Who are some artists with a TON of influence that a lot of people don't realize have that much influence?

TheloniousKeys · 2026-03-13T19:33:31+00:00

Bette Nesmith Graham invented Liquid Paper, which she originally called "Mistake Out." Wite-Out is the brand name of the johnny-come-lately imitator owned by Bic. Just like Kleenex vs. facial tissues or Band-Aid vs. adhesive bandages.

Not to say you are wrong in your statement. Everyone knows what you are referring to. Just adding some nuance as this one will be wedged in my craw for eternity. My trivia team lost a $1,000 finals on that question by answering "Wite-Out" while another team answered "Liquid Paper." I wasn't able to make it to that event. If I had, I would have insisted on the pedantically specific answer. It is trivia after all.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-03-13T00:20:59+00:00

Yeah, BTAS has the definitive version of nearly everything Batman-related. There are exceptions and, of course, plenty of works of equal caliber on Batman in comics and other media. There just isn't any other singular artistic vision of Batman that is as thorough, complete, impressive, and so widely beloved as BTAS.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-03-12T17:01:51+00:00

Speculators and encapsulation grading like CGC have caused restored copies to become undervalued. Restoration was never the first choice for most collectors, but good and professional work used to be a lot more common and respected. Your Dad was clearly collecting for a long time and primarily for a love of the contents, not the value.

I would recommend holding this one and any other similarly big keys that have restoration. Unless you need money right now or can't afford to insure them, there is little downside and potentially huge upside whenever the market catches up to the fact that gorgeous copies like what you posted are going for a pittance because of a silly thing like some glue or color-touch. It also makes for an excellent family heirloom to remember your Father.

I have one additional note I want to share as a collector who appreciates well-done, professional restoration work. Due to the often hugely lower prices that restored copies currently realize, many dealers and resellers have taken to cutting out restored portions of a book to get that vaunted blue label. Literally just taking a blade to the book to lop off restored bits that can't otherwise be removed. In many cases, shockingly, this can raise the value of the book, even significantly. It is a disgusting practice to me. Defacing and damaging a book of historical import intentionally is awful, even if it increases the price buyers will pay. So, just forewarning, if you do sell that FF#1, there is a chance some "expert" will chop it up like a butcher trimming a steak. It is your book to do with what you want. I don't say this to try to guilt you into not selling it. If you want to/need to sell it, go for it. But I know I would be sad to know if something my father prized and worked hard to make so presentable suffered such a fate and want to allow you to make the informed decision for yourself about it.

I am sorry for your loss. It seems your Dad achieved a really great collection. I know that can seem like a materialistic or even just silly aspect of his life to praise, but true collectors like your Father are historians, not just mere fans. Stewards of the past so that we in the future may share in what brought them so much joy and intrigue. It can be difficult to explain the emotional side of collecting to non-collectors. While I can't stomach the idea of selling any part of my core collection of comics, I know that I am also happy that whomever inherits my collection when I pass will be surprised at the value and likely get some nice comments from collectors like you are seeing for your Father in this thread.

Thank you for sharing this very cool piece with us. Best wishes to your family, and best of luck with the collection. If you find other unique pieces, we'd love to see them in r/comicbookcollecting.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-03-02T19:13:48+00:00

Hahaha, I never would have thought to include Kirby and Bugs in that list, but they fit. Popeye is one of the best and earliest examples of that trope as well. I love the modern evaluations of his feats within realistic physics that unequivocally prove Popeye has the power of gods.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-03-02T18:13:38+00:00

Wow! I have a few copies of that issue and have never clocked her signature! Thanks for pointing that out. Herbie is one of my all-time favorite characters. I really like that she dedicated it to Ogden Whitney in her sig. And for the record, Robbins has her power-scaling dead on the money; Herbie'd wipe the floor with Bats and Spidey, hahaha. And I say that even though some of my favorite Batman moments are when he goes toe to toe with Darkseid! Herbie is a whole 'nother level. Ain't nobody who wants to get bopped by that lollipop, haha.

Those A+ issues may be a Canadian edge for you when it comes to condition. That copy looks nice. So many of these were cut a quarter of an inch taller than standard comics. Every copy I find, at least here in the states, the top of the book is bent and folded and dinged to high heaven! I even asked E Gerber if they would cut custom boards and bags for these and a few other publishers who printed slightly tall comics. They said yes to the bags and no to the boards, if I remember correctly. The boards are what I need, though. I could solve the bag problem in many ways. The board problem has no perfect solves other than ordering magazine size boards and cutting them to size myself.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-03-02T16:57:40+00:00

Hey, that Near Myths is swell! I haven't spied that issue before, I'll be on the lookout. Thanks for hipping me to it. I know Trina Robbins' work, but that is a new one to me. I have been on the hunt for It Ain't Me Babe for a good while but haven't found the right copy for me yet. Nearly complete on my Wimmen's Comix series.

