WIZARD WORLD AUSTIN COMIC CON TREASURES 6

Pictured here is Marvel Masterworks Atlas Era Heroes Volume 3. It's a beautiful hardcover volume that reprints SUB-MARINER #33-42 from 1954-1955.  The artwork on the Sub-Mariner stories is by the legendary Bill Everett (creator of Prince Namor), while Dick Ayers provides the art on a handful of Human Torch stories. All this and a fact filled introduction by Roy Thomas.

These issues were published by Atlas Comics (formerly Timely, later Marvel) in the mid-1950s during the oh-so-brief revival of the company's big three super-hero characters: The Human Torch, Captain America and Sub-Mariner. None of the books starring these characters caught on with the reading public, although the Sub-Mariner series lasted longer than titles featuring the Torch and Cap.

This was the second book I bought from the dealer selling trade paperbacks at half price at the recent Wizard World Austin Comic Con. Originally published in 2008 with a cover price of $60.00, this baby was a steal at half that price. The dust jacket is slightly shop worn but otherwise in entirely acceptable condition for my eyes.

I didn't much care for Bill Everett's artwork when I was a kid. I didn't consider him a bad artist, just someone who didn't draw like Jack Kirby (my all-time favorite comic book artist). You couldn't find two more different and distinctive styles of comic book art than that of Kirby and Everett. Everett 's work had a unique, highly stylized look to it that I now regard as extremely well done and quite attractive to look at. As creator of Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner, Everett can rightly be called the definitive Subby artist, although I have a slight preference for the work of Gene Colan and John Buscema on the character. Hey, those were the guys drawing the strip when I first started reading it and their versions of the character have always stuck in my mind as pretty darn good.

Still, a big hardcover book full of Bill Everett Sub-Mariner stories (few of which were ever reprinted) is a down right treasure to be enjoyed for many hours to come.

WIZARD WORLD AUSTIN COMIC CON TREASURES 5

Funny, I just posted an entry here not long ago about the Gold Key comic book series MIGHTY SAMSON and look what I found at Wizard World Austin Comic Con last week! This is issue #18 from May, 1969. Great stuff from a great dealer who gave me a heck of a deal on this comic along with the other two Gold Key comics I've already posted here (LAND OF THE GIANTS and M.A.R.S. PATROL: TOTAL WAR) and a couple more comics I've yet to blog about. Stay tuned! 

WIZARD WORLD AUSTIN COMIC CON TREASURES 4

Just so you know, I didn't spend all of my money at Wizard World on Gold Key comics (a lot of it, though, certainly). Case in point, the beauty pictured above.

This handsome hardcover reprints MEN'S ADVENTURES #27-28, CAPTAIN AMERICA #76-78 and HUMAN TORCH #36-38. All of these comics were published by Atlas Comics (later to become Marvel Comics) in 1954 during the very short lived revival of the big three Timely Comics Golden Age super-heroes: Captain America, Sub-Mariner and The Human Torch. The stories feature artwork by such masters as John Romita, Dick Ayers and Bill Everett. There's a nice introduction by Roy Thomas (my all-time favorite comic book writer), a gent who knows a thing or two about golden age comics.

This massive hardcover volume was originally published in 2008 with a retail price point of a whopping $59.99. I scored it for half of that cost from a dealer who had several boxes full of hardcover and trade paperback graphic novels and reprint collections all at half price. I'll post the other book I got from him soon.

Half price books like this one at a con are always a great deal but this guy's stock had been pretty seriously picked over. There were some books that I probably would have purchased if they'd been in better shape. We're talking broken spines and almost loose page signatures. The book pictured here has only moderate wear and the condition is entirely acceptable to me. But bad condition books, even at half price, are still bad condition books and not, in my opinion, a bargain.

Still, there's hours of reading fun to be had in this baby for a very reasonable price.

WIZARD WORLD AUSTIN COMIC CON TREASURES 3

I found a nice copy of M.A.R.S. PATROL: TOTAL WAR #10 (Gold Key comics, August 1969) at Wizard World on Friday. The cover art on this final issue is by George Wilson and I think it's great!

