Friday, December 14, 2012

Disneyland Postcard Price Guide Completed!

When I first started this blog, I was talking about all of my collectibles in one space.  And I was diligent...in a manner of speaking.  Everyday for about 5 months I was bringing everything from sand to Star Wars cards to comic and postcards.  (That's nothing compared to Gorillas Don't Blog though....he started up and ever since day one hasn't quit for almost six years...really impressive).  Anyway, I finally decided to break out the Disneyland postcard stuff to its own site because it is a rather "nichy" collection.

Last night, I finally finished the price guide for all of the cards listed in the Nickel Tour reference book!  So...if you want to check it out, go to disneypostcards.com.  This effort has kept me from more frequent posts here...but keep your eyes out...I have plenty more non-Disney related stuff to talk about!

Until next time...

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Postcard Booklets from the Past!

A couple weeks back, i saw this lot on eBay for a bunch of old postcard booklets.  These are about 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches and they can have some great vintage images in them.  I was mostly interested in the Disneyland HiLite book...I already have it, but the price was right for this lot so I threw in the one and only bid it took to win.

Shown here are the ten books in the lot.  Everything from Jackson Hole to the Ozarks to Hollywood!


Taking a look inside, there are a many interesting shots, but I will show just a couple here.  First off, a view of Sunset and Vine in Hollywood, California.  The NBC studio is there in all of it's mid-century glory.  I am guessing this image is early 1950's based on all the cars and the two women in the picture.  You need a magnifier, but they look to be in their early 1950's casual daywear!


Next is a shot from Mitchell, South Dakota.  The Corn Palace is a multi-purpose arena that still exists today and hosts concerts and events for the good folks of Mitchell and the surrounding area. It is of "Moorish Revival" architecture and built in 1921 after several predecessors.  The domes were added in 1937.  This photo appears to have been taken in the late 1950's...maybe even 1960.  The car on the far right looks like a Chevrolet Impala from that era or something very similar.  A rather interesting building to be sure!


So there you have it...a bunch of cool little postcard booklets from mid-twentieth century America!


Thursday, December 6, 2012

Mystery in Space #33

Well, I have recently been blogging primarily on my Disney Postcard site, and have neglected my blogs here.  But today we will remedy this with a quick look at this great Mystery in Space book from the summer of 1956!


It's the 27th century and wood has grown very scarce on planet earth.  With the discovery of new and more exotic materials, and presumably an exploding population, forests have been mowed down and replaced by huge structures.  Finally, one day, an alert goes out to destroy all things made from wood because it is determined that a deadly gas can be released from the material which will kill all living things near by.

When an alien fleet arrives to take over planet earth (just after all the last bits of wood have been destroyed), the earthlings realize that the deadly gas was a ploy to get them to destroy their remaining wood....the alien ray guns can easily handle the advanced materials, but cannot destroy wood!!  But have no fear!  A curator at an aviation museum has secretly preserved three old WWI fighter planes made from spruce wood...the old aircraft are retrofitted with new radiation canons and the aliens are defeated!!

Classic mid-century sci-fi!

Until next time...(sooner rather than later)

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Saturday Evening Post - May 29, 1948

All I can say about this amazing issue of the Saturday Evening Post is, where to begin?  This thing is absolutely loaded with nostalgic advertising and some great articles and writing from the mid twentieth century.  I'll get to the primary reason I bought this magazine in a bit, but there is so much fantastic advertising that I had to share it here.


I'll start off with the cover which has a nice painted piece by an artist unknown to me, Mead Schaeffer. There are wikipedia articles on him, and you can see other samples of his work online.  I have to believe that back in the day, getting the opportunity to have your work published on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post was a huge deal.  


Inside, we'll start out with this great American Airlines advertisement.  This was 1948.  Commercial air travel was still in its infancy for the most part (OK...maybe it was a toddler) and this ad was addressing some concerns as well as making air travel look cool.  Read it for yourself, but I find the last panel interesting.  Not only was air travel making our businessman friend hip and efficient, but it was appropriate for the mother and young baby as well as the elderly couple.  And get a load of all that leg room!


