Book Guy

I/m a long time lurker on this thread and decided I would post some.

Back in the mid 70's the comics I most sought after were the pre-Hero Monster comics. Or, as a friend and I called them 'Mud Monster' Comics. Then they were considered hard-to-find by all the dealers I knew. Now, with the internet we know that's not really true. Jack & Stan hit a popular nerve with these and they seem to be pretty common-though not in grade. But whenever I went to a Comic Convention in the SF Bay Area nobody ever had more than a small amount and they were usually beat up. Over time I pieced together what I have.

Though they were uncommon, they were rarely very expensive. Note the $2.35 price on this first one. I guess there was a time when there was deemed a logical & necessary price point between $2.25 and $2.50! Now it just seems absurd. Now nice copies are so expensive I rarely buy to fill holes in my collection.

Many of the really nice copies I have came from George Olshevsky, the Marvel Bibliographer. He sold off his Atlas collection back in the early 1980's and mixed in with all the early CAPTAIN AMERICA and HUMAN TORCH Issues were a bunch of Mud Monster Books. I spent about $500 with him which was really a stretch. The best buy was the copy of TALES TO ASTONISH 1 which was also the most expensive,, though I can't remember what it cost. $150? $250? A lot for the time. Unlike his Atlas Books George didn't seem to bother to put his ownership mark in these Books like he customarily did with his Golden Age Atlas Books. Most of his really nice pre-Hero titles seemed to be clustered in TTA and STRANGE TALES as I recall. I'll see as I get them out and take photos.

I'm mostly going to post the nicer copies. I have a lot of VG examples the missing issues, but it's too much work and we've seen most of them anyway!

After this Book I'll start with TALES TO ASTONISH and work my way through the rest over the next few days.

Thanks for looking!

I assume everyone who checks in here will want to own the below Book. Just published. Bud Plant has 'em now!

If you are unfamiliar with Chris Wisnia, this is a work 'based' on the Kirby/Lee/Ditko etc Pre Hero Marvel Comics. It's part pastiche, part homage and pure Chaos and Mayhem! Doris Danger works as a photographer at an Atlas Like Magazine chain specializing in 'True Monster' Stories. But are they True? Why is the government trying to pass off fake monsters as real? Can the Monster Liberation Army stop them? What about the guys (actually Actors portraying Robots portraying humans) in fezzes? What do they have to do with this?

That's just a taste of things.

The Kirby homage art is spot on and hilarious. Worth buying for that alone. The format is also brilliant in its own way. The story is chaotic and sometimes deliberately incoherent consisting of short portions of the now Rare Tabloia Magazine, including covers, letter pages with missives from snarky and even down right ANGRY! letter writers, broken snatches of plot, torn and repaired and out of order sections, crayoned marginal comments from juvenile former owner and serial Comic desecrator 'Brad', outright lies from the Editor etc. etc. Mayhem in short.

He lays it on pretty heavy, and though that's a great deal of the charm, I can only read about 20 pages at a time, then I have to let my brain rest.

There is a section at the front with comments by many well known comic creators. My favorite is the Steve Ditko one shown!

A must buy for all Monster Lovers!

On 4/27/2023 at 9:35 AM, SolidShredder said:

Yes, as others have said this book won't be able to hit a 9.8. It will benefit from a press though and will probably score in the 9s. 9.2-9.4 is likely, 9.6 possible. That's assuming the pressing does what I think it will. 9.8 impossible baring a miracle from the comic book Gods.  When it comes to the difference between a 9.8, 9.6, 9.4... you're talking a SINGLE little white mark on the spine of the book (spine tick) or some other very small and very minor defect usually. 

Thanks for your input!

On 4/27/2023 at 9:50 AM, SolidShredder said:

This one looks better. I'm noticing the same mark at the top, that seems to be from bundling? Maybe CGC will forgive that defect? If so, you're left with the soiling/dirt on the back of the issue and a very small spine tick or two. If you can dry clean the book well (chemicals of any sort, even just plain water, will get you into trouble) and manage to get it all off, I could see this one getting a 9.6 (assuming CGC forgives the mark from bundling). I wouldn't say 9.8 is IMPOSSIBLE on this one, but I would be very surprised. All that being said, I'm not sure it's worth all the effort. A CGC 9.6 sells for under 100. I think you would be better off selling these as high grade NM raw copies. After all the work and paying CGC, even if you manage to hit the 9.6, you'd barely make any more than just selling these as high grade raw copies.  

