KirbyJack Posted January 9, 2021 Share Posted January 9, 2021 Excellent information as always, Ed! EC ed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted January 10, 2021 Author Share Posted January 10, 2021 (edited) Correction #2 of 3: Frontline Combat #9 variant In my initial EC ed's EC Completist List, I only counted Frontline Combat #9 as one book - why would I have thought otherwise, right? Well, it turns out that an argument has been mounted that there is a "variant" of Frontline Combat #9. Specifically, this has to do with the coloration of the words "CIVIL WAR" on the front cover. One version has "CIVIL WAR" on the front cover in orange ink, and another version has "CIVIL WAR" on the front cover in yellow ink. I believe that the orange version is the "primary" version (because the Gaines File Copies seem to be the orange versions), which in my opinion makes the yellow version the "variant." When "we" were initially discussing this, I thought 'that isn't a proper variant...there's no indication anywhere that I've seen where Gaines declared any intention to create a variant here...that's just a random printing "defect"' (i.e., just like you will see some EC issues where some copies look more blue, and some copies look more purple...know what I mean?). But, long story short, the argument that these orange and yellow versions indeed constitute two officially distinct versions has gained credence. Case in point, they are now listed separately in the Grand Comics Database - although the GCD (incorrectly, in my view) calls the orange version the "variant," implying that the yellow version is the "primary." As I mention above, I think the orange version has primacy, because orange is what Gaines pulled for the file copies...not to mention the silverprint cover proof is also orange (although, on the silverprint cover proof the exclamation point after "CIVIL WAR" is also orange..not so on the printed orange versions). But...tomayto, tomahto . The upshot is that I have now conceded the point that Frontline Combat #9 has a variant - which adds one book to EC ed's EC Completist list. Here's what I'm talking about: Edited January 10, 2021 by EC ed AJD, sfcityduck, KirbyJack and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted February 7, 2021 Author Share Posted February 7, 2021 Correction #3 of 3: Picture Stories From American History #2 distributor variant After Max Gaines parted ways with the DC/National crew (as I discuss earlier in this thread), he switched distribution companies - away from IND (Independent News Co, the in-house distributor for DC/National). Apparently, Picture Stories from American History #2 got caught up in the switch - copies from early in the print run had the "IND" insignia under the price graphic, and copies from later in the print run did not (i.e., after IND was no longer the distributor). Before, I was including only one instance of PSFAH #2 in my completist list, but now I acknowledge two PSFAH #2 variants, which of course adds one book to EC ed's EC Completist List! Here's what I mean...look under the price circle : KirbyJack and sfcityduck 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iggy Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 (edited) On 12/24/2017 at 11:44 AM, EC ed said: missing ECs Church that was Built with Bread About 20 years ago +/-, I found this book... here’s the story. I live in Iowa and then as now, I go to lots of auctions. This particular auction was out in the country at a Centennial farm that was finally being emptied of it’s contents after the last generation to live there either passed away or decided to sell. They seemed to keep everything going back over 100 years. Tons of stuff. I was looking through a box with a base size of approx. 12” x 14” and maybe 18” - 24” high. They used it to put catalogs, mail and other paper products in. Near the top was this “coverless” comic that I didn’t give much thought to. The box was full and quite heavy and sold for $1 to me. It wasn’t until I got home and re-examined the comic that it became apparent it wasn’t coverless, that that was how it was made. I looked for it in Overstreet but it wasn’t there. I googled and found nothing. I decided to put it up on eBay with a low starting price (probably $9.99) and decided to put a BIN of $425-$450 on it (don’t remember which but it was one of the 2). Within a half hour of it’s listing someone hit that BIN. I soon found out it was Jim Halperin. Edit: I see now that the copy Jim Halperin had slabbed is a different copy than the one I sold him. I found my old scans: Edited June 20, 2021 by iggy Larryw7, KirbyJack, EC ed and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iggy Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 Looks like he later found a better copy to slab (pic borrowed from his site): Sarg and Larryw7 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted June 20, 2021 Author Share Posted June 20, 2021 8 hours ago, iggy said: About 20 years ago +/-, I found this book... here’s the story. Amazing story! Very cool - thanks for sharing! If you stumble across another copy out there, please let me know iggy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iggy Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 Will do (or would do) if lightning were to strike twice. EC ed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post EC ed Posted June 20, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 20, 2021 (edited) Now that we're on the promo subject anyway, I should give another update. Several posts back (which was a couple years ago ...time flies!), I rationalized how most of the promos I don't own could be removed from my completist list, given that they weren't copyrighted by EC. But, I also attached a caveat that I'll still be thrilled to pick them up if I have the chance. Well, I've stayed true to that, and in the couple years that have passed since that post, I've gotten my