"Post No. 583"

I miss word balloons on the covers of comic books. Back before 1966 or so, most all super-hero, western, war, etc. comics had word balloons; the characters featured within making some sort of statement that was relevant to the interior story. Marvel stopped doing that I think around mid-1965 or so with all of their comics. Fans said it distracted them from the cover artwork. But me? I liked them! Sometimes Marvel would color in the background of them in yellow or light red, and I never considered them as "clutter". (The above cover from Two-Gun Kid #62 (1962) is a good example of that style.)

Oh yeah...I miss cover blurps, too!

Well...I had a whole $4. & something left in my Paypal account currently so I decided to just clean that out and buy me something cheap with it, finding a copy of Marvel's Strange tales #183 (circa 1976) that left me with a whoppin' .32 balance after paying for it. Although the reprints of "Dr. Strange" (that ran in Strange Tales 182-188) were "heavily modified", they're still Ditko in his prime, plus reprinted in color. I was looking at the covers to these issues over on the CGD, and had forgotten how many issues after the original silver-age run of this title had been published when it was revived in 1973.

It started out with five issues devoted to "Brother Voodoo", then another 4 or so to "The Golem", then five issues of "Warlock" (by Jim Starlin), before finally finishing up with seven Doc reprints (182-187). Each of the last issues reprinted two Steve Ditko/Stan Lee Dr. Strange tales (somewhat edited for space).

Although I bought the second series of Strange Tales (produced in the 1980's), I can't say that I was ever a big fan of that run. It went around 20 issues and the stories were shared between Dr. Strange and "Cloak & Dagger". I'd read the DS stories and usually ignore C&D (not finding that team especially interesting).

Dug out my old mini-camcorder, and looked at the whole two tapes I'd ever recorded video on, both of which were close to ten years past. They contained a lot of misc. things where I'd recorded the cat when it was just a kitten (which "Bob" Cat looks like he's EATEN about 20 kittens now as big as he is), some shots of the inventory in my collection room way back when we lived in a duplex rather than our house, and a trip to my cousin's for Thanksgiving back in '99. I sort of skipped over the Thanksgiving stuff due to it containing a lot of footage on my late father, and I'm just not ready yet to deal with footage of him while still healthy quite yet, on past to the inventory stuff.

Oddly enough I still have much of what I filmed on that tape save perhaps the Aurora monster models (which I sold several years ago) , and was really surprized that I had all except two older comics still in my collections. Over the years I'd sold an EC "Picture Stories from The Bible" as well as one of those huge Fawcett "Gift Comics" (both from the 1940's). All else seemed to remain intact in what I've got now.

And I have a complete hardcover reprint these days of the PSFTB, published (by all people) Jimmy Swaggart in 1979. Sort of miss not having those originals anymore, but...ya can't look back and regret everything.

My collection of comics had really grown since those days. Shortly before I taped the inventory, I had sold off all but about 6 long boxes of comics, saving only that which I really wanted to keep. In fact, I had decided back then to stop collecting comics completely (but, you know how that goes). I sold one very large collection of over 10,000 comics in the latter 1990's. What I kept was maybe 1,300 comics, and now I have something like ten times that many. For what I've spent on comics, quite honestly, over these many years I could have put myself through college, or bought a new house and a new car. Instead, the money from selling comics went to pay bills, rent, groceries, etc., etc., and was all put to some good use. (But I probably had more fun buying the comics.)

"Post No. 582"

I got a late start this morning, not getting out of bed until 8 A.M., when I had planned on being up by at least 6:30 to get awake enough to go to the grocery as soon as it opened, but that just wasn't the case. I was tired and fell back to sleep, and didn't manage to get this body out and going until nearly 10 A.M., sitting there watching an old "Sherlock Holmes" flick on Turner and drinking (by then) my fourth cup of coffee.

When I did get moving I went by two different stores for groceries, as well as looked around at a new little salvage shop that's opened in this town, and then, after taking my own groceries back home and putting them away, sat there again for a good hour before finally mossying on down to mom's to take her to get her own groceries and some prescriptions filled.

When I got her back and put things away for her I dug out her Christmas decorations and tree and put all of that up, and it was around 2 P.M. by the time I made it back to the house.

