"Return with us now, to those thrilling days of yesteryear..."  when The Lone Ranger had several series of comic books !!

One of the most popular series of Lone Ranger Comics is the  Dell Comics run.  It ran for 145 issues from January 1948 to May 1962.

The photo covers with Clayton Moore is the main reason for this title's popularity, (see comic book cover to the left for example).

Growing up in the 1950's I watched a lot of westerns on TV.   I didn't get to see many movies until the mid 1960's as they cost  money and I was buying comics for my entertainment with my allowance. 

However I did get to see the TV show with Clayton Moore which originally ran from 1950 - 1957. There was a break after two years of show where Clayton had a salary dispute and he was temporarily replaced. That I don't really remember, but found while researching for this blog post.

I didn't see the two feature films starring Clayton and Jay Silverheels, with the last one in 1959. Clayton basically left acting after that and spent several years in public appearances as the Lone Ranger. 

My main interest in the Lone Ranger was his TV show and the comics.  I would put him up there with Roy Rogers, and  Gene Autry, as three of my standout late 1950's cowboy heroes.

Clayton passed away in 1999, but his work as the Lone Ranger lives on in TV reruns and DVDs. 

For those interested in the Lone Ranger Comics run we have listed them in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store .  We have many more western comic books also!

Michael  

What Makes Packing and Shipping Go Faster.....???

Why, listening to the eBay Radio Ask Griff Show and the eBay Radio Show on the Archives at WSRadio.com while doing that chore!

Three to four time a week I listen to his shows and catch up while packing our comic books to waiting customers!!

I just can't make the 'live' broadcast on Sunday afternoons, (3:00PM - 5:00PM PST)  or  on  Tuesday afternoons, (11:00AM - 2:00PM PST), as I don't normally package or ship at those time, so I find it easier to listen to the Archives!

While those shows were on End of the Year-End break, I found other radio archives on comic books or comic book related items...

...like we sell in our eBay Featured Store, but I missed hearing the questions from other eBayers or special features by outside vendors recommended by eBay.... plus Lee Mirabal has a great voice!

I also found that the PayPal Radio with Jason Miner on the same web site to be also informative... he is a comic book 'geek' also, sells comics sometimes on his eBay account!

If you find packing and shipping to be one of the hardest of tasks, then I recommend listening to the Archives like I do to make the time go faster and be better informed about all things eBay (and PayPal) !

Michael (and Tina)

Update on American Idol.... TV Show....Did They Find the Next AI  Last Night ??....

We don't sell the American Idol Magazine, as we deal in comics and comic book related items, so click on the magazine cover to the left for the link to others that are selling the magazine on eBay right now to see what you have been missing !

Tina (and Michael)

...had several series of comic books from  Fawcett, Toby and  Charlton  Comics.

The Fawcett series ran for 50 issues from November 1948 to January 1953.

The Toby series ran for 1 issue in December 1953.

The Charlton series ran for 9 issues from December 1954 to January  1957.

Growing up in the 1950's I watched a lot of westerns on TV.  I didn't get to see many movies until the mid 1960's.  Possibly I saw later reruns of his children's western TV show, 'the Gabby Hayes Show' which originally ran 1950 - 1954.

Gabby Hayes was in 40 westerns between 1939 to 1946, usually with Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, or Wild Bill Elliott ! 

Gabby retired after his TV show played out...

Of all the early TV cowboys my favorite was Roy Rogers and his troupe, with Gene Autry a close second.  I enjoyed seeing Gabby in old movies in the years gone by since, but had not thought much about him until running into a collection of Gabby Hayes comics a while back, which I have read and have put up for sale in our eBay Featured Store. 

For those interested in Gabby Hayes Comics run we have several unslabbed comics listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Michael

...is the subject of this blog post!

Konga had a few series of comic book series from Charlton Comics.

The first series ran for 23 issues from circa 1961 to November 1965.

The was also a 'one-shot' Return of Konga in 1962.

There were 2 issues of Konga's Revenge in 1963-1964.

There was another 'one-shot' of Konga's Revenge in 1968.

Konga was printed due to Charlton's belief that artist Steve Ditko could do the same magic touch to the 1961 Konga Movie from American International that he did to the Gorgo film  earlier ! 

In the Konga film it is a scientist that has managed to grow plants to a huge size that decides to experiment on a chimpanzee. The poor chimp is turned into a giant killer monster!   As shown on the cover in issue #1 to the top left, he is as big as King Kong!  

The comic book series lasted a lot longer than the movie that generated it, although Steve Ditko, who had by then co-created the Amazing Spider-Man, was not the artist for all the issues. 

Konga was created due to Steve Ditko having a good run on Gorgo, which was based in 1961 from the Gorgo movie that was very similar to another monster predecessor, Godzilla !!   Comic books have always seemed to be derivative, just like sucessful TV shows will spawn many imitiators...