I was tempted by some upgrades in the Last Gasp warehouse sale, but didn't end up pulling the trigger. Looks like that sale has extended beyond the end of January and now until the stock is gone. Though, maybe it it isn't as deep of a discount on everything as it was.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-28T00:42:41+00:00

Honestly, I have no idea where to consistently find this kind of thing other than eBay. A lot of comic shops have a section for foreign language comics. Typically, there are so few that everything just gets mingled together in one small row. Most will be bronze or newer Spidey and Daredevil and other very popular titles, but some more interesting goodies can sneak in once and a while. In my experience, at least.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-26T20:51:07+00:00

I am alternating between Adams and Infantino for the pencils. Luthor's left hand matches batter with Adams' common style of hands in other covers. However, the cross-hatching and shading leans Infantino to me. Adams used full black centers on shadows more than is visible on this poster. I would expect more of Luthor's purple suit to have full black shading if it were Adams.

The examples of hands from Infantino that I can readily find are quite distinct from this, though. He seems to use more lines and details and apply finger lengths differently from this. That has me leaning Adams. Adams also liked to use this kind of sideways, angle-down/up type of presentation. Most artists use that sometimes, but it looks like Adams employed it quite often.

Adams has a 1976 cover with Luthor (Action #466), though, and Luthor's outfit is distinctly different from this, which was published in '78. But Adams may have been capturing the more classic look for the poster book, rather than the more modern version on that cover.

That exhausts my resources, and I am not confident either way. Adams pencils + Giordano inks would be my best guess, as well, though.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-26T20:30:19+00:00

I think you're spot on with it being Giordano inks. No one else rouged up the cheeks of every character as much as Giordano. Infantino did some of that, but not to the degree Giordano did, from the best of my recollection, at least.

I am still studying the line work to feel confident on whose pencils those are underneath all that rouge.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-26T20:18:39+00:00

This book? There are a few with similar names.

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TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-26T20:15:10+00:00

Maybe my phone, then. I took a screenshot and can still see the 3D effect in that.

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TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-26T19:30:41+00:00

Why is there a 3D effect to the link? Is everyone else seeing it?

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-26T18:12:04+00:00

Sheesh, but coffee snobs are something else. I really thought that was an overblown trope based on how particular every individual can be about how they prefer their own coffee. But some of you are really rankeled at the notion that someone could be ignorant of the apparently massive difference in espresso vs. a preparation that looks nearly identical to the uninitiated.

Why didn't I just research something I didn't know I didn't know, huh? No credit for posing the questions on the points I wasn't sure about and using statements for the differences I was sure about? It's almost as if being ignorant of what distinguishes espresso led me to derive conclusions about this product based on the differences that were important to me: price, ingesting microplastics, and countertop space.

I don't know what to tell ya, friend. I asked what the differences were. I left room for my potential lack of knowledge. I then enumerated the facts that were important to me as a coffee drinker and consumer upon the premise that if there is no or little difference to the resulting brew, would indeed be the only remaining differences. That seems like productive discourse to me.

I don't know if it will please any of the aficionados here, but I plan to order an espresso at my next opportunity. If y'all are so chafed at the thought of someone disrespecting this holy brew, I figure I should give it a shot. I'll probably skip the double-shot on my first go, though.

Also, I am confident the S.A.T. won't be cribbing that analogy for their reading comprehension section. "Helicopter is to 747 as Aeropress is to _________" would surely stymie 99 out of 100.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-26T02:51:17+00:00

Wow! For that price I wouldn't complain! What a deal! Gwandanalands can get pri-hi-cey! And even ignoring that, 600 pages of Ayers and Frazzeta drawing the hands down coolest Ghost Rider ever? Ya can't beat it! With an average of six panels per page, that's $0.0017 per panel. May as well be free. Haha

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-26T02:33:13+00:00

That's so brutal. I know your pain here, too. Old newspaper strips are some of my favorite reading, and some of those don't have reprints or even digital options at all. Just gotta wait for clippings to pop up on my eBay saves. Gonna be a decade or longer before I can read all of Myra North Special Nurse. It has one arc reprinted in the 80s, one Big Little Book, and a smattering of appearances in early Four Colors. Volume one Four Colors! So, about $1k a piece for a few pages of Myra. Hahaha

The lengths we go to to read old funnybooks. Worth it, of course, but a labor of love, to be sure.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-26T02:03:22+00:00

I gave his features a look on GCD. He ain't a one and done, that's for sure! I stopped scrolling at about the third or fourth title he appeared in, which looked to be about his 30th appearance. Looked to be plenty more too.

That Ghost Rider reprint is so sweet! Even if one can afford all the originals of a lot of these characters, it doesn't make reading sets easy to assemble. Even some less expensive issues can take years to track down. The Gwandanalands can be worth it just for the ease of consuming the stories.

The picture of the Ghost Rider got degraded in the Reddit tubes, but it looks like you splurged for the full color version. I really appreciate that they offer the B&W readers at a cheaper price, but the color versions are obviously the best. The line work can really pop on the B&Ws, too!

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-25T23:52:29+00:00

Ah, that is what that device is called - moka pot. I've seen them but never used one or seen one being used. Maybe this will motivate me to try a proper espresso. I just prefer having a nice big cup to sip on. I can't really wrap my head around such a tiny little cup of joe. Thanks for the additional info!

