What Classic Comics Have You Purchased Lately?

[Mr. Palmer]

Swamp Thing #65 - #87

[benday-dot]

Received -- finally! -- Fantagraphics' Blazing Combat collection via Amazon. Looks great, of course, though I was a bit surprised to see that Frazetta's incredible covers are fully reproduced only as ... well, not thumbnails, but not a whole lot bigger than that, in the interview section at the end. (A couple are partially reproduced in full cover on the flyleaves & endpapers.) Hardly a deal-breaker, but I was still taken aback a bit.


Agree completely Dan. Not a deal breaker, and yes it really does look fantastic. But, who, oh why... did they rip the covers out of context and do that diminished back of the book medley sort of thing. I'd have expected better from Fantagraphics. But overall Blazing Combat is well worth the wait.

[Superheroic]

Picked up a ten issue run of Conan the Barbarian from ebay, #93 - #103. I saw some scans of some gorgeous John Buscema artwork from those issues and had to have them. I've read surprisingly few Conan comics.

[pmpknface]

Not sure how classic it is... but I just caved and ordered the GREEN LANTERN: REBIRTH HC. I'm not a huge DC guy, but GL's always interested me. I got to go to DC once and got the No Fear HC for nothing and liked it, but never folloede through with the series. If I like Reborn, I may get the rest of the HC's that lead into Blackest Night and read it from there.

[adam_warlock_2099]

That whole run in F-NM condtions are very expensive. i wasnt passing up the deal i got. Another dealer wanted $250 for a VF/NM copy but thats way outta my range.

No kidding! Thankfully #1-14 were reprinted in Fantasy Masterpiece. I only have #15-18 of the original issues, but I, one day plan to get the original issues in at least FN condition. But for now, I can read the reprints when I want to read the series.

[dan bailey]

Agree completely Dan. Not a deal breaker, and yes it really does look fantastic. But, who, oh why... did they rip the covers out of context and do that diminished back of the book medley sort of thing. I'd have expected better from Fantagraphics. But overall Blazing Combat is well worth the wait.

Especially since they saw fit to raise the price $5 (may've been more ... my copy's at home, of course) by the time they finally got around to actually distributing the book, as the sticker over the UPC code in back makes perfectly clear. (The price I paid Amazon was obviously based on the earlier, lower amount, at least.)

[pmpknface]

I have the SS Masterworks (Signed by Stan) that has the first 5 issues, since they were oversized. But I have a sweet copy of #14 for my Spidey collection and the Essential volume too. 1st printings of that series aren't THAT high on my want list, but it'd be cool.

[Polar Bear]

I managed to snag a fairly complete run of Micronauts for a dollar an issue. I'm building my FF run slowly, as I have to fill in my Incredible Hulk gaps first.

Getting closer to deciding DC will never, ever reprint Rex the Wonder Dog, and I'll just have to go for the back issues. Darn it.

[Beria]

Today I picked up Essential Captain America vol 4. It's mainly by Steve Englehart, whose work on Avengers I've previously enjoyed. Now let's see what his take on Cap is like.

[pmpknface]

Just picked up:

- VF copy of Marvel Feature #1 (1st Defenders)
- FN copy of Fantastic Four #100
- Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #'s 2, 4, & Special #1

[Superheroic]

Just picked up Conan the Barbarian #100 - 175!

[Rob Allen]

This past Sunday I went to the inaugural Northwest Comic Con here in Portland. It wasn't much to speak of - just a room at a hotel near the airport with less than a dozen dealers present. But the room was busy, and there were bargains to be had!

I bought 26 comics, for an average price of about $2.75 each. The most I paid for any one comic was $10; at least half my purchases were $1 each. Here's the list.

First, the Silver Age Marvels:

Thor #132 9/66 Lee/Kirby/Colletta - ends with a full-page photo collage revealing the face of Ego, the Living Planet for the first time. Also has Tales of Asgard and a fan letter from Dave Cockrum.

Thor #139 4/67 Lee/Kirby/Colletta - the defeat of Ulik, and Tales of Asgard. I already had the issues between these two, and a couple before and after.

Thor #144 9/67 Lee/Kirby/Colletta - the Enchanters, and Tales of Asgard. Still need #143, 145 & 146.

Thor #150 3/68 Lee/Kirby/Colletta - Loki & Karnilla & more; the backup this time is the Inhumans, featuring Triton, by Lee/Kirby/Sinnott.

Thor #151 4/68 Lee/Kirby/Colletta - cont'd from last issue; the main story drops from 16 to 15 pages. Another Triton backup by Lee/Kirby/Sinnott.

Thor #162 3/69 Lee/Kirby/Colletta - no more backups, just a 20-page story in which Thor learns the history of Galactus. Features an incredible 2-page photo-collage spread and several full-page panels.

Strange Tales #117 2/64 - 14 pages of the Torch vs. the Eel by Lee/Ayers, and 8 pages of Dr. Strange vs. Baron Mordo by Lee/Ditko. This is the first issue to mention Dr. Strange on the cover. An oddity: there's a 2-page text story instead of a letters page. This must be one of the last text stories in a Marvel comic. Cover mostly by Kirby/Roussos, with the Eel figure by Ditko.

Strange Tales #124 9/64 - 14 pages of the Torch and the Thing vs. Paste-Pot Pete by Lee/Ayers/Reinman (this is the issue where the Thing joins the Torch's strip full-time) and 9 pages of Dr. Strange rescuing Cleopatra(!) by Lee/Ditko/Roussos. Neither artist benefits by the new inkers. Again, no letters page - just house ads. Dr. Strange is on the cover, but the art is taken from two interior panels. The main section of the cover is by Ayers.

Strange Tales #133 6/65 - 12 pages of the Torch & the Thing vs. the Puppet Master by Lee/Powell/Esposito, and 10 pages of Dr. Strange in the realm of Shazana by Lee/Ditko. Some really trippy artwork by Ditko, and finally a letters page! Cover by Kirby/Esposito.

Avengers #24 1/66 - Cap's Kooky Quartet vs. Kang by Lee/Heck/Ayers; cover by Kirby/Ayers.

Avengers #32 9/66 - the Quartet plus Hank & Jan vs. the Sons of the Serpent by Lee/Heck; cover also by Heck.

Fantastic Four #58 1/67 - FF vs. Dr. Doom by Lee/Kirby/Sinnott; cover also Kirby/Sinnott. Letters page has a fan letter from Cary Burkett.

Captain America #111 3/67 - Cap vs. Hydra by Lee/Steranko/Sinnott and an iconic Steranko cover. Story includes a 2-page spread and 2 Dali-esque surreal full-page spreads.

Marvel Tales #17 11/68 - reprints Spider-Man #22 by Lee/Ditko, the Torch story from Strange Tales #114 by Lee/Kirby/Ayers, where Johnny meets a faux Captain America, and the Thor story from Journey into Mystery #104 by Lee/Kirby/Stone. Cover from Spidey #22.

Marvel Tales #23 11/69 - reprints Spider-Man #30 by Lee/Ditko, Thor from JIM #110 by Lee/Kirby/Stone, and the Torch from Strange Tales #121 by Lee/Ayers. Cover from the splash page of Spidey #30.

Next, the Bronze Age Marvels:

Defenders #64 10/78 by Kraft/Sal Buscema/Perlin; cover by Perez/Giacoia.

Defenders #68 2/79 by Kraft & Hannigan/Trimpe/Marcos; cover by Trimpe.

Fantastic Four #197 8/78 by Wolfman/Pollard/Sinnott; cover by Perez/Sinnott.

Machine Man #16 8/80 by DeFalco/Ditko; cover by Ditko.

And the oddballs:

Hercules #12 7/69 Charlton - main story by Gill/Glanzman; Thane of Bagarth backup by Skeates/Kim. Cover by Glanzman. Some wild lettering effects in the story, presumably by Glanzman.

Ghostly Haunts #40 - the Modern Comics reprint. A classic example of the Wildman/Cuti era Charlton "ghost" comics. A Tom Sutton cover (signed 'Grisly'; an homage to Graham "Ghastly" Ingels) and stories by Sutton, Steve Ditko and Wayne Howard, plus two Baron Wierwulf pages by Don Newton.

Captain Canuck #10 and #11, from the usual team of Comely, Freeman & St. Aubin. I know someome who's related to Jean-Claude St. Aubin.

An odd Plastic Man reprint book - all Jack Cole, color cover with four stories in black & white, but not plain line art - it has grey tones, like the original color comic was xeroxed or something.

Women Outlaws #5 3/49 Fox - this was my $10 purchase. My wife is interested in feminist history; I wonder what she'll think of this. I think the cover might be by Matt Baker.

And my only DC purchase, Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion #5 6/72 - from the "52 big pages - don't take less! Only 25¢" era, this features a Nick Cardy cover and a 36-page (!) Gothic romance epic written by Jack Oleck with full art by Don Heck. It seems likely that this story was prepared when this comic was still titled "Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love"; part of the Gothic romance boomlet of the time.

[The Confessor]

Wow, Rob...good haul. I'm especially envious of the three Strange Tales comics that you picked up. An average price of $2.75 is pretty neat considering how many important Silver and Bronze Age titles you managed to bag. What kind of condition were the comics in?

You guys out there in the States don't know how lucky you are. You'd never go to a comic convention here in the UK and pick up such cool Silver and Bronze Age Marvel's for that kind of price. We really seem to get stung on the prices of old Marvels and DCs over here. So much so, that it's actually cheaper for me to do my back issue shopping online, buying from U.S. sellers, rather than buying them in the UK. Even with the shipping on top!

[Roquefort Raider]

Just picked up Conan the Barbarian #100 - 175!

Oops...

Please do not judge the entire series by the dismal run that follows the Thomas issues (100-115).

Apart from the occasional good story and some nice art from time to time, that period is one of the low points of the title. It drops all pretense of continuing or building on Robert E. Howard's writings (or Roy Thomas' for that matter) and just tells generic sword and sorcery stories. Flying castles, teleportation, winged horses, magic swords, ninjas, fubar geography... I even dropped the title for a while back then, and I was already a fanatic hyboriophile.

But things really improve with issue 173 and the arrival of writer Jim Owsley. His run (172-213) was a renaissance for the title.

[MDG]

An odd Plastic Man reprint book - all Jack Cole, color cover with four stories in black & white, but not plain line art - it has grey tones, like the original color comic was xeroxed or something.
Any idea when this was published? In the 70s, Alan Light did a series of repeints where he essentially copied Golden Age comics cover to cover in B&W with color covers. Might've been called "Flashback series"?

(I have no idea how he got away with this since a lot were DCs and Quality books that DC owned the rights to.)

[pmpknface]

Speaking of Jack Cole, if you dig his stuff, check this blog:

http://colescomics.blogspot.com/

[Rob Allen]

What kind of condition were the comics in?

They're all complete, but rather beat-up for the most part. Chipping, some minor tears and spine roll are common. The Captain America has a small chunk missing that looks like fire damage; luckily it only affects part of the white space on the cover!

And you ought to think about a holiday in the States someday!

Any idea when this [Plastic Man book] was published? In the 70s, Alan Light did a series of repeints where he essentially copied Golden Age comics cover to cover in B&W with color covers. Might've been called "Flashback series"?

(I have no idea how he got away with this since a lot were DCs and Quality books that DC owned the rights to.)

Hmm... that could be it. My book doesn't have the word "Flashback" on it, or a date - except for a "Copyright 1944" notice on the inside front cover. The only indication that it's a reprint is an ad on the inside back cover - the heading says "Comic Reprints", and it shows an array of DC, Fawcett and Quality comics that were available. I can get the address from the ad; maybe someone can match it with a known address for Alan Light.

[The Confessor]

And you ought to think about a holiday in the States someday!


Man, tell me about it. There's nowhere I'd rather visit than the States. One of these days...

[berk]

This past Sunday I went to the inaugural Northwest Comic Con here in Portland. It wasn't much to speak of - just a room at a hotel near the airport with less than a dozen dealers present. But the room was busy, and there were bargains to be had!

I bought 26 comics, for an average price of about $2.75 each. The most I paid for any one comic was $10; at least half my purchases were $1 each. Here's the list.

First, the Silver Age Marvels:

Thor #132 9/66 Lee/Kirby/Colletta - ends with a full-page photo collage revealing the face of Ego, the Living Planet for the first time. Also has Tales of Asgard and a fan letter from Dave Cockrum.

Thor #139 4/67 Lee/Kirby/Colletta - the defeat of Ulik, and Tales of Asgard. I already had the issues between these two, and a couple before and after.

Thor #144 9/67 Lee/Kirby/Colletta - the Enchanters, and Tales of Asgard. Still need #143, 145 & 146.

Thor #150 3/68 Lee/Kirby/Colletta - Loki & Karnilla & more; the backup this time is the Inhumans, featuring Triton, by Lee/Kirby/Sinnott.

Thor #151 4/68 Lee/Kirby/Colletta - cont'd from last issue; the main story drops from 16 to 15 pages. Another Triton backup by Lee/Kirby/Sinnott.

Thor #162 3/69 Lee/Kirby/Colletta - no more backups, just a 20-page story in which Thor learns the history of Galactus. Features an incredible 2-page photo-collage spread and several full-page panels.

Strange Tales #117 2/64 - 14 pages of the Torch vs. the Eel by Lee/Ayers, and 8 pages of Dr. Strange vs. Baron Mordo by Lee/Ditko. This is the first issue to mention Dr. Strange on the cover. An oddity: there's a 2-page text story instead of a letters page. This must be one of the last text stories in a Marvel comic. Cover mostly by Kirby/Roussos, with the Eel figure by Ditko.

Strange Tales #124 9/64 - 14 pages of the Torch and the Thing vs. Paste-Pot Pete by Lee/Ayers/Reinman (this is the issue where the Thing joins the Torch's strip full-time) and 9 pages of Dr. Strange rescuing Cleopatra(!) by Lee/Ditko/Roussos. Neither artist benefits by the new inkers. Again, no letters page - just house ads. Dr. Strange is on the cover, but the art is taken from two interior panels. The main section of the cover is by Ayers.

Strange Tales #133 6/65 - 12 pages of the Torch & the Thing vs. the Puppet Master by Lee/Powell/Esposito, and 10 pages of Dr. Strange in the realm of Shazana by Lee/Ditko. Some really trippy artwork by Ditko, and finally a letters page! Cover by Kirby/Esposito.

Avengers #24 1/66 - Cap's Kooky Quartet vs. Kang by Lee/Heck/Ayers; cover by Kirby/Ayers.

Avengers #32 9/66 - the Quartet plus Hank & Jan vs. the Sons of the Serpent by Lee/Heck; cover also by Heck.

Fantastic Four #58 1/67 - FF vs. Dr. Doom by Lee/Kirby/Sinnott; cover also Kirby/Sinnott. Letters page has a fan letter from Cary Burkett.

Captain America #111 3/67 - Cap vs. Hydra by Lee/Steranko/Sinnott and an iconic Steranko cover. Story includes a 2-page spread and 2 Dali-esque surreal full-page spreads.

Marvel Tales #17 11/68 - reprints Spider-Man #22 by Lee/Ditko, the Torch story from Strange Tales #114 by Lee/Kirby/Ayers, where Johnny meets a faux Captain America, and the Thor story from Journey into Mystery #104 by Lee/Kirby/Stone. Cover from Spidey #22.

Marvel Tales #23 11/69 - reprints Spider-Man #30 by Lee/Ditko, Thor from JIM #110 by Lee/Kirby/Stone, and the Torch from Strange Tales #121 by Lee/Ayers. Cover from the splash page of Spidey #30.

Next, the Bronze Age Marvels:

Defenders #64 10/78 by Kraft/Sal Buscema/Perlin; cover by Perez/Giacoia.

Defenders #68 2/79 by Kraft & Hannigan/Trimpe/Marcos; cover by Trimpe.

Fantastic Four #197 8/78 by Wolfman/Pollard/Sinnott; cover by Perez/Sinnott.

Machine Man #16 8/80 by DeFalco/Ditko; cover by Ditko.

And the oddballs:

Hercules #12 7/69 Charlton - main story by Gill/Glanzman; Thane of Bagarth backup by Skeates/Kim. Cover by Glanzman. Some wild lettering effects in the story, presumably by Glanzman.

Ghostly Haunts #40 - the Modern Comics reprint. A classic example of the Wildman/Cuti era Charlton "ghost" comics. A Tom Sutton cover (signed 'Grisly'; an homage to Graham "Ghastly" Ingels) and stories by Sutton, Steve Ditko and Wayne Howard, plus two Baron Wierwulf pages by Don Newton.

Captain Canuck #10 and #11, from the usual team of Comely, Freeman & St. Aubin. I know someome who's related to Jean-Claude St. Aubin.

An odd Plastic Man reprint book - all Jack Cole, color cover with four stories in black & white, but not plain line art - it has grey tones, like the original color comic was xeroxed or something.

Women Outlaws #5 3/49 Fox - this was my $10 purchase. My wife is interested in feminist history; I wonder what she'll think of this. I think the cover might be by Matt Baker.

And my only DC purchase, Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion #5 6/72 - from the "52 big pages - don't take less! Only 25¢" era, this features a Nick Cardy cover and a 36-page (!) Gothic romance epic written by Jack Oleck with full art by Don Heck. It seems likely that this story was prepared when this comic was still titled "Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love"; part of the Gothic romance boomlet of the time.Wow. I've never been to a con before, but if this is typical of the kind of deals you can find at them I'm definitely going to have to check one out sometime. Maybe I'll try the one in Toronto later this summer.

[InfoBroker]

Hmm... that could be it. My book doesn't have the word "Flashback" on it, or a date - except for a "Copyright 1944" notice on the inside front cover. The only indication that it's a reprint is an ad on the inside back cover - the heading says "Comic Reprints", and it shows an array of DC, Fawcett and Quality comics that were available. I can get the address from the ad; maybe someone can match it with a known address for Alan Light.

Alan Light's Dynapubs operations were in East Moline, Illinois, one of the five cities that constitute the Quad-Cities. Flashback was indeed the name of the reprint fanzine that he did (all black and white scans of the color comical books), and he acquired the rights from DC to do the limited one time only reprints.

Besides the founding and publishing of Comic Buyer's Guide, and Flashback, and his fanzine All Dynamic, Dynapubs (aha now you know the source for the corporate name), also published for a few short months a tabloid sized weekly zine that reprinted comic strips old and current. He was following in the steps of the work that the Menomonee Falls Gazette had trail blazed a year so so earlier.

I believe he is currently living in Iowa City, and if you do a youtube search, there are/were some uploads that he did of himself being interviewed by local KWQC(formerly WOC) newscaster and personality Paula Sands circa the mid 80s or so.

He also did a set of B&W poster board prints of several classic comic book covers.

-jb the "I knew him when" ib -

[InfoBroker]

I'm betting this is the reprint (http://comics.org/series.lasso?seriesid=12559)Rob acquired.

-jb the ib -

[Rob Allen]

That's the one!

Good work, JB. I checked the GCD briefly but didn't find it.

The address in the ad inside is a post office box in Norman, Oklahoma. The name "Funnies Publishing Co." is given as the publisher by the GCD but that name does not appear in this comic. The ad shows issues of All-Star (DC), Hit (Quality) Wow (Fawcett), Blackhawk (Quality), 2 issues of Silver Streak (Gleason), Whiz (Fawcett), and Air Fighters (Hillman).