Then a friend dropped by for an hour or so visit, and before you knew it the day was gone.

And tomorrow is the final day of November, '08. As usual this year has whizzed by me, and was jammed-packed with so much that had happened to my immediate family that it can't seem possible that 11 months have already passed.

My friend told me today that my usual comic shop had a "Black Friday" sale with 20% off their store stock yesterday, but I failed to receive any notice of that, and, besides, I was working. They'll have another sale beginning about the middle of December anyway.

And, in a week or so, I'll be closing down shop here at "Elmo's Junction", i.e., just not posting for around a month and will open back up more than likely the first week in January of '09. This will give me a chance to relax a bit more and accumulate all sorts of new stuff to relate rather than my usual ramblings ("maybe").

This will be a slight Christmas for us here anyway, what with this current economy. I don't expect any huge bonus for Christmas as I've received from time to time at my job in previous years, and really the only people I'm buying any presents for are my mom and wife and something small for my three co-workers, plus throwing in some cash to buy the boss something. Anyone else I'm giving presents to will just get something I have around here that I think they might like as a token present.

We're not putting up much in decorations ourselves, and neither or we sending out many cards this year. Quite frankly, I'm just not in that Holday Season feeling this time around.


Was looking at some action figures at the local drug store and saw some that were religious ones, and those things just "kill" me. They had ones of "Noah" and "Moses", and the build on these guys equalled that of Superman, plus they were both clean-shaven and white-skinned (which I'm sure would've really gone over in the Mid-East). Geez. How much more religious brain-washing can they do to a little kid?

Speaking of toys..., I've been eating cereal for breakfast again for a while now, and my favorite brand is "Honey-Nut Cheereos", and here lately they've had these little "Wacky Sliders" of the animals from the Madagascar 2 flick. Cute little things. I think I've got three different ones so far. Toys just ain't like they used to be in cereal anymore, though. I can recall the days when you got little figurines of dinasaurs, "Sky King", the presidents, frogmen and sub-marines (of which you filled their base with baking soda and when you put them in water they'd submerge, then pop back to the surface), the dogs from "Lady and The Tramp", little comic books, actual (and playable) 45 RPMs on the box itself (of The Monkees, The Archies, etc.), and a host of other stuff. The neatest toys I've seen this year were Batman and Joker figures from the second Bats flick. (Yeah, I know. I'm still just a kid.)

And I'll close this post today with a note about the comic cover I posted of Bugs Bunny smoking a carrot. It's cerainly a cover you'd never see on any comic book today, huh?

"Post No. 581"

I watched the Jet Li movie: Hero, and thought it excellant. But it's a bit hard to explain, so I'll let wickapedia do it one better. Just click onto the title and it'll bring that page up.

And on this Black Friday 2008, it was the worst one we've experienced at the retail store in which I'm employed in the 8 years I've been there, with sales being down from 65%-75% from previous years. It may be better tomorrow since it's the weekend and more people off from work to shop around, but that won't be my worry as this is my weekend off.

But, as usual, my mom already had my weekend "planned" for me with trips to the pharmacy and the grocery. I may go ahead and put up her Christmas decorations as well just so I won't have anything else to do on Sunday and perhaps even get just a tad of rest. It's not that I mind a bit helping my mom, but I really do need a day of down time.

Got in my copy of Swamp Thing #4 today and am anxiously awaiting the #2 to come in to finally get that Wrightson set once again complete. #4 was one of my favorite of those first 10 issues with ST battling a "werewolf", and Wrightson always did excell in such horror epics.

Something else I've won is 9 misc. issues of Marvel's Two-Gun Kid from the 1960's, including the first three issues where Kirby revamped the character in 1962 (issues 60 thru 62), plus others with Kirby covers. The Kirby westerns for Marvel are some of the best such efforts at the time, and may not be "as good" as his Rawhide Kids (mostly because he didn't do as many of them), but really excellant. I'm very happy that the copy of #60 in this lot is the variation with the hand-written number on the cover (as it's the scarcer version).

