jools&jim

GA/SA/BA...High Grade, Low Grade, Keys, Cr@p...who cares?  These days damn near everything is almost instantly available to everyone in the know who has the dough and an iPhone.

What I really want to know is the ONLY thing that might have got me out of my basement this year, but didn't: did anyone interact with Frank Miller, and, if so, does he still look like he's on death's door?

So...it was originally $6000?  

One of the biggest differences between comic book covers of the '40s - '70s and modern covers is the general lack of bold, eye-catching, primary colors on the newer stuff...

On the plus side, the new stories appear to be one-off, stand-alone adventures, which should be applauded...

22 minutes ago, kav said:

This could be the saving of future generations of collectors-comics where kids can find them.

Agreed.

Unfortunately, it is my sad duty to report that I found these copies in a small DC point-of-sale cardboard bin at the far end of the trading card aisle at the front of the store, on the top shelf about 2-3 feet taller than the average kid, roughly 10 feet or so from the nearest checkout lane, and about half-a-mile away from the toys and video games at the back of the store, which is where, y'know, you might reasonably expect to find actual...kids.

So...great idea...poorly executed, at least in my local WM...

I remember hearing about these several months ago, but haven't been near a Wal-Mart until earlier this afternoon, so it looks like I missed the first two issues of each.

They're pretty cool -- mostly modern reprints, but there is new material in all of them, including a really nice-looking new Superman story by Tom King and Andy Kubert in the Supes Giant. 

The trade dress is colorful and dynamic, and the matte interior paper stock is instantly likeable. 

Not bad at all for 5 bucks each, and NOT available at your LCS as far as I know.

So, here they are...

11 minutes ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

I want to read this now.

That would be crazy if the Indiana Jones movies were inspired by this comic book series that most people forgot about.

The Indiana Jones movies were inspired by all sorts of cool old things: classic movie serials of the '30s and '40s, pulp fiction, Carl Barks's Uncle Scrooge stories, H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quatermain, etc., etc.

If Spielberg "borrowed" anything from this particular comic book, it was probably just the title for the 2nd film...

Spielberg would have been 10 or so when that was published, and is a well-known fan of the series.  Very cool...

There are peaks and valleys, of course, but as far as I can tell the "movie key" speculation phenomenon is still going strong.  The trick, as always, is having the right (heretofore relatively worthless) SA, BA, or CA book at the right time, and cashing it out to the right buyer...

Let's not forget "Theakstonizing" or "Theakstonization"...basically destroying old comics by taking them apart and bleaching the color out of the pages in an attempt to approximate the original line art, which can then be manipulated, re-colored, and reprinted...

Here's another character inspired by Ann Margret who actually WAS Ann Margret...

Weren't some of these reprinted (and colored) later in the '70s by Marvel as part of their "Marvel Classic Comics" line?

1 hour ago, Ken Aldred said:

Different character. Nothing like Logan.

Looks more like a cyborg or android to me.  No claws.

The title of the poll should be something closer to "What is your minimum acceptable standard for the first appearance of a character in comic books".

In that case, I vote for:

Quote

"Appearance in Single story page without dialogue, No Cover appearance

On 8/31/2018 at 7:10 PM, lighthouse said:

There's a reason I lost 45lbs and 11% body fat while I was there. When there's a daily farmer's market in walking distance that opens at 430am all year round, it's awfully difficult to eat unhealthy. And if you take another look at the pic above and try to find obese people? Yep. None to be found.

How does one measure such an exact percentage of shed body fat?  I guess I need to get out of the house more often. 

Here's another question: is there such a thing as a fully-Westernized comic book store in China, with new American comics/back issues/trades/tchotchkes/etc.?

16 minutes ago, Senormac said:

J&J......Do you own that ?!!      

I was going to post those exact pages only the color ones from the comic

I wish!

No, very sorry...nicked it from here:

http://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1085834

Bad form, maybe...but I hope the owner won't mind, given that it's in sincere and heartfelt tribute to a fallen great... 

29 minutes ago, The Lions Den said:

I hope it's partly because they were doing what they loved to do...

Sadly, I fear it's more like they did what they had to do to get paid and survive.  Remember that Wally Wood (an all-time great if there ever was one) once said that if he had to do it all over again, he'd cut off his hands!

It's VERY important to understand (or to be reminded) that comic book artists--even the best of the best--haven't always been venerated the way they are today, and that for many of the old timers, any accolades or (better) financial rewards were late in coming (at best), if at all...

And, let's not forget (as if we could!), that war comics were only part of his vast and genre-spanning portfolio...

There is nothing logical, sensible, or scientific about paying a premium (= more than the original cover price) for antiquated, deteriorating children's pamphlets from 40-80+ years ago which ~ 99.9% of the people on this planet do not, and will not ever, need, want, or give a damn about. 

But we still do it anyway, for a variety of silly reasons, many of them gloriously irrational.

So what?  It's fun. 

My kid, who leaves for her first year of college in a few weeks, was a huge Archie fan growing up, and was more-or-less in the target demographic when the show debuted.

She watched a few episodes...and that was it.  None of her many pop-culture obsessed friends cared for it, either...

3 hours ago, VintageComics said:

By the same token, as much as I love SA Marvels, and as much as we have a sentimental attachment to Kirby, Ditko, etc. my kids laugh at the art. It's archaic to them.

The difference between this modern, homogeneous post-animé rubbish and Kirby and Ditko's work is that Kirby and Ditko were, among many other things, highly individual stylists...idiosyncratic visionaries who had something to say artistically.

Most contemporary mainstream hero stuff looks the same to me, and is boring as hell -- I can't tell one artist from another.  It's almost as if the publishers are afraid of giving a book to someone who might have a unique point of view.

It may be "modern" and pass muster with the teenie-bopper crowd, but that sure as hell doesn't make it any good.

And so we get what we get...insipidity disguised as "the latest thing".  But I guess people are buying this cr@p, so who cares what I think...

10 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

This is unprecedented, uncharted water. I guess we'll see where it takes us.

Right down the tubes...?