Doohickamabob

Waou! All we love about comics! I love the double-cover "surprise": "Hey, this looks like about a fine.....aaaaaaand there's a VF+ or NM inside...."

Recently picked these up for about a buck each. I am a happy camper. The first comic I ever bought (actually it was bought for me -- thanks, grandpa) was one of these issues at the Cedar Park amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. I love these things... Don't care if I mess them up while eating snacks either...

I've posted a couple of these before, but a couple of others are new additions. I like the "Alfred E. Neuman vs. shark" theme... Or in one case, "Alfred E. Neuman as shark" theme.

That's an astonishing sight. If I owned that I would be afraid to handle it!

Classic!

Oh man, she's toast.

Exactly! Furthermore... Frazetta, Orlando, and Wood were all friends who went to art school together (they were known as "The Fleagle Gang," along with Al Williamson and Angelo Torres), so it's very likely that Frazetta copied Orlando/Wood's composition with their blessing. Various details, along with the overall composition and similarity in coloration, make it an irrefutable connection:

Nothing to see here... Nobody on the GA forum (especially Baker fans) will be interested in this stuff... By the way -- what happened here? Looks like somebody was doing an art project. I'd like to see the results of this:

WTF? How is this done?

How cool, I hope they find something to phone home about (hardy har).

I don't think it's Baker. It's probably Bob Lubbers or Walter Johnson, in my opinion.

What a come-hither look... Some photo covers are terrific. I've always been fond of this one:

Ugh, what a sad story! That seems to have happened to a lot of people though... Some moms (or dads) were just too overzealous about cleaning. "My boy is growing up....he'll never want these dumb ol' comics and baseball cards. He's a man now, and these things are worthless anyway." Painful! The paperbacks you're thinking of are cartoonist Al Jaffee's "Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions." That's one of his best concepts for a series outside of his Mad art, and it made the books interactive.

Dang! Thanks for the side-by-side shots, that's really the best way to appreciate the original art.

I didn't know what Ninjak was but a quick search suggests it's a bit of a Ninjoke? Whatever the case, I am now a proud member of the Ninjak #1 club!

Nah, it's from 1990. Nice and shiny though. I've found some late 1970s Pete Roses and various noteworthy-name rookie cards so I am sure I made my money back on this deal. Also, I went back to the yard sale and for $5, I bought me one of them talking Darth Vader helmets (complete with inner microphone and chest panel that can breathe hard and say Darth Vadery things). My cranium is too big for it but it'll make a fun gift for someone. They threw in a light saber for free, along with a Comic Con swag bag from 2008. So I am nerded out to the max here.

I hope you're right! Just started looking through a couple dozen of them (out of probably a couple thousand). So far I've found some piles of Topps from 1982 and 1984, but not before that. UPDATE: Found a big stack of 1978's.... Those are the ones you're probably referring to. Also there are non-Topps cards like Fleers, etc. Another card is one of those limited-edition things with wood from the baseball bat as part of the card. (#70 out of 130 produced.) 2nd UPDATE: Now that I've had time to really look at it, the big white box in the photo is entirely of cards from the 1978-1984 era. I estimate at least 5,000 cards. I was looking through a bunch and a half-dollar coin was wedged in between some cards. So I already made back 50 cents on my investment. One of the comics is a NM "Ninjak #1" from 1993 with chromium cover from Valiant. It's probably not worth much but it looks really cool.

I'm glad someone thinks so!

That they did! Scads of great artists over the years illustrated the pages of Mad. If you backed me into a corner and forced me to pick one favourite though, it would still have to be Jack Davis. Found my movie program! Somewhat different design but still looks great side-by-side with the Mad paperback cover (nice wrap-around on you your image there). Jack Davis double-dipped on this one -- he did art for the thing and the satirical version of the thing. Now that's versatility.

I noticed a small yard sale down the street with some clothes and junky looking stuff in the front yard. Decided to go check it out anyway. Turned out they were having a quick money-raising sale for their family members in Chile who lost their home in a fire. Apparently a few days ago there was a HUGE fire that wiped out hundreds of homes in Valparaiso, Chile. I really need to read the international news more often. Here's the story . They had donations from various families. When I walked up toward the garage, I noticed a table with a bunch of baseball cards, gaming cards, and some Dark Horse comics. I asked the guy manning the sale "How much for the cards?" and I pointed to a folder of baseball cards. He said, "What are you offering?" I said, "I don't know much about baseball cards, but I have a friend who does." This is a true statement -- I really don't know much about them. The seller said, "How about $5?" I said, "$5 for each folder?" He replied, "No, $5 for all of them." (There were 3 folders.) I said, "Sure, okay, but let me look at some more stuff." I noticed another big box of baseball cards underneath the table. Then I noticed a whole bin full of baseball cards, Pokemon Cards, Yu-Gi-Oh cards, and World of Warcraft cards. There was a gold-plated Pokemon collector thing, and a bunch of Ken Griffey cards in hard-plastic cases, various Topps cards, a folder full of basketball cards, etc. They were mostly from the '80s and '90s and my understanding is most of that stuff is near-worthless. But nonetheless it seemed like a decent risk. I told the guy that my understanding is most sports cards from the '80s/'90s aren't worth much because they were over-printed, but sometimes there are hidden gems. He said, "Yeah, we realize that, but we don't have time to sell this on Craigslist or eBay or anything. We just need cash fast for our family in Chile." I said okay. So I kept asking, "How much if I add this?" and the guy keeps just throwing out "$5 more" till I'm up to about $25. Then his Chilean mother gives me a cheese empenada. I got everything in this picture, plus a nice big set of hard white dominos, for $30. I added extra onto the sale price as a donation. I figure worst-case scenario, I lose a couple bucks and make friends with some neighbors. Plus I got free hot cheese empenadas... With salsa... I know nothing at all about collector cards, but it will be fun to sort through them and learn about them before selling them or whatever. Here's a pic that shows most of the stuff:

That they did! Scads of great artists over the years illustrated the pages of Mad. If you backed me into a corner and forced me to pick one favourite though, it would still have to be Jack Davis. Jack Davis is probably their most versatile artist -- he could do caricatures, covers, one-page panel gags, etc. I've read he was a real Southern gentleman type, working with a big group of New Yorkers, immigrants, etc. I remember as a kid recognizing that Jack Davis had done a movie poster unrelated to Mad and thinking, "Hey! That's the Mad artist!" and feeling proud to recognize him. Funny you show the cover of a Mad paperback with a reference to "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" because Jack Davis did the posters and promotional materials for the actual movie as well. Somewhere around here I have the production booklet for the movie, in fact... It would be fun to place it side by side with the Mad paperback art. Here's one of my all-time favorite Mad covers:

Interesting little bit of topical history to this satirical advertisement. You can learn stuff while reading Mad... As a kid I saw things like this and ended up piecing together bits of history that I wouldn't formally learn about till years later.

I always dug the way Freas paints glass, liquid, etc. It has an almost 3-D quality to it. Freas and Norman Mingo always made Mad look good.

Mmmm, fool aid! That should be a new meme for when somebody is poisioned: "Looks like he drank the Fool Aid."

I always admired the way Freas made the green background of this image as interesting as the rest of the design. I also like the crying King over there. These are some nice, minty looking copies you've got... Nothing to sneeze at.