Albert Thurgood

Thanks for the extra info! I am glad you are a fan of Barry Linton, too. Here's his cover to #2: (The paper quality was very good for these issues - better than the mainstream US magazines at the time - but obviously they did not resist foxing over the years).

Another non-US underground. This one is from New Zealand. It had very good artwork and good stories. Here is issue #1. I have the first 12, but don't know how many were issued after that. This is another title that neither MCS nor Google knows about. I also checked with the National Library of NZ. They do archive comics published in NZ, but if they have this one, it is not yet archived digitally. The cover of #1 looks what would happen if Eisner meets Wrightson (apologies for my poor photography skills) Back cover wraparound: (Haha - I typed the above before looking for the artist credits. They were: "Cover by Colin Wilson for Wrightson, Bellamy, Eisner and Associates. Thanks, fellas, it's all your fault".) My favourite series was the irreverent Dan Dog by Barry Linton "of this Parish" Colin Wilson comes back again with the first installment of what is - believe it or not from this splash page - a sword-and-sorcery series: Other info: Publisher: Scorpion Publications Date: bimonthly from February 1977 Artists and Writers: Colin Wilson, Barry Linton, Terrence Bogan, self-deprecatingly [and unjustifiably] described as "dwarves of their field" Editor: Rollo Treadway

A great feature of this forum is seeing what grades come back from CGC so we can compare our opinions. I am unlikely to send much soon to CGC due to reasons, but have the opportunity to share this one. I bought it raw from a dealer but apparently it had been slabbed before (I did not know that until I got it with the label included). So here it is and I will post the grade in a few days.

First time I have bought any "moderns". This series looks good and relies on plot rather than gore and bulging biceps...

... also upgraded my FF#27 - the new one is on the right ;-)

I think it's already at 6. It's better than some copies we have seen that come back from CGC as 5.5

3.0

Continuing the theme of rare issues from outside north America... This is #5 of The Australian Comic Collector, abbreviated to TACC with this issue. The previous 4 issues were mostly text, so this was the first with original art and stories. Publisher: The Australian Comic Collector Association Date: December 1977 Pages: 30 It also contained ads of comics for sale by members. The most expensive was Amazing Fantasy #15 G/VG for A$175, which would have been a huge sum at the time.

Thanks for finding that. Wow, A$2000! I hope he gets it... ;-)

Upgraded my FF39:

I agree. I always liked him - especially on Thor - but his later work was pretty hard to look at.

Thanks. Yes I know Corben was published regularly at Warren but some of his work was too - shall we say - "adult" for US publishers apart from the undergrounds. I think some of it done for MH was even censored when republished in HM. "Heavy Metal" in its earlier years mostly repackaged work from Metal Hurlant, including the cover art; eg this image was on MH#1 and used for HM#2:

They owe much more to the French magazine, Metal Hurlant. For a start, they reprinted a lot of their material (translated to English of course). The artwork was distinctive, with a very different sensibility than was evident in the US. They also had some of Corben's best work that could only be published in undergrounds in the US. Here is an example (courtesy of MCS): The marvelous surreal sci-fi "The Airtight Garage of Jerry Cornelius" was also first published by them. Over 40 issues of Metal Hurlant were published, yet MCS has none when I checked just now.

2 too

From the sublime... I thought I would share this curiosity. DD#1 Australian edition. Sadly it is coverless, but it is extremely rare. I have never seen another in 50+ years. @Beige says he has seen only two (one of which he owns). It has no ads at all, and has this extra page not included in the Marvel version:

Yes, Royal Melbourne Show. I will post it - just have to find it first! Edit: @Beige Here it is. As I said, it sadly is missing the cover. Here is the last page - it was an educational addition, that was certainly not in the Marvel DD#1:

Congrats are undeserved in this case. I got it back in the day. I think it came in a Showbag.

Australia has had almost no covid cases for several months now; only the occasional flare-up when there is an infection acquired by workers at quarantine hotels. BTW I have that DD#1, albeit it has no cover.

Yes I know its def not NM! I was surprised to see that stain there. I certainly don't recall it from previously. As mentioned, it has been in the bag it came with all these years and hasn't been exposed to light, water, humidity etc.

Here is another obscure underground comic from the '70s. This one comes to us from Scotland. It had, inter alia, a nicely drawn story by Bryan Talbot that supposed the world had not endured the World Wars and modern-day England still had Victorian era fashions: A bit more info like @CDNComixprovides: Published by: Galaxy Media Date: Sept 1978 Page Count: 44 Price: 45p Number of Issues: 5 (I checked MCS but they do not have any)

In response to a post in the SA forum, I got this out of its bag for the first time in 40+y. One of the big NYC dealers that I bought it from graded it as "NM". I suspect that grade will not be confirmed here. (Lucky they put those labels there - we would not have wanted to call Miss Ross an Incredible Hulk).

Wow - a 17 year bump! @blowoutwas right and you still need a pretty penny to get Hulk #1 But in answer to your request for a higher grade #5, when I bought this from one of the big NYC dealers, it was graded by them as "NM" (and has not been taken from its bag until now):

Haha! Got to love that credit for artist:

Ha! People who have not seen that may not realize that is a single panel going over FOUR PAGES! Way back in the day, that was the first book that I bought a second copy so I could see it in all its glory. PS From memory, the Editor's note for this read: "Darn, now I have to spend an extra 12c" - Stingy Stan

That's what we need again: a magazine that respects our intelligence.