A Glance at the Gallery

Summer greetings to all you swingin’ hepcats and kittens out there in Comicsville! Once more, CGC’s sizzling QC Doctor (that’s me, Michael McFadden) has returned for a tour of our latest exhibits in the Fandom-famous DigiGallery. Before the sound of your palpitatin’ heartbeats crests to a crashing crescendo, let’s begin, shall we? And remember — we have video cameras at every stop, frantic ones!

Jocular Joe Pierson, our SigSeries coordinator, has been logging some insane frequent flyer miles marking our busiest SigSeries summer yet. And we love seeing what comes back to the CGC World Headquarters. I only wish we could show you more of these scintillating sketches and signatures, but we gotta grade books sometime. Management is so annoyingly insistent. Cursed Pirate Girl is red hot, as red hot as a swig of homemade pirate rum splashin’ down your gullet. And its magnificently talented writer / artist, Jeremy Bastian, he of classic book illustration fandom, can craft a sketch almost as intricate as his lovingly labored comic pages. We were so blown away by his stuff that I included two of them, both 9.8 Marvel Projects #1, to enjoy this month. If offered for sale, many pieces of eight will be realized. Underground favorite Larry Welz imagines his creation Cherry Poptart — oops, let’s make that Cherry Popstar before Kellogg’s threatens another proprietary trademark lawsuit — as Wonder Woman on a 9.8 Marvels Project #1. And the coveted Marvel No-Prize goes to Stan Lee on yet another 9.8 Marvels Project #1 for his illustration of Spider-Man and brief accompanying essay. I think your future may be in writing, Stan. Better leave the art to Jazzy Johnny Romita…

…Who drew a pair of penciled Spider-Man illos on a 9.8 Dark Avengers #1 and a — yeah, yeah, altogether now — a 9.8 Marvels Project #1. It’s a rare opportunity to see detailed, uninked Romita Spidey pencils. Quite frankly, Frank Quitely (gotta love that pseudonym) is an imposing talent himself, as his rendition of the Arachnid Avenger illustrates. Can this guy draw supple hand gestures or what? Quitely’s own hand is as accurate with a pencil as Spidey’s is with a web shooter.Could we discuss new SigSeries books without a Fallen Son #3 coming in? I think not. Phillip Tan’s impressive rendering of Captain America graces a nine-eight. Last month we hinted at more total cover remodelings by Stuart Sayger. His Marvels Project #1 version of Electra and his Ghost Rider v2 #40 do not disappoint, and art lovers, he takes full and total control of the cover space. I can’t wait to see what he does this month. It may have been busted by our wily Resto-detective, the lovely and sporadically charming Chris Friesen, for moderate work, but any Captain America Comics #1 signed by both Joe Simon and Stan Lee, the writers most associated with this iconic character, is an event. We also added a 6.0 copy of #6 signed by the stellar pair. One of my favorite Silver Age DC covers, Showcase #60, emphatically heralding the return of the Spectre, is autographed by Murphy Anderson. The man is legendary; what more need be said?

Anderson’s meticulous approach is also evident on the cover and throughout Hawkman #16, a 9.4 entry leading off our pedigrees this tour. EC’s disappointing “New Direction” is represented by a 9.6 Bill Gaines File Copy of Extra #4. Only one known copy eclipses the Eclipso / Batman tilt in the Rocky Mountain Brave and the Bold #64. More Fun Comics #97, cover featuring the Verde Arrow, at 9.6 shows why Edgar Church’s Mile High Collection is the finest comic book collection ever assembled. Earning highest-graded honors or tying for that elite spot are White Mountain copies of pre-hero Marvels Tales of Suspense #s 28 and 34 (both 9.4), Journey into Mystery #77 (9.2) and Tales to Astonish #23. The TTA #23 announces “Moomba is Here!” Is that another Lee and Kirby monster creation or one of those zany 1960s brief dance crazes? At a highest graded 8.5, does it matter? The Pacific Coast Avengers #10 was 9.8. Sometimes the goofiest stuff is the coolest stuff, like DC’s Real Screen Comics #2, kinda sorta the first issue, since #1 was titled Real Screen Funnies. Does that matter? Well, no. But try finding books like this at 9.6 like the Vancouver copy. No easy task.

