The Fabuleous Fifties

Who Will Buy My Beautiful Gore?

Wednesday Advertising Day.

Mutants explained by a man with a bald head, two of Schaffenberger's rare stories for Stan Lee, Dick Ayers and Joe Maneely drawing Cyrano de Bergerac, a swami by Stan Lee and a very special Mort meskin story are among the treasures to be found in my list of double Timely issues. Over the last ten years I have collected quite a lot of books from Stan Lee's outfit in the late forties and fifties. One of the most interesting thins about this publsher is that it used so many different artists and among it's issues (in all genres) you can find just about anyone who was anyone in comics. I am selling off my doubles to start making some room in my office and to help fund this fun but expensive blog. So you won't only do yourself a favor by offering to take some of these of my hands, you'll also be doing something for yourself. I am starting with my 'horror' books, although some of them might just as well have been called sf-books, especially the post code ones with their emphasis on weird worlds and even weirder concepts. Next week, I will start doing the war books.

I will also offer these comics (and others) on e-bay in a couple of weeks. Since I am based in Holland (Europe), it may be advisable for interested parties to buy more than one book from me so that I can combine them for the cheapest postage possible. That is how I bought my stuff on e-bay and frankly, that is how I ended up with so many doubles, buying sets and collections. I will refer to this blog for e-bay buyers who want to know what else I am selling.

I am a bit reluctant to reveal my e-mail adress on the main page of the blog, so I propose this. Interested buyers can contact me through the reply section. They can leave their e-mail adress there and I will take it off as soon as I have noted it. Other suggestions are welcomed as well.

I know these books can seem a bit pricey, but that is their current value. I have tried to be realistic and reasonable. Next week I will start my war book list, which are just as good but a less popular subject and therefor a lot less expensive. I will expect you to pay for postage, but if you buy more I can do a deal.

Since my scanner is still on the blink, I have included scans from the wonderful Atlas Tales website. I have orderd a new scan, so in time I will replace these scans with actual scans of the comics I am scanning. In the meantime I will try and describe the comics as accurately as possible. The scans have the double function of providing a bit of eye candy for those of you not interested in buying. I may also ad a complete story here and there.

I have started noting which items are already spoken for.

Adventures into Terror #31

Artists: Brodsky (cover), Benulis, Hartley, Winiarski, Rosenberger (unsigned), Ayers.
Condition: Fair (a bit brownish, some damage on the cover sides)
Guide price: $20
Offer price: $15

Bill Benulis' Slave Ship is a great weird story, but Al Hartley is the real star in this early pre code horror book. He is better known for his more stylized later art for Archie, but he drew some of the prettiest women in comics in the fifties, as is shown here. The scans will be better viewable when you click on them.




Adventures into Weird Worlds #11

Artists: Everett (cover), DiPreta, Maneely, Winiarski, Elkin and possibly Woromay.
Condition: Good minus, cover a bit dull, wellread but not damaged.
Guid price: $20
Offer price: $15

Joe Maneely's story is one of the rare (signed) Stan Lee stories and it shows why Maneely was Lee's favorite artist. A sceance goes horribly wrong. The unsigned story Twanng! is one that has been debated a lot on the Timely/Atlas Yahoo group as one of the most intriguing unknowns, a funy story about murder at the circus.

Astonishing #17

Artists: DiPreta, Roussos, Brodsky (?), unknown and Elkin.
Condition: Fair (bit of damage to the cover, brownish, some folded corners)
Guide price: $35
Offer price: $25

Interesting unknown. Buy the book and ad your own comment to Atlas Tales. But the real attraction is Tony DiPreta's work, a six page werewolf tale that perfectly illustrates why I think he did his best work in a long career for Stan Lee's books.

Astonishing #43

Artists: Burgos (cover), Romita, Stallman, Powell, Roth, Kida.
Condition: Poor, the book itself is not bad (though the cover is a bit worn), but there are 4 pages missing, the splash of the Powell story and the first 2 of Roth.
Price Guide (in good condition): $15
Offer price (in combination with another purchase): $5

This is clearly a placeholder, but I will include scans of the missing pages.