Next up is this magnificent centerfold advertisement for Mobil De Luxe Tires and Mobilgas.  This piece is unsigned, but it has that Norman Rockwell feel to it (pretty sure it's not him though).  The "girls" are off to the side with mom trying to quiet the young one while dad fixes the tire....but to no avail because the dog is wreaking havoc.  Just brilliant.  


Another great double page spread is this 7-Up add.  7-Up was created in 1929...this was 1948, so a mere 19 years into the life of the product.  "You like it - it likes you"...they don't mention it here, but 7-Up is not a caffeinated drink.  I suspect it was not then either.  But somehow I suspect that this is not why they say "it likes you"...probably just marketing speak for "buy this drink"!



Finally I come to the reason I bought this magazine in the first place (only a few bucks on eBay...by the way).  Look at the double page spread above.  Notice the tiny cartoon on the bottom left hand page? This is Charles Schulz's first published work in a national magazine.  While Li'l Folks had been published in the St. Paul Pioneer Press since 1947, this was Schulz's first nationally published work.  The rest, as they say, is history!



Until next time....

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Flying Aces Magazine - 1941

If you have read this blog for any amount of time...you know that the one thing that ties most of my collectibles together is the medium on which they were produced...that being paper.  Paper collectibles...or ephemera...have always been interesting to me.  Most paper items are produced to serve a purpose and then were usually not taken care of and/or thrown away.  Whether it was a tourist pamphlet, an early comic book, or, in the case of today's item, a magazine...printed paper items always offer great insight into the culture of the era.

Flying Aces was a popular aviation magazine from the early 20th century.  This issue is from 1941 and is loaded with factual articles on aircraft of the day, fictional stories, and model building tips for kids and adults wanting to try their hand at the design and build of model aircraft.


I particularly thought the image here was interesting.  The P-38 Lighting, as you are probably aware, went on to become one of the most fabled aircraft of WWII.  And the P-40 also saw a significant amount of service all over the world, perhaps most notably as the "Flying Tiger" in China.

As an aside...I couldn't resist including the back cover.  Build planes...get a girl...I love it!


Until next time...

Monday, October 29, 2012

The Savage Sword of Conan!

Back in the 1970's when the comics code was still mostly in force and there were restrictions on what comic book companies could and could not publish, regular magazine sized comic books were published by a number of different publishers that fell outside of the code...and allowed the artists and writers a freer hand.  This magazine, The Savage Sword of Conan, was one such magazine.



This magazine (issue #2 shown here) was put out by a group called Magazine Management Company, but it drew from artists that were all well known at the time.  This cover is by Neil Adams.  The art director for the magazine was John Romita.  Interior art is by John Buscema, Gil Kane and Howard Chaykin.  The book is a little edgier than the standard comics of the time...but the work is of a high quality, and all true to the Robert E. Howard Conan of yore.

The best part about these books??  They are available cheap!!  Nominally...issues after #5 or so are available for a few dollars each.  So...if you are a Conan fan like me...these are must haves!

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Friday, October 26, 2012

X-Men #101 - The Phoenix!

When the new X-Men were introduced in 1975 in Giant Size X-Men #1 and X-Men #94, a really great ride awaited the readers over the next 40 or so issues.   It's actually been quite some time since I read a lot of this stuff, but I remember reading it for the first time and being captivated by the quality of the Chris Claremont story and Dave Cockrum art together as one cohesive and integrated story telling entity.  And this issue was the real beginning of it all...the rise of the Phoenix!



I am not going to rehash the story which can be found in innumerable places, including an adaptation of sorts in the X-Men movies.  Instead, I thought I would share this cover and splash page by Dave Cockrum.  Easily my favorite X-Men splash page from this era...and one of the better covers as well.


