jools&jim

Made by Parker Brothers in 1979. See here for more details: http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/comics/Rom/actionfig/index.shtml (thumbs u

From a local toy show yesterday: Nuthin' fancy...but not bad at all for 25 bucks total: The ROM figure came with one broken accessory and no power cable. But the figure itself is unbroken and clean w/no melt marks or other BS, and came with the backpack (which doubles as the cover for the 9-volt battery) -- all of the electronic functions (all three switches, and all sound fx & LED lights) work perfectly. Neat!!!

Any sane method of attribution would credit the Vision to Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, Roy Thomas, and John Buscema...

Yes, but it was from Stan's scripts. Stan had nothing to do with the Vision... ... I took the "Stan's scipts" post above as being a tongue-in-cheek, prodding reference to the ol' "Stan did Everyhing" / "Jack did Everything" debate which is a perennial favorite around these parts...

Went to a local library book sale today -- came home with lots of good, vintage non-comics related genre paperbacks (Bond, SF, fantasy, etc.), including this: An R. E. Howard book I haven't read and a Jeff Jones cover, all for the princely sum of 25-cents!

"Two chicks at the same time." "Norwegian Wood" - Keith Moon. - Peter O'Toole - Winston Churchill. (Runner up: Ava Gardner) Same reason for all three: all were legendary boozers, bon vivants, and racounteurs. Plus I'm pretty sure they could pull more babes, and spring for better brandy, than I could on my own. Sounds like a party to me.

Possibly one of my favorite superhero comic books of all time:

I made a long (and somewhat unpleasant) road-trip today to pick up my vintage '70s stereo receiver, which had been repaired for me by the ONLY guy within 150 miles or so of my house who is crazy enough (and good enough!) to work on this old-time mess. Got twisted around on my way home, but somehow spotted a local comic book store on my left while making an illegal left-hand turn. An hour or so later, I drove home with these... It's amazing to me that stuff like this is still "hiding" in plain sight in a dealer's back-stock! (Obvious) lesson learned: you never know what you might find until you stop and look!

It's Cards, Comics and Collectibles...but I agree 100%. Definitely worth the 20-30 minutes or so drive up from the Inner Harbor area... (thumbs u http://cardscomicscollectibles.com/directions/

Pretty sure the first comic book shop I was aware of was essentially the back room of a head-shop in New Cumberland, PA (ca. 1975 - 1976). My collecting pal Steve and I were only 10 or 11 at the time, but we somehow managed to talk my older sister into driving us across town. Among other books, I bought a spine-rolled ASM 28 there for pocket change, read it on the ride home, and it was instantly both the coolest and oldest comic book I had ever owned. The thing I remember most is that the comics were stored, un-bagged, in fruit crates (they sold fresh fruit up front--I distinctly recall cantaloupe!--in addition to bongs, incense, "High Times", etc.), and that there was some sort of oddball, "flat-rate" pricing system based on issue numbers, with the early numbers of any given series being more expensive than the later numbers. It was a long time ago, but I don't remember grade being a factor at all...

MCS has a copy of #11 on consignment...

Thanks to Hollywood, the profile/marketability for superheroes and comic book-related merchandise has never really been higher than it is right now. So as long as the cinematic gravy train keeps rollin' along, I'm guessing that we'll be seeing more opportunism of this sort, rather than less, in the years ahead.

My kid and I took a little comics-related joyride today to a comic store that was having a New Year's Day sale, and here's what we came home with: Nothing fancy or super high grade (the Action 583 was the nicest of the lot @ NM-), but they're all respectable books, and the lot price averaged out to $2-$3 per book. Lots of great reading, too. I was particularly excited about the Batman Family/Detective run (Starlin and Michael Golden in 482, then some exceptional work from Don Newton in the others on the lead stories). The Demon 1 and the Starlin Captain Marvels were a nice find; the Darkseid JLA was a 50-cent box book; I've been meaning to read some "Steve Canyon" strips for years (but never owned any); plus I crossed six more '70s Marvels off my want-list (top row of pic 2), and my daughter found two more '60s Archies which she's never read. All in all, not a bad way to spend a quiet New Year's Day!

Nice score. There are awesome "Darklon" stories by Jim Starlin in 79 and 84...

Here's today's haul from the flea markets in central PA: My wife found the baseball cards for me, to be added to my "1970s long-hair/huge-afro/big-moustache" collection. And the little hand-held pinball game still works, and is (surprisingly) a lot of fun, with some very funky late 1970s graphics. Also grabbed these, which are easily two of the highest grade (relatively old) comic books I have ever bought "in the wild":

Just got this in today, after I tried (and failed) to turn up the right copy at the right price during the Baltimore con last month...

I had a sub at Alt. Worlds in the early 1980s when I was in college and Dave Bowen was managing it for Mike at the old location on York Road (underneath a shoe repair place as I remember it). I bought nearly complete runs of Kirby's Fourth World titles out of their boxes during a major back-issue sale for VERY light $$. Cool store, good times...

That Demon #1 is no slouch, either -- nice work!

Here's my haul from the local public library book sale this morning -- nothing earth-shaking, but not bad, I guess, for a few bucks:

Speaking of serendipitous finds at true junk sales...here's one of mine from this past weekend, courtesy of our local private elementary school's "Fall Festival and Flea Market": It's an American first edition from 1905. Other than a little foxing, it's in very nice shape for a 100+ year-old adventure/fantasy novel by one of the architects of the genre. The tissue paper separating the frontispiece from the title page is still in-tact, and all of the interior illustrations (printed on heavier, glossier stock) are present and accounted for. I found it sitting on top of a box full of dirty old Chiltons auto repair manuals from the 1980s. Price was $2.