selegue

Gil Kane, eh? I thought that it might have been Grandenetti. I'm with bigfiver. That doesn't look like Kane. It does look like Grandinetti. Nice book! Thanks to both of you for the kudos and art ID. I'm the World's Worst Art Spotter (especially unfamiliar with Grandenetti [sp?]) so that's the GCD attribution. I'll raise the question there. If you don't mind me mentioning your real names, please let me know in a PM. Jack

Those are such quintessential short-bussers that I think we need a theme song. Everybody sing along: "Take the Short Bus" Jack

Same here. It's so nice when big brother will ride with his sister on the short bus. Jack

I posted this over in the greytone Silver Age thread, but maybe Big Town is a short bus title. Radio (originally starring Edward G. Robinson) then TV show about a big-city newspaper. The DC title ran 50 issues, and since it was a licensed property, will probably never be reprinted. Dan Barry did a lot of the artwork. This is a Gil Kane/ Jack Adler (of course) cover. My cost? $1.75 in about vg+. God bless the high-grade collectors who sneer at copies like this, keeping the prices down for the rest of us. Jack

Well, that's a cover (and title, actually) that I haven't seen before. Congratulations! Andy Thanks, Andy and 'Bones. Radio (originally starring Edward G. Robinson) then TV show about a big-city newspaper. The DC title ran 50 issues, and since it was a licensed property, will probably never be reprinted. Dan Barry did a lot of the artwork. This is a Gil Kane/ Jack Adler (of course) cover. Jack

That is a lovely page. Even the lettering, as I mentioned above. We'll have to work this "biting gold to see whether it's real" routine in the Periodic Table of Comic Books, if you don't mind me swiping the scan. I see that Old Man Muskrat migrated to your avatar. Jack Stilt-Man prototype to boot!!

No, just "looks a bit like". It's his albino brother. Jack

Because we keep quoting ourselves from a reply to a stagedoorjohnny post.... If you were an engineer/physicist you would know that!! Sure, but since when do author names go in the subject line? I guess I'd need to track the thread backwards to find the source. Jack (friggin' engineer, confusing an empirical observation with a cause)

Woo-hoo! I just won a 1957 grey-tone Big Town 46 for $1.75! OK, it's only vg+, but who cares at that price? Jack

Not sure about "genius", but Selegue, batman_fan, myself and scrooge (i believe) are all scientists. See, not just Lawyers and Comic book shop owners/dealers on these boards! You fraud. You're a friggin' engineer! :-) Jack (Why is the subject line stagedoorjohnny?)

Maybe that is the central question. And if it is, it needs to be tested and discovered immediately. Paging Selegue!!! CGC should contract Jack to run the chemical analysis. Bill paged me on a PM. This isn't a thread that I usually look at because the books are out of my league. I've wondered about whether enclosing the pages accelerates browning too. I'm satisfied now that the materials (do I remember right that the inside layer is Barex?) should be archivally safe. The upside of slabbing the little darlings is that less oxygen gets at them, which should slow down browning. On the other hand, IF the browning has already started, then the cellulose is already producing acetic acid (part of that "old pulp" smell that comic-book collectors love, even though it's eating their books!). Unless the acid is vented, it catalyzes further breakdown of the paper, producing more acid, and so on. How much buffer does a sheet of microchamber paper have in it? Overall, that's yet another reason why I don't collect slabbed comic books. (Except for my wonderful Marvel Spotlight 25 CGC 9.6 that I'm sure someone out there is clamoring for.) Probably the analysis to run would be to periodically sample the atmosphere inside slabs with a browning comic, a new comic and empty over time. If the acetic acid level rises in the slab with the browning comic book, that's a problem. Jack

The critter looks a bit like Ken Shannon 3, but nothing else jumps out at me. Do you know the sources? Jack