Pretty much my opinions as well. I wanted to see what others who have played the game thought. Thanks all.

Here's another one.

Thank you in advance for everybody that has commented on my past few posts and thank you in advance to anyone who comments on this.

Back when this issue came out I worked at a store that carried comics. A comic speculating friend thought this issue was going to be a big deal and wanted to buy multiple copies. So I made a super large order for this issue (much to the magazine distributor's puzzlement) and when they arrived I took 'em hand so they have never been 'on-the-racks'. I kept 12 of them, BTW! And still have them!

Is this a reasonable candidate for a 9.8? Would it likely get there if pressed? Does that seem worthwhile?

I have little experience with pressing. My experience sending multiple copies of 'As New' books to CGC was that what I thought was an "as New' Book might end up being a 9.2 or even less. Multiple copies of the same book bought at the same time by a 'collector' who didn't read them but put them immediately into plastic bags and boxes resulted in a CGC rating of between 8.5 and 9.6! I have a lot of experience with comics, but frankly I could see no difference between the 9.2s and the 9.6s.

Since I have 12 I decided it might be time to do something about them. I'll post a 2nd copy as well with slightly different flaws.

On 4/26/2023 at 12:53 PM, LowGradeBronze said:

4.5 here too. Can't answer the pressing question. I wouldn't subject any of my books to that indignity.

I've never had it done and probably won't bother. I'm just curious if it would do much good.

Thanks. I thought it was a 3.0.

Thank you all!

Would pressing help it much?

A recent find 'in the wild'. Note that it has a subscription crease to the rear which is visible as a bend on the front with mild color loss at the top and bottom. The pin up is present. The staples are well attached.

Is this worth the time and expense to have CGC grade it? To be pressed?

Thanks!

A recent find 'in the wild'. Note that it has a mild subscription crease to the rear which is visible on the front as a bend with no color loss.

Is this worth the time and expense to have CGC grade it? To be pressed?

Thanks!

A recent find 'in the wild'. Note that it has a mild subscription crease to the rear which is almost invisible on the front.

Is this worth the time and expense to have CGC grade it? To be pressed?

Thanks!

On 4/4/2023 at 9:41 AM, damonwad said:

Some Ace Doubles. 

 

Nice MAN WHO JAPED!

Wow!

What store?

Something I just turned up and I guess it goes best here. A small format volume reproducing 100 interior illustrations from Spicy Detective!

Some examples. Enjoy!

Sharks are EVERYWHERE in Comics and Pulps! Right up there with Gorillas...

On 10/15/2022 at 3:32 PM, OtherEric said:

A couple finds today, a bit more recent than I would normally show here.  But I've never seen any of the Jules de Grandin paperbacks in the wild before, and I've had my eyes open for the Solar Pons for ages as well.  I enjoy the Copper Pons stories enough to grab them cheap, but I've never spotted the last pinnacle Pons cheap enough for me to snag.  And by now I've gotten rid of the pinnacle Derleth Pons I used to have as redundant, because I've got the Mycroft & Moran HC's.

There can never be too many Gorilla Covers!

On 10/16/2022 at 12:26 PM, Pat Calhoun said:

it has been a fabulous collecting jag to round up a batch of Atlas digests in the last few months.  the thick cover stock and colorful images are very PB-like, with Cardwell Higgins and Peter Driben both contributing wonderful work. these are all from 1942-1945.

The cover of DEATH IS THE HOST borders on extreme-certainly for the time! I'm reminded of Jim Jones & Jonestown...The Atlas Digests can be uncommon in my experience.

I've read about half and like it so far. Loose History of Street & Smith's main 'Hero' Pulps. GREAT repros of cpvers! Lots of original Art shown. Promos, Fan Club stuff etc. I recommend it!