Sid's Luncheonette Collection

An unbelievable early Silver Age collection of 100 high grade DCs from noted CGC forum member and collector Harry Banks will be sold on www.pedigreecomics.com. There will be 10 books listed each night for 10 straight nights, each one being in CGC certified 8.0 or better (mostly better!!). Amazingly, every comic from this group was purchased by Mr. Banks himself from the same luncheonette (Sid's Luncheonette) in Orange, New Jersey and stored away for the past 44 or so years. Many of these copies represent the highest or second highest certified grade according to the CGC census and are truly scarce in even Very Fine. Most have off-white to white pages and all have incredible structure, ink reflectivity and a fresh, unread look (a testament to Mr. Banks' foresight in carefull storing each book since its date of purchase). You will probably never see such a high grade original owner group of early 1960's DCs ever again!!

Aquaman;
#4 - 9.4
#5 - 9.0
#10 - 9.4
#15 - 9.2
#16 - 9.2
#18 - 8.5

Atom;
#1 - 8.5
#2 - 9.0
#3 - 9.0
#7 - 9.2
#9 - 8.5
#10 - 9.4
#11 - 9.2
#12 - 9.2

Batman;
#146 - 8.0
#148 - 8.5
#149 - 8.0
#150 - 8.5
#157 - 9.0
#158 - 8.5
#159 - 9.2
#160 - 9.0(Q)
#161 - 8.5
#163 - 8.5
#165 - 8.5
#166 - 8.0
Ann#5 - 9.4

Brave & Bold;
#42 - 8.0
#43 - 8.0
#48 - 9.2
#49 - 9.6
#51 - 9.0
#53 - 9.2
#56 - 8.0

Flash;
#126 - 9.0
#127 - 9.0
#129 - 9.0
#130 - 8.5
#131 - 8.5
#136 - 8.5
#137 - 8.5
#140 - 8.5
#145 - 9.4

Green Lantern;
#14 - 8.5
#21 - 8.5
#22 - 9.0
#25 - 9.2
#27 - 8.5
#30 - 9.0

Hawkman;
#5 - 9.0


JLA;
#10 - 8.0
#11 - 8.0
#14 - 9.0
#20 - 9.0
#23 - 9.2
#24 - 8.5
#27 - 9.2
#28 - 9.6
#29 - 8.0
#32 - 9.0


Metal Men;
#2 - 9.4
#3 - 9.6
#4 - 9.4
#6 - 9.0
#8 - 9.2
#9 - 9.0


Mystery in Space;
#75 - 9.2
#76 - 8.5
#84 - 8.0
#86 - 8.0
#87 - 8.5
#91 - 8.5


Sea Devils;
#3 - 9.0(Q)
#4 - 9.2
#5 - 9.0


Showcase:
#35 - 8.0
#37 - 8.0
#38 - 8.0
#40 - 8.5
#43 - 8.0
#45 - 8.5


Superman;
#153 - 9.0
#154 - 9.0
#158 - 9.4
#162 - 8.0
#163 - 9.2
#165 - 9.2
#167 - 9.0
#168 - 9.0
#170 - 9.2


Wonder Woman;
#127 - 9.2
#128 - 9.0(Q)
#131 - 8.5
#139 - 9.4
#140 - 9.0
#142 - 9.2
#143 - 9.6
#144 - 9.4
#145 - 9.4
#147 - 9.2

DC's Checkerboard

One of my favorite comic book gimmicks has always been the use of the checkerboard. This was the black and white artwork at the top of DC comics which was featured on all DC titles from February 1966 – August 1967. Several classic covers have the checkerboard at the top of the cover, covers like Detective #357. The checkerboard appeared the most on Action comics, a total of 20 issues. Three titles started with checkerboard covers on them, including Swing with Scooter, Plastic Man, and Inferior Five. In all, 535 issues carried the innovative design on the cover.

Known as Go-Go Checks, the checkerboard pattern that ran across the top of every issue for a year and a half was not simply a reflection of the era's pop-art movement. Since some newsstand racks displayed comics vertically, revealing only the upper portion of a book, the pattern was intended to make DC's comics stand out and thus, theoretically, increase sales. "What a ridiculous thing," Carmine Infantino declared. "It was the stupidest idea we ever heard because the books were bad in those days and that just showed people right off what not to buy." But Donenfeld disagreed: "I was trying to find a way of making DC Comics pop out on the newsstand. It wasn't a bad idea; it just didn't work the way I wanted it to. It didn't add anything, but I thought it might." In fact, total sales for the entire DC line during this period were at their peak for the 1960s, sales for Batman-related titles increased dramatically, and DC was outselling all of its competitors. The checks were most likely cancelled as a waste of precious cover space, and interestingly, sales did begin to stall about a year later.