From various submitters we assembled a nice selection of Superman Family books from the late fifties and early sixties. As a nervous comic book industry was trying to promote a clean-cut image after the public perception debacle of the 1950s, a daunting public relations push akin to swimming to the sunlit ocean surface from the pressurized black depths of the Marianas Trench, DC’s flagship Superman titles were critical for the company’s and the industry’s fortunes. Mort Weisinger, a man distrusted by many freelancers, was the editor DC management trusted for the task. Weisinger helmed the transformation of the creatively listing and bland Superman franchise into a vibrant mythos of interconnected characters and conventions that extended from Metropolis to Atlantis, from Krypton to Earth and from present day to the far-flung future. Today’s slavish adherence to continuity began its embryonic growth in the pages of Superman, Superboy, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, Action and Adventure. The Legion of Super-Heroes, Brainiac, Bizarros and the bottle city of Kandor were created here; Lex Luthor found a back story and a first name. Even President Kennedy guest-starred in one memorable issue of Action.

Much of the heavy lifting was done by former Captain Marvel scripter Otto Binder, the prolific Bill Finger, veteran science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton and the prodigal son, Superman’s co-creator Jerry Siegel. The immaculately crisp art and straightforward storytelling of Curt Swan became the standard for an art stable that included seasoned pros Al Plastino, Wayne Boring, Kurt Scharffenberger (another Captain Marvel import), Stan Kaye and George Klein. Shading and spotting blacks was kept to a minimum, the predominant color palette featured bright Crayola colors and pastels, creating a squeaky-clean, plastically optimistic world. Situations were often improbable, sometimes just impossibly goofy burlesques of the real world, but they resonated with young kids and their parents. It may not have been realistic, but readers could always count on how their heroes would behave and the consistency of their universe. Many seasoned collectors consider this era the Man of Steel’s apogee.

Do check out Adventure Comics #s 249, 286, 289 and Legion covers on #s 282, 290, 293, 302, 304 and 362, all elite condition copies. The cover of Superboy #92 highlights a behavior modification scenario with Lex Luthor and his pet dog, uh, Destructo. I try to reenact this myself any weekend Joe Pierson is away on SigSeries duties and I’m watching his ratty little dog. You hate Joe Pierson, Reilly. Attack! Tear that dummy apart…and the one I’ve got hanging up, too! Both Superboy #s 100 (9.6) and 103 (9.4) are top-graded. Superman #114, at 8.5, tying for the top spot, cover features a story idea that would be recycled four years later. Weisinger believed readership turned over every three years or so, allowing for the unapologetic reuse of entertaining story springboards.

Sales of Superman were so successful that even supporting characters sustained lengthy runs. Amazing. I can’t fathom a Marvel book like Daredevil’s Drugged Out Girl Friend, Karen Page, lasting any longer than Night Nurse’s four issues. Some of the more idiotic ideas wound up in Jimmy Olsen‘s book, because, after all, he is Jimmy Olsen. What a poster boy for lucking into your gig! Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #s 55, 58, 60 and 63 are all gorgeous copies, particularly 63’s mostly white cover. The cover of #55 is really a knockout. Superman’s Girl Friend Lois Lane #s 28, 29 and 31 are all lovely 9.4s. The former two issues happen to be my favorite issues of the entire 137-issue run. I probably shouldn’t advertise that for the sake of my own credibility, considering that #29’s cover-featured tale revolves around the covert transfer of red kryptonite particles hidden in Lois’ lipstick to select Justice Leaguers in order to save Superman’s life. We don’t know who wrote this utterly moronic yarn, but I’m absolutely positive Jack Daniels had a hand in its writing.