For those interested in Konga Comics run we have several unslabbed  comics listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Michael

...had several series of comic book series from both Fawcett and Dell Comics.

The Fawcett series ran for 12 issues from January 1942 to February 1944.

The Dell series 'Gene Autry Comics' ran for 101 issues from June 1946 to July 1955, when it changed to 'Gene Autry and Champion' from #102 to #121, ending in 1959. (Dell had earlier printed some 'Four Color Comics before giving Gene his own title.) 

Gene and his horse Champion were so popular in the 1950's, that Champion even had his own series, 'Gene Autry's Champion' for 19 issues from 1951 to 1955 ! 

I was born in the early 1950's so caught a lot of westerns on tv during their heyday and later in the theatrical movies in the 1960's. .

Of all the singing cowboys my favorite was Roy Rogers and his troupe, but Gene ran a close second.  I was in the Orange County area when Gene owned the Angels and really rooted for them to make it to the World Series while he was still alive... to no avail.  I even stayed at the Gene Autry Hotel in Palm Desert one time.... when the Angels were at Spring Training. 

So far there are not too many Gene Autry comics submitted for third party grading. It appears that only the comics thought to be in high grade are being submitted... so this would be a title or genre that is still affordable and readable since they would not be encapsulated!!

For those interested in Gene Autry Comics run we have several unslabbed  comics listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Michael  

...was a comic book series from Gold Key Comics and later from Marvel Comics! 

The Gold Key series ran for 3 issues from April 1964 to October 1964.

The Marvel series ran for 28 issues from June 1977 to October 1979.

Both series were based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs' character, John Carter, Warlord of Mars.

John Carter was an Earthman who upon entering a cave encountered a strange light. When the light touched him, he seemed to split into two, one part staying on Earth and the other part teleporting to the planet Mars.

Believe it or not, this was ERB's first hero, pre-dating his work on Tarzan of the Apes, and his son Korak. 

There were earlier versions of John Carter, the first being in 1939's The Funnies #30.  DC Comics had a version in between Gold Key and Marvel, in the comic book series 'Weird Worlds' in 1972! However he only headlined his own title in the Gold Key and Marvel Comics series.

For those interested in any version of the John Carter Comics run we have several unslabbed  comics listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Michael 

...was a comic book series from Dell Comics. 

You know Dell Comics... 'Dell Comics Are Good Comics'... how they went to HoRRoR comics from that tag line remains a mystery to me....

The series ran for 37 issues from September 1962 to October 1973.

The series started when mystery and suspense shows were hot on TV, as with Gold Key's Boris Karloff Thriller and Twilight Zone being published as comic books due to the popularity of their namesake TV shows.

A history note:  Dell Comics did not submit their comics to the CCA, (Comics Code Authority), after other publishers in the mid 1950's did a form of self censorship. So to run a HoRRoR story anthology comic in the early 1960's was an oddity for this company.

The comics in this run are tame compared to those from EC Comics of the early 1950's, but stand up to time when reading today.  Good reading for those that like HoRRoR comics but without all the grim and gritty gore that some publishers print today.

I would recommend this series to those that would like a good mystery read. For you collectors out there, there are not that many high grade copies of this series on the CGC Census, as these comics were not generally stored away properly. The copy to the bottom left from our eBay Featured Store is the highest graded copy of issue #34 to date !

For those interested in the Dell Comics run of GHOST STORIES comic books, we have several unslabbed and CGC slabbed comics listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Michael

...was a licensed comic book series from Gold Key Comics. 

The series ran for 97 issues from October 1962 to February 1980.

The first two issues were titled: Boris Karloff Thriller, which was the name of the TV Show that was running at the time, and then the title was changed with issue number three.

Thriller, the TV Show, was, along with The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents, one of the best anthology television series of the 1960s, running from 1960-1962 on NBC-TV.

The TV show featured host Boris Karloff, who introduced an entertaining mix of macabre horror tales and suspense thrillers. The TV Show was created by Hubbell Robinson for Revue Studios, (which was later purchased by Universal Studios), and produced by Fletcher Markle, William Frye, and Maxwell Shane.

The comic book for those that have not read one before, could be compared to Gold Key's Twilight Zone comic, or to DC Comics' The Unexpected. This series was a popular one for Gold Key, and lasted eighteen years after the demise of the TV Show!

For those interested in Boris Karloff's Tales of Mystery comic books, we have several unslabbed and CGC slabbed comics listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Michael

...occured almost twenty years ago in the 1988 TV Movie, 'THE INCREDIBLE HULK RETURNS'.

The plot was as follows:

The Hulk hadn't surfaced for two years. David (Bruce) Banner had created a device called the Gamma Transponder, which would rid him of his Gamma radiation.

