comick1

About 6 years ago on a trip to NYC, I scored a shirt for my Pooch collecting friend from the Gugenheim which featured a nice Lichtenstein exhibit at the time. It was a shirt that prominently featured Pooch with big "GRRRRRRRRRRR" letters. Totally Grandenetti ripoff and my friend was pleased as can be with it. The only unoffical Pooch shirt that's ever been officially released! Irv Novick commented that he knew Private Lichtenstein when they were in the army back during WW2.

And a tip of the hat to you, my buddy Adam Strange (aka "The All Consuming Collector") for persuading me on the merits of the as yet largely undiscovered ________________. If that Salida OFF #32 isn't in my hands by noon on Thursday, I'm going to let the cat outta the bag on THAT genre, too. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! The world shall tremble before me!!!!!

I posted these to the war comics board, but they fit here nicely as well.

Here're a few more cool ones. Severin on the inside of GIC 55 is a joy to behold. One of the few jobs (8 total??) that Sev did for 50s DC war. . .and it's deadly good. Of course his covers and interiors on vast amounts of Atlas war and western are worth it for the price of admission.

Fazybones said: <<<Those are simply outstanding books and that AAMOW #94 is a KILLER cover!!! I only recently seen this book in a board members' WTB post and can't get it out of my mind. I need one badly!!!!>>> I remember being thrilled that I scored that book. This was about 16 years ago when Sparkle City was folding and Jay whatsisname kinda disappeared into the ether because of some shady deals. Anyway, war had yet to hit it big and there were some truly stunning comics at the SC booth in SD. I scored beautiful copies of Green Lantern 8, GI Combat 96, AAMOW 100, Flash 131, the AAMOW 94 and a few others. I haven't really seen a nicer copy, but I'm finding it difficult to believe that it's that tough to find. It would seem that there'd be a Boston copy, but I'm not sure. Then again, those boxed 12¢ issues are ALL tough from EACH Big-5 title.

"Thanks! It's a Newsboy. Maybe we can persuade comick1 to share one or two of his." Newsboy-Shmoozeboy. I scored this non-pedigree at least 12 years ago from Big-5 collector and all-around nice guy, Carlo Sanchez outta San Bernardino. I stayed awake on the drive home strictly on adrenalin. I'll come up with a couple more. Mick

Grandenetti + Washtone = Biatchin' Book!

Hey Andy, Nice copy of the GIC 62. That holds the record for the war book with the coolest smattering of GENIOUS artists--or perhaps it'd be more accurate to portray them as MY personal blue-ribbon stable. First there's the nice Grandenetti cover. Then you have the interior with Kubert, Drucker, and no less than 2 Heath stories. There isn't a finer example of a war book that represents the nuclear artists who did work across the 5 titles. Usually, there'd be an Abel or Andru/Esposito story mixed in with the nice Kubert or Heath or Drucker, but this one had it all. To be fair, I liked a couple of Abel's stories and quite a few Andru/Espositos, but they just didn't seem to have the same emotional resonance that Kubert, Heath, Drucker, Severin, or later-period Grandenetti could deliver in a DC war book. That is one of my all time favorite comics of all time. I scored my VF- copy of it nearly 20 years ago when I was a sophomore in college. It came from Phil Levine and it didn't have a backing board so it was kinda rolled into my po box in the dorm. Luckily it didn't seem to harm it. Never have been able to upgrade it. I think Harley had a nice copy of it among a war collection from many years ago, but it had excessive tanning on the inside as 90% of them did.

I put most of these up on the war comics board, so they may as well go here. There are a few that I skipped since they're early 12 centers, but they're on view with the war guys. Sorry. Making up for lost time.

Here are a couple samples from different runs that haven't shown up too much on the boards. I posted most of these on the "Show us your 10¢er board", but there're some nice westerns that didn't make it here but you can see on the other board. Incidentally, that Grandenetti HT story on the inside of the GIC 92 is so damned good (haven't broken it open in awhile) that it actually might be better (gulp!) than some of the Heaths. If you think I'm crazy, check it out. It's ultra-slick Grandenetti at his *spoon*-kickin' finest! Always loved these two Kubert covers in particular. Then there's the OOAW 99 Kubert story. Huhminah Huhminah Huhminah. Another great Grandenetti issue inside and out.

Be sure to send me any high grade war that you don't like and I promise to properly and responsibly dispose of them in compliance with the War Comics Disposal Act, a new federal mandate created late in 2006. Sadly, here are a couple others that the WCDA has implications for (as posted in the war comics thread and greytone comics thread). Sorry, Atlases aren't exempt from the WCDA. As yet, the RCDA (Romance Comics Disposal Act) is only in the drafting phase, so the fate of the following book is in limbo. Luckily, nobody's even discussed any plans for westerns.

I *spoon* appreciate *spoon* the *spoon* sentiment *spoon* behind *spoon* that. . .*spoon* I *spoon* am *spoon* disappointed *spoon* however *spoon* that *spoon* you *spoon* only *spoon* thought *spoon* it'd *spoon* be *spoon* every *spoon* 3rd *spoon* word *spoon* and *spoon* not *spoon* every *spoon* other.

Awww, man they censored me!!! Spoon doesn't exactly have the resonance nor imagery of what I was going for. . .rhymes with split.

ALmost as good as the Bill Battle 3. . .but nothing beats, "Die, You Commie Rats, Die!!" Along the lines of outrageous covers, the Atlas horror cover that depicts a guy turning into a monstrous turd is among my personal favs. I've fondly bestowed upon it this catchy little moniker: "The Pile of *spoon*" cover. And as I recall, you sir, have the prettiest "Pile of *spoon*" cover in existence.

