Popular Post Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted March 7, 2020 Got another book in the mail from an esteemed boardie yesterday. Made me think a little. What draws me to stuff like this? Well, it's affordable, fun to find and you never expect a lot of these. Many years ago in the early days of SDCC Scott Shaw had a panel showing off a lot of these. The crazy boys at the American Comic Book Company also took notice of these oddities and turned me on to them. I very soon started seeking these out and ran into many others in my travels. My boxes are full of this stuff now. And, I find new ones all the time. Usually very cheap. What qualifies as "esoteric" or "odd ball"? Why any book where you scratch your head and say what were they thinking? As I said, I have tons of these and will hold off at only posting about a dozen that popped to mind quickly. Please feel free to post yours and blow our minds! First up, George Pal's Puppetoons #14. I recently saw this in a Catrick sales thread. Kinda glazed over it at first but went back and looked again. This is so wrong in so many ways when you really think about it. 15 bucks and it was added to the boxes! Marty Mann, pmpknface, gino2paulus2 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 7, 2020 Next up, Alice in Wonderland #10 WTF? A black Raggedy Ann doll spanking Alice over her knee. Wertham probably didn't know what to say about this one... AJD, sagii, szav and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 7, 2020 Well, there are a couple guys that chase "fish in the face" covers (coined by Mr Shaw himself. There aren't a whole lot and other than one are really cheap. How about a "fish over your head" cover? As an added bonus, this one has a very funny Dizzy Dames Morinica story inside... Hutch88, davidtere, AJD and 4 others 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 7, 2020 I've been a fan of Ha Ha and Giggle for years. This one is top of the heap for me. WAY cheap! PopKulture, pmpknface, Badger and 5 others 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 7, 2020 This one is not so cheap but watta cover! Punch #9 There is just so much weirdness going on here. davidtere, sagii, PeterPark and 7 others 9 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 7, 2020 Jeeze, really? davidtere, pmpknface, PopKulture and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 This one has always cracked me up. Who is the He Man? The Hunter or the Gorilla? pmpknface and Marty Mann 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 6 minutes ago, Robot Man said: Next up, Alice in Wonderland #10 WTF? A black Raggedy Ann doll spanking Alice over her knee. Wertham probably didn't know what to say about this one... That’s a great book! What is going on there!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 7, 2020 A giveaway. Johnny Surge. An old giveaway pushing milking machines and an infinity cover to boot. This one is a weird read. szav, Marty Mann, Tri-Color Brian and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 1 minute ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said: That’s a great book! What is going on there!! You tell me... the next issue is just about as weird... pmpknface and Marty Mann 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 7, 2020 I know this is surealism, but it reminds me a little of my misbegotton youth... pmpknface, newshane, Readcomix and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 7, 2020 A real "Eye Opener", Nuff said... davidtere, sagii, PopKulture and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 This one has alway been a favorite Dinosaurs and an atomic explosion, how is poor Rex gonna deal with that? Badger, pmpknface, davidtere and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted March 7, 2020 (edited) Another cool surealism cover I've always liked. Just weird as heck! Edited March 7, 2020 by Robot Man Raze, davidtere, AJD and 5 others 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 And then, there is this one. Would NEVER fly today on any newstand... PopKulture, Tri-Color Brian, Marty Mann and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
50YrsCollctngCmcs Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 If you like this stuff you need to go to the Dali museum in St Petersburg Florida! Will blow your mind!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 1 minute ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said: If you like this stuff you need to go to the Dali museum in St Petersburg Florida! Will blow your mind!! I do love it. Got turned on to it in college art appreciation classes. Rene Magrite and MC Esher are also masters of the medium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KirbyJack Posted March 7, 2020 Share Posted March 7, 2020 (edited) I remember reading about those Scott Shaw! Oddball Shows. He was really into the fish-in-face oeuvre. In fact, he may have turned me on to Space Western. Edited March 7, 2020 by KirbyJack Marty Mann, sagii and Readcomix 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 7, 2020 Author Share Posted March 7, 2020 1 hour ago, KirbyJack said: I remember reading about those Scott Shaw! Oddball Shows. He was really into the fish-in-face oeuvre. In fact, he may have turned me on to Space Western. They were and I think still are (I haven't been to SDCC in a few years). Epic panels. The guys at the American Comic Book Company, Terry Stroud, David T Alexander and Carl Macek really got the ball started on these. They realized that a lot of those super cheap probably dollar books at the time had a little merit. They coined the phrases "Good Girl Art", "Bondage", "Esoteric" and many other words we all use today to market these slow sellers at often "inflated" prices. It obviously worked. I can still remember balking at their "double guide" prices back then on books like Phantom Lady, Weird Tales of the Future, Space Western and others but bought them anyway because I knew, like they did, they were so cool. They were visionaries and great marketers! AJD and KirbyJack 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Tri-Color Brian Posted March 7, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted March 7, 2020 I have a few "Esoteric" comics too, but probably not as many as you...like this "typical" romance book... or this "typical" romance book... or this...what the heck is going on here? Marty Mann, PeterPark, Readcomix and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