[pmpknface]

Wow. I've never been to a con before
Dude... DO IT! You just gotta. Even if you don't buy anything, at LEAST then you will have gone. Go and have FUN! :D

[benday-dot]

Like Confessor and Berk, I also have never been to a comic-con before. I'd love to check one out, but I fear the consequences... $$ :eek:

[MDG]

I'm glad my big con-going days were before prices went totally nuts, from like '85-'95 (first one was in '75--last I think in 2000 or '01)

Went to many in NYC, but best times were smaller shows like Ithacon and mid-ohio (before it became a major show). $200-250, would pay for the room (4 in a double), meals, gas and I could still come home with 3-4 sketches, 2-3 pages of art and a stack of books.

[pmpknface]

I'm glad my big con-going days were before prices went totally nuts, from like '85-'95 (first one was in '75--last I think in 2000 or '01)

Went to many in NYC, but best times were smaller shows like Ithacon and mid-ohio (before it became a major show). $200-250, would pay for the room (4 in a double), meals, gas and I could still come home with 3-4 sketches, 2-3 pages of art and a stack of books.
"Those were the days........'[/archie_bunker]

:)

I was a BIT past that, but I know what you mean. It was so much easier 10-15 years ago even.

[Reptisaurus!]

Good Thing: The Iowa City comic-con was today!

Bad Thing: The Iowa city comic-con is one room in the back of a hotel. You know how some comic-cons have, like, artists and stuff? Not here.

Good Thing: It DOES have dealers, and something like 70-80% of the stock being offered is fifty cents.

Here's the expensive things I got. Obviously 90% of my hauls were from the fifty cent bins:

Giant Size Spider-Man # 2: Two bucks.
Giants Size Spider-Man # 4: Eight (Owwtch) bucks.
Brave and the Bold # 72: Five bucks. (Although slight water damage.)
(These are two of the top ten "Kinda pricey" team-up books I needed, and can't find a re-print of. Still looking for B & B 55, 56, 65, 116, 117, DC Comics Presents 26, Deadpool Team-Up # 1 (I don't get that one either, and...) Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali. (THAT one's gonna hurt. I'm lookin' at 40 bucks online, rock bottom.)
Brave and the Bold # 87: Two bucks. (Score!)
Brave and the Bold # 96: Two Bucks. (Ditto)
Konga # 4 (barely together, cover detached): Five bucks.

Cool Fifty Centers:

The Bob Haney/Nick Cardy "Lost" Titans Annual
Three issues of SOLO, my favorite DC/Marvel comic of the 'aughts, (Richard Corben, Tim Sale, Teddy Kristiansen),

Also 13 Marvel Team-Ups, 8 Marvel Two-In-Ones, and 1 DC Comics Presents.

[The Confessor]

Giant Size Spider-Man # 2: Two bucks.
Giants Size Spider-Man # 4: Eight (Owwtch) bucks.


Ooh, nice...my two favourite issue of Giant-Size Spider-Man, featuring Shang-Chi and The Punisher respectively. There's some great Ross Andru art in both!

You might say "Owwtch" for 8 dollars but actually, I'd say that was a pretty good price (depending on condition). Those Giant-Size Spideys are getting really quite pricey these days, in my experience. I have all of them except for #1 (Spider-Man vs. Dracula) and unfortunately, that one seems to be the most expensive of the lot. :frown:

[adam_warlock_2099]

Just recently got a shipment in with . . .

Marvel Age #25
Marvel Two-In-One #61
Incredible Hulk Annual #6
Marvel Preview #14, 15
Marvel Comics Super Special #10
House of Mystrey #270
Giant Size Chillers Featuring Dracula #1
Omega The Unknown #5,6, 10
Eclipse Magazine #1

[berk]

Good Thing: The Iowa City comic-con was today!

Bad Thing: The Iowa city comic-con is one room in the back of a hotel. You know how some comic-cons have, like, artists and stuff? Not here.

Good Thing: It DOES have dealers, and something like 70-80% of the stock being offered is fifty cents. ...This is the kind of con I'd probably like, because I'm mostly attracted by the idea of back-issue hunting. I don't really understand what else goes on at these things. I don't think I really need to meet the creators or listen to editors announcing their latest event or whatever. I can read interviews and articles on-line if I'm ever curious about that kind of thing.

But maybe I'd feel differently if I was actually there. Maybe I'd get caught up in the whole con-atmosphere or something. I'll just have to find out for myself one of these days.

[Reptisaurus!]

Ooh, nice...my two favourite issue of Giant-Size Spider-Man, featuring Shang-Chi and The Punisher respectively. There's some great Ross Andru art in both!

You might say "Owwtch" for 8 dollars but actually, I'd say that was a pretty good price (depending on condition). Those Giant-Size Spideys are getting really quite pricey these days, in my experience. I have all of them except for #1 (Spider-Man vs. Dracula) and unfortunately, that one seems to be the most expensive of the lot. :frown:

Condition was beat to hell, of course. The Shang-Chi one was in REALLY bad shape, big 'ol cut down the front cover, missing half the back.

(Which, for two bucks, is fine by me.)

I'm really amazed how much better all the GS stories are than the stories from Marvel Team-Up that were running at the same time. I get the sense that Conway, like Marv Wolfman, just hated the team-up book format, or didn't care, or just couldn't figure a wawy to make 'em work. But all three GSSMs I own are cracking good reads. Maybe it's 'cause he could be a little more grown-up in tone? Maybe 30 pages makes for a better story than 17?

There's a re-print of GS-SM # 1 with a bunch of old Atlas Horror comics in the back, so I'll probably try to find that instead of shoppin' around for an original.

Although the original has a way-cooler cover and a reprint of a Kirby/Ditko Human Torch story which I don't believe I own. So maybe not.


This is the kind of con I'd probably like, because I'm mostly attracted by the idea of back-issue hunting. I don't really understand what else goes on at these things. I don't think I really need to meet the creators or listen to editors announcing their latest event or whatever. I can read interviews and articles on-line if I'm ever curious about that kind of thing.

But maybe I'd feel differently if I was actually there. Maybe I'd get caught up in the whole con-atmosphere or something. I'll just have to find out for myself one of these days.


I've done a handful of 'em. Quality varies. Some creators are really good speakers and just fun to watch perform. Gilbert Hernandez and Robert Kirkman were better'n some professional stand-up comics I've seen. And I was seriously jazzed to buy Spawn for, like, six minutes after the Todd Macfarlane panel. (Then I remembered. "Oh. It's Spawn.") But some panels are boring duds, and you never know what you're gonna get 'till you get there.

And, of course, I love the cheap boxes.

(Probably my favorite con memory is STILL the time I got all of Greg Hatcher's students to do sketches for me. :))


Marvel Two-In-One # 61


Starfox, right? I still need that one. I have the next two and I'm wondering how the story starts...

[adam_warlock_2099]

Starfox, right? I still need that one. I have the next two and I'm wondering how the story starts...

Starhawk. I too had 62 and 63 before I got 61. I thought the art in all three is particularly amazing. I wished I had these "her" issues before I had read the Claremount issues of Fantastic Four (Vol. 3) when I first was introduced to "her". He had me totally confused in that series.

[pmpknface]

Good pickups guys! I think I got my whole MTU run from like 50-150 on ebay in a giant lot. SCORE!

This weekend JG Jones was at a local shop so I went and got a sketch and then found the 1st printing of the DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL. I almost have all of the original Marvel GN's now! This was the hard one to find, and is also the most expensive and I got a good deal on it so I'm psyched!

[adam_warlock_2099]

Good pickups guys! I think I got my whole MTU run from like 50-150 on ebay in a giant lot. SCORE!

This weekend JG Jones was at a local shop so I went and got a sketch and then found the 1st printing of the DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL. I almost have all of the original Marvel GN's now! This was the hard one to find, and is also the most expensive and I got a good deal on it so I'm psyched!

Sweet score of the Marvel GN. I too want to get all the GN eventually, but I haven't had a good start at it in a while. I think I may have 6-7 of them, though thankfully I have gotten the pricey ones, like DoCM and the Silver Sufer HC.

[Cei-U!]

I'm really amazed how much better all the GS stories are than the stories from Marvel Team-Up that were running at the same time. I get the sense that Conway, like Marv Wolfman, just hated the team-up book format, or didn't care, or just couldn't figure a wawy to make 'em work. But all three GSSMs I own are cracking good reads. Maybe it's 'cause he could be a little more grown-up in tone? Maybe 30 pages makes for a better story than 17?


Just wanted to point out that Giant-Size Spider-Man #1-2 (the Dracula and Shang-Chi issues) are by Len Wein, not Conway.

Cei-U!
I summon the credit where credit is due!

[Superheroic]

Oops...

Please do not judge the entire series by the dismal run that follows the Thomas issues (100-115).

While I'm not thrilled to hear that, I'll be mostly happy as long as the John Buscema artwork is decent. I'll be looking to get #1 - 93 before too long hopefully.

But things really improve with issue 173 and the arrival of writer Jim Owsley. His run (172-213) was a renaissance for the title.

I guess I'll need to look for #176 - 213 also. Thanks for the info!

[Reptisaurus!]

Just wanted to point out that Giant-Size Spider-Man #1-2 (the Dracula and Shang-Chi issues) are by Len Wein, not Conway.

Cei-U!
I summon the credit where credit is due!

Oh, OK. I didn't check. That explains why they were good. :)

[The Confessor]

There's a re-print of GS-SM # 1 with a bunch of old Atlas Horror comics in the back, so I'll probably try to find that instead of shoppin' around for an original.


Oh really? That's interesting...can you provide anymore details? I know that GS-SM #1 was also reprinted in one of those British hardcover annuals back in the late-70's I believe. It's good to know that there are some options other than shelling out the $30 or $40 that you often see that first issue selling for.

[Reptisaurus!]

It's called Spider-man vs. Dracula from '94. It was a three issue reprint series. # 2 reprinted the Silver Surfer fight in Tomb of Dracula, and I think there was an X-men one.

Here's the GCD link.

http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=329484

[Mr. Palmer]

Swamp Thing #1 - #19

Marty Pasko might not have been Moore, but I'll be if he can't swing a mean hammer when it comes to telling darker stories about Swamp Thing.

[The Confessor]

It's called Spider-man vs. Dracula from '94. It was a three issue reprint series. # 2 reprinted the Silver Surfer fight in Tomb of Dracula, and I think there was an X-men one.

Here's the GCD link.

http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=329484


Ooh, nice....thanks very much. I just looked online and that issue seems to be going for about $2.00 in FN condition. :smile:

I think that's definitely the option I'll be going for.

[Dan Felty]

I just got Cement Shooz #1 & 2 and The Tick: Karma Tornado #1 & 2, all written and drawn by Chris McCulloch, better known as Jackson Publick of Venture Brothers fame. I haven't read them yet, but I'm excited!

I used Mile High Comics on eBay for the first time. It went pretty well. Kind of slow, and I had to get a refund for a buy it now item that was out of stock, but it was a good deal overall.

[benday-dot]

Picked up the following comics on the weekend from the dollar box at my LCS:

Iron Fist #2 (Claremont/Byrne)
X-Men #95 (very nice Cockrum art... death of Thunderbird)
Marvel Team-Up #5 (featuring the Spidey and the Vision... Gil Kane art)
Incredible Hulk 220 (Wein/ S.Buscema and E.Chan... one of the Robinson Crusoe issues)
All-Star Comics #58 (lovely Wally Wood art, introduces Power Girl)
DC Comics Presents #34 (Superman and the Shazam Family... insane comic)
Brave and the Bold #195 (Batman and I,Vampire... Aparo art... looks interesting)
DC 1st Issue Special #2 (the Green Team issue... Joe Simon story and perhaps more insane than the DC Comics Presents listed above... I've read of this book and, frankly it had me with "The Great American Pleasure Machine". Joe Simon is wonderful.)
Thor #185 (John Buscema art... still haven't checked if I already have this one yet... I have just about all issues between 126 and 200, but I am missing a few toward the post-Kirby end)
Amazing Spider-Man #141 (Conway.Andru... Spider-Man goes insane. Again, and very good)

[spoon_jenkins]

Picked up the following comics on the weekend from the dollar box at my LCS:
:eek: That's quite a dollar box! They ought to open up a second store in New Jersey.

[benday-dot]

:eek: That's quite a dollar box! They ought to open up a second store in New Jersey.

Yeah, it was a nice haul. Nothing CGC mind you, just all solid Good to Very Good, pretty much the way I like 'em. Come up to Halifax some time SJ.

[jdwrocks]

I finally got a FF #116 in the shape I wanted. Normally VG or F is cool for my collection, but this one with the thick "book" spine I wanted in solid shape. Got it on eBay for reasonable price. My OC brain is satisfied for now.

[RBishop]

Nothing tremendously impressive like benday-dot's haul from his LCS dollar box. I second spoon_jenkins' request for another shop, but put it in Pennsylvania, not New Jersey; it's nicer over here. :wink:

I did manage to pick up almost the entire Ka-Zar the Savage run (29 out of 34 issues) for $.50 per book as well as Black Panther #2 & 4 (Kirby written/drawn) for $1 each.

[adam_warlock_2099]

Nothing tremendously impressive like benday-dot's haul from his LCS dollar box. I second spoon_jenkins' request for another shop, but put it in Pennsylvania, not New Jersey; it's nicer over here. :wink:

I did manage to pick up almost the entire Ka-Zar the Savage run (29 out of 34 issues) for $.50 per book as well as Black Panther #2 & 4 (Kirby written/drawn) for $1 each.

I wonder, was this series ever not popular? I remember back when the 90's series came out I was getting it for the Thanos story, and the local shop I was going to in St.Louis had the whole series for dirt cheap. Probably around the price you mentioned. I don't remember specifically, but I do remember it was 50 cents or less per issue.

[Dan Felty]

I wonder, was this series ever not popular? I remember back when the 90's series came out I was getting it for the Thanos story, and the local shop I was going to in St.Louis had the whole series for dirt cheap. Probably around the price you mentioned. I don't remember specifically, but I do remember it was 50 cents or less per issue.

Hey, neat, are you still around St. Louis? I'm right down the road.


I picked up Gary Panter's Cola Madness. I'd only seen his work in the Masters of American Comics book, and at the time I had no idea who he was or why he was in such company. I'm gonna look into his work; I pre-ordered the upcoming Dal Tokyo volume from Fantagraphics as well. It may be an acquired taste, but I'm starting to take to it.

[MDG]

I picked up Gary Panter's Cola Madness. I'd only seen his work in the Masters of American Comics book, and at the time I had no idea who he was or why he was in such company. I'm gonna look into his work; I pre-ordered the upcoming Dal Tokyo volume from Fantagraphics as well. It may be an acquired taste, but I'm starting to take to it.
I've never understood Panter's attraction, especially among people who's work I like. Speigleman put him in RAW, and the first Raw special was a Panter book, and Matt Groening did a few issues of Jimbo by Panter, but I just don't get it.

MDG

[pmpknface]

I wonder, was this series ever not popular? I remember back when the 90's series came out I was getting it for the Thanos story, and the local shop I was going to in St.Louis had the whole series for dirt cheap. Probably around the price you mentioned. I don't remember specifically, but I do remember it was 50 cents or less per issue.
That's a different series. Ka-Zar The Savage started in 1981 and had amazing Murphy Anderson art: http://www.comicvine.com/ka-zar-the-savage/49-3087/

You're thinking of this run mostly by Waid and Kubert: http://www.comicvine.com/ka-zar/49-6006/

[dan bailey]

I've never understood Panter's attraction, especially among people who's work I like. Speigleman put him in RAW, and the first Raw special was a Panter book, and Matt Groening did a few issues of Jimbo by Panter, but I just don't get it.



I have to agree. I first encountered his stuff in hardcore punk zines nearly, I guess, 30 years ago, & I just couldn't discern even a modicum of talent. From the occasional online reproduction of recent work, I take it that little or nothing has changed. (But maybe it's just me. I mean, in my eyes Lynda Barry, for instance, can't draw worth a damn, either, but she's apparently quite the critical darling.)

William Hung should've gone into cartooning. He'd be set for life.

[Slam_Bradley]

That's a different series. Ka-Zar The Savage started in 1981 and had amazing Murphy Anderson art: http://www.comicvine.com/ka-zar-the-savage/49-3087/



The art was by Brent Anderson. I don't believe Murphy Anderson ever did any work for Marvel.

[Dan Felty]

I have to agree. I first encountered his stuff in hardcore punk zines nearly, I guess, 30 years ago, & I just couldn't discern even a modicum of talent. From the occasional online reproduction of recent work, I take it that little or nothing has changed. (But maybe it's just me. I mean, in my eyes Lynda Barry, for instance, can't draw worth a damn, either, but she's apparently quite the critical darling.)

William Hung should've gone into cartooning. He'd be set for life.

Yeah, I think part of the conceit of his work is that it's art done as an examination of aesthetics. A lot of the traditional hallmarks of 'good comics art'--anatomy and figure drawing, perspective--is eschewed. It seems like it can be more interesting than enjoyable.

One of my comics embarrassments is that I can't read Marlys strips because the way Barry draws freckles freaks me out! It feels like reading about characters with smallpox :redface:

[Reptisaurus!]

I've never understood Panter's attraction, especially among people who's work I like. Speigleman put him in RAW, and the first Raw special was a Panter book, and Matt Groening did a few issues of Jimbo by Panter, but I just don't get it.

MDG

It's not the drawing.

It's the overall page design, and poetic repetition of images. The individual *panels*, strangely, don't count for much, 'cause they're subsumed into the larger aesthetic ... uh... thingy!

[MDG]

(But maybe it's just me. I mean, in my eyes Lynda Barry, for instance, can't draw worth a damn, either, but she's apparently quite the critical darling.)
Yeah, but Lynda Barry can tell a very good story, with "real" characters, even though on the surface the art is "ugly". Ditto Mary Fleener. Aline Kominsky--never quite felt she makes it to the level of the other two.

Not to pick on female cartoonists. Kim Deitch is one of my favorite cartoonists ever, but I was never attracted to his work visually--it's always in the context of the story, which ranges from very good to great.

I just have no frickin' clue what panter's trying to do, let alone if he's succeeding at it.

MDG

[Cei-U!]

Gary Panter won three Emmy Awards for his work as head set designer for Pee Wee's Playhouse. That doesn't make anybody's dislike for his week any less legitimate but it's a pretty cool credit in my eyes.

Cei-U!
I summon Coeboy Curtis and the King of Cartoons!

[adam_warlock_2099]

Hey, neat, are you still around St. Louis? I'm right down the road.

Not anymore. I live in Oklahoma now. But I lived by UMSL when I moved out of my folks house there on Florissant Road.

That's a different series. Ka-Zar The Savage started in 1981 and had amazing Murphy Anderson art: http://www.comicvine.com/ka-zar-the-savage/49-3087/

You're thinking of this run mostly by Waid and Kubert: http://www.comicvine.com/ka-zar/49-6006/

I might have beem misleading. I was saying when I was reading Waid's current series at the time, I got interested in reading more Ka-Zar and the shop had the Savage series for cheap, so I bought it. I just thought that it was strange after all these years that it still hadn't appreciated any.

[RBishop]

I got interested in reading more Ka-Zar and the shop had the Savage series for cheap, so I bought it. I just thought that it was strange after all these years that it still hadn't appreciated any.
It's not really all that odd about these older books not appreciating in value. A lot of new comics fans don't care about back issues, as they're focused on the new monthlies, and a lot of the older fans have either outgrown the hobby or already have the books they want.

