The Thrifty Grocer Collection 1 1

[Forbush-Man]

On 10/12/2022 at 8:52 AM, Frisco Larson said:

Well .... 

You've really got an amazing collection there, the page quality & colors are off the chart.  I'm currently chasing Silver Age coverless books for a book binding project, and I'd be thrilled to death if they were this nice.  Just amazing preservation.  Great score! 

[LowGradeBronze]

Seeing Everett's Subby as crisp and bright as that gives me goosebumps! What a glorious stash of books! 

[Frisco Larson]

On 10/12/2022 at 11:09 AM, Forbush-Man said:

You've really got an amazing collection there, the page quality & colors are off the chart.  I'm currently chasing Silver Age coverless books for a book binding project, and I'd be thrilled to death if they were this nice.  Just amazing preservation.  Great score! 

Thanks so much! I figured that I was kind of 'on an island' as far as appreciating these just as they are, but I gotta tell ya, I've been pleasantly surprised by how many collectors have come on here and really said some complimentary things about these books! They're getting the due they deserve and it makes me so happy to see!!! 

[Frisco Larson]

On 10/12/2022 at 11:22 AM, LowGradeBronze said:

Seeing Everett's Subby as crisp and bright as that gives me goosebumps! What a glorious stash of books! 

Aww, thanks so much for saying that! It's funny that you mention the Everett Subby, because that is one of the main reasons I flipped when I saw them too!!! I hadn't seen hardly ANY of his Atlas Subby work and was blown away at how strong his art was!!! Everett STILL doesn't get the credit he deserves in my opinion!!! Killer Subby art from the 30s (barely, but it counts), 40s, 50s, 60, AND the 70s!!! 

[Forbush-Man]

On 10/12/2022 at 12:09 PM, Frisco Larson said:

Thanks so much! I figured that I was kind of 'on an island' as far as appreciating these just as they are, but I gotta tell ya, I've been pleasantly surprised by how many collectors have come on here and really said some complimentary things about these books! They're getting the due they deserve and it makes me so happy to see!!! 

You deserve the praise, the books are beautiful with their white pages and freshly printed inks......The Thrifty Grocer collection almost doesn't do it justice.......how about naming it the "Ed Church Jr." Collection.  

[Frisco Larson]

On 10/12/2022 at 4:20 PM, Forbush-Man said:

You deserve the praise, the books are beautiful with their white pages and freshly printed inks......The Thrifty Grocer collection almost doesn't do it justice.......how about naming it the "Ed Church Jr." Collection.  

Well, thank you for that, but it needs to be the Thrifty Grocer Collection in honor of the father/son duo who are responsible for them existing in the first place. It'll be interesting to see if this yields any other books that appear to be from this horde. 

[Forbush-Man]

On 10/12/2022 at 4:58 PM, Frisco Larson said:

Well, thank you for that, but it needs to be the Thrifty Grocer Collection in honor of the father/son duo who are responsible for them existing in the first place. It'll be interesting to see if this yields any other books that appear to be from this horde. 

Do you have others?  If you do, please keep posting them. 

[Frisco Larson]

On 10/12/2022 at 7:19 PM, Forbush-Man said:

Do you have others?  If you do, please keep posting them. 

I DO have others and plan to post more as I get pics of them. The first 2 I took pics of were in artificial light and they don't accurately show how nice the pages are, so I'm just waiting until some decent sunlight to take some more. 

[Frisco Larson]

Had some decent sunlight and an opportunity to snap some pics of a couple of other copies from the collection today. An extra Subby page thrown in for the Everett fans!

Men's Adventures #28

[Frisco Larson]

This issue has something special going on in the Captain America story! Of all of the Atlas Superhero revival comics, it's the only story I recall where other heroes cross over into another heroes story!!! Yes, that's right, both the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner not only appear in the Captain America story, they have a brief interaction with each other!!! I've always found it to be VERY cool and have included a pic of it here, so you can see if you agree. Oh and if that's not enough, the Human Torch gets a Supervillain (The Vulture) to battle in his story!! This is an underrated issue gang!!! Oh yeah, and another extra Subby page again, to start the weekend off right!!!  