Next time you watch an X-Men movie and find yourself asking questions about "the book"...head on down to your local comic shop...this story has been reprinted on several occasions and in several formats.  Like I said...it's a great read and a lot of fun.

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Saturday, October 20, 2012

The Douglas DC-7 - First East-to-West Coast Service Non-Stop

It's been a while since I have posted any aviation postcards here, so today we are going to look at this Douglas DC-7.  This aircraft was, as the card states, the world's fastest airliner for a time in the 1950's.   Built from 1953 to 1958, it was the last of the big turbo-charged propeller driven aircraft built by Douglas.  You may recall that the DC-8 was a jet aircraft that Douglas came out with starting in 1958 (oh the good old days...when you could develop new passenger aircraft in a few years!)

Anyway...when the plane was put into service in 1953, it offered the first non-stop airliner service from east coast to west coast.  It was eight hours, nominally, not the ~five and a half hour trip it is today.  (Note...if you have ever travelled east to west on a day when the gulf stream is really blowing...then you know that even in a modern jet, the trip can take up to 7 hours or more.)



According to the 1000 aircraft photos site (which has this exact postcard photo on its site) this particular aircraft served United Airlines until it was sold in 1964.  Eventually it was destroyed in a fire at a facility where it was being scrapped.  Not a very glorious finish for this plane I am afraid.

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

The Lyon Air Museum - One Man's Collection

As a collector, one of the things I like to do is see what other people collect.  When I walk in to someones house...maybe they have invited me and my family over for dinner...my eyes are always drawn to the book shelves, or the mantle...or maybe even the wals if there are interesting prints or paintings on them.

A friend of mine and his wife are really into photography.  The shots are almost always personal family photographs taken while on vacation...but done so in a very artistic and creative way.  This may not be a collection in the classic sense, but it really is not that different.

This past week I was on business travel to Anaheim in Southern California.  As the plane touched down, I noticed for not the first time a small air museum on the opposite side of the airfield:  The Lyon Air Museum.  In the afternoon I had a little time to go check it ut while I was waiting for my flight.



The man who started this museum is a collector...of motorcycles and airplanes.  How cool is that?  He needed a hanger to show his stuff...but it is quite a collection.  He has a B-17 bomber, a B-25Mitchell, an A-4 Skyhawk, an old American Airlines DC-3 (you can see the aft end of this plane in the photo above), a C-47 cargo plane in invasion stripes...and a bunch of motorcycles from Germany and America (the Indian above is magnificent).


If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend a quick stop at the Lyon Air Museum.  Even if you have only a passing interest in mid-20th century aircraft and mechanical machines...you will not be disappointed 

Until next time....

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Rip Kirby by Alex Raymond

My daughter and I started reading Alex Raymond's Rip Kirby together tonight.  If you are not familiar with Rip Kirby, it is the strip that Alex Raymond started right after WWII.  Alex Raymond was a master...and you need only check out his Flash Gordon work to verify.  With Rip Kirby, which began in 1946, he starts with more great draughtsmanship.




These stories have all been collected and published by IDW as part of their "Library of American Comics".  These are fantastic books that are worth the price of entry (retail of $49.99...but you may find them cheaper).

Pick up a copy and settle in to a comfortable chair.  I guarantee a great ride!

Until next time...

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Disney Dollars - The Currency of Disney

I wasn't sure whether to put this on this blog, or my other Disney Postcard blog tonight.  But, since it's not a postcard, and I haven't blogged here in a while (due to a trip to Disneyland and a few other things) I decided to put it here.

Disney Dollars have been around for 25 years now, and they are a great collectible for a couple of reasons.  Starting in 1987, the early bills are quite collectible and not that common.  A quick survey of eBay shows that while the early bills don't go for a ton...they go for way more than the original $1 it took to buy them.



Disney dollars usually come in $1, $5 or $10 denominations (like this 2008 $10 bill shown here).  They do not charge more than face value for the bills and they are "legal tender" at any Disney park...so, assuming you are at Disneyland, the worst you can do is lose a little interest from the time you bought it to the time you used it.