The series began in 1965 and was originally entitled TOTAL WAR. This lasted for two issues (with terrific art by Wally Wood) before the title was changed to M.A.R.S. PATROL: TOTAL WAR for the next eight issues. M.A.R.S. by the way, stood for Marine, Attack, Rescue and Service and each letter in that acronym corresponded to one of the four primary color-coded (red, blue, yellow and green) fighting men that starred in each issue. The four men were a racially diverse team with one member an African American, and another an Asian American. The men fought against the purple clad soldiers of an enemy force that had invaded North America.

M.A.R.S. PATROL offered realistic combat action with a futuristic science fiction flair. I was nine-years-old when I bought that first issue of TOTAL WAR. I flat out loved this series from the get go and when I found this beauty at a fair price at the convention, I had to have it. Great stuff!

WIZARD WORLD AUSTIN COMIC CON TREASURES 2

I didn't know that any toy company had ever produced an action figure of Kamandi. But I found this at Wizard World and just had to have it.

The figure, based on the title character of Jack Kirby's magnificent sf/adventure series KAMANDI: THE LAST BOY ON EARTH was made by Mattel for the Walmart exclusive line of DC Comics 75 Years of Super Power action figures. I collect action figures based on Jack Kirby (my all-time favorite comic book artist) characters. The dealer wanted twenty bucks for this baby but he let me have it for fifteen. Kamandi now has a place of honor on one of my bookshelves alongside other action figures based on Kirby DC characters.

"AND YOUR CHICKS FOR FREE"

I finished reading MONEY FOR NOTHING by Donald E. Westlake Friday morning before heading off to Wizard World Austin Comic Con. This 2003 novel is classic Westlake: a suspense thriller leavened with just the right amount of comedy.

The plot sounds like something straight out of the Hitchcock playbook. An innocent man, Josh Redmont, gets a check in the mail in the amount of $1,000.00. The name on the check is "United States Agent". Josh does his best to find out who this mysterious benefactor is but to no avail. He deposits the check in his bank account. The check clears and Josh is one thousand dollars richer.

The next month, another check arrives, in the same amount, from the same sender. Josh deposits the check as he does all of the subsequent checks he receives in this manner over the course of several years. He's now a family man with a wife and young child and a job at a New York City advertising agency. One day he meets a strange man who tells him that he's with "United States Agent" and it's time that Josh starts earning all of the money that he's been sent.

Josh, of course, has no idea what's going on but it's soon revealed that he was paid to be set up as a sleeper agent by foreign agents who are now ready to "activate" Josh in a nefarious assassination plot that will involve the shooting of a foreign head of state at a ceremony in Yankee Stadium.

Josh's wife and son are held hostage and his apartment becomes a storage depot for crates of AK-47s, foreign military uniforms and one Tina Pausto, a stunning Mata Hari  wannabe. Josh has one ally in this insane tumble down the rabbit hole, Mitchell Robbie, an over-the-top actor from a hole-in-the-wall off-off-off Broadway theater who is also a sleeper agent of "United States Agent".

Can Josh and Mitch outwit the professional killers they're mixed up with, clear their names, prevent the assassination and rescue Josh's family? What do you think? Westlake spins a good yarn here. He keeps things moving at a good clip and while parts of the novel are dark and sinister, the scenes with Mitch and his fellow players provide good comic relief. Josh and Mitch make a good "odd couple" as they must work together to save the day.

MONEY FOR NOTHING is a good, fun read. If you're a fan of Westlake, you know what to expect. If you're not, give MONEY FOR NOTHING a try and see why Westlake has been called the master of the comic crime novel.

WIZARD WORLD AUSTIN COMIC CON TREASURES 1

Pictured here is LAND OF THE GIANTS #1 (November, 1968),  a Gold Key comic book based on the Irwin Allen produced television series of the same name. The series ran on ABC-TV on Sunday nights from September 1968 to September 1970. I bought this beauty at Wizard World Austin Comic Con yesterday. More treasures to come, plus a longer post about the entire Comic Con experience (good and bad).