Duffman_Comics

Hey! Spoiler alert please! You are right, these early JIMs - indeed anything that R Berns touched - are dire. I think "Berns" real name was Bernstein. Obviously sucking up to Stan by altering his surname similarly

Great idea for a journal subject, Harry. Early Marvels and particularly early Fantastic Fours were/are terrific reads and I enjoy how the title develops and starts accumulating "backstory baggage". This is where Marvel had it all over the other publishers - particularly DC - in that they (Marvel) would continue to reference older issues, piquing the curiosity of the reader. D.C.s of the period were very much standalone stories. The reader wasn't left with much of a feeling that there was a lot more to the title. Though changes and new characters would be introduced to the Superman and Batman title, the changes often seemed forced and unnecessary (close the Batcave in 1969? Whose idea was that? )

Beautiful copy! But can someone explain exactly what is supposed to be happening on this cover? Did the people get on the subway with the arm hanging there? If so, why do they all look so surprised now? Did the person who was holding the handle suddenly disappear and leave just their arm? Did their arm break and they fell to the ground? If so, why is everyone looking at the arm and not at the person on the ground? Did the arm suddenly materialize out of thin air? Great copy of a great book. I bought Vault of Horror 29 and 30 from Bobby Bell in the early seventies for the princely sum of $10 each - marked down (on the bag) from $15. Beautiful copies too (still got 'em). To answer the "what is going on" question, as I recall it was a few medical students who decided to play a few practical jokes with parts of the cadavers they were using in their anatomy classes. Naturally, there was a "get square" E.C. style ending. I like the little gag on the subway advertising - "Stomach Upset?" Right you are about the story, entitled, "Practical Choke", the second word of which ended up being displayed in the last panel of the story. AFA the subway situation, the three med students put the hand and arm on the strap while the car was crowded, then got off and watched as the car began emptying at the Brighton Beach Station, when it then stood out by itself. They then proceeded to do somewhat the same at the beach twice, with legs, and a head. They got theirs in the EC tradition, eh eh.

Yeah, but he's starting to wonder if a whole lot of folk here have him on "ignore"

Beautiful copy! But can someone explain exactly what is supposed to be happening on this cover? Did the people get on the subway with the arm hanging there? If so, why do they all look so surprised now? Did the person who was holding the handle suddenly disappear and leave just their arm? Did their arm break and they fell to the ground? If so, why is everyone looking at the arm and not at the person on the ground? Did the arm suddenly materialize out of thin air? Great copy of a great book. I bought Vault of Horror 29 and 30 from Bobby Bell in the early seventies for the princely sum of $10 each - marked down (on the bag) from $15. Beautiful copies too (still got 'em). To answer the "what is going on" question, as I recall it was a few medical students who decided to play a few practical jokes with parts of the cadavers they were using in their anatomy classes. Naturally, there was a "get square" E.C. style ending. I like the little gag on the subway advertising - "Stomach Upset?"

Interesting yarn, thanks for the link. Anybody who has been collecting anything for a long time will understand.

The one I have (obtained new many years ago) has a very different cover. I know, useless without pics, so I'll try to get some up. New PC isn't playing all that nicely with old scanner though.

What do you want for the dog? Nice eclectic selection. I've thought long and hard about taking a run at Four Color. The wide variety of subject matter and covers really appeals. I'd do it if I thought I could get "lots" that would help with the shipping. Twilight Zone is a nice subset. Great covers and interesting stories.

Nice book Andrew, but yet again a duck cover raises questions. Donald and the nephews are ducks. Water fowl. Webbed feet and all that. Why do they need old inner tubes to go in the water?

Very impressive, but why does the first volume have the mags arranged "backwards"? Will you be changing the order?

Happy Independence Day to all you Yankees, but what on earth is a koala doing enjoying the frivolities? (Great cover, by the way).

What a terrific, esoteric and HARD TO FIND run. Kudos!