"Post No. 580"

On this Thanksgiving Day 2008 I was up at 7:30 A.M. to get awake and ready to go pick up my mother and leave here to go to my cousin's house out in the country some 16+ miles away for dinner. It was the first time we'd gone up there in a few years ever since before my father got too ill.

Leaving around 10 A.M., we sat and visited until 11:30 or so and ate dinner, and afterwards I walked around my cousin's large farm for a bit, letting the meal digest and getting a little exercise, petting his old horse and watching at a distance some wild turkeys, who I'm sure were happy not be an important part of the day's activities.

My wife had already arrived before us as she had to leave early to go to work this afternoon, and mom and I stayed and visited until 1:30 P.M. or better, getting back home a bit after 2 P.M. It was a smack-beautiful Thanksgiving day, and the nicest weather I've seen on such in several years with temperatures in the high 50's and lots of sunshine.

It was so nice in fact that when I got mom back home and situated I went and got my rake and got her leaves out from around her house and went over them, mulching them up with the riding lawnmower.

When I finished I went home and did the same with the rest of my own leaves, mulching them with the push mower, and that should be all I'll have to fool around with such (finally) for this year.

As usual, there is NEVER any rest for the wicked, as I got this accomplished by 4 P.M..

And today, due to the holiday of course, there wasn't any mail so nothing that I've won lately came in, but last night I "bit-the-bullet" and used the "Buy-It-Now" option to purchase a copy in Fine of the last issue of Swamp Thing (DC) Volume 1 that was a Wrightson issue (he doing the first ten), which was #2, and now I can concentrate on the seven or so remaining issues between 11 and 23 that I still need to complete a set for my current collections. Haven't located a fairly inexpensive copy of House of Secrets #92 yet, so I may just have to settle on my various reprints of the ST prototype story for a while.

Sitting here watching the Jet Li flick, Hero, which has subtitles so for a future review I'll have to start paying attention to it.

Hope all had a nice day! (And please excuse the repeat cover above that I posted as well LAST Thanksgiving Day, but I've always liked that one!)

"Post No. 579"

Here's ~D. Puck' wishing everyone a very nice Thanksgiving Day tomorrow, and hoping that it's not the only day for which you're thankful.

"Post No. 578"

"Post No. 577"

(Caption to the above cartoon: "Yes, it looks like a duck, but I'm waiting to see if it can really Quack!")

Sat around and watched the 1981 Swamp Thing flick the other night when I was off work. Hadn't watched it all the way through in some time, but got to thinking about seeing it again after winning that copy of ST#1.

Although the makeup is pretty hokey these days (especially on the way "Arcane" looked after taking the bio-formula), it was an alright flick for its time and I seemed to like it fairly well the first time I saw it at a local cinema. After all, we got to see a quick nude shot of the ever-lushess Adrenne Barbeau's 1981 body, plus a shot or two of a soaked and very-thin dress clinging to her ample form a couple of times (probably the actual highlights of the movies).

The origin was fairly close to the one presented in ST #1 (1972). I was thinking they credited Len Wein and Berni Wrightson somewhere in the credits, but didn't seem to see it this time through.

The most difficult thing to believe about that flick is that it was made 27 years ago, which is less than half of my age presently. In fact in 1981 I was just turning 30 and still young and strong and brash enuff to whip sumone's ass and make his mama hold my jacket while I was doing it. Working at a P.Hut and playin' "Pac-Man". ("Doss were de days".)

(*sigh*)

But...enough of that silliness.

I'll tell folks here but not mention it on my eBay listings until next time I re-list, but anything that didn't sell even at $9.99 last time will be reduced by half when the rest of the items I've currently have on ends in a few days. That'll means one could get as many as 50 different comics on my listings perhaps at the minimum bid of $4.99, a mere ten cents per book plus postage. Next time I list there won't be anything listed that's more than $4.99, in fact, and after that reduced listing's over, I'm done with it again for a while as well as sales seem to be slowing back down again. (And, of course, if there's anyone that lives close enough that they want to come and just pick them up in person there won't be any postage fees at all.)