One of the best perks about this DigiGallery gig is that I get to add my colleagues’ fave covers, pointedly suggesting to them that I am not as totally disdainful of them as I might seem. Just suppose I called one of them an “illiterate paramecium” this week. Just supposing, of course. While they are thinking whether to pick up my contract’s option for tomorrow morning, then I hit them with, “Hey, I added Sugar and Spike #26 to the DigiGallery, and it’s in 8.0 and it’s soooooo charming! You love Sugar and Spike?!? Gosh, I didn’t know that!” This subterfuge has worked for years. It’s actually how I keep my job. As the Japanese would opine, it helps me gain great face. Peerless Paul Litch is a huge fan of Green Latrine, uh, make that Green Lantern. So would a couple of dazzling Gil Kane covers on 9.8 copies of Silver Age GLs #47 and 74 warm his heart? Heh… heh heh! Suppose I gypped Dapper Dave Couillou out of the tip for our lunch the other day. “Dave, as chief magazine grader for CGC, you work so very, very hard and your efforts deserve more recognition. Dude, I added 9.6 copies of Marvel’s Dracula Lives #1, National Lampoon #13 and Vampirella #31, the latter two with stunning Frank Frazetta covers. You love Frazetta? Wow, Dave, what a coincidence!”

For my daughter Patricia, the Wonder Woman fan, I added Sensation Comics #59 in an eye-opening 9.6, #s 97 and 104, early-fifties copies hard to find in attractive grades. The “unimpressive” 7.0 on #97 ties for highest certified copy, for instance. So that makes it “impressive”… certified books are not all about nine-eights. Still, a 1965 Wonder Woman #157 impresses at 9.8. There is only one unrestored copy of Batman #47 that certifies higher than the 8.5 that bows on the DigiGallery this month. That’s the sought-after — in any grade — classic that chronicles the first detailed origin of Batman. That’ll get me a nice phone call from my other daughter, Erin, who’s the Batman fan. Then there’s Bradley Bradley, The Grader Whose Personality Is As Fascinating As His Name. Many of you know B-Rad from his frequent Chatboard posts and he kindly donates his time to upload this column with all covers illustrated on the Boards each month. This month, the July 2010 Spectacular Spider-Girl #1 came through the office. With a creative team of Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema, I had to check it twice to make sure it wasn’t a 1980s Marvel. We added that one for B-Rad because by imaging the occasional Amazing Spider-Girl, we keep B-Rad’s unhealthy and psychotic obsession for Spider-Girl in remission.

CGC is in Florida and as stipulated in our state residency agreement, we gotta pay tribute each month to the Walt Disney Corporation. That’s easy when Mickey Mouse Magazine hits the office. From early 1933, we have the digest sized #1 (9.4), #2 (9.2) and #3 (9.0). The magazine soon went oversize and began publishing gorgeous, full cover covers like 1939’s v4#5 (Pluto in heat, 9.2) and v4#8 (Big Bad Wolf in drag, 9.0). Four Color Comics Series 1 #4, a 7.0 bested by only two 8.0s, is distinctive because of its classic Donald Duck cover, probably drawn by Tom Wood. Since its “probably,” his name is not in our art comments. As far as my research suggests, this is the first American comic book appearance of the celebrated Mr. Duck, as the issue is likely from February 1940, so would then pre-date Walt Disney Comics and Stories #1, also a solo Donald cover, by eight months. Reprinting Al Taliaferro’s classic newspaper strip, it would be another two and a half years before the first Donald Duck story created specifically for American comic books (and Carl Bark’s first comic book work), “Pirate Gold” is published in Dell’s Four Color, 2nd Series #9.

