selegue

Gene Autry Comics, July 1953. Photo cover with Gene Autry "feeding his goat." Is that a euphemism? Typical high Dell production values, but the artwork isn't very exciting. This night sequence is probably the high point of the book. Jerry Bails' Who's Who suggests Pete Alvarado, Richard Case, Nicholas Firfires (who?), Erwin Hess (who? again), Bud Thompson, Doug Wildey -- too many choices. Can anyone tell them apart? I'd at least guess it's not Wildey. Jack

WOW! That's from FC 172? Bizarre! Thanks and Merry Christmas, BZ! Jack

HOWDY DOODY! Very nice -- I bet those are hard to find in high grade! A surprisingly good series. I think I posted one a while back, which I also indexed for GCD, but it was a beater. I don't think I've ever seen another one posted, with the possible exception of the Four Color issues. (Nicest 9.4 I've ever seen) Jack

Oooooohhhh. Ditko's Amazing Adult Fantasy covers, esp 10 and 13, were among the best of the pre-Marvel age. Nice catch (and of course the nicest 7.0 I've ever seen). Jack

he must have been popular: He was VERY popular in real life, topping the charts (before the Beatles) with his white-bread covers of black R&B hits. Amazingly, he's managed to stay in the public eye off and on for decades, with his nutty album of heavy metal covers in 1997 and ridiculous phone recording supporting Ernie Fletcher in this year's Kentucky goober-natorial election. DC must have had an unusual business arrangement with Boone, since he not only had his own book but crossed over into the mainstream titles, like you showed here. Hope, Martin and Lewis didn't do that, as far as I know. I wonder which real-life person showed up the most in Silver-Age comic books. Did the Code keep Hitler out of comic books for a while? At DC, maybe John Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe? Jack

More celebrity humor, this time Abbott and Costello #37, March 1956 from St. John. Another book from the vaunted skypinkblu pedigree, but this time a Signature Series book, thanks to Sharon's cousins Lanny and Eilie. No extra charge, believe it or not! Here's the cover, noting that it's a re-issue of original. I found the original, #14, on GCD (and added my #37), but compare the original. The editor removed the artist's signature, Peters. According to Jerry Bails' Who's Who, this is Eric Peters, husband of Lilly Renee Peters! Odd that he also removed the couple (spies?) and their dog, who made the "peepholes at two different levels" gag make (some) sense! The cover is a far cry from the Good Girl covers on some of the earlier issues in the series. I don't know whether #37 is a cover-to-cover reprint of #14. I also don't know whether Peters did interior artwork -- Overstreet notes Mort Drucker art in most issues, but I can't ID early Drucker. Maybe one of you can tell from these page scans. The first story features classic racist caricatures of ignorant "natives", as you can see on this final page. The cover story is the final one, including this great splash with references to uranium, gold and Kentucky! Hard to beat that for a couple of bucks. Thanks for cutting this treasure loose, Sharon. Jack

I'm overwhelmed (OK, whelmed) by the demand for more 10¢ celebrity humor books! Stepping away from DC, here's Abbott and Costello 37, March 1956 from St. John. For more comments and some interior scans, check later on the Short Bus thread in Gold. Jack

For that gweat interior scan, I'll take a stab at the color change. Thanks, Jack

Not an experiment that we encourage students to try. (Un?)fortunately, none of them have enough knowledge or curiosity to try it. Glad you were wearing safety glasses! HAW! Carlson was great. A dozen gags in every panel. Unusual to see the uninked red checkerboard pattern on the tablecloth. "'Pon my sole!" Jack

Your copies are so fabulous, I hate to let them pass without comment! I saw a wretched copy of this with some crazy price tag (probably the NM price from the latest Overstreet) at a local auction recently. Unfortunately, even if the whole stack it seemed to be part of closed at $10-20, it wouldn't have been worth waiting around for. First series! WOO! Another movie I found creepy and disturbing when I was young -- I'm not sure why. Yessir, every adolescent American boy must have had a crush on Hayley Mills at one time. In pajamas! Hey, hey, it's Mickey! I didn't realize that he got a mention on the CGC label. Seems like a tough issue to find. Thanks for posting, Jack

Does anyone else find those puppets really creepy? Jack

I have a few of those books with lower-gloss, slightly heavier (if I remember right) cover stock. Actually, I like them as much as the glossy covers. I wonder what's the story on them. Dell experimenting with different processes or materials? Paper shortages? Jack

A gas fifty times lighter than hydrogen -- HAWW! There goes my test-tube rack! Good stuff. Thanks, Jack

Thanks, bb. Great seasonal covers! I've got to pick up those recent Our Gang reprint books. I always enjoy Kelly. Fun Jingle Jangle cover. Is there any Carlson in this issue? Any chance he drew a Christmas story? That would be fun to see. Jack

