Rosland

Here's a Strange Tales #77 in 7.5.

The 114 is too much for me. I'm not that fanatical;-)

I've been lucky enough to cherry-pick out of a couple of excellent collections, building up my current set. It's also fun to know fellow ST collectors, so if there are more out there, I hope we'll find out who it is.

Looks like someone has been raiding the Strange Tales pantry over at pedigree. A lot of sales in the Nick Fury run (all 9.4-9.6) in the last week. Anyone know who's working on early xmas booty?

Monkeyman, I have a spare 9.2 #135 and a 9.4 #158. You can ping me if interested. Do you intend to branch out into 101-135? I started with the 135+ range, and fell victim to the 101-134 run too. Looks like Korvac Saga is in reverse mode;-) It's really hard to stop halfway...

Monkeyman, You've picked some of the better covers there. Just coincidence, or were you specifically after those? Don't see you in the registry for Strange Tales, will you enter them?

Sullypython, Nice pickup today. Congrats!

Korvac, Are you finally going after the 135-168 range? I always thought it looked a bit bleak up there. That's a great start:-)

err.... I mean ST 123.

According to my Masterworks book, post-Ditko art is by: Pencillers: Bill Everett (147-152) Marie Severin (153-159) Dan Adkins (161-165,167,168) George Tuska (166) Inkers: Bill Everett (147-152) Marie Severin (153-156) Herb Trimpe (157-160) Dan Adkins (161-168) I wouldn't mind a nice Bill Everett or Dan Adkins page, since the Ditko pages are so hard. How rare are they? (and yes, that ST 124 is sweet, congrats!)

Thanks for the info, Rhino. Too bad it's so rare and expensive. That's an awesome Dr. Strange page (#127p2).

So, I got to wondering about Ditko original art from Strange Tales. does anyone know what happened to the Doctor Strange OA from issues 110-146? Is any of it in collector hands?

Sullypython, did you scan those as "color document" or as "color photo"? I found that "color document" produced dark images, while "color photo" worked much better for brightness/contrast.

Another entry, #119 in 9.4. The rarest Dr. Strange appearance in high grade, and the second hardest Strange Tales issue (behind 103).

Here's my latest entry, Dr. Strange's first cover appearance.

How many do you need;-) I've looked over the "custom covers" and really liked them. Would have been great to have more Dr. Strange covers instead of the Torch.

I finally completed my ST 135-168 set. Makes the third complete high grade set with Captain Tripps and Dr. Watson/Filosa. It was quite a chase and well worth it. On to the next one... Here they are in all their glory!

So has Sullypython (our newest ST registry entry) introduced himself yet? Anyone know this collector?

I'm keeping an eye on the ST 135 in 9.4. It is a key, and is increasing in price... Good thing I have one already.

Personally, I like the early Dr. Strange Lee/Ditko issues (110-146) and the Steranko run (151-168). Ditko did a great job on the Strange stories. Sad that Strange has been so neglected since the 70's as a character. Best story/art are 126-127. Anyone know where Ditko got his inspiration for his work on Dr. Strange?

Anyone know whether there are other Slobodian ST issues, and if so, what grades they might be? Never saw one before.

That's a nice pair of books, Frederic! What grades are you hoping for? The 103 looks really good.

I think pedigree has the 9.4 copy at $12K. "Just a 9.0" is very impressive. Congrats!

Here's a couple of 9.6's that I'm lucky to have. Got them raw some number of years ago and had them slabbed. Thought I would share them.

Going back to the topic of how the monster era started, there is a very interesting 4 page introduction by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo at the beginning of the new Tales of Suspense Masterworks collection. From the solicitation of Tales of Suspense Masterworks: In 1958, Atlas Comics Editor-in-Chief Stan Lee was joined by two titanic talents: Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Together this trio of storytellers launched Tales of Suspense and its sister title, Tales to Astonish, and along with them the beginnings of a creative revival that would change comics forever. Kinda wish I knew more about this era, but it looks like Atlas imploded in 1957, and the combo of Stan, Jack, and Steve clicked the year after.