zilch
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Post by zilch on Apr 3, 2015 15:43:07 GMT -5
Would have loved to have seen the recruiting of Mastermind and Toad... we see Wanda and Pietro's (and are they before or after the other two?) and others who 'almost' make the BOEM... maybe an ape and a talking brain...
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Mar 22, 2015 17:51:39 GMT -5
-- I noticed there's a little code on the first page, X-607. Similar codes (with lower numbers) appear on the other first pages (I went back and checked).. is that a total page count of the Marvel Superhero era? Or Kirby's pencils? If i remember correctly, the assignment of job numbers was in strict numerical order 001-999, then they changed letter. This series was started in the late '40s, early '50s, since it was in place during the big Implosion after their distributor went bankrupt. The job number system before this was the editor's initial(s), such as SL-098 or R-009 (for Don Rico) or F-123 (for Vince Fago). Interesting trivia note... the number for the robot Aaron Stack, X-51, was the job number for the first Iron Man story.
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Feb 26, 2015 8:35:27 GMT -5
The inclusion of a Matt Savage story is also interesting, though probably much more interesting now than it was then. The story is just a western about Matt Savage: Trail Boss. A few years later, though, the character Scalphunter was created, and it was eventually revealed that Scalphunter was Matt Savage's son. It was further revealed much, much later (in James Robinson's Starman of all places) that Scalphunter's son is Steve Savage: Balloon Buster, the WWI ace who had his own strip in All-American Men of War. None of that continuity existed at the time this Matt Savage story was reprinted, but it gives the story a lot of extra texture now. This was pretty much un-retconned when somebody actually READ the first Matt Savage story, with it taking place after the Civil War and with Scalphunter being an adult before the War, well... The Scalphunter/Balloon Buster thing is still a thing, though... wonder if Steve Savage ever ran into Enemy Ace?
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Jan 25, 2015 1:12:28 GMT -5
Gather round younguns... ol' Uncle zilch gonna tell you bout the old days...
WAY back, one of the out of the way places you could look for comics was your friendly neighborhood porn shop.
In downtown Saint Louis, back before the hipsters turned the unused lofts into living areas, before the yuppies tried to build a mall where no one actually lived, there were lots of little shops and a couple of these were "adult" book stores (as opposed to book stores that sold one or two boobie mags). Two of these leap to mind as a place the enterprising young male could learn about stuff that wasn't taught in Health Class. The first i encountered, and best, was a place called The Peppermint Lounge.
Not really a lounge, as you might think of as a bar, but a book store that specialized in magazines, in later years focusing, on the all ages part, in comics. As you entered, the wall behind the front counter was 8'-10' of wooden boxes built to comic size with the logo of the books in the box taped to the front. On the wall directly across from them were magazines, fanzines and the like. At the back of the store was a doorway with the borders painted red and a large sign both on the floor and on the wall above the doorway saying "ABSOLUTELY NO ONE UNDER THE AGE OF 21 ALLOWED PAST THIS POINT. ID REQUIRED FOR ENTRY". Peering back you would see magazines, but not really certain what they contained. I could see little booths that men moved in and out of occasionally.
The books were moderately priced, but the fanzine stuff was even better. I got the newest Marvel Index books (Daredevil and X-Men) and a couple of Flashbacks on my two trips there.
The shop, sadly, burned down a couple of months after my second trip.
The other one was, when i was older, but not yet 21, to a shop in South St. Louis and driving by, i could see that there were magazines there, but the store seemed like it was never open. I hit on it one day when it was open and it was filled with porn mags, unusually mostly British. Looking through them, i saw a British mag, black and white, which i had never heard of... Warrior. I picked up the second issue and was gleeful to find a neat series called Marvelman. They had nearly all of them, for a buck a piece, and even one or two of the new ones on the shelves. Over the course of the next few months, i picked up all of them.
Then i saw on the news that the shop was raided by Saint Louis City Attorney Geogre Peach, a notorious anti-porn crusader (well, until he was caught soliciting a hooker, anyway) and another one bites the dust.
Any one else find any porn shop treasures?
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Jan 11, 2015 1:39:03 GMT -5
A quick late note about Brain Wave...
Careful reading and a bit of bumbling analysis tells me that Henry King was not an inventive genius, but stole just about everything he used.