The device ended up being almost stolen along with Bruce's 'girlfriend' Maggie Shaw, (played by Lee Purcell), being kidnapped. Don Blake, (played by Steve Levitt), a former colleague of David's, has possession of a mystic hammer which can summon Thor, (played by Eric Allan Kramer). To save the day, David must abandon being cured and rely on Hulk 'sand Thor's powers.

Marvel had given the rights to Thor to the producers of the show, and just didn't have the power to make this 'Thor' incarnation anywhere close to the comic book character!

The Thor character depicted in this TV movie bore little resemblance to the Marvel Comics superhero of the same name. This was also the first and only time that truly supernatural elements had been used in the universe of the Incredible Hulk TV series, which started in 1977.

When the Incredible Hulk TV Show first came out I was newly married... and just couldn't watch the series, as it was not even close to what I had liked in the comic book. 

I would give it another try each time when the new TV Movies would come out, but this one with Thor was mighty terrible, (pun intended)!!   

It took years for Marvel to finally get it right in the movies... while DC Comics had great hits with their Superman and Batman movies in the 1970's & 1980's. I am so glad those bad Marvel movie days are finally over!!!! 

For those interested in the Mighty Thor comic books, we have several listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

PLUS click here for the Incredible Hulk comics!

Michael  

She will be rejoining several of the previous castmembers, plus newcomers to the film.

Kirsten was born in 1982 and got her start as a child fashion model at the age of three in television commercials.

In 1989, Dunst moved to the big screen. Note: For you anime lovers out there, she voiced the role of KiKi in 'Kiki's Delivery Service' also in 1989.

When she was first cast as Mary Jane Watson for the first Spider-Man movie, I was wondering how she would come across like a redhead, since she is blonde, but she really did look and act like Mary Jane of the comic books in the movie. I was pleased with her performance.

The funny thing is that in the upcoming movie Bryce Dallas Howard who plays Gwen Stacy is a red-head that plays the blonde part.... and Kirsten is blonde playing a red-head.... Go Figure !!   

Kirsten graduated high school in 2000, and was playing Mary Jane in 2002 and in Spider-Man 2 in 2004.  She really plays a wonderful Mary Jane role in my opinion, and I look forward to seeing her again in this summer's movie...Spider-Man 3 with the Sandman & Venom, (see photo to left for Venom's darker tone of villain look.

 For those interested in Spider-Man comic books, we have quite a few comics listed from Amazing Spider-Man, Spectacular Spider-Man and other Spidey series in both our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Michael

... is one of the main reasons that the TV Show lasted so long, and was sucessfully transferred to comic book format in my opinion.

Gillian was born in 1968. She moved to New York when she was twenty-two, and started her career in theater.

She moved to Los Angeles in 1991, spending a year auditioning. Although she had once vowed she would never do TV, she ended up on a few shows including the Class of '96.

As a result of her guest appearance in Class of '96, Anderson was sent the script for The X Files at the age of 24, by Chris Carter.

The TV series eventually ran for nine seasons, and included one theatrical film.   

Her role as Dana Scully kept the show 'grounded' in my opinion, so as to keep it interesting for a more mainstream viewing audience. Sometimes these sci-fi shows garner too much of a cult following that turns off the mainstream viewership and ends up withe show having a shortened run.

I remember the first X-Files Convention held in San Diego, the comic book was a very hot commodity and hundreds were signed as conventioneers stood in line for those signatures! 

For those interested in the X-Files Comic Books, we have several comics listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Michael  

 24 TV Show Update... A Family Affair.... !

The only shock in last night's episode of "24" was how easily Jack allowed himself to be taken in by his evil brother's henchmen.  Granted, Jack and his father thought that good old dad was in charge of the muscle. 

Turns out evil brother hired them and gave them the orders to do away with Jack and dad.  Are we about to find out the evil brother is adopted?

 For those interested in TV show comics like '24', we have several Movie and TV based shows comic books in our eBay Featured Comic Book Store and eBay Pro Store. 

Tina  

Xena, Warrior Princess Was Published..... As as Series of Comic Books! 

Xena of Amphipolis was a fictional character in the now ended television series Xena: Warrior Princess and also in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.  She was played by the New Zealand actress Lucy Lawless, pictured to the top left. 

Xena first appeared on the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys television series, (in the episode The Warrior Princess airing in March 1995), as a seductive but treacherous warlord.

Two more episodes during the May 1995 TV sweeps presented her evolution from a villainess to a friend and ally of Hercules. Viewer interest in her was so high that shortly afterwards she became the main character of her own spin-off series Xena: Warrior Princess,  and the two series quite often played back to back.

Ironically though, her character was originally obsessed with defeating Hercules and thus obtaining his title as the greatest living warrior, she never did defeat "Zeus' Favorite Son". As a matter of fact, Hercules was the one credited with pointing her down the path of redemption when he beat her in combat and showed her that selfishness and greed were not the way to live.