The most valuable bills are the $50 50th anniversary of Disneyland bills.  I had one of these once...but spent it!  They will go for as high as $700 or more depending on the version you have.

Anyway...next time you are at Disneyland...or the magic Kingdom...drop by the town hall and asked them what they have.  They are well produced and are a sure bet for collectibility.

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Friday, October 5, 2012

Lord of the Rings TCG

A few posts ago I introduced TCG's and CCG's to this blog.  Over the years, as I mentioned, I have dabbled in this hobby.  Sometimes I collect the cards just for the cards sake...other times, I will find a few friends that are collecting also and we will play the game.

This game, The Lord of the Rings TCG, represents one of the games that I played and collected extensively.  Well...I didn't play that much, but I have a LOT of these cards floating around the nooks and crannies of my house...and even my office at work (another friend of mine and I would play a lunch!)



The game design is very well done.  You start out with a small "Fellowship" and travel through nine sites where your opponent(s) are given the opportunity to attack and defeat the fellowship on its journey.  When it is their turn...you act as the forces of Mordor.  

The cards are all based on the Peter Jackson film and are beautifully done, and as in most/all TCG's they come in Common, Uncommon and Rare varieties with different capabilities.  

You can still find these cards for sale on eBay...some sets going quite cheaply.  

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Del Four Color 236 - Zane Grey

Four Color 236 is the product of an anonymous group of artists working in 1949 for Dell.  Sounds maybe a little crazy, but it's true.  If you go to the Grand Comic Book Database, or look at the Overstreet Price Guide, no one seems to be too sure who did the cover or the interior art.  There is a suggestion that Morris Gollub (never heard of him?...me either) did the painted cover, and only question marks for the interior art and story adaptation.

                   

That said...this is an adaptation of a Zane Grey story, one of several in the Four Color run.  I really like these books because they speak to the mid-century fascination with the old west...a fascination that was evident in comics, on TV and even at places like Disneyland when it opened in 1955 (Frontierland).  The painted wrap-around cover and the decent interior work make this a great addition to any collection of Golden Age books.

Thanks to Dell....for another "Good Comic"! (I'll explain why there are quotations there in my next post)

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Colan and Palmer on Tomb of Dracula

On a post a couple of months ago, I briefly made reference to Gene Colan's work with the inker, Tom Palmer.  These two worked together quite a bit, but their longest run together was on Tomb of Dracula.  I have to admit, that this character and book are not my favorite, I much prefer Doctor Strange (where Colan and Palmer also worked together).  But, the quality of the work is so fantastic that I will happily admit to having a big pile of these books in my collection.

Gene "The Dean" Colan was born in 1926, in the Bronx, New York.  He started working in the comic book business in 1944 for Fiction House.  In the 1960's he had long stints on Daredevil, Iron Man, Silver Surfer, and Doctor Strange.  But Tomb of Dracula was the most successful run...and his teaming with Palmer was a big part of that equation.  I have not studied this topic in depth, but, for me, each man elevated the other.  Colan was less than half without Palmer...Palmer was not as good without Colan.  Again...my humble opinion.

 

That said, today I am offering the cover of Tomb f Dracula issue #50...along with a brilliant interior page.  As I have said many times before...the craft that has been laid down on this page and on pages by other artists who took their work seriously, is clear.  It's just fantastic work.

Sometime soon I will make it a point to break out some Doctor Strange with Colan and Palmer.

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Adventures of Rex the Wonder Dog #2

I have mentioned in several previous posts that Alex Toth was one of the master comic illustrators to come out of the Golden Age.  He started working in the late 1940's and was active through the 1970's...with a smattering of books in the 80's and 90's.  He passed away not that long ago in Southern California.

