Zolnerowich

TAKE 15% OFF OF ALL REMAINING BOOKS!! THREAD WILL CLOSE IN 24 HOURS (THURSDAY NIGHT). Books: Up for sale: single-digit and low double-digit Wonder Woman classics. These are very hard to find, in any grade. Charles Moulton approves this sales thread! Payment: PayPal is accepted up to $1,000. Check or money order for purchases > $1,000. Payment due within 10 calendar days. Shipping: US: $7 for raw, $15 for graded. Canada: $15 for raw, $25 for graded. Overseas: at cost, and only to established board members. All books sent by USPS Priority Mail with tracking. Other terms: “I’ll take it”, “take it”, “take”, and creative variations thereof in thread trump all PM negotiations. On-going negotiations will be canceled in favor of an unequivocal “take it” in thread or through PM. Returns will be accepted on raw books within 3 months of receipt. No returns on graded books. If you are new to the boards, a well-established board member will need to vouch for you. No PL or HOS buyers.

PLANET #23 First non-Rivet cover. For all his mean looks, that monster has a very delicate, gentlemanly grasp around her thin waist. Will conclude 2016 tomorrow (six more books), and hopefully ease into 2017.

PLANET #4 There was something about knowing that I now had the first 5 issues of Planet Comics made me really happy. It would take some time to land #6, 7, 9, and 10... I love how oblivious the green baddie in the pilot seat is to what's going on above, outside the hatch.

PLANET #22 The last Rivet issue. Wonder why they tired of the rivets? Lots of women warriors out and about in this strange land.

And then some more Rivets... PLANET #11 This was one of those really lucky finds on eBay. The only other version I'd ever seen was at a dealer's booth at a Chicago show, with half of the front cover was missing. I was thrilled to land this book, especially with the awesome color strike. The cover artist is unattributed ("Nick Cardy?" as per comics.org), but the woman at least looks very Zolnerowich-y.

PLANET #58 Part of the great run of mid-50's issue Doolin covers and Baker interiors. What in the world is she holding?

As 2016 rolled along, I snagged a couple more cool issues. PLANET #28 Nice composition, Joe Doolin! If you look closely, there's a guy shooting his blaster, near the left edge of the cover, near the middle staple, and his aim is perfect! Check out the red alien taking it in the chest, towards the right side of the page, above the rump of the horse-thing in the foreground. Joe was having a lot of fun with this one no doubt.

PLANET #8 And how could I pass this up? So many spear-wielding vixens!

PLANET #5 How could I pass this up?

What came next for 2016? Another string of 4 Rivets! PLANET #18 I love this cover. That baddie in the bottom right with the pokey-out eyes reminds of those squeeze dolls whose eyes pop out. But in an evil way.

Don't mind that seal. Keep moving, folks. ------------------ So by the end of 2015 I'd amassed thirty Planets, including nine Rivets. That was still less than half of the total run of 73 issues. I still didn't really believe that I'd be able to, or should even bother trying to, complete the run. First of all, there was that pesky #15, which I knew was scarce, and I think I'd seen all of one copy for sale, at low grade and high price, and figured it was probably not going to happen for me. Second of all, when I first started collecting Planets, I set an arbitrary criterion that I'd only collect through #64, as I thought the 1940's time period was coolest, and also, I didn't like the idea that six of the last nine issues were reprints (#65-70). Who needs reprints? Remember, I was collecting Planets to read them, so why buy books with reprinted material? Such was my mindset. As you'll see later, as I started closing in on the run, it was the late issues that were the biggest remaining hole in my collection. Thus many of the last books I bought were those 1950's "reprint" issues, which ironically have some of the best covers in the whole run! OK. Here's how 2016 started off: PLANET #51 A Joe Doolin trifecta of a raven-haired space lady, a gooey overgrown frog, and a tastefully positioned skull.

Oh, I've got at least a few more tricks up my sleeve!

How much tax do they charge for purchasing a shiznit or two?

(2015/ 8th book of eight) PLANET #21 That's Princess Vara. Don't mess with Princess Vara.

(2015/ 7th book of eight) PLANET #16 Lots of fun details here, such as the glimpse of tiny tanks and advancing troops, just to the left of the word "Invasion".

(2015/ 6th book of eight) PLANET #13 Another iconic cover by Dan Zolnerowich. The ice blue color of the robotized gorilla is sheer brilliance!

