Rusty staples and sunken treasure! by Hibou

[Hibou]

There was one book that I was after for over a year upon losing out on a copy by $10 on Comiclink.

 

Back in March of 2012, I found a nice looking copy of Sub-Mariner Comics 33 in a Universal 4.0 but it had the staples replaced. It still presented very nicely and I figured the price would be right... the replaced staples didn't bother me much.

 

After I lost out, I would scan the various sites for an affordable copy but couldn't find anything just right. Then just a few months ago, this year... I finally found one in my price range.

 

It was a CGC 3.0 and had a bit of a miswrap but I was happy to finally have a copy.

 

That was until a couple of months later, when a very attractive 4.0 came up for bid on eBay. As is the case so often, the book was listed at the wrong time for me. I was a little disappointed but surprisingly, some time later, the book was listed here in the marketplace and this time, I was able to jump on it and it certainly made my week! I hadn't realized how much I really regretted not being able to get that book initially until I was able to purchase it here on the boards.

 

The page quality was slightly less than I would like but I thought the fact that it was from the Lloyd Jacquet estate was very cool!

 

Lloyd Jacquet was the founder of Funnies Inc. in the late 30's which would produce the infamous Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 where the Sub-Mariner 1st appeared in 1939.

 

 

(Generic Photo)

 

 

 

 

(Photo credited to VintageComics)

 

 

Prior to starting Funnies Inc., Mr. Jacquet was an editor for National Allied Magazines which would later become DC Comics!

 

...

 

I would like to publicly thank board member Silver Surfer for selling this book on the boards and giving me a second chance to acquire this!

 

I'd have to say, for various reasons, this Sub-Mariner 33 cover by Bill Everett is one of my favorites of the run. In terms of it fitting into my focused theme, it's very similar to the Tomb of Terror 16... half of the cover is devoted to showing the action taking place underwater while one figure is completely submerged with just an arm out of the water.

 

The airline being severed by the Sub-Mariner only intensifies this classic Cold War era cover!

 

 

 

[VintageComics]

Nobody drew water better than Everett, although Wrightson came a close second in my opinion.

 

It's a terrific cover!

[Hibou]

That's a really good point, Roy and thank you for bringing it up!

 

Going through these various books, it's interesting to see how the different artists chose to depict water...

 

Something so simple yet so complex to effectively incorporate into a composition!

[Hibou]

We all know it too well... on eBay, you win some and you lose some.

 

Allowing myself to expand beyond superhero books in building this underwater theme, there was one book that was 'a must' to have in this collection and to me, it's been a classic cover I've enjoyed looking at time and time again.

 

I came across a very nice copy of Tales from the Crypt 40 in this January's Cominclink auction and was outbid by only $20. That seems to happen to me a lot.

 

Determined to find a relatively nice looking copy at an affordable price, I thought I found just that on this copy off of eBay. It was advertised as a VG and when I got the book in hand, I thought the grade was pretty accurate and expected a VG- when submitted to CGC but I was really hoping for a 4.0!

 

That's how things go.

 

These are some of the pictures from the original auction (minus the FC and reduced in size)...

 

 

I was disappointed on the grade when I received the book but I think I can see the technical aspects that might've contributed to it. I'll keep it as a place holder until I can find a nice mid-grade copy.

 

I love the creature in the clamshell (as drawn by Jack Davis) and the expression of the diver, as well as the fish!

 

As the CGC label states on this book, it was "Used in Senate Hearings & anti-comics editorials."

 

 

(Former Copy)

 

 

 

 

Here's a small 2 minute video showing Dr. Frederic Wertham and Bill Gaines during those Senate Hearings...

 

 

 

 

 

And if you haven't seen this already, it's a great video that shows a glimpse into the depths of discussion that was held during this time.

 

File Confidential with Paul Coates from 1955 (25 minutes)...

 

 

 

 

UPDATE: January 2014

 

This is now my current copy which is discussed here...

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7385027#Post7385027

 

 

[Hibou]

Have any of you ever bought a book that changed your perception or outlook in regards to collecting?

 

This next underwater cover book has been a thorn in my side for many reasons and I guess it's only appropriate that this story ended up as it did.

 

I had a small discussion with a board member here, last December and I was telling him about what direction I was taking with my collection. He asked me about one book in particular and if I had it. My exact response at that time was, "...when it comes up for sale, it's always when I'm on the short end of any extra money...".

