AJD

On 4/22/2024 at 1:57 AM, Hepcat said:

 I strongly disagree.

I don't see how anyone but DC should have the right to Superman and Batman these days.

 

So would you support Shakespeare's great great great... ... great grandchildren still charging people royalties for any use of his words, plots or characters, or even preventing anyone doing a resetting of his works? I think the existing laws already protect creators more than is probably required to continue to provide an incentive to create.

That looks a lot like a reasonably common heraldic motif of a cross with crossed swords behind. A bit of Googling shows versions with Maltese crosses, Celtic crosses  and even the Bulgarian Air Force circa 1940 used a similar image (below)! So I'd say that's almost certainly been put there by a previous owner who happened to own the stamp, possibly as a 'this one is mine' mark, rather than a store or distributor.

On 4/23/2024 at 7:54 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

I'm glad you said that as I thought I was the only one who undergraded it. I went for 7.5 too, but on the basis that I'd call it a 7.0, so CGC would go higher. 

There were three of us at least with 7.5 on that one. I have CGC 6.5s that have smaller flaws.

How about a slightly off model Felix from an Australian GA house ad?

On 4/22/2024 at 1:12 PM, BlowUpTheMoon said:

That label was meant for an invisible book.

While it's hardly a classic cover, my favourite would be this one, as part of my war bonds cover collection. It's also the only Tec I own, so it can also go in a future 'your least favourite Tec cover' thread.

On 4/21/2024 at 11:44 AM, Point Five said:

SUZIE #56 CGC 2.5 Universal, OW Pages. Racy GGA cover that's seen some strong recent sales... check GPA. 

$250  
 

 

Our piano needs tuning...

On 4/19/2024 at 11:39 AM, John R said:

Grades submitted

On 4/10/2024 at 2:05 PM, TomO1357 said:

.  They should've never even had 9.9's or 10.0's in the first place, since 9.8 was already the established high grade, but there's no going back on that now.

 

Disagree. The 10 point grading scale makes no sense if 9.8 is the highest. FWIW, I think that it would have been much more consistent to have 9.0, 9.5 and 10.0 - where 9.0 includes today's 9.2, 9.5 = 9.4 and 9.6 and 10.0 = 9.8, 9.9 and 10.0 (And get rid of 1.8 while we're at it.)

Of course, there's less money in the whole business of grading if you do that, which is why they don't.

On 4/16/2024 at 2:14 AM, Hepcat said:

Dells from the early 1940's to mid-1962 nevertheless seem to be far more common than other comics from the same years.

They sold more in the first place. No mystery there.

I'm a bit suspicious of those 'Dell file copies'. I have other Dells that are file copies, and are clearly marked as such by a large rubber stamp:

But others are designated as file copies but have no distinguishing marks at all as far as I can see. Here's one I own, cracked out. It's a nice copy, for sure, but I'm not convinced it ever lived in Mr Delacorte's filing system.

I might be an old curmudgeon*, but that Marvel blurb sounds pretty dire. I'm hoping it's better than I fear.

*Narrator: yep, he is.

The same bad man preparing to hurt the same kitties, Canadian variant

Great stuff Mr Duck. I hope you don't mind me linking something related in your thread. Here is a short about a famous B-17 that had some Caniff art on the nose "A bit o' Lace" (I've started it at the close ups of the art)

On 4/10/2024 at 1:20 PM, Hepcat said:

What?!!! Those nasty girls are preparing to stab members of an endangered species! Just wait until Tarzan hears of their misbehaviour. He'll turn each of them over his knee and give them a good spanking.

 

Preparing?

On 4/10/2024 at 10:42 PM, BA773 said:

Thanks! In fact i firstly tought to you when made this thread, your profil picture was in my mind

Oh, and here's what #1 looks like.

I'm not a Phantom collector, but I've been dipping into the series from time to time for about 50 years. I still buy one every now and then, and usually buy the 200 page annuals. Here are some answers to your questions as I see it.

On 4/10/2024 at 3:27 PM, BA773 said:

Are the stories are often just some reprint of old tales? They re seems to be a lot of contents with frequently several stories in a book so im not really sure that you get often some new stuff...

They are a mix of reprints of old stories, compilations of the still ongoing daily and weekend strips and new specially drawn for comics stories from various parts of the world.

On 4/10/2024 at 3:27 PM, BA773 said:

Are the plots varied or you r often bored by the ressemblance of the stories?

There are many similarities between the stories, though some of the recent ones have gone into new territory, like the Sunday series last year set in an underground civilisation of 'almost humans'.

On 4/10/2024 at 3:27 PM, BA773 said:

Is there a continuity or not?

Yes, about 600 years of it, from the first Phantom on. The Phantom has aged verrrrry slowly, but he has married and had children in the time since the character first appeared.

On 4/10/2024 at 3:27 PM, BA773 said:

When you started into it? and are the comics changed a lot since this time?

They have been around all my life and as kids we used to get them as giveaways in bags of goodies at local fairs. The comics haven't changed much at all, other than the production quality and the layouts of the stories produced for comics.

On 3/26/2024 at 1:30 AM, Robot Man said:

Lordy! What a stash. Makes you wonder what was in those piles. 

But, I doubt most of you high grade folks would be interested…

On top of the pile up and right of his head is this one.

On 4/10/2024 at 1:49 AM, Dr. Balls said:

Excellent suggestions. An alternative to the hair dryer is to put your oven at about 160-180 degrees and warm it up in there for 40 minutes or an hour. You may experience some slight bowing to the paper, which can be flattened out with weight easy enough. That low of a temp won't damage or discolor the paper. I've used this method to eliminate mildew smell in paper and had no problems with heat, other than a light bowing of the paper.

Oh, you mean 160-180F, right? For the developed world unused to freedom units that's 70-80C

On 4/10/2024 at 11:50 AM, RockMyAmadeus said:

Actually 'Vibrant Reds' is a pretty good band name.