What Classic Comics Have You Purchased Lately? Pt. 2

[benday-dot]

No kidding! Do I know how to pick 'em or what? I'll have to take a pic of all my jungle books once they all arrive. I've got a few more besides the 3 posted here.

I periodically collect jungle comics as well. My own latest acquisition was "The World Around Us #19", or "An Illustrated History of the Jungle". Its a square bound Gilberton (Classics Illustrated) giant. No earth rocking stories in here (Stanley meets Livingstone and the ilk), but its got some gorgeous artwork, by artists who really know how to draw the flora and fauna of Africa. Al Williamson, Reed Crandall, Gray Morrow and Sam Glanzman all contribute to this 1960 publication. The cover is a very nice painting of the "they don't make 'em like that anymore school" by Gerald McCann.

[BDiogenes]

I gave up on ebay for just that reason.

[referring to high shipment charges to Canada]

The reason to give up on eBay is their sexual mistreatment of Marilyn Monroe whereby they twice allowed an auction of the vault directly above hers so some perverse man could be laid to rest on top of her, as some unprofessional CBS Radio News announcer (at 3pm EST at that time) put it. Let me be clear that I have no special fondness for Marilyn Monroe; I only saw as an adult my first movie including her in the last ten days, "Ladies of the Chorus" (1949). The seller of the vault was a woman whose husband had died and who needed money, and she would've elected to bury her husband in a more modest location if the vault could've been sold for the asking price or more. These personal circumstances are why she knew the exact location of MM's site. The first auction brought much publicity and a fraudulent bid from some party in Japan. I declared that if eBay permitted a second auction they would be persona non grata, and they did. For the first auction alone, then California Attorney General Jerry Brown should've criminally prosecuted eBay for pandering. I FEEL VERY STRONGLY ABOUT THIS WHOLE SUBJECT. This incident is the sickest thing I've ever heard, not the worst, the sickest. The second sickest might be what the Manson puppets did to Sharon Tate, but in that case they had taken drugs chronically. Maybe MM enabled the sexual exploitation of herself when she was alive, but now she's dead so she can't any more and virtually every human being should be entitled to have their gravesite respected. Meg Whitman is a piece of filth. eBay was continually garnering publicity and profiting from selling Nazi trash and morbid garbage. Just as importantly, we fans should patronize fan-oriented sites, not publicly traded gargantuas who care only for their shareholders if even them. I am rabidly weary of giants like ebay, Facebook, YouTube, etc. whose public relations juggernauts would have you believe they are the only game in town and who are fed by the inchoate, whereas the Web should be about choice and the little guy. If I had a sig, it'd be "Avoid eBay".

pmpknface, actually, this post, my 100th, is dedicated to you. I appreciate that you may have to resort to eBay due to the rarity of what you seek, but not so the rest of us. Drain eBay of the majority of its sales, and it might collapse. Like others I have enjoyed your sharing of L.B. Cole covers, and such constitutes the main topic of this message. From what you've written I assume you also read the comics. You remarked one of them should be good based on the nature of its cover. My view would be one can't buy periodicals strictly for their covers. E.g., when I would shop that back issue store on 8th Ave. between 42nd and 43rd where I bought my first three Spideys, near the pile of old comics was a display of "Jack and Jill"'s. A couple of years before, circa '64, I had a subscription but never liked it that much, for whatever causes. While I loved staring at the lovely covers, I couldn't possibly have bought (and stored) years and years of issues almost solely for their appealing covers. Therefore, I ask you to expound on your approach and discuss whether you are tempted to buy every issue of some of the titles you pick up though they wouldn't all include L.B. Cole art. That's what I would do, unless in a given title he did incredibly few of the issues. Did he ever draw interior art?
__________I've never heard tell of Star, let alone some of the titles. To me they were at most nondescript listings, pricy at that, in old catalogues I might still possess. You made them come alive. I was first drawn in when you began with romance coms, which are so seldom addressed. I thought this was wonderful. So moved was I that I mentioned this to one of the ladies in my life and maybe described one of the covers. I've never understood who purchased these books new, and my theory supposes it was otherwise nonfannish girls and gals, as opposed to the ladies who attend cons and post here. I find the insinuation by the words, "daring" and "intimate" highly amusing. Note this dates pre-Code. For me as one who's literally never opened a romance comic I would love to read some of your fare, and could you sample a bit, maybe from the issue with the pool cover?
__________You stand quite correct that LB is a masterful compositionist and drawer; I particularly like his work on ladies' hair. His themes and wordings greatly entertain. Since color is the single greatest factor for me, the subdued shades of that era represent a drawback versus what would emerge with the Silver Age, but this can be overcome as shown in the two issues of "Jungle Comics" you displayed. I also like the coloring in the romance com with the white background and blue-and-red logo. Does the fact that the reproductions you post vary so much in size betoken that you are offering in some instances the photos of the sellers? Nothing I've penned intends to imply I don't absorb the covers and matter shared by others, but may I chime somewhat facetiously that I'm not sure I myself would ever play the role of a dog or cat showing off their latest catch! :) Say hello to Paul Revere's ghost for us at the Classic Comics forum.

