[Rex Fury]

I'm a long time comics collector (1965-present). While I buy a variety of comics from all the different ages my personal favorites are Golden Age Westerns, comics featuring underwater themes, and Schomburg cover issues.
I grew up reading mostly Marvels and had the opportunity to meet most of the writers and artists from the Silver Age Marvel stable (long before comics became so prolific in popular culture and film). I'm not fond of slabbing comics as I enjoy being able to interact with the material, not just look at a cover through a plastic shell. I much prefer discussing contents and creators over current values of the books. I'm looking forward to interacting with some like-minded people on this site.   

[paw broon]

Welcome to the club Rex. I'm with you on slabbing.  Terrible idea.
I discovered Schomburg when I discovered The Black Terror and other Nedor titles.
As for the big 2, we only officially had American comics distributed in Scotland in 1969 and I always preferred DC. Not by a lot, but given a choice and with not a lot of pocket money, I'd usually plump for a DC comic.
Join in the conversations.

[The Australian Panther]

A king size welcome Rex! 
For comics featuring undswater themes, go through the liist od Dell comics, I can think of at least 3 series.
Seahunt, which I daresay you remember, is one of them. You'll find Bill Everettes other water hero, Hydroman, here.
https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=2485

Dive in and enjoy the site, plenty to explore, please contribute to the discussions.
Welocme aboard!
Slabbing?
Never heard of it but it's obviously fraud.
How could you know that you haven't got a good quality colour photocopy of a cover on top of a slab of blank paper?

[crashryan]

Rex, welcome to the group! Among underwater characters on the site I have a soft spot for Maureen Marine. She appeared in Rural Home's Blue Circle Comics. Schoolgirl Maureen is saved from drowning by King Neptune, who enables her to breathe underwater and appoints her the Queen of Atlantis. Logic is scarce in the stories. Maureen rules her undersea kingdom wearing a prim dress, stockings, and sensible shoes. In one episode a surface-world gangster is given breathing powers and runs around the seabed in a suit and tie waving his gat. Silly but fun, the series boasts handsome art by Harold Delay.

Slabbing?
Never heard of it but it's obviously fraud.

Maybe it's called something different Down Under. As my pal N. Ternett explains, "slabbing is slang for getting a comic professionally graded and encased in an un-openable hard plastic shell." Trading cards, pulp magazines, and other paper collectibles can be slabbed as well. It's a big business. There are a couple of companies specializing in the procedure. Supposedly slabbing permanently protects a comic from degrading while providing prospective buyers with a "universal" grade they can use to compare with other examples. The hype definitely works. Looking at Heritage Auctions' comic book sales, rare comics in slabs sell for much more than unslabbed books in similar condition. Sometimes a slabbed book in mediocre condition even sells for more than an unslabbed comic in better shape.

If you can stand it, here's a fan site long-read about slabbing, pro and con:

https://comicspectrum.com/slabbing-comics

[Rex Fury]

Thanks everybody for the warm welcome! Crash, Ill check out Maureen Marine as I 've never heard of her before. Panther, you're right I do remember Sea Hunt (very fondly). The show got me into diving back in the day! Paw, I collect Challenger's of the Unknown and Sea Devils, so I can talk about these DC series if you're interested.
On Slabbing- I totally understand the idea behind it. I just don't want a comic I can't read, touch (even smell), or look over the entire contents as opposed to the front and back covers. Slabbing protects the comic and generally increases the value, but that's not really why I collect comics. However....

I'm current following an auction for Exciting Comics 28. It's slabbed. The book has a cool Schomburg diving cover and is listed as scarce in Gerber. I never seen it for sale before. I'm debating jumping in on the auction, even though the contents of the comic have nothing to do with the cover (pretty typical for Schomburg). So what do you guys think? Should I jump in or just get a print of the cover?  I ended up going with a print of Captain America Comics 26 after I got burned on a couple of non-slabbed copies offered on eBay (they were missing pages or just so much more ratty then the seller described).  I'd love to get your opinions!