                 

One of his earlier, and scarcer, books is The Adventure of Rex the Wonder Dog.  This is issue #2 from 1952.  The title alone smacks of early 1950's nostalgia!  The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide lists the first three books in the run as "scarce".  And the Gerber Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books says that these issues rate a 7 out of 10 on scarcity...so probably only about 20 to 50 copies remain.  Well...whether all that is true or not doesn't really matter...these are very cool books with great Alex Toth art!

I picked up this book at a Heritage Comics auction last week, and while the dog on the cover is perhaps a little stiff, the girl is pure Toth.  Where Toth excelled was in the layout of the page to communicate a story.  While this is not so much in evidence here or in the interior art of this book...by the late 1950's he had matured into a master graphical story teller.

Oh...the Daisy air rifle ad on the back is just a bonus!

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

CGC and "The Wild West"

About ten years ago the comic collecting hobby got well and truly rocked when a group in Florida, Comics Guarantee Corporation, or CGC, started to grade and encapsulate comic books in plastic containers.  The whole idea was that, as a buyer, you would now have a trusted third party that would have graded the books and a common grading standard would be in force across the industry.

Well...you can imagine what happened.  Some dealers and collectors hated it.  Some thought it was great. Others, like myself, were fairly agnostic on the whole thing.  The ones who hated it were mostly the folks whose comic book grading was not so good, or who felt the CGC grading was not up to their personal standards, or who felt encapsulating a comic was ridiculous...comics were meant to be read (an excellent point...the cases could be opened though, but that invalidated the grade).  The ones whose grading skills weren't so good were selling books on eBay...calling them Near Mint when they were no where near that grade.  They were now in a bit of a pickle.  The ones who felt it was silly to encapsulate books, or who disagreed with CGC grading, just ignored it for a while and let it play itself out.  The folks who liked CGC were, generally, collectors who had a pile of very high grade books and stood to benefit from the whole thing.  (Very high grade books got huge premiums over lesser books in those days...and they still do today)

But the ones who REALLY benefitted were CGC themselves.  They were getting anywhere from $15 to $80 a book or more for grading services.  Not bad.

The advent of "official grading" turned the hobby into the wild west for a while.  Arbitrage opportunities abounded.  You could walk into a comic book dealer (one of the ones who was not interested in third party grading), buy a really nice copy of a sought after book, have it graded, and then sell it for way more than you originally paid.  This was happening regularly and was very easy to do.  The dollars involved were not insignificant either.  When high grade copies of books like this Incredible Hulk 181 (first full appearance of Wolverine) were selling for $300 "raw" vs. $3000 "slabbed"...the choice became rather clear if it presented itself to you.

Eventually the "Wild West" got to be more tame.  But CGC is still around and recently graded it's two-millionth comic!  Amazing.  At the end of the day I think CGC has been a good thing.  Yes...it has put some very high grade books out of reach of the everyday collector...but I think it has also helped reduce the price of lower grade comics to make them easier to buy.

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Monday, September 24, 2012

CCG's and TCG's

I am continuing on the collector card theme today....

Back in the mid-1990's a new kind of collectible quietly came on the scene.  I remember going into a comic shop in my home town and seeing a box of Magic: The Gathering cards for sale and thinking..."What's that?"  Well, Magic: The Gathering...or Magic, as it is often referred to, is a Collectible Card Game, or CCG.  They are sometimes also called Trading Card Games, or TCG's, as well.  Magic was the first of many, many different themed CCG's to come down the pike...and they are stil coming to this day.


The first game that I bought was a Star Trek based game that came out in 1995.  I actually never played the game...I just thought the cards were cool!  But these games were and are played...and played seriously.  A colleague of mine at work was actually national champion (or runner up, I forget) for the Star Trek CCG game in 1996 or 1997...playing in the national tournament in Las Vegas after being flown there gratis by the publisher of the game, Decipher Inc.

