Rusty staples and sunken treasure! by Hibou

[vaillant]

Airboy is great but he usually trods… you know, air – not waters!

[Marty Mann]

Another "partial underwater".

 

 

mm

[Hibou]

Nice book, Marty!

 

You know... as much as I like the animal books, I've really held off on accumulating them.

 

I guess this is a good point as any to mention that recently I've purchased some really nice underwater books from another great boardie (edowens71) and one of the books was just that.

 

It was this nice copy of Peter Panda #7...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyways, I ended up putting the book in a BCW Comic Book Showcase and hung it on my daughter's wall. She really likes Pandas right now and I thought this could be just another attempt to keep her somewhat interested in these books.

 

BCW Comic Book Showcase:

 

http://www.bcwsupplies.com/cat/comic-supplies/comic-display/silver-comic-book-showcase-holder

 

The Peter Panda just fit into one of these!

 

Anyways, over the course of the last few years, I've bid on a number of animal-type books but never won any... then again, I wasn't really aggressively pursuing them.

 

They're fun to look at but I think they're just outside my interest right now.

 

[Marty Mann]

Unfortunately this is a remainder copy, but the best part of the cover

is still intact.

 

(CRIME SUSPENSTORIES #5)

[Hibou]

That one would certainly qualify and I was looking at picking up a copy last month but ultimately passed.

 

Tales from the Crypt 30 is also on my list...

[Hibou]

Finally received the grades on the 5 books I submitted last month... I should be getting them next week. No big surprises but I was disappointed with one book in particular.

 

Out of the five books, 2 of them came in exactly as I thought they would...

 

No titles yet but here's how they turned out.

 

Book Date / My Grade / CGC Grade / PQ

 

 

1947 / 6.5 / 6.5 / OW-W

 

1952 / 4.5 / 4.5 / OW-W

 

1957 / 8.0 / 7.0 / OW-W

 

1954 / 7.5 / 6.5 / OW-W

 

1955 / 5.5 / 6.5 / OW-W

 

The book I highlighted in red was the one that I was most disappointed about and I may actually order the notes on that one. The book in hand was very sharp and solid but I wouldn't be surprised if I missed a light stain or small tear somewhere on it. The book was purchased from Metro as a 7.0 so I'm not complaining in the least bit but I thought it had a chance at a 7.5.

 

That'll be the first book I discuss once I get these back.

 

The past two weeks were very fortunate as I was able to find two books on my list and they're both raw pedigrees which means that CGC will get more of my money in the next couple of months...

 

 

[Marty Mann]

Finally received the grades on the 5 books I submitted last month... I should be getting them next week. No big surprises but I was disappointed with one book in particular.

 

Out of the five books, 2 of them came in exactly as I thought they would...

 

No titles yet but here's how they turned out.

 

Book Date / My Grade / CGC Grade / PQ

 

 

1947 / 6.5 / 6.5 / OW-W

 

1952 / 4.5 / 4.5 / OW-W

 

1957 / 8.0 / 7.0 / OW-W

 

1954 / 7.5 / 6.5 / OW-W

 

1955 / 5.5 / 6.5 / OW-W

 

The book I highlighted in red was the one that I was most disappointed about and I may actually order the notes on that one. The book in hand was very sharp and solid but I wouldn't be surprised if I missed a light stain or small tear somewhere on it. The book was purchased from Metro as a 7.0 so I'm not complaining in the least bit but I thought it had a chance at a 7.5.

 

That'll be the first book I discuss once I get these back.

 

The past two weeks were very fortunate as I was able to find two books on my list and they're both raw pedigrees which means that CGC will get more of my money in the next couple of months...

 

 

Can't wait to see them!

 

mm

[miraclemet]

Here's a fun one I just stumbled across over at Tomorrow's Treasures

 

[Hibou]

Something a little different tonight...

 

I thought of talking about my latest Clink purchase from last month but perhaps I'll do that after talking a little about this. Tonight I seem to be stuck on a bit of music... it certainly does relate and sometime ago, when I first started these pages, I indicated that maybe I would find something along the way that would help me to understand my strange fascination with this underwater subject matter.

 

Leave it to music to perhaps fill in some of the gaps.

 

I've heard this song before but I wasn't hearing it.

 

A few days ago, I heard this song again but this time I listened and was pulled right in. From the lyrics, great imagery was born and I had to listen again.

 

By the third time, I was starting to understand the feelings that were being conveyed within the piece.

 

A consuming desperation and despair.

 

It was very sad...

 

Was this a clear indicator of what I was attracted to?

