A couple of weekends ago I noticed a sign in my neighborhood - "Yard Sale - Clothes Comics Furniture". I walked over there and came home with 16 comic books and a tattered ~1939 Rand McNally World Atlas. My other collecting interest beside comics is maps and atlases.
I hope the pictures look OK. I've never done pictures like this before.
First, here are the expensive ones. This group of four was $33 total:
That's the 1963
Flash Annual #1-and-only. It reprints five Barry Allen stories from 1958-60 and one Jay Garrick story from 1947. The stories include the debuts of Kid Flash, Elongated Man, Gorilla Grodd, Mr. Element (later Dr. Alchemy), and the Golden Age Star Sapphire. But the book leads off with a story whose villain never appeared again (Katmos). Why would they reprint that? Because it was the lead story in the first issue of the revived Flash Comics in 1959, so it had a recap of Barry's origin. Why not just reprint the origin? Because they'd reprinted it 2 years earlier, in Secret Origins #1. Somebody at DC was paying attention.
All of the Barry stories are by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, with Joe Giella inking all but one - the Mr. Element story, inked by Frank Giacoia. The Jay story is by Robert Kanigher, Lee Elias and Moe Worthman. There'a also a "How I Draw the Flash" featurette by Carmine, a page showing the covers of Flash Comics #1, All-Flash #1, Showcase #4 and Flash #105, a back cover pinup, and a fascinating index of all the Barry Allen stories that had appeared when this annual was published. Data geek that I am, I had to compile some numbers from that index.
Totals: Issues, 40; Stories, 71 (most issues had two Flash stories; nine had only one).
All pencilling was by Carmine Infantino.
71 Stories:
Script by: John Broome - 61; Gardner Fox - 6; Robert Kanigher - 4
Inking by: Joe Giella - 56; Murphy Anderson - 7; Frank Giacoia - 6; Joe Kubert - 2
40 covers:
Inking by: Joe Giella - 22; Murphy Anderson - 14; Frank Giacoia - 3; Joe Kubert - 1
Kubert also inked at least the main figure on this annual's cover.
Next to that is
80 Page Giant Magazine #15, Oct 1965. This reprints six Superman/Batman teamups from World's Finest Comics, 1955-58. Three of the stories are by the team of Edmond Hamilton, Dick Sprang, and Stan Kaye. The other three are: Hamilton/Swan/Kaye, Finger/Sprang/Kaye, and Finger/Sprang/Burnley. On the cover, the upper-left image is from a Swan cover; the other two are from Sprang splash pages. It's a Sprang-fest! There are Henry Boltinoff fillers sprinkled throughout; they are conspicuously absent from the Flash Annual.
Below we have
Kid Colt Outlaw #124, Sep 1965 - a classic Silver Age Marvel western. The cover may be by Sol Brodsky. The Kid Colt story is scripted by Al Hartley and drawn by Jack Keller, who I think had the most retro style of the Marvel Silver Age posse. The backup is a reprint from a 1963 Rawhide Kid issue, scripted by Stan Lee and drawn by the same Al Hartley.
And next to that is
Groo the Wanderer #1 from Pacific Comics, Dec 1982. Not his first appearance, but his first full issue. Sergio Aragones, Mark Evanier, Stan Sakai, and Gordon Kent.
The rest of these were 6 for $10, or $1.6666... each.
First, the Charlton quartet:
That's
Space War #29, May 1978. The Ditko cover is from 1959, and the two Ditko stories are from 1959 and 1960. There's also a new story signed by "A. Elias".
Next to that is
Timmy the Timid Ghost #10, Jun 1969. When I showed these to my wife, here's the conversation we had:
Me: "Here's Charlton's blatant ripoff of Casper."
Her (looking at the cover): "You mean that's
not Casper?"
No, it's Timmy, and his frenemy with the hat is Maxie, not Casper's hat-wearing compatriot, Spooky. To me, the idea of a ghost wearing a hat is much more absurd than a friendly or timid ghost. The cover might be by Jon D'Agostino, and one story is signed by Anthony Ferme. The rest of the art is unidentified.
