ageofsilver

The problem is that I don’t see a hard cover available.

Unpopular idea. Hmmm. How about this one? Excluding importance to the whole industry, how many wonderful covers were produced and whether or not we include atomic age within golden age, the greatest body of golden age work is New Trend EC. Just try to disagree.

Pl 17 feels like Baker elements. Love the hair. I will say that wood posts shout Feldstein

EC is great fun to collect. Read through the EC chat and notice the different slants taken by those who post. Some look to have all of them; some particularly seek out low condition readers, but everybody’s having fun.

I’m with you, Eric. Star Hawkins, Space Museum and Star Rovers were skillfully written and featured wonderful artwork. Just the sort of thing which a juvenile boy could look forward to; every third issue. True days of wonder…

Except for Mitch, youngsters all, I believe. Of course, youth doesn’t mean lack of wisdom, nor does age equal a surfeit of same. I have well and truly entered into my eight decade, but still love all of it; silver age and older. Only regret would be that I just couldn’t get myself to pay more than Guide for all those books with Mac Raboy and Lou Fine covers in the seventies and eighties. Sigh. Great fun watching you all talking about funny books.

I get what you're saying. I have some problems with pressing books to acheive a bump in grade. It seems a little like cheating, especially when one has carefully preserved or purchased high quality issues, back in the day. On the other hand, I have a run of Ditko Spiderman I had to purchase second hand (and in less than pristine condition), due to a girl named Iris, who never returned mine to me; it still hurts. I will definitely consider some professional "help" with those, one day.

I think DC Comics Spirit Archives are superb. From the color of the paper to the reproduction values, only Fantagraphic’s Prince Valiant is as enjoyable, for me. I don’t care for the non-Eisner war time strips, but early or late, if it has the touch of Eisner, it’s brilliant. Of course, one has to have the EC hard covers, especially if you don’t have a “reading copy” set like Robot Man. Still, something seems a bit “off” about them. One day I will retrieve my comics from storage and investigate this further. Ok, guilty secret time; I have to admit that I am way behind in actually reading the collections on my shelves. About to start Gasoline Alley The Complete Sundays vol. 2, tonight. Golden Age of reprints, indeed.

Just finished Walt and Skeezix 1933-1934. Absolutely wonderful. Have now purchased as many others in the series as are available at near original price. The cloth binding of the different volumes is quite nice; you do read books with their dust wrappers carefully set aside, don’t you? Of course you do. I’m now starting with the earliest one, when Walt finds Skeezix on his front doorstep. It’s almost as good as the later storylines. A cautionary note for you all: if you find reprints that you enjoy, don’t hesitate to pick up the rest In the series, if you can afford them. It is very unpleasant to bite the bullet and pay three or four times list price, once they are no longer in print. Of course, you will still have to deal with the spouse, if, like me, you have promised not to install more bookshelves to accommodate them. Luckily, I have an office with lots of as yet “undecorated” walls. Like many of you, I enjoy the Foster Prince Valiant books, Terry and the Pirates, Peanuts, Raymond’s Flash Gordon and Mac Raboy’s work on Flash, as well. Reprints can be an expensive pursuit, but collecting the original newsprint is seldom an option; still missing around forty of Raboy’s run on Flash Gordon, for example. Well, here’s to good reading.

My guess (as an old printer's devil) is that the bottom cover is light on blue ink. Assuming the use of a four color press, the vibrant green on Vault Keeper versus Army green on the bottom copy, plus faded purplish CK on bottom issue, says ink roller not carrying enough blue (a kind of Planet Stories variation). By the way, 17 is perhaps Ghastly's better cover, but 18 has to be the most intricate and odd one; just try to figure out everything that is going on...

Thanks, Robot, for your Fifty Years posts; truely remarkable. As for my scanning and posting, that's a problem, since my older comics and pulps are at a remote location (though not in a "safety deposite box"). I am resolved to do something about this, a couple of months from now. Makes me think about another potential thread: Why don't more people post their books? Sorry; off topic.

Too many of you are presenting good thoughts; ideas that might even be popular. Being so stimulated, I feel the spirit of unpopularity coming over me. You know, like when someone opined that Spirit # 22 displayed a less than gorgeous example of deadly female pulchritude. How could you! Ok, how about this: High grade file copies should not be given quite the appreciation they are accorded. Let's get right to the heart it with the EC Gaines File Copies. Yes, a wonderful story; Bill cared enough about what he produced to carefully store them. Every EC fan can't help but love the tale of the unwrapping, raw grading, "sniffing", etc. However, consistent with the proper direction of this thread, I have to call foul on the unlimited love for these books. First of all, no teenager searched through the rack for the best copy, paid his or her dime, carefully took his prize home and then actually read the stories. And what amazing stories they were! Then, having enjoyed the comic as a young person should and recognizing the importance of it (if only to himself) he carefully stored it with the rest of his New Trend ECs for a decade plus. One day, as a young college professor, he happened to notice a crude handbill put up in Palo Alto, California, by a couple of guys buying, selling and trading back-issue comics from one of their mother's garage; after school and on weekends. I recall from well over half a century back, the gentleman's unhappiness at my top offer of one dollar each, for the boxes of delight he brought us. Even in the mid sixties their retail value was considerably higher, being a near complete new trend and "new" new trend (as we used to say) set, beginning with the three Crypt of Terror issues, and all in very high grade. Still, it came to a lot of money. Embarrassingly, I had to borrow the cash from my mother, selling the CoT issues to Bud Plant and a few others to some of the other San Jose guys to help pay her back. My partner Jim and I agreed on a "brother deal" price per copy, if we wanted to purchase issues for our personal collections. Jim quickly scarfed up WSF 29 and a few other issues, and I took the rest! Really should see about a pedigree designation some day real soon now... The point is that I then read the books (Ahhh) and then stored them with OCD love until Gerber first came up with Mylar and alkaline buffered boards and boxes, wherein they reside to this day. No doubt Gaines file copies are delightful, but high grade books used as they were intended deserve special love.

For my first post here, please allow me to bump this thread, as it has given me great pleasure. I won't start with my own unpopular thoughts, but rather with some opposition clarification as to why Phantom Lady # 17 has one of the great covers of the Golden Age. By the way, I do not own a copy, and would rather spend the required in-grade price elsewhere, including a Seven Seas 4. Forgive me if any of the following has been stated before. First, this cover embodies one of the central issues for a commercial artist: get the person perusing the rack (sorry) to pickup and purchase the comic! My goodness; just look at the colors. Yellow and red at the top, with that amazing face and hair peeking out and looking directly into the teen-age boys eyes. Upon lifting the copy out of the spinner rack, and before the cigar store owner says, "Are you gonna buy that?" the person is stunned with the amazing state of dress (and generous figure) of the Lady. It's not just the absurd top, with its lack of support or the encased cleavage, defying all laws of gravity, but also those shorts (?) with the provocative side slits. Then add that she is tied, but appears almost to have slipped her bonds and has pulled a mysterious device from her "utility belt", while, unbeknownst to her, bad guys are stealthily creeping up (because her sultry gaze is riveted on you). Since I have never read a Phantom Lady, I can't tell you how I liked the story or interior art, though I suspect they wouldn't come up to the standards of the EC adaptation of Bradbury's "There Will Come Soft Rains." Nonetheless, for cover art designed to hook an adolescent male into parting with 10 cents, I find this quite effective. As an aside, isn't this some of the most amazing brush work for hair of all time? Of course, the Madusaesque liveliness of her black tresses is impossible, but who cares? The appropriate blue color highlights are superb! Dang it, now I want a copy...