"Post No. 576"

Found four more different J. T. Chick tracts I didn't have, which now brings the number of them in my collection of such to 90 (counting variations and foreign language editions). I really do wish that I had a complete listing of all of the titles that have been published. And, if anyone has any duplicates that you want to sell I'll pay $1. each for the ones I don't have. Plus, I do have a handful of duplication of the titles around and will trade those 1-for-1 for those that I need.

Eventually I'll get around to listing the ones that I have in my own collection just for readers to see the diversity of the material Chick has presented.

Got a good deal the other day on an eBay win when I copped a VG copy of the 1973 DC Swamp Thing V1 #1 for a mere $3. I've been attempting to recomplete a set for my current collections (probably the 3rd. such I've had over the years) of at least the first 10 Berni Wrightson issues, and this will leave me now with only #'s 2 & 4 to complete it. 'Couse I don't presently have a copy of the House of Secrets #92 prototype story (outside of multiple reprints).

Also fell into a lot of 10 issues of DC's Our Fighting Forces from the 1970's which I had bidded on due to it containing the first five issues that Jack Kirby did in the lot (#'s 151 thru 155), which will leave me still with 6 issues to complete his run (156 thru 161), but I got these 10 books somewhat cheaper than my usual comic shop was asking for just 3 of the later Kirby ones. I think this will leave me now with only 10 of the 1970's DC Kirby comics to complete everything (that I know of) which he did for the company, save for the two magazines (In The Days of The Mob, and Spirit World, both of which are fairly costly these days), which are four misc. issues of the Black Magic reprints, and 6 issues of Our Fighting Forces (having completed all of the better stuff he did some time back).

(And, no...I won't be trying for all of the 1970's Marvel Comics he produced.)

In other news... eBay's pissed me off due to their limiting of the postage rates I can charge for mailing paperback lots. I mail everything priority because I trust it more, but do combind postage to give the buyer the best deal on it. However, when I take a priority box of even 6 paperbacks to mail, the cost would be at least $10. since the P.O. won't send them media mail. eBay won't allow over $4. to mail such things and I'd lose my shirt on postage, so I thought I'd just have to lot out 100+ pbs to either some dealer or back-issue book store. But I got around that by simply listing them in OTHER catagories. Instead of say, putting the "Mat Helm" pbs in fictional books, I stuck them in movie memorabilia, etc., and out of 6 lots was able to actually list five of them. Still can't figure out a good catagory to list some copies of "The Coxeman".)

And, in case you're wonder what "Stan the Man lee's up to these days, This link might prove interesting.

Moving right along..the guy that's replacing all of this old wiring in the house finally came today and got started on that. Looks like he'll have that done in just 2 or 3 days and that'll be yet another improvement to this old place.

And lastly today, I have now added that enormous additional listing of foreign Beatles app.'s to my "Beatles & Bizarros" blog site; some 750 additional listings (although there's some duplication of those published in the U.S.A.), and I want to personally thank my new friend from Italy, Fabio Schiavo for this information! This now brings the number of app.s from all over the globe to around 1,000!!

"Post No. 575"

I got in my copy of The Savage Sword of Conan Vol 2 trade paperback yesterday (Dark Horse publications, March,2008/544 pages,B&W). This issue collects issues #11 thru 24 of the SSOC magazine, and has the cover price of $17.95, normally, and I say "normally" just because it was the last book I had under obligation to purchase from The Science-Fiction Book Club and it cost me $15.99 w/postage (and that price is the only way to go for me).

This volume lacks the luster of the preceeding one which contained much artwork by Barry (Winsor-) Smith, and in my previous review of Vol. 1, I stated that if one owned that, plus the first 24 issues (either in reprints or originals) of the Conan comic book, that would more than likely be all that you'd want around of the character in one's collection.

But, perhaps I was wrong. This volume does collect 40 pages of artwork by Gil Kane, as well as almost that much by Neal Adams and The Tribe, has a nice full color Boris Vallejo cover painting, plus spot illustrations by Vallejo, Tim Conrad, Mike Zeck and others.

I still find it a little "strange" that Dark Horse is publishing Conan these days due to the amount of years that Marvel Comics had the character, but now that they don't, DH has presented, I'm sure (although I've never read them) continually interesting tales of The Cimerian.