Well...going back to that day I saw the Magic cards for sale, when the store owner told me what it was, I remember thinking, "Sounds ridiculous!"  Silly me!  I never played Magic, but from a collectible standpoint, I wish I could go back and buy that box of cards!  They would have made a great investment...a Black Lotus card, from the first set, regularly gets $4,000 on eBay!

I will break out some more CCG's I have...including the ones I played...in future posts.

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Star Trek Master Series Picture Cards

Collectible picture cards have been around for a long time.  Starting out (I believe) in the late 19th century, baseball cards and other themed cards have their origins as special add-ins to a product package (bubble gum, cigarettes, and the like).  In the case of baseball cards, the cigarettes and gum were eventually jettisoned and the cards sold alone.

                


I have a few sets of picture cards, but one of my favorites is the Star Trek Master Series series put out by Sky Box in the 1990's.  Some of the art work in this set is genuinely of high quality, especially the portraiture.  Some of the other cards depict various famous scenes from the original series and Star Trek The Next Generation.  




These cards were well and truly over-produced, so they are not rare or hard to find...and they aren't worth much as a collectible.  There were a few "chase" cards in the set that were holographic in nature, and were harder to find.  They could be bought on eBay for a nominal fee though.  Either way, the set is nice to look at and well produced...so, worth the price of admission.  

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Friday, September 21, 2012

United States "Star" Notes *

It's been a while since I blogged on a currency collectible, so tonight I thought I would break out this crispy little gem I pulled from circulation a few years ago.  It may not be worth that much...$10 probably...maybe a little more...but it is definitely collectible due to the star at the end of the serial number.

As a kid, I knew that a star note was a special note, but I never really knew why.  Well, a star note is actually a replacement note.  When the treasury prints up its regular run of notes and an error or damage occurs, they will pull these notes and replace them with a star note.  A complete description of this and other reasons for these notes can be found on this site.  


While star notes are much more uncommon than a regular note...there are often many of them printed.  This $10 D note from 2003 had 1.2 million numbers printed.  This is compared to total production of $10 bills for 2003 of 249,600,000 according to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  So...while not super rare...the odds of finding this note are not that high.  Some star notes though, are quite rare.  For example, the 1B run of series E $10 notes from 1999 only had 3,200 star notes printed!  Not very many.  See this site, for a great list of data of this kind.

Anyway...next time you see a star note in change, pull it aside and show it to your kid, or keep it for yourself!

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

The Boeing Model 247

Another aviation postcard today from the same estate as the last post.  You may recall that at a recent estate, the owner had been a United Airlines pilot.  I found this card among various other paper items.  It is a commemorative card printed in 1973.

One of the things I like about collecting this sort of thing is that it is educational.  Prior to picking up this card, I would not have known what a Boeing Model 247 looked like, or what era it flew in.  But now...I do know.




This plane brings back visions of characters like Indiana Jones flying to far off and exotic places in the 1930's.  Of course the plane that is shown in the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark carrying Indy to Asia is a Boeing 314 Clipper sea plane...but this aircraft has a similar flavor to it.  I love that forward slanted wind shield....probably not that aero-dynamic...but very stylish!  (With the Model 247D...the slant went with the wind...)

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

LAX circa 1950

I can't be totally sure when this Plastichrome postcard photo was taken, but it was probably around 1950 (perhaps even a little earlier) given that the TWA Constellation and United DC-4 are front and center.  This is a great shot of an air-hub that has done nothing but grow since it was carved out of a wheat and lima bean field in 1928.



I have flown in and out of LAX many times lately for my work and while I am more often than not caught up in the purpose of my work, I am occasionally tuned in to the fact that this place was one of the first modern air terminals...ever.  It's easy to forget the nostalgia when you are waiting in a huge security line trying to get into the terminal...but if you look carefully, you can still find clues to the past in and around the airport.

Until next time...

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Strange Flying Saucers Adventures - Super DC Giant

Reprint comic books are a great way to collect older stories on a budget.  For example, you can get a copy of  The Amazing Spider-Man #1 for a) $100,000 (the original)...or...b) $2 (a reprint in Marvel Tales).  If you just want to read the story...the choice if fairly clear!

