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The French have a different type of humor.

If you were interested in the other Avon paperback rack, here is a closeup pic.

Bob's Spa in Jamaica Plain Massachusetts in 1952 Before large supermarket chains, most people shopped at grocery or variety stores. Disposable periodicals such as newspapers, magazines and comics were sold along with groceries. Bob’s Spa was a variety store that was operated by the Ristuccia family for over 90 years in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood in Boston Massachusetts. The patriarch of Bob’s Spa was Bartholomew Ristuccia who was born in 1891 from the village of Malfa on the island of Salina off the coast of Sicily. He emigrated to Sydney Australia in 1908 to join a cousin who owned a fruit store. After learning the fruit business he joined other cousins who owned a fruit store in Jamaica Plain in 1910. In 1912 Bartholomew who had taken the name Bob, partnered with his cousins in a new fruit store at 128 South St and later bought out his cousins and renamed the store as “Bob’s Spa”. Batholomew married Rosalina Caravalio and had 4 kids, John, Robert, Rose and Mary all of whom, along with their spouses, at one time or another worked in the store. Over the years, the fruit store expanded in size and offerings to become a fully stocked grocery store, sandwich shop, fountain, newsstand and cigar store. The store thrived in a growing neighborhood where a gas company facility, streetcar maintenance yard, new housing developments and schools were located nearby. The store was also a popular gathering place and had many loyal customers due to Bob’s extension of credit for purchases. The family sold the business in 2001 and after several changes in ownership, the location is now the Happy Market & Spirits grocery store. Bob's Spa pictures Bob's Spa in Jamaica Plain history pictures: 1. exterior of Bob’s Spa 3/22/52 2. Bob (in glasses) with family in store 40th anniversary 3/22/52 3. free cake for kids for 40th anniversary 3/22/52 4. exterior of Bob’s Spa 12/20/52 note Xmas trees for sale 5. store interior with Christmas cards, cookie selection on shelves 12/20/52 6. sandwich shop area, Johnny Ristuccia 12/20/52 7. fountain area, Bob Ristuccia forefront, magazine rack in back 12/20/52 8. fountain area & magazine rack 12/20/52 9. packed shelves: cookies, bread, donuts, soda, deli meats & canned goods 12/20/52 10. magazine racks with books, magazines & comics 12/20/52 11. closeup of comics variety: humor, crime, western, war, sci-fi, romance & horror (Little Lulu, Roy Rogers, Peter Pan, Porky Pig, Tonto, United States Marines, New Funnies, Space Cadet, Little Iodine, Mickey Mouse, Mystery in Space, Rudolph, Jughead, Suspense, Straight Arrow, Real Clue Crime, Zane Grey, Battle Stories, Racket Squad, Love Romances, Witches Tales, Durango Kid, Wings) 12/20/52 12. closeup of paperbacks 12/20/52 13. present day exterior of location now Happy Market & Spirits

Looks like a Big Shots #2 comic above the Amazing Mystery Funnies.

What are you willing to do to fund your comic collecting hobby? An interesting article was recommended to me by my comic related newsfeed. There has been much discussion about who is paying large sums for collectible comics. Speculation ranged from Russian oligarchs, rich comic dealers, trust fund kids or wealthy individuals seeking alternative investments from high tech, business, sports and entertainment fields. This guy with a famous dad funded his $100K purchases of 2 Pokemon cards and an Amazing Fantasy 15 from his inheritance, wife’s salary and income from his OnlyFans account. He intends to flip the cards and comic for profit later. I was not familiar with OnlyFans until I looked it up on Google. I won’t judge this guy’s life choices but could someone tell me the investment potential of Pokemon cards? I think there may be some interesting comments… https://pagesix.com/2023/09/28/marston-hefner-spent-100k-onlyfans-check-on-pokemon-cards-comic-books/

Newsreel footage from a New York Creation Con from the 1970s that some of you might have seen before. “Yesterday’s trash is today’s masterpiece”. $7000 for Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly 1 $1500 for Marvel Mystery #5 More Fun 52 & 53 priced at $2500 for the pair. Listen to the funny exchange between a collector and dealer where the guy asked why dealer turned down an offer for More Fun 52. Dealer: I was offered 900 for the More Fun 52 but I turned him down. Collector: Why’d you turn him down? That’s a pretty good price. Dealer: I didn’t want to break ‘em up. It’s a set. Collector: That’s $2000 above guide and books aren’t even mint! Same guy later pointing toward the More Fun 52 & 53: You know I’ve been looking for these a long time… If you want the books badly enough, you have to pay the price! Try saying “your books are way over guide and they are not even mint” to any dealer nowadays when you are interested in his books and see how they respond. https://sendvid.com/yq3fnyqe sorry I couldn't figure how to embed video...some tips?

Comic ads from Billboard magazine from 3/14/42 & 3/21/42 respectively. It might be worth taking a chance to pay $1.95 for a hundred comics (complete with covers!). Spending $19 for a thousand comics would be risky. Where would you store all that junk? Batman, Superman, Green Hornet are fine but who wants Mickey Finn?

New York Times 12/6/64 10 cent comic price ranges from $2-25, many WW2 era books average $7.50

It is interesting to see other massive collections. YouTuber Stickygoose Comics was able to video this collection. Video is a year old but some of you might not have seen this. Notice the nice Barrister Bookcase shelving units. Interesting question was asked- what is going to happen to your large collection when you are gone?

These ads were in Billboard magazine dated 3/14/42 & 3/21/42 respectively. Buy hundreds or thousands of old books. Action 45, Superman 15 and More Fun 76 seem to be pretty good deals at 2-3 cents each but who wants Mickey Finn?

Here is an interesting video that takes “nerding out” to an extreme level. This guy combines art and engineering to build a robot that creates paintings that look like Lichtenstein paintings.

Here is some interesting “street art” on a boarded up business in San Francisco. A few panels have fallen off but what characters do you recognize in the color panels?

I strongly disagree with your opinion that Rulah 22 is a Baker cover. It is more in the style of Kamen. You might have been more focused on the other parts of her figure to not notice the unappealing foot with the stubby toes which stood out to me. Baker women had nicely drawn bare feet without the stubby toes as shown in these other Baker covers of the time. All Top 16, JoJo 25, Seven Seas 5, Zago 4, Zoot 8 That Rulah cover reminded me of the woman on the Panic 5 cover.

The girl and the man with shotgun was probably based on the syndicated comic “Bobby Sox” by San Francisco based artist Marty Links. The girl was Emmy Lou and the man her dad. The officer was obviously D Tracy.

This blond haired kid in St Augustine Texas is binding the cut pages of comics in 1939. The gang is learning the evil deeds from him.