Doohickamabob

Just saw the movie on DVD. It was preposterous but entertaining. The Action Comics scene really caught my eye, and I was sure there had to be threads here about it (and there are at least 3 from when the movie was in theaters). As others have pointed out, the Action Comics #1 is ungraded and in a lame sleeve that barely has a backing or anything. He stuffs it in his duffel bag, then later tosses a couple of handguns on top of it. I guess this "accountant" doesn't care about losing hundreds of thousands of dollars from damaging a high-grade investment! Looks like he also has a More Fun Comics #52 (Feb. 1940, featuring The Spectre) and an All-American Comics #16 (July 1940, first Green Lantern). Plus a bunch of vintage baseball cards I'd probably recognize if I knew anything about baseball cards.

It would be a funny "pun" gag if there weren't people believing it and getting worked up thinking they'd won, etc. I believe a good prank shouldn't hurt somebody (and I am a big fan of pranks....one of my favorite RE/Search books is the one about pranks...). The weird thing about the Opie & Anthony show is the entire prank is on the level of "dad humor" in terms of how pun-based it is. These are 20-something or 30-something guys doing 55-year-old man humor... (No offense to 55-year-olds.) Anyway, it's relatively harmless compared to some other stories of contests gone wrong. The worst story I've heard was the woman who participated in the "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" competition. The contestants came to the radio studio and whoever could drink the most water without peeing would win a game system. This woman participated and was determined to win the game console for her kids. She drank something like a gallon-and-a-half of water in under an hour. Neither she nor the radio hosts knew that there is such a thing as water poisoning, where you overwhelm your fluids so they don't have enough electrolytes (salt) to conduct electricity in your neurons -- which is how your brain is able to function etc. She died. On the less tragic side, but also pushing one's body to the limit, when I lived in Texas there was a yearly competition called Hands on a Hard Body, done at a truck dealership in my city. People had to keep their hand touching the truck longer than any of the other contestants, also touching the truck. They were allowed pee breaks but otherwise had to stay awake and standing (I think they ate food with the other hand). The winner was standing there with his hand on the truck for something like 3+ days straight. I knew the guy -- he tried to parlay his success into a book called "How I Won" or something, and I built him a little website to try to sell it. I don't think he made the New York Times bestseller list, but he did have a really nice truck!

I have a bunch of golden-age comics listed on eBay, ending Sunday March 12. Lots of romance, teen, horror... Timely, Marvel, MLJ/Archie, Atlas, St. John, etc. Matt Baker stuff, Dan DeCarlo stuff, a Venus #18 horror comic, much more. Here's the link! (Also posted this in my own thread, with pictures.)

Wow!

I've got a bunch of golden-age comics up for auction on eBay (99-cent starting bids), with the auctions ending Sunday night, March 12. I posted more details in the marketplace section of these boards. Check it out... And here are some photos:

Great catch! Definitely some copycattin' going on...

THIS MESSAGE'S STUFF IS DONE, BUT THE NEW STUFF IS IN THE REPLY BELOW, SO SCROLL DOWN... I finally got off my lazy bum and listed some comics for auction on eBay. Most of these have 99-cent starting bids. Here is the link to all my eBay comic auctions. Auctions end Sunday night, March 12. This week's auction emphasis includes romance/teen and horror. Titles include Hedy De Vine (Hedy of Hollywood), Tessie the Typist, My Friend Irma, Gay Comics, Camp Comics (#1 and #2, a classic cover), Katy Keene #1, Suzie #51, Jetta (Dan DeCarlo), Torchy, Cinderella Love, It Rhymes With Lust (a Matt Baker masterpiece), Venus #18 (pre-code horror), Mystery Tales #40 (the comic from the "Lost" TV show), DC romance such as Girls' Romance, Popular Romance (the photo cover features "dollface dimples" herself, Alice Kelley), Uncanny Tales #17 (double cover), Worlds of Fear #10 (classic Norm Saunders eyeballs cover), and quite a bit more -- including original pin-ups, letters and other materials from the Katy Keene fan club. Thanks for looking!

Ah, that makes sense. Not many of us know what is going on behind the curtain.

I love when page quality is so nice like that.

I recently got this copy of a super-rare VARIANT cover of Laugh #38:

Would this be easy to program? What do you think, Architecht?

