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Comics, Pulps, and Paperbacks: Why such a discrepancy in values?
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Started by Reno McCoy,

7,255 posts in this topic

Surfing Alien

Surfing Alien

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On 4/5/2024 at 3:47 PM, lbcolefan said:

I’ve been after this one for a long time. I’ve been the underbidder at least 10 times over the past 15 years or so.

Nice copies usually sell for between $100-250 but I got lucky and this one flew under the radar. I placed the opening bid of 24.99 on the first day of the auction. It ended on Easter during the last minute of the Purdue - Tennessee regional final. I placed a snipe bid at the last second but my opening bid was all it took.:banana:

IMG_1269.jpeg

Excellent - those rarely go under the radar (thumbsu 

I won some cool things Easter night too as bidding seemed very subdued :whee:

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Book Guy

Book Guy

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On 4/5/2024 at 8:47 AM, alecholland said:

I don't buy only sci-fi books. Here's a few recent non sci-fi purchases.

image.thumb.jpeg.f2d3899f1e971bb4af0af37c16f36160.jpeg

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I just ran into references to the IMARO Books this week! Apparently he is a Black Conan written by a Black Author. The stories take place on a Fantasy version of the African continent (as did many of the Conan stories). The books piqued my interest and I am going to have to keep an eye out a half-price books! Any Good?

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Surfing Alien

Surfing Alien

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On 4/5/2024 at 10:21 AM, Darwination said:

Jimbo, I  didn’t even start to ascribe any racist sentiment here :foryou: The book sparked (and more likely was just engaging in) a whole trend in the 20s of "seeing how the other half lives" in jazz age New York.  Sure, a lot of that is through a lens of superiority, but there's also a genuine reaching out to and celebration of blackness.  I appreciate discovering the book.

Collecting "Black Americana" has always been dicey.  I've seen all sorts of wild comic collections here on the boards, and we see all manner of items collected at eBay.  Do I think some racists collect it? Sure.  Do I think all collectors of Black Americana are racist? Not at all.

I had a friend of the family growing up that would buy any black jockey type of lawn art he could find.  Some he would repaint in a traditional style but he also did all sorts of re-imaginings of what they might be painted like, a real deconstruction and reinterpretation of the form.

As a scanner of periodicals and books, I've scanned all sorts of objectionable or what might be deemed objectionable material.  I recall scanning an incredibly rendered version of Sambo.  I've scanned many Spirit Sections with "jigaboo" poses of Ebony on the cover.  As well as exploitative tabloids and magazines from the 70s like It's Happening or Bronze Thrills.  Or more authentic pubs like Hep!, Tan Confessions, and the like.  These are the sort of publications that lend to some excellent explorations and conversations about race in America.  I try to scan without filter and have even scanned more blatantly racist pubs from KKK affiliated publishers in the 20s even when I have qualms about doing so. I've also scanned Black Panther pubs that some might say go the other direction, too.

As for that particular cover, I think it's excellent.  Stereotype or celebration?  I see more of the latter.  Just like the cover for Taffy I recently saw in a sale or one of these threads.

A lot of these paperbacks sell curiosity or scandal regarding race which sold books no doubt but also propel thought. Fears of miscegenation but also representation of real mixed relationships.  Sh*t's complex, but out here on the pulp fringes is where we actually look at subjects that weren't being acknowledged in Leave It to Beaver :roflmao:

Well said, about as well as it can be said.

Turning a blind eye to stereotypical paper won't make it go away and better to try to understand it imho.

You couldn't remotely be an Avon completist or even serious collector without having some of them, whether its racial, nationality or gender types.

 

For the record, no one on the Raymond Johnson panel I put together for his bio thinks Raymond Johnson did that cover. More likely it was Bill Randall, Robert Hilbert or some other Avon stalwart.

 

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Surfing Alien

Surfing Alien

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Some Friday fun ...

