Cashing In on Cal-El

Newsflash! Superman copy found in mum's attic is most valuable comic ever at $9.12m

Just goes to show it's always worth checking the attic! 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8e9rp0knj6o 

How much?

Blimey!

Have you found anything interesting stashed away in your house readers?

Fantastic and Terrific!

 Finding a Fantastic comic badge yesterday, I had a gander at which issue it came with as a free gift back in the day.

This is the badge I found.

And turns out this is the issue of Fantastic and Terrific it came with, #54. This one's on eBay. 

I did get Fantastic comic for a while as a kid but I don't recall the badge. Do you?

Small And Hexcellent!

 It always amazes me what's out there to get. 

As a young teenager I was mad about Witches Tales comics and the related titles like Horror Tales, much to my Dad's 'horror'. I guess the covers were pretty gross!

Anyway searching for miniature bibles I came across tiny versions of Witches Tales ... For dolls houses! Now that's the kind of dolls house I'd like! 

I guess you can miniaturize anything! 

What would you make small readers?

Perry Rhodan Thunderbirds Covers

 I picked these up last year in Germany, old Perry Rhodan comics. Interestingly the cover artists have included Thunderbirds 1 and 3 in the artwork. They really do get everywhere!

I imagine Thunderbirds 2 and 4 are out there somewhere on Perry Rhodan covers too.

I know there's a Project SWORD Nuclear Ferry on one. I've seen it. 

Again, of interest, this comic is the longest running sci-fi comic in the world!

Have you got any readers?

American Memories

The passing of another American icon of our childhoods, Jim Lovell, has made me nostalgic for some of the other Americans later in my life.

 Having been collecting toys since 1989 some of the places I visited Stateside have also gone. Here are just a few threads of gossamer to a lost American world.

Alphaville

Alphaville was a vintage toys and collectables store I visited with my Missus in New York City way back in 2001 on my 40th birthday trip to the Big Apple.

The store was packed with fabulous mint and beautifully packaged toys and kitsch, a true Aladdin's cave. I was thrilled to be there having discovered them first as an online vintage toys shop, one of the earliest I can recall just as eBay was imported here from the States went live in the UK in 2000.

Remnants of Alphaville still exist online including the two gorgeous bits of artwork here, typical of the cool retro-lounge imagery of their website, a work of art in itself and a joy to browse. I really do miss Alphaville. It closed in 2010.

Toy Scouts Inc.

What can I say about Toy Scouts Inc? Only that their founder Bill Breugman single-handedly introduced me to a much wider world of vintage toys, than I hitherto knew about, in his fantastic  book from the early 1990's, Toys of the Sixties, which I bought in 1993.

Bill wrote the History of Aurora too, which I have, as well as publishing one of the seminal American vintage toy collecting magazines, Model and Toy Collector.

I used to subscribe to Bill's auction catalogue, the heart of Toy Scouts Inc., and the one or two copies I have are prized possessions, jam-packed as they are with delicious collectables years before eBay. I think Toy Scouts are sadly no more.

Midtown Comics

This was another place we visited in 2001 in NYC, a large and well-known comics shop. I was stunned by the amount of stock they had and came away with a beautiful modern Green Hornet lunchbox and repro Captain Action Green Hornet outfit, both items for my toy fair stall I had back then. 

I imagine, unlike the first two here, Midtown have gone from strength to strength given the popularity of comics and graphic novels.

Strand Bookstore

Again, in the January of 2001 the Missus and me spent a happy hour in this fabulous New York book shop, which I seem to recall being not too far from the business district of Wall Street and the ill-fated World Trade Center.

It was - and may well be still - a superb bookstore and the section on collecting toys a real treat. I was a fan of John Toyzilla Marshall back then so jumped at the chance of increasing my books by him, namely Comic Heros of the 1960's, a tome I still love to leaf through.

I hope the Strand has thrived and thrived.

Happy days

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Do you know any of these readers? 

Ed's Comic Book Ad Civil War Toy Soldiers

Here's a sample of what a child would get if they sent in for a set of toy soldiers.

 Kids no doubt expected fully fleshed out figures, but often times ended up with 'flats' similar to these. I know now of course that 'flats' are a time-honored tradition in the toy soldier world (and new production military figures can still be bought), but when I was kid, these would have been disappointing. 

Personally, I remember having a set of Little Green Army men as a youngster. All that said, I had bought these American Civil War flats many years ago but ended up selling them a year or so ago.

Did you get any of these?

From Vegas Base

Ed

Combat Picture Annual 1962

 

I picked up a non-jacketed hardback copy of this interesting book tother week, in a garden centre of all places (South Milford), which often seem to have a few second hand bits and bobs in a corner these days (do you visit garden centres?)

