Zonker

More on John McClure's theory... Way back in #69, July 1999, a fellow by the name of John McClure had an article on all the DC Giants. His thesis is that the 100 Page Super-Spectaculars started as DC-4 because this was "Volume 4" in DC's experiments in Giant-Size books. John believes: Volume 1 was the original 80-Page Giants Volume 2 was the subsequent 68-Page Giants Volume 3 was the "Super DC Giant" Series, which began with S-13. John believes this was some sort of reverse-code for Volume 3, Number 1. Volume 4 would be the 100-Page Super-Specs Then, when DC introduced the Treasury books, they started with the Rudolph one-shot, which could be thought of as Vol 1 Number 1. Then the first Treasury with an issue number is denoted by DC as C-21, which John de-codes as Vol 2, Number 1. It may seem that John is reaching here, but it makes about as much sense as any other explanation for why first issues pop up with notations like DC-4, S-13, C-21. My only suggestion is that John McClure's split between Vol 1 and 2 is unlikely. I would imagine either: Volume 1 is the 80-Page Giant series in its own title (#1-#15) and Volume 2 is everything (80-Page, 68-Page, 52-Page) that continued on in the numbering of the regular series titles; or Volume 1 is the collection of pre-80-Page Giant #1 one-shots (e.g. Superman Annuals 1- 8, Sgt. Rock's Prize Battle Tales, the original Secret Origins book from 1961, etc.) and Volume 2 is the collection of 80-68-52-Page Giants, both in its own series and later contained in the numbering of its host series). Whew! Z.

As Nexus pointed out, Ronin preceeded Dark Knight. It was Miller's hugely successful Daredevil run that made Ronin over-hyped, over-ordered, and over-shipped (kind of like John Byrne's Man of Steel). And I believe all those unsold Ronins are precisely the reason the first prints of Dark Knight Returns #1 and #2 sold out: Everyone ordered Ronin as if it were a Miller Daredevil and got burned. So then everyone ordered DKR as if it were Ronin and got burned again!

Big thanks to Russ at ComicSupply for helping me finish off my 1990s Spectre run, including this hard-to-find issue, #54. Near Mint as promised, and worth the wait!

Thanks for the trouble-free transaction!

Great Two-Face set, there! Tec 187 is a bear to find, from what I understand.

My thoughts exactly. Are you sure I'm not your shill?

Thanks for helping me move them, Pirate!

Cool! Congrats on the run, Chris.

Gratuitous bumps, meaning a post that says nothing more than... ?? If you post more books to your thread, bumping it back to the top, that's okay, right? Also, I believe the number of posts/page is user configurable, so we'd never have a standard for "front page." I'd prefer some rule that says you can reply to your own final post once ("bump") but no successive bumps allowed. The "final post" is understood to be the latest post where a new book is being offered, or some real inquiry from a potential buyer is being answered. But frankly, I'd do away with the bumping requirement altogether-- seems an invitation for the creation of shills to do the bumping, or log-rolling between forum members to keep their stuff on top. Put me down for disliking the "WTS" label requirement as well.

Thank you to Chi Bamm, Bronzed Jbone & whomerjay for super-fast payment on the $2.50 Marketplace blowout sale. Your books are all in the mail as of today. Enjoy the books. You guys rock!

Oh man, that's one of my DREAM runs to own (the Golden Age GL title). So far I own only one issue (thanks to a fellow forumite, no less) and I'm trying to get Zonker to sell me one that he has but doesn't like because of all the tape on the pages (that the seller didn't tell him about). I'd love to own the full run someday, and hopefully I will. Which GA issue do you own? I saw Zonker had his #30 up for sale on eBay recently. I'd like to own #10 someday with the first appearance of Vandal Savage. So far I've only read one GA GL story. The only one reprinted in 100-pagers is #37s "Too Many Suspects" reprinted in Detective #440. Even though I hate the tape, #30 was one of Ian Levine's last few-dozen or so DCs. It also has a double-dose of Alex Toth art. Very hard to find, so I'm in no hurry to sell it unless an upgrade is in sight. But I have no problem trying to flip it for a silly price! Isn't that what eBay invented 10 cent listing day for?

Here's a shout out to timespast for snapping up my mid-grade Marketplace offerings and making an immediate payment. US Priority Mail box on the way!

Kudos yet again to 2 of my favorite marketplace sellers: Nochips and Greggy! Always excellent grading, quick & secure shipping. And the pricing on their recent forum sales can't be beat. Thanks guys!

Sure thing bubbagump! Thanks for making the books-for-a-buck thread rock!

Cassandra is in the final 2 issues, #40 and #41. #39 is a set-up issue that explains what Deadman is doing hanging around. All three have scripts by Levitz and art by Fred Carillo. Carillo is no Jim Aparo, but I find his work much better suited to the Stranger strip than was Gerry Talaoc's. (I thought Talaoc was just fine for Unknown Soldier, though). Incidentally, Cassandra Craft is still kicking around the DCU. She and PS figure in the recent Grant Morrison 7 Soldiers project featuring Zatanna. If you like those wordy PS monologues, you'll love his entrance in the last panel of Zatanna #2. Get Shelton to pull you a copy next time you stop by Heroes. It's a hoot!

She arrives in one of Wein's first issues, #17. She's the "supporting character" I was referring to as returning in the final few issues of the series.

I agree. (About the Stranger series part, not necessarily the whore part! ) This was probably the high point of scripter Len Wein's career: Stranger, JLA, Swamp Thing, and a couple of Batman stories (the werewolf Adams issue comes to mind). Wein's opening monologues were sometimes over the top, but in a cool Rod Sterling kind of way. I never bothered to collect the series past #26, as the few I'd sampled were unreadable (and the Spawn of Frankenstein was even worse once Kaluta left). I do remember the letters to the editor really slamming the series post-26, and to DC's credit, they printed all the pans. It was you guys who made me appreciate the LD covers on the later part of the run, so now I do have a complete set. The last 3 or 4 issues are decent, early scripts by Paul Levitz and include the return of some of the supporting characters from Wein's run. Check 'em out!

That really is an iconic Stranger cover. (the grade isn't too bad either)

Big kudos to bubbagump for helping to make my $1 BIN sales experiment a success. Thanks for the prompt payment; the books are on their way!

That run of #140-150 is one of the highlights of the JLA series. Enjoy!

Ah...palladium... Thumbs up for Lighthouse's latest cache of TPB goodness. Trouble-free, timely transaction. Received the books as expected, payment to Lighthouse followed after-the-fact. What's not to like? Thanks, guy!

Best I can tell from reading the Overstreet Guide, Gold Key put out a couple of 1-shots in 1965: Ripley's Believe it or Not! True Ghost Stories #1 Ripley's Believe it or Not! True War Stories #1 Then followed up in 1966 with Ripley's Believe it or Not! True Ghost Stories #2 When 1967 rolled around, they launched the ongoing series, and decided to start it with #4 as a continuation of all 3 of the above books: Ripley's Believe it or Not! From that point on, the subtitle True Ghost Stories or True War Stories was just on the cover, not on the indica. Overstreet and CGC treat whatever is on the book's indica as the official title of the book. Always interesting to think back to a time when a #1 issue was a stigma rather than a highly-prized sales gimmick!

There was a Losers Special timed to the Crisis on Infinite Earths series. In Crisis, the Losers were shown gobbled up by one of those anti-matter thingies. I always hoped the story in the Special sent them out in a more traditional (less sci-fi) manner. But I never read it...