Flash collectors thread 25 25

[Jaylam]

I know this is kind of going on a tangent, but since we are talking about the Flash's creators, I came across this interesting little tidbit about Carmine Infantino's creation of the Black Carnary back in Flash #86 in 1947.

Excerpts from Wikipedia about the creation of the character attributed to Carmine Infantino:

I was drawing Johnny Thunder, which was not much of a character. I suppose he could have been better because his 'Thunderbolt' was interesting, but the situations they were in were pretty juvenile. Bob Kanigher wrote those stories, and he had no respect for the characters. These stories were nowhere near as good as 'The Flash' stories. DC knew it—they knew 'Johnny Thunder' was a loser, so Kanigher and I brought the Black Canary into the series. Immediately she got a good response, and it was, 'Bye, bye, Johnny Thunder.' Nobody missed him. 

When Kanigher gave me the --script, I said, 'How do you want me to draw her?' He said, 'What's your fantasy of a good-looking girl? That's what I want.' Isn't that a great line? So that's what I did. I made her strong in character and sexy in form. The funny part is that years later, while in Korea on a National Cartoonists trip, I met a dancer who was the exact image of the Black Canary. And I went out with her for three years.

Bob didn't ask me for a character sketch [for the Black Canary]. He had a lot of respect for me, I must say that. He always trusted my work... Bob loved my Black Canary design.

Panel from Flash #86 of Black Canary's first appearance. Quite an entrance for Carmine's fantasy girl. Yowza!

^]

Edited March 10, 2022 by Jaylam

[Terry E. Gibbs]

On 3/10/2022 at 3:00 AM, Jaylam said:

I was drawing Johnny Thunder, which was not much of a character. I suppose he could have been better because his 'Thunderbolt' was interesting, but the situations they were in were pretty juvenile. Bob Kanigher wrote those stories, and he had no respect for the characters. These stories were nowhere near as good as 'The Flash' stories. DC knew it—they knew 'Johnny Thunder' was a loser, so Kanigher and I brought the Black Canary into the series. Immediately she got a good response, and it was, 'Bye, bye, Johnny Thunder.' Nobody missed him. 

 

 

^]

I know he wrote the first  Flash story but when I hear marvel fans bag DC's silver age work, I know which books they are talking about and basically everyone of Kanigher's (except his war books)  make the list. Another Kanigher character saved by Cinf.

and as she appeared in Flash comics, had a cameo in 129 (did she appear in 137 ??) she is perfectly welcome here

 

[Terry E. Gibbs]

And we are a small but hardy bunch, that refuse to let this thread die.

Now I know Ray Palmer was editor of Amazing stories, but had never heard of the Sci-Fi writer Wally West. Unfortunately now Julie can't confirm, but the other author noted on the cover was Leigh Beckett another of Julie's sci-fi writers he had been an agent of. (She also co-wrote, along  with Lucas "the Empire Strikes back" and was married to that truly great Super man writer of the late 50s early 60s Ed Hamilton.

I somehow can't believe that there was no link.

 

This is dated June, 1950

 

 

[Terry E. Gibbs]

On 3/11/2022 at 5:21 PM, Terry E. Gibbs said:

And we are a small but hardy bunch, that refuse to let this thread die.

Now I know Ray Palmer was editor of Amazing stories, but had never heard of the Sci-Fi writer Wally West. Unfortunately now Julie can't confirm, but the other author noted on the cover was Leigh Beckett another of Julie's sci-fi writers he had been an agent of. (She also co-wrote, along  with Lucas "the Empire Strikes back" and was married to that truly great Super man writer of the late 50s early 60s Ed Hamilton.

I somehow can't believe that there was no link.

 

This is dated June, 1950

 

 

Photo did not attach. Found this one and the Bio (and this time Roy Thomas can find out about it right here )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallace_West

Edited March 11, 2022 by Terry E. Gibbs

[flashlites]

I love all the back stories and interconnections. How some of them like Broome and Infantino met in the 40's and how well Julie put all the elements together in the late 50's, created a new comic iconic superhero and thus saved the whole comic industry. Don't let anyone ever tell you how Stan Lee saved comics---it was the Flash and his creators that saved the comic world. It was Julie and John Broome's love for SciFi and Carmine's brilliant artwork that sparked the Silver Age and the resurgence of the Superhero. They took a chance and the readers loved it. Over at Marvel they were just following trends. Stan was fed up and had decided to quit when his publisher Martin told him to try and come up with a Superhero book like National's (DC). Again, as always following the trend Stan did as he was asked but took a different approach just for fun as he was going to quit anyway. But hey Superheroes were catching on again, DC had paved the way with Flash, Green Lantern and the Justice League. 3 titles going strong already and growing when FF#1 came out.

[frozentundraguy]

On 3/11/2022 at 12:21 AM, Terry E. Gibbs said:

And we are a small but hardy bunch, that refuse to let this thread die.

Now I know Ray Palmer was editor of Amazing stories, but had never heard of the Sci-Fi writer Wally West. Unfortunately now Julie can't confirm, but the other author noted on the cover was Leigh Beckett another of Julie's sci-fi writers he had been an agent of. (She also co-wrote, along  with Lucas "the Empire Strikes back" and was married to that truly great Super man writer of the late 50s early 60s Ed Hamilton.

I somehow can't believe that there was no link.

