Gallery 5: Wendy, Spooky & Love Problems

[BradleyX2]

Continuing the columns about the CGC DigiGallery by our head of Quality Control, Michael McFadden, here's what he had to say about book added around April 2008

 

Michael McFadden here, CGC’s QC Doctor. Let’s get right to some favorite new additions to our DigiGallery that have crossed my desk in the secure confines of the Fortress of Qualitude.

 

Amazing Spider-Man #50 would fit almost any savvy fan’s list of classic Silver Age covers. In our eight years, we have certified virtually 1,000 copies of this fan favorite and only one, just one, has graded 9.8. Now there are two. This is a splendid, must-see copy of an important book, which sports John Romita’s iconic cover, a striking visual metaphor of the conflicted nature of the comic’s fascinatingly introspective superhero. Seldom has the logo “Amazing” Spider-Man been so apt! We were also blown away by a Superman #76, the first full comic book crossover of Superman and Batman, certified at an incredible 9.6. High-grade fifties DC’s are tough, and Superman #76’s 9.2 or higher are super-rare, about as rare as a DC crossover before 1961. In fact, we know of only one other extant 9.6.

 

 

 

 

We saw some cool, stratospheric condition Silver this month. The JLA bowed in a three-issue Brave and the Bold tryout series, issues #28, #29 and #30, two at 9.2 and 1 at 9.0. A resulting Justice League of America #1 was a blistering 9.4. The first two Legion of Super-Heroes appearances, Adventure Comics #247 and #267 came in at 8.5 and 9.0 respectively. A Flash #123, reviving the Golden Age Flash and winning an Alley (comics fandom’s Oscar of the era), was 9.4. For you counter-culture enthusiasts out there, a second-edition Zap Comix #2 — story, cover and art by Robert Crumb, a legitimate genius of the American comic book — was a spectacular 9.6. Truly uncommon.

 

 

 

 

Flash Comics, a DC Golden Age marquee title is in evidence on the CGC DigiGallery with a killer run, mostly Mile High. You remember Mile High, don’t you? It’s like the Good Housekeeping Seal of pedigrees. Added for your Mile High drooling pleasure are #’s 7 (Nova Scotia), 27, 32, 33, 37, 40, 41, 50 (Pennsylvania), 52, 55,60, 63, 71 (Big Apple), 87, 88, 94, 95, 98 and hard-to-find and harder-to-afford 104. Other significant pedigree copies included Centaur’s Amazing Mystery Funnies #2 (Mile High) and v2 #9 (Larson), an attractive Action Comics #2 (Rockford), #60 (San Francisco), Cyclone Comics #3 (Bethlehem) which has one of those fabulous covers that cartoonists adore and most fans hate, Monster Crime Comics #1 (Carson City) and Prize Comics #4 (Larson). How about 40 new Gaines File copies, almost all highest-graded? OK, I’m happy now.

 

 

 

 

Other notable new exhibits? Making amends for our neglect of Dell’s twenty-year run of Four Color, another 25 issues, mostly file copies. You can’t go wrong with Walt Kelly duck covers, so we have 20 more Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, most between #48 and #91, as well as a #2 certified at 8.5. One of this bureau’s pet projects is a DigiGallery run of Amazing Spider-Man #’s 1-300 in 9.8 or highest graded and we got 15 books closer this month. And we added 35 new issues of Batman, all among the best copies out there, if not the best copies out there, mostly between #118 to #155.

 

 

 

 

Summer is Signature Series season! Most groovetacular was a 9.4 SigSeries Ultimate Spider-Man 100 Project, no number, autographed by 13 creators, among them George Pérez, John Romita, Jr., Herb Trimpe, Giordano, Arthur Suydam, and Joe Quesada. Suydam also signed a 9.8 copy of Marvel’s ambitious magazine Epic Illustrated #34, the final issue. That’s probably the only non-zombie book he’s signed in over a year! Be sure to check Sandman Mystery Theatre #1 and #10, Creig Flessel and Matt Wagner, both of whom defined the original Sandman for their generations. As regular readers know, I’m a sucker for actor signings. Lois Lanes spanning fifty years, Noel Neill, Margot Kidder, and Erica Durance all autographed a modern 9.4 Superman #59. That’s just plain cool.

 

 

 

 

I’m afraid, too, to tell you that we imaged more Fallen Son #3 blank covers. Well, it is the single most popular book in SigSeries. Check out Gemma Adel’s fine article on same. This month, Clayton Crane did a tonal marker rendering of the Gary Friedrich Ghost Rider, Aaron Lopresti did one clean, crisp Spidey illo, and Whilce Portacio did a stark shadow study of Gotham’s own caped crusader. But Terry Moore is this month’s winner — easily — with a superb pencil portrait of Katchoo and Francine from his Strangers in Paradise.

 

 

 

 

Bureau of Statistical Inevitability: Any 9.9 or 10.0 disrupts the placid landscape of odds like a thunderstorm in the Sahara, so when we certify one from the 1960s, even we jaded fanboys of the grading wars are in awe. Man Mountain Marko has never looked lovelier than on this 1969 copy of Amazing Spider-Man #73. More impressive is that the book sports a white cover, the kind that would easily show every flaw, that is, if it had any. Whoever owns this book won’t be eating pinto beans and collard greens anymore once it’s sold!

