insulated and viced

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Finished the roof and eaves insulation this afternoon and, so far, lungs aren't caving in from Pink Panther detritus. Also installed the antique vice I bought which wasn't the one I originally was going to buy, but buying this one from the old guy at K’s favorite booth scored her a good deal on her antique frogs, so I'll notch it as a victory. Solar is rough-wired, though I'm not sure when it will actually be up and running. Eventually. In the meantime, figuring out design and planks v drywall and etc etc.

shed roof with pink panther installed

Berni(e) Wrightson's FRANKENSTEIN

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Roamed an antique mall yesterday and, in one of the packed booths, saw the left side of a book that said “Frank” and “Ber”. Key-bearer opened the case, and there it was: an original edition of Bernie Wrightson’s 1983 “Marvel Illustrated Novel” labor-of-love version of Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN:

"I've always had a thing for Frankenstein, and it was a labor of love," the artist said. "It was not an assignment, it was not a job. I would do the drawings in between paying gigs, when I had enough to be caught up with bills and groceries and what-not. I would take three days here, a week there, to work on the Frankenstein volume. It took about seven years." ... Wrightson was influenced by the pen and ink masters of the early 20th and late 19th centurie,s and Wrightson named artists like Franklin Booth, Jason Cole and Edwin Abbey."I wanted the book to look like an antique; to have the feeling of woodcuts or steel engravings, something of that era," said Wrightson.

Thrilled to have this beauty in The Collection (not only of comics, but of Frankenstein). If you haven’t read it, Bernie’s collaboration (along with Kelley Jones, who finished the project after Bernie’s death) with Steve Niles, FRANKENSTEIN ALIVE, ALIVE, is considered a sequel to this piece of comics passion unleashed.

(more) adventures in big little antique malls

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Hadn’t been to the I-76 Antique Mall in years but I more than made up for lost time today:

The Dick Tracy Playing Card game (all cards present!) and Big Little Book date from 1934 and ‘35 (same as the Pop-Up book), respectively, and are in exquisite condition; The Shadow pulp (July 1944), has, on the other hand, clearly lived a life – but I’ve always wanted to own an original Shadow pulp. And, five bucks later, I did.

Bit of a theme with the last photo, but hey, I’m a sucker for secret agent stuff, particularly if they’re created by Ian Fleming and Dashiell Hammett (SECRET AGENT X-9 was not, unfortunately, written by Hammett - THAT would have been a find; G-MEN ON THE JOB was next to SECRET AGENT X-9 so I said what the hell).

Shelves… I need more… shelves…

penguin commandos and gremlin vinyl

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In which an impromptu trip to an antique mall while killing time before going to the accountant’s office (taxtime, settling the final bit of my mother’s estate) yielded terrific and strange results:

O’Neil and Cowan’s THE QUESTION is high on the “have to get the whole thing” list. Among the group was my favorite issue so far, the sixth, “… that small rain down can rain…,” which remains brutal every time I read it.

And who could pass up die-cast Penguin Commando and Duckmobile?

Nevermind the GREMLINS story record… I mean, come on.

antique mall saturday

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Perused a new antique mall (that used to be an old motel) with good friends and found these treasures:

Clockwise, from top: a bedraggled Charlie Weaver Bartender toy (I’m fond of his dystopian look, skeletal frame revealed in torn clothes); vinyls of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” (by the Cincinnati Symphony) and first pressings of Dylan’s HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED and Lennon’s PLASTIC ONO BAND (one of my favorite albums); and TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED No. 41, September 1959.

Very pleasant Saturday.

antique mall jackpot(!)

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Clockwise, from top: Dick Tracy two-way wrist radio (1961); Spidey Halloween basket (1979); DICK TRACY MONTHLY No. 2 (Feb 1948); No. 4 (April 1948); No. 9 (Sept 1948); and No. 11 (Nov. 1948). Below, the opened glory of the two-way wrist radio.

Also picked up SUPERMAN’S METROPOLIS, an Elseworlds riff I had never heard of (and now that I’ve learned it’s the first of a trilogy with BATMAN: NOSFERATU and WONDER WOMAN: BLUE AMAZON, I’ll be seeking those out as well):

Damn fine Saturday.