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AJD's comic notebook
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1,132 posts in this topic

Took me just under seven years to find the 'right' copies, but I really enjoy having this run.

Weird_Science_group.thumb.jpg.3de623fca4dd66be15f7ef5677af088b.jpg

Believe it or not, Chuck Rozanski can take credit for putting me onto ECs in general, and these in particular. I was scratching around as a collector, buying an odd mix of SA, ducks and Australian comics and I didn't really know much about GA (or Atomic Age). In one of his newsletters back then, Chuck mentioned ECs, and described them as some of the best comics ever. (He also compared them to Fables, which I also really like, but fails to strike me as a sensible comparison, but hey...)

I thought I should check them out (when has Chuck ever been wrong? :insane: ) and I bought this one on eBay:

TFT_26.thumb.jpg.a278d734a0620414113f8ee8a8a9bd59.jpg

The rest, as they say, is history. Today I have 122 Ecs, including full runs of Weird Science, Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat, Aces High, Valor and Incredible Science Fiction. I'm two short of Weird Fantasy.

The one thing I've never got into is their horror comics, which is a bit ironic given the role they played in cementing the publisher's name in comic infamy. I had a Tales From the Crypt #43 at one stage, but I sold it off. I guess I just don't get the genre. :shrug:

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Back here I had a small selection of aviation photos that had been used as models for comic book covers. While not exactly the same, I think there's enough similarity here to add it to the list:

 

b17-waist-gunners-with-m2-europe-wwii-2011.jpg

 

0.jpg

 

The artist has removed the spent cartridge collector boxes (and added the spent cartridges to the floor, where they'd be a hazard to the aircrew as they moved around - hence the boxes) and repositioned the LH gunner to be shooting rearwards rather than forwards, no doubt so the enemy aircraft could appear in the shot. Of all the non-GGA Wings covers, this one is my favourite. Must get me a copy someday. (The scan here is borrowed.)

Edited by AJD
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You have an awesome collection, AJD! The group shot of Weird Science is amazing, it like seven years well spent obtaining the "right" copies.

+1 :applause:

 

The colors are amazing. I've sold off most of my Weird Sciences, but seeing this shot makes me want to go after them again!

 

 

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Took me just under seven years to find the 'right' copies, but I really enjoy having this run.

 

Weird_Science_group_zpsh2irbrlp.jpg

 

Believe it or not, Chuck Rozanski can take credit for putting me onto ECs in general, and these in particular. I was scratching around as a collector, buying an odd mix of SA, ducks and Australian comics and I didn't really know much about GA (or Atomic Age). In one of his newsletters back then, Chuck mentioned ECs, and described them as some of the best comics ever. (He also compared them to Fables, which I also really like, but fails to strike me as a sensible conmparison, but hey...)

 

I thought I should check them out (when has Chuck ever been wrong? :insane: ) and I bought this one on eBay:

 

TFT_26_zps2778f736.jpg

 

The rest, as they say, is history. Today I have 122 Ecs, including full runs of Weird Science, Two-Fisted Tales, Frontline Combat, Aces High, Valor and Incredible Science Fiction. I'm two short of Weird Fantasy.

 

The one thing I've never got into is their horror comics, which is a bit ironic given the role they played in cementing the publisher's name in comic infamy. I had a Tales From the Crypt #43 at one stage, but I sold it off. I guess I just don't get the genre. :shrug:

 

INCREDIBLE :golfclap: And yes, even though the fact that the genre they are most noted for isn't your thing, that only makes this MORE of a stand out EC run as probably most extended EC collections are the classic Horror books.
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I'm likely to be on a buying hiatus for some time, but I'd like to keep this thread going by actually enjoying and sharing the books I already own, including the insides of them. :o

So before I do that, here's the last couple of purchases I made. A Mad #12, in the style of Harper's literary magazine:

Mad_12.thumb.jpg.6be0b5727a61581da2c66ae0f4ffdfbc.jpg

And a wonderful war bonds cover from DC (how many breaches of the Geneva Convention can you spot, boys and girls?)

Boy_Commandos_13.thumb.jpg.80255fdfe40683869de3f9ae0d542bcf.jpg

Next time around, stand by for a thrilling new feature - "Under the covers with AJD". (Don't worry, it'll be better than that sounds.)

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Mad_12_zpsob8egijs.jpg

 

 

This is an interesting comic, if one is into conspiracy theories.

 

Legend has it that Archie publisher John L. Goldwater was so incensed at this parody (of Archie) that he threw his not inconsiderable weight behind the movement to establish the "Comics Code".

 

Looking at the Mad publishing timeline and the date of the establishment of the CCA it does hold up - as a theory.

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Back here I had a small selction of aviation photos that had been used as models for comic book covers. While not exactly the same, i think there's enough similarity here to add it to the list:

 

b17-waist-gunners-with-m2-europe-wwii-2011.jpg

 

0.jpg

 

The arist has removed the spent cartridge collector boxes (and added the spent cartridges to the floor where they'd be a hazard to the aircrew as they moved around, hence the boxes) and repositioned the LH gunner to be shooting rearwards rather than forwards - no doubt so the enemy aircraft could appear in the shot. Of all the non-GGA Wings covers, this one is my favourite. Must get me a copy someday. (The scan here is borrowed.)