"Maniac Rendezvous" by Marc Brandel  Avon No. 387   Cover art by Don Brockell (credited inside)   This was considered classic back in the day. I've always wanted a copy but never got one  :)   I really like the title font as well as the art generally.

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"Strangers On A Train" by  Patricia Highsmith  Bantam No. 905   Cover art by Stanley Zuckerberg.    Highsmiths early pbs are all pretty tough and pricey from what I can see. Took a chance and lucked into this one for a song.

20240405_175048.thumb.jpg.b4748b804034964e7de1dc8d72dc89fd.jpg

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jimjum12

jimjum12

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Posted (edited)
On 4/5/2024 at 6:16 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Well, Warren's guide has 41,000 pb listings so I guess there's an end somewhere (shrug)lol

I think it's like Doritos, they'll make more. GOD BLESS ...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)(thumbsu

PB288.jpg

Edited by jimjum12
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Darwination

Darwination

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On 4/5/2024 at 5:48 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Some Friday fun ...

 

"Strangers On A Train" by  Patricia Highsmith  Bantam No. 905   Cover art by Stanley Zuckerberg.    Highsmiths early pbs are all pretty tough and pricey from what I can see. Took a chance and lucked into this one for a song.

20240405_175048.thumb.jpg.b4748b804034964e7de1dc8d72dc89fd.jpg

This edition is on my huntlist (and an epub next up in my digital reading queue).  I saw the movie (most excellent) recently and ended up talking with a couple friends who mentioned differences with the novel. 

The flick was even better imo than some higher regarded later Hitchcocks.  Raymond Chandler has a writing credit, apparently undeserved (and unwanted). Read the wiki for a good laugh on clashing personality types :roflmao:

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alecholland

alecholland

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On 4/5/2024 at 5:25 PM, Book Guy said:

I just ran into references to the IMARO Books this week! Apparently he is a Black Conan written by a Black Author. The stories take place on a Fantasy version of the African continent (as did many of the Conan stories). The books piqued my interest and I am going to have to keep an eye out a half-price books! Any Good?

They are supposed to be very good, but I haven't read either of them yet. They are in my TBR stack but I think I have 5 books ahead of them. I'm not a fast reader (mostly due to work & family schedule), so I'll probably get to them in about 6 weeks. I wish I could afford the DAW Imaro III book, but it's a bit more than I want to spend on a single paperback right now. 

I could live in Half-price books, but they won't let me. I've asked. 

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waaaghboss

waaaghboss

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On 4/5/2024 at 3:14 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Excellent - those rarely go under the radar (thumbsu 

I won some cool things Easter night too as bidding seemed very subdued :whee:

Possibly because the seller put tales not stories in the title listing 😉

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OtherEric

OtherEric

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On 4/5/2024 at 3:48 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Some Friday fun ...

"Maniac Rendezvous" by Marc Brandel  Avon No. 387   Cover art by Don Brockell (credited inside)   This was considered classic back in the day. I've always wanted a copy but never got one  :)   I really like the title font as well as the art generally.

20240405_175205.thumb.jpg.2c5d32cb321d47ba7f2c91ba6fd96042.jpg

 

 

Reminds me of this cover (not my copy):

hof 3.jpg

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Number 6

Number 6

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On 4/5/2024 at 4:42 PM, Darwination said:

This edition is on my huntlist (and an epub next up in my digital reading queue).  I saw the movie (most excellent) recently and ended up talking with a couple friends who mentioned differences with the novel. 

The flick was even better imo than some higher regarded later Hitchcocks.  Raymond Chandler has a writing credit, apparently undeserved (and unwanted). Read the wiki for a good laugh on clashing personality types :roflmao:

The film is one of my top favorite Hitchcock’s, Bruno is great. 
 

Yes, the book is different, but not in a bad way, just different, much more of noir. 
 

You hear the phrase “haunted by guilt” but Strangers on a Train is the one book I’ve read that most effectively conveys that feeling, to the point it made me uncomfortable at times. 

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