Gallery 6: More pedigrees, more file copies!

[BradleyX2]

 

A brand new newsletter is coming soon, but in the meantime, here's what comic fanatic and CGC QC CEO Michael McFadden had to say about comics added to the DigiGallery around May 2008

 

It’s been a very short month since our last DigiGallery tour, shorter than the Hulk’s fuse at a group therapy session with Little Dot, Punisher, Joker, and Scarlet Witch. Michael McFadden here, CGC’s QC Doctor, suggesting that, even so, we added some arrestingly cool comics to our current offering. From Action Comics #19, the seventh Superman cover and the start of a nearly five-decade-long streak of consecutive covers (unrestored 7.0 tied for second-highest graded) to Young X-Men #1 (9.8), a clever homage to James Montgomery Flagg’s iconic World War I recruiting poster, one thing is evident. We love this stuff!

 

 

 

 

 

This bureau often rhapsodizes at length about the beauty of pedigree books. Of their consistently high quality, there is no doubt. But a book need not be pedigree to be truly elite. We’ve seen significant quantities of exceptional late-50s to early-60s DCs these last few months, a realm in which a 9.2 might well be highest graded, with copies above 7.0 annoyingly scarce. One impressive invoice that recently crossed my desk in the Fortress of Qualitude had six issues of Superboy: #s 69 (9.0), 73 (9.2), 74 (9.0), 77(9.2), 79 (9.2), and 80 (9.0), all highest graded or tied. Pedigreed? No, just the focused result of a hard-working collector. Check out and enjoy some groups added to the DigiGallery this April, like Superman #s 127 (8.0), 129 (8.5), 131 (7.0), 132 (9.0), 133 (9.0), 134 (9.0), and 135 (9.2). Another group sent to our office boasted Adventure Comics #s 258, 269, 272, 275, 287, 288, 291, 292, 295, 298, and 299, most in the 9.4 to 9.6 range, with luscious white paper. Another batch of Detective Comics came in with, notably, a #266 (9.6) and #310 (9.8). Most satisfying were the two Brave and the Bold JLA tryout issues, each an unreal 9.2, #28 (first appearance, second-highest certified) and #30 (highest certified). Those two beat the 9.0s of each book that came to our house in March!

 

 

 

 

 

Select pedigrees this month include more additions to the stunning Edgar Church/Mile High run of Flash Comics that we discussed in our last episode, #48 (9.2, highest graded), #59 (9.0), and #96 (9.4, highest graded). Also represented were Centaur’s Amazing-Man Comics #6 (8.0), Frank Frazetta’s first published work, albeit as John Giunta’s assistant in Tally-Ho Comics #nn (9.6) and Speed Comics #36 (9.6), all Mile High, all highest graded or tied. Batman #3 (8.5, Central Valley), Four Color #148 (8.0, Dell File Copy), an absolutely gorgeous Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #41 Dell File Copy with a rare Mickey Mouse cover appearance (9.2), Marvel’s Daredevil #51 (9.8, Pacific Coast) and #54 (9.8, Western Penn), and a 9.4 Superman #158 (Perry) White Mountain are now on the DigiGallery.

 

 

 

 

 

Some favorites this April? With as many Gaines File copies as we see here (please keep ’em coming — the QC Doctor is a drooling EC collector!), we seldom see high-grade EC annuals. The 8.5 Two-Fisted Annual #1 we graded was as beautiful as it was singular. Fox’s Cosmo Cat #1 (8.5, highest graded) has the kind of confident, crisply cartooned cover that makes Golden Age books so distinctive. Supergirl’s origin and debut, Action Comics #252 (9.0, tied for highest); Negro Heroes #1 (7.0) and Negro Romances #1 (7.5), archaic artifacts of a culture trying to understand itself; Sparkler #53 (8.5) with a Tarzan cover by the splendid and influential Burne Hogarth; all wonderful. For Golden Age #1s of note, Fantastic Comics (9.2) and Police Comics (7.5). Is Jack Cole’s Plastic Man really the era’s greatest superhero series — or is that too much of a stretch? Red Raven #1, coverless, our first NG-certified book. And my fave of faves, Bobby Benson’s B-Bar-B Riders #14 (8.0). I’ve long mused that if I didn’t collect comic books, it might be rewarding to collect human heads. No, I think I’ll stick to collecting ECs — it’s practically the same thing.

