Inaflash Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Gorgeous Ken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjpb Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Seems like there are two basic kinds of Baker covers, the wordless idyllic "young lovers" type and the more dialogue driven and sensational "bad decision" type. The first type tend be more compositionally beautiful, but the second are more entertaining. I suppose 90% of romance comics fall into one of these categories, but do Baker collectors have their favorite of the two, or is it all too cool to choose? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29dukedog Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Seems like there are two basic kinds of Baker covers, the wordless idyllic "young lovers" type and the more dialogue driven and sensational "bad decision" type. The first type tend be more compositionally beautiful, but the second are more entertaining. I suppose 90% of romance comics fall into one of these categories, but do Baker collectors have their favorite of the two, or is it all too cool to choose? It's the first type we see on almost all of the late period St. Johns, when Baker was doing freelance covers for books made up entirely of reprinted material. These covers are my personal favorites. "What should be sugary and sentimental, instead evoke images of a strange, lost world where love is a state of being rather than an interaction." I wonder if the boardie who once said that of the Going Steady covers, remembers doing so, and will identify himself? I remembered it from well over ten years ago because I believe it eloquently describes the majority of Baker's late period covers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjpb Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Seems like there are two basic kinds of Baker covers, the wordless idyllic "young lovers" type and the more dialogue driven and sensational "bad decision" type. The first type tend be more compositionally beautiful, but the second are more entertaining. I suppose 90% of romance comics fall into one of these categories, but do Baker collectors have their favorite of the two, or is it all too cool to choose? It's the first type we see on almost all of the late period St. Johns, when Baker was doing freelance covers for books made up entirely of reprinted material. These covers are my personal favorites. "What should be sugary and sentimental, instead evoke images of a strange, lost world where love is a state of being rather than an interaction." I wonder if the boardie who once said that of the Going Steady covers, remembers doing so, and will identify himself? I remembered it from well over ten years ago because I believe it eloquently describes the majority of Baker's late period covers. Beautifully put! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Love Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 I'm with Duke - Going Steady and the like hands down. It's why Going Steady 14 is a personal fave, for the lovers are still idyllic, but no longer young. I believe it is the only romance cover featuring a midlife couple. I really wish I had a copy; excuse the inclusion here of a Fawcett photo that for me captures that essence of a strange, lost world. 1950's war comics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tri-Color Brian Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 I prefer the first type too, but some of the word balloon covers are outrageous... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torontodesignguy Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 wow! love seeing these rare books... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 I prefer the first type too, but some of the word balloon covers are outrageous... Yeah. Outrageous but fun! Some of the change in style had to do with the CCA, which wouldn't have accepted the innuendo in some of the ballon dialog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 I'm with Duke - Going Steady and the like hands down. It's why Going Steady 14 is a personal fave, for the lovers are still idyllic, but no longer young. I believe it is the only romance cover featuring a midlife couple. I really wish I had a copy; excuse the inclusion here of a Fawcett photo that for me captures that essence of a strange, lost world. GS 14. Not the best copy, but one of my favorite Bakers as well. (Maybe because my wife and I are celebrating our twenty-ninth Valentine's Day today. ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Seems like there are two basic kinds of Baker covers, the wordless idyllic "young lovers" type and the more dialogue driven and sensational "bad decision" type. The first type tend be more compositionally beautiful, but the second are more entertaining. I suppose 90% of romance comics fall into one of these categories, but do Baker collectors have their favorite of the two, or is it all too cool to choose? It's the first type we see on almost all of the late period St. Johns, when Baker was doing freelance covers for books made up entirely of reprinted material. These covers are my personal favorites. "What should be sugary and sentimental, instead evoke images of a strange, lost world where love is a state of being rather than an interaction." I wonder if the boardie who once said that of the Going Steady covers, remembers doing so, and will identify himself? I remembered it from well over ten years ago because I believe it eloquently describes the majority of Baker's late period covers. Great books 29DD! Thanks for posting them. Wonderful quote. Not Joanna, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 (A note to Dr. Love- here's that raw Diary Secrets 16 I told you about, a few months ago... the one I'm pretty sure would grade at 9.2. Finally scanned it...) Man that's a helluva book. WOW yeh that spine looks nice and plump from all the way out here in CA. The dist mark is perfect too. A gorgeous copy of one of my fave Baker romance covers. A little taste, a terrific run! Really nice copy. Probably because of the reds, most copies I've seen are rather faded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Love Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 "What should be sugary and sentimental, instead evoke images of a strange, lost world where love is a state of being rather than an interaction." My guess is...alanna. Now that homage has been paid to the DS16, your All-Picture 2 is amazing! Tres magnifique. Kudos to 29DD! 1950's war comics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29dukedog Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 (edited) "What should be sugary and sentimental, instead evoke images of a strange, lost world where love is a state of being rather than an interaction." My guess is...alanna. Now that homage has been paid to the DS16, your All-Picture 2 is amazing! Tres magnifique. Kudos to 29DD! You guessed correctly. Btw, the APATLS #2 is the only one of today's scans that's been photoshopped. It's actually the D Copy, and I wanted to download it to the GCD site, so I cropped it and removed a dust shadow along the right hand edge. Now I'm going to feel obligated to make and post an unadulterated scan of the book. In fact, it is a nice looking Fine or better. Edited February 15, 2015 by 29dukedog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Love Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 That book is great. Evey time I see it I kick myself for not going for it back in the day, which had everything to do with funds, and nothing to do with that little bit of shadow. That spine is killer, the bottom is the first thing to go. 1950's war comics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 "What should be sugary and sentimental, instead evoke images of a strange, lost world where love is a state of being rather than an interaction." My guess is...alanna. Now that homage has been paid to the DS16, your All-Picture 2 is amazing! Tres magnifique. Kudos to 29DD! You guessed correctly. Btw, the APATLS #2 is the only one of today's scans that's been photoshopped. It's actually the D Copy, and I wanted to download it to the GCD site, so I cropped it and removed a dust shadow along the right hand edge. Now I'm going to feel obligated to make and post an unadulterated scan of the book. In fact, it is a nice looking Fine or better. Do you buy the notion that there are only three copies extant? That was what the seller of this VGish copy claimed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29dukedog Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 "What should be sugary and sentimental, instead evoke images of a strange, lost world where love is a state of being rather than an interaction." My guess is...alanna. Now that homage has been paid to the DS16, your All-Picture 2 is amazing! Tres magnifique. Kudos to 29DD! You guessed correctly. Btw, the APATLS #2 is the only one of today's scans that's been photoshopped. It's actually the D Copy, and I wanted to download it to the GCD site, so I cropped it and removed a dust shadow along the right hand edge. Now I'm going to feel obligated to make and post an unadulterated scan of the book. In fact, it is a nice looking Fine or better. Do you buy the notion that there are only three copies extant? That was what the seller of this VGish copy claimed. That's the former Michael Browning copy, who wrote an article about it for the Nov. 1999 issue of CBM, in which he claimed to know of just one other collector who owned a copy. When he sold the book on eBay in 2013, I contacted him, and he told me that he knew of a total of three copies, including his own. At that time, I only knew of two copies, including mine. Mr. Browning's copy was the third one I'd encountered. When you add them all up, it'd seem to make five, but I was never able to determine if Browning had included my copy, or the other one I knew of, in his own tally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 "What should be sugary and sentimental, instead evoke images of a strange, lost world where love is a state of being rather than an interaction." My guess is...alanna. Now that homage has been paid to the DS16, your All-Picture 2 is amazing! Tres magnifique. Kudos to 29DD! You guessed correctly. Btw, the APATLS #2 is the only one of today's scans that's been photoshopped. It's actually the D Copy, and I wanted to download it to the GCD site, so I cropped it and removed a dust shadow along the right hand edge. Now I'm going to feel obligated to make and post an unadulterated scan of the book. In fact, it is a nice looking Fine or better. Do you buy the notion that there are only three copies extant? That was what the seller of this VGish copy claimed. That's the former Michael Browning copy, who wrote an article about it for the Nov. 1999 issue of CBM, in which he claimed to know of just one other collector who owned a copy. When he sold the book on eBay in 2013, I contacted him, and he told me that he knew of a total of three copies, including his own. At that time, I only knew of two copies, including mine. Mr. Browning's copy was the third one I'd encountered. When you add them all up, it'd seem to make five, but I was never able to determine if Browning had included my copy, or the other one I knew of, in his own tally. Appears to be just one (7.5) copy on the census. Perhaps that's one of the five. If I'm remembering the article correctly, Browning (whose name I had forgotten) writes that Overstreet was skeptical of its existence when he first approached him about it. It appears in the guide now without any annotation as to rarity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29dukedog Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Here's that article: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29dukedog Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 There's a 7.5 in the census now? Really? I didn't know that. Ok, so up to possibly six copies, by my count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Here's that article: Thanks for posting it. I didn't quite remember the Overstreet part correctly. One thing that may hold back its desirability despite its rarity is that the cover is rather weak. Apparently by Baker, but not one of his best by a long shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...