Astonishing #49

Artists: Everett (cover), Baily, Mortellaro, Ayers, Reinman, Schaffenberger, DiPreta.
Condition: Good minus, cover a bit worn, brownish, but no damage as such
Price Guide: $15
Offer price: $10

I have talked about Baily on this blog. Here he offers a nice 'trip to the moon' story. Mortellaro does an interesting story with benday shadows and Ayers manages to get Cyrano de Bergerac and a dinosaur into one story.

Astonishing #51

Artists: Everett (cover), Sale, Winiarski, reinman, Schaffenberger and what appears to be Mort Meskin, a spaceship story inked very solidly by a DC inker.
Condition: Good plus, apart from the fact that the cover is almost loose.
Guide Price: $20
Offer price: $15 (sold)

The Mort Meskin story is the star here. Only three pages, but it is inked so adequately, that it lifts the whole thing to another level. As soon as I can I will scan this story and share it.

Astonishing #52 (coverless)

Artists: Burgos (missing cover), Baily, Morrow, Winiarski, Walton, Lazerus, Reinman.
Condition: Very Good, apart from the missing cover and back, not very brown
Guide Price (in Good): $15
Offer price: $10

Bill Walton is another interesting unknown. He worked with Alex Toth, Ross Andru, Mike Sekowsky and George Tuska for editor Mike Peppe at Standard and picked up a lot of their tricks. But he was more than that, a very singular artist with a weird sense of humor. In this book he has a very nice story about a Mexican boy trying to jump from a cliff.

Astonishing #61

Artists: Everett (cover), Doxsee, Forte, Morrow, Orlando, Winiarski, Romita.
Condition: Good, cover a bit worn, a bit of a fold in the second half near cover
Price Guide: $15
Offer price: $10 (sold)

A solid reader wit art by some of the most important realists of the period. Doxsee was an interesting artist who worked in the Williamson/Torres 'fleagle' style, but went into cartooning and who knows what after the fifties. I should show some of his work for the Mad mitation magazines like Cracked and Panic (the magazine) some day.

Journey into Unknown Worlds #25

Artists: Burgos/Brodsky (cover), Wildey, Pike (?), Sale, Loprino, Winter.
Condition: Good minus, cover loose, bit brownish
Guide Price: $25
Offer price: $15

A real bargain. Great pre-code book with Stan Lee introductions to the stories.

Marvel Tales #108

Artists: Maneely (cover), Everett, Romita (?), Barry (?), Everett, Sinnott (?).
Condition: Poor, cover scrached, two story pages missing, the intro to the Romita (?) and The Sy Barry (?) story.
Guide Price (in Good): $40
Offer price (together with another buy): $15 (scans of missing pages provided)

A great book if it wasn't so beat up. Nice early horror book, with two great Everett stories. I'll show the shorter second one here, from scans by Michael DeWally. The rest of the book has not been done yet on Atlas Tales, but I am quite sure about John Romita doing the second story. It has both his clean and is scratchy style from the early period. The second and fourth attributions are more of a guess on my part. I am usually not bad at this, but these stump me.





Marvel Tales #156

Artists: Everett (cover), Reinman, Morrow, Shores, Winiarski, Torres, Pakula.
Condition: Poor, wellread and spine damage to the cover
Guide Price: $15
Offer price: $10

It is often said that Stan Lee handed each artist that came in for a story the next script from the pile without looking, but whenever he had an underwater story or cover, he gave it to Bill Everett. When Blake Bell's book on Everett comes out this year from Fantagraphics, maybe we'll finally see how many of these stories he did. The Guide mentions the Torres story and rightly so.

Mystery Tales #32

Artists: Burgos (missing cover), Greene, Tumlinson, Reinman, Winiarski, Lawrence.
Condition: Poor, missing front cover, but the first page is soiled and the first two have a small bite taken from the top.
Guide price (in Good): $20
Offer price (with other buy): $5

Lawrence is a much looked over artist who did some of the most detailed art for Stan Lee's books. He sees to have disappeared afer the fiftie, but who knows I'll find out more about him later on.

