Comic Book Collecting

[horrorhunter]

Here's something you don't see often these days, a Warren Eerie T-shirt listed on eBay. $400 OBO is a ridiculous price, but we see those sorts of prices commonly these days for anything perceived as scarce, or that overused (and abused) term "rare". In this case it really is quite scarce.



Here are some ads for Warren Publishing merch sold through Captain Company.







I have a few Warren items including the Creepy and Eerie rings, the library cases for Famous Monsters, Vampi, Creepy, and Eerie, the Creepy Crawley Castle Game, the Vampirella 6 ft. door poster, the dirt from Dracula's castle pendant, several of the posters and fan club items including pinback buttons, membership cards, certificates, as well as many of the items not made for Warren Publishing specifically but sold through Captain Company. But, I never found any of the clothing items to buy (not sure I'd want those briefs  ). Sometimes the many Captain Company pages per issue were as much fun to look at as the great art and stories proper in the mags.

[John Pertwee]

400 is alot but not that crazy. Vintage shirts are all the rage and there might be a very small number left in good shape.

[horrorhunter]

400 is alot but not that crazy. Vintage shirts are all the rage and there might be a very small number left in good shape.

Yeah, calling $400 OBO "ridiculous" is probably an exaggeration the way prices are now. To display it properly it would have to be framed and then it would incur more money and eat wall space. No doubt it's scarce.

[John Pertwee]

I don't know if anyone will bite, but those giant sports jersey display cases are on clearance at JoAnnes Fabric stores as they are closing. I don't like buying super fragile items for a premium.

[horrorhunter]

Some comic reading as of late:

Marvel Conan (1970) #s 1-9
Marvel Tower of Shadows (1969) #s 1-9, Annual #1
Marvel Chamber of Darkness (1969) #s 1-4



The Chamber of Darkness #4 features the "Conan Try-out" as it was commonly called for years, and probably still is. I remember when I first started collecting in 1975 that was a pricey book. I don't think it's too expensive now. Marvel's Conan title was very popular in the '70s and relative to other comics the early issues were expensive. The only issues which are relatively expensive anymore are #1 and #s23 and 24 (Red Sonja). I don't follow the current herd on values these days. I'm just glad I have the books in decent condition, and I enjoy actually reading them instead of fretting over "investment", "slabbing", and minor defects which might lower condition. I like to read the original issues instead of reprints, including pouring over the artwork, editorials, letters, and ads, as well as enjoying that great smell of old newsprint.

On the comic reading horizon I'll probably read further into Conan as well as Marvel's Kull title. Then get into some DC Horror (Mystery) from the late '60s and early '70s including Witching Hour, House of Mystery, House of Secrets, Swamp Thing, Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love, and Sinister House of Secret Love, and finally dive into some Charlton Monster and Horror from the '60s and '70s like Gorgo, Konga, and some of the Ghost titles. I'll be sprinkling in some Monster Mags too, from Warren, Marvel, and Skywald. Good Summer of comics reading ahead leading into Halloween.

[Mike Scott]

Cool cover! Looks like Jack the Ripper, or something.

[horrorhunter]

Cool cover! Looks like Jack the Ripper, or something.

Yeah, pencils by Marie Severin and inks by Bill Everett. "The Monster" turned out to be a misunderstood hermit who was home-invaded and murdered by paranoid villagers. They were the real monsters. Marie was John Severin's little sister who was a good artist in her own right. John Severin was a legendary artist who drew many a great monster story in his day.

[Mike Scott]

. . a misunderstood hermit who was home-invaded and murdered by paranoid villagers.

Those wacky villagers! 

[Rex fury]

The Marvel " mystery" series could be a real hit and miss. Many issues were original, then a mixture of original and reprint, and finally just reprint material. The Chamber of Darkness Conan story is a reprint from Savage Tales (v1) # 1. It's presented in color, so it's fun to compare the comic to the black and white magazine version. I've always been fond of seeing Smith's work in B&W. Marvelmania's Conan cover is especially sharp, showcasing Smith's ( inked by Adkins) cover to Conan 1. Steranko did a couple of nice stories for the mystery books too.
The Severin siblings work on Kull is excellent! Those first few issues of that series are a fun read with excellent artwork. They did a few pieces for various fanzines at the time which are equally impressive.
My favorite Conan work is either The Frost Giant's Daughter or Red Nails. Again there's both color and B&W versions of these two stories.
I too enjoy the DC titles, with my favorite being Ghosts. I really like the cover to the second issue of that series.
RF

[Hepcat]

I don't know if anyone will bite, but those giant sports jersey display cases are on clearance at JoAnnes Fabric stores as they are closing.