In fact, all that Marvel can still present of ay resemblance to a Robert E. Howard character is Red Sonja and that's merely because when that character was originally introduced they spelled her name with a "j" rather than a "y" and retained it into "The Marvel Universe". But, I'm rambling here.

This volume gives me more than my fill of Conan, as future prints will be 99% John Buscema and/or Alfredo Alcala. Not that either of them are unimpressive artists in their own right; it's just a matter of taste.

I've also been able to read issues up to #560 of the Millar/Hitch run on Marvel Comic's The Fantastic Four and am still finding that one book I still purchase from the company entertaining. Issues leading up to #560 have given us a new super-powered girlfriend for "the Torch", and introduced a super-powered team from the future that have been able to abduct "Galactus" himself (but not without tremendous loses) to use of a time machine to bring some of them back into the past to change events that would be cataclysmic in their own time. They've even been able to kidnap ol "Doc Doom" as well for this purpose.

Oh, there was one part that I thought a little cliche where Susan Storm doesn't recognize her future self and hires the woman as a babysitter for her kids, but that aside, it didn't distract me from an excellant storyline. And we finally learn the secret of Reed and Sue's female child and what powers she possesses inherited from her father. I hope that this team stays on the title for a long time.

"Post No. 574"

Recently, a fellow Beatles' enthusiasm from Italy named Fabio Schiavo sent me a extremely long list of various Beatles' appearances in, not only comics and magazines published in the USA, but from all over the world! This is such a long list (printed out it'd be 19 pages long!) that I hesitate to post it over on my "Beatles & Bizarros" blog site (or, at least the entire thing as the USA app.'s would have me duplicating the listing until I can find the time to do some editing to the thing). However...for anyone that's really into seeing all of these listed you can email me at: dpuck@scrtc.com and I will forward the list to you for your inspection. Remember, these are not just the comic book appearances but magazines, paperbacks, trade paperbacks, "what-have-you" on this list (something like 750 of them!), so be prepared for such a lengthly email upon your request.

He's going to send me some of the particulars to these app.s as well, which may shorten the listing when it is posted (as I don't include advertisements or the like or recognize them as a true app. of "The Fab Four").

I saw where distributors will be sending comics to Barnes and Noble to sell at a $3.99 cover price, something that's already been done at Waldenbooks (and the reason why I don't buy any comics there anymore). So, if you're a variant collector, that could get pretty costly.

Went to the 25% off sale at my reg. comic shop today. Didn't have a whole lot of extra cash to spend, but still managed to let go of $50. or so. In the older stuff I got three comics: Weird Science-Fantasy 26 (EC/1954/Special UFO issue/Crandall, Wood, Orlando, Evans, & Feldstein art), Sgt. Fury #5 (Marvel/1964/Lee & Kirby/1st. "Baron Strucker"), & Green Lantern 16 (DC/1st. "Star Sapphire"). Got one bronze book from '73, which was Boy Commandos (DC) #2 (which completed one of the misc. 70's Kirby DC sets), and in modern stuff I picked up Jungle Girl Season 2 #1 (Dynamite) as well as the issues up to #560 I wanted of The Fantastic Four by Millar & Hitch. (Oh yeah. I also got in a run of DC's The Question 1-19 & Annual 1 that I'd won on auction.).

"Post No. 573"

An interesting day (to say the least).

I hadn't been at work for an hour and a half when I get a phone call while I was pulling tools for the retail shelves. It was from my neighbor telling me my mother was real ill and she didn't even think she could walk out to the car to go to the emergency room.

I left work right away after telling the neighbor to call an ambulance (which I beat by a good ten minutes to her house). Mom had gotten really weak, short of breath and hard to speak. We feared, of course, that it may be her heart.

Once in the ER they checked her out and decided instead that she was dehydrated, which is something I suspected when I asked her how much liquid she'd been drinking. She said she'd drank several glasses of milk, but little water. Milk, of course, causes a build up of flem, and she needed water to clear that which she simply hasn't been drinking enough of.

After 3-4 hours at the ER, she was feeling better and released back home.

