Aman619

I looked at my unslabbed PreHeros... seems this all took place in a period just before the large circled 10 cent prices appeared.. I think the basic USA Atlas price looks like the image below... I found quite a few issues with this "normal" price, all had Printed in USA and no mention of anyone other than Vista Publishing or other Goodman trade names companies. But when the price had a rounder c after 10 they each had the last line of the indicia stating Thorpe and Porter. I don't have any 9D pence copies, or the ones that state Thorpe and Porter large below the USA indicia. also, some with the rounder c were in white boxes, and others were on the colored art, meaning the covers were re-printed in entirety... so, I still dont have an answer for that without some understanding of how Atlas distributed and licensed their books back then,

heres another idea. Ive never really pondered much (Pinky!) about the white price rectangles on PreHero covers, but, seeing all the different price treatments I can add this: anytime the price is "knocked out" of a color area, its going to be the "first" printing. Thats because when they create the film and later from artwork and color separations, they are prepared to place the price anywhere and "knock" it out of whichever color plates are necessary. But, if you were to use the same separations or plates AGAIN later on, and had to make changes, say to the price, you would mask out (with a clean or not so clean rectangled area (in these cases the size and in the location of the existing price) so that you can add the new price to the black plate, and it will print as so many of these comics exhibit. That means that many of our boxed 10c copies may not be first printings that somehow made their way back to america and into our collections. This doesn't apply to prices that are on white bonds, because these can easily and cheaply be stripped off and replaced on the black plates. also, it shows the lack of respect for funny books that they rarely cared to create clean rectangles, some look like they just painted/masked a shape large enough to cover the original 10C price area... if these variants are international in explanation, which countries also use a C for cents or other currency?

Interesting thoughts. I enjoy the speculation, but until someone who worked on the presses comes forward that may well be all we'll be able to do. One theory I have is that copies may have been run off without a price plate in error, say at the start of the run. When this was noticed, a price plate was added and the run continued. Rather than destroy the unpriced copies, maybe they were hand / machined stamped with a different font stamp? When I look at the TTA 16, the 'tall' font looks like part of the overall print. The 'short' font looks like it was added. It's really difficult to tell without the books being in hand. Scans never do it justice. Interesting. In what way do you think some prices were added afterwards? Are you seeing something in the scans? I'd think on a print run of even 100k and I'm guessing the numbers were higher back then, that's a lot of hand stamping that would be more expensive than running the uncut sheets back thru the press's to surprint black prices. I suppose if the printer messed up, they might choose to fix it that way if Atlas had enough leverage to force the issue..

as to the nudity, sure Hopkins stresses they aren't real people. but HBO is criticized for too much gratuitous nudity since GOT, so to leave it in there with a lead character explaining thats "Nah, its fine!" feels a little "corporately condoned" at best. Im watching knowing its actresses playing robots and wondering what THEY are thinking when each -script causes them to lie around buck naked each week! Nusity is great, but overdoing it is lame writing and filmmaking. I have a friend who made a film, got released, where he emphasized his european film rots by having a couple just lounge in bed naked for a long scene. Just normal people with normal bodies, not lit very creatively or cleverly. His point was thats what real couples do, sit around naked and talk. But doing it at home, and WATCHING others do it in a film are very different experiences. Just awkward.

Just a point that may be helpful if not already posted. If Atlas/Marvel already had the distribution deal in place for England, it would have been simple to overprinting the color covers in 4/C and then split print the cheaper B/W backs , most for America with the regular indicate, and a second batch exactly the same with the extra paragraph below it. No extra printing costs this way, just paper, which is cheapest. This explains the books with and without the extra British distrib paragraph that have the same 10c on the cover Im trying to understand the other issues, why there are different 10c looks. I can't think of any reason why American copies would have been printed twice... And even if they were, the 10c would not change unless it fell off and a new typeset 10c was replaced in a different font out of sheer indifference. Unless they were printed in a different market, fronts and backs, and Atlas sent stats (or negatives) to other licensed publishers with the prices removed (just empty area where the US 10c was) ...Then, In the case of countries that also use 10c pricing but received a blank price materials to print from, they would have had to typeset it again, maybe in whatever font they had access to.

TV dinners!!!

I don't get how Barry just fits into a new world , with all his memories intact from the original world he grew up in, and doesn't seen fazed at all. Just sees little things that are "different" in a "haha, isn't that weird?" way. Maybe they will jump back to the OLD present at some point... cause this all feels like a what if situation anyway.

sadly I get the increasing feeling that are more than half way into our little Superhero TV takeover Wonderland. How many seasons do we really think these shows can last? I HOPE they can leap innovating to make them interesting, but we are 5 years in with Arrow already. Green Arrow! who woulda thunk it. frankly I wouldn't mind getting my weekday evenings back!