Below we have a pair of Modern Comics, an odd experiment that reprinted entire Charlton issues from a decade earlier.
First is the Peacemaker, now featured in a major(ish) motion picture. This is
The Peacemaker #2, a 1978 reprint of a 1967 issue. The cover is by Pat Boyette, the Peacemaker stories are by Joe Gill and Pat Boyette, and the Fightin' 5 backup is by Gill, Montes & Bache.
Next is the Irish hero, Jud O'Master. No, it's Frank McLaughlin's pioneering martial artist from the era when judo and karate were mysterious Oriental arts and kung fu was unknown.
Judomaster #96, another 1978 reprint of a 1967 issue. Judomaster cover, script, pencils and inks by Frank McLaughlin; Sarge Steel backup by Skeates & Giordano.
Next we have the Big 2 group:
First is
Conan the Barbarian #188, Nov 1986. I was completely out of comics at this point; I've never read the post-Roy Thomas era of Conan. This one is by Christopher Priest (as James Owsley), and the art is by a very familiar duo to me - John Buscema breakdowns and Ernie Chan finishing. The main figure on the cover is Big John inking himself; the border is by Romita.
Then the one that people have seen in the Zoom thread (and if you haven't seen the Zoom thread, go here:
classiccomics.org/post/421170/thread), yes, it's
US 1 #1, May 1983. I've never read a US 1 story. The cover is by Al Milgrom, and the story is scripted by Milgrom with art by Herb Trimpe.
Below are
Spider-Man, Storm and Power Man in a public-service anti-tobacco comic that was produced in 1982 and reprinted several times. This is the 1996 edition. The cover is by Romita & Giacoia; scripter unknown, art by Trimpe & Giella, and a back cover illustration by Romita.
And the only DC in the inexpensive group,
Mystery in Space #113, Nov 1980. Behind a Joe Kubert cover are stories by Kashdan, Golden & Wiacek, Wein & Staton, DeMatteis & Grandenetti, Wein & Kubert and Kashdan, Von Eeden & Celardo.
Finally, the miscellaneous oddballs:
First we have
The Rocketeer Adventure Magazine #1 from Comico, Jul 88. The story continues from Eclipse and after two issues at Comico it will go on to Dark Horse. The cover is Dave Stevens of course, as is the Rocketeer story. The backup is a Galactic Girl Guides story by Elaine Lee, Mike Kaluta and Charles Vess. There are a couple of full-page Rocketeer illustrations by Kaluta and a Galactic Girl Guides back cover by Kaluta & Vess.
Then one of the Gladstone 2-in-1 EC reprint books -
Tales from the Crypt #6, 1991. This reprints 1954's Tales from the Crypt #42 (cover by Davis, stories by Davis, Kamen, Krigstein, & Ingels) & 1955's Crime SuspenStories #27 (cover by Kamen, stories by Evans, Ingels, Krigstein, & Kamen).
Below is Skywald's
Tender Love Stories #3, Jun 71. There are no credits; GCD's best guess on the cover art and the one new story is pencils by Kurt Schaffenberger and inks by John Celardo. All the other stories are reprints. Three stories come from the same 1962 issue of Young Love - two by Bill Draut and one by Bob Powell. The other two stories are by Rafael Astarita from 1952 Avon comics. All of the reprints had hair and clothing updates done by Bill Everett. In essence, he re-inked all of them. He's such a distinctive inker, they all end up looking like his work.
Last, and possibly least, is
Chuck Colson Born Again, a 1978 one-shot from Spire, the Christian comics line published by the Fleming H. Revell Company. Like most of the Spire line, the cover, script and art are all by Al Hartley. Colson was a hatchet man for Richard Nixon and was the first person to go to prison on Watergate-related charges. After the election and before his prison stint, Colson had an apparently sincere religious conversion and devoted the rest of his life to evangelism.
I'm glad this post is finished; it took at least a week to write!