Talking to a lot of the owners of shops in my area, they all say that the back issue market, especially in our city, is pretty much dead for mid-level books; they can sell high-end books like X-Men #94 or Amazing Spider-Man #129, but they have stacks of random books like Thor #327 or Avengers #273 just taking up space, so many of them will sell them for a $1 or at half-cover just to move them.

Back issues are sunk costs, so any money that can be made from them is a huge benefit to them. If he's been sitting on those Ka-Zar issues for 20-25 years, it's in his best interest to get whatever he can for them rather than let them sit there taking up space any longer than necessary.

[adam_warlock_2099]

It's not really all that odd about these older books not appreciating in value. A lot of new comics fans don't care about back issues, as they're focused on the new monthlies, and a lot of the older fans have either outgrown the hobby or already have the books they want.

Talking to a lot of the owners of shops in my area, they all say that the back issue market, especially in our city, is pretty much dead for mid-level books; they can sell high-end books like X-Men #94 or Amazing Spider-Man #129, but they have stacks of random books like Thor #327 or Avengers #273 just taking up space, so many of them will sell them for a $1 or at half-cover just to move them.

Back issues are sunk costs, so any money that can be made from them is a huge benefit to them. If he's been sitting on those Ka-Zar issues for 20-25 years, it's in his best interest to get whatever he can for them rather than let them sit there taking up space any longer than necessary.

I noticed that too, epecially over the last few years. I use to struggle to find a comic shop, when I first moved here to Oklahoma, that even carried back issues more than just the overflow of new issues, much less an extensive back issue selection. It's also one of the reason I moved to buying them online. That and I find a better market for trading online then I do in shops. So it's been a while since I have stepped foot in a shop.

I guess it seems no different than any other industry here lately where everyone is trying to sell their product fast and cheap because no one is buying like they were 6-9 months ago.

Or maybe the back issue industy was never good. Maybe us classic comic readers are a dying breed. I just got weary of the price increases and started asking myself why I am a buy a new book for $3, now maybe $4 when I can find thousands of back issues for much cheaper. I feel much better putting down the $8 for a FN copy of Giant Size Chillers #1, then $4 for the new issue of _______.

Maybe it's really just all about what you feel you get more for your dollar for. And for me I find that the old school entertains and stimulates me more than some of the newer stuff.

Except Guardians of the Galaxy. It's awesome. :biggrin:

[pmpknface]

I noticed that too, epecially over the last few years. I use to struggle to find a comic shop, when I first moved here to Oklahoma, that even carried back issues more than just the overflow of new issues, much less an extensive back issue selection. It's also one of the reason I moved to buying them online. That and I find a better market for trading online then I do in shops. So it's been a while since I have stepped foot in a shop.

I guess it seems no different than any other industry here lately where everyone is trying to sell their product fast and cheap because no one is buying like they were 6-9 months ago.

Or maybe the back issue industy was never good. Maybe us classic comic readers are a dying breed. I just got weary of the price increases and started asking myself why I am a buy a new book for $3, now maybe $4 when I can find thousands of back issues for much cheaper. I feel much better putting down the $8 for a FN copy of Giant Size Chillers #1, then $4 for the new issue of _______.

Maybe it's really just all about what you feel you get more for your dollar for. And for me I find that the old school entertains and stimulates me more than some of the newer stuff.

Except Guardians of the Galaxy. It's awesome. :biggrin:
What's happening is Essentials, Masterworks, HC's, tpb's, etc... Why pay $400 for a story when you can buy the collection for $15?

Eventually, people collect the actual issues of the stuff that means something to them. But yeah - even those people are dying. Especially right now. It's hard to justify paying $30-$50 on a SINGLE ISSUE when you could get a LOT of new comics for that.

[adam_warlock_2099]

What's happening is Essentials, Masterworks, HC's, tpb's, etc... Why pay $400 for a story when you can buy the collection for $15?

Eventually, people collect the actual issues of the stuff that means something to them. But yeah - even those people are dying. Especially right now. It's hard to justify paying $30-$50 on a SINGLE ISSUE when you could get a LOT of new comics for that.

Yes, trades are definatly something that is changing to collecting of old single issues.

For me, trades were always something I understood were there for me when I could afford the original issues. But when you put it that way, yeah I can understand that.

I have a million other things to spend money on.

[RBishop]

What's happening is Essentials, Masterworks, HC's, tpb's, etc... Why pay $400 for a story when you can buy the collection for $15?

Eventually, people collect the actual issues of the stuff that means something to them. But yeah - even those people are dying. Especially right now. It's hard to justify paying $30-$50 on a SINGLE ISSUE when you could get a LOT of new comics for that.
This is the exact conversation I had with the owner of my LCS on Wednesday night as I was picking up my weekly books. I was looking at the Amazing Spider-Man Omnibus and telling him that was the way I was going to go when I decide to complete that run and am down to just Silver Age books to go. I'm a huge completionist and am working my way back through most of the major Marvel book, and right now, I have my entire collection in floppies, but it's getting to be cost-prohibitive as I start getting into the double-digit issue numbers of certain runs, like Amazing Spider-Man or X-Men.

Don't get me wrong. I've spent a lot of money on a few key issues in my collection, but I really try to pick up deals during sales at comic shops, at cons, eBay and from flea markets. Like you, however, I cannot justify spending $50+ for a single book when I could get a huge collection like that for $100 and have almost 50 issues worth of comics to read.

[pmpknface]

I hear ya loud and clear. The grades of books mean so much more now. I think that's a lot of the reason it's so hard to be able to afford those silver age (and older) books. But believe me, I do what I can!

I finished my ASM run when I was about... 27? 28? Ebay helped out a lot with it. Then going to cons and what not was a help too. All I need now is an AF 15, and I really don't think it's going to happen. I just can't justify the $2500 + I'd have to pay for a 2.5 grade copy. It's just so much harder to get those "keys" now than it was 5-10 years ago.

That said.... probably like a lot on this thread, I'd like (pipe dream, I know) to have the Marvel Universe in my house. ALL of it. So I may not have the complete run of Avengers & FF, but I'll get the first 100 or so in tpb's and then get issues of the rest. (I've got a killer #11 though! I want ALL Spidey appearances!!!)

In fact, I just scored not long ago VF copies of MARVEL FEATURE #1 and FF #100, along with a few Doc Savages and 2 Kung Fu mags.

The 90's are kind of like a black hole of sorts, so I'm kinda working my way through the 70's now. I love the bronze age stuff! If I could get a cheap set of NIGHT NURSE 1-4 I'd be happy. I'm almost done with the Amazing Adventures series. I just got a bunch of Marvel Treasuries. I'd love the Marvel Magazines too. The more obscure the better! :D

[RBishop]

@ pumpknface

With a lot of my runs, I'm getting close to the Masterworks/Omnibus point. The only ones that I may go floppy all the way on are Captain America, Iron Man and Thor (need fewer than 50 for complete runs on each), but for ASM, Avengers, FF and Uncanny, I just don't know if I want or can handle the expense, so collections are going to have to be the way to go.

Because of $1 boxes and sales at local stores, I've picked up tons of books that I never had much interest in before. Started putting together collections of Ghost Rider and Tomb of Dracula pretty cheaply, and I may go after Werewolf by Night next. I also hit about two good-sized shows per year and try to get those random books that I can't find at the LCS because they don't keep a constant stream of older books coming in; I can't blame them, because it seems like I'm one of the only customers there that wants that stuff.

[adam_warlock_2099]

@ pumpknface

With a lot of my runs, I'm getting close to the Masterworks/Omnibus point. The only ones that I may go floppy all the way on are Captain America, Iron Man and Thor (need fewer than 50 for complete runs on each), but for ASM, Avengers, FF and Uncanny, I just don't know if I want or can handle the expense, so collections are going to have to be the way to go.

Because of $1 boxes and sales at local stores, I've picked up tons of books that I never had much interest in before. Started putting together collections of Ghost Rider and Tomb of Dracula pretty cheaply, and I may go after Werewolf by Night next. I also hit about two good-sized shows per year and try to get those random books that I can't find at the LCS because they don't keep a constant stream of older books coming in; I can't blame them, because it seems like I'm one of the only customers there that wants that stuff.

I remember being the odd duck too at the first shop I went to. I would buy $50 or more a week (ahh single and no responsibiluty) and about $10 of it was new issues.

Once I moved though, however, it was tough to find a shop like that again.

Also I have always enjoyed Werewolf By Night. I think all I have left to complete my collection is to get some of the Giant Size. But for reasons you mentioned I am finding I am having to be content with lower grade issues because of the price these days.

I am afraid I am going to have to go down that road with collections soon too.

[pmpknface]

@ pumpknface

With a lot of my runs, I'm getting close to the Masterworks/Omnibus point. The only ones that I may go floppy all the way on are Captain America, Iron Man and Thor (need fewer than 50 for complete runs on each), but for ASM, Avengers, FF and Uncanny, I just don't know if I want or can handle the expense, so collections are going to have to be the way to go.

Because of $1 boxes and sales at local stores, I've picked up tons of books that I never had much interest in before. Started putting together collections of Ghost Rider and Tomb of Dracula pretty cheaply, and I may go after Werewolf by Night next. I also hit about two good-sized shows per year and try to get those random books that I can't find at the LCS because they don't keep a constant stream of older books coming in; I can't blame them, because it seems like I'm one of the only customers there that wants that stuff.

I hear ya. What I've been doing, is for titles that I don't have I'm using the Essentials as my guide. So, for the X-Men I have 1-50-something in Ess, a masterworks, and then Ess's up until the 160-170 range. Then I have every issue from then on.

ASM (and all Spidey's) I just made my mission before moving on to anything, so that's DONE.

FF: I'm going for 100 + in issues. I have a few (5-6) below 100, but that's it. I only need 10-15 more.

Avengers: I'm going from around 150 or so up in issues. I bought Roger Stern's copies of 150-160, I have the Serpent Crown tpb that is in the 140's, and I have all from about 175 to today.

Tomb of Dracula, I'm content with the Essentials.... for now.

Werewolf by Night is a funny one. I think I have both Ess's, but I was *given* the first 20 or so, and in nice shape too. Not sure if I want to part with them, or complete the run. I think I'd like to complete it since I have the Moon Knight apps (another fave character of mine!)

Thor, I have Ess's 1-3. I have a few of those issues, and I'd like a few more Kirby ones (1st Ego, 1st High Evloutionary, Galactus apps, etc...). I'm gonna get Ess. v. 4 (forgot to order) and I'd like to fill in the gaps, but I also have the Simonson run in tpb. In fact, vol 3 shipped this week! :biggrin: I don't have many issues, or as many as I should, of that title. But I've been reading it since Heroes Return and have LOVED IT!

Iron Man, other than Ess's, I'm sorely lacking in - pre heroes reborn. I must have 1/2 of the Cap's I want (from 120+), and the Hulks too (200+). It's just finding those $1 bins is the pain!

Pretty much, I ALWAYS prefer issues, but I've picked a marker for each title and gone from there. It's just that they are all different.

[Reptisaurus!]

Hey, have y'all noticed that both Mile High Comics and Lone Star have significantly lowered their prices?

So I filled out orders with both of them, and clicked through, and since MyComicShop had slightly lower shipping, I went with them. Mostly team-up books, 'cause they're my first love.

World's Finest:

203 - Aquaman - Dick Dillin (a) for all
210- Green Arrow (With a Black Pirate back-up. I (heart) pirate comics.
212- Martian Manhunter
214 - Vigilante

(These are weirdly cheap on the internet. When I see 'em in shops they're always in the ten dollar range. Anyway, I'm only missing the Mod-Era Wonder Woman (who's my FAVORITE, dammit) team-up in 204 to have all the non-Batman teams.)

Brave and the Bold:

103- Metal Men, Bob Brown (a)
110 Wildcat, Aparo (a)
141 Black Canary, Aparo (a)
146 Unknown Soldier Romeo Tanghal and Frank Mclaughlin (a)
153 Red Tornado - Don Newton(a)

Less than a buck each! While I can often did Team-Ups, Two-In-Ones and DC Comics Presentseses out of the 3 for a buck bin, paying less'n a dollar for B & Bs is quite rare.

Marvel Team-Up:

25 - Daredevil - Mooney (a)
30 - Falcon - Mooney (a)
137 - Aunt May and Franklin Richards vs. Galactus - Greg Laroque (a)

(My two favorite team-up partners, and the classic (Well, *I* like it) story from assistant editors month.)

Marvel Two-In-One:

20 - The Liberty Legion! - S. Buscema (a) (I have this one in Essenials, but the LLs are darn-near my favorite superhero team ever, and I wanted teh full color Kirby cover.)

21 - Doc Savage - Ron Wilson (a) Not reprinted in the Essentials due to problems with the rights.

Crossroads: (First comics team-ups)

1: Sable, Whisper - Cynthia Martin (a)

Casper And...:

10: Wendy. Only one issue of the two Harvey comics team-up books I own. Despite being published in 1989, this still doesn't list any creator credits, which makes my records all incomplete. Annoying. Wish there was a way to find out...

Reptisaurus

3, 6.


DC Comics Presents

19 - Batgirl - Staton (a)
24- Deadman - Garcia Lopez (a)

And... uh... DC Special # 28, which isn't the DC Comics Presents # 28 which I ordered.

This is an outrage! I've lost all my faith in humm...

Well, OK, actually it looks kinda cool. But I wonder if Lone Star will give me 80 cents in credit if I call and complain?

[Joe Acro]

I recently attended Heroes Con and picked up some classic comics while there.

(For purposes of this post, I'm considering "classic" to mean "before the '90s.)

These included:

-Marvel Milestones: Iron Man, Ant-Man, and Captain America (a comic that actually came out a few years ago, but collects the original origin stories for all three of those characters)
-Marvel Tales #81, 94, 121, 146, 149
-Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #76
-Strange Tales #2
-Zatanna Special #1

[hondobrode]

There's some good stuff now, but with comics being $ 3 and $ 4 now, I've finally hit my limit. I'm buying more and more back issues for less than $ 3 or $ 4 and know what I'm getting.

[Beria]

Today I got Alex Toth's Zorro vol 1 and Spirou: The Rhino's horn by the great André Franquin.

[Sir Tim Drake]

I just acquired Aquaman #3, Hawkman #4 (featuring the first appearance of Zatanna) and Brave and the Bold #74 for, wait for it, 25 cents each.

Of course, the reason they were so cheap is because they're in awful condition -- the cover of Hawkman #4 is falling apart and held together with brown tape -- but they all appear to be complete and readable.

[Leocomix]

This summer, I bought Boody, the bizarre comics of Boody Rogers, Secret Identity, the Fetish Art of Joe Shuster and I know I'll get vol 2 of Fletcher Hanks ASAP. I received Tomb Of Dracula Omnibus Vol 1 and I have several Omnibus ordered. I bought Captain America Masterworks 1, Golden Age Captain America Masterworks 2, Mighty Thor Masterworks 1, 3, 4 and FF Masterworks 8, 9

[dan bailey]

No less than 4 Showcase Presents volumes arrived at my front door this week -- Batman vol 4, Brave & the Bold vol 2, Martian Manhunter vol 3 & Bat Lash.

I'm especially looking forward to delving into the first one, since its contents coincide (along with the final third or so of the previous volume) to a decent degree with my reading of Batman & Detective as a kid (I haven't really followed the character since roughly 1970). Bat Lash being considerably shorter, of course, I'm already about halfway into the book; turns out I must've bought about half the original run off the spinner racks way back when, though not surprisingly about half the humor went over my grade-school head back then.

[Dan Felty]

I just picked up a copy of The EC Horror Library of the 1950s, the Nostalgia Print volume from 1971. Is it ever cool! It's an oversized hardcover (too big to fit on any of my shelves!) reprinting 23 stories with commentary by Bhob Stewart. I'm not sure it's the best way to go about collecting the stories, but it was interesting as a curio, and I couldn't resist.

The same guy had a Barks Library volume for sale, which I'm pretty sure I'll pick up the next time I see him.

[pmpknface]

I just finally got in the last 1st printing tpb of the Delux Marvel Handbooks! I now have the 10 vol set, as #9 arrived yesterday.

And in my quest to ge the original Marvel Graphic Novels I picked up one called: STEVEN BRUSTS JHEREG that I've never been able to find.

[MDG]

I just picked up a copy of The EC Horror Library of the 1950s, the Nostalgia Print volume from 1971. Is it ever cool!
Does yours say 1971? I got it in 74 or 75 and thought I got it hot off the press. I'll have to check to see if it's a second print or what.

[Dan Felty]

Does yours say 1971? I got it in 74 or 75 and thought I got it hot off the press. I'll have to check to see if it's a second print or what.

I double-checked; yes, it's 1971. Although considering the way it was marketed and sold, I wouldn't be surprised if they had new ones around a couple years later.

The East Coast Comix reprints came out in '74/'75; maybe that's what you're recalling.

[Cei-U!]

Thanks to a nice li'l paycheck from TwoMorrows, I splurged and ordered three Essentials (Defenders, Vol. 3; Man-Thing, Vol. 2; Peter Parker, Vol. 2) and two Showcases (Bat Lash, Doom Patrol) from InStockTrades. It should make for a nice mix of styles, editorial, artistic and otherwise. The books should arrive the same day I get my new reading glasses... I hope!

Cei-U!
I summon the 'load of good reading!

[Lone Ranger]

I've been out of the market for a long, long time - but saw an infinity cover on eBay that I desperately needed for my collection.

Couldn't resist.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/ziggypigsillyseal6.jpg

[arh1289]

Hello,
I found some old star wars comics in my house from the 1970's. Do you think they are worth anything?

[pmpknface]

Hello,
I found some old star wars comics in my house from the 1970's. Do you think they are worth anything?
Everything's worth something to someone, but do a search on recently sold items on ebay for what you found and that will tell you the current going rate for what you have. Good luck.

[dan bailey]

I've barely had a chance to look through them, but my latest Lone Star order included inexpensive used copies of Essential Werewolf by Night vol 2 (one of my favorite series back in the day -- I was supposed to have my second-ever LOC [my first was in Tomb of Dracula #38] printed in, I believe, #36 or so, according to a postcard I received from Marvel, but it wound up getting *choke* crowded out) & Essential Marvel Horror vol 1.

Leafing through the latter made me realize that I'd forgotten the ... for lack of better adverbs & adjectives ... sensuously decadent air that artists like Vincente Alcazar (whom I'd first noticed in the pages of Gray Morrow's Red Circle Chilling Adventures in Sorcery for Archie) & Esteban Maroto could summon up for Satana. Also, seeing Russ Heath's fantastic work on Son of Satan #8 -- one of my favorite individual issues ever -- sharply reproduced in black & white, as opposed to the muddily colored & printed original issue, was worth the price of admission. (Hardly a surprise, really, since I'm pretty sure I've already seen a few panels reprinted in one of the Marvel b&w mags.)

[benday-dot]

Leafing through the latter made me realize that I'd forgotten the ... for lack of better adverbs & adjectives ... sensuously decadent air that artists like Vincente Alcazar (whom I'd first noticed in the pages of Gray Morrow's Red Circle Chilling Adventures in Sorcery for Archie) & Esteban Maroto could summon up for Satana. Also, seeing Russ Heath's fantastic work on Son of Satan #8 -- one of my favorite individual issues ever -- sharply reproduced in black & white, as opposed to the muddily colored & printed original issue, was worth the price of admission. (Hardly a surprise, really, since I'm pretty sure I've already seen a few panels reprinted in one of the Marvel b&w mags.)