Here's another idea: The first time an image is posted, it is full-size (or resized by the forum's software to fit its ideal max dimension). BUT... When the image is quoted in a reply, it's a thumbnail.

I think it would be advantageous if the images appeared as thumbnails. However, and this is a big however -- there are probably people who wouldn't want their images to display this way. The best solution I can think of (at the moment) would be for there to be an option for each user to adjust the way images are displayed while reading. Somebody who likes the big images could keep them displaying that way, and somebody who feels that they clutter up the experience could elect to have them show up as thumbnails. Another option would be that messages with one image get displayed normally, but 2 images get turned into 50% size thumbnails (side by side), three images are displayed at 33%, etc. until finally ending at a uniform size for 4+ images. I don't know how complicated this kind of thing would be to program, or whether it would be worth it... I can think of all sorts of pros and cons for various options. I like seeing the image when somebody posts one really cool picture. I get reaaaalllly worn down by images when people post 4 in a row, or when people quote other people repeatedly and you see the same image a dozen times. I also think the display size and the click-to-enlarge size should be different enough to avoid making that option pointless. It's goofy to click on an 800-width image just to get a 900-width image, etc. Oh yeah, I guess you'd want to factor in the whole "smartphone experience" side of this as well. (I am used to zooming in the smartphone so it doesn't make a big difference to me.) Those are just some thoughts off the top of my head...

I don't like it when the images blow out the tables on the display of the message screen. I don't think the display size of an image should be more than 1000 pixels width. Height can be a little more since it scrolls in that direction. The old boards had the max width at 800 (really more like 775 when you accounted for the nested quotes and such), which was a little too narrow. Ideally, the site should display images smaller with an option to click and enlarge (and the enlarged image could then be something substantial, like 1600 max pixels as another person here stated). That would reduce scrolling for reading/browsing purposes. The "recently back from CGC thread" is an example where the multiple postings of many larger-sized images makes browsing that thread rather tedious.

Thank you sirs!

You're just going to have to find a nice big lot of issues and have some fun reading them. Not a bad research project. Considering the future of "big data" and image recognition, I'm guessing in 5-10 years you'll be able to plug an image like that into an application and find out exactly what it's from in a couple seconds. (You can already put a 10-second piece of music on YouTube and it will be able to match the waveform to a database of copyrighted recordings.)

Now that I look at the picture a little more, why are you certain it's a back cover? There is a roll to it at the side that looks like it could be an interior page folded back while reading.

Sounds pretty tricky, especially since you're not entirely sure it's Cracked. What other magazines do you remember reading back then? Crazy? Pizzazz? Bananas? Ranger Rick? National Lampoon? 3-2-1 Contact? CARtoons? Hustler? Okay maybe getting off track here. Giant-Size or King-Size Special complicates it even more. You'd better tell us all what it is after you solve the mystery! You did get me thinking about those Cracked magazines. I remember getting a couple of them back then. That was the first time I ever spontaneously experienced a feeling of "brand loyalty" in reaction to something. I could tell Cracked was copying Mad's style, and it bothered me, and I decided to stick with Mad. Though I do think Cracked had some good artists on their staff, and probably some genuinely funny gags. I'd like to go back and track down a few issues and see if my reaction is still the same. It's funny how you can find a magazine or something that you haven't seen since you were literally 10 years old, and then you discover that the memory of some detail is still there, and had been lurking in your brain all those years, waiting to be triggered.

Excellent! Did you get a nice copy of #18? (Did you connect the dots yourself, for the satisfaction of it?) I know you also got your first #24 a year or two ago. Anyway, congrats again!

Using your military service, disability, war wound, etc. as the basis for requesting a deal is disgusting.

Holy #%()#* that person is off his meds!

That's out-and-out fraud. Not only should she be banned from eBay, she should face criminal charges. I hope karma catches up with her. Stuff like this makes my blood boil.

What a cheap little dweeb (him, not you). Assuming your listing made it clear it was a reprint, he should be glad to pay the $4 for your trouble and as a way of reminding himself to read the listings more carefully.

Bags Unlimited... Here is the link to their page of magazine storage boxes and stuff. The corrugated plastic box that's white with the black lid is excellent. It is attractive, durable, easy to carry and move around, and will last decades.

Bags Unlimited has all of the above. Their products are great quality and their customer service is very helpful.