And while we're on the topic of washtones, here's my favorite (wait, IS it my favorite? I tend to switch to different favorites. . .GIC 76, GIC 104, GIC 87, OFF 71, but this one ALWAYS is in my top 3 no matter which way the wind's blowing). It actually is the FIRST war washtone I ever saw, too. I remember seeing it on the wall behind the counter at a local comics store back in the late 80s. It was shocking particularly because it had a DC bullet on it. I couldn't bring myself to believe that it had a DC bullet on it. . .my impression of DC at the time was limited to the typical line-drawn Superman, Batman, or other superhero comics at the time. That impression was forever altered. This was a couple years before Comic Book Marketplace, so I had LOTS of wonderful discoveries ahead. Anyway, I had to ask the guy behind the counter to take the book down so I could see it more closely. It was stunning. . . The DC war comics bug injected its virus and there was no going back.

That Battle 70 is such a nice book inside and out. It's just overflowing with Kirby. Speaking of Kirby Atlas war. . . And since I posted these over at the washtone site, I might as well put 'em here, too. I was mentioning that if they're NOT washtones, then Burgos did a hell of job drawing little itty-bitty lines to give them the appearance of washtones. He did a number of cool covers like these.

I don't know about the techniques they used at Atlas, but there are a few comics which have the APPEARANCE of greytones. These two are debatable. . .and at worst, Burgos (the Atlas Tales website credited him with them both) had a talent for drawing so many little lines that it damned well LOOKED like a greytone. There's a number of cool Burgos covers that follow this same technique. And if the Burgos ones AREN'T greytones, then this certainly comes a lot closer. Coletta was and remains the target of a great deal of ridicule and animosity from Kirby fans for ruining Kirby's pencils, but could do some wonderful work under the right circumstances. There are a number of nice interior jobs he also did in the romance genre.

Evocative. . .not to mention absolutely, fundamentally, astonomically, and wonderfully mega-ABSURD! There are some covers out there that are strange, but this one takes strange and puts into an utterly surreal realm. The alien alone, with that hilarious mask and goggles is diabolical enough to go down in comics history as one of the least threatening entities to ever grace a comic book cover, but then there's the bizarre, purple, moth-winged tricer-cow that appears to have just taken a step out of ballet school. <p> I've always thought that adolescents & teens have a tough time with the peer-pressure to dabble with drugs. . .but this cover alone could just go into each teen's backpack as a plausible safeguard. Here's how I envision the conversation: Billy: Hi Freddie, what are you doing with that needle in your arm? Freddie: Oh, Hi Billy! This is some really wonderful stuff. It'll blow your mind! You've never experienced something as way-out as this! Billy: Well. . .I don't know. (hesitating) Freddie: C'mon, you can try it. You're gonna love it! Billy: No, thanks, Freddie! I don't need that in order to feel high. I have something even better. Here, it's called Challengers of the Unknown #11! Take a look for yourself. Freddie: Woah. . .dude! Did this ever make it onto Scott Shaw's "Oddball Comics" panel at the SD Comicon or in his internet presentation of the same name?

Heya Fellers, That GIC 89 looked nice. I have waited years to find a nice copy, but somehow missed that one on ebay. Congrats on that. I've always loved that Heath splash and story that was a reinterpretation (or visa versa--does anybody know which came first?) of the GIC 88. <p> Speaking of GIC88, I was thumbing through it, and of course, the Heath art on HT Vs. Ghost Tank was brilliant as ever. Most of us have probably seen the Heath in reprint form dozens of times in one way or another, but the Grandenetti has never been reprinted to my knowledge. So it was a particularly welcome surprise. It's been some time since I've broken it out. It took me years to appreciate Grandenetti's interiors. Not much of a stretch to recognize the classic washtones he did, but then I started to dig some of his regular line-drawn covers, and then it was a slippery slide into being an interior Grandenetti line-work junkie. I think it was always good, but it seemed to get better and better as he approached the late 50s/early 60s. Not an expert at calling out the specifics, but I'm gonna take a crack at it here on an interior page. <p> <p> Check out his inks on the drapery/clothing. It's heavy on the blacks WITHIN the forms of the clothing but the outside lines of the figures have a distinctly curvilinear quality and it somehow gives the characters a rugged look while giving them the appearance of constantly being in motion. Look at the arched shoulders and backs. That's quintessential Grandenetti right there. <p>Check out his cover to OAAW 92. <p> <p>That cover always blew me away because it had a hugely Kurtzmanesque feel to it. But toward the end of Grandenetti's tenure with DC, he was growing more and more experimental. There was an economy of line that tended to elongate figures with these exagerated curves. Highly expressive stuff. Give me a late Grandenetti any day of the week. Does anybody know of any Grandenetti interior original art in existence from that time period?

Hiya Shep and everybody else, Just to set the record straight, I was working on just binding them all up as Shep was suggesting, but Steve Fears went to the trouble of scanning every page of every issue and THEN binding the scans together into a presentation volume for Sam. That was a hell of a lot of color pages Steve printed out, but damn, it looked cool. I thought about waving a carrot with a picture of the Stevens on it in front of Sam's face so as to distract him and absond with said volume, but no grocery store in SD had a carrot big enough. Mick

Wow, I remember doing that drive. It was after I'd met you at the Shrine Show (back when the Shrine Show was any good). I was just thinking about that. Can't remember what I bought from you. All those comics you scored were in nice shape. That was a hell of a long time ago. Definitely before I had email (and most everybody else on the planet). Mick