[CLOSED] Let's make love: the ROMANCE thread! Matt Baker! Jim Steranko! Harry Lucey! Patsy Walker! RECAP page 5 - NOW 20 % OFF REMAINING BOOKS! 0

[Crimebuster]

Patsy Walker!!

I have the sense these are getting harder to find. I also have the sensation that there's some trickle down going on. You know what they say, a rising tide lifts all boats. Well, with the attention that 50's Archie books and DeCarlo Millie the Model books ave been getting in recent years, I think people are starting to turn to Patsy Walker now. 

Maybe I'm wrong, we'll see!

Either way, I've got some Atlas Patsy Walker issues coming up now, including the issue I think is going to be the go to Patsy Walker cover for post-code Patsy Walker books. Get on the hype train while the getting is cheap. 

[Crimebuster]

Here's a great cover by Al Jaffee! I love Patsy's dress on this cover.

Patsy Walker #62 - 2.0 - $15

This has really nice color. However, the book got wet at some point. It's got that overall wet, rumpled comic feel to it. Don't worry, I think it dried out in 1962. A press might help with the feel and look, if not the grade. 

 

[Crimebuster]

Patsy Walker #68 - 2.0 - $12

This one has a spine split at bottom, and a tear at the top staple. The cover id detached at top staple only. 

 

[Crimebuster]

Here's a nicer one, with a cool cover. It was also bold of Stan and Al Hartley to show the dangers of LSD usage on such an early cover.

Honestly, though, I really like the composition of this one. And we got some headlights on high beam here. 

Patsy Walker #83 - 3.5 - $20

There's a chip out of the bottom fc near the spine, along with a small spine split; bc has a crease. Cover has some tanning. 

 

Edited March 13, 2019 by Crimebuster

[Crimebuster]

Okay, here's the big one. 

For my money, literally I guess since I bought this, this is the top Patsy Walker post-code cover. Hartley's art is a little hit or miss for me, as he can get a little too caricature. Not here, though. This is 100% pure cheesecake. 

 

Patsy Walker #85 - 2.5 - $75

This copy presents beautifully, with great colors. It does have issues though. The spine is split to the top staple. There's some tanning and water damage to the top of the book, as well as a tear on the fc top edge. There's also some staining on the bc, and some gripper lines on the bottom fc. 

Looks really good though. I don't mind keeping this one, so I'm pricing accordingly. I do think this is the one to look for in the future, though. We'll see if I make a mistake in selling it at all. 

 

[Crimebuster]

I really dig the coloring with this one, especially the red text on the white background. And the supporting characters in that pale blue. Very unusual look.

This copy also has a subscription crease!! Some kid loved Patsy Walker enough to actually get a subscription in the Atlas era. I love that.

Patsy Walker #93 - 3.5 - $19

The sub crease is the main thing with this one. A tight book with night gloss. 

 

SOLD!

Edited March 14, 2019 by Crimebuster

[Crimebuster]

Patsy Walker #94 - 3.5 - $15

Spine split at bottom, there's an interior page with pencil on it - it's a "design your own dress" page where some kid drew in their dress idea. I love it!

 

[Crimebuster]

Last Patsy Walker issue. 

This is a golden age classic from 1948. It's boggling to me how cheap these Miss America issues with the photo covers are compared to similar comics from the same time period with penciled covers. If these had penciled covers instead of photo covers, they would command 10x the price. This comic is packed with awesome Golden Age teen humor and GGA, but I guess people don't want to be troubled to actually open their comics! Heavens forfend.

This issue also has some text stories in addition to the comic stories, but even those are cool, as they are iullstrated with some really sweet art. I've included an example below with a story by a writer who has the very suspicious pen name of "Ann Lee."  I wonder, who at Timely that wrote Patsy Walker stories could that possibly be?!

 

Miss America #48- 4.5 - $19

This has a kid's name written on the fc. It also have pencil on one page where the kid apparently really liked a text story, because they wrote "wonderfull" across the top of the page. 