No. They must have come out after my time. In the seventies perhaps? Possibly 1970-71 Cool! A young pro! What year was this? Well, I left High School in 1973, so I'd say 1976 or 1977.

I haven't thought about that toy in ages. They were hot for one or two of my elementary school years and my friends and I all got one or two as birthday or Christmas gifts. Yes. They were a hot fad for a year or so in 1963(?) in my neck of the woods. All of a sudden they popped up in every corner variety store and five-and-dime such as Woolworth and Kresge's. At 39 cents or so they were fairly cheap and I was able to hit my dad up for the price of one because a buddy of mine had already done the same! That plus the fact that my father had tops himself as a kid back in the old country so he was positively predisposed to this new interest of mine. The first one I bought was a Whistler. Duncan though sent older high school and college kids around to the elementary schools during lunch hour to demonstrate the tricks that could be done with the tops and I really caught the bug. (Can you imagine twenty year olds hanging around elementary school grounds these days? Sad what everybody would think.) Within a few weeks I had graduated to a top-of-the-line Imperial which was better for doing tricks. I never mastered the man-on-the-flying-trapeze or any of the really advanced tricks which involved flinging the top but then catching it in the throwing string before it hit the ground. I tried to find a MOC Duncan top at toy shows all through the eighties and nineties with no success. Since Ebay appeared on the scene though, they've come out of warehouses and attics and I now have several dozen. I remember these from my childhood but with a difference. Did you ever have the tops with a magnet "at the top" that would then be attracted to a steel ring (bit like a key ring) that was attached to the string? Enabled the spinning top to be lifted "by the string" as it were. As an aside, I ran into a girl I knew at High School not long after I'd left. She was a professional Yo-Yo demonstrator and traveled the world promoting Duncan Yo-Yos. Talk about strange callings . . .

A great start, but pick up the earlier Warren run. A fabulous reprinting on very good paper stock of so many classic stories. Now, anyone who has tried to collect the British Quality "Warrior" run knows, the absolute bugbear is the last issue: #26. Success , after buying #1-10 off the stands in the early eighties, here's the final issue I needed:

that's Australian for beer. or something. Can't remember. Had too many black widows last night. It's a red back spider. Unique to Australia. It's not koala bears. get your facts straight. It's dingoes. Not "Koala bear" just "Koala". Australian's are just a big joke to the rest of the world. What bits are a big joke? Or just everything. Good to Know.

Very interesting. Beige are you able to expand on this as there are similar allegations circling around HALO CERTIFICATION LLP United States. There was a FB thread this morning about this, alleging a conflict of interest, but it got pulled before anything further came out, because the person allegedly in charge of the US operations began calling everyone a liar, loser or worse. These fliers are two years old. I have been told that Grant had sold the business - but from the website it seems he is still involved: There's an address on the last flier: 462 Ipswich Rd And around the corner . . . Funnily enough

A1 packing, super fast shipping (I paid for surface and it got from France to Australia in a week!!), accurately graded and beautifully bagged and boarded. What else could one wish for? Five stars all round!!

AJD, you should mention that this book is one of those strange creations that has the staples at the top i.e. one has to flip it sideways, then open the cover (right to left like normal) in order to read it. This is a lot nicer condition than I thought it would be, notwithstanding Colin Webb's claim to ownership, the bold declaration that it's from 1952, and a couple of second-hand book store stamps

Thank you, I stand corrected

His collection was used (in part) in this book: and internally he's pictured with "lots 'o' stuff":

"They're going to have to suffer the ignominy of firing 95 year-old man". Great find - thanks for sharing. Whenever I bought a new Mad off the stands back in the day my (younger) siblings would always want to read it. I'd allow it, but if the fold-in was done, reading privileges were immediately and permanently revoked.

Anyone know how BangZoom's recovery is going?

Thanks for clearing this up

Is the "This comic is the personal file copy of Carl Barks. Anyone else possessing the book has stolen it" notation on the book or the slab? I am leaning towards it being a "rubber stamp" on the book itself, but otherwise