rodan57

Two recent additions to the collection. The Daredevil #5 (December 1964) is courtesy of Flaming Telepath. I used to own a copy of this book as a kid. It was the earliest superhero book that I had back in 1970. The yellow and black Daredevil seemed to be from another era. Of course, Daredevil was never really a superhero per se ... he had enhanced senses to compensate for blindness but his physical strength was of the same nature as Batman... years of training. This perhaps explains the rather pedestrian nature of some of his villains. The Matador was pretty good with a cape and his superpower was apparently his overweening ego. But how can you fault any issue with Wallace Wood art? This Strange Tales #140 (January 1966) is a very recent purchase from Namisgr. It's from the Bowling Green pedigree -- a CGC 9.0W. I've never been a great fan of Fury, the superspy -- I guess mainly because he always seemed to be a Tarzan in New York -- never quite the right fit. Besides, Hydra was a fairly ridiculous enemy. But Ditko's Doctor Strange was a masterpiece from this period. This issue has the particularly famous episode where Strange is on the verge of defeating Dormammu in hand to hand combat, only to be struck from behind by a mystic lightening bolt from Baron Mordo. The interior scan of the last page of the story is from a lesser copy of the book I had floating around.

I would respectfully disagree. I don't believe there was any "well-known face" that needed to be adhered to. I think it's all Kirby. Maneely's interpretations varied. As did Severin's take on Earp. Even Jack Davis had take on Earp. So Kirby's interpretations weren't "out of place". All above covers are from the GCD. If you look at his cover of Bullseye from 1955, you can see the same face in Kirby's natives as in Earp on the cover of WE 25, above. In particular, take a good look at the native on the right. Image from the KIrby Museum/Simon and Kirby Blog. Kirby penciled this cover and co-inked with Joe Simon.

Kudos, Bob, for the Strange Tales ... always nice to be able to buy and add a book to one's collection with such ease.

This is a striking cover.

I consider DD 1 to be a key book but them again I define keys historically rather than with popularity or monetary value. His appearance was the last new title (February 1964) in the early Marvel Silver Age, contemporary with ASM 12 and FF 26. The next "new" hero title, if we exclude the content change in TTA60 (July 1964), TOS 59 (August 1964), ST 135 and TTA 70 (both May 1965), is Ghost Rider 1 in December 1966. And Marvel was a much different company in 1966. The two intervening years had provided it with industry leadership among teens and young adults and the Bullpen had markedly changed.

Picked up this perfectly wrapped copy: I always like it when I can say describe a purchase as, "More than happily satisfied."

Is that Captain George Hendersen of Captain George's Whizbang fame? ... and Memory Lane.

OK. Moot point.

With respect, I kinda hope they don't. I see the prototype designation as a method to "break-out" certain issues in a series. Breaking issues out is not a bad thing per se. but I don't support such categorization when it is artificial ( ie., no discernable creative link aside from perhaps a shared name or tenuous concept similarity). I just don't see any of these monsters as being early versions or try-outs of the superheroes that follow. Such break-outs are vendor-driven. You can't deny this isn't a precursor of the Doctor Doom character! As rivets on a metal mask do not a Doctor Doom make ... I think I will. If the secret beneath the mask is a scarred human then he's a 'Phantom of the Opera' -- especially if the accident was caused while seeking vengeance and the love of a woman is involved. If the the secret is a human who, in his pride, is injured a disfiguring lab accident and becomes a super-scientific villain, I will be more swayed. (Though the animal body and physical violence is not a good sign.) If he is also the leader of an Eastern European country then I will be totally convinced of the intellectual link. I am prepared to be convinced ...

With respect, I kinda hope they don't. I see the prototype designation as a method to "break-out" certain issues in a series. Breaking issues out is not a bad thing per se. but I don't support such categorization when it is artificial ( ie., no discernable creative link aside from perhaps a shared name or tenuous concept similarity). I just don't see any of these monsters as being early versions or try-outs of the superheroes that follow. Such break-outs are vendor-driven.

Early Marvel/late Atlas. On the newsstand in August 1958. Jack Kirby returns to Marvel the next month and helps to launch Strange Worlds, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense. I love the work of Al Hartley.