hands on three more of them (including the "other" book produced by the Lutheran church - Across the Seas in a War Torn World): Here are the other two (Reddy Kilowatt 2B Light's Diamond Jubilee, and Wonders of Wire Rope): Edited June 20, 2021 by EC ed Larryw7, Sarg, iggy and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarg Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 On 11/23/2016 at 7:30 PM, EC ed said: Ah, yes...the Haunt of Fear #8...my nemesis. If you recall a few pages back, Haunt of Fear #8 was the last "normal" new trend issue I needed for completion. It's a book that shouldn't be tough to find, but for me it is/was...I've been the loser in a couple auction battles for high grade copies, and finally decided (back in April) to just plug the hole in the run with a beater off eBay...here's that one: http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a514/edowens71/Comics/Gold/GHIJ/hof8_f.jpg Now, that rag is my undercopy, thanks to this VG'ish upgrade. Still not in my desired grade range, but a drastic improvement: http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a514/edowens71/Comics/Gold/GHIJ/hof8a_f.jpg Notice something else, which I also mentioned a few pages back...seems like this issue shows up about half the time with a brown cover, and about half the time with a green cover. Seems like all of the Gaines File Copies I see have the green cover, so I'm betting that's the color it's "supposed" to be. Not sure if the brown copies were in a run that used unstable ink that is now fading in the green tones, or what the deal is... But, I must say that I prefer the green ones...also, there are certain art "signposts" that I like to have on certain issues... on this issue, I like to see both upper fangs of that stuffed cat on the leading edge (kind of like how we look for the double quote on the leading edge of Tales of Suspense #39)...my upgrade has both fangs. No, brown colors cannot fade into green. Also, the colorist changed Beardsley's suit from violet to blue in the process. They re-stripped negatives, burned new plates, and started a different press run. Why? And which was first? I wouldn't assume that the colors on the GFC are from the first run. In fact it's hard to understand the color change. It would have been expensive to have burned new plates. They could have sold out the press run, and decided to go back to press to print more, changing the colors for some reason...but I think this (selling out all 300,000+ copies) rarely happened. The only time I'm aware of EC not printing enough copies, and going back to press, was for Mad #24. Perhaps they were printed at two different shops simultaneously, and for whatever reason, the second shop improvised on the colors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 (edited) Wow...almost 3 years since I've posted in here! I'm glad this thread hasn't been archived and closed to further comments . It's time for a post, because something astonishing has just happened (i.e., a new acquisition). But, before I reveal what that is, I need to get this thread caught up to speed on a few other matters, which will take a minute... Edited March 13 by EC ed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 FIRST: we need to revisit my post about the Picture Stories from the Bible minutiae from 2021 (back on page 10 here)...we've figured some other stuff out. Back on page 10, I was still talking about there being 9 printings of Picture Stories from the Bible Complete Old Testament, and that only printings 7, 8, and 9 were "EC publications." Well, long story short, we now think that there are 11 printings, where printings 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 are "EC publications." Of course, this will alter my EC Completist List. If you want the long story (which I won't belabor here), there is a fantastic article by a fellow named Chris Boyko in the recent EC Fan Addict Fanzine #5 that explains everything: Here's a pic of part of the first page of the article (notice the shout out to some fellow named "Ed Owens" in the last line of the first section of text ): Azkaban, conan09279 and KirbyJack 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 SECOND: "we" now realize that there are two versions of Saddle Justice #6...one which bears a seal indicating conformity to the "Comics Code" (a predecessor to the infamous Comic Code Authority (CCA)), and one which doesn't. So, this adds 1 book to the EC Completist List. Here are both versions (look under the 10-cent price graphic): Sarg, Azkaban and conan09279 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 (edited) Edit: there are a few promo comics that were published shortly after 1956 - upon further reflection, it feels right to include those in my Completist Checklist; however, I'm personally still going to cut off Mad Magazine at issue #30 (December 1956) for reasons discussed earlier. COMBINING ALL OF THIS: let me post an updated Official EC ed's EC Completist Checklist (version 03/12/24, which incorporates all of the updates I discuss in the last couple pages of this thread)...note that there are now 478 issues here, compared to the 470 on the original (incomplete) checklist back on page 1: Promotional Comics (18 issues total): Across the Seas in a War Torn World (*note: published by, but not copyrighted by EC) Church that was Built with Bread (*note: published by, but not copyrighted by EC) Desert Dawn KO Punch (*note: published by, but not copyrighted by EC) Lucky Fights it Through (*note: published by, but not copyrighted by EC) Out of the Past a Clue to the Future (*note: published by, but not copyrighted by EC) Reddy Kilowatt issues 1A, 1B, 1B-reprint, 2A, 2B, 2C, 2C-reprint, 3A, 3A-reprint, 3B, and 3C (*note: published by, but not copyrighted by EC) Wonders of Wire Rope (*note: published by, but not copyrighted by EC) *this note about published vs. copyrighted relates to a post I made some years back...to preserve my