 

This is dated June, 1950

 

 

Did you mean Leigh Brackett?  She wrote some incredible sci-fi stories including the iconic "The Sword of Rhiannon".

Spoiler

 

[Terry E. Gibbs]

On 3/13/2022 at 12:54 AM, frozentundraguy said:

Did you mean Leigh Brackett?  She wrote some incredible sci-fi stories including the iconic "The Sword of Rhiannon".

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Yes I did. (sigh ..  should not spell from memory )

Thank you,

 

[flashlites]

How we doing Flash Fans? I've decided to sell my Flash 117 CGC 3.5. I want to get a raw copy for my raw collection. Is that wrong? Its the only silver age Flash in a CGC case in my complete run at the moment.

[innocuous]

On 3/15/2022 at 5:56 PM, flashlites said:

How we doing Flash Fans? I've decided to sell my Flash 117 CGC 3.5. I want to get a raw copy for my raw collection. Is that wrong? Its the only silver age Flash in a CGC case in my complete run at the moment.

Why sell instead of just crack it out?

[Terry E. Gibbs]

For a 3.5 probably get a raw for around 2/3rds the price of the CGC if I am not mistaken.

[silverseeker]

On 3/15/2022 at 9:29 PM, innocuous said:

Why sell instead of just crack it out?

I was initially thinking this exact same thing, but you could probably purchase a higher-grade raw copy for what you'd make by selling a slabbed 3.5 copy, giving you more bang for the buck?

[flashlites]

On 3/16/2022 at 1:44 PM, silverseeker said:

I was initially thinking this exact same thing, but you could probably purchase a higher-grade raw copy for what you'd make by selling a slabbed 3.5 copy, giving you more bang for the buck?

Yes, that's what I am thinking here. The value on this book has gone up in the last year and I got a really good deal on it to begin with. So I'm thinking I could get a higher grade raw copy that will fit neatly in the box with all his brothers. 

Edited March 17, 2022 by flashlites

[Dave2739]

On 3/15/2022 at 8:56 PM, flashlites said:

How we doing Flash Fans? I've decided to sell my Flash 117 CGC 3.5. I want to get a raw copy for my raw collection. Is that wrong? Its the only silver age Flash in a CGC case in my complete run at the moment.

Get the raw and keep the CGC3.5. Problem solved! 

[innocuous]

On 3/16/2022 at 11:44 AM, silverseeker said:

I was initially thinking this exact same thing, but you could probably purchase a higher-grade raw copy for what you'd make by selling a slabbed 3.5 copy, giving you more bang for the buck?

It’s possible. But this isn’t a real high value book. So, expenses *might* chew up the difference. Depending on how you sell it, listing fees, commissions, shipping, PayPal fees, etc. then, to buy raw,, there are similar expenses. 

I like the idea of buying raw and keeping both. 

[Terry E. Gibbs]

Seems appropriate moment to share. Broome loved those giant Boomerangs (and so do I)

[Terry E. Gibbs]

Does anyone know why Flash 123 basically sold out on ebay last couple weeks. (says the guy living in a vacuum called Australia)

[flashlites]

On 3/16/2022 at 10:15 PM, Terry E. Gibbs said:

Does anyone know why Flash 123 basically sold out on ebay last couple weeks. (says the guy living in a vacuum called Australia)

Well it is one of the most coveted investor/speculator Flash comics of the entire run. The Flash movie just got bumped back to 2023 I heard last week. Maybe these investors are thinking buy now when the price is still relatively low, sell high next year? That's my best guess Terry.

[Terry E. Gibbs]

On 3/19/2022 at 1:58 PM, flashlites said:

Well it is one of the most coveted investor/speculator Flash comics of the entire run. The Flash movie just got bumped back to 2023 I heard last week. Maybe these investors are thinking buy now when the price is still relatively low, sell high next year? That's my best guess Terry.

Hmmmm 2023 - 123 .. has to be something there (says Terry the conspiracy specialist) 

[comicjack]

On 3/18/2022 at 10:58 PM, flashlites said:

Well it is one of the most coveted investor/speculator Flash comics of the entire run. The Flash movie just got bumped back to 2023 I heard last week. Maybe these investors are thinking buy now when the price is still relatively low, sell high next year? That's my best guess Terry.

DC books are so undervalued as Marvel goes the time is coming for them to shine maybe 

[Jaylam]

Flash #123 began the concept of the multi-verse and was DC's answer to what to with and create a place for the new Silver Age heroes they had just created and the older heroes of the Golden Age. It actually was a stroke of genius at the time, but over time, they expanded on it ad nauseum. Unfortunately, because of the rising popularity of Marvel's characters set in their single unified shared universe in our time and place, DC began to see their multi-verse creation as a liability. Personally I never had a problem with it and it created some interesting stories that weren't possible in Marvel's Universe at the time and I think DC made a mistake to try and clean it up with the Crisis story line back in the mid 80's. Sadly, DC had reached that unenviable point in their evolution that in order to try and stay relevant and competitive with Marvel, they had to do something radical and decided the multi-verse had to go. What I think is interesting and somewhat ironic is how Marvel has now adapted the concept and have it playing out in their current movies and storylines with much success. The importance of Flash #123 to all of this cannot be overstated. Here's a link to an article about it I found interesting...THE FLASH #123: An INSIDE LOOK at One of the Most Important Comics Ever | 13th Dimension, Comics, Creators, Culture

Edited March 21, 2022 by Jaylam