 

And it seems that for me, this book was getting harder and harder to find and more expensive as the months went by.

 

There have been a few books that I actively search for on a semi regular basis and this book was one of those. Unfortunately, I was a week or two late when I happened upon a copy that was being sold on Comiclink... not the monthly auction side but just in their regular sales section. When I saw that it had sold and that it was right in the price range I was looking to pay, I was very disappointed and even discouraged.

 

It was a CGC Universal 1.8, but to me it would've been perfect and just the book I was looking for.

 

My finances don't allow for high grade books so I try to get 'the most book for my money' and often that means going below 'Good' or finding restored copies.

 

So, yet another one eluded me.

 

That was until about a month later when I saw another copy come up... this time in a ComicConnect auction. When I found the book on CC, I was right in the middle of selling off another large part of my collection and I had a little extra money so for once, I thought to myself that the timing was right!

 

This copy was a CGC Universal 3.0 and I felt that I had a good shot at the book because of one thing...

 

Tape.

 

The cover to this one had the cover reattached with tape and it was obviously graded before CGC implemented their new rules regarding tape on books. Prior to this decision, CGC would grade a book as if the defect the tape was covering was not there. So for instance, if a book had a complete spine split but had been taped up, CGC would grade the book according to the addition of the tape (meaning the tape was the defect and not the spine split).

 

I hope I got that right and it made sense.

 

Anyways, at the time CGC made this decision, I was a bit resentful and felt it wasn't fair as it was in sense, 'changing the rules in the middle of the game'. You see, there were a lot of books that were out there that had been purchased based on the assigned CGC grade and if these books were no longer the grade stated... well then what were they?

 

I thought to myself that CGC had made a big mistake and had opened a large can of worms!

 

But with this book on ComicConnect, I thought that maybe the ambiguity of the grade would put it within reach. So I thought and thought about it and sold more books to come up with the funds needed for this purchase. I researched GPA and looked up some other bits of information to try to give myself an idea of what I could expect to pay for this book.

 

Then one afternoon, with only a few days left on the auction, I was looking at the book again, asking myself if this really was the one I wanted.

 

As I'm gazing at the cover (and one that I really, really like) something hit me. It was a shot that you don't want to acknowledge but you know what it is. It was just a very small thing about the book that I wasn't too fond of. Someone had scribbled a little bit over the .10 cents price on the front cover. That really wasn't the problem though...

 

(I guess I wasn't that great of a 'Concentration' player.)

 

It was that afternoon that it all clicked.

 

The taped cover... the 3.0 grade... the pencil on the price circle.

 

I felt sunk once again.

 

This was the 1.8 book that I saw on Comiclink about a month ago.

 

Someone purchased it, cracked it open, taped it up and resubbed it for the 'higher' grade. I think I felt sick about it. Not only did I miss out on the original sale of a book that I thought was perfect for my collection, but now I was days away from paying more for it because someone added tape to it.

 

I was going to walk away from it altogether, but I kept thinking about what was done here and then that's when it all made sense to me.

 

CGC had to make the decision that they did because of this book... this was a perfect example and I called it 'tape for profit'. How many books were altered and manipulated in this manner simply to make a profit?

 

I'm guessing thousands...

 

And so overnight, my attitude about tape changed.

 

I sort of vented to a boardie stating that I was still a bit okay with old tape on a book but not so on these newly taped ones. I looked at this as a lesson and somehow I talked myself back into going after the ComicConnect copy that was about to end.

 

I won the book and paid a little less than I thought it would sell for. I guess others had the same reservations based on the new CGC tape rule. This book would serve as a reminder to me of what I once thought and felt and how that morphed into my current frame of mind.

 

In the end, based on what the book was originally priced at on Comiclink and what was paid to have the book resubbed and sold on a different venue... it looks like very little money was made if any.

 

So, was it worth it?

 

I hope archival tape was used but that's irrelevant now...

 

I like the book a lot and I now finally have a copy of Captain America Comics 26. I would've rather had the book in it's previous state but this is what it is now.

 

...

 

To me, this is such a great cover! Classic Schomburg at his best! I can only imagine how the concept developed on this one.

 

Bucky being dragged underwater with a 500lb. weight.

 

Cap jumping in to save the day.

 

Nazi underwater demolition team set to blow up a US ship.

 

And...

