Garystar

On 5/10/2023 at 8:11 PM, LowGradeBronze said:

MCS credits Tony M with co inking in Cap 139. Just had a quick peek and I recognise the hallmarks. I've enjoyed his backgrounds for a while and love looking for telltale clues left on billboards etc. 

Edit: He doesn't leave us any crafty clues in Cap 139 though. 

Good idea, I’ll have a look through MCS for the period - they list contributors even those not in printed credits. 

On 5/10/2023 at 6:21 PM, MR. Pontoon said:

He did a lot of Spidey Super Stories, too, but I'm blanking on what the credits looked like and don't have time to pull any.

He did indeed and I don’t think he got in the credits on those either. I sold all my Spidey Super Stories last year so can’t check. I have the Fireside edition and he doesn’t slip his credit into the backgrounds that I can see. 

On 5/10/2023 at 5:29 PM, Spider-Variant said:

Awesome stuff.  I'll go through my haphazard list and see if I can spot some you don't have.  

Cheers. I think I should next look at John Romita books of late 60s early 70s and see if Tony pops up there. Cap #138 (thanks to Marwood for correction) was the only issue from that title I could see, perhaps I should take a look at his FF issues.

On 5/10/2023 at 5:26 PM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

This guy?

 

Yes, although according to MyComicShop he only did the cover. Google says Tony started in early 1950s for Trojan Comics and then moved to Timely/Atlas/Marvel as an artist and later inker.

On 5/10/2023 at 5:13 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Is your Cap #139 a typo Gary - this is in #138:

Well corrected. I only spotted that one a couple of days ago and then typo’d it. Doh!

On 5/3/2021 at 6:30 PM, Spider-Variant said:

Gary, if you look in this thread you will find a panel by panel breakdown of all the times Dave Hunt used "XX" during his background work.  I think I found one more since I posted that.

Below is the full list of Dave Hunt's hidden credits.   I started one for Tony Mortellaro, but it gets tricky.   In the reprints, sometimes Tony would add his famous "backgrounds by Mort", where in the original it didn't exist.  So, if I used Marvel Essential or Marvel Masterworks, I would have to know where they got the art to see if it was truly there.   Not wanting to expend the brain cells, I gave up.  If you come up with something, let me know and I can compare it with what I have.

I posted Dave's list below as text because whenever I post it from Excel, it tends to lose resolution.

Benjamin was Dave's son, so lots of shout outs.  There are some other names he used on buildings and signs, but since we dont know who they are, I didnt list them.

 

Issue    Comic Page    Panel    Description of Hidden Credit
127    1    1    Benjamin on wall sign
128            
129    23    1    Benja on street sign
130    16    2    XX on Pan Am Building
131            
133    10    7    Jamin Co. on sign
134    2    2    Backgrounds by Hunt on fence
134    2    5    Benjamin on boat
134    17    2,3     Nicolescu Western Duds on truck
135    6    1    XX on water tank
136            
137    3    4    XX and BDH on water tank
138    3    2    DA HU in Pete's phone number book
139    1    1    HU on water tank
139    6    2    Ben on sign, XX and H on sign
139    6    5    Hunt and Giacoia Captured on Newspaper
140    14    5    XX on billboard
140    23    3    BEN on building, B under word ballon
141    16    3    BDH on license plate.
142    17    9    XX on car grill
142    17    10    Benj on sign
142    22    4    BDH on can
143    32    4    XX on concrete rumble.
144            
145    7    1    XX on water tower, Ben on sign
147    2    3    Benjamin on sign
147    10    7    XX on water tower
147    22    5    Ben's on sign
147    26    3    Ben on sign 
148    3    1    Larry Shell on signs 
150    1    1    Background Hunt on book spines
150    17    6    Benjamin on street sign
150    22    1    Hunt and Esposito Captured on Newspaper
151    1    1    XX on building
152    3    9    XX on tugboat
152    14    7    Backgrounds Hunt on signs
153    1    1    Hunt Backgrounds on sign
154    1    1    Background Hunt on poster
155            No index card, may not have inked
156    1    1    XX on stack, Background Hunt on sign
156    6    7    Nicolescu Western Duds on truck
157    22    2    Ben in latticework above Bond sign
158    3    1    XX on building
158    15    4    XX on overpass
159    14    6    XX on box
159    16    1    Backgrounds Hunt on sign 
160    10    7    Dave's on sign
160    16    8    Ben on sign
160    23    2    HU on sign
161    7    2    Backgrounds Hunt on sign 
162    7    3    XX on bridge
162    31    1    Ben on sign
163    16    1    Background Hunt on sign
163    16    2    XX on sign
164    1    1    XX on machine
164    10    1    Benjamin on sign
164    16    3    Dave's Trucking on truck
164    17    3,4    XX on crane
165    10    2    XX on overpass
166            
167    11    1    Benjam on sign
168    1    1    Ben on stone wall
168    22    5    Ben on sign
168    23    3    Dave Hunt on sign
170            
GS 5    1    1    Hunt's Snappy Backgrounds on sign
GS 5    3    6    Nicolescu Western Duds on truck, HU on sign
GS 5    6    1    Backgrounds by Hunt on sign
 

I finally (two years) got round to compiling Backgrounds By Tony Mortellaro list. I see what you mean about the differences between original and reprinted versions. I assume Tony's credit was edited out of original but reprints were taken from earlier artwork/proofs and thus stayed in. I've done my list from essentials and shown an example, #105, where the original has been edited out. I wonder if any of Dave Hunt's "hidden" messages were similarly edited. 