Being too late to go back to work by then (it was already 3 P.M.) I decided to start work on the yard since it hadn't been raked in 9 days and it was nothing but a sheet of leaves. I raked up 8 huge piles, some of which would rival the size and magnitude of The Giza Pyramids (okay...maybe not "that" large, but pretty damn BIG piles), and one long one that resembled the chain of Rocky Mountains. After which I had to just stop because it was too dark, so tomorrow it'll be a couple of hours hauling those all back to the brush pile to dump simply because it's waaaayyyy too much to even attempt to bag up or mulch.

Was hoping a lot of DC The Question would make it in the mail today, but no such luck. I recently won a run of #'s 1 thru 19 complete plus the first annual, which, when it arrives, will give me all but seven issues completing a set. This was yet another title that DC should have had as a Vertigo book, but maybe Vertigo's imprint wasn't around at that time? (I forget.)

"Post No. 572"

Update on S. Clay Wilson's Condition. Very sad.

"Post No. 571"

I wish that I had a lot of new stuff to tell you, but really...things been pretty duddy in these parts. Cold and wet weather; the yard getting ever so covered with the falling leaves and me, working a nine day straight work "week", have had absolutely no time to rake them since it's already dark by the time I get home.

In fact, all the days seem to just run all together when I have to work such a number of days, with the routine of getting up early and getting ready for work, trying to wake up and grab a quick breakfast and driving to my job and working from 8AM to 5PM, then going home to stop by and check on my elderly mother for a few minutes before I finally get to the house, where I usually have something I need to do there (like tonight I listed a few more lots of comics on eBay). Or, I need to go to the grocery or some such thing, then I try to catch up on any email, relax a few minutes, fix my lunch for the next day and clean up and before you know it, it's bedtime and I hit the sack to get up again the next day and begin this all over again.

I will be off this weekend however, then work Monday, and off again another two days so eventually I might catch up of a few things.

And on a sad note...

I recently read that legendary underground comix artist S. Clay Wilson was recently mugged and severely beaten and is currently hospitalized for several serious injuries. Here's wishing him a VERY speedy recovery and all the best. :^(

"Post No. 570"

Watched Snake on a Plane, starring Sam Jackson. And it wasn't anywhere as bad as the various reviews I'd read, which- as usual- just shows that tastes vary.

The special effects were outstanding. Not for the timid, or those with snake phobias, and certainly nothing for kids to watch. On the DVD, though, there IS way too many G-D commercials for other flicks before the movie begins.

Got in that lot. There was 60+ comics in this one, with issues dating back into the 1970's. Was able to either complete or nearly complete several sets such as DC's Karate Kid, Marvel's Hawkeye and Hercules Prince of Power limited series. There was a copy of that early 1990's Marvel/Charleston Chew giveaway with characters as Spider-man, Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider and Wolverine (a "flip-comic"). The Wolverine tale was the best: eight pages plus a cover drawn by Sam Kieth.

Also got in that one copy of DC's Prez #3 (1973), which was an off-beat title written/created by Joe Simon and drawn in the always interesting style of Jerry Grandenetti. (And this issue completed my set of 1-4.)

Have a little money built up in my Paypal account now to buy me something fairly nice, so....I'm shopping around. (There's ALWAYS some comic I've been wanting and haven't gotten around to picking up one of yet).

I've changed the illustration over in my top link of "Unpublished Work". This is a prelimenary I've done for a water color I'm working on. As usual, you can click onto the arrow that'll come up at the bottom right of the illo for a larger view.

"Post No. 569"

There's now less than 1,500 days left until 12-21-12.

Well, now that the election's over I can get down to somthing REALLY serious; trying to make some extra cash and clearing out globs of duplicates that's been piling up.

I listed seven different "lots" of approx. 50 comics each this week, and to my surprize, one already sold by someone using the eBay "Buy It Now" for $19.99. That's forty cents per book I'm getting out of those which I consider doing very well considering I'd eventually just put them in a yard sale and try to get a quarter each (and less than that if someone would've bought a BIG bunch of them).

Then I got another minimum bid of $9.99 on a lot of kids-type comics I'd been wanting to clear out, so perhaps this auction will go fairly well, 'cause there's 50 books in that lot as well averaging twenty cents each at the lowest bid (comics I'd eventually just given away).

