adamstrange Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 Excellent books. I love the upfront and proud signature on the Return of Gargantus. I know everyone noticed and it's been known for ages, but Gargantus had cosmetic surgery between issues 80 and 85 or is it not supposed to be the same Gargantus despite what the title hints? I'm huge fan of Gargantus as depicted on ST 80, while I refer to the creature on ST 85 as the "Jagger-lips" Gargantus. Alas, the interior of both books is consistent with the Jagger-lips rendition. Somehow, the more I look at these, the less goofy those pre-hero Monster books become Some are goofy, but many are Kirby and Ditko just letting go and drawing whatever their imagination takes them to. I'm happy to go along with the ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Excellent books. I love the upfront and proud signature on the Return of Gargantus. I know everyone noticed and it's been known for ages, but Gargantus had cosmetic surgery between issues 80 and 85 or is it not supposed to be the same Gargantus despite what the title hints? I'm huge fan of Gargantus as depicted on ST 80, while I refer to the creature on ST 85 as the "Jagger-lips" Gargantus. Alas, the interior of both books is consistent with the Jagger-lips rendition. It is likely also because if I'm not mistaken, the 80 cover is Ditko/Kirby whereas the interior story is Kirby/Ditko. So there is some difference in the styles between the cover and interior story. Then in 85 Kirby/Ayers did both the cover and interior, hence the better consistency. I also love the cover to 80. Great perspective.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Surfer Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Greta books AS, I think I might have to put these on my want list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mica Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 Gargantus seems to have grown an extra finger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Hook Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 One of the all time great prehero covers. And I'm going to say that everytime I see it get posted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ft88 Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Paging Adam. Please report to ebay for a White Mountain copy of JIM #2 http://cgi.ebay.com/1174-Journey-Into-My...1QQcmdZViewItem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Paging Adam. Please report to ebay for a White Mountain copy of JIM #2 http://cgi.ebay.com/1174-Journey-Into-My...1QQcmdZViewItem How should he do that if he's not supposed to look? Don't look! Don't look! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstrange Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Paging Adam. Please report to ebay for a White Mountain copy of JIM #2 http://cgi.ebay.com/1174-Journey-Into-My...1QQcmdZViewItem I used to own it but sold way back to get something else, not that I can remember what. I still have my color photo copy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey Posted May 14, 2006 Share Posted May 14, 2006 Got to love scary plant-creatures!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red Hook Posted May 15, 2006 Share Posted May 15, 2006 I always loved the coloring job on that cover. Sweet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtlasT Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Surfer Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 Tom nice book. Did you see the #65 CGC 9.4 on Bill Hughes site, it seems to be priced rather reasonably. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtlasT Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 I see... an 8.0 for $400? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Surfer Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 I see... an 8.0 for $400? Link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtlasT Posted May 29, 2006 Share Posted May 29, 2006 Merci! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstrange Posted May 30, 2006 Share Posted May 30, 2006 I see... an 8.0 for $400? I'd go for the 9.4 for $560. I have one or I'd be on that in cocaine heartbeat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 This thread needs resurrecting. Even though I've sold a number of my books, I still love the things. I hope this doesnt' get repetitive, but a lot of the early posts have broken image links. Just a few of my favorites: Giant Robot cover. Classic Sci-Fi when Pre-hero was making the transition from straight Sci-Fi to more of the giant monster type stories: This book has an interesting history -- I was talking to Conrad Eschenberg who told me that a number of the covers to early pre-hero books were modified before publication: either they were considered "too scary" by the editors (or perhaps by the Comics Code) and the art was modified to be "less scary" or even modified the other way to appease the input of someone who thought the monster was not threatening enough!! Some of the original art was restored or altered somewhat during the reprints of the 70s -- Creatures on the Loose, Where Monsters Dwell, Where Creatures Roam, etc. At some point I will do a thread that compares the original pre-hero covers with the modified 70s reprint versions. Compare to the cover of Where Creatures Roam #4: note the different face Another Giant Robot: KLAGG! And my all-time favorite cover, in the vein of the Ray Harryhausen classic, IT Came from Beneath the Sea!: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 Here's another example of how the art changed. According to Conrad, the original art has the face that is shown in Where Creatures Dwell #9, but the scary face was blacked out for the Journey Into Mystery #60 cover. Now it looks to me like quite a bit of the cover was re-worked for the modern version -- the three characters in the foreground are clearly different as is the texture of the monster. The story goes that although the original art is long-gone (for whatever reason, pre-hero original art covers were reportedly destroyed or lost) but the production stats were used for the 70s recreations. I would like to research it further because it's really quite interesting. And the 70s reprint: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crawdad Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 I used to have a page of original Kirby art from "Bombu", JiM #60... no monster panel on the page, so I got it for $50. Marvel pre-heroes were among the first comics I read as I kid in 1961, '62. When will Marvel put out a serious reprint series of the pre-hero issues? I just ordered "Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko" from a comic book store before learning there was a 2 month eta. But I'll wait. It's got several Amazing Fantasy stories. Here's one of the several Marvel westerns with a monster theme: This later one almost qualifies... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharkey Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 I used to have a page of original Kirby art from "Bombu", JiM #60... no monster panel on the page, so I got it for $50. Marvel pre-heroes were among the first comics I read as I kid in 1961, '62. When will Marvel put out a serious reprint series of the pre-hero issues? I just ordered "Marvel Visionaries: Steve Ditko" from a comic book store before learning there was a 2 month eta. But I'll wait. It's got several Amazing Fantasy stories. Here's one of the several Marvel westerns with a monster theme: Crawdad, I always liked the monster and super-villain issues of the early Silver Age Marvel Westerns. You can probably buy the Steve Ditko Visionaries book from Amazon with no 2-week ETA. Also, Marvel put out a Tales to Astonish Masterworks earlier this year that reprints issues 1 - 10 in their entirety. They say they have plans to do that with the other pre-hero titles, which would be fantastic if they stick to it and put them all out. Also, the Stan Lee Visionaries book has a few pre-hero stories in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