 

A Shark! (Or two)

 

 

 

 

 

My ComicConnect 3.0

 

 

 

 

The original Comiclink 1.8

 

 

 

 

 

[Larryw7]

Great thread and books, David!

[Hibou]

Thank you, Larry!

[Hibou]

EDIT- Book was sold in the 2014 summer sale.

 

Despite trying to focus solely on underwater cover books, I still find myself pulled towards certain others... lately it's been reader copies of PCH books and some CGC Signature Series copies of older artists who made their marks in the GA and SA.

 

So it's no surprise to me that once in awhile I'll get caught window shopping and buy a book on impulse.

 

Such was the case with this next book but looking back a little, I can see what attracted me to it.

 

I was browsing through the monthly auction on Comiclink just two months ago and had my eyes on a few books... one, I'll discuss shortly but after seeing that the books I had targeted were going for much more than I could afford, I saw this book at the last minute and thought it was pretty cool. There were two copies being auctioned off, one was a CGC 8.5 (I think) and then there was this CGC 3.0 copy. It wasn't a book I was really familiar with except for the characters on the cover... Harvey's Black Cat and Captain Freedom... so I went for the cheaper copy.

 

This was also one of the Mark Austin (Acme Comics) books so I thought that was pretty cool as well.

 

 

 

 

 

I really like a lot of the elements shown on the cover, especially the Black Cat all wrapped up by this octopus! Actually, there are a lot of octopi on this cover and I thought that was a little different.

 

I looked into the book a little because based on the cover, I thought that the story might be pretty good. As it turns out, what is featured on the cover is an illustration of a text story within the comic.

 

I found this from a blog by Steven Thompson called Four-Color Shadows...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hibou]

I forgot to mention how appealing I thought that cover is by Rudy Palais...

 

I'm not sure how effective a wrench and slingshot would be underwater but the sunken ship in the background gives a nice ghostly effect with the texture convincingly conveying water. The figure of Captain Freedom diving through the water is perfect... interesting to compare the Schomburg cover with Captain America also diving through the water. There's a real sense of motion in the Palais piece!

 

As for the octopi, maybe part of my attraction to sea creatures is that I find them to be so alien. Recently, at our local zoo, they got a Giant Pacific Octopus in for an exhibit and I was fascinated by it. I felt like I could spend a very long time watching this thing... such an intelligent creature!

 

Did I mention that I find them to be alien like?

 

Take a look at this quick 1 minute video of this octopus and see for yourself how amazing it is!

 

 

[Hibou]

The other book I was looking at along with the Speed 40 in that Comiclink auction was this lower grade copy of Wonder Woman 60. It wasn't a great month and I didn't really have a lot of extra money, so I decided to just go for the one book and pass on the WW60 as it seemed the bidding was going up a bit on that one.

 

I figured I might be able to find another copy at some other time but looking ahead, it seems like aside from reprints, this one is a little tough to find.

 

This would certainly be a book that I would've regretted passing on...

 

 

 

 

 

 

One afternoon, shortly after the end of the auction, I met my friend Rob at the University for lunch. We met up there so I could give him his CGC graded copy of the Incredible Hulk 181 that I had sent in for him. He had brought a bag along and after I gave him the Hulk 181, he showed me a book that he got for himself during that months Comiclink auction... a nice 50's Science Fiction book.

 

Right after that, he pulled out this copy of Wonder Woman 60 to give to me and I was totally shocked. It was just a gift and I thought that was so awesome of him. As I said earlier, that's just how he is... very generous!

 

As noted on the CGC label, this is the first issue featuring the new logo replacing the traditional Golden Age -script logo. It's a bit of a simple composition, but I really like the Frogman with the oxyacetylene torch. The underside of the boat is a little confusing to me and might've made for a stronger composition if it had been left out... my only criticism, as my eye gets stuck there when looking at the book.

 

Overall though, I've grown pretty fond of this issue!

 

I briefly mentioned it at the beginning of this journal but it's worth another look. We were discussing the book and wondered why it was reprinted for Pizza Hut and what the significance might've been.

 

Well just this afternoon, my friend sends me an email with the answer.

 

I think I vaguely remember the advertisement, but in 1977 going to Pizza Hut was only on special occasions.