 

Perhaps in some of the lyrics, there is a definite relation. At times feeling overcome by the trivial and the mundane. The everyday grind and the constant static of the troubles of the world. To find solitude under great depths where one cannot hear anymore... where one cannot breathe.

 

All transgressions and troubles float freely about as a foreign and distant world envelopes you. Maybe it's this. These were some of the thoughts that came from listening to this song but the sadness had only set foot when I decided to look a little further into the origins of this song and this story.

 

And that's when some pieces finally came together and started to nicely fit.

 

I've known of this author but never remember reading anything by her...

 

 

 

 

Okay, so how does Virginia Woolf fit into this?

 

Well she struggled for most of her life with a mental disorder. Ultimately, at the age of 59 in 1941 she committed suicide by filling her overcoat with stones and walked into a river nearby her residence.

 

Her parting note to her husband was this:

 

"Dearest, I feel certain that I am going mad again. I feel we can't go through another of those terrible times. And I shan't recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can't concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don't think two people could have been happier 'til this terrible disease came. I can't fight any longer. I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I can't even write this properly. I can't read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that—everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can't go on spoiling your life any longer. I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been. V."

 

This is what I found incredibly sad and apparently the song that I had listened to... was inspired by this event.

 

When I first saw Florence Welch, I thought that she was a Dante Gabriel Rossetti painting come to life! Whether it was Elizabeth Siddal or Fanny Cornforth, it mattered not!

 

Florence Welch:

 

 

Lizzy Siddal (Rossetti's Wife):

 

 

Fanny Cornforth (Rossetti's Mistress):

 

 

 

More information on Rossetti here:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dante_Gabriel_Rossetti

 

Florence Welch (Florence and the Machine) apparently has a fascination of drowning and it's no wonder that the tragic story of Virginia Woolf would appeal to her.

 

In her own words...

 

"I was obsessed with drowning. It's about succumbing and being completely overwhelmed by something that's bigger than everything.

 

"I think it comes from being in love for the first time. Like totally and utterly in love. Like first, 17 year old love. I remember falling in love with this boy and having the first glimpse he might like me too.

 

"I had to go on a family holiday for two weeks. I spent the entire time sat at the bottom of the swimming pool screaming at the top of my voice. I just wanted to be somewhere that completely encapsulated me, where I could just thrash and scream."

 

And so, this song seems to have a direct tie to this story of Virginia Woolf as another song seems to as well. The other song, 'What the water gave me' is really good but for me (and for personal reasons) this refrain keeps playing in my head...

 

 

And just how exactly does this post tie into comics?

 

Well, it doesn't.

 

It's just another layer to this foundation that has led me to this path of collecting books of a particular subject matter.

 

I think that many of us are this way... our experiences and drawings form our collections in one form or another. It's what makes our collections personal to us and ultimately identifies us somehow.

 

Perhaps what I just wrote about explains my attraction to this book I purchased from Clink last month...

 

 

 

[Hibou]

EDIT- Book was sold in the 2014 summer sale.

 

... what do you do when a Mermaid demands that you be her consort forever?

 

Obviously, you have no choice but to comply!

 

Especially once you find out that you can breathe underwater just as easy as if on land!

 

But then again, when you're in the grasps of two strange alien / underwater creatures... it's probably best if you don't struggle.

 

This was from last months Clink auction and the first thing that stood out to me was the tape and the grade.

 

Was this another tape job to garner a higher numerical grade?

 

Well, seeing as it was graded in 2011... the answer would most likely be a resounding 'YES!'...

 

But it matters not in this case.

 

The new tape is obvious and was thus reflected in the final hammer price of last months auction.

 

Still, a great cover and in this particular case...

 

Who could say no?!

 

 

(Former Copy)

 

 

 

 

This one scores an 85 on my scale and I also just found some interesting information on what was Ace Comics along with their artists...

 

http://aces-of-ace.de/

 

http://aces-of-ace.de/beyond

 

I love this splash page by Lou Cameron as well. Unfortunately, the cover doesn't really relate to any story in this book but this story is quite good!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, after looking into this book a little more, it's unknown if Lou Cameron did the cover on this book so I went back and edited my comment above.

 

What's interesting is that the cover to The Beyond #27 sort of gives us a glimpse as to what might've ultimately happened to Serena's Consort!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hibou]

Here's a fun one I just stumbled across over at Tomorrow's Treasures

 

 

I'm still attracted to that book!

 

I almost upgraded my CGC 5.0 copy last year but if I remember correctly, that would've been to a 5.5... cool book nonetheless and thank you for pointing that one out!

 

[Hibou]

I just went back and added some information and material on the copy of The Beyond 21...