Today I am featuring a DC reprint book from 1976.  It has a bunch of sci-fi stories in it from the 1950's and 1960's with art by legends Russ Heath, Carmen Infantino and the like.  All the stories have a space theme...and yes...lots of flying saucers.



This particular book has actually become semi-valuable.  That is, you can't get this one for $2 anymore.  But a reasonable copy will probably only run about $8-$10 (more or less) on eBay.  Still a bargain for all that mid-century spaceman stuff!

Until next time...(hopefully sooner rather than later...sorry for the distance between posts lately...I am working to remedy the situation!!)

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Buster Brown and Reed Crandall

Back to comics today with another promotional book that has some great Reed Crandall art in it.  This time it is Buster Brown shoes with a copy from a Paris, Illinois shoe store called McCoy's.

Reed Crandall is best known for his work on EC comics during the hey day of that publisher in the early 1950's.  He drifted around after that working for Atlas and a few other publishers and eventually landed at Treasure Chest where he worked as an illustrator for their books that were distributed exclusively to parochial schools.  He later contributed to Warren publishing magazines Blazing Combat, Eerie, and Creepy...all great magazines with high quality work from many of the greats of the day.  

This particular story featuring Space Siren is wonderfully illustrated...almost Frazetta like.  Just a great line and attention to detail.

                


It really is a shame that all comic books couldn't be this awesome!

Until next time....

Blogging here on Sundry Collectibles and at Disney Postcards on, you guessed it, Disney Postcards!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

"El Lobo"

Sometimes you find stuff at an estate sale that goes beyond being an interesting or collectible item.  It is clearly something that had a personal connection to the estate.  If you are lucky enough to get the backstory of the item...then you can get a flavor for what that thing may have meant to the person whose house you happen to be walking through.

Yesterday, I went to another sale on the San Francisco peninsula (the second of three this week-end) and found something unlike anything I had found before.  Inside this old Eichler home was a cabinet full of old Kodachrome slides...perhaps about a thousand in all.  I looked through about a hundred of them, maybe more, looking for any interesting views of cities or images with aircraft or automobiles from times past.  The images were all taken in and around 1950.  In a box that was full of various landscape shots I found two slides of aircraft...one of which was clearly a B-24 Mitchell.   So...along with a few Modern Library editions that I also found at the sale...I bought these and headed home.

When I got home, I dug out my slide projector and took a look.  Here is what I saw:



This is where the backstory gets interesting, intense, and frankly tragic.

In the top picture above, there is enough information visible on the aircraft to identify it...so, a few minutes of research on the internet yielded the full story.  I was able to confirm the ID of this plane on the website B24.net.  This aircraft (42-7510) was named "El Lobo" by its crew and, and if you look carefully you can see some art on the nose of the aircraft in the picture above.  In fact, they had painted a wolf in a tuxedo...El Lobo.  I was also able to discover that this aircraft did not survive the war.  For a complete account of what happened to this plane and its crew see this article written by Annette Tison, the niece of one of its crew members.  Annette's uncle, Douglas N. Frank, was killed, along with the rest of the crew, on April 29th, 1944 while returning from a bombing mission to Berlin.  Search the page for "El Lobo" and the "Wyatt crew".

This is the Wyatt crew:


The B-24 Mitchell was, from what I have heard, not the most flyable aircraft.  But, it was what it was, and the men who flew it into harms way did what they were asked in the service of their country.  These men served, and they did not come back.

Finding this little slide and its backstory has been thought provoking and moving.  You cannot look at the photo of the crew and not be moved...I think.  It isn't Memorial Day...and it's not July 4th.  It's just another day today; 68 years after these guys did their part to rid the world of a punk and his cronies who had gotten a tad overzealous in their thirst for power and control.  

Thank you gentlemen...thank you very much!

Until next time....

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