 

Apparently back then, Pizza Hut ran a campaign to advertise one of their new dishes and had 6 DC books from the 50's reprinted to go along with it...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those two pages came from this website that was linked to me:

 

http://comics.keneriksen.com/index/posts/0/1744

 

The site shows all the books that were reprinted for this giveaway and it seems to me that they were randomly chosen.

 

A very cool promotion and one that only goes to emphasize what I wrote earlier...

 

The 70's seemed to be all about marketing Super Heroes!

 

...

 

 

 

Just a quick update-

 

I found a cheap copy on eBay of the Pizza Hut giveaway.

 

The story depicted on the cover is actually very good as Wonder Woman has to travel into the future to stop a World War that starts in 1963!

 

Interesting...

 

Anyways, if you look at the indicia, the only thing that's different about this reprint is a date stamp that says Jan. 7 1978.

 

 

 

[Hibou]

This next book is a bit of a departure from what I intended this collection to be, but it's a cover nonetheless that I had to have!

 

I saw this book for sale here on the boards some months ago and I loved the illustration... unfortunately my finances at the time only allowed me to admire it. Once that sales thread drifted away, I guess I forgot about the book until it showed up again recently. This time I couldn't pass it up and I'm very glad I didn't.

 

It's not a Golden Age book nor a Silver Age book but it certainly fits this theme!

 

Allen Bellman produced a lot of artwork for Timely Comics (Marvel) in the 40's and 50's... pretty much he had some involvement in all of their titles during this time. Whether it was writing a story or doing pencils or inks or both, he was a very central figure in those early days of Timely. Among his many titles that he worked on, he was involved with about 9 issues of Sub-Mariner Comics.

 

This CGC SS sketch cover from him shows a classic underwater scene of the Sub-Mariner battling a menacing octopus!

 

There are many subtleties that I like about this sketch... from the color accents to the expressions on the faces of the Sub-Mariner and the octopus... to the small fish that's depicted on the lower left bottom of the book, who could care less about what's going on.

 

Allen Bellman was born in 1924 and is still making appearances now and then...

 

Here is an excellent interview with him from 2001-2003:

 

http://timely-atlas-comics.blogspot.com/2012/03/allen-bellman-interview.html

 

 

I feel fortunate to have a hand drawn sketch from him even if it wasn't acquired personally.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Allen Bellman: 1945)

 

 

(Allen Bellman Today)

 

 

 

[Hibou]

DISCLAIMER:

 

This one might be strecthing it a bit but it surely relates to my interest in comics!

 

...

 

 

There's one book that I have to talk about even if it's a pretty big stretch to include it in this themed focus. I've briefly mentioned this a couple of times on the boards, but I'll go a little further here...

 

I attended the NYC ComicCon last year with my friend Rob for the second straight year and there were a few books I was looking for. One of those books was a nicely presenting copy of Batman 121. At that time, it was just a key book that I wanted to have with a very cool cover. (No pun intended!)

 

VintageComics had a nice raw copy at a very nice price so I bought it and later submitted it to CGC. It graded right at what I thought it would be and that was a 3.0.

 

Here is the raw copy as I bought it:

 

 

 

One afternoon while my mother and father were visiting over at our house, my father saw this newly graded Batman 121 book and recalled that this was one of the first comics he bought off of the newsstand when he arrived here from France in 1958. He came to the states with his parents and 2 brothers at the age of 11 years old in July of 1958 and according to this terrific website...

 

http://www.dcindexes.com/features/timemachine.php?site=dc&type=calendar&month=12&year=1958&sort=alpha

 

... Batman 121 was on the newsstands in December of that year. So it seems that 4-5 months after arriving here, he discovered American superhero comic books!

 

 

Here is a picture of him (crouched in the snow) and with one of his brothers.

This was taken right at the same time of the cover date to that comic!

 

 

 

This picture was taken in the summer of '59...

Most likely with images of Superman spinning around in his head!

 

 

I asked him if he had been exposed to superheroes in France prior to this and he said that he wasn't. It was simply the curiosity of an 11 year old adjusting to American culture that got him into buying and reading comics. Just as with my mother, who was reading Superman comics and Harvey comics in the early to mid 50's, my father was influenced by them as well.

 

I think it was those two forces combined that left me no chance to NOT be consumed by this madness...

 

And that's quite alright!

 

So back to this Batman 121...

 

I liked the (CGC 3.0) book a lot that I got from Roy but there were a few things about it that convinced me to sell it in the middle of one of my purges. At the time I sold it, I told myself that I'd try to find a nice upgrade not knowing how, when or from whom.