 In her own TV series, Xena set out to redeem her murderous past by fighting against tyranny and evil and protecting the innocent and weak.  I personally caught the show after it had started and began watching the rerun episodes to catch up. A lot of her past would remain obscure, but flashbacks would open up new chapters in her past as she revisited the people or areas again.  

 For those interested in Xena comic books from Topps in 1997-1998 or Dark Horse 1999, we have several listed in our eBay Featured Store and even more in our eBay Pro Store.  Xena was published as mini-series by Topps, while Dark Horse published one unlimited series. Topps has variant photo covers as well as drawn comic covers as shown to the bottom left.

Michael

Ok, we all know that Elvira was a hot hostess for HoRRoR movies....

Would you believe she is also on her second comic book series ??!!

She had a DC Comic Book Series, 'Elvira's House of Mystery' in 1986 that ran for 11 eleven issues.    Currently she has a comic from Claypool Comics which has over  161 issues published so far and was started in 1993!

At a recent SDCC program, (2001),  Elvira presented a feature showing of her latest movie 'Elvira's Haunted Hills' which I sat thru most of it.... it was the right type of crowd to see the movie with !!   

Besides her movies on DVD and a licensed comic book, Elvira has a MySpace Page, and an offical web site. Not bad for someone who took over the Fright Night Show from 'Sinister Seymour' in LA all those years ago !!

 For those interested in Elvira comic books, we have a few listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Michael

During our year end trip I picked up several issues of a Godzilla Fan Magazine called 'G-Fan'.

It is Edited and Published by J.D. Lees.

It is the fanzine of The Godzilla Society of North America !

I was not aware of its presence, as I have been basically just a reader of the Marvel Comics series of Godzilla from the Bronze Age of Comics, and a viewer of the occasional Godzilla movie with my youngest son.

The magazine is still being published, and I believe would be valuable to the more than occasional viewer of Godzilla movies. The web site is at: www.G-fan.com   

My son and I both are enjoying reading the back issues of G-Fan, and I will be listing those shortly after finishing them all. 

Regarding Godzilla Comics.... We just can't keep back issues of the Godzilla comic books in stock!  The one to the left just recently came back graded from CGC at a 9.4 grade, (only one copy is graded higher),  and there is another ungraded copy in our eBay store as this posts.

 For those interested in additional Godzilla comic books, we will have them listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store  as available.

Michael  

Don't get me into the choices of the other actors for the film!  I already covered the choice of Jessica Alba as the Invisible Woman in an earlier blog!

I am looking forward to the 2007 FF movie, The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. In the teaser trailers the Surfer looks similiar to what we saw in the Terminator 2 movie, and looks good for the big screen.

 For those interested in the Marvel Two-In-One comic books just click on the comic book cover to the left, for Fantastic Four comics we have listed them in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Michael

Ben Affleck was born as Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt in Berkeley, California, to Tim Affleck, who was a social worker, and Chris Boldt, a school teacher. 

Ben came to national attention in 1997 when he and best friend Matt Damon wrote the screenplay for and starred in Good Will Hunting.

I started with the Daredevil Comic Book when it first appeared in print, back in 1964, and stopped reading it in 1974... so I missed the change to the 'Grim and Gritty' aspect by Frank Miller and others in the 1980's. 

The Daredevil Movie and the Elektra Movie that featured Jennifer without Ben, were both of a 'Grim and Gritty' Style,' but I still enjoyed both of them, mainly because of Jennifer!

 For those interested in the Daredevil comic books, we have several listed in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store, including the comic to the left! We also have a few Elektra comics that Jennifer Garner portrayed, just click on the cover to the left!

Michael

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The top left photo show Brigitte modelling a skimpy outfit and I 'photoshopped' the photo to reflect a greenish hue about her, as the She-Hulk is green like her cousin the Incredible Hulk!  You can see that Brigitte definitely had the body double of the She-Hulk at that time!

There are very few pics of Brigitte dressed as the She-Hulk, with the one to the left being one of those.  As you can see by comparing thte middle photo to the picture in the comic book  cover bottom picture below, Brigitte would come across very well as the She-Hulk, alter ego of Jennifer Walters, who is a lawyer in her day job.

She-Hulk is currently being published in a new mini-series comic book, which would make it about the fifth time a solo series  featuring her has been attempted!   

I personally enjoyed the second comics series, which had John Byrne write and pencil the series, where She-Hulk would break the 'fourth wall' and talk to readers of the comics, knowing that she was in a comic book with her adventures being told.  Kind of a strange humour book, but when reading the comic it makes more sense...

 For those interested in She-Hulk comic books, we have listed them in our eBay Featured Store and eBay Pro Store.

Michael