I don't "display" my jerseys, I wear them (when one of my roommates or The MAN haven't donned them first that is):











 

[Hepcat]

Here's something you don't see often these days, a Warren Eerie T-shirt listed on eBay. $400 OBO is a ridiculous price, but we see those sorts of prices commonly these days for anything perceived as scarce, or that overused (and abused) term "rare". In this case it really is quite scarce.

Ahhhhh, the cover of Eerie 40! Those Creepy and Eerie T-shirts were fabulous! They were offered in the 1970's which was well after my Warren magazine buying days had ended. Here's the ad for the T-shirts from the back cover of Creepy 90:



 

[horrorhunter]

The Marvel " mystery" series could be a real hit and miss. Many issues were original, then a mixture of original and reprint, and finally just reprint material. The Chamber of Darkness Conan story is a reprint from Savage Tales (v1) # 1. It's presented in color, so it's fun to compare the comic to the black and white magazine version. I've always been fond of seeing Smith's work in B&W. Marvelmania's Conan cover is especially sharp, showcasing Smith's ( inked by Adkins) cover to Conan 1. Steranko did a couple of nice stories for the mystery books too.
The Severin siblings work on Kull is excellent! Those first few issues of that series are a fun read with excellent artwork. They did a few pieces for various fanzines at the time which are equally impressive.
My favorite Conan work is either The Frost Giant's Daughter or Red Nails. Again there's both color and B&W versions of these two stories.
I too enjoy the DC titles, with my favorite being Ghosts. I really like the cover to the second issue of that series.
RF

I enjoy Marvel's Chamber and Tower titles even though the quality fluctuates. I love that late '60s/early '70s time in comics, especially Horror/Monster comics. It's fun to see the early Smith art, and both Steranko and John Buscema were doing very nice work at the time. The Poe and Lovecraft adaptations are always welcome. I like the horror hosts Marvel came up with for those titles, Headstone P. Gravely and Digger, but according to fan letters most readers didn't like them at all. Marvel even chose to have the later stories hosted by some of the writers and artists due to the venom towards Digger and HPG expressed by so many fans in the letters. It seems that some of the Marvel fans thought themselves too "refined" to have fun with established tropes like traditional horror hosts. It's just comics, people. Have fun with it.

Btw, Savage Tales #1 came out a year after Chamber of Darkness #4 so you may want to refresh your memory on the whole reprint thing. https://www.comics.org/issue/23402/

I agree that Smith's art looks better in B&W, but then I think all good artists' work shows better detail in B&W. The cheap printing of comics from the time tends to muddy up details with the addition of color. I like to see it both ways, and for the sake of storytelling the color adds something, but just for appreciating the art B&W is best.

[horrorhunter]

Here's a video I did covering a few issues of my House of Mystery run from DC. This run began DC's "Mystery" line, which was really just Horror softened a bit due to the Comics Code Authority which was still in effect in 1968 when Joe Orlando took over the new "Mystery" line of DC titles. The Code would gradually lose relevancy and in 1971 it was amended to allow vampires, werewolves, and other Horror tropes which opened the floodgates to the great 1970s monster boom in comics. House of Mystery featured great art by masters like Bernie Wrightson and Neal Adams as well as Wrightson's first professional work in issue 179.

[Rex fury]

Btw, Savage Tales #1 came out a year after Chamber of Darkness #4 so you may want to refresh your memory on the whole reprint thing. https://www.comics.org/issue/23402/

Yeah, my bad. It was The Frost Giant's Daughter that appeared in Savage Tales 1. Starr... er... Conan was published in B&W someplace else (don't recall where)

[horrorhunter]

Btw, Savage Tales #1 came out a year after Chamber of Darkness #4 so you may want to refresh your memory on the whole reprint thing. https://www.comics.org/issue/23402/

Yeah, my bad. It was The Frost Giant's Daughter that appeared in Savage Tales 1. Starr... er... Conan was published in B&W someplace else (don't recall where)

In Conan Saga (1987) #6 among others. Grand Comics Database gives reprint info. It's in the link I posted to Chamber of Darkness #4.