OA Commissions

I am not a big fan of OA, but I can understand the enjoyment some might get from spending thousands of dollars on it. One thing I do like is having artist commissions done of your favorite character. Here are 2 websites that offer artist commissions.

Fred Hembeck

During my childhood reading comics in the 70s and 80s, one of the things I can remember was the artwork of Fred Hembeck. As far as I know Fred never drew a title of his own. However he did draw an issue of Spider-man, and he did several other pieces of humorous art. His trademark on his characters being the swirled knees.

Here is website for your enjoyment. Hembeck.com

New CGC Labels

So the brain trust at CGC has decided their labels were not confusing enough and have decided to "simplify" them by changing them. The word on the street is that CGC was getting pressured by dealers to correct the stigma associated with PLODs (Purple Rrestored Labels). So CGC has listened and has changed the Universal Label to Certified Label, and the Restored Label to Apparent Label.

IMO, this is a tragic change that CGC should not make. Timie will tell if it was a smart move.

Here for your enjoyment is the link to their press statement and pictures of their pretty labels.

Proposed Label Changes

Minimate Madness

Here is a very clever site that displays minimate figures to tell a story. Some great humor is involved in this. Especially the use of recurring gags, like the Bendis reference.

Enjoy!


Minimate Madness

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