This copy also has a small ink smear at the woman's left eye. I tought at first someone had drawn on the page and smeared it, but I thin it might have been a production thing? Hard to tell, but the cover is printed off register, so they were certainly having some issues.

Isn't there someone on the boards who collects off register GA books?

 

 

Some of the interior art hiding behind this blasphemous photo cover:

 

 

 

"Ann Lee" hmm... hmmm... nope, still no idea who could possibly be using this as a pseudonym in a girl's comic. 

Edited March 13, 2019 by Crimebuster

[Crimebuster]

Now, on to some Marvel romance keys from the Bronze Age of comics!!

[Crimebuster]

For my money, this is one of the two big Marvel Bronze Age keys - the other one, I will be posting shortly. Every romance collector just has to have a copy of this for the groundbreaking and transcendent art by the legendary Jim Steranko.

 

Our Love Story #5 - 2.5 - $19

This has nice gloss and colors, but just has been around the block a few times. As you can see, there's a piece out of the upper right front cover. 

The interior art by Steranko just has to be seen in hand to really appreciate. So epic. No offense to Romita, but why didn't they have Steranko do the cover too?! 

 

 

A look at the awesome Steranko art:

Edited March 13, 2019 by Crimebuster

[Crimebuster]

So what's the other big Marvel Bronze Age romance key? Well, I'm not counting Night Nurse, as that's not pure romance, but more of a soap opera. Don't get me wrong, it's one of my favorite titles, but for pure romance...

 

My Love #14 - 5.0 - $59

The spine roll is the main thing. I think this could improve with a press. It does have some spine stress due to the roll, and there is a faint, color breaking crease on the cover to the right of her hair. So there's a ceiling on how much a press could improve this. Anyway, it doesn't matter I guess since I am pricing it as is, not as it might become. 

As a 25 cent oversized issue, from the first month of frame covers, and with the Woodstock cover and story, this one is always in demand across a spectrum of collecting bases. I should probably price it higher, but I guess the proof is in the pudding. 

 

 

As a fun freebie, I will also throw in this low grade reader of Falling in Love #118. I really dig this cover, but for whatever reason, this issue hasn't quite taken off like My Love #14. Still, for the Woodstock romance collector, you really need them both. 

 

SOLD!

 

Edited March 15, 2019 by Crimebuster

[Crimebuster]

Here's another Marvel bronze key!

 

My Love #1 - 3.5 - $15

Really nice colors and gloss here. nice copy, just held down by general wear, especially at the upper spine. 

 

[Crimebuster]

So let's say you've already bought my copies of My Love #1 and #14. Because, you're about to do that, right?

Well, there's still one key issue of the series you'll need to really hit all the high points. Other than #10, I mean, which still hasn't broken out yet, but give it some time.

No, this is the one you need to really set the pillars of your My Love foundation in place:

 

My Love Queen-size Special #1 - 3.0 - $15

The spine is rough, as is so often the case with these squarebound books. A lot of dirt too. 

But grok that awesome John Buscema cover! How manly is that mofo?! Yike, bro, you're making me look bad!

 

Edited March 13, 2019 by Crimebuster

[Crimebuster]

Okay, talking a small break before I get to the main attraction - the Atlas romance books. Just need to stretch my legs a few minutes!

[Crimebuster]

We'll start with a transitional book. Is it Atlas? Is it Marvel? This has a cover date of November, 1961 - the same month as Fantastic Four #1. 

 

Teen-Age Romance #84 - 5.5 - $49

This looks and fees in hand like a higher grade book. it's tight, with gloss and great color. It has two issues, which you can see in the scan - some discoloration along the right edge of the front cover, and on the back cover lower left, some scuffing, which feels almost like someone rubbed fine sandpaper against it. 

This isn't the easiest era to find Marvel/Atlas romance books from, especially not nice ones. This also has a Jack Kirby cover, though it looks to my novice eye like Al Hartley might have had a hand in inking it. I could be wrong. Either way, a cool book! Who doesn't love big circle 10 cent books?!