 

 

 

 

Last month we had a batch of Angel: After the Fall take the bullet train to PristeneConditionville, and they are joined, this month, by #3 (Sketch), #4 (Virgin), both 9.9, and a 10.0 copy of #4 (Sketch). Deathmate Blue was certified 10.0, with a Valiant effort, naturally, as was Marvel Authentix: Gambit #1. The deuces were wild for Project Superpowers #0, 10.0 for a regular edition and 9.9 for a variant, Scud: The Disposable Assassin #21 and #21 (Convention Edition), both 9.9, and Totem #2, regular edition and black and white variant, both tens. Locke and Key #1 hit 9.9. Now, if your name is Locke, and your partner’s name just happens to be Key, isn’t it pretty much pre-ordained that you’re gonna wind up headlining either a comic book or vaudeville bill? Copies of Batman/Lobo: Deadly Serious #2, Brian Pulido’s Lady Death 2007 Swimsuit Special #nn, Dark Tower #1 (Variant), Geomancer #1, Goon #20, Grimm’s Fairy Tales Annual #1 (Variant), Walking Dead #46, and Wolverine: The Origin #1 were 9.9’s all. Several 1980s books scored 9.9 this month: Fantastic Four #233 and #241, Crisis on Infinite Earths #11, and Blue Devil #12. What’s amazing to me is not that we certified so many 9.9’s from the eighties this month. Nope, what’s amazing to me is that someone at DC thought the goofy-looking Blue Devil was actually a viable sales concept for the firm. Go figure.

 

 

 

 

We’ve been seeing a number of fantastic Harvey File Copies in the office lately and that means… don’t get ahead of me here, fans and fen… yep, that means more Wendy the Good Little Witch #’s 12, 13, 16, 19, 20, 61, 63, 65-67, 69, 78, 79 and 82 to be exact. I don’t know why we get so many near-pristine Wendy’s that seem to consistently outstrip so many other downright beautiful Harvey File Copies. It’s as if the books, once printed, were never opened, never used as reference, and completely forgotten. Which, given the diabetes-inducing saccharine quality of Wendy’s stories, is probably a really, really good plan. Well, I gotta tell you, those colorful covers do look great slabbed!

 

 

 

 

Two more Harvey File Copies I can’t get enough of are both True Love Problems and Advice Illustrated. Number 24 (9.4) promises an illuminating tale of “Girls who sell their kisses! Men who buy them cheap!” complete with an evocative cover illustration of a genuine brassy, brazen, busty hussy willingly pawed by a mustached lothario. You can tell she’s no good: she’s smoking, has a drink and is — gasp! — Marilyn Monroe blonde! I bet it’s dyed! Go to the head of the class if you said “pre-code.” Issue #35 (9.4) is post-comics code, almost two years later. Its cover sports the most ridiculous-looking couple I have ever winced at in comics. This young white bread couple is so much in love that they’re wearing matching outfits, right down to their red and white striped casual shirts and, idiotically, their red and white striped matching hats. What do you expect from people who shop at the same K-Mart the Beach Boys did? Why do I think their names have gotta be “Locke” and “Key?”

 

 

 

 

Our new offering includes Baby Huey and Papa #2 through #5, #8 and Giant #47, Casper the Friendly Ghost #’s 64, 68, and 70, Friendly Ghost Casper #37, Devil Kids Starring Hot Stuff #13 and #20, Hot Stuff #19, Hot Stuff Sizzlers #4, Harvey Hits #29, Little Dot Dotland #’s 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7. Have you ever noticed that Little Dot is the lone comic book denizen who desperately needs psychiatric care even more than the Punisher? We certified and now exhibit Little Lotta #1 (a big, fat 9.0), #3, Little Max (you know, Joe Palooka’s youthful sidekick) #’s 13, 53, and 54. A copy of Little Sad Sack #1, with a clever, sales-spurring Richie Rich cover cameo, hit an impressive 9.6. Speaking of Comicdom’s favorite fat cat offspring, we added Richie Rich #’s 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48 and 50 and Richie Rich Success Stories #20 to our collection.

 

 

 

 

And finally, Spooky. Our DigiGallery proudly offers #36 and #38, and Spooky Spook Town #7 and #9. Who else but the squeaky-clean Harvey outfit could have guessed that a dead kid could be responsible for such wildly zany, madcap antics? Spooky probably grew up to be the Michael Fleisher/Jim Aparo Spectre of the early 70s. You know, the cockamamie wraith with a Torquemada-inspired sense of humor who once manifested a giant, ethereal pair a scissors to cut an evildoer in half, that is, if he was lucky and that was all the laugh-a-minute Spectre was going to do to him. That Spectre answered only to God… and to the nervous publishers at DC, who themselves manifested a giant pair of scissors and cut his run in Adventure Comics, just as quickly, replacing him with the safe-as-milk Aquaman.

 

 

 

 

Comments and questions regarding the gallery? We’re fans, too. We enjoy hearing from you. You can contact me at mmcfadden@cgccomics.com. Thank you for your time and do remember — be good to yourself. Be CGC-ing you!

 

[rjpb]

There's a certain random quality to the gallery which makes it more interesting than having just a selection of high grade keys.

[Jeffro.]

I, for one, love seeing the Harveys.

[Ringfinger]

Nice stuff.

[Domo Arigato]

 

As regular readers know, I’m a sucker for actor signings. Lois Lanes spanning fifty years, Noel Neill, Margot Kidder, and Erica Durance all autographed a modern 9.4 Superman #59. That’s just plain cool.

 

 

I'm going to have to agree with him. That is very cool.