Show us your “one and done” book that encapsulates a genre 4 4

[catman76]

3 hours ago, Casablanca said:

Lots of Archie titles and perhaps Archie  #50 , Classic Betty is surely iconic. But once Archie had to "beat off" 3 other guys and it's in red bold letters...well, I was done.

I hate so much that people think this cover is funny in any way. Talk about immature. But look Daniel Boone beats off guys too...

[Randall Dowling]

Here's mine.  A Gerber Photo-Journal cover book and, to my mind, the best example of the master's work.

[OtherEric]

Here's a real "one and done" book I have, for Timely Heroes.  This is my only issue of Marvel Mystery; and the only GA appearance I have of the Human Torch, Captain America, and the Blonde Phantom.  It also features the Sub-Mariner (I have one issue of that title) and Venus (I have about 4/5 of the Venus run, in very low grade). So the three major Timely heroes and two of the minor ones; it will do for me:

[Randall Dowling]

46 minutes ago, Dr. Love said:

And believe it or not this would be the romance for me.  And I've owned maybe 80% of all the romance books ever printed.  I love it so much I paid Kenny $500 to restore this $2 book, because it doesn't exist in the condition it deserves.

When I look at this cover I am transported to a different realm.  My breathing slows down, and I feel a deep and quiet joy.  Two hearts beat as one.  All is well.

This is very cool, Dr. Love!  It reminded me of one of my favorite pieces of original art, lucky to grab it when I did.

[KirbyJack]

21 hours ago, OtherEric said:

Here's a real "one and done" book I have, for Timely Heroes.  This is my only issue of Marvel Mystery; and the only GA appearance I have of the Human Torch, Captain America, and the Blonde Phantom.  It also features the Sub-Mariner (I have one issue of that title) and Venus (I have about 4/5 of the Venus run, in very low grade). So the three major Timely heroes and two of the minor ones; it will do for me:

I’ll nominate a book for one and done Timely. All Winners #1 is the only comic that features Human Torch by Burgos, S&K Captain America, and Everett Sub-Mariner; all under a Schomburg cover.

 

Edited September 2, 2020 by KirbyJack

[KirbyJack]

9 hours ago, davidpg said:

There are SO many good Captain Marvel stories back in the 1940s.  This is one of the top books to have if you're a true fan, and it's a great read too.  I have a few more CM books though this is the only one I'd need to ever keep.  This one will be staying in my collection no matter what.

Back when I had a copy, it was my one and done Fawcett.

[KCOComics]

Excuse the poor photo. 

Blue Bolt 108 isn't as iconic as BB105, but whenever I look at, I think its a classic example of early 50s science fiction. 

[N e r V]

There are some great robot covers in comics and pulps but this is my done in one for robot covers. Apologies to all the rest of the great ones...

 

Only the robot in Startling Stories from the pulps is close to this one for me and I own most of the classic robot covers in both formats...

Very grateful I had the good  timing on a thread to have Gator offer me this double cover copy too back in 2015...

[Joshua33]

5 hours ago, piper said:

I agree, but isn't this Bronze? (I just finished my 1-20 run and will be posting in the Magazine Forum)

Yes it is bronze... the title of the thread read 'show us your one and done that encapsulates a genre'. Didn't see Gold and Silver in the title?

[Joshua33]

3 hours ago, Randall Dowling said:

Here's mine.  A Gerber Photo-Journal cover book and, to my mind, the best example of the master's work.

this cover is fire, bimho, it ain't BB105 or Suspense 8... that Suspense 8?!?! Too good...

[Joshua33]

4 hours ago, Robot Man said:

This one ticks off a lot of boxes for me...

As a Schomburg lover, I've never quite understood the appeal of this book. Has the market spoken? Yes. Human Torch 23? Check. But I don't get the collector appeal... Brick Bradford 6 isn't an airbrush, or early, but its a waaaaay more menacing, well drawn robot... for me, Fantastic 3 will ALWAYS be the robot cover to aspire to, but I've never understood the 49 appeal. School me. Please.

[OtherEric]

41 minutes ago, Joshua33 said:

As a Schomburg lover, I've never quite understood the appeal of this book. Has the market spoken? Yes. Human Torch 23? Check. But I don't get the collector appeal... Brick Bradford 6 isn't an airbrush, or early, but its a waaaaay more menacing, well drawn robot... for me, Fantastic 3 will ALWAYS be the robot cover to aspire to, but I've never understood the 49 appeal. School me. Please.