Mystery Tales #35

Artists: Burgos (cover), Stallman, Scheuer, Colan, Benulis, Everett.
Condition: Good, some turning on the spine
Guide price: $20
Offer price: $12 (sold)

This has one of those later Gene Colan pages, where he was allowed to do a splash page on the whole of page one. The Everett story is nice too, about mysterious planes flying in the night.

Mystery Tales #36

Artists: Burgos (cover), Peddy, Krigstein, Forgione/Abel, Winiarski, Sinnott
Condition: Good, but the top of the cover is torn off (so the seller could get his money back from the distributor).
Guide price: $24
Offer price: $10

After leaving EC, Krigstein did a couple of stories for Stan Lee, that showed off his amazing skills. Until Fantagraphic collects these amazing stories in the second part of their Krigstein reprint series, this is the only way to see those stories. As good a reason as any to get a reader like this.

Mystic #44

Artists: Burgos (cover), Everett, Brown, Forte, Carrabotta, Pakula.
Condition: Fair, cover loose and well read but no other defects
Price Guide: $18
Offer price: $10 (sold)

Vince Carrabotta was one of those talented artists who didn't make it enough to tough it out, so he left comics and earned a much better living as a storyboard artist. His Andru/Sekowsky/Peppe influenced style is always a joy to see. But the real star of the issu is Bill Everett's 'flying saucers over the night sky of London' story, which opens the book.

Spellbound #5

Artists: cover artist unknown, Everett, Mooney, Stallman (?), Keller, Sekowsky.
Condition: Poor, this would be a Very Good book, if the first pages wasn't torn in half lengthwise. I will include a scan, but this is purely a placeholder.

Guide price (Very Good): $70
Offer price: $15

The Sekowsky story wasn't inked by one of his regular inkers and the Mooney story shows what a solid artist he was. I wish I knew who drew the cover, because it's beaut.

Spellbound #25

Artists: Brodsky (cover), Orlando, Ayers, Winiarski, Kida (?), Forte.
Condition: Fair, book's okay but the cover's a bit scrached.
Guide price: $15
Offer price: $10

The piracy story by Dick Ayers is signed by his full name, which according to him means he didn't work with his regular inker Bache, but inked it himself.

Strange Tales of the Unusual #6

Artists: Everett (cover), Pike, Ayers, Fleischman, Walton, Baily, Crandell (?).
Condition: Very Good, solid book, not very yellow, hangs togethr nicely.
Guide price: $42
Offer price: $25

Even though the guide price is quite high, I just can't bring myself to ask to much for these post code books. With great Walton and Baily art and what looks like an untypically inked Crandell piece to me, it quite a good book, too. If the third story is indeed by Fleischman, it is one of his few trips to Timely.

Strange Stories of Suspense #8

Artists: Everett (part of the missing cover) Williamson, Stallman, Pike, Pakula, Moore, Powell.
Condition: Good, but the covers are missing, no damage and nice tough paper
Guide price (Good): $30
Offer price: $15

Most artists working for Stan Lee became quite good towards the end of the fifies, as the stories got duller. So it's the Williamson Stallman and Powell art you are getting this one for. Especially the Powell boxing story.

Suspense #16

Artists: Brodsky (cover), Kida, Fujitani (?), unknown, Goldfarb (?), Whitney.
Condition: Good, but the covers are split and loose
Guide price: $25
Offer price: $15

Good book with great stories, including a collaboration between Lee and Kida. The story I contributed to Goldfarb (because of the Alex Raymond swipes) is a great atmospheric story about a sailor who is alone on a ship with a corpse.

