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Appreciate it, Chris!

Wow, I never thought about that! Somebody could put together a mini-series about that anonymous crook trying to capitalize on this information.

Wait, forget what I said. We need a whole new ASM title built on the premise that the crook on the cover of AF 15 is the burglar, Spider-man heeded the cop and made the capture, Uncle Ben didn’t die, and the one huge, terrible mistake Spidey makes is to blurt out his secret identity while transporting the burglar to jail. In ASM 2.0 issue 1, the burglar brings his info to the city’s top identity-theft scammer, “The Chameleon,” who plots to force Peter Parker to commit crimes, lest The Chameleon reveal his secret. Dang, I can keep my mind occupied for hours with this premise.

Thanks for the comment. Were you around in the ‘50s?

Hi, Cap. I'm glad someone agrees with Gary. Good point about X-men #1. It's charming to me because of how old school the characters look but it's not as dynamic as some of Kirby's other entrees of the time.

@@kestonsoldschoolcomicbooks6842 Yes exactly Keston.

Thanks, AJ, for commenting. My guess is Gary's opinion differs from most comic lovers. But, I have to agree, that brown was an odd color choice. Regardless, I'm a huge fan of AF15 and FF1 but will listen to a Gary story any day of the week. Oh, yeah...Hulk 1 is pretty cool I love that he is gray.

@@kestonsoldschoolcomicbooks6842 I think the Jack Kirby, AF15 cover, coloring aside , beats any Spiderman cover that ditko did until Jon Romita took over the book. Not to diss Ditko, his covers were ok but his interiors seemed to work great.

Perhaps he was spoiled by the golden/atomic age of comics . His collecting overlapped that period and even a little bit, the cover for the golden age would spoil me. If Marvel covers were the best that the silver age under the strict censors comic code authority I’d maybe feel pretty hardy to the grails of that period.

stfu, hes right

Great comment, WeLoveComics! The AF15 image is emblazoned in most people's minds if, for nothing else, extreme familiarity. I've always found Kirby's work to be friendly and inviting. There's sort of a kid quality to it, which makes it charming. Gary is enamored with Carmine Infantino who was cranking out amazing art at the time.

Hi, BruceWayne. Thanks for the comment. Gary is a DC guy for sure. That said, he has a pretty rich history with Marvel. In fact, he interviewed Stan Lee about a dozen times!

Hi Pulp420. Gary's comments made me think. I've always thought AF15 was amazing...but was it because the cover was actually amazing or that I was so familiar with it. It's still one of my favorite books, and covers, but brown is an odd choice.

I had some free time, so I noodled around on the My Comic Shop website to take stock of all Marvel covers from January 1961 through August 1962 that had brown backgrounds. During that time, Marvel published 170 issues representing 18 titles (including two annuals). Of the 170 issues, 21 had a brown background. The leader was Tales to Astonish (6 brown out of 20 covers from issue 15 thru 34), followed by Tales of Suspense (5 brown out of 20 covers from issue 13 thru 32) and Journey Into Mystery (5 brown out of 20 covers from issue 64 thru 83). One brown cover each for Strange Tales, Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt, Two-Gun Kid, and Amazing Fantasy It’s worth noting that some brown backgrounds were completely monochromatic, ie., the exact same shade of brown was used throughout, as with AF 15. Other covers used a brown that was darker toward the top of the comic and became lighter further down. Still others had a sunburst that was brown toward the top and faded to yellow further down - Rawhide Kid 22 is a nice example. Finally, when a brown background was used, the comic’s name was invariably printed in white or yellow, and the most prominent story title or wording was usually printed in yellow or white, to complement the color of the comic name. I have half a mind to do a similar analysis for Marvel titles from September ‘62 through December ‘63.

Interesting. Didn’t know that about All-American.

Thanks, Dope. Likewise. Love to hear the old-school stories.

Thanks for the comment, CCG! You should check out the Ruben Blades collection. Wild, wild books. Many of which are relatively affordable. He has many of your collecting sensibilities.

Haha. Yeah, I was rolling when I listened to Gary. These were his legitimate reactions to seeing these later-to-become-keys when they first hit the newsstand. Gary is not afraid to go against the grain. :-)

BTW: Two of my most cherished books :-)

Thanks, Lloyd. Great question. If someone resubs a cracked book, the responsible thing to do is to turn in the old label. At which point, CGC will take the corresponding instance of the book off the census. The problem is that it's difficult (impossible?) to know the percent of re-subs that have not turned in the old labels, leaving ghost copies. Long story short...it's not every instance but it does happen, and it is untrackable. It is a problem.