Surprised you followed my reasoning with all my typos.. I'll keep watching, boy so far it's doesn't have nearly the impact of other shows that are say, less "ambitious". Actually makes me want to try to watch the original 90 minute film just to see the storyline work its way thru to the ending in one sitting... But I remember it's a mostly cheesy.

So many scenes with no payoff. It's like walking across a Jackson pollack painting... No pattern in sight after 5 episodes. Just mysteries and endless groundwork to a payoff probably years away... And really, why do the actresses and actors playing robots have to be naked all the time? Just cause they're in the shop? Not to mention do they force the guests to all sleep at midnight so the workers can go around and clean up and gather bodies for fixing? And get it all finished overnight? Don't many type A guest get up at 6AM to go for a run around the park? Between late night reverses and early risers that give the drew a few hours do gather and fix all the hosts. Yeah yeah, why even ask these questions.... Just enjoy the ride.

old scanner is the way to go! scanners are a dying business, who uses them except us? so the ones made in the heyday still get the job done.

the ax was on the ground. Rick made his way to it and used it to get rid of zombies. then got separated from it, got it back and climbed on the roof with it. as best I remember.

I noticed it and thought about bidding, but why is it a monster? Third highest graded with a 9.4 already in census... And it's Challengers, and not even first or second appearance..

I don't know either what happened to the rest of the cards. Gues the rest had value, but nothing compared to the Wagner. But, yeah, they were probably carefully cut out too. I see your point, it's def a different trimming than perfecting a regularly manufactured card. But it's akin to Danny Dupcak cutting out uncut comic covers and placing them around VG comics to sell them as Mint copies. Trimming by hand is restoration no matter if it's after the printing presses or for the first time. No?

sometimes yes, your contract states they "own your time for a period of time", for which you are compensated. Like a "holding period. Protects the show by assuring access for reshoots etc etc. Given that TWD its first real job all of them have had, negotiating terms would assuredly have been in AMCs favor.

even more interesting, it was trimmed from an uncut sheet of cards! Not just a trim job around the edges, literally trimmed OUT of the sheet of all other cards.

I looked again and Kirby did draw a balcony for the guys in lower left. But window guy is huge. Probably because he made him same size as Rawhide Kid cause the perspective was going to be Wong either way, if he was same size as window proportions RK would have been too big. But that would have been better as the ape would have been more Titano sized, Anyway, cover should have been more like the Flash 127 with Grodd holding Flash above his huge ape body.. Plus some townspeople running around scared!

Yeah. Although the guys in from may be supposed to be on a roof across the street, or a balcony. Biggest problem is that the ape building is adjacent to the guy in window building, so the perspective is all off. Makes me think the tiny sized ape was always a factor that made me less impressed by this cover. A Huuuge ape would have been much more dramatic!

over the moon means happy...

Idunno. It never stood out to me as more than just another monkey cover. But on a western, I get your point.

2 days ago Id have guessed a 9.0 17 would top out at 3K . but now? who knows.... I suppose we could all see this coming... but when books are dogs (or "very cool with a limited fan base!'") FINALLY GET HOT its always a shock. I guess like a bad neighborhood suddenly getting gentrified.

like all our lists, the biggies are easy and it gets harder down the line. I don't hear much heat about the western "super villains" beyond that they are somewhat more collectible than all the rest that are just western stories and no repeat characters. So that means we have a handful of mega keys (1st appearances, origins and monsters), then a handful of lesser super-villain and repeat characters plus crossovers, then practically all the rest. Basically same as all genres isn't it. actually, is it just the 110 in the second tier? or are there more?

Definitely one of the best of the Marvel Westerns. We should do a poll for top 5 or 10 heres my candidates: Rawhide Kid 17 Rawhide Kid 22 Rawhide Kid 23 Two Gun Kid 58 Two Gun Kid 60 Kid Colt 100 Kid Colt 107 The next three get more difficult. Kid Colt 93 Ghost cover Kid Colt 106 posible Ringmaster Circus Crime prototype ...plus maybe other tenuous super-hero "prototype" issues like Kid Colt 114 Iron Mask

Definitely. FF 52 category blunder? There's a good chance a sale like this will flush out more copies.

and the comic itself in the slab does NOT cast a similar shadow at all.