[zryson]

Bought for $15 bucks. I found the reference a little disappointing. Would have been nicer if it had been printed on better paper. Also with more notes/history.

[MDG]

Yeah, my friend saw that at a Barnes & Noble for $12 and picked it up for me. I thought it was a little thin, but I believe Evanier's still planning to put out a more definitive and detailed bio of Kirby.

[CromagnonMan]

Bought the Jack Kirby Challengers of the Unknown omnibus. A nice book for the price, though it has some "gutter loss", but it doesnt concern me that much, i can still read and enjoy it, its in colour and didnt cost me that much more than a b&w showcase volume. The first story was great work, too. Typical Kirby-weirdness, about a cube which contains 3 threats as well as they key to immortal life. Some of the threats are pretty wacko, but in a good way.

[pmpknface]

pmpknface, actually, this post, my 100th, is dedicated to you.

Thanks! I appreciate it!

I appreciate that you may have to resort to eBay due to the rarity of what you seek, but not so the rest of us. Drain eBay of the majority of its sales, and it might collapse. Like others I have enjoyed your sharing of L.B. Cole covers, and such constitutes the main topic of this message. From what you've written I assume you also read the comics. You remarked one of them should be good based on the nature of its cover. My view would be one can't buy periodicals strictly for their covers. E.g., when I would shop that back issue store on 8th Ave. between 42nd and 43rd where I bought my first three Spideys, near the pile of old comics was a display of "Jack and Jill"'s. A couple of years before, circa '64, I had a subscription but never liked it that much, for whatever causes. While I loved staring at the lovely covers, I couldn't possibly have bought (and stored) years and years of issues almost solely for their appealing covers. Therefore, I ask you to expound on your approach and discuss whether you are tempted to buy every issue of some of the titles you pick up though they wouldn't all include L.B. Cole art. That's what I would do, unless in a given title he did incredibly few of the issues. Did he ever draw interior art?

Yes, I do occasionally read the interiors of the golden age comics that I buy. However 80% of the reason if not MORE is because of the cover. I have no qualms buying a comic for it's cover alone, especially when it's a 60-70 year old gem of a comic. I also have no problems (at the moment) storing the 19,500+ comics that I have. Finding time to organize them often does come at a premium though...

__________I've never heard tell of Star, let alone some of the titles. To me they were at most nondescript listings, pricy at that, in old catalogues I might still possess. You made them come alive. I was first drawn in when you began with romance coms, which are so seldom addressed. I thought this was wonderful. So moved was I that I mentioned this to one of the ladies in my life and maybe described one of the covers. I've never understood who purchased these books new, and my theory supposes it was otherwise nonfannish girls and gals, as opposed to the ladies who attend cons and post here. I find the insinuation by the words, "daring" and "intimate" highly amusing. Note this dates pre-Code. For me as one who's literally never opened a romance comic I would love to read some of your fare, and could you sample a bit, maybe from the issue with the pool cover?

STAR PUBLICATIONS was only around for a short time, 1949–1954. Cole was oe of the founders, but I think the attack on comics around that time made it fade into memory. Here's a decent list of comics they put out: http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/Li...3-90e89950d2d4
I think I noticed the horror titles first, but the romance books being more affordable because more and more fun to track down. I've picked up a bunch lately because some more rare ones have popped up that I couldn't let slip by. The descriptions of the comics and the paragraph synopsis always crack me up! The stories on the romance books are often better than the horror ones too.

__________You stand quite correct that LB is a masterful compositionist and drawer; I particularly like his work on ladies' hair. His themes and wordings greatly entertain. Since color is the single greatest factor for me, the subdued shades of that era represent a drawback versus what would emerge with the Silver Age, but this can be overcome as shown in the two issues of "Jungle Comics" you displayed. I also like the coloring in the romance com with the white background and blue-and-red logo. Does the fact that the reproductions you post vary so much in size betoken that you are offering in some instances the photos of the sellers? Nothing I've penned intends to imply I don't absorb the covers and matter shared by others, but may I chime somewhat facetiously that I'm not sure I myself would ever play the role of a dog or cat showing off their latest catch! :) Say hello to Paul Revere's ghost for us at the Classic Comics forum.

Yes, I often post the seller's pics because I take crap pics and these are on the 'net already. The colors are quite striking aren't they? Cole referred to them as "poster color" covers. I love the odd use of pink all over the place, or the multi-colored / plaid outfits. They just crack me up!!!

Thanks again, and I'll try to post more pics of my stuff in group shots in the future for all to see.

[icctrombone]

Bought for $15 bucks. I found the reference a little disappointing. Would have been nicer if it had been printed on better paper. Also with more notes/history.

I bought this over a year ago for 9.99. Ashamed to say that I haven't read it yet.

[SoulweaverR]

I have owned for years hulk no#2 and #3. this is from the original 6 issues before it was cancelled. With a bit of luck I am currently in talks to get no#1 a comic I have wanted ever since I first fell in love with the green giant. Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has always been a favorite sotry, which is probably the reason I like banner/hulk so much.

fingers crossed.

