boomtown

Gamut #1

Blaze of Glory #1 pages 4&5. Classic retelling of all the Marvel Western Heroes.

Wasn't this the show that was being compared to some of the top Cons in the nation after it's first show? What the heck happened. That artist list is pitiful.

I think it is also. Spider-Man crossed over with the Avengers in Avengers #11 and his own Annual but that was way before the Panther was around. That was back in the time when crossovers were rare and people got excited about seeing a Daredevil or the X-Men in the Avengers book.

So I recently purchased a handful of old fanzines from a used book store. Nice copy of REALITY with art by Brunner, Kaluta, Jeff Jones, etc, published in 1970 (really cool book). It had a few extra items tucked into it and was wondering if anyone recognizes any of the items. First is a flyer type item for Kenneth Smith's Phantasmagoria #1. I believe it was published around the same time and was probably tucked into the book when sold. Next was a poster of the Cryptics by Bernie Wrighton on a glossy heavier stock paper. Not sure if this came with the magazine or not. Anyone remember this image floating around in 1970, maybe at a convention? Last item was a copy of what looks like a rejected Fantastic Four #52. I believe I have recently seen a variant published by Marvel using this cover. It's got a copyright 1970 Marvel Comics Group up in top right corner. I've seen similar type art put out by Marvelmania but not sure because of the date. It may be too early for FOOM. Any Ideas?

Got another batch of books off Hermsters latest sales thread. Once again, tight grading, quick shipping and great packaging.

Throwing up a few shots of the early books from the sets.

Yeah, picked up both the Terrific and Fantastic runs from a seller off Ebay. The early issues didn't have the free inserts, but I was really having problems finding those anyway. I started posting some of the back covers with the early Barry Smith art over in the Bronze Forum under the Mighty World of Marvel Thread. When I get some time I'll throw up some of the covers also.

Yeah, I was trying to piece together a complete set over the last year and was getting killed with the postage. Found a guy selling the complete set and bought it in one bunch. Really neat books.

Going through the collection of Terrific/Fantastic books I picked up and will share the early Barry Windsor Smith Back Cover Posters when I come across them. These were done while Smith was still a teenager, living in the UK. The story goes he was a family friend with the publisher or editor. Amazing how far he progressed in the 4 years between these posters and his Conan work! More to come as I come across them!

Bought a sharp X-Men 58 off Hermsters last board sale, great packaging, quick shipping and tight grading. Wish I had been able to get more.

That's what my complete run of Fantastics look like. The Terrifics are a little nicer as far as staple rust goes. Appreciate all the input.

Picked up a couple of sets of the UK Terrific and Fantastic weekly books. They don't have the free gifts but still, cool stuff I've been interested in for awhile. Barry Windsor Smith did a ton of the posters on the back covers while he was still a teenager living in the UK in 1967/68.

Quick question for the UK collectors. I recently purchased a complete run of the Terrific and Fantastic series from the UK. I was putting together a set slowly and decided to bite the bullet on the full sets to save on all the shipping costs that would have added up over many multiple purchases. I specifically asked about the rusty staples problem and the seller said that "some" do have rusty staples and that it was a common problem because of the staples used. Get the books and "all" have rusty staples. Is it really, really difficult to find these books with clean staples? Is it just something you have to deal with when putting this set together?

Picked up a copy of The Eagle #1 from the Texas Trio. It was while Starlin was still in the Navy in 1971. I always thought they didn't do the book any favors with the cover image, as opposed to using the splash page art.