A year in the life of a publisher

[Larryw7]

This is gonna be a fun thread.

[Flex Mentallo]

This is gonna be a fun thread.

 

Not if I have anything to do with it!

[generic user]

... yes, it's a self serving post about my collecting but what the hey!

 

 

we have to apologize for this??? is so, i better put it in my sig line...

 

looking forward to this thread (thumbs u

[Scrooge]

Thank you guys! I am not sure how this thread will play out but I guarantee you I will show books like this one as soon as they get to me. Extra kudos to Pat for selling me the book. This is a book I have been wanting for a while; probably since I've seen AStrange smoking copy (go figure ) on the boards.

 

[thehumantorch]

Wow, what a smoking cover.

[Scrooge]

Glad you like it :thumbsup:

 

He also sent this one along with the great Sale splash I had scanned from the Masterwork when I read it because of the mention of the Cobalt bomb for Jack -

 

[Flex Mentallo]

Thank you guys! I am not sure how this thread will play out but I guarantee you I will show books like this one as soon as they get to me. Extra kudos to Pat for selling me the book. This is a book I have been wanting for a while; probably since I've seen AStrange smoking copy (go figure ) on the boards.

 

 

Great book - tough in any condition!

[Point Five]

Thank you guys! I am not sure how this thread will play out but I guarantee you I will show books like this one as soon as they get to me. Extra kudos to Pat for selling me the book. This is a book I have been wanting for a while; probably since I've seen AStrange smoking copy (go figure ) on the boards.

 

Love the lighting effects! Great thread, great cover. (thumbs u

 

 

[Scrooge]

Last one from Pat. Harry Anderson on the cover of Marvel Tales # 126. Not as in your face as the two Heath I posted but some great work with body posture / movement, expressions and general composition by Anderson.

 

Notice also how much tamer the cover is compared to two issues earlier, # 124 (also from 1954). The year finishes out with covers much more in line with 126 than 124. The first half of the year's worth of covers are more graphic in the violence and horror they depict; yet the insides do not change much yet, probably has to do with the production schedule, stories being worked and scheduled out with longer lead than covers were. The # 124 is a scan of my copy too.

 

[Scrooge]

Since I don't have many of the pre-code issues, I'll show those first.

 

Here's another great one from 1954: Spellbound # 23 cover dated June and it's gruesome and funny at the same time. Dated before July / August, it's still grizzly. Spellbound went on hiatus with this issue, only to re-appear post-code, more than a year later (!) in October 1955.

 

[adamstrange]

Both the MT 124 and 126 are by Anderson. I agree with your assessment of the 126 as it being particularly nice work by him even if it's a bit tamer than the 124. I wonder if he was given Maneely's earlier cover to swipe from.

 

http://www.comics.org/issue/9878/cover/4/

[Scrooge]

Oh, and in case you all thought otherwise, there is going to be a lot of these also ... maybe not as many as in 1952 but a goodly number. The problem to me is that most of the titles in 1954 are of the Teen Romance type (Patsy / Millie / etc ...) rather than the straight Romance type. I like straight Romance much more than the tripe in the Teen books put out by Atlas. The best thing of this Patsy for example is the Hartley cover. The interiors are atrocious ... though I have yet to read the stories; I just flipped through the book. The art is Jaffee cover to cover inside and it's not for me.

 

The most hilarious for me on the cover is how painstainkingly Hartley repro'd the love of patterns of the era: patterned carpet, patterned couch, patterned curtains, ...

 

[Scrooge]

I am fortunate to start with 2 Mystery Tales in hand.

 

# 19 I owe thanks to JoAnna for putting me on the lead for it and # 24 I bought from Ed a couple of years ago when he had a big Atlas Pre-Code / Post-Code collection come in.

 

[Scrooge]

 

I have added some books here and there and have plenty I have not scanned so I am chipping away at this though it has not been a sole focus. I just haven't had the time to scan much.

 

Wild Western was a nice package book with Kid Colt, Two-gun Kid, Arrowhead and Black Rider. Can't go wrong and typically you'd get a mix of artists.

[Scrooge]

I started on the long road of Romance ... There are not many (any ?) Romance collectors on the boards so few will know my pains when trying to complete the Romance portion of this 1954 thingy.

 

I have gobbled up quite a few 1954 PCH Atlas over the last couple of months b/c they are available; it's only a question of $$ since I am not grade conscious.

 

BUT, Romance is another level of crazy just to ferret them out AND, when I see one, I have to "accept" the starting bid on eBay if there, which means coolness to coolness, the Romance titles cost more than any others.

 

Was lucky to get into this issue of True Secrets for cheap. Please pray that I am always this lucky -

 

[Scrooge]

With this Astonishing 33 and other recent updates, I am up to 128 books from Atlas 1954 or over 1/3rd of the way to the 379 books issued that year.

 

[adamstrange]

Burgos is a hit or miss artist to me but that's definitely one of his "hits" (thumbs u

[Scrooge]

Here's another Romance I bought recently

 

[BangZoom]

 

I was looking at some Atlas love comics this afternoon and I noticed that Love Classics #2 had a 30 page story in it which I thought you might find interesting.

 

GCD notes that issue #1 also had a 30 pager.

 

 

[FlyingDonut]

I was looking at some Atlas love comics this afternoon and I noticed that Love Classics #2 had a 30 page story in it which I thought you might find interesting.

 

GCD notes that issue #1 also had a 30 pager.

 

 

 

So the woman in the story just turned 102. Yikes.