I'm going to keep on re-listing the ones that don't sell until I can get rid of what I can, and next week I'll be adding even more lots. I figure I have at least another 7 of 50 each, and then I have lots of comic book-related magazines, trade paperbacks, hardcovers and sci-fi paperbacks to move. Just sitting there in boxes "collecting dust" sure isn't going to do me any good so I'm trying to get more motivated about selling them.

I think what surprized me the most about selling that one particular lot was that they were ALL modern Marvel Comics; mostly stuff from the 1990's. No one has yet to bid on the best lot which is 50 misc. DC & Marvel bronze-age comics, and they range in dates from 25 to 35 years ago. (Looks like that would have gone first.) But, ya jest never know.

I was up early yesterday morning, awakening at my usual 5:30 A.M. even though I didn't have the alarm clock set. I'm just so used to doing that and can't seem to sleep any longer unless I stay up pretty late at night. And I kept, all day, really busy, getting that package ready and taking it to the post office, doing some housework, laundry, raking/mulching/mowing leaves (for I forget how many times this Autumn), and when this was all done I noticed it was still a good half an hour until noon. Waited around here today until my wife got off from work and then took her out to eat since we didn't get to do that on our anniversary on the 4th., and we had a really good meal at the local "Cracker Barrel".

Lastly today I want to remember an old classmate whom I heard passed away named Douglas Burgess. When I was a preteen we were living about four miles from here and on the road that ran parrallel, about a mile up it, Doug lived and I knew him from school and many a time would ride my bike out to his dad's farm and we'd just hang out. I traded comics with him and one comic I traded him was a copy of Tales to Astonish #27 (Marvel, 1962) which I had personally bought off the racks and, as any "true believer" knows, has the story: "The Man In The Ant-Hill": the first app. of Henry Pym who later took on the guise of "The Ant-Man".

A couple of years later I got real serious about collecting early Marvels and asked Doug if he still had that and he told me he'd traded it to a guy just across the yard from me. So I went over to this other guy's house and, sure enuff, he did have that comic and I swapped it back.

Somewhere along these transactions the comic had gotten in fairly bad shape, losing it's centerfold (which didn't affect the Pym tale, but did affect the next two fantasy stories). Still, I wanted it. Over the next few years it somehow got in even worse shape with a frazzled spine, a little chunk missing from the front cover and tape on the edges of the cover to hold the spine together, but it stayed in my collection as such until I sold it to yet another comic book collector circa 1970 or so.

And I've previously related that tale of how, a good 25 years or more later, that last guy traded it back to me again. The tape finally fell off with age leaving stains, so now's it's in poor even though still quite loved in my collection as I know I bought that one, when it was new, myself.

Oh yeah...Doug had filled out a coupon on both the interior and back cover in ink, so, Doug, at least as long as I keep that comic, you'll still be remembered by an old friend. Rest in peace.

"THE VOTE: '08"

Remember...he's the only logical choice.

"Post No. 567"

"Election, schmection!" Just look at this lover-ly couple! Doesn't that woman look happy? Isn't that man quite handsome (like a young Lewis Grizzard)? *heh*

Yes, that's a photo of myself and my love, Debbie, who are celebrating 20 years of Married Bliss (*cough*) today.

What the hell happened to me?!? Hey!? I had a LOT of hair back then! And ya know, I think I still have that shirt (but I doubt if it'd fasten around me these days since I'm probably at least 30 lbs. heavier)!

Debbie and I have been through a lot over the years, and started out that wedding night in one heck of a big thunderstorm, but we still managed to survive it all. And, considering my batting average with marriages BEFORE I met her, I think we've done pretty damn good.

"Post No. 566"

I watched the "Doctor Strange" animated flick recently on The Cartoon Network, and really...it was better than I expected.

The only other treatment of the good doctor I can recall watching was the live-action "made-for-t.v." movie produced back in the 1970's. Television budgets were tight for such things, especially back then, but I remember it not being the worst adaptation of a comic book character I'd ever seen.

And neither was the animated version. For such characters as Dr. Strange, or, "Thor", that might be the only way they'll ever be given justice in a movie form due to the high costs involved in creating the special effects.