 

 

 

 

Page quality - no edge tanning that jumped out to me, but where the discoloration shows on the fc, there is some on the page edges as well which you can mostly see when you lookat the comic edgewise.

Interior:

 

SOLD!

 

Edited March 13, 2019 by Crimebuster

[Crimebuster]

So, coming up now is a batch of 5 Atlas romance books. There's a bit of a story behind them.

What I was told by the dealer I got them from is that these are new old stock. 

The story is that the OO was a guy who owned a newsstand. When he had unsold comics, he would only return some of them. The others, he set aside in his barn, where thy were untouched for decades before coming to market. 

These books share certain characteristics. They are all right, with gloss and great color. They all feel great in hand. They also have some defects from being stored improperly. In general, they are really nice looking Atlas romance comics from an era it's not that easy to find nice copies in. 

I hope these find a good home!

[sacentaur]

10 minutes ago, Crimebuster said:

We'll start with a transitional book. Is it Atlas? Is it Marvel? This has a cover date of November, 1961 - the same month as Fantastic Four #1. 

 

Teen-Age Romance #84 - 5.5 - $49

This looks and fees in hand like a higher grade book. it's tight, with gloss and great color. It has two issues, which you can see in the scan - some discoloration along the right edge of the front cover, and on the back cover lower left, some scuffing, which feels almost like someone rubbed fine sandpaper against it. 

This isn't the easiest era to find Marvel/Atlas romance books from, especially not nice ones. This also has a Jack Kirby cover, though it looks to my novice eye like Al Hartley might have had a hand in inking it. I could be wrong. Either way, a cool book! Who doesn't love big circle 10 cent books?!

 

Can you please note the PQ on the Atlas books? Any edge tanning, etc. (an interior shot would help).

if Ok, I’ll take it pending answers to the above questions...

Edited March 13, 2019 by sacentaur

[Crimebuster]

I'm just going to start with what I think is the best of the bunch by a hair.

 

My Own Romance #35 - 6.0 - $75

 

This feels super tight in hand, with really nice gloss, and eye popping colors. Even the black is shiny and new. 

It has a couple issues holding it back. On the right edge, there are some color breaking bends in the black, including one that extends into the text box. What i was told by the dealer is that he believes this happened when the book was on the rack, as the OO didn't actually read any of these. 

The other thing is the upper right corner got hit by a drop of water when it was sitting in the barn. there is a slight waviness to that corner, which you can see in the scan. There is also a very slight stain along the edge of the upper right corner itself, which extends down the edge maybe half an inch.

Even with these, I have this at 6.0. Also, GCD attributes this cover in part to Bill Everett, though they seem unsure if he penciled or inked it. 

 

I will add some interior images showing PQ shortly!

 

SOLD!

 

 

Edited March 13, 2019 by Crimebuster

[Crimebuster]

2 minutes ago, sacentaur said:

Can you please note the PQ on the Atlas books? Any edge tanning, etc. (an interior shot would help).

 

Yes, I will take interior photos of the books. It may take me a little bit to get them. I will pause adding new books until I have all the info here for you. 

[Ricksneatstuff]

Just now, Crimebuster said:

I'm just going to start with what I think is the best of the bunch by a hair.

 

My Own Romance #35 - 6.0 - $75

 

This feels super tight in hand, with really nice gloss, and eye popping colors. Even the black is shiny and new. 

It has a couple issues holding it back. On the right edge, there are some color breaking bends in the black, including one that extends into the text box. What i was told by the dealer is that he believes this happened when the book was on the rack, as the OO didn't actually read any of these. 

The other thing is the upper right corner got hit by a drop of water when it was sitting in the barn. there is a slight waviness to that corner, which you can see in the scan. There is also a very slight stain along the edge of the upper right corner itself, which extends down the edge maybe half an inch.

Even with these, I have this at 6.0. Also, GCD attributes this cover in part to Bill Everett, though they seem unsure if he penciled or inked it. 

 

I will add some interior images showing PQ shortly!

 

I’ll Take It