Kind of like where the music industry has gone. I support my local shop buying reprint books and supplies but just can't see paying what new comics go for, for the drivel I see there. 
I still enjoy Free Comic Day. Fun taking my granddaughters. They found some fun books and actually read them. I doubt they will ever be comic lovers but a good excuse to spend the day with them.
Anybody want to review what they got?

If you haven’t already, hit your local comic store and pick up this free one. Great contents!

If you haven’t already, hit your local comic store and pick up this free one. Great contents!

Only one on the census

Since I threw this thread off the rails, might as well do it one more time. Courtesy of the boards only @Surfing Alien I give you “The Head of a Traveler”. Every bit as “sicko” as many of its comic book counterparts. So affordable. What would this go for if it were a comic book?…

Skeleton pulps are all the rage right now…

Only one on the census

Cheating again but couldn’t resist. Just got this one back from CGC. I thought they were a little hard on this one. Was sad to see they didn’t label it as a Halloween cover and the fact that it is a writer’s file copy. I provided the paperwork I got from David T Alexander but they didn’t buy it. One of my favorite romance covers weather a comic or a pulp. Probably the highest and only copy on the census.