 

Some months later, I was browsing through the boards when I saw a sales thread from Skypinkblu. I wasn't sure what kind of books would be put up for sale, but as soon as I saw Sharon list a nice CGC copy of Batman 121, I figured this was my chance and found a way to purchase it.

 

I was thrilled to have this book back in my collection as (to me) it points a direct route to the roots of my interest in comics! A couple of days later, my friend saw that I purchased a replacement and sent me an email in which he wrote this:

 

"On a side note I do have a way you can fit your new Batman 121 into your collection. They are surrounded by ice in an ice cave, and ice is really just cold water. So you could say that they are underwater ........"

 

 

 

Like I said, it's a stretch but it works for me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hibou]

I just did a quick edit to the Wonder Woman 60 book on page 5... actually from time to time, I edit some of the entries and add things as I find them.

[Hibou]

EDIT- Book was sold in the 2014 summer sale.

 

The past few days, I've been debating whether or not to include the handful of raw books that I have. Originally, I was just going to talk about the books once they were graded, but I think it would take some time to do it that way.

 

Currently I have two books in at CGC that's waiting to be graded and it looks like it may still take a couple of weeks or so.

 

Besides, it might be fun to also incorporate some pre-grade guesses in this journal sort of like I had talked about with the Tales from the Crypt 40. I've been looking for an upgrade and that book is just nowhere to be found right now!

 

Anyways, for now, I have another book here that sort of goes back to last year when I first tried to bid on a copy of Sub-Mariner Comics 33 on Comiclink. At that time, there was another book within that months auction that I was looking at which I had almost bid on but once again, due to finances I was trying to limit my scope. To me, the cover to this other Sub-Mariner book was almost as dynamic as issue 33, but I was really intent on making my first Sub-Mariner book a Bill Everett one. I was a little familiar with Sol Brodsky's work but mostly I knew of his large involvement within Marvel Comics as a behind-the-scenes production head. He had done a lot of work for Atlas Comics (the company name after Timely but before Marvel) and I believe this was the one and only Sub-Mariner Comics issue he worked on which was the cover.

 

It's interesting how these things come around and although I passed up a nice copy last year, it was here on the boards just recently that another really nice copy showed up. After a few sales to offset the cost, I finally had the book.

 

Another Cold-war issue from 1954, this one depicts the Sub-Mariner in the grips of an off-screen octopus as Soviet submersibles move in on him. It's sort of funny but this book is like the next scene after the Bellman piece where the Sub-Mariner is attacking the octopus with his knife... here he's now dealing with the next threat. I love the harpoon gun on the Soviet craft which is a little different!

 

I find this to be a very 'clean' image and the drawing by Sol Brodsky is very powerful.

 

Some nice subtle elements included on this one show an underwater city with a shark floating by and another distant submersible closing in with a deep sea diver nearby.

 

The water is simple but doesn't distract from the composition...

 

 

 

 

 

What stuck out to me about this illustration is the vintage diving sphere with the large eye widows and harpoon gun. I compared the Jerry Robinson diving sphere from 10 years earlier to the Brodsky one and it started me searching for different submersible crafts throughout the years.

 

It appears to me that Robinson's diving sphere was inspired by Dr. William Beebe's 1934 Bathysphere and Brodsky's might've been a variation from subsequent models.

 

 

 

 

(1934 Bathysphere)

 

 

(1938)

 

 

 

I found a great page on these from Popular Science!

 

Archive Gallery: Our Favorite Vintage Submersibles

 

 

 

 

[Hibou]

I've been doing some more thinking on what other kinds of themed focus collections are out there. I did a search a little while ago and came across a small thread that seemed to get into that but it wasn't too extensive. I saw some discussion of underwater books as well as some other themes such as the one Paratrooper had put together, as I mentioned before.

 

I should bring to attention another theme that I enjoyed reading about which gave me some motivation to start this one...

 

Miraclemet's Lady in White Journal

 

It was a very entertaining thread and along the way, I picked up some ideas on what I could incorporate into this one. One of those was this point system that Miraclemet devised in order to identify stronger covers than others in terms of how focused his theme was. I thought that was very clever and I've been toying around with the same idea. For those interested, that table appears on page 12 of his journal and perhaps in the following week, I'll work on such a point system for my own books.