Yes Dan. I've often thought, providing you are not turned off by horror books, that if you had to pick just one Marvel Essential volume to buy, then ME Horror, vol. 1 would be it. It's a real comic art lover's delight, featuring both Bronze and Silver Age masterpieces. And the reproduction work in this volume is tops. "Sensually decadent"... very good, that nails it.

[THEDOC]

Bought on eBay a couple of months back: 3 MIGHTY MIDGET COMICS published by Samuel E. Lowe & Co. in 1943. This title was a miniature comic measuring 5x4 inches, contained 32 pages and was colored black, white and red. They usually sold 2 for five cents. The comics were printed on cheap newsprint so all the comics have medium tan paper. The comics in this set are Fawcett Comics characters and each is the first or only time a comic was devoted entirely to the character. Comics and conditions in this set are; LANCE O'CASEY No. 12 VERY GOOD ( nick out bottom spine, 1/8 spine split top spine, small piece missing top right corner front cover, small piece out top left corner back cover and some pages at that spot) MR. SCARLET AND PINKY No. 12 FINE (nick out at bottom and top spine); BALBO THE BOY MAGICIAN No. 12 FINE (tiny nick out top and bottom spine, small piece out bottom right corner front cover, 2 tiny pieces out left edge back cover).

http://www.inter-fan.org/Art/40sminicomics.JPG

[Mister Blisterfists]

my most recent classic purchase was Detective #474, The first appearance of Deadshot in his now classic costume.

[pmpknface]

Finally got in a SWEET Marvel Feature #1, a Fantastic Four #100, a run of Doc Savages (1-8, minus #5), and a few Marvel Kung-Fu mags the other day.

I'm really happy about the MF #1, as I never thought I'd get that one - and certainly not one this nice. And I'm after a FF run of 100 up, so that's a big one for me too.

I also got back my STARTLING COMICS #49 from CGC. Only a 4.5, but that's still a decent grade for such a classic cover.

[The Confessor]

Hello,
I found some old star wars comics in my house from the 1970's. Do you think they are worth anything?

Everything's worth something to someone, but do a search on recently sold items on ebay for what you found and that will tell you the current going rate for what you have. Good luck.


In my ideal world they'd be worth a fortune. Marvel's Star Wars run is one of my favourite ever series but it just doesn't get the respect it deserves. :frown:

[T GUy]

Finally got in a SWEET Marvel Feature #1, a Fantastic Four #100, a run of Doc Savages (1-8, minus #5), and a few Marvel Kung-Fu mags the other day.

Well done!

I have all the Marvel feature run except one or both of the thing team-up issues, but a couple of the Ant-Man issues need upgrading. I recently upgraded my Doc Savage No. 1; still three issues missing on that run (have you ever noticed that that run on ebaY always gets sold in multiple issues, only one of which you actually need?).

Latest ebaY score: VF copy of Brave and the Bold no. 102 (Teen Titans, Adams); I only need the Phantom Stranger issue (89? 98?) to complete a nice little run of the Cardy and Aparo issues.

[Reptisaurus!]

.

Latest ebaY score: VF copy of Brave and the Bold no. 102 (Teen Titans, Adams); I only need the Phantom Stranger issue (89? 98?) to complete a nice little run of the Cardy and Aparo issues.

98. I THINK 89 (or maybe 90) was another Phantom Stranger team-up, but it was Ross Andru not Jim Aparo.

I'm still deciding if I want to try to hunt down all the issues in the 88-108 range, or just buy the big showcase collection and forget it. I already have all the Nick Cardy issues, and 15 more ain't gonna be THAT expensive I hope....

[Cei-U!]

98. I THINK 89 (or maybe 90) was another Phantom Stranger team-up, but it was Ross Andru not Jim Aparo.

It was #89. #90 is Adam Strange, also by Andru-Esposito.

I'm still deciding if I want to try to hunt down all the issues in the 88-108 range,

Yes, you do. Trust me on this one.

Cei-U!
I summon my all-time favorite series!

[Reptisaurus!]

Yes, you do. Trust me on this one.

Cei-U!
I summon my all-time favorite series!

I owned most of 'em, once, but they got stolen. There's quite a few in this range I liked a lot


The Irv Norvick Wildcat issue,
The Bob Brown Flash story where Batman remembers the death of his parents, gets all sad, and GETS THE HELL OVER IT (unlike modern Batman stories)
Batman in a wheelchair/4 Famous Co-stars Aparo issue
the Aparo Deadman in love story
And Sgt. Rock and Batman vs. the Devil
And, yeah, 102 all Aparo/Adams was pretty great.


But there's quite a few I don't remember anything about, too. (The Wonder Woman team-up in 105, the Phantom Stranger team-up in 98.) And THOSE I might not need so much.

[Lone Ranger]

We just had FanExpo here in Toronto. I went Sunday afternoon hoping to finish some runs with cheap books - high on my priority list were 80s Blackhawk, Kamandi and SSWS/Unknown Soldier. I mostly struck out on the latter too, but did ok with the Blackhawks.

I was a bit surprised with the dealer prices - even with 50% off. I've had much better luck in the $1 and $2 bins in previous years when they were full of 60s and 70s stuff. This year, it was mostly 80s stuff.

Still, with some serious digging - I got some good stuff and didn't spend more thatn $4.50 on a single book.

I got quite a bit, so I'll have to do it over a few posts.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/blackhawks.jpg

I got these Blackhawks and now I think I only need 3 more books to finish the run. These were pretty plentiful in $1 bins, but I kept seeing the same issues over and over.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/UFOs.jpg

I've decided that it's time for me to get serious about completing a run of Gold Key's UFO comics. These were 3 I was missing (#20 is a childhood favourite- blogged about it yesterday). These are not cheap, folks. Other stuff from the 70s like Twilight Zone and Boris Karloff was also quite pricey - much moreso that most of the DC and Marvel stuff of that era.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/spaceman.jpg

Why am I so intrigued by this Space Man series? I can't really put my finger on it. It's just such a weird series. The covers are awesome and the stories are absolutely bonkers. I got about 3 pages into one last night but had to put it down before it blew my mind.

More purchases later.

[benday-dot]

Why am I so intrigued by this Space Man series? I can't really put my finger on it. It's just such a weird series. The covers are awesome and the stories are absolutely bonkers. I got about 3 pages into one last night but had to put it down before it blew my mind.


I too love the Space Man series LR. My favourite cover might be the one for the first issue (actually #2) with its lovely orange/red background. But that space ship gracing the cover of your issue #6 above is a thing of Silver Age beauty.

Speaking of Space Man, and at the same time not speaking of it, I was reading the new Eclipso Showcase Presents last night and the more I see of it the more I appreciate Jack Sparling's pencils. (Sparling, of course, does the art on most/all of Space Man). His strange blend of heavy and ultra thin line weights and very loose and tight renderings has rather grown on me. I bought the Eclipso volume (very thin at under 300 pages) for the Toth art and Haney stories, but the best of all is the Elias work, and damned if I didn't like the Sparling too. He also does some nice work on Secret Six and several DC war titles. Perhaps its the black and white that cleans his work up a bit, but it certainly doesn't detract.

Look forward to hearing about the rest of your haul. I was planning to attend the TO show this year, but it didn't work out with my job. Maybe next year.

[Lone Ranger]

Here are a few more purchases from the FanExpo. Craig, if you are planning to attend next year - make sure you let me know.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/naza5.jpg

Naza, Stone Warrior #5
I was flipping through a bargain bin, saw this book and said... 'What? A Gil Kane cover?!?!?!' I asked the dealer - 'is this Gil Kane'? He said nope - no way. I thought he was crazy, but I was too Canadian to say so. Did Kane do any other Dell covers during this period? It really struck me as odd. Fun little book, too. Very nice (FN+) copy for $2.50. Pretty cool Jack Sparling art.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/thrillingadv1.jpg

Thrilling Adventure Stories #1
I know that this one is going to pale in comparison to issue #2, but I figure that it will be worth at least the $2 it cost me. Without even really trying, I'm probably two-thirds of the way to an Atlas-Seaboard run.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/duke1.jpg

Duke of the K-9 Patrol #1
How can I possible pass up such a weird Gold Key one shot? The cover story is pure gold. A local councilman wants to shut down the K-9 patrol, but then his hardware store is robbed and Duke tracks down the masked gang. I love the serendipity of 60s comics. I believe he actually uses the phrase 'eat my words'.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/newpeople1.jpg
The New People #1
I've always been intrigued by this book as it featured such a weird cover, so could pass on it for $2. I've since read up on the TV show a little bit. Very interesting premise - apparently a total failure. Who would have thought that a the love child of Aaron Spelling and Rod Serling would suffer such a fate. I was hoping for a set-up story, but the action takes place after the group has arrived on the island. Really nice work by Frank Springer here. Now, I'm on the hunt for #2.

More to come.

[dan bailey]

What neat purchases, LR! I'm pretty sure I bought that New People off the spinner rack as a kid, no doubt on the strength of the cover. And I'm thinking the second Space Man issue you picture is the only one I own (though, in the spirit of great minds thinking alike, or something, I've just decided that I need to acquire all of these as well).

As it happens, I'm only one issue short -- #272 (I found a cheapish #271 from, I believe, Lone Star about a month ago) -- of having all of the Blackhawk first-series revival issues. And as you know, I managed to polish off the complete Gold Key UFO run a couple of years ago.

And that Thrilling Adventure Stories cover reminds me that I meant to stick both those on my want list, having managed at long last a couple of weeks ago to scare up a perfectly acceptable copy of Weird Tales of the Macabre #2 from Lone Star for less than $2.

[dan bailey]

Thanks to TwoMorrows' 50%-off sale, I just bought the final 7 ishes of Alter Ego -- #s 3, 6, 21, 33, 35, 42 & 45 -- I needed to complete the run. I've also got (finally!) Essential Sub-Mariner & Showcase Presents Eclipso earmarked for my mailbox.

[pmpknface]

From DCBS, I just ordered:

ESSENTIAL GHOST RIDER TP VOL 03 ($12)
MMW ATLAS ERA JUNGLE ADVENTURE HC VOL 01 ($30)

Also have on order:
MMW ATLAS ERA MENACE HC VOL 01 ($30)
MMW GOLDEN AGE SUB-MARINER HC VOL 03 ($36)

I got last month:
MMW GOLDEN AGE YOUNG ALLIES HC VOL 01 ($30)

I've also been getting ALL the Marvel 70th Anniv. issues that have reprint backups! Love it!

[Lone Ranger]

Ok - I've got some time to post about the last of the bunch I picked up on Sunday.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/spacewar.jpg

Space War #29 and #31
These are always great to find - so much good 50s Ditko for such a low price. I noted that issue #29 has a rather oddly intriguing lead story entitled 'Underground War'. The story is signed 'A. Elias' - I'm guessing its a nom de plume, and the artist has another 'alias'. I'm sure it's not a reprint, as it has a very 70s look to it. Is anyone familiar with that story? When I get the change, I'll scan a couple of pages.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/tman32.jpg

T-Man #32
I can't get enough of T-Man. This was the most expensive book I bought - $5 for a pretty rough copy, but I feel the urge to get as many of these as possible. It's fun stuff and I'm not holding my breath for a reprint.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/sargesteel3.jpg

Sarge Steel #3
$2 for a nice looking copy of Sarge Steel #3? Are you kidding me? Without really trying, I've managed to get quite a few of these great books and I'm inspired to finish the run. After seeing this one and all of my Blackhawks, Kat asked "Why did you buy so many books with Nazis?"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/CBR/natureboy4.jpg

Nature Boy #4
50% off a beat up $9 copy. Could I really refuse that? I've never owned an issue of Nature Boy and the curiosity was killing me. Still haven't read it, but I can say that after a quick flip through, it certainly has earned its spot in Mr. Shaw's Oddball Hall of Fame.

All in all, it was a pretty good day for shopping. I didn't get the volume I would have liked, but I found some fun stuff and I don't think I spent more than $80 CDN.

[dan bailey]

I've also been getting ALL the Marvel 70th Anniv. issues that have reprint backups! Love it!

Same here. They've been a somewhat mixed bag (since I get them through HeavyInk, I won't see today's two new ones till next week, the postal service willing), but both the new & old material have been well worth the price.

All-Select was particularly great -- I'd never encountered Marvex before, but I now think he should've been the most celebrated character of the era ... maybe any era.

[Lone Ranger]

Same here. They've been a somewhat mixed bag (since I get them through HeavyInk, I won't see today's two new ones till next week, the postal service willing), but both the new & old material have been well worth the price.

All-Select was particularly great -- I'd never encountered Marvex before, but I now think he should've been the most celebrated character of the era ... maybe any era.


Sounds like I need to get my act together and figure out what you guys are talking about. Sounds cool.

[Slam_Bradley]

Did I mention that I picked up a nearly full run of Nexus recently. One of the few big 80s indie books that I'd never gotten around to reading.

[dan bailey]

LR --

Here's the one I was referring to --

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c129/arktrav/BARKL001A.jpg

Nine or 10 have come out (including Mystic Comics & Daring Mystery Comics today, the former featuring the original Vision, the latter the Phantom Reporter). The standard format has been a new lead story featuring the Golden Age cover character (like the Sub-Mariner, Captain America, Miss America, the Destroyer, Torch & Toro, etc.), sometimes a new, shorter backup story, & one or two short Golden Age reprints.

[Lone Ranger]

Cool, thanks!

[dan bailey]

The other one-shots appear to be

Captain America Comics
Sub-Mariner Comics
Human Torch Comics
Marvel Mystery Comics
USA Comics
Young Allies Comics
Miss America Comics
All Winners Comics

[benday-dot]

Here's the one I was referring to --

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c129/arktrav/BARKL001A.jpg


The ultra obscure Marvex story in that one Dan (there are actually two tales, as you would know, featuring the character-- one original, the other the reprint) is just too mind blowingly bizarre it makes Fletcher Hanks' stuff seem mainstream.

[benday-dot]

The New People #1
I've always been intrigued by this book as it featured such a weird cover, so could pass on it for $2. I've since read up on the TV show a little bit. Very interesting premise - apparently a total failure. Who would have thought that a the love child of Aaron Spelling and Rod Serling would suffer such a fate. I was hoping for a set-up story, but the action takes place after the group has arrived on the island. Really nice work by Frank Springer here. Now, I'm on the hunt for #2.


That New People issue would have been worth the trip alone. Unlike Dan, I must confess, I've never seen that cover before. Astounding!

But I'm especially jealous of the T-Man comic. Very nice! Did DC get a hold of T-Man when they bought Quality. I'd love to see those collected. "World-Wide Trouble-Shooter"... Very sweet.

[hondobrode]

The ultra obscure Marvex story in that one Dan (there are actually two tales, as you would know, featuring the character-- one original, the other the reprint) is just too mind blowingly bizarre it makes Fletcher Hanks' stuff seem mainstream.

Wow ! News to me.

I'm waiting for them to collect all these and will definitely get it.

[dupersuper]

I haven't bought any since the flea market I mentioned in my last post, but a friend just unloaded his old comics on me; I made off with 23 or so books; some ROM, Moon Knight, Conan, Preacher, Arak, GL:Mosaic, Checkmate, Avengers, Inhumanoids, Powerline, Micronauts, Vigilante (Robinson mini)...

[supamike]

I have told myself for years that one day i would have Avengers #4 and that along with my Flash #123 would be the 2 crown jewels of my collection.I went to the Charlotte con this year,saw a copy of Avengers#4 c.g.c graded at a 7.I asked the price with all intentions of buying it but couldnt bring myself to pay $1300 for a comic! I felt like a schmuck I guess i found my limit in what im willing to pay.

[dan bailey]

I asked the price with all intentions of buying it but couldnt bring myself to pay $1300 for a comic! I felt like a schmuck I guess i found my limit in what im willing to pay.

I don't think I'd feel like a schmuck at all. That's about $1,295 more than a whole bunch of us here would be willing to shell out for a single comic.

[adam_warlock_2099]

I don't think I'd feel like a schmuck at all. That's about $1,295 more than a whole bunch of us here would be willing to shell out for a single comic.

$40 is still the most that I have ever spent on one comic, and that's just because it was back in the day when I was single and had no financial obligations or a family like I do now. Nowadays, I don't cap out over $10 unless it something I really want.

[pmpknface]

That's about what I paid for my ASM 1, but that's pretty much my limit - and I haven't come even close to paying that much for anything since.

There are places where you can get deals on books of that importance. I'd try toe CGC boards. Great place to shop. I've gotten a handful of deal there on everything from Golden Age stuff to modern era stuff - UNSLABBED.

[dan bailey]

$40 is still the most that I have ever spent on one comic, and that's just because it was back in the day when I was single and had no financial obligations or a family like I do now. Nowadays, I don't cap out over $10 unless it something I really want.

My limit these days for a back issue is probably around $5, & that has to be an ish I'd pretty much give my right arm for. Otherwise, I stick to the 70 cents-$1.50 selections. (Yeah, I buy waaaaaay too many new comics these days for $2.99-$3.99 every week & occasionally more than that [minus buyer discount -- usually 20 percent], but for some reason I have a real problem with paying much more than cover price for something from the past couple of decades, even if the cover price in question was $1 or less. I need to talk that over with my analyst ... though first, come to think of it, I need an analyst.)

As I've mentioned elsewhere, a few years ago I did pay eBay sellers $15ish for a couple of early '60s DC annuals &/or early 80-Page Giants that I needed to complete my runs of both, & I did shell out $30, give or take a few cents, for an eBay copy of 80-Page Giant #1, purely because I didn't know what the hell I was doing. If I hadn't been so quick on the trigger, I almost certainly could've dug one up for half that (& maybe less).

[adam_warlock_2099]

My limit these days for a back issue is probably around $5, & that has to be an ish I'd pretty much give my right arm for. Otherwise, I stick to the 70 cents-$1.50 selections. (Yeah, I buy waaaaaay too many new comics these days for $2.99-$3.99 every week & occasionally more than that [minus buyer discount -- usually 20 percent], but for some reason I have a real problem with paying much more than cover price for something from the past couple of decades, even if the cover price in question was $1 or less. I need to talk that over with my analyst ... though first, come to think of it, I need an analyst.)

As I've mentioned elsewhere, a few years ago I did pay eBay sellers $15ish for a couple of early '60s DC annuals &/or early 80-Page Giants that I needed to complete my runs of both, & I did shell out $30, give or take a few cents, for an eBay copy of 80-Page Giant #1, purely because I didn't know what the hell I was doing. If I hadn't been so quick on the trigger, I almost certainly could've dug one up for half that (& maybe less).

My average is probably $3 or less, but as things are now, I am trading in books from my collection and using store credit to get more comics, and that seems to eleviate the stress of buying (for example) most of the GS Chillers I need at around $10 each or so. If it were cash straight out of my pocket, probably not so much. One of the main reasons, also, that I am down to two new monthly titles at $3 each.

Also, as you mentioned a quirk, I actually am more in control of my spending on comics when I order them online, as oppose to going to a comic book shop. For some reason the visual sensations when I enter a comic book shop render my reasoning null and void. I dunno if that's a quirk or not, but it certainly doesn't seem logical.

[Slam_Bradley]

Picked up a copy of The Big Book of Weirdos off a Barnes & Noble remainder table a week or so back. It was published someone who had licensed it from DC. They also had The Big Book of Grimm, but I already had a copy of it.