[Roquefort Raider]

Greg Hatcher has a great hobby, which he sometimes talks about on his blog: traveling the side roads of his home state to find second-hand bookstores (and sometimes finding treasures therein). My wife and I decided to follow his example today and settled on the less-exotic Mont-Royal street in Montreal, where we found more than a half-dozen of good venues offering the following for a paltry price:



X-Men annual #4 has a piece of its cover art missing due to a clumsily-removed price tag, but at 50 cents I wasn't going to leave it there. The other issues went for 75 cents to a dollar, with the Lobo trade going for four bucks. (The latter is signed "best wishes -(unreadable").

It had been years since I had set foot in a decent second-hand bookshop, and I had a great time. There's one on De La Roche street with truly valuable books, included vintage European books (one rare Épervier Bleu book going for 750 $).

I also found these neat French-language books for around 5 dollars each:



I love the Renaud cover.

[dan bailey]

Just got in a couple of beat-up issues of Brave & the Bold from an eBay seller -- #s 63 & 67. At $6.50 (mostly shipping), that's about twice what I'd usually pay for reader copies, but #63 just never shows up for less than the $10 range even in not-so-hot condition. I've been wanting to read it for years, ever since (IIRC) Craig Shutt dumped on it in his "Mr. Silver Age" column in CBG.

Admittedly, probably the vast majority of people could resist this cover --

--

-- but luckily for humanity, I'm not the vast majority of people, & I by god want to read about "Two Super-Chicks on a New Kick! Supergirl -- A Paris Model! Wonder Woman -- The Toast of the Jet Set!"

(Too, the art is by John Rosenberger, who did some really nice romance work.)

B&B #67 I've already got as a reprint in Super DC Giant #16 (in color, of course) & Showcase Presents The Brave & the Bold vol. 1 (b&w, natch), but what the heck -- you can't go wrong with a go-go checks cover, I always say.

Speaking of Showcase Presents, in a better world than this one ish 63 would've shown up in one of the Wonder Woman volumes, but that didn't happen. The other possibility is Supergirl vol. 3, but who knows if that'll ever come out, anyway.

[Dizzy D]

Picked up a couple of comics by Gotlib (Rhaa Lovely, Rha GnaGna and Rubrique-à-brac). The art-style appeals to me, but the humour is mostly miss for me. Could be that it's lost in translation (I have dutch versions), though none of it seems to be pun-based or otherwise language-related.

Quoting myself; bad form. Ah, never mind.

Anyway, reading some of the other works (Rubrique-à-brac) and the humor is working for me in those. The other works were more wordy though, while this one lets the art speak for itself (still quite wordy at times though).

[Scott Harris]

Just got in a couple of beat-up issues of Brave & the Bold from an eBay seller -- #s 63 & 67. At $6.50 (mostly shipping), that's about twice what I'd usually pay for reader copies, but #63 just never shows up for less than the $10 range even in not-so-hot condition. I've been wanting to read it for years, ever since (IIRC) Craig Shutt dumped on it in his "Mr. Silver Age" column in CBG.

Admittedly, probably the vast majority of people could resist this cover --

--

-- but luckily for humanity, I'm not the vast majority of people, & I by god want to read about "Two Super-Chicks on a New Kick! Supergirl -- A Paris Model! Wonder Woman -- The Toast of the Jet Set!"

(Too, the art is by John Rosenberger, who did some really nice romance work.)

B&B #67 I've already got as a reprint in Super DC Giant #16 (in color, of course) & Showcase Presents The Brave & the Bold vol. 1 (b&w, natch), but what the heck -- you can't go wrong with a go-go checks cover, I always say.

Speaking of Showcase Presents, in a better world than this one ish 63 would've shown up in one of the Wonder Woman volumes, but that didn't happen. The other possibility is Supergirl vol. 3, but who knows if that'll ever come out, anyway.

Great pickup, Dan. I would have swooped in on the 63 in a heartbeat if I had seen it.

[zryson]

Visited the bookstores this weekend and had a good time. There seems to be an overabundance of items to choose from as more sellers offload their collections (for different reasons; financial, space, changing interests). Bought a stack of Star Wars comics which was really cool (those Dark Horse ones), as well as some Green Lantern from late 1970's and early 1980's, as well as some X-Men, Spider-Man, Superman, Batman and other assorted DC and Marvel comic books. Saw plenty of other offerings (that I might investigate at a deeper level next time, if they still have them) as I saw quite a few Archie and various Hardcover collected volumes. Often these are about half or a fraction of the original RRP.

[DubipR]

The grandparents sent some birthday money a week earlier, which lead to some Silver Age buys (50-70% off).
I picked up:

Sea Devils #18 (VG-)
Plop! #2 (VG)
Conan the Barbarian #14 (VG+)
Conan the Barbarian #16 (VG+)



Showcase #68 & 69 (NM)

[The Confessor]

^^ Those Maniaks books look like a lot of fun. I'm properly intrigued by them.