Comics, Pulps, and Paperbacks: Why such a discrepancy in values? 25 25

[alecholland]

Weekend home office project. Set up my new Billy Bookcase with glass doors. I really like it. Only made it halfway through H's though going alphabetical by author. My wife said, "I told you that you needed two!" She's buying a second one for me right now.

Going through my books, I found a copy of Jack Vance's The Dying Earth ( Pocket Books version) that has been on my Ebay watch list for at least a year. I never could find a nice copy, but it turns out I already own it. Lol.

 

Edited April 14 by alecholland

[Darwination]

Sharp!  No dusting required - maybe just a little glass cleaning. 

You married well if she's buying another one   Of course, maybe you had your books spread out all over the place -

We've got some built in shelves in the living room in very public space.  It's mostly photos and objects, but my wife also picked out some shelves of books from my collection (and hers as well) strictly for presentation and color of the spines, mostly classics and art books.  The lowbrow stuff lives in my office (not to mention the poor exiles on the attic shelves ).  Wouldn't want these Memphis highbrows thinking we lack culture

Edited April 14 by Darwination

[alecholland]

On 4/14/2024 at 3:11 PM, Darwination said:

Of course, maybe you had your books spread out all over the place -

Yep, our office had become a bit of an obstacle course.  

[johnenock]

Couple nice covers. My first Robert Parker book:

 

[Surfing Alien]

On 4/14/2024 at 3:50 PM, alecholland said:

Weekend home office project. Set up my new Billy Bookcase with glass doors. I really like it. Only made it halfway through H's though going alphabetical by author. My wife said, "I told you that you needed two!" She's buying a second one for me right now.

Going through my books, I found a copy of Jack Vance's The Dying Earth ( Pocket Books version) that has been on my Ebay watch list for at least a year. I never could find a nice copy, but it turns out I already own it. Lol.

 

Beautiful display 

Aside from my "wife-supported" Ikea shelf system in my office I usually show, we have a few Billy bookcases in our living room that we've had since our first apartment back in Brooklyn.

The glass fronts are awesome, you can make so many cool displays in them 

[Darwination]

On 4/14/2024 at 6:35 PM, johnenock said:

Couple nice covers. My first Robert Parker book:

 

 

Damn it, John.  Another book title gets scribbled on my hunt list

[Surfing Alien]

On 4/14/2024 at 8:10 PM, Darwination said:

Damn it, John.  Another book title gets scribbled on my hunt list

A great Whittington. But his are almost all great - I'm trying to be a completist but it ain't easy...

Such a smooth teller and blessed with tons of top notch cover artists to match the content in awesomeness 

[Surfing Alien]

Harry Whittington titles for when you put your man-pants on 

 

Spectacular GGA on these U.S.A. Phantom digests.

[Darwination]

Do you have this one in grade (or just a nice pic)?  Not quite the same ring as The Maltese Falcon

I'm afraid I have to go there, too

 

[Darwination]

On 4/14/2024 at 9:03 PM, Surfing Alien said:

A great Whittington. But his are almost all great - I'm trying to be a completist but it ain't easy...

 

You're not kidding, holy cow, he did 85 novels in a span of 12 years:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Whittington_(author)

He's got a bunch of appearances in late pulps but especially the crime digests, too.

[OtherEric]

On 4/14/2024 at 7:42 PM, Darwination said:

You're not kidding, holy cow, he did 85 novels in a span of 12 years:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Whittington_(author)

He's got a bunch of appearances in late pulps but especially the crime digests, too.

85 in 12 years is nothing compared to Walter Gibson.  20 Shadow novels a year for a decade 

[Surfing Alien]

On 4/14/2024 at 10:42 PM, Darwination said:

You're not kidding, holy cow, he did 85 novels in a span of 12 years:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Whittington_(author)

He's got a bunch of appearances in late pulps but especially the crime digests, too.

Yeah, there's quite a few appealing books by Harry...

This is one of the most awesome re-packagings ever 

[Surfing Alien]

On 4/14/2024 at 10:53 PM, OtherEric said:

85 in 12 years is nothing compared to Walter Gibson.  20 Shadow novels a year for a decade 

True, but much more formulaic I think. Whittington delivered so many varied noirs in different genres, it is tough to comprehend how good he was

[johnenock]

On 4/14/2024 at 8:53 PM, Surfing Alien said:

Yeah, there's quite a few appealing books by Harry...

This is one of the most awesome re-packagings ever 

I have one of these on the way

[OtherEric]

On 4/14/2024 at 7:58 PM, Surfing Alien said:

True, but much more formulaic I think. Whittington delivered so many varied noirs in different genres, it is tough to comprehend how good he was

Fair enough, although I think Gibson was much better at mixing things up on the Shadow than Dent on Doc Savage or many of the other hero pulp writers 

[Darwination]

Heh heh, these are waters I'm scared to dip my toes into.  I've never had much luck with the hero books, but the fans are vociferous and steadfast

[Darwination]

On 4/4/2024 at 7:49 PM, jimjum12 said:

Since hopping on the paperback train, I'm getting better at catching the sources on the Avon Comics.

I love Avon crime and romance comics, but the covers don't appeal to me so much when I see there's a better version out there.  Seems like the comics version is always darker and muddied. (might not be true in all cases)

[Surfing Alien]

On 4/15/2024 at 4:57 PM, Darwination said:

Since hopping on the paperback train, I'm getting better at catching the sources on the Avon Comics.

I love Avon crime and romance comics, but the covers don't appeal to me so much when I see there's a better version out there.  Seems like the comics version is always darker and muddied. (might not be true in all cases)

Well, I got GCD to give Johnson his credit (70 years later) it would be nice to see it on the label 

https://www.comics.org/issue/263278/

[Surfing Alien]

On 4/15/2024 at 4:57 PM, Darwination said:

Seems like the comics version is always darker and muddied. (might not be true in all cases)

FTFY

 

[OtherEric]

Today's book.  This one is a reprint, but it's the only reprint within the Ace D-series I'm aware of where they changed the cover art.  I'm assuming its somehow connected to the fact that this is Ace D-339, and Ace D-340 (Solar Lottery), another reprint, has the other half of the D-103 double the image was taken from.  I've got a copy of the D-340 on the way as well, so I'll post that when it shows up.  I'm including the original cover of the book and the original use of the cover art for comparison: