Readcomix

From streak to zip

Picked this up at the LCS a few weeks ago.

 

Did he have another copy? I'm missing that and the 3.

Maybe that's why some buyers are so adamant to get grades-it gives them an 'out' for a return or partial.

 

That's ridiculous. I haven't had a return for grading in at least 5 years and the one return I took the buyer agreed it was NM he just didn't like it. It does happen, but only if you don't do your homework.

 

Grade the book well and scan the book well the rest will take care of itself.

 

Sure there are cons on ebay, but the % goes way up when you are selling slabs I think. If you look in the ebay threads a larger % is involving a slab for all types of reasons.

 

It is impossible to grade a book well when at any time someone can disagree with your grade. Your grade could be spot on but they still disagree with it. I know one LCS that when you sell them books, they are a 3.0, when they go to sell em, they're 6.5's.

Just ONE?!?!?!

When those types of LCS are firm with me on their selling price and say, "That's what it's selling for on eBay!" I reply, "Yeah, but this ain't eBay. This is I'm standing here with cash bay!"

Which is better because I'm looking right at it as I make my offer, so that there is no return/you can't grade/my mailman's dog ate it issue. LCS's need to value that, because eBay can be a Wild West for a seller. Easier to control who you buy from than it is to control who buys from you.

Winter wonderland to wonder how he got in there???

Mysterious Adventures to mysterious behavior

Heat on the beachhead to pining for the beach

I cycle through a lot but that's part of the enjoyment for me, at least currently .... Buying collections because I want some pieces, and selling or trading the rest to get books I want. I figure if a collection is a good deal, my drek is somebody's grail and vice versa. The rest is just networking, which is fun.

Arm-twisting to flogging

Fawcett to Fawcett

Grell was a bad Adams wanna be. Not everything he drew was awful but about 30% was so you constantly saw the struggle. My art teacher once told the class "I don't wanna see the struggle'.

Not being an artist myself, I could see the Adams wannabe thing (heck, isn't Starlin basically a somewhat better Adams wannabe?) but seeing the struggle is waaaay beyond my knowledge of artistry, so to me it was just serviceable comic art. I reasoned a lotta guys wanted to be Adams and this guy was among those who could imitate adequately enough to get work.

I understand how you can see it differently given your technical knowledge.

Robbins! Thank you! I had suppressed him.

Liefeld Of course....

You really dislike Grell that much? Same camp as these guys?

No idea on value, sorry. Probably could sell on ebay for 10 to 20 depending on condition.

 

For reference, the vintage Marvel calendars of 1975 to 1981 often sell for $10 in average used condition, 20 in very nice shape, although some are more popular. E.g. the Doc Strange 1980 calendar was selling at movie-inspired $40-50 in December, and the Spiderman 1978 calendar often garners double the price of most of the others.

 

This is cool for an era shot of what Marvel was emphasizing at the time (or what was selling), the horror titles were a growing part of marvel's lineup, and some sword & sorcery even made the cut, although Killraven and Dealthok seem to be absent, and Doom the only villain prominent enough when they made that poster (had his own title a while) and Inhumans are conspicuously absent. Imagine it today, with Avengers crowding out the FF who might not even appear on a 2016 poster (heh).

 

Like a primitive, early example of a 'word' cloud. Except Frankenstein was way too big for a guy who could only last 18 issues and a few cameos over the decade, and Savage was probably also mis-sized.

 

Very insightful and informative, thank you! You are right, many of those shown would not even come close to appearing on a poster today!

The sizing of Frankenstein and Doc Savage probably had more to do with their ambitions for the two properties than the actual reality at the moment. It was a marketing piece at heart.

I'll bite....Al Milgrom, the Giacoias, Frank McLaughlin.

Now, is everyone going to say "That is my favorite artist" about a single person? Of course not, but I think what we're really asking with this question, is who is an artist that no one dislikes.

 

Who dislikes Adams or Wrightson? I haven't met them.

I'm pretty sure I've encountered at least one post on this board that said Neal Adams was overrated. No idea who Wrightson is.

 

Besides, just because you don't hate someone's art doesn't mean you automatically like it. There is such a thing as apathy.

 

This too. Was thinking that when someone threw Dave Sim out there. Serviceable, but doesn't excite me.

 

And in the blasphemy camp, I don't get what's so awesome about Darwyn Cooke's cartoons. But I am not an artist, either. I think he tells a good story, but the images themselves are more like cartoon frames.

 

Is the fact that Dave Sim is very highly regarded as an artist just one of those things I've somehow never heard before?

 

Well certainly don't look at ME....I was just responding to him being thrown out there....sure his work (arguably Moreso his writing) has a cult fan-base, but if we're using SquareChaos' definition of a skilled draftsman whom other artists would say one could learn from...uh not so much...