sanity, I rationalized that I only "need" to have all the books that were copyrighted by EC...a convenient "escape clause" because some of these promos seem impossible to obtain. But, we'll see how that goes... Pre-Trend Titles (133 issues total): Animal Fables #1-7 Animated Comics #1 Blackstone the Magician Detective Fights Crime #1 Crime Patrol #7-16 Dandy Comics #1-7 Fat and Slat #1-4 Gunfighter #5-14 Happy Houlihans #1-2 International Comics #1-5 International Crime Patrol #6 Land of the Lost #1-9 Modern Love #1-8 Moon Girl and the Prince #1 Moon Girl #2-6 Moon Girl Fights Crime! #7-8 A Moon, a Girl...Romance #9-12 Picture Stories from the Bible Old Testament (1946) #1-2 Picture Stories from the Bible Complete Old Testament, printings 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 Picture Stories from the Bible New Testament #2-3 Picture Stories from the Bible New Testament #1 (1946 reprint) Picture Stories from the Bible Complete New Testament, printings 1, 2, and 3 Picture Stories from the Bible Complete Life of Christ, 25-cent variant, blank price variant Picture Stories from American History #1-4; #2 distributor cover variant Picture Stories from Science #1-2 Picture Stories from World History #1-2 Saddle Justice #3-8; #6 Comics Code seal variant Saddle Romances #9-11 Tiny Tot Comics #1-10 War Against Crime! #1-11 New Trend Titles (284 issues total): Crime SuspenStories #15(1); #1-27 Crypt of Terror #17-19 Frontline Combat #1-15; #9 "yellow" variant Haunt of Fear #15(1)-17(3); #4-28 Mad #1-30 (inc. 3 cover variants of issue #28) Panic #1-12 Piracy #1-7 Shock SuspenStories #1-18 Tales From the Crypt #20-46 Tales of Terror Annual #1-3 Three Dimensional E.C. Classics #1 Three Dimensional Tales from the Crypt of Terror #1 Two-Fisted Tales #18-41 Two-Fisted Tales Annual #1-2 Vault of Horror #12-40 Weird Fantasy #13(1)-17(5); #6-22 Weird Science #12(1)-14(3); #4-22 Weird Science-Fantasy #23-29 Weird Science-Fantasy Annual #1-2 New Direction Titles (34 issues total): Aces High #1-5 Extra! #1-5 Impact #1 (yellow variant), #1 (white variant), #2-5 Incredible Science Fiction #30-33 M.D. #1-5 Psychoanalysis #1-4 Valor #1-5 Picto-Fiction Magazines (9 issues total): Crime Illustrated #1-2 Confessions Illustrated #1-2 Shock Illustrated #1-3 Terror Illustrated #1-2 Edited March 16 by EC ed conan09279 and Sarg 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 Now...what has the collection been up to for the past few years since I last posted? For that, I need to shoot some scans...back later! AJD and plady69 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Great to see you back here Ed, and with some new findings to report! Any idea which is the more common version of that Saddle Justice? In my n=1 sample it is 100% the code version. More helpfully, they seem to split evenly in the 10 issues in the Heritage archive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 On 3/12/2024 at 10:01 PM, AJD said: Any idea which is the more common version of that Saddle Justice? Hi Andrew! Hope all has been well! It was a little harder for me to find the non-code version, but I think that was probably just the way it randomly played out at the time I was looking. I know others who have the non-code version who need the code version. So, 50/50 is probably a good guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 Thanks for the check list Ed. Your devotion to EC is very commendable. I finished off my New Trend and New Direction about a year ago. I might have half the Pre Trends and a few giveaways. The Pre Trends are pretty tough to find in any grade. I pick them off when I am lucky to find them. I will probably never have them all and am happy to have what I do. Often other non ECs get in the way. Now, I will have to check my Saddle Justice #6… EC ed 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfcityduck Posted March 13 Share Posted March 13 (edited) Ed, I admire your restraint. If I was an EC completist, I don't know how I could not crave these: Heck, all the Superior/EC publications in Canada are super cool, the WF 1 and WS 1 are particularly notable because the interior contents have been switched! And a whole bunch of them have hybrid EC-Superior branding that's cool: But, hey, you've reached pretty much the end of the road right? No need to lengthen the quest, right? Edited March 13 by sfcityduck Sarg and Azkaban 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 On 3/13/2024 at 10:19 AM, sfcityduck said: I admire your restraint. Those are definitely interesting, but it's all about defining the boundaries of "EC Publications." Early on I had to make a philosophical decision about these Superior books...my rationale is that they are NOT technically EC Publications, they are Superior Comics publications (which is an indisputable fact) - see, it says so right there on the CGC Label . I'm sticking with that, and don't try to change my mind! Azkaban and AJD 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC ed Posted March 13 Author Share Posted March 13 (edited) So, having now discussed all of the corrections to my completist checklist, allow me to share some collecting highlights from the past few years.... 2021 In the last half of 2021, on eBay I found a sweet copy of one of the promo books I was theretofore missing: Reddy Kilowatt #1B (1956). [Note: if you want to know more about which Reddy Kilowatt promo books these alphanumeric codes refer to, check out this link: https://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/ec.php ]: So now, the only EC Reddy Kilowatt promo books I'm missing are the two "Southern California" editions of "The Space Kite" (the last two books shown at that link I referenced just above). I laid my books out in the same order as they are shown in the graphic at that link above so that you can see what's what...if you care : Edited March 16 by EC ed Sarg, conan09279, AJD and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