[pmpknface]

Not sure if this "qualifies," but I think it's worth sharing. I just picked up the Joe Shuster SECRET IDENTITY book. In case you haven't heard of it, this is the cover:

http://www.superitch.com/images/secret_identity.jpg

And here's the author's website: http://secret-identity.net/

WoW. :eek: This is really some crazy stuff. I haven't read all of the text pieces in the front, but I have flipped through about 1/2 of the images and captions. I know this an all-ages board, so I'll let the cover image speak for itself except to say that's just a small sample of the type of images that appear in the book. Amazing stuff. If you see it in a bookstore give it a flip through.

[pmpknface]

My limit these days for a back issue is probably around $5, & that has to be an ish I'd pretty much give my right arm for. Otherwise, I stick to the 70 cents-$1.50 selections. (Yeah, I buy waaaaaay too many new comics these days for $2.99-$3.99 every week & occasionally more than that [minus buyer discount -- usually 20 percent], but for some reason I have a real problem with paying much more than cover price for something from the past couple of decades, even if the cover price in question was $1 or less. I need to talk that over with my analyst ... though first, come to think of it, I need an analyst.)

That's cool. Do you get that 20% from your LCS? I get 15% from mine, but i get 80% of my stuff from DCBS where you can get 25% - 50+% off. Just sharin'!

I really don't buy as many back issues anymore as I used to. Mostly, because I have most of what I want and then there's the Essentials, Masterworks, and other tpb's that reprint what I want. They fill the gap between what I have and what I'm missing.

Another reason is because it would be too expensive for me to go after a lot of these at once. I'd like to complete my Doc Strange Strange Tales run (and I have a ST #110) but the few I'm missing would be at least $15-$50.

I also don't go to nearly as many cons or shops as I used to. I guess having a mortgage will do that to ya. :tongue: Plus I have soooooooo many issues I haven't gotten to read yet. Long boxes full! I'll get there though.

[hondobrode]

$ 30 or $ 40 is probably the most I've ever paid for a single comic.

These days to closer to $ 10-ish tops for a back issue.

[dan bailey]

That's cool. Do you get that 20% from your LCS? I get 15% from mine,

20 percent, yeah, because I'm such a lovely individual ... which is to say, because I have so damned many titles on my pull list, though quite a few come out about every often as Halley's Comet comes around, & for that matter a goodly percentage have been cancelled but haven't yet been excised from my list, I saw when they included a printout with my comics Wednesday. Which means my discount should go down to 15 or even 10 percent (it's based on number of titles), but what the heck.

but i get 80% of my stuff from DCBS where you can get 25% - 50+% off. Just sharin'!

Oh, I think about those guys' prices all the time, rest assured. Thing is, if I'm running low on cash, as has certainly been known to happen, I can always push my HeavyInk order off a week or even two, or trim the number of titles I'm receiving in a given shipment, up until the afternoon of a given Wednesday. I have a feeling DCBS doesn't offer that sort of flexibility.

I also don't go to nearly as many cons or shops as I used to. I guess having a mortgage will do that to ya. :tongue:

Funny -- it seems to have had no effect on my size & frequency of orders from Mile High & Lone Star. (I've been to probably less than 10 shops in my life, since I [a] avoid traveling if at all possible & [b] was out of comics for the first couple of decades of the comic shop era ... & of course the handful of cons I've ever been to were focused on sf, not comics.)

Plus I have soooooooo many issues I haven't gotten to read yet. Long boxes full! I'll get there though.

You're siniging my song, unfortunately. Except maybe for the "I'll get there though" part. I'm beginning to lose hope ...

[dupersuper]

$40 is still the most that I have ever spent on one comic, and that's just because it was back in the day when I was single and had no financial obligations or a family like I do now. Nowadays, I don't cap out over $10 unless it something I really want.

I spent close to $100.00 for Absolute New Frontier and a pretty penny for Alex Ross: Mythology, other than those 2, $40 is my upper record

[adam_warlock_2099]

Just got a shipment in today from Lone Star.

Doctor Strange (Vol. 2) #15, 19-22, 25 -- to help finish the series
Elvira's House of Mystery #2, 3, 8-10 -- always enjoyed HOM, so I thought I'd give this series a try, epecially for $1 a book
First Issue Special #9 -- Doc Fate apperance
Epic Illustrated #7 -- Metamorphisis Odyessy
Ghostly Haunts #41 -- the cover caught my eye
Marvel Premiere #27 -- Satana apperance
Showcase Presents House of Mystery #2 -- figured this was the cheapest way to go to get old HOM, these Showcase volumes are huge, and cheap, I think I am going to like them
Where Monsters Dwell #6 -- reprints Tales to Astonish #13, first apperance of Groot

Edit: Does anyone recognize the signature of the cover artist? I looked in the book and there is no credit to the cover artist, or in Mile High's bibliography of the book.

http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/35513276958.41.GIF

[pmpknface]

Where Monsters Dwell #6 -- reprints Tales to Astonish #13, first apperance of Groot
I'm sooooooooo tracking that down!

[adam_warlock_2099]

I'm sooooooooo tracking that down!

I still plan to buy a copy of TtA #13 even if it is a GD copy. But I had a hard time finding one in my price range, so I broke down and bought a reprint, so I can read the story at least.

It's the last book I need to have all the first apperances of the present team of GotG.

[dan bailey]

Edit: Does anyone recognize the signature of the cover artist? I looked in the book and there is no credit to the cover artist, or in Mile High's bibliography of the book.


Looks like Tom Sutton to me.

[adam_warlock_2099]

It did look similar to the interior art of the story that the cover was for, but still wasn't 100% sure. Maybe it had a different inker or colorist. And to my bad eyes, it seemed like "FS", so that threw me off too. At any rate, thanks for the clarification.

Edit: I think this is whose signature I was confusing Tom Sutton's with. I remember reading this a few weeks ago and remembering I have seen this man's signature on the cover of a lot of books, but never knew/remembered who he was.

http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/03179140364.3.GIF

[Lone Ranger]

Tup - that's Sutton's rather odd signature from that period.

You'll see it on various Charlton covers from the mid-70s.

That's an awesome cover - and a solid book, too.

Some great buys!

[dan bailey]

Just got a shipment in today from Lone Star.


I received one from those guys yesterday (with another one from Mile High due to hit my doorstep tomorrow ... "Hi, I'm Dan, & I don't really collect comics -- I accumulate them"), as it happens. Mostly recent stuff, including a slew of Marvel all-ages digests that were on sale from $1.62-$3.49 each, but also the following --

DC Comics Presents #s 12, 17, 24, 28, 35, 86, 88 -- not a series I've paid much attention to, but awhile back I realized that all sorts of gems could be had for cheap in its pages (Jim Starlin drawing a Superman story? I'm there!). I'm slowly working toward a complete run; 19 of the 97 to go, along with annuals 2-4.

Wonder Woman 300 -- I realized not long ago that I didn't own any of Colan's run on the series, & while I'm expecting several more ishes from Mile High, for $1.53 this sounded irresistible -- Colan on the framing story with inks by various people, plus shorter segments drawn by people like Rich Buckler, Ross Andru, Keith Pollard, Keith Giffen (in Kirby-channeling mode), Dick Giordano, Tom Mandrake & Jan Duursema.

Zot! #33 -- finally completed my run; acquiring the other 32 was easy & cheap, but this sucker eluded me for probably a couple of years ... $2.10 later, it's mine.

[Slam_Bradley]

Wonder Woman 300 -- I realized not long ago that I didn't own any of Colan's run on the series, & while I'm expecting several more ishes from Mile High, for $1.53 this sounded irresistible -- Colan on the framing story with inks by various people, plus shorter segments drawn by people like Rich Buckler, Ross Andru, Keith Pollard, Keith Giffen (in Kirby-channeling mode), Dick Giordano, Tom Mandrake & Jan Duursema.



Colan was woefully unsuited for WW. And that period is one of the worst in her very spotty history.

[dan bailey]

I don't doubt it.

But it's Gene the Dean.

Drawing a female.

The end.

[MDG]

DC Comics Presents #s 12, 17, 24, 28, 35, 86, 88 -- not a series I've paid much attention to, but awhile back I realized that all sorts of gems could be had for cheap in its pages (Jim Starlin drawing a Superman story? I'm there!). I'm slowly working toward a complete run; 19 of the 97 to go, along with annuals 2-4.

I enjoyed the book, but talk about an uneven series--both art and story. Unlike Haney/Aparo on B&B, I don't think there was ever a regular team on the book. Some real gems mixed in, though.

[MDG]

Colan was woefully unsuited for WW. And that period is one of the worst in her very spotty history.
Maybe, but I've got a great unused WW pencil splash by Colan that I'm hanging onto.

[Reptisaurus!]

I received one from those guys yesterday (with another one from Mile High due to hit my doorstep tomorrow ... "Hi, I'm Dan, & I don't really collect comics -- I accumulate them"), as it happens. Mostly recent stuff, including a slew of Marvel all-ages digests that were on sale from $1.62-$3.49 each, but also the following --

DC Comics Presents #s 12, 17, 24, 28, 35, 86, 88 -- not a series I've paid much attention to, but awhile back I realized that all sorts of gems could be had for cheap in its pages (Jim Starlin drawing a Superman story? I'm there!). I'm slowly working toward a complete run; 19 of the 97 to go, along with annuals 2-4.


Mister Miracle? Englehart writing? Firestorm and Deadman. (Both Garcia Lopez), Starlin Supergirl, ... 35 I totally forget (Plastic Man?), 86 is Supergirl agai n and 88 is... um... the Omega Men? No, no, no. The Creeper. I'm writing about that issue for CSBG right now-ish.
[/QUOTE]

[Rob Allen]

IIRC, that Sutton signature is his initials - "TFS". Oddly, the "F" is the most prominent letter. The "T" is almost unrecognizable.

[Rob Allen]

Not a purchase; my wife's cousin just gave me this because she knows I'm into comics:

Corporate Crime Comics #1 (http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=127828), published by Kitchen Sink in 1977. Cover by Greg Irons and lots of short stories of corporate malfeasance inside, with art by Kim Deitch, Trina Robbins and many others. Very cool, and rather prescient.

[mrc1214]

I finally scored almost a complete run of Zot! I have to pick up 6 issues for the run which is easy. Ive searched for years for these in back issue bins with little success but ebay worked for me this time.

[earl]

I bought some huge runs at a good price of the 80s Silver Surfer, Warlock/Infinity Gauntlet & Thor (including the whole Simonson run). I read the first couple of years of the Surfer title by Englehart and Rogers as they were coming out and quite a few years of Thor back in the 80s.

I also got the new Essential Sub-Mariner and the Showcase Warlord in my mail order of new books this week.

Buying in bulk is the way to go.

Like many that posted a few pages back, I'm all about using the Essentials and Showcases to fill in the expensive stuff. I've started on the comics on the Marvel stuff around 1976 on many titles, as stuff like the Avengers, Iron Man, F4, Cap, etc are not too expensive for the most part and you can get the Essentials right up to those issues. I really like taking in and thinking about where the Marvel Universe was at when the issues were coming out.

I'm slowly reading my way through the Marvel Universe on a few titles at once one Essential at a time.

I do hope they get a Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD put out in Essentials at some point, although I am tempted to get the hard covers on those, as they had the best covers ever. Those covers on the Nick Fury books obsessed me as a little kid and I swear I spent like 8-10 bucks, a crazy amount of money for a 10 year old kid - saving part of my allowance for a month or so around 1980 for Strange Tales 167 as I thought the cover was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

Anyway, reading those cool early Captain America issues (Essentials 1) really leads me to want to check out and read Agent from Shield from the start. It is kind of one of the big stories of the Marvel U to fill in, although I have read the Steranko issues not too long ago.

[Scott Harris]

I just went to a show this weekend and managed to only spend $12. But it was well spent I think. The breakdown was like so:

$3 -- Classic New Mutants TPB (which reprints the New Mutants graphic novel, New Mutants #1-7 and X-Men #167)

$3 -- Nomad #1-17. This I wasn't planning to buy this, of course, but it was so cheap I thought I'd give it a try.

$6 -- Mister Miracle #8, Capt. Savage #2, Conan Annual #2, World's Finest #163, Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen #9, Super Villain Team-Up #2 and the piece de resistance, Strange Sports Stories #1

I'm pretty pleased with the purchases. Strange Sports Stories #1 in particular lived up to my hopes; a steal at 50 cents.

[dan bailey]

I do hope they get a Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD put out in Essentials at some point, although I am tempted to get the hard covers on those, as they had the best covers ever. Those covers on the Nick Fury books obsessed me as a little kid and I swear I spent like 8-10 bucks, a crazy amount of money for a 10 year old kid - saving part of my allowance for a month or so around 1980 for Strange Tales 167 as I thought the cover was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

Anyway, reading those cool early Captain America issues (Essentials 1) really leads me to want to check out and read Agent from Shield from the start. It is kind of one of the big stories of the Marvel U to fill in, although I have read the Steranko issues not too long ago.


I believe I've bought only 2 Masterworks (as opposed to Essentials, of which I own around 70) -- Sgt. Fury vol 1 (because it's freakin' Sgt. Fury! And even though I own all the individual issues in vol 2 [for that matter, I own everything collected in the first volume, too, except for ish 1 of the comic], I really ought to start setting aside some money for that one, too, just because it's freakin' Sgt. Fury!) & SHIELD vol 1.

I related here some time ago how I'd gone along blissfully for years assuming that the 2000 Nick Fury & SHIELD TPB --

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c129/arktrav/570738747001.gif


-- went back all the way to the beginning, only to realize maybe a couple of years ago that I'd been living in a fantasy world ... its contents dated back only to Strange Tales #150, whereas the strip's stint actually began with ish 135. Even worse, those earliest issues tended to feature John Severin art ...

If you'll excuse me, the hideous memories of that nightmarish experience dictate that I go lie down now & cry myself into a stupor. (Which is a real problem, since I'm at work.)

[dan bailey]

I just went to a show this weekend and managed to only spend $12. But it was well spent I think. The breakdown was like so:

$3 -- Classic New Mutants TPB (which reprints the New Mutants graphic novel, New Mutants #1-7 and X-Men #167)

$3 -- Nomad #1-17. This I wasn't planning to buy this, of course, but it was so cheap I thought I'd give it a try.

$6 -- Mister Miracle #8, Capt. Savage #2, Conan Annual #2, World's Finest #163, Combat Kelly and the Deadly Dozen #9, Super Villain Team-Up #2 and the piece de resistance, Strange Sports Stories #1

I'm pretty pleased with the purchases. Strange Sports Stories #1 in particular lived up to my hopes; a steal at 50 cents.

Quite a haul for $12. I'm especially impressed with Capt. Savage #2 (first issue I bought off the spinner racks as a kid; how on earth I completely missed #1, I have no idea, but I most certainly did -- I'm positive I never laid eyes on a copy till I acquired one of my own maybe 4 years ago) & of course the debut Strange Sports Stories.

Heck, even half of those acquisitions would've been a steal for a dozen bucks.

[pmpknface]

Dan,

Yeah, that FURY tpb was pimped as the complete Jim Steranko Strange Tales run which is why it starts at 150. Also, later editions of the tpb don't have the fold out pages that went along with #167. I have a 1st printing and that has pages that fold out to be a 4 page spread (should be around pg. 210) but later editions didn't do that. Check yours.

Also, the coloring on that book is freaky. It's very bright and when compared to the real books, which I now own all of, it's MUCH different.

[dan bailey]

I'll definitely have to check my copy when I'm at home. Offhand, though, I certainly don't recall any foldouts.

I know Steranko &/or fans have decried the coloring in the book (&/or in the Scorpio collection). Around '76 I bought several of the original issues, almost certainly beginning with #150 (I remember thinking at the time that Steranko's panels seemed bizarrely cluttered compared to what I was used to from him, mainly his Captain America work -- of course, I learned later that he was working off Kirby layouts), but by the time I acquired those TPBs I hadn't seen the actual comics in at least 20 years, so I had no point of comparison.

[scratchie]

Yeah, that FURY tpb was pimped as the complete Jim Steranko Strange Tales run which is why it starts at 150. Also, later editions of the tpb don't have the fold out pages that went along with #167. I have a 1st printing and that has pages that fold out to be a 4 page spread (should be around pg. 210) but later editions didn't do that. Check yours.I bought this a couple of years ago, and just flipping through the book, I thought the fold-out was a binding error! I never actually opened it up to see what was on those pages and sent it back to InStockTrades. Fortunately, the ever-helpful IST folks set me straight and returned it to me.

[mrc1214]

I went on Mile High today and bought Omega the Unknown 1-10 and Marvel Presents Guardians of the Galaxy 3-10 i think i have 11 and 12 but if i dont ill go back and pick them up.

[dan bailey]

As for my own recent acquisitions, courtesy (except for a couple of eBay purchases) of Lone Star & Mile High --

[But first, I feel compelled to mention how injurious Lone Ranger's blog & Comics Should be Good entries are to my wallet. Well, not really, since I'm a genuine bargain-hunter who as often as not pays less than $1 per back issue. Still, several of the following owe their presence on my want list to mentions by him.]


Mighty Marvel Western #s 10, 11 (I’ve been on a bit of a Marvel western kick lately; I remember these fondly from childhood, & over the last few weeks I’ve acquired about 20 ishes of the title)

Power Man/Iron Fist #s 76, 77, 79-87, 90 (Had the recently released second Essential on my wish list till I realized I already owned several of the ishes reprinted therein, so I went ahead & bought cheap copies of the rest)

Mort the Dead Teenager #s 1-4 (Not sure what brought this to my attention – I know I can’t blame it on LR … actually, I think it was an “Other items by this seller” listing by an eBay guy who had a bunch of neat-looking ‘50s horror reprint comics & compendiums – but it looks fun enough …)

Dark Horse Presents #s 148-150 (contains Guy Davis’ first 3 Nevermen stories; I own both miniseries & figured I needed the complete works)

Space Adventures (Charlton) #s 2-4, 6-13 (These I blame on LR)

Space War (Chartlon) #s 28-29 31 33 (And these)

Vengeance Squad (Charlton) #s 1, 4 (Again)

Blazing Battle Tales (Atlas Seaboard) #1 (Guess who was blogging about Seaboard recently?)