I can only speak for myself, but I think it's just a rather archetypal robot cover.  It may not do any particular part of the robot/ damsel in distress/ 50's SF better than any other cover, but it puts them together in a way that makes this look what people think 50's SF looks like even if they haven't seen this particular cover.  Then you have the attention the cover got because it looks like Bender from Futurama; however accurate the connection may be it definitely got a lot of eyes on the book.  There's a bit of a snowball effect where some covers just grow and grow in demand because people see other people want them and decide they want a copy as well.

[N e r V]

So besides robots another genre for me is shark covers of which there are many great ones. Captain America #26 is classic and there’s some good Disney ones too. But the poster quality of LB Cole works so well for me here and his shark is just so damn big it’s gonna chomp  that girl without chewing once. So ask me what my favorite LB Cole covers are and expect my copies of  Blue Bolt #105 and Suspense comics #8 will 1st and 2nd but this is probably my 3rd favorite of his and my zenith as a done in one shark cover...

 

[piper]

8 hours ago, N e r V said:

There are some great robot covers in comics and pulps but this is my done in one for robot covers. Apologies to all the rest of the great ones...

 

Only the robot in Startling Stories from the pulps is close to this one for me and I own most of the classic robot covers in both formats...

Very grateful I had the good  timing on a thread to have Gator offer me this double cover copy too back in 2015...

Great book! My Robot book was Brick Bradford 6. It is now sadly in the next Heritage Auction.

[piper]

7 hours ago, Joshua33 said:

Yes it is bronze... the title of the thread read 'show us your one and done that encapsulates a genre'. Didn't see Gold and Silver in the title?

Just teasing.

[KirbyJack]

7 hours ago, Joshua33 said:

As a Schomburg lover, I've never quite understood the appeal of this book. Has the market spoken? Yes. Human Torch 23? Check. But I don't get the collector appeal... Brick Bradford 6 isn't an airbrush, or early, but its a waaaaay more menacing, well drawn robot... for me, Fantastic 3 will ALWAYS be the robot cover to aspire to, but I've never understood the 49 appeal. School me. Please.

Aside from the excellent points made by OtherEric, Startling 49 is a magnificent example of the airbrush technique. The nuanced contours on the robot stood out to me from the first instant I saw this cover. It may be the finest airbrush work done in GA comics.

My opinion only, of course.

[path4play]

One and done.

[Robot Man]

9 hours ago, Joshua33 said:

As a Schomburg lover, I've never quite understood the appeal of this book. Has the market spoken? Yes. Human Torch 23? Check. But I don't get the collector appeal... Brick Bradford 6 isn't an airbrush, or early, but its a waaaaay more menacing, well drawn robot... for me, Fantastic 3 will ALWAYS be the robot cover to aspire to, but I've never understood the 49 appeal. School me. Please.

Ok, it’s got a robot. A non menacing, non violent blank stare mechanical man. It’s got a beautiful babe. Red dress in bondage looking scared being carried away like Fay Ray in King Kong. Is the robot lonely? Was he told to do it? Robots have no emotions, or do they?

The cover has great colors and is simple  and uncluttered. With that beautiful soft airbrush look. And there is the guy with his ray gun attempting to rescue her. 

This sums up the “Atomic Age” better than any other book I can think of. 

[Robot Man]

7 hours ago, N e r V said:

So besides robots another genre for me is shark covers of which there are many great ones. Captain America #26 is classic and there’s some good Disney ones too. But the poster quality of LB Cole works so well for me here and his shark is just so damn big it’s gonna chomp  that girl without chewing once. So ask me what my favorite LB Cole covers are and expect my copies of  Blue Bolt #105 and Suspense comics #8 will 1st and 2nd but this is probably my 3rd favorite of his and my zenith as a done in one shark cover...

 

I also love that one. It took me a while to find the right copy for the right price but I finally landed it about a year ago. The big shark (or maybe a whale) and the beautiful blue/green background is what attracted me to it. 

I too, “accumulate” shark covers and have a lot of them. All this being said, it is by far not my favorite of this genre. 

The shark is way too big and shown at an awkward angle. Also, his teeth are way to perfect and even. His mouth wouldn’t be open that wide until he was ready to bite her. It just seems too cartoony and exaggerated to me. Cole really didn’t do sharks well. I have another Cole crime book with a shark cover and it looks like it has a hair lip. 

As I said, I really like it but there are so many others with scary, realistic shark covers out there. 

[Tri-Color Brian]

On 8/31/2020 at 5:29 PM, Ricksneatstuff said:

If push came to show of this would be my one and done in the run.

 

Gosh, I hate to do it, but I have to agree with Rick on this one.  I only own 3 Planets (I know...that's lame), but I think this is the absolute best cover.  If I had to stop looking for Planets today I would be happy to own my low grade copy of #65...