Rick2you2

Presumably, they are not paying themselves anything for their house ads. Even "in the day", how much could they be charging someone selling "sea monkeys"?

What improvements do you think would help? It would be nice if they included an “up” arrow on the right side to improve scrolling, but that’s not a big deal. I also wish that if things are being listed for sale, but no one is there anymore to respond, that should be automatically removed from the for sale listing, but again, not a big deal.

Do any of you have pages (or the cover) from the old Graphic Novel "Batman and the Phantom Stranger" by Arthur Ranson you might sell? I am particularly interested in pages with the Phantom Stranger on them.

"I am a relative noob to OA collecting.. I know this may not even come close to a grail for a lot of you.. but to me this is it." It isn't the price of OA, but its value to the Owner which makes it a grail. I have some pieces which were relatively inexpensive, but would classify as grails, even though I have spent more on others to add to my collection. That you found and acquired yours makes you a lucky man. I think I can safely say that it is your attitude which is at the heart of OA collectors, and their love of the hobby. Just be warned that this stuff is like potato chips, you won't end up satisfied with just one.

At that price, it shows how little the publishers must be paying the artists and writers since this is the bulk of the cost of a new book.

How did you get the logo's like that?

Well, pretty much, most hobbies involving collecting and buying things is not fiscally prudent. They are not as fluid as stocks or bonds,and there is a big gap at-a particular point in time between what you can sell it for and what you bought for. Lots of attempted flips probably flop. Well, whadayaknow? I just hit a 1000 posts.

I may have caught a break and can make it for a little while after all. Judges don’t have to be reasonable people. Never forget that in some states, they can still sign death warrants.

Tell it to the judge on Monday when he asks why I'm not ready for trial. But there is always a chance I will make it anyway. My interests are not exactly a mystery around here.

Probably won't make it due to a work conflict.

Reminded me a little of Byrne's old Superman poses, but done in the "squiggly style" from his WW days. It's a nice piece you have, but I think he should have cribbed the other way around.

Looks like someone was cribbing from old John Byrne artwork.

You’ve got more guts than I have.

"Cause I'm the wanderer Yeah, the wanderer I roam around, around, around Oh well, I roam from town to town I go through life without a care And I'm as happy as a clown I with my two fists of iron but I'm going nowhere Oh yeah,…"

It looks like an oversized Sea Robin (below), which incidentally, also has legs and is quite common:

I'm still not sure why. There is a racist tone to the story (based on its 1960's origins) which is being ignored because the movie celebrates black culture. Panther was born a King, but is an absolute ruler, in a country blessed with an alien metiorite (like Saudi Arabia is blessed with oil)(not one which pulled itself up by its own bootstraps) which engages in warfare dressed in modified tribal garb while hiding from the world? A true hero pulls himself up (like Luke Cage) and those around him. The fact that his country used its weath to secretly help other areas of the world, like rebuilding homes for the poor, is more heroic than the basic plot line. I like the idea of Shazam much more.

Because I meant to write Murphy Anderson.

And keep it in a dark, dry place.

I think that in “real life” you could actually argue that one era is more of a reaction to the prior era than a follow on. But in this situation, I think they just represent different artistic approaches. Krazy Kat started around 1913, while Barney Google and Snuffy Smith date to around 1919. Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon started in 1934. Also, compare the different art styles in Captain Marvel (C.C. Beck) with Captain Marvel, Jr. (Raboy). Same time period and subject matter, no less, but very different.

I think that's a bit harsh, but the list should break down artists who primarily were sequential/book artists from strip artists. In my view, the sequential aspect of this art form is crucial to books in a way that does not exist in panel strips. For those who ventured into cartoons, like Toth, I would not count that work when evaluating their impact because it is a very different medium than print. Where to put some of them like Mac Raboy may be tough, although I think his Cap'n Marvel Jr. work was more significant than his Flash Gordan work (despite its longevity and quality). Breaking things down by era just produces a list of really good artists. Not necessarily significant artists.

Thank you for your supporting views. I was assuming I would get reeked for this opinion. I read his biography, and it’s a good one. The images of his early art, in particular, show how skillful he was. But the energy many fans see and like in his more classic Marvel and Fourth World work just looks messy to me.

I guess I am showing my personal bias because I am not a fan of his style.

Using Comic Art Tracker, this one is for sale at $200. A book called God Hates Astronauts. It doesn't look as good as what you posted:

Outcault is widely credited with being the first creater of a strip having the same lead character. No regular hero's or villians without him. If you want to go back a bit further, there was the political cartoonist Thomas Nast, who gave us the modern image of Santa Clause, the Elephant for the GOP, and the Jack- for the (he was a , and that is not a donkey). I am not sure I agree with placing Kirby over Adams. Adams quite literally changed the way artists set up their pages and drew their work. Compare, for example, Murphy Anderson to Adams. There really are few artists from the 1970's onward in mainstream comics whose work was not affected by him or his layouts, and his volume is actually pretty huge, by the way. Kirby captured a lot of hearts with his style, but I don't know if you can say his style was copied and used as a template for development. Don't forget Miller. Comics are viewed by the media as a source of profitable movies and TV shows. Would comics, and their relatively low profit margins, still exist except as a niche product without The Dark Knight?

For birth, you would probably be best served by picking Richard F. Outcalt, creator of the Yellow Kid. For growth, I would nominate Will Eisner. Don't forget, he also included a comic book as a supplement to a newpaper which increased readership across two separate reading groups, while developing a separate organization whch generated the likes of Lou Fine, Jack Kirby, etc. For development, I come back to Kirby or Adams (maybe both, at different times). For perservation, that's tough; nothing compares to Lincoln. Who saved the industry? Miller, maybe, with Dark Knight? That resulted in the Batman movies in place of the kitchie TV Batman and helped save comics publishing by letting them become a springboard for movies/TV.