[David-Lance Roten]

I've enjoyed reading this whole thread

 

[Hibou]

Thank you very much, cheliosstevens!

 

I also forgot to mention that a couple of weeks ago, I added two interior pages of that (Baker cover) Nightmare 13...

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7429861&fpart8

[Hibou]

EDIT- Book was sold in the 2014 summer sale.

 

This was the book that I just got back and was a little disappointed in...

 

It was purchased from Metropolis Comics for what I thought was a fair price. They had it listed as a F/VF (7.0) and when I received the book in hand I started to get the feeling that it might come back as a VF- (7.5) and would've tied for top of the census. As it is, there are only 3 graded copies of this book and this one now stands as tied for second. The color and gloss was amazing... nice PQ but the only thing that I thought might bring it down was the slight tanning.

 

As it turns out (I got the grading notes on this one) there were two creases on the back cover that brought the grade down. Looking at the (now slabbed) BC... I still can't detect them. Still, the book looks very solid to me and obviously, I really like this cover a lot!

 

It's credited to Dck Dillon but that may give me some insight to an earlier book that I have from this series where I couldn't seem to find any cover credits to.

 

My second Quality Comics Plastic Man book...

 

Plastic Man 48

 

The titled feature is called "Killer Crossbones" and is about a former Nazi U-Boat Commander (now turned Pirate) who tries to steal a US Atomic Sub... The Stinger Ray!

 

Plastic Man and Woozy have been assigned to guard it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I find this to be an amazing cover... from the ex-Nazi pirate to the Atomic Sub, the shark and the underwater vegetation... the whole composition is excellent and this one grades as an 80 on my scale.

 

As I mentioned above the cover is credited to Dck Dillon and when looking at my copy of Plastic Man 36, I'm focusing on the shark. To me the art style looks a little similar but it's hard to say for sure as it could simply be that the inker was the same.

 

I found some information that I posted earlier on issue 36 which mentioned that the cover might've been done by Alex Kotzky. Like I said, there seems to be some similarities in the shark but nothing that would say definitively one way or another.

 

 

 

 

[vaillant]

I like the cover a lot (although I am not much familiar with Plastic Man), and personally I would not care about the grade assigned.

Well, personally I would not keep CGC encased books in my collection: as much useful professional grading is, as long as the book sits in my hands, I can’t just stare at its cover…

[n2wdw]

Still a great looking cover. I think the difference between 6.5 and 7.5 is subjective and depends on who looks at it at CGC.

[newshane]

Really cool collecting focus! I am enjoying your journal. The pics are awesome!

[Hibou]

I like the cover a lot (although I am not much familiar with Plastic Man), and personally I would not care about the grade assigned.

Well, personally I would not keep CGC encased books in my collection: as much useful professional grading is, as long as the book sits in my hands, I cant just stare at its cover

 

What's funny is the more I get involved with this, the more I value this website and applaud all of their contributors who have scanned and uploaded books!

 

http://comicbookplus.com/?cid=1507

 

It allows me to read some of these stories or in some cases, sadly find out that the depicted cover is quite different than the interior story.

 

Still a great looking cover. I think the difference between 6.5 and 7.5 is subjective and depends on who looks at it at CGC.

 

Definitely subjective... I certainly agree!

 

Really cool collecting focus! I am enjoying your journal. The pics are awesome!

 

Thank you very much, newshane!

 

[Hibou]

So, as I was a little disappointed with the Plastic Man 48, this next book came in right where I thought it would.

 

This was one of the books that Miraclemet got for me as a Secret Santa last year. I was very glad that I was able to read it before submitting and as I mentioned a couple pages back... this was my first time reading this particular title and I really enjoyed it!

 

That's sort of what I'm really liking about this focus! Even though it's certainly 'cover-centric', it's also allowed me to experience new genres that I probably wouldn't have done so otherwise... this book is a prime example of that.

 

So I can now add my second Don Winslow of the Navy to my collection and I love the cover on this one as much as my DWotN #4. The colors are striking and the alien-like sea creatures are great as Don Winslow travels 6 miles to the bottom of the ocean!

 

For what reason?

 

Well, I'll post the story here so you can see as it's alluded to on the CGC label!

 

I have this one as a 80 on my scale but once again, I've found it difficult to find any art credits to this cover or for the interior work.

 

For more on Don Winslow of the Navy, check out Griff's Journal over here:

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7352278#Post7352278

 

 

 

 

 

 

And so here is the story from the book thanks to:

http://comicbookplus.com/?cid=1507

 

 

 

MAELSTROM OF THE DEEP!