Captain America Comics leads off our Golden Age books, a #4 in 8.0 and a #11 earning an incredible 9.6. Timely’s Human Torch #4, the third issue really from Spring 1941, is a scorching 9.0 and the very tough Venus #1 is 8.0. Only two unrestored, unqualified copies best a 7.5 Detective Comics #28, which I know I don’t have to tell you is the final appearance of oriental criminal mastermind, Fu Manchu in the title. Second appearance of Batman as well, but no cover for him this time. A dynamite Will Eisner cover fronts a 9.2 copy of Jungle Comics 35 and Dell’s Four Color #32 , certified 8.5, the first of seven Lone Ranger Four Colors. World’s Finest Comics #35 netted an eight-oh. On MLJ’s Hangman #5, it’s just another day at the office… except for this cat, his office seems to be various Axis torture chambers, routinely stocked with iron maidens and snapping crocodiles. How do the Nazis and Japanese in comics find this stuff? Did they have a centralized Axis warehouse that they could reacquisition from? It’s not like you can get a “Human Sized Lava Boiling Pot with Optional Overhanging Chain Pulley System” from the Johnson-Smith Company ads in the comics, though I do know that’s where the Nazis ordered their X-ray specs and stink bombs. Clue Comics v2 #2 (8.0) is a classic bondage torture cover I wrote a full paragraph about a few months ago, so best to look that one up. And Avon’s Murderous Gangsters #1 (7.5) cover suggests if you need protection when the cops come brandishing lead spitting roscoes, nothing says human shield like an attractive, buxom lady in a low-cut red dress.

X-Men #1, 9.6: as Stan Lee says, ’nuff said. Mystery in Space #55, Adam Strange’s third story and cover in the title, jumps the unrestored, highest-certified standard from 8.0 to 9.0. A copy of #87, beginning the Hawkman / Adam Strange double feature is also Murphy Anderson’s first work on the Pinioned Policeman. Only one copy grades higher than this 9.2. Avengers #s 43, 45 and 58 all hit 9.8, as did Sub-Mariner #3 and 7, Iron Man #8, Avengers #4 Golden Record Reprint from 1966, Silver Surfer #6 and Flash #177, the first Flash cover since the Silver Age feature began in Showcase #4 not drawn by Carmine Infantino. Flash #116 earned an elite 9.4. Collections of DC 80 Page Giant often are missing this one, #7, the first Sgt. Rock annual, which tied for the top spot at 9.4. Finishing their first year of publishing G.I. Combat after purchasing the title from Quality is a 9.2 #55, a DC entry from December of 1957. Ever wonder how seismic Julie Schwartz’s “New Look” was for Batman in May of 1964? First, look at a 9.4 Batman #162 from March ’64, a silly King Kong-inspired cover for the story “The Batman Creature.” Then look at the sophisticated tri-panel cover on the first “New Look” Batman, Detective Comics #327 (9.4), two months later. This was the book that began the foundation that Neal Adams and Frank Miller would later build on to sculpt the Batman we know today.

Something very strange and very unusual came into the World Headquarters and for once, I don’t mean CGC Modern Pre-Grader Madcap Matt Daken. The Madcap, fellow Pre-Grader Joltin’ Josh Hanin and Modern Finalizer Scintillatin’ Shawn “Cup of” Caffrey all saw a not a double cover Captain America #280, not a triple cover, not a… well, they saw a sextuple cover copy. Absolutely a sex-sational copy. CGC official grade on the book is 9.8, uh, 9.8, 9.8, 9.8, 9.8 and 9.8. Can’t get enough of those nifty Mike Zeck / John Beatty Cap covers? True believer, this one’s for you! 

Finally, Timely / Marvel’s Tex Morgan #8, November 1949, was 8.5. Though a photo cover, Tex was neither a movie cowboy or radio star, a singing cowboy or western novel headliner. He seemed to be a low-level denizen of the extensive roster of characters created by thrifty companies who didn’t want to pay the rights fees for a real member of the then-white-hot cowboy media fraternity. But that doesn’t seem to faze the desperado being subdued by Tex. In fact, this owlhoot, looking admiringly at his embracing captor, seems positively entranced by Tex. This looks more like the cover of Dell’s hard-to-find Movie Classic Brokeback Mountain. The cover blurb promises “Your Cowboy Hero in Action!” The book folded one issue later and Tex was never seen or heard from again.

Comments and questions regarding the gallery? We’re fans, too. We enjoy hearing from you, unless we don’t. You can contact me at mmcfadden@CGCcomics.com. Thank you for your time and do remember — Dell Comics are Clean Wholesome Comics! Be good to yourself and be CGC-ing you!