Peerless Power of Comics!

                "Our Revels Now Are Ended..." Dark Shadows # 2, August 1969 Like the comic books, music and movies of the 1960s, television was very much a part of my childhood, and Dark Shadows was one show that left a distinct and lasting impression on me. The series had a lot in common with the comic books I absorbed, mainly the serialized adventures of the Marvel heroes. The trials and tribulations of characters such as Peter Parker or Ben Grimm were not very different from the struggles of Barnabas Collins as portrayed by Jonathan Frid,. Like the Marvel heroes, Barnabas was given special "powers" but he didn't want to have them, and didn't revel in his vampire role. To him it was a curse, and he only wanted to live like a normal person. These type of characters greatly appealed to me. The character of Barnabas Collins was never created to be an ongoing part of the gothic soap opera. He was only brought on as a ploy to elevate ratings. It turned out, tho

This time around I thought I’d take a break from familiar ground and talk about some comics that are not Marvel/Atlas related. Although my main interests lie in the early Marvel age, over the years I've collected, and continue to collect, quite a bit of non-Marvel material. At the last New York con a few weeks ago, attending with the “legendary” Yancy Street Gang (legends in our mind anyway!), I was pleased to have acquired a batch of comics, most in the $2-4 dollar range. Often at cons there is little variety for sale, but this time around it was quite different. This led me to buy a load of different comics, some on my list, others purchased on impulse. While I did buy a batch of Marvel westerns, I'll focus on some of my other interesting purchases in the genres of romance, western and mystery. I knew very little about the romance line published by DC Comics, and had none of their comics for a long time. Most of my romance collecting focused on Marvel’s late 1960s line, plus

For those of you who don't get enough of my musings here (there's no accounting for taste!), I have a guest post on Roy Rasmussen's excellent Comic Book Collectors Club site. I thank him and Barry Pearl for allowing me to revise my article on Amazing Spider-Man # 33, which originally appeared in Ditkomania # 76: http://comicbookcollectorsclub.com/the-lifting-sequence-ditkos-defining-moment-on-the-amazing-spider-man/#comment-61

It's always wonderful to not only discover something new when looking through old comics, but actually get conformation from someone who was there. I've been lucky to meet some of the creators of the early Marvel period in person and occasionally go over their work. As a student of comic art I examine covers and interiors and find alterations by other artists, or uncredited pencils and inks from time to time. Some changes are pretty clear cut, others puzzling. Not every artist is aware of corrections, or is unable to identify uncredited inkers. Drawing so many pages, they sometimes have a hard time identifying their own work if it was inked by a strong hand, or perhaps rushed out. I've discovered that it never hurts to ask a question, and this weekend proved the point. I attended the New York ComicCon with "The Yancy Street Gang", that group of scallywags that includes my brother John, Barry Pearl and Michael Vassallo (AKA Doc V). We always have a delightful time,