 

 

One of my favorite covers of all time- thanks for sharing

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**Warning - aviation nerdiness ahead **

Continuing on the aviation theme here, I promised to come back to the subject of the Soviet fighter on the cover of this Australian Fight comic (which shares its cover with Wings 121):

Fight_31_Oz.thumb.JPG.40b7bf05b0ed6ea8d17f03d362f64e69.JPG

It's interesting because there was no Soviet fighter that looked like that in service. While that mightn't mean much - after all, there are a few imaginary aeroplanes on comic covers and Wings 112 even has a flying saucer - but in this case I think there's a bit more to it. The same plane appears on Wings 118 here (the aircraft in the foreground is a US Navy F9F Panther, quite well rendered):

 

2243577-118__winter_1952_.jpg

 

And again on Wings 119 (the unlikely looking American aircraft is actually a quite accurately drawn F7U Cutlass - an exotic bird to be sure).

 

2243578-119__june_1953_.jpg

 

I thought I had this sorted out, because the appearance of this 'non plane' is the same as this model kit, first released in 1953:

 

Aurora%2066-100%20Mig19sldbrw.JPG

 

My first thought was that the artists used the model as a... err... model. But that can't be right, because the Wings appeared in 1952. So it's more likely both of them used some other source material. But what source material? The aircraft they drew/modelled isn't a MiG-19, which looks very different, but was actually a one-off Soviet protype that first flew in 1949 or 50, the MiG I-340:

 

I340_1.jpg

 

I can't find any western source reference for that aircraft as early as 1952, but there must have been. (Air Trail magazine in June 1953 has an article.) The I-340 never entered service, and would have been nothing but a footnote in Cold War aviation history, except that it somehow got immortalised on comic books and in model form (with two wrong designations, Yak-25 and MiG-19)!

 

You can read some more about these aircraft, model kits and the mystery that was Soviet aviation in the early 1950s here.

 

 

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Interesting stuff, despite the offscale geek factor.

 

I note the tail section on the "model" MIG 19 is very different to the real plane and the comic book version.

 

Your thoughts?

 

Last bit of aviation esoterica before getting back to the comics... the tail on the model kit is highly reminiscent of the WW2 German design (which wasn't built) of the Ta 183.

 

392720053.jpg

 

It wasn't unusual for the Soviets to trial German designs in the 1945 - 50 period, and there were rumours that they'd put the Ta183 into production (they didn't). My guess is that an 'artist's impression' added the tail.

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OK, now it's time to get under the covers guys... guys? No, wait, come back...

I think I'm going to start my random walk through the interiors of my comics with this one:

G557.thumb.jpg.081142ac420a8d1f11d0fc95b08c30d5.jpg

It's not a great comic, but it's a very significant one for me. I bought it in 1973, just after reaching double figures in age. My entire collection got given away when I left home for university, which didn't bother me too much at the time, but I did miss them later. Then this one turned up on eBay and I had to get it back. I knew it was once mine because the large rubber stamp on the cover was one my dad gave me, and I marked almost all my books with it.

When I opened it up, I found a Barks one page in the interior cover, a few pretty mediocre duck stories... and this on the inside back cover:

G557_internal_2.thumb.jpg.58320a4db3a7fad35de47c93a56a39eb.jpg

The 10 year old me had done the puzzle! I vaguely remember trying to work out what the hell the third one was - that star shaped object meant nothing to me at the time. We used to play jacks, but always used 'knucklebones' rather than those ones. Still, the context let me triumph, and now I can preserve my efforts in 'internet carbonite', as Duffman_Comics put it. :grin:

There are at least two others of my early collection still floating around. I got sniped on one on eBay once, and the No.315 here is also one of mine. I hope to track down others, but they're the only ones I've seen in 10 years.

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Wow, it's been a while since I had anything to post. For a variety of reasons my comic collecting has taken a back seat to life recently (and not in bad way). And I have to say that the rise in the US$ and international postage rates over the past 12 months has really taken a bit of the fun out of this... But there's always local comics (when Americans aren't buying them because of the exchange rate and Australia's low postage costs) and I did get this nice Australian Fiction House reprint recently.

Jumbo17.thumb.jpg.a182e0559b3fd43661c73bedfdbd2461.jpg

The cover is from Jumbo #145, March 1951

893372-145.jpg

 

The contents are different and the australian book is only 24 pages in total. No 'killers of the crypt' for me. There are two stories in there from Jumbo #125, a ZX-5 spy story and The Hawk. I'm not sure where the untitled Sheena story is from. It has a gorilla and a leopard in it, which should help narrow it down. :insane:

 

 

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Wow, it has been a while since I posted much here, so it must be time for a collection update. My trusted old HP scanner has packed it in, but I'll add a few Heritage scans of recent pickups.

With this recent win, I need one Weird Fantasy to finish off the run of 22. Still missing #14(2).

WF_07.thumb.jpg.272768b1fe864e6d2b103dfd5b117207.jpg

And another EC - with this one I still need #s 11, 13, 14, 15 and 17 of the 23 Mad comics.

Mad_16.thumb.jpg.fd392af4de803960b0d7df11d37cdb5f.jpg

I really like the 'photo' of the comic book dealer selling the kid a 'hit'. Is it just me, or does the adult look a little like Bill Gaines? lol

It's late and Photobucket isn't playing nicely, so I'll post some more tomorrow. Some ducks and some Australian Fiction House books.

 

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