Doohickamabob

Thanks for the answers! I might try the kitty litter method. Do you put the comic directly in the litter, or maybe put some newspaper around it first to keep it from getting the litter in the pages? I'd try the charcoal too but that seems a little more involved. There are 8 comics in dire need of de-odorizing.

A while back I purchased some comics that are very smelly. I think they must have been stored in a box full of mothballs. It never concerned me too much because I really wanted the comics. But now I'm thinking that I'd much rather have them in a non-stench form. My question is: How do you minimize the odor of old comics, or comics that have picked up odor due to problematic storage methods? I've stored them with microchamber paper (and swapped it out), and it doesn't appear to have done much. I have also removed them from their mylar sleeves and left them out near open windows and let the breeze wash over them, for several hours at a time. That was only somewhat helpful. I've heard that storing comics inside a thick newspaper can be helpful, with the newspaper fibers absorbing the odors. Does that work well? What else can be done? If this question has been answered elsewhere on the forum, please point me to the link. Thank you!

Nice presentation. Without the plant, it would look somewhat cold. With the plant, it looks classy. That, and the use of decapitated heads to bookend the thematic arrangement.

Off to a fantastic start, there. (Well, more like a 2/3 middle.)

That's way cool. I can only imagine what painting you'll do next. (Botticelli's Venus? The Last Supper? Starry Night? Something by Hieronymous Bosch?) The ultimate postmodern statement would be to do a Roy Lichtenstein work using cut-up comic pieces. Anyway, your artwork is really inspired. I had to go grab an image of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" just to compare the two. Here's what they look like side-by side:

No slam taken, but I will add James M. Cain and Patricia Highsmith to the list.

Paperbacks, Potato chips, and wall-mounted Pillow = Party!

Love 'em!

For the record, those pictures aren't from my collection. I wish they were (though I do have dozens of the books shown). I have established folders of hundreds of paperback images so I can do research and narrow down my wantlist. I wish I did have titles like "Reform School Girl" and "Junkie," but I probably never will as those top many high-rolling collectors' wantlists. There really ought to be a Gerber journal or well-programmed database (ala Grand Comics Database) for vintage paperbacks. I am constantly discovering new titles/covers I'd never seen before.

Excellent, well-thought-out list. I would add this: 5) Childhood nostalgia. Many comic collectors link their enjoyment of comics to their happy days reading and maybe even collecting comics as children and teenagers. Unless a kid was reading books like "Junkie" and "Hot Dames on Cold Slabs" when he was 11, it's unlikely there is any childhood-nostalgia connection to vintage paperbacks.

Shhhhhhh..... Don't tell anybody about this.... It is still possible to occasionally find $300+ paperbacks for $30... Etc.... So shhhhhhh.....

How right you are, you little vixen.

That man has a flower growing out of his face and leaves radiating from his backside! I think he's a Bodysnatcher or a Triffid or something! Run, debutante, run!

The cover photo looks like an early scene from "Debbie Does Fungus."

Love the cover art.

Great story and description of how the sale went down. That's pretty funny about hungry collectors giving you "the royal creeps" trying to get an inside line to your stuff, and I can totally imagine what that must have been like. I'd like to hear more about the backstory of the collection -- who the family member was, how/where the books were stored, etc.

That seller's stuff is phenomenal. I wonder how much money he has raked in during the past few months. He has sold countless individual pulps for as much as $400 to $700.

Nice group of books! I agree. Whoever submitted them to the Grand Comics Database has nice copies.

Wow, I didn't know "teardrop cover" was a thing, but it really is. Learn something new every day. I guess these EC's are well behind the curve in terms of "first teardrop cover," right? Sorry, we can get back to Matt Baker...

Those are Zootastic.

I appreciate the striped-hair effect on the woman.

Great stuff.... I had "Mad Disco" when I was a kid. I really enjoyed the updated version of the song "It's a Gas," which is loaded with burp sounds.

That is so far out of my collecting wheelhouse it's not even funny.

Great mag, I have both of them. Really ahead of its time. Should have taken off but the quality level was so high that it was a stretch for it to ever turn a profit.

One of my favorite Archie covers is #14 because of the way Betty and Veronica look in the background. They look eeeeeevil.