On 5/7/2023 at 12:04 AM, Malacoda said:

I'm sure it gets down to those numbers.  I believe I read in Rob Kirby's article in Alter Ego that MWOM #1 shifted 500k copies, but that was with TV advertising, it was new and exciting and had a free transfer, so I imagine numbers calmed down quite a bit.  When Dez Skinn launched the Hulk comic that replaced it 7 years later, the print run was down to 250k, so I could well believe 350k was the magic number for a sizeable chunk of the run.

The figure in my mind of 350,000 may have come from Fantasy Domain #1 which prior to MWOM being published quoted a figure of 325,000. 

On 5/5/2023 at 7:22 PM, themagicrobot said:

I got the 1968 Pow! Annual Xmas 1967. Over the years I picked up a few more at Car Boot sales and Charity shops never paying more than 50p. Suddenly it is selling for £100 plus

Although there are eBay sellers asking £100+, only one of the last four sold listings made it to £10 mark. (Shame I was about to dig mine out and list it for sale).

On 5/5/2023 at 6:58 PM, Malacoda said:

I suspect rarity, or at least perceived rarity is a factor.  MWOM #1 reprints 3 grails, but it shifted half a million copies. Even if 90% got binned or destroyed, there's still 50,000 copies out there. And by that point, there were definitely Marvel collectors, far more than in the Odhams day...and MWOM was under a very distinct Marvel banner (don't say it). I suspect (please correct me)  that no one really knows how many copies AC printed, or were sold, or were re-sold in subsequent redistributions, or were pulped and how many survived. Most of it was not Marvel reprints and even when they were, they were so non-sequential that no one could have been collecting & reading the MU that way.  The AC ones may actually be literally a thousand times rarer than the Transworld ones.

What's your take on the AC volumes, Gary? I suspect you know a thing or two.  

No idea what the print run of Alan’s was although I suspect a lot less than MWOM (which I understood to be about 350,000) and would have been much harder (impossible) to collect. I never knew anywhere that sold any titles regularly, just saw ad hoc issues all over the place. I never knew anyone who collected them, not even me although I would buy Marvel ones, read them and then bin them.

I think the prices some now fetch is only incredulous to us old timers who remember when you could pick them up for pennies and that wasn’t too long  ago. 

On 5/5/2023 at 5:19 PM, themagicrobot said:

I think it will go for more than the fiver starting bid if this one is anything to go by. It may be almost 60 years old but if anyone pays £600 for this they want their head examined. You can still get old Power comics such as Fantastic and Terrific for a fiver. They are far more interesting (and possibly scarcer now) than most Alans. We live in very strange times. 

I like the back cover though. Printed in the days before Astounding and Uncanny were born. 

 

I don’t think it’ll get £600 in this condition either but not a stupid starting point. The last one sold in February for best offer on £599 asking price, not much better looking than this. Alan Class creepy FF#1 reprint sold in April for £556. 
I don’t understand either why these Alan’s fetch so much when, as you say, Power Comics and MWOM and Spider-Man Weekly reprinting the same comics get a small percentage. 

On 5/5/2023 at 3:11 PM, Malacoda said:

@Garystar  This is on the bay at the mo for the princely sum of a fiver, if you're interested.   https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/166074255757?hash=item26aacc098d:g:r5MAAOSwb19kTV2h

Everyone else, an novel old money / new money? 

Thanks for the heads up, I have that one though. I think £5 is probably about right. Alan Class key reprints seem to have gone mad, but run issues still affordable. 

On 5/4/2023 at 10:15 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

The circles have buggered up your Avatar a bit Gary - and I see you are a 'Contributor' now:

 

Looks like a record sleeve doesn’t it? Gary Ramone releases new track Contributor …….  1, 2, 3, 4

On 5/4/2023 at 9:33 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Nice. I wouldn't have even known that was a Marvel mag

I think Marvel’s first magazines, started as Monsters to Laugh With in 1964 before being retitled with #4. Its Stan Lee doing “funny” captions over movie stills. 

The stamp is nothing special but I don’t think I’ve seen many/any Marvel mags with a T&P. 

2 minutes in for glimpse of rare UKPV

https://youtu.be/REwskcXDAqQ
 

On 3/10/2023 at 6:32 PM, Malacoda said:

That said (and I think Steve has done some of this) it would be interesting to collect multiple date stamps for as many copies as possible (not that that would necessarily prove they were retailer rather than wholesaler).  According to Mike's, number 10 of the Surfer reached the beach on September 23rd and here he is....

but then this one made landfall two days later. 

 

 

 

 

As you pointed out I’m a fan of this issue so had to get mine early ….. 16 Sept;

On 2/24/2023 at 6:28 PM, Malacoda said:

So, you know how the whole run of Where Creatures Roam is ND...?

 

Well....

 

 

 

Well Duncan McAlpine when in print would disagree;

On 4/1/2021 at 3:06 AM, Albert Thurgood said:

Ha! People who have not seen that may not realize that is a single panel going over FOUR PAGES!

Way back in the day, that was the first book that I bought a second copy so I could see it in all its glory.

PS From memory, the Editor's note for this read: "Darn, now I have to spend an extra 12c" - Stingy Stan

Only 18 months late in responding - the 2001 collection had this 4 page panel as two fold outs so you could at last view in its entirety;

Way to ruin a classic cover, why use one stamp when there’s room for three;

I can’t remember the name of the shop (top ten doesn’t ring any bells) but I did buy a Daredevil #1 from them - mail order. 

Off topic but antiques roadshow bbc1 8pm 29 December is advertised as having a piece on Jonathan Ross’s toy and comic collection. 

instant collection for sale;

Warehouse Comic book Clearance! Approx 74 Allan Class British Comics BOX46