 

I'm serious, I have literally never heard anyone ever refer to Dave Sims as one of those type of artists. I don't mean anything by it, I'm just actually curious.

 

Even on the writing side, it seems like most can't help themselves to add how he 'went crazy' at some point.

I realize you're serious, I am agreeing with you. Someone threw him out there and I was just trying to point out that though someone might produce a popular work but necessarily possess elite-level skill at their craft. It's like KISS...they sold a lot of records but no one, even themselves, calls them talented musicians.

The corollary is what you were saying before about a certain baseline of talent....though to ignore it is not lack of taste but lack of understanding of the core skills...the music analogy I'd use here is Rush...one may or may or find them to one's taste, but no one complains of their lack of technical skill.

Now, is everyone going to say "That is my favorite artist" about a single person? Of course not, but I think what we're really asking with this question, is who is an artist that no one dislikes.

 

Who dislikes Adams or Wrightson? I haven't met them.

I'm pretty sure I've encountered at least one post on this board that said Neal Adams was overrated. No idea who Wrightson is.

 

Besides, just because you don't hate someone's art doesn't mean you automatically like it. There is such a thing as apathy.

 

This too. Was thinking that when someone threw Dave Sim out there. Serviceable, but doesn't excite me.

 

And in the blasphemy camp, I don't get what's so awesome about Darwyn Cooke's cartoons. But I am not an artist, either. I think he tells a good story, but the images themselves are more like cartoon frames.

 

Is the fact that Dave Sim is very highly regarded as an artist just one of those things I've somehow never heard before?

Well certainly don't look at ME....I was just responding to him being thrown out there....sure his work (arguably Moreso his writing) has a cult fan-base, but if we're using SquareChaos' definition of a skilled draftsman whom other artists would say one could learn from...uh not so much...

Now, is everyone going to say "That is my favorite artist" about a single person? Of course not, but I think what we're really asking with this question, is who is an artist that no one dislikes.

 

Who dislikes Adams or Wrightson? I haven't met them.

I'm pretty sure I've encountered at least one post on this board that said Neal Adams was overrated. No idea who Wrightson is.

 

Besides, just because you don't hate someone's art doesn't mean you automatically like it. There is such a thing as apathy.

This too. Was thinking that when someone threw Dave Sim out there. Serviceable, but doesn't excite me.

And in the blasphemy camp, I don't get what's so awesome about Darwyn Cooke's cartoons. But I am not an artist, either. I think he tells a good story, but the images themselves are more like cartoon frames.

Haters usually go to the left or right for finding flaws- angles, faces, muscles, feet for Rob Liefeld, etc. For me, Don Perlin created the ideal looking comic page and would be a center cut artist. Don Heck and John Buscema are also hard to argue with for being something other than ideal comic artists. To each there own, but these three are ones I would defend.

 

"Feet" for Rob Liefeld... well, that, and you know... other parts... I feel like I'm posting this a lot, but it has to be done.

 

They resemble insects

I think typically the answer here would be someone like Jim Lee - very skilled on a technical level, but generic enough to appeal to a very broad base as well.

 

Ironically, those that dislike him cite these same reasons.

It's like eating a bag of junk food....you glance and it looks like a comic book (or food)...then consume a little and ask yourself why you're taking in empty, cancerous ...that's my experience with Lee and that whole 90's fanboy set....But that's just me...

Was thinking Heath too, but he's also unfamiliar to many, I bet.

Romita Sr was a good call, and I'd add John Buscema and Gil Kane to that guess list.

Kind of a warm, fuzzy late Silver/early Bronze Marvel look that most everyone at least finds accessible....do we all sing Kumbaya now???

I was thinking about this when Kirby came up in the other thread too, Kav.

I've never heard someone say they don't like Will Eisner.

7 to 7 to a different 7

Fast Willie Jackson.

 

Not cheap, but cheap for what they are. All fairly tough, especially the last one. The 1970's African-American answer to Archie comics. Same guy who did those Golden Legacy comics, I think. Apochrypha has it that they had an Archie artist doing it on the side and there was pressure applied to shut it down, or somesuch.

Any insight as to who Gus Lemoine was? The style is similar to Henry Scarpelli who was drawing/inking at DC during the period Gus Lemoine received art credits at Archie. Gus seemed to disappear following the Fast Willie title and a short time later Henry was at Archie.

 

An aside, one of the Fast Willie letter pages (which had to be fake) had a letter from "Geri Lemoine".

Sorry for the delay; I've been searching but I cannot find the blog I once read...at least not yet....anyway, rumor is Gus Lemoine was a pseudonym for the Archie artist (some claim Henry Scarpelli) who was moonlighting, but Lemoine is also credited with someArchie books, so I don't know for sure.

Four Favorites to five fingers

Frozen death to frozen monster