It's an unusual book, at least to me, as it's a novel sized hardback full of black and white army comic strips dated 1962. I assume it's a digest of comics or?

This example I saw online and had it's dust jacket is rather smart indeed.

The strips include (courtesy of LetsGoCommando)

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Addendum:

You can read much much more about this book online by an enthusiast, nothingbutafan.

https://nothingbutafan.wordpress.com/2016/06/20/another-pleasant-valley-sunday/

Will's Comic Giveaways

Hi Woodsy,

 Going through a few drawers and found these giveaways. The disguise is Whizzer and Chips, don't know the other two , but the flying saucer firing space gun is nice .

Anyone recognise them?

Will O

UK

Santa on Mars

 

Could it ever happen, Christmas on Mars?

The Clock

The Clock is considered to be the first masked comic hero to appear in American comics in the Golden Age. He was created by George Brenner.

Wearing a sort of black hanky over his face, the Clock was a hypnotist crime fighter with a cane. He fought his bad guys in Chicago.

He debuted in November 1936 and his alter ego was the catchy-named Brian O' Brian.

DC eventually acquired the Clock but let him slip silently into the public domain in the 1950's.

His calling card read The Clock Has Struck!

I couldn't find any Clock merchandise but I imagine there's still time.

Have you any Clock stuff? 

My New Bran Bowl

My meagre but fun catch at the car boot, my first trip out in a week.

LtoR. Castle Bran bowl. Dr.Who mag free gift 2009. Silver ironing board cover. Modern Action Man.

The Bran bowl from Dracula's castle in Romania was a no brainer - or should that be branner! I was fascinated by comic ads for vials of Bran soil when I was a kid and now I have at least a bowl. You can guess what's going it in! And no, not bran!

Do you remember Dracula's soil in bottles?

The silver cover is for a future action man outfit. Can you guess?

The modern Action man will be my deep sea diver when I'm done. Those modern hands are WAY too big!

I also saw this Route 66 picture. What is that car? Anyone?

What are you up to today?

S E A S T A R 5 UPDATE

Hi Woodsy

Just letting you know that my Children's sci-fi ComicBook Series "SEASTAR 5 INVADERS FROM THE ABYSS" has moved forward a bit in the last six months....I have been busy....

The first comicbook on the Amazon Kindle platform as a digital download , also available now as a paperback illustrated printed edition in the Amazon store...UK and USA....and others...

The full supermation comicbook edition can be purchased at comicbook stores in Lancashire England at Lancaster , Preston , Blackburn....together with book store "storytellers inc. " St.Annes on Sea .

The second book in the series is in production now with a release in late summer this year....to be followed by book three in the winter....

We are also on Twitter and Instagram , Facebook social media platforms...

The series is starting to get attention....some new images from the series attached for your readers to see....

Will keep you posted on my progress....my new format of supermation retroart images....a combined photo-art , drawn characters with realistic photon art backgrounds is beginning to be accepted in a number of areas....will see how far I can push the style....

Regards Richard Dixon 

TPD STUDIOS Lancashire 

UK

Bonner Comics Laden

 The comic shop Bonner Comic Laden is easily one of the biggest I've ever been in. It is deceptive to start with but the length of it is astonishing! It just keeps going back and back! 

Here are a few of the comics and modern Action figures for sale there in what is clearly a thriving German comics scene.

Fortuitously for me they had this Creepy archive by Dark Horse in the sale bin. €12.

I already have a hardback version at home with different stories in it.

This softback contains reprints of 1. My favourite cover, the young ghouls - below and 2. My favourite story, Monster Really. Result!

Do you have reprints of your childhood favorites or do you still have the original comics?

F O R M I C

 Speaking of ants, I'm getting worried about the number of ,Phase 4' diets I'm seeing.

Makes me think of ants and much chomping in the formulary of phase IV.

I've seen a lot of Ant movies and read a few Novels.

I've never seen Food of the Gods though - maybe that's rats film? It used to be advertised as a cine film for home viewing at the back of Warrens Creepy and Eerie comics.

I bought this softback of Creepy reprints this morning at the Bonner Comic Laden.

 Although Food of the Gods isn't advertised in it, some classic monotone monster cine films are, pictured above. The VHS of it's day! 

Have you seen it? Read any ant books? Did you or do you like Creepy and Eerie comics Readers?

🐜

Ant-dendum

In a sleepy Rhine village we're visiting is, yes, of all things, an ant controller! 

Der Comic Shelf

 More German comic covers. It's a vibrant scene over here.