 

 

 

 

 

SigSeries is getting hot again, hotter that the seat cushion on the Human Torch’s asbestos recliner. Science fiction novelist Michael Moorcock autographed a Pacific Comics graphic adaptation of his sword and sorcery creation, Elric. Mike Zeck signed and sketched a Captain America #272. Herb Trimpe’s signature is on an Incredible Hulk #107, and Mike Ploog’s is on a Marvel Spotlight #8. These last two are both signed by fellow St. Louis homie and modern Ghost Rider creator Gary Friedrich, as well. How ’bout some more Fallen Son #3s? We really ought to award our 100th acceptance to the DigiGallery a free SigSeries submission … as long as it’s not another reverential Captain America sketch! I used to love that character before this book came out. Well, we did add a succinct Daredevil by Romita Jr. and a boldly visualized Thor, courtesy of Leinil Francis Yu (Yu go, dude, nice work!) but I must give mega-props to Amanda Conner’s Captain America illustration, though. Her ultra-clean, color marker rendition of the Star-Spangled Marketing Property is accented with blue metallic marker highlights to delineate the chain-mail texture of his uniform top. Crafty and sophisticated. Wow! An artist who really understands her art materials! It almost brings a tear to the eye of this former art supply sales rep.

 

 

 

 

 

Our magazine specialists, finalizer Dave Couillou and his faithful pre-graders, Josh Hanin and Matt Dakan, examined some terrific material in April, and we’ve put the cream on the CGC DigiGallery. We start with Gaines File copies of Crime Illustrated #s 1 and 2, as well as their romance mag, Confessions Illustrated #s 1 and 2. With titles like that, and romance stories like “I Sold My Baby,” was there any doubt crime and romance went hand-in-hand in the EC universe? Three copies of Famous Monsters of Filmland were highest graded, #4 (9.0), #7 (9.6), and #13 (a monster 9.8), and an 8.5 copy of #11 is beaten by only a single nine-O. FM’s editor, Forry Ackerman, one of science fiction fandom’s founding fathers, also edited the short-lived Spacemen for Warren. As the sci-fi film companion to Famous Monsters, Spacemen unfortunately never caught the public’s fancy, and is about as hard to find now as it was on the newsstands of the early ’60s. Numbers 3 and 5, both highest graded, are offered at a convincing 9.2. And while neither a magazine nor comic book, Bill Spicer’s Fantasy Illustrated (8.5) was a comic fanzine that initially published graphic stories by talented amateurs and semi-pros. Within a few issues, it would become Graphic Story Magazine, a seminal fanzine that substantially raised the level of scholarship in our then-fledgling hobby.

 

 

 

 

 

Bureau of Statistical Inevitability: Just in time for the further adventures of Indiana Jones this Memorial Day weekend, we certified a copy of Marvel’s Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #10 at a robust 9.9. Also joining the CGC-Certified All-Star team were copies of a 1980s Daredevil #181; Civil War #s 5 and 7 Sketch; Dark Tower: Long Road Home #1, both Regular and Sketch; Ghost Whisperer #1 Retail Incentive; Rai #0; Shadowman #s 0 and 10; G.I. Joe; A Real American Hero #34; and Uncanny X-Men #316, a FOIL cover definitely not advisable to wrap your pork chops in. A Locke and Key #1 trumped last month’s 9.9 with a 10.0 and a #2-graded 9.9. Scud the Disposable Assassin #22 rocketed to a scudtacular ten-O. Finally, Jenna Jameson’s latest project — at least her one project we can discuss within the confines of these G-rated pixels — Shadow Hunter #0 certified 10. The book is published by Virgin Comics, gang. I love irony, don’t you?

 

 

 

 

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!

[t3quila]

 

[bdera303-migration]

 

I could have sworn this exact book was once in a signature series holder signed by Frazetta. In fact I saw it for sale on ebay earlier this year. Now in a blue holder with no notes? Can someone else confirm.

[t3quila]

 

I could have sworn this exact book was once in a signature series holder signed by Frazetta. In fact I saw it for sale on ebay earlier this year. Now in a blue holder with no notes? Can someone else confirm.

 

It probably was the same book, this run of books is from May 2008

[Bomber-Bob]

 

I could have sworn this exact book was once in a signature series holder signed by Frazetta. In fact I saw it for sale on ebay earlier this year. Now in a blue holder with no notes? Can someone else confirm.

 

It probably was the same book, this run of books is from May 2008

 

Correct, same book, the fact that a Church copy was removed from the slab and signed was controversial and debated on the Boards.

[BradleyX2]

 

I could have sworn this exact book was once in a signature series holder signed by Frazetta. In fact I saw it for sale on ebay earlier this year. Now in a blue holder with no notes? Can someone else confirm.

 

 

That image was affed to our DigiGallery at toward the end of April 2008. After it was certified, the owner sent it to get signed by Frank Frazetta for Signature Series.

 

The same copy with a Signature Series label can also be found in the DigiGallery.