| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 3 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #3 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 7.0 |
| Cert #: |
1226832007
|
Owner Comments
Chris KL99! Stranger from the Stars! I have a bit of a love/loathe relationship with this cover, and with this issue. Weirdly it seems to be the most available issue - everywhere I look, there tends to be a copy available for sale - I just don't think it has that much demand, which is fine. The spaceships on the cover really work for me visually - although the colors seem a little bright and maybe just a little off, I still like the ideas that the artist had. And swivel-mount guns all around the equator of the parked ship make a huge amount of sense on the ground and while in space.
Overall - I like it, but I don't love it.
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| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 9 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #9 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 8.5 |
| Cert #: |
0149533001
|
Owner Comments
Intro & Origin of Captain Comet. A great character that carried this flagship science fiction title through issue 49. A beautiful cover that in some ways reminds me of Superman 14 - bold centrilized figure on a black background with faint line art on either side...nonetheless, one of the better examples of the static character cover design that I am familiar with. A composition favorite of mine.
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| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 17 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #17 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 7.0 |
| Cert #: |
1039736006
|
Owner Comments
"Beware the Synthetic Men!" There's a classic! Compare it with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - also a good choice in 1952. There aren't all that many Capt. Comet covers to begin with, and a couple of them have pretty bad cover art - but this one certainly doesn't. There isn't any background to set the scene, but there doesn't really need to be either. Strong yellow background, cool looking and well drafted synthetic men, Captain Comet in his red as well as our damsel in distress in a great looking blue dress - lots strong colors working together to craft an engaging cover scene.
The only text on the cover isn't set out in a text box and there are no word balloons nor thought bubbles to trash up the cover art.
All in all, I think this is a really strong cover composition and I am certain that I would have parted with my hard earned ten cents to take this book home from the corner store.
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| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 18 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #18 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 8.0 |
| Cert #: |
0700523001
|
Owner Comments
Crippen D. "The World of the Flying Men." An excellent dark cover, mostly black with the dark skinned missing link creature carrying off a victim. The strong diagonal created by Capt Comet's gun creates a sense of motion in the otherwise static scene. Overall I find the composition satisfying.
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| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 19 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #19 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.0 |
| Cert #: |
1053574005
|
Owner Comments
"The 12 Eternals." What an odd cover. I'm not certain if the antagonist is supposed to Greek or Roman or what, and the little "electricities" shooting off his fingertips are to what? Compel Capt. Comet to protect the woman in the skirt? I'm just not certain what is going on - but, I love the colors, I'm impressed with the draftsmanship, and I might even have purchased this off the spinner rack, even though it doesn't feature a space scene. Overall, confusing, but oddly satisfying.
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| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 22 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #22 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 7.0 |
| Cert #: |
1289908001
|
Owner Comments
Don & Maggie Thompson Collection (not part of the pedigree). "The Hands From Nowhere!" Although it lacks a detailed background to set the scene - the foreground is a winner of scientific material as well as clothes that set the time in the 50s. The figures look good against the dark blue to medium blue background and the floating hands & chalkboard are interesting. I don't know if I would have picked this issue of off the spinner rack based on the cover - but maybe.
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| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 30 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #30 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 6.0 |
| Cert #: |
0918762003
|
Owner Comments
"The Great Ant Circus". What an odd cover with a robot riding a giant ant. The composition is excellent, the color interesting, and it is one of the few covers in the Capt. Comet era that doesn't feature Capt. Comet on the cover. Overall, an excellent cover that I would likely have purchased from the spinner rack.
I decided to revisit this cover and I just noticed the wee, little shorts our damsel in distress is wearing and the huge biceps our man of adventure is sporting. They make quite the pair of fifties protagonists.
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| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 34 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #34 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 6.0 |
| Cert #: |
1289908002
|
Owner Comments
"The Lady or the Tiger-man?" Captain Comet graces this cover, with a cover story that is a retelling of the woman or the tiger. Not much set dressing in this cover - just the four figures and the cages. I am confused as to why you would want to show your protagonist from behind. But I do like the outfit that the lady is wearing - it's good science fiction, and the tiger man is interesting - but why is the remainder of the scene so static? The background color is really odd too. Although I love me some Capt. Comet - I don't think this particular cover was a winner.
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| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 36 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #36 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 7.5 |
| Cert #: |
0243228003
|
Owner Comments
Grab Bag Planet! A nicely complex image on the cover features a bird's eye view of our very human-esque alien and his space saucer stealing Earth's valuables, including a convertible that still has a driver, a stop light, and a safe that was out on the street for some reason. But have no fear, Capt. Comet is here - leaping to the rescue, his red costume standing out nicely against the yellow spaceship.
