Comics, Pulps, and Paperbacks: Why such a discrepancy in values? 25 25

[Pat Calhoun]

Here's more from David Saunders (big thank you sent): I think he wraps up the who's who, of course attributions are still tricky, but here's to Raymond Sven Johnson...

Ray Johnson illustrated men's adventure magazines, According to ...
http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/c/c276.htm#A10392
...he was working for men's adventure magazines from 1945 until 1964.
The "Pop" artist of the same name came from Detroit, where he was born in 1927. He was famous for sending postcards as small conceptual artworks, such as childish drawings of BUNNIES through the mail system as a way to distance his work from the elitist gallery system in order to make a statement about art as an essentially anti-materialistic activity. He commited suicide at age 67 in 1995 in New York.
All I know about the men's adventure magazine illustrator is he was born on September 2, 1915 in Chicago of Swedish ancestry. His full name was Raymond Sven Johnson. He served in WW2 from March 5, 1941 to Nov, 11, 1945, after which he worked as an illustrator for the mens adventure magazine ARGOSY. In 1948 he was a regular illustrator of fictional stories in newspapers. In the 1950s he worked in California. He died in New York City on February 19, 1997.

 

[Randall Dowling]

I am continually impressed and thankful for the deep well of knowledge and resourcefulness you guys bring to this thread!  

[Surfing Alien]

44 minutes ago, Pat Calhoun said:

Here's more from David Saunders (big thank you sent): I think he wraps up the who's who, of course attributions are still tricky, but here's to Raymond Sven Johnson...

Ray Johnson illustrated men's adventure magazines, According to ...
http://www.philsp.com/homeville/FMI/c/c276.htm#A10392
...he was working for men's adventure magazines from 1945 until 1964.
The "Pop" artist of the same name came from Detroit, where he was born in 1927. He was famous for sending postcards as small conceptual artworks, such as childish drawings of BUNNIES through the mail system as a way to distance his work from the elitist gallery system in order to make a statement about art as an essentially anti-materialistic activity. He commited suicide at age 67 in 1995 in New York.
All I know about the men's adventure magazine illustrator is he was born on September 2, 1915 in Chicago of Swedish ancestry. His full name was Raymond Sven Johnson. He served in WW2 from March 5, 1941 to Nov, 11, 1945, after which he worked as an illustrator for the mens adventure magazine ARGOSY. In 1948 he was a regular illustrator of fictional stories in newspapers. In the 1950s he worked in California. He died in New York City on February 19, 1997.

 

This is a treasure trove of info! Please thank David! 

I've seen Raymond Sven Johnson in 1 or 2 searches. So he has been a candidate but this is a great lead. I'll follow up.

I normally wouldn't get worked up but anybody who's read any of my posts knows I'm an Avon guy 

Some of my 1st vintage paperback snags were Green Girl, Metal Monster and other Sci Fi  classics.   I think anyone who collects Avon's knows that there's an artist who did a lot of covers... who we're not sure of, never attributed in the 80's or 90's, who could be Ray Johnson

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2020 by Surfing Alien

[Electricmastro]

Modest Stein:

Ann Cantor:

Clarence Doore:

William Stanke:

William Randall:

[OtherEric]

Picked up today; figured I should probably read at least one of the books one of these days:

[OtherEric]

Found a couple of these cheap at my local bookstore today.  I am completely torn if these fit better under pulps or under paperbacks, so I'm posting in each place:

[PopKulture]

1 hour ago, OtherEric said:

Found a couple of these cheap at my local bookstore today.  I am completely torn if these fit better under pulps or under paperbacks, so I'm posting in each place:

Or under the dime novel thread (if we had one!). The people who collect these refer to them as “thick books” and they can be found pretty cheap relative to their age. (I had a few listed in a past sales thread with no takers). The lithographed covers on most of them are really cool!

[OtherEric]

11 minutes ago, PopKulture said:

Or under the dime novel thread (if we had one!). The people who collect these refer to them as “thick books” and they can be found pretty cheap relative to their age. (I had a few listed in a past sales thread with no takers). The lithographed covers on most of them are really cool!

The two I got today were $3.99 each.  I've never seen these in person before, although I do have a couple issues of New Nick Carter Weekly I should scan and post some day.

[Surfing Alien]

2 hours ago, PopKulture said:

Or under the dime novel thread (if we had one!). The people who collect these refer to them as “thick books” and they can be found pretty cheap relative to their age. (I had a few listed in a past sales thread with no takers). The lithographed covers on most of them are really cool!

I saw some nice ones fairly cheap but thought "you can't go down another rabbit hole Alice !"

Very cool look  And i'm sure i'll end up with at least one some day just to see what it is 

[OtherEric]

48 minutes ago, Surfing Alien said:

I saw some nice ones fairly cheap but thought "you can't go down another rabbit hole Alice !"

Very cool look  And i'm sure i'll end up with at least one some day just to see what it is 

The rule I try to use... and frequently fail with, but it helps sometimes... is to allow myself "type samples" of certain things.  Two of these will be plenty; unlike any number of rabbit holes I've let myself fall down.

[frozentundraguy]

A group shot of the A. Merritt Avon books I have garnered thus far.

 

[Surfing Alien]

Some more Dells for the pile...

[Hap Hazard]

Recent Pick-Up:

The Brass CupCake by John MacDonald

[PopKulture]

5 hours ago, Hap Hazard said:

Recent Pick-Up:

The Brass CupCake by John MacDonald

That's a serious pick-up, Hap. Congratulations!! 

[damonwad]

A couple Pocket Books. 

And Then There Were None has a very confusing publishing history for such a classic book. I grew up thinking of it as Ten Little Indians and wasn't even aware of the original N* version (which was used in England into the 80's). I think now all the Indians and N* are replaced by "soldiers" in the story. I recently watched the 1945 film version of And Then There Were None (they used Indians) and they completely Hollywoodized the ending. A load of cr*p.

 

Edited December 1, 2020 by damonwad

[damonwad]

The last of my Ace Doubles (so far).

 

[PopKulture]

2 minutes ago, damonwad said:

 

Oh no! He's coming for all the high-grade Pocket Books now!! 

You do seem as much motivated by what's between the covers, so at least there's that. I'm admittedly in it more for the graphics. Pockets get a little overshadowed by the competition, I believe, but there's something so old, so visually appealing about them to me. 

[PopKulture]

1 minute ago, damonwad said:

The last of my Ace Doubles (so far).

Wow, I don't think this has ever passed through my grubby little hands, at a show, shop, or otherwise. It's got a great mid-century feel to it.  

[damonwad]

38 minutes ago, PopKulture said:

Pockets get a little overshadowed by the competition, I believe, but there's something so old, so visually appealing about them to me. 

Even though the Pocket "frames" show less artwork, I'm still a fan of the style. Changing the frame colors to compliment each book works well. 

Much better than that grey bar on the left side of the book they used in later years.

 

[Randall Dowling]

2 hours ago, damonwad said:

The last of my incredibly fresh and pristine Ace Doubles (so far) that I procured by building a time machine and revisiting 1959.

Fixed that for you.