Hi Back in the Game! Thanks for the comment. I’m posting a new Gary video, tomorrow.

Hi, Elizabeth. I like both series. I highlighted the 1988 Wolvie #1 b/c the original art is available for sale, which is exciting! Thanks so much for commenting, my friend.

Thanks, Jesse. Punch 12 is a sweet book. I no longer have a copy in my collection, sadly.

Heh, heh. Some collectors love error variants!

Thanks, James. Excellent comment. Well put, and I agree with your point. With little consensus, people use the word however they choose. Regarding Sotheby's, Overstreet, and Gerber; the concern I have is that their definitions of rare were partially based on the number of copies they believed to exist of very-hard-to-obtain books. Thirty years later, many of these books are more prevalent than originally believed. For example, Suspense 3 likely has 60 or 70 in existence (about 40 on CGC today). Gerber thought fewer than 10 existed. The problem with using 10 or 20 as a max for "rarity" is that almost no book of significance falls under that extremely low bar (obscure books like Double Action 2 and Green Giant 1 perhaps are the best examples). The even worse problem is that when people say no book is rare, many people interpret the statement as being all books are prevalent, which is not true. The prevalence of comics from the golden age to the silver age to bronze to modern often differ by orders of magnitude. I've got a interview with Gary Carter on the subject as well as another video on rarity coming out. Thanks again for the well-informed and thought-provoking comment.

Hi, Chaos. That's a good strategy! Thanks for commenting.

When the moon hits your eye like Usagi Yojimbo! Haha. I did not know that. Thanks, Tom!

Thanks, Grey Pepper! Glad to finally hit that milestone :-)

Hi, Chris. After talking with him a little more, I didn't take away that he was completely anti-grading (he co-wrote one of the first grading guides) but rather he believes it is impossible to extract all subjectivity out of the process. Your points are well taken. Thank you.

Appreciate it, Ben. And, also, thanks for bringing the Goldin AA16 to my attention. I watch CC, CL, and Heritage frequently -- and look at GPA -- but miss some of the other outfits.

Thanks, Roy. I love bringing attention to the rare, old stuff :-)

Appreciate it, Chris!

Not sure about that. It's likely a mile high copy of something. A good percentage of them were 9.8s. In fact, the earliest 9.9 is from 1940: comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/superhero/zip-comics-7-mlj-1940-mile-high-pedigree-cgc-mt-99-white-pages/a/7342-92086.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515. Thanks for leaving a comment, JKnows.

@@kestonsoldschoolcomicbooks6842 Great stuff mate. Cheers ears.

Hi, Steveoh...I do like the cover of the book...a swipe of MM 33 I believe. But yeah...not too exciting and b&w!

Thanks, Omega. I appreciate it, man!

Shane! Great to hear from you, buddy. Glad to hear about your new acquisitions. Capt Marvel Jr 4 is an OUTSTANDING book. I wouldn't be surprised if it caught fire one day. I definitely need to get a copy :-). Hopefully your LCS will continue getting in some GA!

I dunno if you’re much interested in educational and inspirational comics, but I sure like ‘em and I wish more people did. I’m no expert but _Remember Pearl Harbor_ looks to me like probably one of the most important E&I comics ever published, due to the significance of the material, the timing, and the importance of getting U.S. kids onboard with the war effort. After I read your post I went to one of the public-domain comic book websites, but soon learned that this is a Street & Smith publication, and apparently still under copyright. So, I may end up breaking my rule against paying more than $20 for any single comic, and grab a reader copy off the eBay for a hundred bucks. Thanks for making me aware of this comic, I appreciate it.

​@reprintranch I love this ❤ Yes, that book is way undervalued. The cover art and history is incredible. I hope you find a great copy

Great question, Waz. I don't know. Superman 1 is in the same boat: Three printings in short succession. The difference between edition, variant, and print run....??? I'll need to look into that.

HI, Dan. You are correct. I was also wondering how this could be. The cover artist from 1940...has a signature series book? It's b/c Shelly drew the cover at 20 years old and lived to 92. He signed the book when he was 91! Thanks for commenting.