Overall, I like this cover, it presents a complete scene, it has details, it has people - although they are too small to see the details of their clothes, it has automobiles, and best yet - it doesn't have word balloons. The entire cover only has one text box, allowing the cover image to sell the book.
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| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 52 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #52 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 8.0 |
| Cert #: |
1213013004
|
Owner Comments
Cosmic Aeroplane. "Prisoner of the Parakeets!" This cover was so good it was re-colored and then re-used for the very last issue of Strange Adventures (#244). Oddly enough, I like both the original and the re-colored image nearly equally. Although I have a preference for DC pink, and this issue uses it nicely to set up the jungle-world sky, the latter issue replaces it with an equally strong bright yellow.
Giant animals that keep humans as pets is used as a cover story more than once in Strange Adventures alone - see issue 108 to be the pet of giant gorillas. Personally, I like both covers.
Oddly enough, this cover is all cluttered up with word balloons. Not a really common circumstance in the 50s and one I would prefer to avoid - but - I think I have to admit that the cover would be confusing in without some text.
Overall - I love the cover as an adult - but I don't know that I would have been captivated by giant parakeets as a child. Probably this one stays on the spinner rack and I buy something else.
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| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 56 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #56 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 7.5 |
| Cert #: |
1106278003
|
Owner Comments
The Fish-Men of Earth! I have to admit, I'm kind of engaged by this cover art. Although the 'movement' lines around the bodies are a little distracting, the coloration and composition are good. As with other covers that have groups of everyday people on them - I am drawn to specific people within the image. In the back there is both a woman in a dress (it is 1955) that seems impractical if everyone is flying and a man with a briefcase, swimming his way to work which I find interesting. I am disappointed that all the bodies are, more or less, tied to the horizontal plane - no-one is swimming directly up or down - in fact only the single female figure appears to have any significant incline to her position at all.
I probably wouldn't have selected this comic from the spinner-rack based on the cover art alone, but since I have always been fascinated by flying, I'm sure the story-teaser for the main story would have made me spend my ten cents.
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| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 61 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #61 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 7.5 |
| Cert #: |
0248298001
|
Owner Comments
"The Mirages from Space!" What an odd cover - I don't think I've seen the pastel colors used on any other issue of Strange Adventures, and while it isn't unusual to have a western motif - it being the fifties and all - the difference between how the cowhand is drawn in the foreground and how the mirage is drawn in the background is jarring. Personally, I can't make up my mind if I love it or not - but I certainly don't loathe it. The cover isn't all cluttered up with words, the cowhand does look a bit baffled by the mirage, and the lone, midget saguaro in the corner of the frame echoes the shapes of the alien city in the background. I think, for me anyway, that the only really distracting part of the image is the big, curved, yellow band coming in from space - I wonder what the image would have looked like without it.
All in all - a book I am pleased to have as part of my set, even if it did grade a little lower than I had anticipated.
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| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 64 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #64 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 6.0 |
| Cert #: |
0312299004
|
Owner Comments
"Gorillas in Space!" Holy crap - I don't know why this cover doesn't get more love from collectors than it does. Seriously beautiful pink satellites, 'manned' by gorillas in good-looking spacesuits, against the colorfully starred background of space. It really is a little masterpiece. Even the word balloon can't ruin it.
I wasn't around in '56 - but, I bet I would have blown my dime on this if I had been. I know this series has some clunkers for cover art - but it has some real beauties too.
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| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 70 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #70 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 8.0 |
| Cert #: |
0010729002
|
Owner Comments
The Triple Life of Dr. Pluto! Unusual for a cover from the 1950's, this one is covered in word balloons...but, unlike most word heavy covers this one isn't completely destroyed by all the talking. All the angles on th cover mirror the masthead which creates a sense of motion in a very static cover. The purple computer against the yellow background leaps off the page. The white shirts and blue trousers look amazing.
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| Slot: |
Strange Adventures 71 |
| Item: |
Strange Adventures #71 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 6.0 |
| Cert #: |
0204677001
|
Owner Comments
Zero Hour for Earth! The 'wheel of fortune' style cover, where chance alone determines the outcome of the earth (or our protagonist, or someone special) is a recurring theme in Strange Adventures - but I think this is the first time it is used. This one is well drafted and well colored, but there's a word balloon in the midst of the composition which hurts it substantially. All in all, I don't see myself picking this issue from the spinner rack over other offerings.
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