Savage Combat Tales (Atlas Seaboard) #s 1, 2

Western Action (Atlas Seaboard) #1

Best of Brave & the Bold #2 (the color Neal Adams reprint is nice, but the Heath Robin Hood in back is what I really wanted, not that the Kubert Viking Prince is likely to make me gouge my eyes out or anything)

Fright (Eternity) #s 1, 3-7, 9-11 (See my above note about an eBay seller’s horror listings … I already owned one of these, courtesy of a quarter-bin buy some years back, but hadn’t realized they consisted of reprints from Skywald’s Psycho, Scream & Nightmare)

Wild Western Action (Skywald) #s 2, 3 (speaking of Skywald, these are not only the first 2 color comics of theirs I’ve owned, I’m pretty sure they’re the first I’ve seen)

DC Limited Edition #47 (worth the cheap price of admission for that gorgeous cover, though of course what I really wanted is the Fred Ray Tomahawk reprints)

John Carter, Warlord of Mars #s 28 (leaves me 4 issues from a complete run)

New People (Dell) #1 (yet another one that can be laid at LR's doorstep)

Danger Unlimited (Dark Horse) #s 1-4 (never heard of this till I came across a chance mention of the Torch of Liberty backup in a BPRD or Hellboy lettercol earlier this month; sounds pretty neat …)

Heroes Anonymous (Bongo) #s 1-4 (not sure of how I heard about this one, but it looks awfully fun; too bad #s 5 & 6 seem hard to find & comparatively expensive)

Fifties Terror (Eternity) #6 (been in a mood for pre-Code horror reprints lately)

Man from Planet X (Planet X) one-shot (reprint of a vintage adaptation of the 1951 British sf flick; too bad indications are that the advertised upcoming reprint of a When Worlds Collide movie adaptation from the same period appears not to have ever materialized)

And a 12-issue eBay lot last night --

All Star Western #s 1 & 7
Mighty Marvel Western #s 15 & 20
Rawhide Kid #s 84 & 166
Ringo Kid #11
Outlaw Kid #2
Judge Colt (Gold Key) #1
Cheyenne Kid (Charlton) #74, 80 & 85

[Nightstar1441]

I did some damage at SDCC where I scored Fantastic Four 120-123 (First Air Walker whom I am a fan of)

Then I found a deal selling a whole bunch of FF's in great shape and scored 166-191 for $40

[pmpknface]

All I've gotten is an upgrade to ComicBase V.14 and a scanner! Lots of fun getting all my books into a database. Of course... I'm an analyst so that's my deal. :p

After I'm done with that, I'll get in touch with Collectible Insurance.

[mgs]

Corporate Crime Comics #1 (http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=127828), published by Kitchen Sink in 1977. Cover by Greg Irons and lots of short stories of corporate malfeasance inside, with art by Kim Deitch, Trina Robbins and many others. Very cool, and rather prescient.
Rob, link is all wonky. What was it supposed to be? :confused:

[Rob Allen]

Rob, link is all wonky. What was it supposed to be? :confused:

It's a link to the (old) GCD, which may still be down due to a power failure. Let's see if I can find it in the beta site...

Here it is! http://beta.comics.org/issue/127828/

[earl]

Also, the coloring on that book is freaky. It's very bright and when compared to the real books, which I now own all of, it's MUCH different.

That is sadly true on many of Marvel's reprints of classic 4 color comics. Those Miller Daredevil books are totally day glow. I would imagine they don't really re-color the books per say, so when they use that bright white stock the things glow in the dark.

[mgs]

Zot! #33 -- finally completed my run; acquiring the other 32 was easy & cheap, but this sucker eluded me for probably a couple of years ... $2.10 later, it's mine.
Only recently, with a better eye for art, I recently discovered this series with the collected trade of the full series that came out, and I must hand it to Mr. McCloud, the art is fantastic! Maybe if some copies are still around to make this a present or soemthing! :smile:

It's a link to the (old) GCD, which may still be down due to a power failure. Let's see if I can find it in the beta site...

Here it is! http://beta.comics.org/issue/127828/
thanks! :smile:

[mgs]

And while not really 'my' purchases, people still know I love comic books, even if I don't need them, they still pick em up for me once in a while. Here are some garage sale recent presents;

Wow, such a different character that I knew from the Batman Animated Series!
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh228/michaelphotos22/BamanMrFreezeMrZero.jpg

Find it funny how long kids stay kids or rapidy grow up, while the adults stay the same, in ongoing series'! :wink:
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh228/michaelphotos22/FFAnnual20.jpg

This one was pretty beaten up. Haven't read it all yet though.
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh228/michaelphotos22/FFGiantSize6.jpg

[mgs]

Forgot there was an Index series, specifically for the FF!
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh228/michaelphotos22/FFIndex11.jpg

Also forgot Black Bolt had a son!
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh228/michaelphotos22/FFUnlimited2.jpg

I have this in trade, and serial format, but still cool to see the individual cover again.
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh228/michaelphotos22/XMenFF4.jpg

[pmpknface]

Find it funny how long kids stay kids or rapidy grow up, while the adults stay the same, in ongoing series'! :wink:

True! However, don't forget that Franklin was allowed to age and then was de-aged right before Onslaught. So he's done it all!

Also forgot Black Bolt had a son!

This was actually brought back up in the Secret Invasion: Inhumans mini. Great stuff! One of the better spinoffs that lead into the War of Kings a bit.

[Scott Harris]

This isn't a purchase, but rather a gift. Back when I was a kid, a good friend of mine (who lived a thousand miles away) randomly became a big comic fan at the same time I did. So for years, every week we'd call each other as soon as the new books came out and go over everything in them together. It was great.

Unfortunately, he quit buying comics about 15 years ago, but last week he was in town and we went through his comics which were in storage at his parents' house. And he told me I could have any of the comics that I wanted.

Now, this was a bit problematical, because I didn't want to take anything valuable, plus it was kind of sad. But in the end, after going through his books, I did put together a pile of stuff that I didn't think he would miss (with maybe one or two exceptions) but that I was really interested in. It's a grand pile of old Marvels (with a few DCs thrown in) and I've been slowly working my way through them over the past week. Here's the total haul of great comics my friend gave to me:

Warlock #1
Fantastic Four #61, 132, 134
Giant-Size Werewolf #2
Tomb of Dracula #8, 9, 11, 18, 50
Giant-Size Dracula #4
Adventure Into Fear #22
Monster of Frankenstein #2
Incredible Hulk #164
Sub-Mariner #39
Tales to Astonish #97
Teen Titans #18
Plastic Man #6
Space Family Robinson: Lost in Space #30
Superman #279
Sgt. Fury #85, 89, 95, Annual #2
The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #31

[Mister Blisterfists]

So, Dad came home with these today.

I asked my Silver Age guy to put aside any issues that may interest me (Deaths, First Appearances, etc.)

We paid less than $70 for the lot.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q292/alvatron/flash163.jpg
Just a really iconic Infantino Flash Cover.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q292/alvatron/detective311.jpg
The First Appearance of Catman.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q292/alvatron/detective327.jpg
First "New Look" Batman.
http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q292/alvatron/detective328.jpg
Death of Alfred.

[pmpknface]

Love that Cat-Man cover!!!

[Beria]

Today I picked up Superman # 400 with lots of nice art from the likes of Frank Miller, Jim Steranko, Al Williamson, Mike Kaluta etc, etc.

I also got the Avengers/ Defenders War TPB by Steve Englehart and the American Flagg: Hard Times collection.

[Slam_Bradley]

Picked up the six issue run of Somerset Holmes. I'm actually more interested in the "Cliff Hanger" back-up with art by Al Williamson.

[Mister Blisterfists]

Love that Cat-Man cover!!!

those are all scans of the actual copies. The covers are glossy, the corners are sharp.

these books have been well taken care of.

and these aren't the only books from this collection that I own. And almost every book in the collection is in such fine condition!

he does have a Detective #400 that's a little rough, but I'm not really a fan of Man-Bat.

though, if he had a Batman 232, I'd be all over it. I'd do whatever it took to acquire it.

[Slam_Bradley]

Picked up my first ever Lucky Luke book " Barbed Wire on the Prairie." Should get to it in the next couple of days.

[adam_warlock_2099]

those are all scans of the actual copies. The covers are glossy, the corners are sharp.

these books have been well taken care of.

and these aren't the only books from this collection that I own. And almost every book in the collection is in such fine condition!

he does have a Detective #400 that's a little rough, but I'm not really a fan of Man-Bat.

though, if he had a Batman 232, I'd be all over it. I'd do whatever it took to acquire it.

I did a search through the Showcase of Batman books and didn't see this reprinted in any of the volumes. Anyone know if this book has been reprinted anywhere?

[pmpknface]

Batman Illustrated, Vol. 2 (Hardcover)

http://www.amazon.com/Batman-Illustrated-Vol-Dennis-ONeil/dp/1401202691/ref=pd_cp_b_2

"It reprints all of the Neal Adams stories in chronological order. Vol #2 includes Detective Comics #393-411, Batman #217,219-222,224-227,229-231, Brave and the Bold #88-90,93,95, and World's Finest #199,200,202."

[Nightstar1441]

Thor 246 w/that great classic cover with Firelord

[pmpknface]

Just thought I'd share - Talesof Wonder.com is having huge sales on Marvel Masterworks. You guys may want to check it out!

[scratchie]

Hey all;

According to my handy-dandy spreadsheet, I hadn't (until yesterday) bought any back issues since August of last year. Makes sense, since my wife and I had twins in July of last year, and I've been a little busy.

Yesterday, however, my local comic book store, in an inspired move to bring in some cash, held an "everything in the back room is $2.00" sale. While, unsprisingly, I didn't see, for example, a whole lot of 12c comics (I did see a couple), they had a pretty good selection and I was wound up buying a lot more than I expected to.

In some cases, I probably spent too much, even at $2.00 per comic (in the case of Defenders Volume 2, I *definitely* spent too much, but that's just the kind of obsessive, self-hating Defenders fan I am!). Still, it was hard to beat the convenience. Even if I could have saved 50c here or 50c there by shopping on ebay, I think the hypothetical time I saved (time I no longer have to spend tracking auctions on ebay) was easily worth the difference. (Plus, I don't think I've bought anything on ebay since they went Paypal-only; is it still a good source for back issues?).

So here's the stash:

A bunch of Gemstone reprints of EC oldies. Cheaper than the hardcovers!
Weird Science (reprint) 3
Crime SuspenStories (reprint) 3
The Vault of Horror (reprint) 3
The Haunt of Fear (reprint) 1
The Haunt of Fear (reprint) 2
The Haunt of Fear (reprint) 5
Tales from the Crypt (Reprint) 5

The aforementioned Defenders Volume 2. Don't ask me why I wanted these, but it does give me an almost-complete collection of Defender (and Secret Defenders) from Issue 2 to the end of Volume 2 (I'm still missing issue 1, issue 4 and issue 10):
Defenders v2 6
Defenders v2 8
Defenders v2 9
Defenders v2 10
Defenders v2 11
Defenders v2 12

Kirby. Nuff said. It doesn't look like the Image reprint of this series is forthcoming any time soon.
Captain Victory 6
Captain Victory 7
Captain Victory 9

One of the few Gerber series I've never read, and have never (as far as I can recall) read *about*:
Sludge 1
Sludge 2
Sludge 3
Sludge 4
Sludge 7
Sludge 8
Sludge 9
Sludge 10

Miracleman. Nuff said. I've read scans of this whole series courtesy of BitTorrent, but it's nice to have a few of the actual issues:
Miracleman 1
Miracleman 4
Miracleman 6

Sheer nostalgia. Every once in a while I have to re-buy something that I owned when I was 14 and got rid of:
Micronauts 1
Micronauts 2
Micronauts 3

Gene Colan. Nuff said. I'd never heard of this 1991 miniseries, but it's inked by Al Williamson, so how can you go wrong?
Tomb of Dracula 4
Tomb of Dracula 5
Tomb of Dracula 6
Tomb of Dracula 12
Tomb of Dracula (mini) 1
Tomb of Dracula (mini) 2
Tomb of Dracula (mini) 3
Tomb of Dracula (mini) 4

More Colan:
Detective Comics 512
Detective Comics 535

A reader copy:
Adventure Comics 432

The unlikely-to-ever-be-reprinted issue with the Not Ready For Prime-Time Players. This is another re-purchase of something I bought when it came out (I had a subscription) and foolishly sold for short money ten years later.
Marvel Team-Up 74

Odds & Ends:
Dick Tracy Fights the Mumbles Quartette (Gladstone Comic Album Series #1)
The Comics Journal #57 (1980 summer special featuring Steve Gerber, John Byrne and Harlan Ellison -- not bad considering it was the only issue of TCJ they had!)

Good times, good times. The only question is, what to read next??

[The Joker]

Recently purchased Marvel Spotlight #32, 1st appearance of Spider-Woman via eBay.

Bought the entire run of the first Spider-Woman volume a couple of years back (also from eBay) and it was about time I picked up her first appearance as well.

[Beria]

Just bought The Basil Wolverton Reader featuring Powerhouse Pepper. Wolverton is a favourite of mine, although I know him primarily from his SF and horror work (even though there's plenty of humour there too).

I also got Alan Moore and Alan Davis' D.R And Quinch (I've wanted to read this for so long) and Shiny Beasts by Rick Veitch.

[RBishop]

My LCS just got in a nice collection of '70s Marvels, and since the owner knows that is my main area of focus, he let me pull out anything that I was interested in before he made it available to the general public. I set aside between 20 and 25 books, and I was able to pick up the following this past weekend:

Iron Man #49
Daredevil #120, 141, 161
Iron Fist # 10, 13 and 14 (first Sabretooth for $36)

Paid less than $100 for the lot of them. Will be picking up the rest of the stuff over the course of the next two months.

[pmpknface]

Went to a con in Boston on Sat. Good haul! Got a few POWER MAN & IRON FIST's: #89-94 & 115. Also got:

- 2 treasuries
- 5 Marvel GN's
- 2 Hulk Annuals (4 & 5)
- Power Pack 21 (Spidey app)
- this awesome super heroes puzzles game promo book. Totally worth the $1!
- 3 Marvel 2in1's
- about 30 issues of Master of Kung Fu's for $1 a book, and in nice shape too!
- 10 issues of MARVEL PREVIEW from the 70's. 1st Star-Lord is in there. Lots of good stuff!

Also met Koi Pham and Geof Darrow and Louise Simonson. Got a Darrow sketch for $10!

[Leocomix]

Art Out of Time Comic Book Visionaries 1900-1969.
Volume 2 of Fletcher Hanks comics
Simon and Kirby. Can't wait for the following volumes.
Batman Black Case Book: weird

[RBishop]

Went to a con in Boston on Sat. Good haul! Got a few POWER MAN & IRON FIST's: #89-94 & 115. Also got:

- 2 treasuries
- 5 Marvel GN's
- 2 Hulk Annuals (4 & 5)
- Power Pack 21 (Spidey app)
- this awesome super heroes puzzles game promo book. Totally worth the $1!
- 3 Marvel 2in1's
- about 30 issues of Master of Kung Fu's for $1 a book, and in nice shape too!
- 10 issues of MARVEL PREVIEW from the 70's. 1st Star-Lord is in there. Lots of good stuff!

Also met Koi Pham and Geof Darrow and Louise Simonson. Got a Darrow sketch for $10!
Nice set of books you picked up. I recently completed a Master of Kung Fu run almost entirely on $1 books and did the same with a Power Man and Iron Fist run with $1 books, although I still have a Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 to go to finalize that entire "run" with its multiple title changes.

[pmpknface]

Nice set of books you picked up. I recently completed a Master of Kung Fu run almost entirely on $1 books and did the same with a Power Man and Iron Fist run with $1 books, although I still have a Luke Cage, Hero for Hire #1 to go to finalize that entire "run" with its multiple title changes.

Excellent! I don't have all the issues of LUKE CAGE, but I have a few and 2 Essentials that take me up to #50. Then, I have from 50 - 93ish and a handful after that. So I'm gonna try and complete from 50 up, and maybe worry about the lower ones, or maybe not. Knowing me I'll move on to something else. :tongue:

I really wanna finish MoKF though. They can't reprint them, so I'm dying to finish them! I have the early ones (except #20) and then I'm only missing like 4 under #50. Mostly I'm missing the high ones. I'll find 'em! :biggrin:

[Roquefort Raider]

Sheer nostalgia. Every once in a while I have to re-buy something that I owned when I was 14 and got rid of:
[INDENT]Micronauts 1
Micronauts 2
Micronauts 3


Hey, Scratchie, you almost sound apologetic for buying those books! :wink:

Anyone who doesn't own them should really be on the lookout, as far as I'm concerned; I think Micronauts #1 counts among the best-drawn American comics ever. It's not only a thing of beauty in and of itself; it even succeeds in making toys look believable, and a cheap Darth Vader knock-off look like a formidable character in his own right.

Michael Golden could do no wrong back then!

[adam_warlock_2099]

Hey, Scratchie, you almost sound apologetic for buying those books! :wink:

Anyone who doesn't own them should really be on the lookout, as far as I'm concerned; I think Micronauts #1 counts among the best-drawn American comics ever. It's not only a thing of beauty in and of itself; it even succeeds in making toys look believable, and a cheap Darth Vader knock-off look like a formidable character in his own right.

Michael Golden could do no wrong back then!

I bought #1 and read it for the first apperance of Bug, as I wanted to get all the first appearances of the current GotG characters that I didn't already have, but never read any past that. I enjoyed the art, but was on the fence about continuing it.

[Scott Harris]

Went to a con in Boston on Sat. Good haul! Got a few POWER MAN & IRON FIST's: #89-94 & 115. Also got:

- 2 treasuries
- 5 Marvel GN's
- 2 Hulk Annuals (4 & 5)
- Power Pack 21 (Spidey app)
- this awesome super heroes puzzles game promo book. Totally worth the $1!
- 3 Marvel 2in1's
- about 30 issues of Master of Kung Fu's for $1 a book, and in nice shape too!
- 10 issues of MARVEL PREVIEW from the 70's. 1st Star-Lord is in there. Lots of good stuff!

Also met Koi Pham and Geof Darrow and Louise Simonson. Got a Darrow sketch for $10!

Hey there. I was at the same show on Saturday and got a few things signed by Walt and Louise Simonson as well as Herb Trimpe. Sadly, I left my checklist at home accidentally, but the result was that I ended up with a big pile of $1 or other discount comics instead, most of which I had no intention of buying when I went to the show.

Some of the highlights:

Justice League of America #100 (JSA crossover with Seven Soldiers of Victory)
Amazing Adventures #18 (first Killraven)
Journey Into Mystery #1 (the 1972 version)
Astonishing Tales #3 (Dr. Doom and Ka-Zar)
Shanna The She-Devil #1, 3, 4
The Cat #3, 4
Jimmy Olsen #137 (Kirby)
Secret Hearts #151
Marvel Team-Up #8 (The Cat!)
Adventure Comics #423 (Supergirl)
Spoof #2
Captain Marvel #32 (the Thanos saga, with the Avengers)
From Beyond the Unknown #21
Captain Savage #9
G. I. Combat #200 (guest starring the Losers and Sgt. Rock)
Worlds Unknown #3
Ghost Rider #3 (the western version)
World's Finest #263 ($1 cover price)

And those were all $1 each!

I also picked up Jimmy Olsen #141 (Don Rickles), Star Spangled War Stories #122, 124 (War that time forgot), Green Lantern/Green Arrow #89, Flash #217, 218 (GL/GA backups by O'Neil and Adams), Strange Sports Stories #5, 6, Lois Lane #113 (Giant Size romance issue), Girls' Romances #138, DC Comics Presents #30 (Black Canary), Bat Lash #1 and Demon #1 for $3 each or less.

The only comics I spent more than a couple bucks on were DC Super Stars #10 ($5), Night Nurse #3 ($7) and Daredevil #30 featuring special guest star Thor for $10 (in one of the most useless guest appearances ever).

All in all, I was pretty happy with the haul, though of course I have a little collectors regret, as I kind of feel like I should have used my money to buy stuff actually on my checklist. But these look so good, I couldn't pass them up for those prices.

[Roquefort Raider]

I bought #1 and read it for the first apperance of Bug, as I wanted to get all the first appearances of the current GotG characters that I didn't already have, but never read any past that. I enjoyed the art, but was on the fence about continuing it.

Issues #1 to 12 are really brilliant. The series climaxed early; the rest never managed to recapture that level of coolness.

[benday-dot]

Also met Koi Pham and Geof Darrow and Louise Simonson. Got a Darrow sketch for $10!