Here is a checklist of checkerboard covers:

Action Comics #333-352 (20)
Adventure Comics #341-358 (18)
Adventures of Bob Hope #98-106 (9)
Adventures of Jerry Lewis #93-101 (9)
All-American Men of War #114-117 (4)
Aquaman #26-34 (9)
Atom #24-32 (9)
Batman #179-193 (15)
Blackhawk #218-234 (17)
Brave and the Bold #64-72 (9)
Capt. Storm #12-18 (7)
Challengers of the Unknown #49-57 (9)
Detective Comics #348-365 (18)
Doom Patrol #102-112 (11)
Falling In Love #82-92 (11)
Flash #159-171 (13)
Fox and the Crow #96-104 (9)
G.I. Combat #117-124 (8)
Girls’ Love Stories #117-128 (12)
Girls’ Romances #115-126 (12)
Green Lantern #43-54 (12)
Hawkman #13-20 (8)
Heart Throbs #100-108 (9)
House of Mystery #157-168 (12)
House of Secrets #77-80 (4)
Inferior Five #1-3 (3)
Justice League of America #43-54 (12)
Metal Men #18-26 (9)
Metamorpho #5-13 (9)
Mystery in Space #106-110 (5)
Our Army at War #165-183 (18)
Our Fighting Forces #98-108 (11)
Plastic Man #1-5 (5)
Sea Devils #28-35 (8)
Secret Hearts #110-120 (11)
Showcase #61-69 (9)
Star Spangled War Stories #126-133 (8)
Strange Adventures #185-202 (18)
Sugar and Spike #64-71 (8)
Superboy #127-140 (14)
Superman #185-198 (14)
Superman’s Girl-Friend Lois Lane #63-75 (13)
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #91-103 (13)
Swing with Scooter #1-7 (7)
Tales of the Unexpected #94-101 (8)
Teen Titans #2-10 (9)
Tomahawk #103-111 (9)
Wonder Woman #161-171 (11)
World’s Finest Comics #156-167 (12)
Young Love #54-62 (9)
Young Romance #141-148 (8)

San Diego Comic-Con 2005

Once again, the largest comic convention in the country is about to hit. Of course as the title suggests, it is the San Diego Comic-Con. This year the convention is July 14-17, 2005. Preview Night is July 13, 2005.

This year, as in years past will have a variety of events and guests for any and all people interested in Science Fiction, Comics, or just Spectacle.

As in years past, one of the highlights of the show is the CGC forum dinner. This casual dinner allows those of us who post on the CGC message boards to get together and talk comics. We get to meet new members who haven't been to prior dinners. Truly one of the best things about the hobby is to share the zeal for comics.

Here is the SD con official website ---->LINK

Funny X-men cartoons

If you are a fan of the X-men you have to check out these cartoons by Matt Gardner.

X-Men: Death Becomes Them

X-Men: Dark Phoenix Rising

Rob Liefield - Official Website

LINK

For those of you who have not heard of Rob Liefield. He was the superstar artist in the 1990s who set the comic world on fire with his art. He was so successful that many long time writers changed their style to imitate Rob's. Rob eventually started his own company with several other successful writers, like Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee, named Image Comics.

After the dust settled from the 1990s, comic readers took a hard look at the artists body of work and Rob was hit the hardest. His use of body proportions gorssly disfigured most characters. His characters all had the same facial expressions. To this day Rob continues to draw even though work is difficult to come by.

An example of Rob Leifield's work:

Wonder Woman #25 review

written by Joanna Sandsmark

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Lamont Larson

Joe Tricarichi found the collection. Jon Berk found the collector.

When Tricarichi, a Cleveland dealer, unearthed Larson's distinctively marked collection of 1,000 Golden Age books in the early '70s, he jealously guarded the identity of the original owner. It took Berk, the president of the American Association of Comic Collectors in 1994, to track Larson down, not far from where Larson grew up in Nebraska.

Born in 1927, Larson began reading comic books in 1936, picking up his favorite issues at the Cruetz Drug Store. Because the kid periodically missed a comic, store owner Fred Cruetz said, "I'll tell you what: We'll put your name on them...and when you want to come in and get them, they'll be here."

To reserve the comics, two store employees- Tryg Hagen and Cecil Coop - would scrawl his name on the covers. Larson told Berk that Hagen wrote either "Lamont" or "Larson" in a flowing cursive," while Coop, who came on staff after Hagen died in 1940, wrote "Larson" in a somewhat tighter script. The initials on some of the comics - "PN" for Publishers NEws and "ON" for Omaha News - marked the distributors to which unsold books would be returned.

Larson stopped reading the funny books in 1941, but he carefully stored his comics in a box. That box ended up in a Nebraska barn for most of the next 30 years. The comics were eventually purchased by antique dealer Dwaine Nelson, who in turn sold the collection for less than $100.

The condition of the Larson books varies, often falling far short of the Mile Highs, but the two characteristics of the collection- its original owner and the length of time it remained intact- warrant its pedigree.

--Comics: Between the Panels