I spread-sheeted information from Marvel Comics Group 1939-1980 . Joseph William Marek has done a remarkable job with this site. In a reformatted monthly checklist form, it's possible to draw some interesting conclusions. I might also recommend Raphael and Spurgeon's Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book (2003); Ro's Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution (2004) (to a slightly lesser extent); and Jones's Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book (2004). Men of Tomorrow is DC-focussed but gives insight into the nature of the distribution business. It's also a "real" history -- not traditionally footnoted as such but each chapter is documented at the back of the book.

You're welcome. Sometimes it's hard to shut me up on the topic.

DC had agreed to distribute no more than eight Atlas titles per month (which amounted to sixteen bi-monthly titles at the time) in 1957 when Atlas could find no other distributor which was probably a fallout from the Kefauver Senate hearings on the threat to the nation's youth poised by comics. I doubt, however, that the Incredible Hulk's cancellation was linked precisely to the desire to launch the Amazing Spider-Man. The title that gave way to the Amazing Spider-Man was none other than Amazing Fantasy. The timeline fits since with the cancellation of Amazing Fantasy Marvel had room for one more title. Moreover the last issue of the Incredible Hulk ran in March 1963 which was the same month that saw the launch of Amazing Spider-Man which would have amounted to a doubling up in that month. In 1958, 1959 and 1960, Independent News was distributing 8 titles per month for Atlas/Marvel. In June 1960, they began publishing 10 titles per month -- with the exception of December 1960 when no titles were released. 11 titles were distributed in June 1961, 10 titles in July and 12 titles in August. The numbers alternated between 10 and 12 titles (with the odd exception) until June 1963 when annuals pushed the monthly release to 15. The monthly numbers ranged between 11 to 16 until the end of 1965 (this is where my area of interest ends). We can see the numbers of books crept up slightly but books still needed to be cancelled in order for Martin Goodman to juggle the titles. ___________________________ Amazing Fantasy #15 was cancelled June 1962 and replaced in August 1962 with the return of Two-Gun Kid with issue #60. Note that these are newsstand distribution dates and not cover dates which post-dated the actual month of release by two or three months. Linda Carter, Student Nurse was cancelled with issue #9 in October 1962 and was replaced with Amazing Spider-Man #1 in December of 1962. The Incredible Hulk was cancelled with issue #6 in January 1963 and replaced in March of 1963 with Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos #1. Gunsmoke Western was cancelled with issue #77 in May 1964 so that Amazing Spider-Man could go monthly in July 1963 with issue #5. Images courtesy of the Grand Comics Database.

The books make me happy for your collection. The price makes me jealous.

Define "drek." This Astonish looks particularly nice.

Good line. I always feel if I should be making choices between which to keep.

I am a bit late with my kudos as i didn't realise these threads existed (too set in my reading patterns, I guess). I purchased an X-Men #14 off of Ed and was well-pleased with the results. I asked a lot of questions about the book, in trying to gain a full sense of its pros and possible cons, and Ed took the time to re-examine the book and communicated extremely well the details of its condition. It's always a fine thing to receive a forty-five year old book in exactly the condition you hope for. One of those things that make the hobby a good thing to be a part of. Thanks, Ed. Dennis

I am a little late with this but I want to echo the appreciation of Lonetree's sale's professionalism. I purchased an ASM 67 off of Brian and was most pleased with the ease of communication and well-described quality of the book. A confident recommendation from me. (thumbs u

I am going to be incredibly vague here, but I swear there's another one. I think it's a Patsy Walker where she is looking at her little brother's comic books and there's some convoluted plot that ties in the plot of the books with some boyfriend machinations. I am going to have look for this.

Good news.

Went to recheck this thread. Graphics gone? Shame.

Just to bump the thread. A modest KCO from the newsstand of June 1964. I didn't see the glue/syrup stain until scanning a week or so after purchase (upper right back cover). I bought this a couple of months ago and kept it out of my collection because I was kicking myself for being careless in examining the book. But as time passes, I am coming to like it more and more as the cover colours are fresh and unbelievably glossy -- the pages are white.