The only thing he uses that he actually could have created is the machinery in the Perisphere that he used on the JSA in ASSq. In All-Star 17, he has a shrinking ray that was used earlier by Mekanique on the Squadron. His hideout in AS 15 could have been Dr. Doome's old hideout from Leading Comics #3; his city stealing equipment used in Showcase 98-99 was probably used by Shade, Thinker and Fiddler (and still set to nab Keystone City!).
His equipment used in AS 58-59 was probably lifted by Degaton in one of his time jaunts, and held in storage for 30 years.
How he got his stuff? Well, his first HQ was taken over by the All-Star Squadron, so he probably had hidden passages in and out, which is how he got ahold of the Justice Society's logs that he used in AS 15.
Keep up the good work, Kurt! Love reading it!!!
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Dec 13, 2014 1:48:47 GMT -5
crap... gotta get started on this...
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Dec 13, 2014 1:36:28 GMT -5
Mind you, i did the scrounge through the quarter box thing for more years than i like to think about, and try not to pay more than $3 for a comic, but...
for a dime apiece in the mid-1970's, my mom got me an X-Men #1-3 and #8, Hulk #1 and Fantastic Four #24 (one of my favorite issues, btw)
for a quarter apiece, Green Lantern #40 in MINT condition and Amazing Adventures v2 #11 (they had like six copies of this)
quarter box in a comic shop... Showcase #72 and Beware the Creeper #1 in MINT
for the longest time, a small store that i had to visit with my mother (she did laundry for the butcher who looked spookily like John Carradine) had an entire BUNDLE of She-Hulk #1 open and sold for cover price. These books sat there for YEARS!
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Dec 1, 2014 20:27:52 GMT -5
When in the 1950's Publisher Goodman, decided that he would sell National Comics his dormant super-hero line, he stipulated that his head writer/editor also be given a job at the company, Stanley Lieber headed over and sat down to work as a new editor.
Who would he hire from his old company? What existing books would he be given to edit? What new books might he create?
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Dec 1, 2014 20:11:36 GMT -5
Indexing the original All-Star Comics for UGDCU, so i'm slowly moving through those...
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Nov 24, 2014 19:21:31 GMT -5
Russell Curley (Script Continuity) should be Russell Carley Whose job btw, was turning Fleisher's plot into a standard script, since MF wasn't sure how to do it...
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Nov 16, 2014 22:56:30 GMT -5
I remember reading a coverless JLA #55 at my cousin's house when i was very young (they also had a Mighty Crusuaders game and MMMS stuff also). I didn't really get into the collecting/paying attention side until '71 or so. JLA was one of my first choices as a Christmas gift/subscription and i remember getting those 25 cent issues in the mail.
Favorite JLA/JSA team up would probably be 100-102, with all those heroes how could it not be?
Least favorite, probably #46-47, just because of the Batman-centric theme.
My favorite era is probably the Wein issues, with great Dillin/Giordano artwork. Dillin inked by McLaughlin lacked something, but i liked Giordano and Greene. Englehart comes in next, followed by the workman "get the issues out" Fox and Conway eras.
The most ironic part of JLA fandom had to be a review in the Comic Reader saying that Dillin had to go, "replace him with anyone, but hopefully someone like George Perez" and having Dick die the next month.
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Nov 15, 2014 23:31:04 GMT -5
While reading scans of the Vigilante stories, i came across one that was a good break point, but can't find my notes on that right now...
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Sept 12, 2014 1:50:58 GMT -5
The three on the top of my list right now are as follows, in no particular order... DC Special #5 The Secret Lives of Joe Kubert issue Wow, I've never heard of or seen tis issue, but as a huge Kubert fan, I need this in my life! And the first appearance of Adam and Andy Kubert!
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Aug 29, 2014 23:32:45 GMT -5
I was coming into comic sentience in the late 15 cent era, so the JLA/JSA team-up of that period, i guess. I was a pretty steady customer of the JLA thought #150.
But the biggest seller (besides the 100 pagers) was "All in Color for A Dime", which collected early fanzine articles about the Golden Age of Comics. I was exposed to the breath and depth of the 1940s in all their glory. And it was the first paperback i had ever bought.
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zilch
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Post by zilch on Jul 10, 2014 2:19:26 GMT -5
Its a bit of a cheat, but...
Jack Kirby's assistant was Mark Evanier...
Mark Evanier's significant other is Carolyn Kelly
Carolyn Kelly is Walt Kelly's daughter
Done in One.
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