AJD Posted June 22, 2018 Author Share Posted June 22, 2018 7 minutes ago, Duffman_Comics said: A truly inspiring cover. I'd rush to buy this: Yeah, perhaps not one of the better ones in the run. Interesting that it comes immediately before the couple I posted. 1950's war comics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Point Five Posted June 23, 2018 Share Posted June 23, 2018 11 hours ago, AJD said: The scratchy interior art is growing on me, even though the quality seems to vary from panel to panel. Look at this page for example. The face in the top right panel is quite nicely drawn and conveys suitable gravitas. The panel below looks like my dog drew it. Overall though, I'm kinda getting into it. With early Fox Comics at least, that inconsistency was usually the difference between 'the artist had reference to swipe from here' and 'the artist did not have reference to swipe from here'. 1950's war comics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted June 23, 2018 Author Share Posted June 23, 2018 9 hours ago, Point Five said: With early Fox Comics at least, that inconsistency was usually the difference between 'the artist had reference to swipe from here' and 'the artist did not have reference to swipe from here'. That's very plausible. It could certainly be the case here. I just spent 15 minutes looking for a 1940s or earlier drawing of an iguanodon that might have been the model for the cover. (And a lot more time reading articles about dinosaurs... ) I didn't find an exact match, but a few near misses (as below), and it seems likely that Reilly had looked up 'dinsoaur'. The 'hands' are a dead giveaway that this was the beast he was drawing. 1950's war comics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post AJD Posted June 30, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 30, 2018 A trip down the paisley-print lined halls of time this post. The comics that set me on the path of a lifetime love of the medium were Australian Disneys. My favourites were the Barks Uncle Scrooge stories - like most fans I could spot a Barks long before I knew who he was. Most of the longer stories were reprinted in the Giant Comics series. Looking at the covers and working from memory, I started getting them in 1969 when I was six (G455 with an Italian-sourced Scrooge story was the first I recall having new, though I got a few earlier ones second hand later on), and the last ones I bought were in 1975. I think the last one might have been G611, with the great Terries and Fermies story. Anyway, I still pick them up for old times' sake when I see them in nice shape for the right price. Here's G506, which featured Barks' The Golden Nugget Boat'. It set me back $10 and 47 years. Harry Lime, Get Marwood & I, 1950's war comics and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Point Five Posted June 30, 2018 Share Posted June 30, 2018 (edited) I read a Barks duck story to my 7-year-old for the first time last night. With today's entertainment that's available to kids I don't know that it rocked his world, but he definitely got some laughs out of it. Amazing how well they still hold up! Edited June 30, 2018 by Point Five 1950's war comics and AJD 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted July 2, 2018 Author Share Posted July 2, 2018 So, this arrived in my mailbox on Friday: It contains, inter alia, a reprint of this issue: In the cover story, a mining company is teleporting huge quantities of uranium ore from Venus (where it is hard to do anything because of the atmosphere) to Mars. The following explanation is given for the disaster shown on the cover. Mr Gaines, Mr Feldstein, we need to talk physics. The explanation of the mass on the end of the string is OK. The tension in the string (T) will in fact be proportional to the mass of the object (m), and its orbital speed (v) will be related to the tension and the length of the string (r) so: T = m v2 / r where the rhs of the equation is the centripetal acceleration. Now let's do the physics for a body orbiting under gravity: gravitational force = G m M /r2 = m v2 / r where G is the gravitational constant, M the mass of the central body (the sun) and r is the distance from the sun. Clearly m cancels out in this equation, giving G M = r v2 which is independent of the mass of the orbiting body. (In fact, that's Kepler's third law, relating the length of the year to the distance from the central body). In other words, moving stuff from Venus to Mars will do nothing to change the orbits. And that's pretty obvious when you look at the solar system - the big planets are on the outside! Amazingly, there are no letters in following issues pointing this out. I now think it's my duty to build a time machine, go back to 1952 and pen a cranky letter to the EC crew. I've read enough EC sci-fi to know that nothing could possibly go wrong with my plan... see you later, maybe. P.S. the calculation of the amount of U-235 retrieved from 350 billion tons of ore isn't too bad - the quoted figure of two million ounces is right if the extraction efficiency is ~10%, which could be right for the early 1950s. Get Marwood & I and 1950's war comics 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffman_Comics Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 