Young Men #26

[Frisco Larson]

This issue has an example of how not every artist draws a character in a way you enjoy. Much the same way Kirby seldom drew Spider-Man to my liking (AF 15 cover is the only time that comes to mind that I actually like), Bob Powell's rendition of Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner isn't pleasing to my eye. It's almost as though he'd never seen the character and was working from notes. Judge for yourself. My phone didn't even want to get a decent pic of the story page!  SUCH a difference between his version and Bill Everett's! 

Human Torch #36

Edited October 17, 2022 by Frisco Larson

[Frisco Larson]

This issue is loaded with fantastic Everett art! Lots of Namora in these stories! A full page ad for next issue was a pleasant surprise, although I wish it'd have been Everett who drew it.

Sub-Mariner #34

[Forbush-Man]

Those all look great.  The Everett Subby's just plain can not be beat from this period, probably his finest work.  It's also fun to see the early John Romita work too. 

It's funny to me how long it took some publishers to come around to the idea of Super-Villains.  WWII was mostly Germans & Japanese, post WWII were organized crime or just plain crooks, 50's were Commies. Some of the early one's on this list below were not "super-Villains" , but it looks like the concept really took until the 1960's to take off.  Link:  Super-Villains by Appearance Dates

Edited October 18, 2022 by Forbush-Man

[Frisco Larson]

On 10/18/2022 at 10:06 AM, Forbush-Man said:

Those all look great.  The Everett Subby's just plain can not be beat from this period, probably his finest work.  It's also fun to see the early John Romita work too. 

It's funny to me how long it took most publishers to come around to the idea of Super-Villains.  WWII was Germans & Japanese, post WWII were organized crime or just plain crooks, 50's were Commies.  I'm sure there were more than just Captain Nazi in Fawcett publications, but I can't think of any others who stood out.  Red Skull originally was just a specially trained soldier with a skull mask when he was created.  We need a list of the earliest super-villains in order of appearance. 

Thanks! Yeah, the Everett Subby is my absolute favorite superhero work of the fifties! Everett Subby from ANY period is a treat to see!!! Timely started to come out with more customed villains toward the end of the forties, but it was too late to save the superhero comics. Asbestos Lady was a Human Torch villain, Subby had the Shark and Firebrand (not sure how SUPER they were) as villains and Captain America battled the Black Talon in Cap #9 before the villain would take on the Young Allies shortly afterward (with a minor Cap appearance). So, there were SOME costumed villains, just not enough to establish supervillains as a big concept at Timely or in much of the industry for that matter.

[Moondog]

On 10/9/2022 at 11:32 AM, Frisco Larson said:

WOW!!! I had never seen the boxes designed for selling the coverless or topless books before!!! It's incredible that they survived!!! You've got quite an impressive batch of high-grade coverless books yourself!!! Thanks for the props on the Atlas copies I grabbed. I used to call them the "White page coverless books" but felt they deserved a proper name, which actually came pretty organically one day. Looking thru them as I take pics for this thread has been a treat, as it's been a little while since I've thumbed them up. Thanks for sharing your books and those boxes!!! Great, great stuff you've got there!!! 

Here are mine.  The sign came with the comics in the box.

[thehumantorch]

On 10/18/2022 at 8:03 PM, Moondog said:

Here are mine.  The sign came with the comics in the box.

Very cool and in super shape

[Frisco Larson]

On 10/18/2022 at 9:03 PM, Moondog said:

Here are mine.  The sign came with the comics in the box.

Very nice Gary!

[Frisco Larson]

Struggling with the light today. In the anthology titles where we get one story each of Torch, Subby and Cap, those stories are longer than the character title where they shoehorn 4 stories into an issue, usually a pair of 6 pagers and a pair of 5 pagers. 

Young Men #28 

[Frisco Larson]

Human Torch #38 the last issue. 

[Frisco Larson]

Captain America #76, Cap comes back!!! Unfortunately, it wouldn't last very long.