 

Lady in White Points

 

He recently broke up the collection in search for other conquests but the joy and excitement of building that set still exists while reading through the entries.

 

 

...

 

 

So I'm curious, what other types of themed collections have been built? I'm guessing Robots would be a popular one but what other types?

 

Skulls / Skeletons

 

Boats / Transportation

 

Moon / Planets / Space

 

What I find most enjoyable about these types of collections is that they can cross so many genres and be all so independently interesting!

 

It also seems like an endless challenge as well.

[Hibou]

So it seems that my two books that I sent to CGC should be shipped this week as they're listed as graded.

 

I'll hold off on posting the raw images for the moment but I'm not expecting anything shocking when I get these... actually, I'm thinking I'll be a little disappointed in this batch and I'm having some serious second thoughts on sending in one book in particular.

 

I'll discuss that one later...

 

In the meantime, I have compiled a 'point ranking system' that's reflective of the one Miraclemet put together for his collection.

 

This is rather weak but I think it might actually work. I'll test it out on a few books after I post it.

 

So this is what I came up with...

 

 

 

At least one figure shown completely underwater- 25 points

 

At least one figure shown mostly underwater (one or two limbs out acceptable) - 15 points

 

Full cover devoted to an underwater scene - 25 points

 

1/2 cover depicted underwater - 15 points

 

Sea life such as fish and/or vegetation depicted - 5 points

 

Exotic sea life depicted such as an octopus, swordfish, shark, etc. - 10 points

 

Underwater treasure chest - 10 points

 

Skull and/or skeleton - 10 points

 

Depiction of water (or water flows) and/or air bubbles- 5 points

 

Vintage underwater apparatus (diving suit or submersible which could include ship) - 10 points

 

 

...

 

 

So based on this point system...

 

This Tomb of Terror 16 would rank as 45 points.

 

 

This Detective Comics 70 would rank as 80 points.

 

 

I guess that will work for now but I may adjust it a little more.

 

So according to that point system...

 

 

Action Comics 15 - 70 points

Action Comics 96 - 70 points

 

Sensation Comics 5 - 80 points

 

Sensation Comics 83 - 55 points

 

Katy Keene 37 - 70 points

 

Star Spangled Comics 68 - 80 points

 

Sub-Mariner Comics 33 - 45 points

 

Sub-Mariner Comics 35 - 75 points

 

Tales from the Crypt 40 - 70 points

 

Captain America Comics 26 - 80 points

Speed Comics 40- 90 points

 

Wonder Woman 60- 65 points

 

 

I was a little surprised while doing these but it was fun!

[Hibou]

There's one book that I really like that, up until now, I wouldn't have considered an underwater cover but based on this point system, it scores a 45!

 

Who would've thought that there are a lot more Golden Age / Atomic Age / Early Silver Age (1959 and earlier) underwater covers between Sensation Comics and Wonder Woman Comics than there are of Golden Age / Atomic Age Sub-Mariner Comics?

 

Of course Sub-Mariner Comics only ran for 42 issues from 1941 - 1955...

 

 

This is what I've come up with in terms of underwater covers for Wonder Woman and Sub-Mariner...

 

Sensation Comics:

 

#5

#22

#35

#83(November 1948)

 

Wonder Woman Comics:

 

#44

#60

#83

#93

#101

#107 (July 1959)

 

(Wouldn't it figure that WW 111 is from January 1960 and is an awesome underwater cover!)

 

Sub-Mariner Comics

 

#18

#22

#33

#35

#39(April 1955)

 

(The issues shown in red are ones that I own as of now.)

[revat]

Submarine Attack 11 and 15

 

Our Fighting Forces 15, 20, 10, 35, 37

 

Star Spangled War 6, 59

 

probably more war ones available

[Hibou]

Thank you for that list.

 

I haven't looked at a lot of the war books but I'm sure that I will. I really like that Star Spangled War Stories 6 and can't say I've ever seen a soldier in a diving suit driving a Jeep underwater!

[Hibou]

So, I just got the grades on the two books I submitted last month and I'm very pleased to say the least. I was thinking that one of the two would be graded harshly and as it turns out, it wasn't! The other book was right where I thought it would be.

 

In addition, I found a book I've been after for a while and purchased another that I was thrilled to stumble upon...

 

Next week is shaping up to be a pretty good one!