(2105/ 5th book of eight) PLANET #20 The second of two books from 2015 Wizard World Chicago, courtesy of Bedrock City Comics. A great Zolnerowich Rivet cover. (if the lady had been given a thought bubble, it would've read: "memo to self: next time leave my heels at home") One great thing about posting all of these books is the opportunity to have another close look at the covers -- I just noticed that the gator is really more like a gator-dactyl (that's gator crossed with a pterodactyl), and I just noticed that there are a few of them, including one just behind the man with the blaster.

(2015/ 4th book of eight) PLANET #12 The first of two books from 2015 Wizard World Chicago, courtesy of Steve Ritter at Worldwide Comics. The only Planet cover done by John Celardo. I like the layout of this cover, and of course the monster man, with one face of the Villain blasting away at the space travelers, and with one face of the Dreamer, staring up at the stars and languidly perching his arm around the T in PLANET.

(2015/ 3rd book of eight) PLANET #2 Planet #1 was a biggie for me, being the first issue of Planet Comics. But Planet #2 was a BIGGIE! "Scarce" according to Overstreet, and such a spectacular cover by the hand of Lou Fine. Every time I'd view the Planet cover gallery on comics.org (which I also printed out for quick access), it was this issue that always stood out for me the most. Something about the color palette, the deranged furry 6-limbed monster, and the bewildered lady. It was my favorite cover then and my favorite cover now. Especially in appreciation of its scarcity, this was my first "need-to-go-all-in-if-I-want-to-bring-home-this-book" book.

(2015/ 2nd book of eight) PLANET #3 Just one month later, another Rivet popped up! I think this was the first book I ever bid on using my iPhone. A clear sign of my growing obsession. I love the mini-soap opera going on within the confines below the secret trap door. Note, the depiction of spaceship hulls beginning to melt under the blast of super-powerful lasers was an oft repeated theme on Planet covers.

Okay, Ladies and Germs, let's move on to 2015. This year marked a sea change in my collection. As I noted earlier, one major reason for this shift was that I finally woke up to the fact that eBay and Heritage weren't the only games in town. I know, slow learner, right! I'd always seen, for example, that Metropolis would set up at the Chicago shows, but never really recognized that they also held regular ComicConnect auctions. And ComicLink was completely off my radar. It was actually on these here boards, as a lurker in mid-2015, that I first fathomed that CC and CL had frequent auctions, and importantly, where a lot of the boardies were buying their books. This year was notable in a few ways. First and foremost, of my 8 purchases, ALL were Rivet books, including two from dealers at shows and three from the "other" auction houses. I do wonder whether 2015 marked a year when Planet Comics started landing on everyone's radar, with sellers and dealers suddenly bringing more of these books to market. Second, it's when I began to realize that if I ever hoped to make a play for these early issues, I'd have to adopt that time-honored strategy of "go big or go home." Third, my year started off with a biggie: PLANET #1 I purchased this from Bob Storms of High Grade Comics in April 2015 at C2E2. The book was just sitting there on the wall, minding its business. Bob was just sitting there, minding his booth. I couldn't believe this book was even on display; recall, I hadn't ever seen ANY of the early issues up close and personal. It was a raw book, so I was able to leaf through the pages, trying to play it cool. When I asked the price, Bob actually asked me to name a price, and he met it. It has a tear along the top edge and various other defects, but nothing major, all in all about a VG, with very nice cover colors. Over the years I've thought about upgrading, but it marks such a key inflection point in my Planet run, it would be hard for me to give it up.

+1. That's a great observation. Many of the Planet covers featured women in a heroic role rather than a helpless role. Maybe it was a strategy at Fiction House to lure in more women readers...

You've hit upon what I call the Curse of the Completist. Once the Completist makes up his/her mind to complete a run, this leads to several levels of irrational decision making, including shelling out for books with just so-so covers. And which is even more confounded these days by the alchemy of slabbing, since in many/most instances, the interiors are never going to be viewed in their native state.

Aw shucks! A Sqeggs seal of approval is like a... um... like, a seal of approval!

My last book from 2014. PLANET #19 Finally my first Rivet! And with spiders no less! Actually, at the time, I didn't know these were referred to as "Rivet" covers. But I did know that this was one of those true classic vintage issues of Planet Comics, and the closest I'd gotten yet to the core run of books that defined the title. Though a lower grade book, it was still the most I'd spent on a Planet Comics comic. It came 4.0 slabbed (old holder ), and I promptly deslabbed it for a great read. Zolnerowich firing on all cylinders.