Shouting Slogans

Happy belated Canada Day to all our compatriots and happy 4th of July to our American friends. I like our Independence Days being so close together; it’s like having a birthday a few days apart with someone that is close to you.

My cover of the week is Monsters on the Prowl #11, art by Jack Kirby with alterations by Marie Severin. when I saw this book it made me think about Marvel re-releasing all the Atlas Moster reprint stuff in Monsters on the Prowl, Where Creatures Roam and Where Monsters Dwell. The covers are, I believe the original ones, just reworked for the Bronze Age. There was a much different audience consuming comics in the early 1970s and I wonder if these covers, that may have been impactful in 1959, came off lame in say 1971. These titles had three and four year runs so I guess Marvel was happy with sales.

My ad of the week is an in-house ad from DC comics that appears in Batman #103. DC wanted you to send in slogans using the DC name, an example they give is “DC comics are Decent Comics”. I wonder if it’s too late to send it in? Here are the ones I’m going to submit: “when I’m in DC I only read DC”, “my favourite member of AC/DC is DC”, “where’s the DC?”, “Nikola Tesla was wrong, DC is better”. As the old joke goes, I’ve got a million of them! Wait, I just read the fine print and it says DC Comics owns the slogan once you send it in; on second thought “DC can bite me”.

Art of the week comes out of My Love #3: take a look at this two-page spread with John Romita and John Buscema art, these Bronze Age Marvel romance comics are full of amazing art. I honestly wish I jumped on the Romance stuff when I was much younger; it’s impossible to find high-grade issues, impossible!

I was stressing a bit over our internationalcollectiblesexchange weekly eBay auction because of the dual holiday weekends in Canada and the USA. I thought maybe people would be too busy to bid because they were sipping their mixed drinks and watching fireworks, though as an aside I do know one guy that won a book we auctioned off a few months ago while he was drunk. “Walt!, I’m never drinking again during one of your auctions, I paid waaay too much for that thing”. It turns out the auction did just fine: a highlight had to be this CGC 8.5 Signature Series copy of Wolverine Weapon X #1 selling for $1,556.56 USD. That’s original art you see on the cover; the book was part of a Hero Initiative project back in 2009.

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Walter Durajlija
Walter Durajlija

Walter Durajlija is an Overstreet Advisor and Shuster Award winner. He owns Big B Comics in Hamilton Ontario.

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Chris Meli
1 year ago

NOT LAME! XEMNU!!!

I loved these books as a kid. For pure nostalgia I just bought the Oregon Collection Where Monsters Dwell #10 CGC 9.8 WHITE because I had to argue my mother into buying it for me – she thought it looked too scary for my delicate constitution. Not.

“When I am in the the comic shop with Twisted Sister, I always say ‘Dee, see the DCs'”

No question that high-grade romance is my number one draw these days. But those picture-frame westerns that Bud turned me onto…

mel taylor
mel taylor
1 year ago

Xemnu, The Original Hulk! Now there’s a title! Never mind about “Immortal,” Incredible,” “Rampaging,” and all the other permutations! It’s funny that this reprint bills him on the cover as “A Titan,” whereas the original appearance in Journey Into Mystery has a cover blurb of “Here comes the Hulk!” Is that at all significant, or just expedient, because, by this point, Marvel had a much more marketable Hulk they wanted to promote?! The hobby is in the details.

Klaus
Klaus
1 year ago

Walt, I believe you were saying that you talked to F-Troop’s Larry Storch recently.. Correct me, if I;m wrong. I read tonight on the internet that he passed away this afternoon at the age of 99.