Did you happen to ask Geoff Darrow what the heck is going on with Shaolin Cowboy? We haven't seen a new issue in over 2 years.

[Scott Harris]

Did you happen to ask Geoff Darrow what the heck is going on with Shaolin Cowboy? We haven't seen a new issue in over 2 years.

I can't answer for Pumpkin, but Geoff Darrow's entire table was covered with Shaolin Cowboy prints, posters, sketches and original art. I'm not familiar with the title, but it looked like the main thing Darrow was pushing. Just about everything he had with him was Shaolin Cowboy.

[pmpknface]

Did you happen to ask Geoff Darrow what the heck is going on with Shaolin Cowboy? We haven't seen a new issue in over 2 years.
I asked him what he was up to, and he said he'd been in Japan for a number of months trying to turn SC into anime! If that's ever done I think that'll be the next thing from him we see.

Nice pickups Scott! Night Nurse is on my radar. I saw a run of 1-3, but no 4 soI passed. :(

As for my checklist... listen to this:

I recently got the latest version of ComicBase. I used it to run a report of all issues I'm missing for any title that I have at least 1 issue of. I took that report, and transferred it to my phone! So I was using that, mainly, as my checklist all day. AWESOME! \m/

[Scott Harris]

You know, I think I might have been standing right next to you when you were looking at the Night Nurse issues. I had an arm load of books and the guy next to me was looking at Night Nurse #1-3; the owner asked me if I needed help and I said, "actually, I'm waiting to look at those Night Nurse issues if he doesn't buy them". When the guy set them down, I grabbed them and ended up buying #3. I almost bought #1, but I already have a copy (a really trashed copy) so I didn't want to spend the money on a duplicate; and the copy of #2, even though it was reasonably priced, was still more than I wanted to pay. But the #3 for some reason he had listed at G/VG when in fact it's really more like a F+. So I bought that right off and a very good price.

That was around noon, so if that wasn't you looking at them, then there must have been a lot of Night Nurse fans running around, because that set of 1-3 you mentioned was down to 1-2 after I got done with them.

[benday-dot]

Thanks Scott and Pmpknface for the Darrow info.

[dan bailey]

Arrived from Mile High on Saturday --

Brother Power the Geek #s 1 & 2.

Look upon my comics, ye mighty, & despair.

(The quest for #3 continues apace, of course -- some 41 years & counting ...)

[Roquefort Raider]

Conan the barbarian : Flame and the fiend. A three-issue limited series published by Marvel shortly before they gave up the franchise.

Conan-fan favorite Roy Thomas is at the helm, but the story is pretty uninspired and re-uses a lot of old characters (a theme common to Roy's last months on the title). The art is by the very capable Geoff Isherwood, but here he uses a cartoony style that's far from his great realistic and highly contrasted art from the late 80s. Overall a disappointing purchase, which at least came with a light price tag. For completists only.

[Aaron King]

Arrived from Mile High on Saturday --
(The quest for #3 continues apace, of course -- some 41 years & counting ...)

I think it's high time we got all the talented folks here together and just produced this damn comic ourselves. Dan could script it. The rest of us should be able to slap it together.

[pmpknface]

I just got in yesterday and already started reading the SPIDER-MAN Newspaper strips oversized HC! The Romita art is awesome! The 1st arc was vs. Dr Doom and featured a lot of JJJ. I just started the 2nd arc and it's vs. Doc Ock.

I love how everyone is still in that panic mode when they see Spidey swinging in the streets. Great stuff!

[dan bailey]

I think it's high time we got all the talented folks here together and just produced this damn comic ourselves. Dan could script it. The rest of us should be able to slap it together.

That's the spirit!

For my next trick, I'll whine every month or so about how I'm not a millionaire ...

[jlmoor]

I just ordered Infinity Gaunlet, Infinity War, and Secret Wars.

[Aaron King]

Honestly, Dan, if you scripted a 20-page story, I'd be on board for drawing at least three of those pages. Preferably the talking heads pages.

[Aaron King]

One of my many duties is as waiter at the hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon diner here in town. There's a regular family of father, mother, and three boys how come in at least once a week; the patriarch was a big collector when he was younger, and the kids bring in piles of Harvey/Disney books to read while they wait for their food. Of course I talk to them about comics every chance I get, trading my other tables for them whenever they come in. The other day, they brought in a bunch of superhero and war comics, along with a bunch of Showcase volumes that they'd just gotten. When I went to talk to them, they gifted me the following books:

Blitzkrieg #3 (http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/11393529166.3.GIF)

G.I. Combat #195 (http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/35540317034.195.GIF) (an installment of "The War That Time Forgot!")

Invaders #14 (http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/42725251514.14.GIF), my first Frank Robbins comic

We've set up a nice trade system. They lent me their Showcase Presents Aquaman (Ramona Fradon!) and I lent them House of Mystery, Phantom Stranger, and the second Essential Thor.

[benday-dot]

One of my many duties is as waiter at the hole-in-the-wall greasy spoon diner here in town. There's a regular family of father, mother, and three boys how come in at least once a week; the patriarch was a big collector when he was younger, and the kids bring in piles of Harvey/Disney books to read while they wait for their food. Of course I talk to them about comics every chance I get, trading my other tables for them whenever they come in. The other day, they brought in a bunch of superhero and war comics, along with a bunch of Showcase volumes that they'd just gotten. When I went to talk to them, they gifted me the following books:

Blitzkrieg #3 (http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/11393529166.3.GIF)

G.I. Combat #195 (http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/35540317034.195.GIF) (an installment of "The War That Time Forgot!")

Invaders #14 (http://image2.milehighcomics.com/istore/images/fullsize/42725251514.14.GIF), my first Frank Robbins comic

We've set up a nice trade system. They lent me their Showcase Presents Aquaman (Ramona Fradon!) and I lent them House of Mystery, Phantom Stranger, and the second Essential Thor.

Nice post Aaron. And I do like that Blitzkrieg cover.

[Scott Harris]

I've recently dipped my toes into the heady and terrifying waters of... Golden Age comics! Ever since I was a kid, Golden Age comics have been like a mysterious, legendary mirage -- I knew they existed, but I couldn't imagine ever having enough money to actually buy any of them outside of reprints.

Well, awhile ago I went on eBay and decided to see if I could find some real deal Golden Age comics dirt cheap. And I lucked out: not only did I find a few issues for $6 each, upon reading them they turned out to be some of the coolest Golden Age comics I had ever read: Charles Biro's BOY COMICS.

So now I've made the frightening leap into actually collecting a Golden Age title: I'm trying to put together a complete run of Boy Comics #3-119. Since I still don't have much money, my guidelines are as follows: for issues #30-119, I won't pay more than $10 per issue, including shipping, and the book has to be complete and solid; nothing in fair condition or anything, though I don't have a problem with Good (I do have one issue where the cover is detached, but I'm going to re-attach it). For issues #20-29 I won't pay more than $20 per issue (technically, I violated this due to shipping, but the couple issue I got in this range ended up averaging out at $22 when I combined shipping, so I went for it). For issues #3-19... well, we'll worry about those some other time when I've inherited money from a Nigerian prince.

So far it's going fairly well. Issues this cheap don't come up that often, but they do come up in eBay once in a while and so far I've had luck bidding on them (maybe I shouldn't be telling this to my potential competitors); I've managed to acquire 17 issues of BOY so fat according to my pricing guidelines, which is a heck of a lot more Golden Age stuff than I ever expected to get.

[pmpknface]

Welcome to the Dark Side Scott!

[Slam_Bradley]

Just ordered The Complete Dick Tracy vol. 3 and Andru & Esposito's Get Lost. $12.50 for the two books.

[dan bailey]

Won an eBay auction yesterday evening for both issues of Atlas Seaboard's Devilina & 4 of Stanley Publications pre-code horror reprints -- 3 ishes of Shock (a couple of issues of which I remember fondly from childhood; compared to Myron Fass' similarly intentioned Eerie Publications titles, the Stanleys were like slabs from the Sistine Chapel roof, & I was actually more interested in those than in the Seaboards, to my eternal shame) & one of Chilling Tales of Horror.

A week from pay day, I couldn't really afford even the smallish outlay involved, but at an average of about $4.60 per (including shipping), I just couldn't resist. *sigh*

[pmpknface]

Speaking of ebay, I won earlier this week a copy of FF #112 with the classic Hulk vs. The Thing matchup. This is really the only tough book to find that I'm missing on my quest of 100 and up. After it arrives I'll be down to somewhere around 10 issues to go!

[Dylanio21]

I've recently purchased Dick Tracy Volume 2 (by Chester Gould) and it's amazing.
I prefer strips to full books for the most part.
The last full sized comic I purchased I can't name, I can only say I most recently reread Batman Chronicles Volume 1.
A lot of people hate on Bob Kane...still love him.

[Slam_Bradley]

Picked up Where's Dennis? The Magazine Cartoon Art of Hank Ketcham for $5.50 (including shipping).

[Dylanio21]

Picked up Where's Dennis? The Magazine Cartoon Art of Hank Ketcham for $5.50 (including shipping).

That's amazing man! Nice job!

[irritant]

Today a local antique store had a sale and I purchased the following for about $5:

80-Page Giant # 4 (with the Flash)
DC 100-Page Super Spectacular # 19 (with Tarzan)
World's Finest # 227 (another 100-pager)

The other day I traveled to a comic shop in another city and bought, for $1.50 each:

Green Lantern # 42 (part of Zatanna's Search)
Rip Hunter... Time Master # 16 (I really like this one - classic DC has such disregard for the space/time continuum)
Ghostly Haunts # 41 (the Modern reprint, not the Charlton original
Fantasy Masterpieces # 4 (the first series, with Simon/Kirby Captain America reprints)

At the same place, some slightly newer classics for $1 each:
Astro City # 1 (first series)
Animal Man # 1
Doom Patrol # 19

And they're classics to me:
Steve Ditko's Charlton Action: Featuring Static # 12 for $0.25
Captain Carrot and his Amazing Zoo Crew! # 5 for $0.20

[Cei-U!]

That's a nice haul for a good price, irritant. Welcome to the Classics Board.

Cei-U!
I summon the fresh pair of eyes!

[pmpknface]

nice haul dude

[Scott Harris]

Since I regaled you all last time with a description of how I have gone over to the dark side and started collecting Golden Age comics -- specifically Boy Comics from Charles Biro and Lev Gleason -- I thought I had to share with you the massive motherlode I picked up on ebay. I got a lot with not one, not two, not three, but twelve -- that's right TWELVE -- great issues of Boy Comics for the amazing price of $48. And even more remarkable, these were actually early issues; all of them are between #19-42. One of them is missing part of the front cover, but the rest are in solid low grade condition. In fact, they are perfect for my purposes -- they were cheap because of their low grade, but they pretty much all look really nice. Most of them have tape on the spine or extra staples, hence the low grade, but the rest of the covers are bright and clean.

Very excited by this purchase.

[Jezebel Bond]

My oldest Archie to date, this one is 63 years old, Pep from 1946. I'm usually a stickler for condition but gave some leeway to this one, still intact, with firm staples on the cover and centerfold, some small spine creases, a couple minor folds on both front and back covers and light-tanning. The puzzle pages inside are also clean, glad it survived with no writing anywhere.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7556/pep1946.jpg (http://img706.imageshack.us/i/pep1946.jpg/)

[pmpknface]

Great book! I think my oldest is 1940 or 1941. I'd like to own a platnum age book one day just for fun.

[Jezebel Bond]

I won't mind if anyone has a laugh at my collecting interest, it's the name of the book.

1951, was given a Fine/VF grade...I'd be conservative and go with Fine, which is ok for a golden-age book.

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/6788/laughwh.jpg (http://img14.imageshack.us/i/laughwh.jpg/)

[Jezebel Bond]

And just picked up a spare NM copy of DC Comics Presents #1...for $2.25 :wink:

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/873/dscf4740n.jpg (http://img690.imageshack.us/i/dscf4740n.jpg/)

[Chris N]

Well, the complete Calvin & Hobbes was only $72 on Amazon. Read the first year of strips in a night and enjoyed the hell out of myself.

[InfoBroker]

Welcome aboard "I" guy. Nice stack of comical books.

Fantasy Masterpieces # 4 (the first series, with Simon/Kirby Captain America reprints)

Jack himself inked his pencils for that cover! Didn't happen too often in that time-frame.

At the same place, some slightly newer classics for $1 each:
Astro City # 1 (first series)

Classical indeed. I have great admiration for Kurt's (and Brent's) work here.

- jb the "my signature (below) tells all" ib -

[The Confessor]

Scored some bargins at my LCS today for £1.00 a comic. A couple of them are Silver Age lovelies...

Justice League of America #55 (1967) - see this post (http://forums.comicbookresources.com/showpost.php?p=10157501&postcount=26) for a beautiful scan. :wink:
Batman #198 [80 pg. Giant] (1968)

I also picked up…

Batman #355 (1983)
Batman Family #20 (1978)


In addition, I picked up three British Alan Class & Co. comics. For those who may not know, Alan Class published B&W reprints of Atlas, Marvel, ACG, and Charlton material in the UK - much of it Golden Age/Silver Age era stuff. Usually there were between three and six different American strips reprinted in any given issue. The Alan Class titles ran from the early or mid-1960s right up to the late 80s (possibly early 90s, if memory serves). None of the issues I picked up are dated but I would guess that they are late 70's issues or maybe early 80's. Anyway, here are the three issues that I picked up and what's in 'em...

Suspense #116
(reprints story from Charlton's Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #43 + Lee/Ditko Dr. Strange & Lee/Ayers Human Torch stories from Strange Tales #127 + Don Heck penciled story from Strange Tales #88 + story from ACG's Adventures into the Unknown #26 + Paul Cooper penciled story from Adventures into the Unknown #38)

Secret Of The Unknown #103
(reprints Steranko story from Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD #3 + Two stories from Atlas' War Comics #43 + Bernstein/Rosenberger story from The Adventures of the Fly #22 + Story from Battleground #17 + Jack Sparling back-up story from King's Flash Gordon #9 + Two stories from Journey Into Mystery #26)

Secrets Of The Unknown #133
(reprints Kirby penciled story from Tales of Suspense #34 + Lee/Ditko story from Tales to Astonish #35 + Story from ACG's Adventures into the Unknown #21 + Stan Lee story from Adventures Into Weird Worlds #17 + Story from Journey Into Mystery #44 + Don Heck penciled story from Strange Tales #100 + Don Heck penciled story from Tales to Astonish #35 + Sinnott penciled story from Marvel's Spellbound #27 + Lee/Colan story from Tales to Astonish #28)


So, all in all, some wonderful Golden Age/Silver Age goodness! :biggrin:

[Simon Garth]

I'd forgotten all about those books - they were a weird size IIRC - about 80% US comic book height, but wider?

I never had huge numbers of them, but would often buy them when there was nothing better around - they were pretty good value - a lot of (B&W) pages for not much money, though they tended to have an utterly random collection of stories in them.

[The Confessor]

I'd forgotten all about those books - they were a weird size IIRC - about 80% US comic book height, but wider?


Yeah, I used to buy them once in a blue moon as a kid too. You're right about the story selections being totally random but it's all awesome GA/SA stuff nonetheless. You're also right about the size thing too...I think this is the same size that American Golden Age comics were. At least, the GCD lists these Alan Class books as "Standard US Golden Age comic size". I don’t know for sure though.

[Jezebel Bond]

One of my guilty pleasures...Archie. This one's older than my parents with the year nicely displayed on the top-left part of the cover...around mid-grade.

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/4782/archie48.jpg (http://img138.imageshack.us/i/archie48.jpg/)

I'm waiting for the current Archie marries Veronica storyline to wrap up before getting the whole set. Prefer older Archies more.

[The Confessor]

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/4782/archie48.jpg (http://img138.imageshack.us/i/archie48.jpg/)


Heh! That's actually quite funny.

[Simon Garth]

Yeah, I used to buy them once in a blue moon as a kid too. You're right about the story selections being totally random but it's all awesome GA/SA stuff nonetheless. You're also right about the size thing too...I think this is the same size that American Golden Age comics were. At least, the GCD lists these Alan Class books as "Standard US Golden Age comic size". I don’t know for sure though.

That's weird - I was always under the impression that Golden Age comics were bigger (taller & wider) than the current standard US Comics size - closer to the typical Brit comic size.

Surely someone (several someones probably) on here must know the size of GA comics?

EDIT: I don't know if this is definitive, but this talks about the width of the comics (from http://www.ehow.com/how_2203120_size-comic-books-proper-storage.html )

Measure the comic book that you wish to protect. Modern comics are 6 5/8 inches in width and fit in current size bags. The typical Silver Age comic book is 6 7/8-inches wide and so needs a larger bag. Older comics are even larger at 7 inches wide and would require Golden Age supplies for storage. The size of your backing board needs to be slightly wider than the comic book while the bag needs to be even wider. For example, current backing boards are generally ¼ inch larger than the comics while the bags are ¼ inch wider than the boards. If you don’t want to measure every comic, however, there are other ways to find the proper size supplies for your comic book collection.

I reckon those Class comics may well have been GA width, but I remember them (possibly inaccurately) as being shorter than current comics

[Reptisaurus!]

Yeah, all the Golden Age comics I have (not many) are larger than Silver-and-modern age comics. I'm not sure that size is always uniform, though.

[The Confessor]

Older comics are even larger at 7 inches wide and would require Golden Age supplies for storage.

I reckon those Class comics may well have been GA width, but I remember them (possibly inaccurately) as being shorter than current comics


No, your memory serves you well and you're absolutely right. I've just measured one of my new Alan Class purchases and it's 7 2/8" wide by 9 2/8" high. So yes, about as wide as a Golden Age book but a fair bit shorter than a regular American comic book. The GCD is obviously talking out of its arse! :biggrin:

[Jezebel Bond]

Got this one as the other one at home looked like it was slept on (and probably was). :biggrin: My brother has the UK 10p version to it.

I like the dark colours, this cover looks good, especially when side-by-side with Issue #98.

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/9654/xmen99.jpg (http://img191.imageshack.us/i/xmen99.jpg/)

[Jezebel Bond]

Okay, *trembling hands*...I'm pleased with this latest scoop....with the exception of #5, I got a full run of Ghost Rider #2 - 26 in VF-NM...with #2 and #3 being a pair of 9.2s :biggrin:

Add this to the #1 I got last week and I now own an almost complete set of 81 issues, with only #1 being a F/VF and everything else, above that.

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/3892/grider1.jpg (http://img189.imageshack.us/i/grider1.jpg/)
http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/1884/grider2.jpg (http://img189.imageshack.us/i/grider2.jpg/)
http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/7484/grider3.jpg (http://img707.imageshack.us/i/grider3.jpg/)

What is particularly pleasing...these books in this condition cost me about $2.75 each inclusive of shipping...in terms of opportunity cost, spending $3-$4 each on a new comic is in no way in the same league as picking up books over 30 years old, especially when they come in a convenient run like this.

[pmpknface]

Congrats man! That's a sweet run! :biggrin:

[DetectiveDupin]

Superman #107 and Daredevil #31..... I don't really want them though I just got them because they were at a thrift store and they didn't know what they had. So I got them cheap.

[Slam_Bradley]

Picked up volume 8 of Dark Horse's Little Lulu books and The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics. The two of them for $9.50 including shipping.

[nakedmoses]

Just got all of Kirbys New Gods - pretty sweet and the Tales of Asgard.