Another DC celebrity book from the extensive skypinkblu pedigree! Pat Boone 4 from April 1960. I'd never looked inside one of these before. Not like Adventures of Jerry Lewis of Bob Hope at all, this was more like a fan-club book with text features, fashions, pin-ups and a few actual strips. Hardly comic books at all, except for the pamphlet format. Most of the artwork is by Bob Oksner, Mort Drucker (mostly single-panel gags) and an unknown pin-up/fashion artist. Here's a sample Oksner page, which looks unlike the Oksner I'm used to seeing -- more realistic, less cartoony/caricature than usual. (Most of the stories in #2-4 are signed, but I can't find a signature on this one. Many of the stories are about Pat Boone being a good family man. Maybe one of the artists can tell me about the style. Do you think that he traced the pencils from photos, then inked them? Funny seeing typeset text without word balloons in a DC comic book. Jack

Jerry Lewis was such a big hit that I knew you'd all want to see another DC celebrity book, Pat Boone 4 from April 1960. Not like Adventures of Jerry Lewis of Bob Hope at all, this was more like a fan-club book with text features, fashions, pin-ups and some actual comics. The comics are interesting. If you want to see a sample page, check the Short Bus thread in Gold later today. Jack

If you'd keep better track of your comic books, you wouldn't have to keep rebuying them! Nice stuff. Jack

Did somebody call for a SPOON? Yet another primo book from the skypinkblu pedigree, Funny Tunes 3 from Avon, Dec.–Jan. 1954. I'm not sure where the name comes from since there are no Tunes in this book, although Frank Zappa fans might enjoy reading a text story about Willie the Mountain! The next issue becomes Space Comics. The best (and most bizarre) story by far is Space Mouse. Spacey (I guess that's his nickname) and his gal-pal Molly take off after a passing flying saucer (with inverted teacup on top) and, unprovoked, blast it out of the sky. In a sequence that paratrooper would enjoy, anthropomorphic knife, fork and SPOON (from the Pantry Planet) parachute to the ground. On my favorite page (shown here), they're attacked by the Wolf-Birds! Everyone except Molly pulls out pistols and shoots at them! The story doesn't get any less strange as the Wolfbirds lose their hyphen and shoot Spacey and Molly out of a giant slingshot, then they get arrested by a Shooting Star for traveling too fast! Justice triumphs in the end, but WOW, this is strange stuff! I'll be glad to help you recycle Weird Science issues (especially for the cost of this Funny Tunes). Happy holidays to you too! Jack

Let's liven up my favorite thread with a few books that some of you Short Bus fans might not see posted over on Silver. First, from the forgotten back-alleys of the Silver Age, a Box 10¢-priced Adventures of Jerry Lewis 66. Nice skypinkblu pedigree copy, evidently from the days when she subscribed to all the DC celebrity humor books. It's a movie adaptation, and Jerry really acts like a developmentally challenged eunuch in this issue! Looks like Bob Oksner did the artwork. Next, a Box 12¢-priced Adventures of Jerry Lewis 72. Not just any copy! The freshly received skypinkblu Pedigree copy! You can easily identify this pedigree because of the helpful notes to the novice reader. The gentleman on the right (obviously drawn by Mort Drucker) is identified as "Bobby", and the attractive young lady on the left is tentatively identified as A. G., but she may be "Too good looling". The area that raises the doubt is obligingly highlighted so no one misses it. From the same batch, does Blackhawk's scorned monster-fighting era qualify for the Short Bus? Blackhawk 169, with our favorite aviators apparently stumbling across the War that Time Forgot from Star Spangled War Stories. Nice purple monster! Too bad about the scissor cut that got snagged on the right edge. Finally, as long as I'm quoting my other post, the inside front cover of Blackhawk 169 explaining to the boys and girls why they had to fork over another two pennies for their DC fix starting this month. Jack

As long as I'm posting a Box 12¢ Jerry Lewis in that thread, I'll add a Box 10¢ Jerry here. Nice skypinkblu pedigree copy, evidently from the days when she subscribed to all the DC celebrity humor books. It's a movie adaptation, and Jerry really acts like a developmentally challenged eunuch in this issue! Looks like Bob Oksner did the artwork. Jack

Wow, fantastic! Especially 125. Wonderful copy! Hard to believe it's Infantino/Giella, not Infantino/Anderson -- not that Giella was bad, but usually not this good. This cover is one of the reasons I was astonished that Infantino left the Silver Age Survivor contest so early. I'd rank it a top-ten Silver Age cover. Great details in the past and future panels. Even the coloring contributes well to the overall effect. Jack

Does that make it the Road Runner-Up? Very nice. Great coloring on that cover! I bet it looks terrific in person. Thanks, Jack

I hadn't ever seen them. Pretty risqué for Archie! Is it pure Bob Montana? This page with Archie checking out Veronica's chest is funny too. Thanks for posting the whole story, BZ! Jack

I'll add a recent pick-up of #905, I think one of the harder issues to get because of all the old pervs long-term fans who still have a crush on Annette. From Sharon (skypinkblu) -- a real beater but it's mine, all mine. Jack

Fair market value has gone through the ROOF! Jack