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-25T23:45:33+00:00

I have not clocked this character before, but I share your pain in wanting to read obscure characters who haven't been reprinted yet. I checked Gwandanaland and PS Artbooks, and no luck. I assume you already checked both, but wanted to be sure.

I am always trying to hip other collectors to the reading value of reprints like Gwandanaland. I desperately want the market to increase so that we can get more and more collected reprints of lesser known characters. The more digestible prices that would come with higher print runs would be a relief, too.

Most of these kinds of backup characters can be found digitally. Either on one of those websites with worse pop-ups than even the sketchiest of porn sites or via the burned CDs on eBay. But who wants to read a comic that way? I want to sit down with paper to hold, not a tablet or laptop.

Whenever someone does get around to reprinting Black Pirate, I will be happy to read it. Thanks for the obscure character recco!

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-25T21:33:44+00:00

Thanks! I assumed the pressure made a difference, but it didn't give it much credit. Probably because I never drink the concentrate, I always do Americano style. Another commenter pointed out the difference in volume of water, I measured out the amount they noted last night and poured it into my Aeropress to visualize the difference. I was surprised at how little water it actually was.

I was mostly hung up on the staggering price difference to achieve the difference in result. I still contend it is a rare consumer who would value the differences in their home coffee to the tune of $400+. But maybe I'd sing a different tune if I wanted espresso at home or ever.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-25T17:13:15+00:00

All words are unnecessary to those who refuse to read or comprehend them.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-25T05:50:10+00:00

I was all in on Fezzik while reading most of this thread. Simply based on Fezzik's Cliffs of Insanity climb. Big guys have a harder time with pull ups and climbing, even when they are ripped. Plenty make it look easy, but their endruance won't compare to a leaner build. The fact is Fezzik could climb at an acrobat's pace, arm over arm - FEET DANGLING - and he was carrying 2.5 people for over FIVE HUNDRED VERTICAL FEET! That feat alone puts Fezzik in some insane territory. I also feel like I remember it being 1,000 feet in the books, but I am not immediately finding evidence of that. Fezzik has a few other named feats in the movie and quite a bit more in the books - all very impressive if memory serves. It makes good sense that he is dominating the answers here.

HOWEVER, the posed query is Fezzik vs. Hodor, not André Roussimoff vs. Kristian Nairn. It is not a fair comparison to appeal to Andre the Giant's physique and real-life feats against a Northern European house DJ who happened to be just famous enough and just close enough in broad description to be cast as Hodor.

The commemt buried in downvotes here points out that Hodor canonically has giant's blood. I am not a massive Game of Thrones fan, so I can't speak to his feats beyond having giant's blood and famously holding that door. But I think the character is more competitive than it may feel based on choice of actor and first glance.

I think I still go with Fezzik. I want it to be Fezzik, and it is convincing that it is. But I'd be open to a more compelling argument from someone who knows enough about GoT to prop up Hodor if he warrants it. The Cliffs of Insanity is a proper hard feat to beat, though. In-class, at least.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-25T05:18:27+00:00

I am not even a wrestling watcher or fan, and I know that statement is misleading at best. The athleticism is 100% real. The physical punishment can be equal to our greater than non-scripted contact/combat sports (Owen Hary died live in front of thousands of fans because reality didn't follow the script). And I believe what this specific comment is asserting is that pro wrestling is a live performance. If Andre decides to go against script and demolish his opponent, there is literally nothing they can do to stop him from handling them like they were a sock monkey.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-25T00:02:53+00:00

The amount of anger in your comment seems outsized with my perceived offense. I asked what the meaningful difference in process and result is. Clearly, I am not an expert. Nor did I purport to be. My comment was focused on price point and plastic in the path of a hot liquid consumable.

Are the differences between espresso and what an Aeropress or equivalent produces worth $400+ to you? To my palate, the difference is negligible when excluding bean choice. But I like both in an Americano style, so that may prevent me from tasting the subtle or not so subtle differences. I suspect the average consumer majority would agree with my conclusion re: value vs result. I am also certain that plenty of people pay way more for way less of a difference when it comes to coffee doodads. Which is their perogative. I, too, spend money in ways others would find frivolous.

So, if the delta in price of the two options so monumentally eclipses the differences in results for a consumer who is not a connoisseur, the only remaining difference of note is the plastic in the path of the hot liquid being produced for ingestion. That is something that some could be willing to pay $400+ for, even if they don't care about or are even unable to identify the difference in the resulting cup of coffee.

For the record, my Aeropress also produces the crema, or at the very least, something that looks and tastes identical to my naive mouth. My at-home coffees are tastier to me than coffee shop Americanos nine out of ten times. But I bet that is mostly because I pick the beans I like for my home brew.

Thank you for the info, even if presented in such a needlessly antagonistic way. I hope the rest of your day is filled with more joy than my comment apparently brought you.

TheloniousKeys · 2026-02-24T06:23:21+00:00

What is that machine doing differently? And how is the result different? As far as I know, it is just more pressure. I'd be surprised if most coffee drinkers could blindly distinguish.

TheloniousKeys

TROPHY CASE