[Jezebel Bond]

These arrived over the past 2 weeks and as recently as today, at about 10% or less of guide value. 17 classic Daredevil ranging from issues #20 to #98. Notice they aren't CGC slabbed and just good old-fashioned bagged and boarded high-grade copies which would score VFs and VF/NMs. The #77 with Spidey looks like a NM and cost me just over a dollar.

The rest cost me cost me as low as $1.67 each, thank you antique store owners who are indifferent about books and just want to get rid of them :wink: I'd really love to know how books which were well taken care off were pawned off so cheaply....

http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/4742/dd20.jpg (http://img682.imageshack.us/i/dd20.jpg/)
http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/1588/dd4546.jpg (http://img697.imageshack.us/i/dd4546.jpg/)
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/566/dd5960.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/i/dd5960.jpg/)

Continued --->

[Jezebel Bond]

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/2453/dd525658.jpg (http://img706.imageshack.us/i/dd525658.jpg/)
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/7672/dd616365.jpg (http://img97.imageshack.us/i/dd616365.jpg/)
http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/9531/dd667177.jpg (http://img694.imageshack.us/i/dd667177.jpg/)
http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/7330/dd899198.jpg (http://img685.imageshack.us/i/dd899198.jpg/)

[Beria]

Yesterday I got Superman 378 and 404. Both are written by Paul Kupperberg. 404 is an imaginary tale with an interesting premise, but the story isn't very well executed.It has some nice art by Carmine Infantino,though. 378 features solid art from Curt Swan.

[McFarlane's Green Hulk]

I managed to snag HULK #112, 113 and 116 for $8 each. Pretty decent shape for their age too.
This narrows down my Hulk collection down to needing issues #106, 107, & 118for a complete set of volume 2. Not entirely sure if I want to keep going with the Tales to Astonish issues or not, and I've resigned to never owning the first 6 issues of the Hulk's original run...:tongue:

[pmpknface]

Go for the masterworks man! ;)

Congrats!

[dupersuper]

I used my Xmas gift cards the other day: I got a dozen or so bronze age Green Lanterns, a half dozen Perez Wonder Woman (Women? Womans?), a Stan Lee Spiderman, a THUNDER Agents, a Defenders of the Earth, a few Batman books from the Legacy crossover, a few other singles, cleared out some backlog in my lcs account, and got Batman: The Black Casebook, Lost Girls and A Small Killing by Alan Moore, and Walking Dead tpb volume 6. (plus 3 Robert J Sawyer novels, 2 Margaret Atwood, 2 Star Trek, Darwins Origin of the Species, Are You There Vodka, It's Me Chelsea, The Bro Code, a collection of award winning sci-fi from 2007, a collection of funny personal adds from The London Review of Books and a calender). Plus my secret Santa at work gave me the sequel to The Davinci Code (I haven't read or seen the 1st 1, so that'll wait a while), and I got the 1st season of the 50's Adventures of Superman sow on dvd. Yaaaay Xmas!

[Julian Fine]

http://stout.hampshire.edu/~jsf06/images/Eternals.jpg
http://stout.hampshire.edu/~jsf06/images/Sacred%20and%20Profane.jpg

[MDG]

http://stout.hampshire.edu/~jsf06/images/Sacred%20and%20Profane.jpg
Great book! Justin Green is horribly underappreciated.

[Jamie]

Just (finally) ordered a copy of The Golden Age Spectre Archives. After watching prices mostly climb upwards for the last few months, I decided to snap up a reasonably priced copy when I saw one today. This required me to violate my self-imposted reading/buying equilibrium (buy only as many books as I read) but I can make that up easily enough.

[Lone Ranger]

Slowly giving myself some furloughs from Comic Buying Jail, but only for real bargains.

I stopped by a local LCS and found the following for 50 cents each:

1) Mighty Samson #32
2) Buck Rogers #26
3) Jungle Twins #18

All of these are final issues in the series, and represent part of Western/Gold Key/Whitman's last gasp. I plan on doing a bit at Scott's Classic Comics Corner on the final issues of Whitman, and these fit nicely with the others I've got from this period.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/lately/group1.jpg

For $1, I got a copy of Wally Wood's THUNDER Agents #4. I have never read one from this period, so I'm pretty excited. I also found this copy of Fifties Terror #6 from Malibu for $1. It has a few b&w pre-Code reprints. Strange little book - I love intriguing finds like this one. It also reprints one of my favourite covers from that period.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/lately/group2.jpg

This store also has 5 for $1 packs. You can see the covers for two of the books, but the other 3 are a mystery. I'm sure I could open them up and check them out before buying, but that takes out some of the fund, IMHO. Here's what I got.

1. GI Joe Special Missions #18 - I was never a GI Joe fan, but I'll give it a shot
2. Ghost Rider #71 - welcome to the blue bin
3. Marvel Comics Presents #1 - Hmm.... one of the hidden covers. Some good talent and good characters. I'm intrigued
4. Scary Godmother - no clue, worth a read, I guess
5. Strange Comics #1 - The reason I picked up the pack. B&W reprints of ACG.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v471/scottandkat/lately/group3.jpg

So, $4.50 later, I figure I have a pretty wide variety of reading ahead of me.

[dan bailey]

Pretty neat. In particular, I'd have been on that Fifties Terror like a duck on a junebug. (I've got only one issue of that short-lived title; the online sellers tend to price them at or above cover price, something up with which I will not put.)

[MichikoS]

4. Scary Godmother - no clue, worth a read, I guess.Wha? Not a Jill Thompson fan yet? This is a great all ages series featuring one of JT's signature doppelganger characters, Scary Godmother. Kind of like a hybrid of Munsters, Beetlejuice, and Universal monster movies.

This series was spun off into a couple of animated features, well worth getting on DVD from you local library, usually in the kids' department: Scary Godmother Halloween Spooktacular, and Scary Godmother 2 The Revenge of Jimmy.

Jill Thompson broke out in the '90s illustrating Neil Gaiman's SANDMAN. She has another all ages series called MAGIC TRIXIE that is delightful. Currently she just wrapped up a brilliant 4-issue mini called BEASTS OF BURDEN with writer Evan Dorkin for Dark Horse Comics. Highly recommended.

She's married to Brian Azzarello.

Michi

[Jamie]

3. Marvel Comics Presents #1 - Hmm.... one of the hidden covers. Some good talent and good characters. I'm intrigued

Be warned that MCP is dominated by serials, so you may wind up having to track down 2, 3, 4, etc.

[Lone Ranger]

Pretty neat. In particular, I'd have been on that Fifties Terror like a duck on a junebug. (I've got only one issue of that short-lived title; the online sellers tend to price them at or above cover price, something up with which I will not put.)

I had certainly never seen this series before, and I couldn't track down much info on the web. I'm trying to peek at these at my desk at the office, so I haven't had too close of a look.

This one has two stories from Chamber of Chills #8, both of which apparently showed up in Myron Fass magazines. The other two are from Witchcraft #3 (Avon).

Wha? Not a Jill Thompson fan yet?

I know her from Sandman and have some recollection of this series when it came out, but I cannot keep track of my post-1995 stuff in my head. I just don't spend enough time in my LCS etc...

I look forward to this one.

Be warned that MCP is dominated by serials, so you may wind up having to track down 2, 3, 4, etc.

Yeah - I got that sense. I figured for 20 cents, it was worth a look. I'm guessing that I won't get sucked in, but you never known.

[Jamie]

I picked up the first four issues of Eclipse Monthly for a whopping total of $1.00. I figured that was a pretty safe gamble.

I also grabbed The Weird #2 for 25 cents at the same time, but I intend to hold off until I've got 1, 3, and 4 before reading it. I'll probably have to go on-line for those, although I may hike out to the outskirts of the city to visit one of the further-afield shops before I do so.

I'm always bemused when shops have these lone issues hanging around, or when they have almost-but-not-quite-full runs in their back issues bins -- one store had multiple issues of 1-6 and 8 of the recent Mystery in Space mini-series for $2 a pop, but not a single #7 anywhere in the store. Maybe it had a special appearance by Wolverine... ;)

[Roquefort Raider]

Creatures on the loose 22-24 & 26-29, for less than a dollar each (and less than two when shipping charges are considered).

Those issues adapt the adventures of Lin Carter's Thongor to comic-book form; they were meant to capitalize on Conan's success. Nice art by a young Val Mayerik and a decidedly brilliant Vicente Alcazar, but Lin Carter (bless him) was not quite Robert Howard or Edgar Rice Burroughs.

[mrc1214]

Currently she just wrapped up a brilliant 4-issue mini called BEASTS OF BURDEN with writer Evan Dorkin for Dark Horse Comics. Highly recommended.



Michi

Ill second that i just purchased and read the series. I have extras a friend gave me his. Great,great series.

[benday-dot]

[QUOTE=Roquefort Raider;10356146]Creatures on the loose 22-24 & 26-29, for less than a dollar each (and less than two when shipping charges are considered).

Those issues adapt the adventures of Lin Carter's Thongor to comic-book form; they were meant to capitalize on Conan's success. Nice art by a young Val Mayerik and a decidedly brilliant Vicente Alcazar, but Lin Carter (bless him) was not quite Robert Howard or Edgar Rice Burroughs.[/.QUOTE]

I enjoyed that series RR. It's definitely not a-list material material, but the art was good. Mayerik and Alcazar certainly could draw their way around the sword and sorcery realms. And there was a Steranko cover in there too, following up on the gem that graced issue # 21, with Gullivar Jones. George Alec Effinger did the script for comic book Thongor. He was a successful and award winning sci-fi and fantasy writer as you likely know. I think Creatures on the Loose might have been his only comic book work.

[dan bailey]

I enjoyed that series RR. It's definitely not a-list material material, but the art was good. Mayerik and Alcazar certainly could draw their way around the sword and sorcery realms. And there was a Steranko cover in there too, following up on the gem that graced issue # 21, with Gullivar Jones. George Alec Effinger did the script for comic book Thongor. He was a successful and award winning sci-fi and fantasy writer as you likely know. I think Creatures on the Loose might have been his only comic book work.

He also wrote some of the Gullivar scripts, & in addition the GCD also lists 2 shorts in Chamber of Chills & 1 in Journey Into Mystery, as well as a Gray Mouser short in DC's Sword of Sorcery #5. He also had short stories in, I believe, both issues of Marvel's short-lived prose digest, The Haunt of Horror, & the GCD cites a 21-page text story for the first issue of the b&w mag of the same name.

Effinger was a guest at the last sf con I ever spent any time at, in Slidell, La., back in mid-'89; I wish I'd thought to ask about his brief dalliance with comics.

[irritant]

Having spent the Xmas season in the steamy jungles of Southern California, and having spent perhaps too much money on presents for myself, I have managed to return home with quite a haul. Highlights:

Detective Comics # 439 - This was my Holy Grail for the last year and I looked for it everywhere without success. Finally found it in a fairly beat-up condition for $12, which is is about as much as I've ever paid for a single comic. Anyway, it's a 100 pager and has "Night of the Stalker," "Manhunter" chapter 3, and a host of fine reprints.

Flash # 206 - $6. My other Holy Grail. Features the excellent "24 Hours of Immortality" (that title really doesn't make sense if you think about it) by Kanigher and Novick, and a good, hallucinogenic Elongated Man backup by Cary Bates and Dick Giordano.
Marvel Super-Heroes # 16 - $5. Phantom Eagle.
DC Super-Stars # 10 - $0.50. Strange Sports Stories. Held together with tape. Baseball: superheroes vs. super-villains. The most fun thing thing here isn't the main story proper, but the text-page play-by-play that follows it.
Giant-Size Avengers # 3 - $0.50. Part of the "Celestial Madonna" storyline.
Giant-Size Conan # 5 - $0.50. Reprints Conan #'s 14 and 15, featuring Elric.
World's Finest # 226 - $0.50. 100 pager.
Tarzan # 234 - $0.50. 100 pager. With a Detective Chimp tale!
Batman # 333 & 335 - $0.50 each, parts 2 & 4 of "Lazarus Affair."
Uncle Scrooge # 77 - $0.50. Not Barks or anything, but it's from 1968.

Some reprints:
Manhunter - 1984 reprint of the entire series.
Giant Superman Annual #1 - reprint from 1998.
Monster Menace # 1 - Kirby/Ditko/Lee monster stories. "The Terror of Tim Boo Ba" is awesome, with Lee laying down what reads like some beatnik version of a Howard or Lovecraft fantasy poem over some of my favorite Ditko art ever.
Captain Britain by Alans Moore and Davis.
Showcase Presents The Elongated Man
Showcase Presents Bat Lash


A local store has a variety of DC 100 Pagers for around $15 each. That's a lot for me, but I've been thinking of buying just one more for my birthday. Which are the most satisfying?

[benday-dot]

Having spent the Xmas season in the steamy jungles of Southern California, and having spent perhaps too much money on presents for myself, I have managed to return home with quite a haul. Highlights:

Detective Comics # 439 - This was my Holy Grail for the last year and I looked for it everywhere without success. Finally found it in a fairly beat-up condition for $12, which is is about as much as I've ever paid for a single comic. Anyway, it's a 100 pager and has "Night of the Stalker," "Manhunter" chapter 3, and a host of fine reprints.

Flash # 206 - $6. My other Holy Grail. Features the excellent "24 Hours of Immortality" (that title really doesn't make sense if you think about it) by Kanigher and Novick, and a good, hallucinogenic Elongated Man backup by Cary Bates and Dick Giordano.
Marvel Super-Heroes # 16 - $5. Phantom Eagle.
DC Super-Stars # 10 - $0.50. Strange Sports Stories. Held together with tape. Baseball: superheroes vs. super-villains. The most fun thing thing here isn't the main story proper, but the text-page play-by-play that follows it.
Giant-Size Avengers # 3 - $0.50. Part of the "Celestial Madonna" storyline.
Giant-Size Conan # 5 - $0.50. Reprints Conan #'s 14 and 15, featuring Elric.
World's Finest # 226 - $0.50. 100 pager.
Tarzan # 234 - $0.50. 100 pager. With a Detective Chimp tale!
Batman # 333 & 335 - $0.50 each, parts 2 & 4 of "Lazarus Affair."
Uncle Scrooge # 77 - $0.50. Not Barks or anything, but it's from 1968.

Some reprints:
Manhunter - 1984 reprint of the entire series.
Giant Superman Annual #1 - reprint from 1998.
Monster Menace # 1 - Kirby/Ditko/Lee monster stories. "The Terror of Tim Boo Ba" is awesome, with Lee laying down what reads like some beatnik version of a Howard or Lovecraft fantasy poem over some of my favorite Ditko art ever.
Captain Britain by Alans Moore and Davis.
Showcase Presents The Elongated Man
Showcase Presents Bat Lash


A local store has a variety of DC 100 Pagers for around $15 each. That's a lot for me, but I've been thinking of buying just one more for my birthday. Which are the most satisfying?

That's some quality stuff you have there. All of it great... especially the Tarzan 100 pager, the Phantom Eagle, Monster Menace and of course the Batman 439. The Showcase Elongated Man is also a favourite of mine.

I'd say you can get almost any 100 pager for cheaper than 15.00. The most expensive tend to be the Batman Manhunter issues, and you managed to get one for 12.00. Its hard to say which is best... depends on your taste and favourite characters. I like the Tarzans myself. And of course the Batman's are very nice.

[Rob Allen]

Creatures on the loose 22-24 & 26-29, for less than a dollar each (and less than two when shipping charges are considered).

Those issues adapt the adventures of Lin Carter's Thongor to comic-book form; they were meant to capitalize on Conan's success. Nice art by a young Val Mayerik and a decidedly brilliant Vicente Alcazar, but Lin Carter (bless him) was not quite Robert Howard or Edgar Rice Burroughs.

See if you can find the message that Alcazar hid in issue #29. He snuck it past editor Roy Thomas; I showed it to Roy at a con a couple of years ago and he'd never known about it. I've posted about it here and it's been in Alter Ego since then.

I summon the sharp eyes!

[Dan Felty]

I just got the Blazing Combat collection from Fantagraphics. Good God, does that ever have an artistic pedigree! I hope Archie Goodwin's scripts hold up.

[Roquefort Raider]

See if you can find the message that Alcazar hid in issue #29. He snuck it past editor Roy Thomas; I showed it to Roy at a con a couple of years ago and he'd never known about it. I've posted about it here and it's been in Alter Ego since then.

I summon the sharp eyes!

Found the archived message :


Vicente Alcazar is responsible for one of the best "hidden messages" in mainstream comics history. He drew the last few stories of the Thongor feature in Creatures on the Loose, and in issue #29, he put a message into one large panel. It was in mirror-image and in Spanish, and it said, "Esta viñeta se la dedico a Neal"; in English, approximately, "This picture I dedicate to Neal".

I noticed this message when I first read the comic, back in 1974. When I discovered online fandom in 2001, I looked for any mention of it, but couldn't find one. I posted to the GCD list about it in February 2002, and Bob Bailey wrote back: "He [Alcazar] worked for Neal at Continuity at one time. Neal got him his first main jobs in the US including a series for Warren (thus bringing this post back on-topic), which Neal worked on the first story with him." So that's why Vicente would be dedicating a picture to Neal. At the 2005 Emerald City Con, I showed this message to Roy Thomas, who had edited the comic. He had been unaware of it. Alcazar snuck one past everybody, it seems. Roy mentioned that Stan Lee frowned on hidden messages like this but Roy thought they were kinda fun.

So that was you? Very cool! I didn't remember the message but recalled having read about it in Alter Ego. It was hidden in a pane of stained glass, wasn't it? (I'll look it up later).

Barry Smith had put a message in Conan #8, too. Poor Roy! His artists were taking advantage of his good nature!

[Jezebel Bond]

I'm supposed to be on a hiatus from heroes but this was a steal.

JLA (first series) #90,91,95,138,158,200,204, Annual #1.

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/5457/jlahighgrade.jpg

All are high-grade VF/NM...which suits me fine for the earlier issues.

Total cost inclusive of shipping - $8.49 :smile:

The prices on Mile High Comics for these same books would be over $100 for the first 4 books alone using the lower VF grade...yeah Chuck, less than 9% of your prices lol

[The Confessor]

I just took a punt on a hardcover collection of Will Eisner's Hawks Of The Sea newspaper strip. I've been keeping my eye on this book while it's sat there on the shelf at my LCS for the best part of a year. The price has been steadily creeping down and down until today I saw that it was just £5.00...which isn't bad when you consider that the RRP is £14.99. Anyway, I figured for that price, what the hell!

Apparently, these stories were originally published between 1936 to 1938, pre-Action Comics #1, which probably makes it the oldest stuff in my collection now - as far as original publishing date goes.

So, is anybody familiar with this newspaper strip? Is it any good? I only really know Eisner from his work on The Spirit during the 1940s but I'm assuming that this is going to be somewhat like EC's short-lived Piracy series. The artwork looks really great.


http://i50.tinypic.com/344xnci.jpg

[MDG]

So, is anybody familiar with this newspaper strip? Is it any good? I only really know Eisner from his work on The Spirit during the 1940s but I'm assuming that this is going to be somewhat like EC's short-lived Piracy series. The artwork looks really great.
Actually, I don't think this was a strip--it was done at a time when comics were still mostly strip reprints, so some original material was created with title headers at the top of each page (I believe I read this in Jules Feiffer's book).

I picked up a used copy of the paperback version of this a long time ago--looks good, but I'm not sure i ever read it not big on pirates).