Nerd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine48 Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 3 minutes ago, Duffman_Comics said: Nerd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted July 2, 2018 Author Share Posted July 2, 2018 4 hours ago, Duffman_Comics said: Nerd. Harsh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffman_Comics Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 5 minutes ago, AJD said: Harsh. The unvarnished truth is rarely pretty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 Aside from the gravitational stuff, which I have a basic understanding of, but not enough to read equations (are you a Physics prof, AJD?) What would concern me most is how the scientists didn't realize what was causing the mass change when apparently the 'atomic energy' stuff was being broadcast on the radio. Do the aliens on the cover (fantastic, btw) actually make it into the story or are they just watchers in a watched land? 1950's war comics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted July 2, 2018 Author Share Posted July 2, 2018 Hi @Harry Lime The aliens are just bystanders. The story cuts away at the end to an alien schoolteacher explaining that's why the solar system now has only six planets. (Pluto hadn't been shown the door back then.) The thing that gets me about it is why have a laboured scientific "explanation" as a key part of the story - and get it completely wrong? (And, yes, I was once and hope to be again a lecturer in physics.) Harry Lime and 1950's war comics 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted July 2, 2018 Share Posted July 2, 2018 48 minutes ago, AJD said: Hi @Harry Lime The aliens are just bystanders. The story cuts away at the end to an alien schoolteacher explaining that's why the solar system now has only six planets. (Pluto hadn't been shown the door back then.) The thing that gets me about it is why have a laboured scientific "explanation" as a key part of the story - and get it completely wrong? (And, yes, I was once and hope to be again a lecturer in physics.) The writers were probably not expecting physics experts to be reading their funny books and knowing just a little bit of physics (a dangerous thing) were hoping to dazzle the uneducated clods. At least their sums add up, yes I was sad enough to check how many ounces of uranium would be produced in a calendar year given their statistics. 1950's war comics and AJD 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted July 12, 2018 Author Share Posted July 12, 2018 Just added this Fawcett book to my war bonds cover collection. It's a bit of cheat since the war bonds ad isn't worked into the cover art, but it's pretty prominent, so near enough. And there's an ad for paper drives on the first page - probably dooming some golden age comic books to oblivion! The luminaries of the Fawcett editorial advisory board are pretty cool too! I REALLY wish I could find a Funny Animals #6, which has a full on war bonds cover. But I've been looking for that book for five years now, without any luck. sagii, 1950's war comics and Get Marwood & I 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffman_Comics Posted July 12, 2018 Share Posted July 12, 2018 5 minutes ago, AJD said: Just added this Fawcett book to my war bonds cover collection. It's a bit of cheat since the war bonds ad isn't worked into the cover art, but it's pretty prominent, so near enough. Seems to me there is more missing than just the war bonds ad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffman_Comics Posted July 12, 2018 Share Posted July 12, 2018 Have you got a 20, with the War Bonds stamp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted July 12, 2018 Author Share Posted July 12, 2018 49 minutes ago, Duffman_Comics said: Have you got a 20, with the War Bonds stamp? Yup. 1950's war comics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duffman_Comics Posted July 12, 2018 Share Posted July 12, 2018 I thought you did - and isn't it sweet, a war time book with one staple, saving valuable resources for the boys at the front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sagii Posted July 12, 2018 Share Posted July 12, 2018 Always feel a need to post this whenever you mention this book and your long quest for a copy (for reference purposes of course ) And as you and i have discussed before in numerous PM's, it is a toughie. Sold to me as a Crowley copy, but when i finally send it off for grading before years end CGC will have the 'final' say in the matter. porcupine48 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJD Posted July 14, 2018 Author Share Posted July 14, 2018 On 7/13/2018 at 12:03 AM, sagii said: Always feel a need to post this whenever you mention this book and your long quest for a copy (for reference purposes of course ) And as you and i have discussed before in numerous PM's, it is a toughie. Sold to me as a Crowley copy, but when i finally send it off for grading before years end CGC will have the 'final' say in the matter. For 'reference purposes' here's a beautiful copy of a book you can't find a beater copy of... Can't say I blame you though - that is a really pretty book. If it ever needs a new home... 1950's war comics and sagii 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