A couple of fun Atlas issues arrived today. My Diary 2 from Mar-50 in about fn-, Terry Moore photo cov., Sekowsky and some unknown (and generic) romance artists. Battle Action 28 from Apr-57 (too late for gold, too new for silver) in about vg, Severin cover, Colan, Heck, Reinman and Woodbridge stories. Some Atlas Cold War material. Nothing like the high-grade gems usually posted here, but I can't complain for $25 shipped. Jack

Enjoy! I generally like the MJ&S story better than anything else in the book. Even the lettering on the early stories (Montezuma mentions Armstrong, but I don't know whether he did the lettering) is elegant. Your holiday avatar cracks me up. Cropped, it looks like Supes is delivering a giant pickle. Jack Put down that pickle, Rococo!

Speaking of well done and bizarre, have you (shiverbones) tried Mary Jane and Sniffles? I'm sure that they're up your alley. In addition to the nudge-wink hilarity of the title, especially considering that MJ "gets small" with "magic sand/dust" in early stories, the strip is often surrealistically wonderful. They appeared regularly in the back pages of Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies for years, then sporadically in Bugs Bunny . Here's a good picture of Sniffles (mouse in blue hat), but I also really like this cover because of the anthropomorphic carrots (like the famed Peter Panda cover, but these look less like Mister Hankey). Notice the "old-school" Bugs on the left border next to the later version on the main cover. I've picked up 50s Looney Tunes for pennies, and since MJ&S are safely tucked inside, coverless or ratty copies will do. Here are their two Four Color appearances (from GCD), but they deserve seats on the long bus. Jack

No kidding. Some of these are obvious too. Good eye. The woman in the red dress at the right is the giveaway, isn't she, since she's not looking at what she's reacting to? Here's another one, the pointing woman in the middle. Jack

"Little Shop of Horrors" prototype! Jack Lots Plants Cheap that whole run has wonderful covers!

Interesting snout on that critter. Almost Man-Thing prototype. (embarrassing just to type that) Jack

Ebay. If you can't get one there, why would you want it? Jack (what grade?)

No name calling! oops In fact, when Sparling was "on", he was pretty good. Like John Rosenberger -- his promo work, probably for a decent page rate, was first-rate, but his Archie superhero work in the early 60s was apparently cranked out as quickly as possible. Is there such a thing as good Tallarico work? Is Great Society Comic Book his best? Like most people, I think of Fass first as the ultimate schlock publisher. I remember the (weak) Fass romance pages you posted a while back. Supposedly his earlier work on jungle and other genres wasn't bad, but I don't think I've seen any of it. Anyone have samples? Jack (Fass published the magazines in the waiting room at the Short Bus Station)

No kidding. If one book deserves to be in here, it is it! but it's Dave Berg! Shouldn't the quintessential short bus book have art by Tony Tallarico or Jack Sparling? Jack

I have it too! but no stamp on mine. Bunce Bunce did several railroad comics in the late 50s to early 60s. I think I read that he was a railroad artist who dabbled in comic books, not vice versa. (No time to dig right now.) Speaking of vehicles, maybe Kit Karter can attach his go-kart to the back of the short bus. Jack

Gorgeous copy! My experience is that the B&B Hawkman issues, esp. 34-36, are harder to get than the Showcase Atom issues. But then, Showcase 34 is the most I've ever spent on a comic book (by a significant margin) and I haven't put on as hard a push for the Hawkman B&Bs. I prefer the Anderson Hawkman covers to Kubert's SA ones anyway (probably blasphemy to some) -- that combined with the nice 1989 paperback of the Kubert issues kept me from spending the big bucks. Jack

Hey Jack, I'd throw my kids in the hearth to stay warm before Obadiah Oldbuck! ( prudent thing to do ....children burn slower than paper ) and when they're done, you get a much tastier snack Jack (on second thought, those Obadiahs are hemp so you'd get warm with a bonus!)

A continued story in Strange Adventures with parts 1 and 2 separated by 3 years? That is Strange! Let us know what's up with that if you crack and read 'em. Jack