Suspense #18

Artists: Maneely (missing cover and first story), Pike, Roussos, DiPreta, Stallman, Krigstein, Stallman
Condition: Fine, except for the fact that the covers are missing, but the book itself is nice and tight.
Guide price (Fine): $75
Offer price: $35

The second best book of this lot. It would be first if the front cover hadn't been missing. But, like many of these ripped books, the insides seem to have been preserved better because books like this were often kept in the back of som store for years before being found. This one has a terrific story by Joe Maneely (who did the cover for that story as well) about an undertaker with a sinister plan. The Joke is one of Jay Scott Pike's first stories for Stan Lee. George Roussos shows why he is called 'Inky' about a prisoner trying to break out (at night of course, as the best of Timely's stories were). Tony DiPreta shows a dandy trying to kill his twin brother on a rainy night, Escape To Death is a superheroic story about a man becoming some sort of electric supervillian after being fried on the electric chair (about which I wrote a short piece for Alter Ego a couple of years ago, Stay Away is an early example of Krigstein's work not included in Greg Sadowsky's first book of Krigstein reprints and Stallman returns for a second story of fire and revenge for the last story of this 52 page book. A winner by all acounts.

Suspense #23

Artists: Everett (cover), Infantino, Sinnott, Everett, Massey, Grudke, Maneely, Shores.
Condition: Fine, even though the title part of the cover has been ripped off, nice clean pages and the rest of the cover is even attached.
Guide price (Very Good): $50
Offer price: $30

Best book of the lot, even though part of the cover is torn. Suspene is the one series I liked to complete, even more than Menace. Like Menace it had many stories by Stan Lee himself (three in this book, with Carmine Infantine, Bill Everett and Joe Maneely, all gorgeous) and several issues (including this one) were 52 pages! This one also has a letter's page, clearly written by Lee himself (one of the 'letter writers' is called S. Martin, a combination of his own and the publishers first names). Cal Massey, by the way, was one of the few 'black' (as they called them then) comic book artists. Later he became a well known painter. His comic book work (often in the war titles) wasn't too shabby either. Here he illustrates a story about a trip to the moon.

Uncanny Tales #35

Artists: Maneely (missing cover) Tumlinson, Forgione/Abel, Lawrence, Forte, Maneely.
Condition: Very Good, with a missing front cover but nice clean pages
Guide price (Very Good): $40
Offer price: #10

A good reader of a book with some great art. Pete Tumlinson is not often mentioned, but one of the most lyrical of Stan Lee's artists in the fifties. He has a story about the last two people on a devestated earth. Lawrence does a great little tale about someone falling in love with a statue and there is a funny flying saucer tale by Joe Maneely. I am including sample scans by Pieter Bell of the Tumlinson and Lawrence splash pages.













World of Suspense #1

Artists: Maneely (on the missing cover), Everett, Maneely, Hartley, Shores, Drucker, Miller.
Condition: Very Good, with front cover missing.
Guide Price: (with cover) $30
Offer price: $10

A great Joe Maneely cover and story, slick art by Al Hartley, Mort Drucker, the weird but wonderful C. M. Miller... what's not to love about this book? The missing cover maybe? This seems to be from a lot of undistributed books with the cover ripped off by the dealer to get his money back, since the book itself is fine (eventhough I am calling it very good) and got two of them in a lot of coverless books. So here's the other. I will include a scan of the cover on all missing covers.

World of Suspense #4

Artists: Burgos (cover), Reinmann, Stallman, Sale, Roussos, Fleischman, Forgione/Abel.
Condition: Good, bit worn on the cover, nice page color
Guide price: $20
Offer price: $15

Paul Reinmann was one of the few artists working in the fifties, who signed almost all of is work. He had started at DC, had done a newspaper strip caller Merrie Chase (which I wll show at a later point) and did some great work for Stan Lee in the fifties. Actually, he is one of the few artists who reached his maturity in that period. Someone like Bernie Krigstein was all promise for the future (which never came to be), but Reinmann was never better than is his work for Timely. Most people now recognize him for his lackluster inking of some early Marvel work, but i the fifties he delivered pure quality. This later story is not of the brilliance of his earlier war work, but still a long way from the decline of his work only a couple of years later. And again we have a Fleischman story, the second after said he didn't do too many for Lee. In this lot are two of the thirteen he probably did.