mysterio Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Cool book! Never saw that one! I love seeing covers for the first time of books that I have had on my want list for years. This book was voted the Best TTA Pre Hero Cover by the Boards last year. I know it's my favorite ! That cover has always been a favorite of mine too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Korvac Saga Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 Cool book! Never saw that one! I love seeing covers for the first time of books that I have had on my want list for years. This book was voted the Best TTA Pre Hero Cover by the Boards last year. I know it's my favorite ! That cover has always been a favorite of mine too! +2 Classic cover + great candidate for sig series!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Bronze age fan* Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 Cool book! Never saw that one! I love seeing covers for the first time of books that I have had on my want list for years. This book was voted the Best TTA Pre Hero Cover by the Boards last year. I know it's my favorite ! That cover has always been a favorite of mine too! +2 Classic cover + great candidate for sig series!! Kinda looks like a mutant Gumby. Or maybe Gumby was around the Hulk during that gamma blast... [/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netpooch Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 Finally scored a copy of this Shellhead prototype issue: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtlasFan Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Great book! I love that cover. Hmm. When will CGC start putting prototype information on the CGC label? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan57 Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Great book! I love that cover. Hmm. When will CGC start putting prototype information on the CGC label? With respect, I kinda hope they don't. I see the prototype designation as a method to "break-out" certain issues in a series. Breaking issues out is not a bad thing per se. but I don't support such categorization when it is artificial ( ie., no discernable creative link aside from perhaps a shared name or tenuous concept similarity). I just don't see any of these monsters as being early versions or try-outs of the superheroes that follow. Such break-outs are vendor-driven. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirbyJack Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hear Hear! With a few legit exceptions, the prototype thing never rang true for me. My fav is the "Thing" prototype they listed for Strange Tales 94 or 95. Fantastic Four #1 came out months prior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtlasFan Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 The term "prototype", in its literal sense, is a bit of a misnomer when it comes to these books. I've heard it argued that a better term would probably be "precursor". With the exception of the "Man in the Ant-hill" story in TTA 27, there are no direct literal connections to the "prototypes" and the actual Marvel characters that they are associated with. However, I do think its important to the comic book historian to be able to link these pre-hero "precursors" to the later Marvel characters that would draw inspiration from them. These stories are a great insight to the early days of Marvel. I have always been a fan of the very early Silver Age Marvel stories and just when I thought I had read all of them, I discovered that there were earlier stories that were drawn by the same artists and written in the same style. When I sought these books out, I realized that there were more to these stories than just fantasy tales - they were a springboard of ideas that would be recycled and refined into some of Marvels most popular characters. Prototypes are fun to read and even more fun to find. There are prototypes to be found beyond the pre-hero books, my children...look for them in DC, Charlton, & Harvey fantasy titles (to name a few). Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysterio Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Finally scored a copy of this Shellhead prototype issue: Gorgeous copy with bright colors! That one has always been tough for me, and I finally bought a lower grade copy with nice eye appeal just as a hole-filler until an elusive higher grade copy came along. I'd love a copy like yours! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netpooch Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 However, I do think its important to the comic book historian to be able to link these pre-hero "precursors" to the later Marvel characters that would draw inspiration from them. These stories are a great insight to the early days of Marvel. I have always been a fan of the very early Silver Age Marvel stories and just when I thought I had read all of them, I discovered that there were earlier stories that were drawn by the same artists and written in the same style. When I sought these books out, I realized that there were more to these stories than just fantasy tales - they were a springboard of ideas that would be recycled and refined into some of Marvels most popular characters. Bill Agreed. It's nice to think that all these big robots share a common lineage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
netpooch Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Gorgeous copy with bright colors! That one has always been tough for me, and I finally bought a lower grade copy with nice eye appeal just as a hole-filler until an elusive higher grade copy came along. I'd love a copy like yours! Tell me about it! It seems nearly impossible to find this thing in anything but low-grade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysterio Posted January 31, 2011 Share Posted January 31, 2011 Agreed. It's nice to think that all these big robots share a common lineage. That is a gorgeous #13! Another tough one because of the dark cover. I really need to get a lot of my raw books scanned in... Because I feel the need to procrastinate this morning, here is a scan of my #16. A servicable copy, but definitely not in the same zip code as that 7.0! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zzutak Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 A couple of days ago, I had an opportunity to look over a nice original owner pre-hero Marvel collection (AAF, JIM, ST, TOS, TTA) that Brian Peets of A-1 Comics recently had slabbed. Only about two-dozen books, but more than half are among the top five graded copies. About two-thirds have white pages, and the rest have off-white to white pages. Here are a few examples: It’s my understanding that Brian will be selling these on ebay (via individual 7-day, no reserve auctions that will all launch this evening). I have no skin in the game, but I thought this may be of interest to my fellow pre-hero fans who are still looking to fill some holes in their sets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turtleboy23 Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 Thanks for the heads up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trmoore54 Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 Great book! I love that cover. Hmm. When will CGC start putting prototype information on the CGC label? With respect, I kinda hope they don't. I see the prototype designation as a method to "break-out" certain issues in a series. Breaking issues out is not a bad thing per se. but I don't support such categorization when it is artificial ( ie., no discernable creative link aside from perhaps a shared name or tenuous concept similarity). I just don't see any of these monsters as being early versions or try-outs of the superheroes that follow. Such break-outs are vendor-driven. You can't deny this isn't a precursor of the Doctor Doom character! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trmoore54 Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 A couple of days ago, I had an opportunity to look over a nice original owner pre-hero Marvel collection (AAF, JIM, ST, TOS, TTA) that Brian Peets of A-1 Comics recently had slabbed. Only about two-dozen books, but more than half are among the top five graded copies. About two-thirds have white pages, and the rest have off-white to white pages. Here are a few examples: It’s my understanding that Brian will be selling these on ebay (via individual 7-day, no reserve auctions that will all launch this evening). I have no skin in the game, but I thought this may be of interest to my fellow pre-hero fans who are still looking to fill some holes in their sets. Hey Jay! How' it goin'? THX for posting this...love that ST 78 cover!! Gotta get me one a doze... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan57 Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 Great book! I love that cover. Hmm. When will CGC start putting prototype information on the CGC label? With respect, I kinda hope they don't. I see the prototype designation as a method to "break-out" certain issues in a series. Breaking issues out is not a bad thing per se. but I don't support such categorization when it is artificial ( ie., no discernable creative link aside from perhaps a shared name or tenuous concept similarity). I just don't see any of these monsters as being early versions or try-outs of the superheroes that follow. Such break-outs are vendor-driven. You can't deny this isn't a precursor of the Doctor Doom character! As rivets on a metal mask do not a Doctor Doom make ... I think I will. If the secret beneath the mask is a scarred human then he's a 'Phantom of the Opera' -- especially if the accident was caused while seeking vengeance and the love of a woman is involved. If the the secret is a human who, in his pride, is injured a disfiguring lab accident and becomes a super-scientific villain, I will be more swayed. (Though the animal body and physical violence is not a good sign.) If he is also the leader of an Eastern European country then I will be totally convinced of the intellectual link. I am prepared to be convinced ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirbyJack Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 FF5 and TOS 31 came out at the same time, so no "precurser". That's just how Kirby was drawing iron masks that month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodan57 Posted February 6, 2011 Share Posted February 6, 2011 OK. Moot point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mysterio Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Just a nice cover to the thread with. I scanned it in for a sales thread and thought I would share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