Naturally, Strange's origin was once again changed somewhat, but at least it held more true to the original tale in Strange Tales (Marvel) #115 (1963), with the elimination of such later additions as his wife and unborn child dying in the automobile accident.

There were some additions as well, like other sorcerers being trained by "The Ancient One" (other than "Baron Mordo"), a younger-looking "Wong" with hair, mentions of Stephen Strange's younger sister dying in an operation due to Strange, etc., but, all-in-all, it wasn't half bad and contained a lot of the seriousness some comic book films and other adaptations of favorite iconic characters are often lacking.

Well worth a watch.

"Post No. 565"

An Interesting Thing to wake up to this morning. A guy misses the curb, plows over the sidewalk and thru a little wooden fence and birdhouses of my wife's on the side of the yard, barely misses my car and stops within inches of a large tree. Didn't even hear it until my wife wakes me and says the police were outside around 7AM. They took him to jail. He'd been sitting there passed out (since 5:30 A.M.) from drinking (and they found some pot in his car) and called his mama to come get the car.

After she backed the car out of the way, I went out there and cleaned up the mess and was able to save the fence and re-erect it, then put another of my wife's birdhouses back like the destroyed one was and one could never tell the accident happened. The driver (as well as myself) was very lucky that he didn't hit the tree or my vehicle!

I overheard one of the police say that he'd probably be out in 6 hrs., but IF they press the marijuana charges, well...that's another story.

Anyway, since we were both up early, Debbie (my wife, of course) wanted to go to Wallyworld to pick up some items and we stopped by the local flea market. One guy I knew there had a small stack of modern comics cheap. I went thru them and picked out five: 3 different Amalgam titles ("Spider-boy", "Amazon" & "Bullets & Bracelets"),a Now Comics issue of "Green Hornet #22" (sealed with a Kato trading card), and a Marvel "Original Ghost Rider #8". The most interesting of this lot was the GR which reprinted the Johnny Blaze version of issue #1 from 1973 or so, which is also the first app. of Daimon Hellstorm="The Son of Satan". It was good to re-read that issue after so many years. I bought both Ghost Rider and Son of Satan app.'s on a pretty regular basis back 35 years ago.

The backup feature in several of those OGRs was drawn by Dick Ayers and was a 4-5 page "Phantom Rider", which was a redo of the 1950's western GR character. To avoid confussion when the 1960's Marvel Comics' GRs were reprinted they redubbed him Night Rider, and then The Phantom Rider. Why so many changes, I dunno. looks like "Night" Rider would have been good enuff.

The Amalgam issues are sorta fun, altho' I've had/read them all before. Nice collaboration between DC/Marvel Comics, however, and wish there'd been more that two series of them.

Finally got my Paypal payment to go through this morning for that copy of DC's Showcase #51 I think I previously mentioned winning here. Had one devil of a time paying for it because I didn't notice the seller only accepted "confirmed" addresses, which means you have to have a credit card listed with Paypal services (which I currently do/will not). But he removed that restriction momentarily so I could send him payment after checking my feedback (which was real nice of him). That's it pictured above; has a real nice 60's style Infantino/Anderson original cover with early 50's reprints (also by Infantino). I don't have that many Silver-Age issues of Showcase these days (not as many as I'd LIKE to have). Maybe around 20 plus most of the resurrected title issues from the 1970's. (My earliest one is a #27 with the first app. of "The Sea Devils".)

And, Election Day is fast approaching us (or, Black Tuesday, as I like to call it with no reference to anyone in particular). Both candidates are hitting the air waves pretty hard these days and I'm sure that no matter which one becomes our next president, it'll still upset a lot of people. So just remember that when you go to vote, that'll be the guy you'll have to live. with for at least 4 years.

"Post No. 564"

"A (Belated) HAPPY HALLOWEEN from D.Puck' & Elmo's Junction!" (And I'm afriad that's about as spooky as I'll get this year.)

Late due to going down to mom's last night and helping her give out candy to the "trick-or-treaters". The number of kids were down again this year. Probably due to this becoming more and more of a retirement community and the younger kids growing up.