[jephyork]

Hi all.  My name's Jeph York and I'm a freelance editor/researcher/writer for Marvel Comics' trade paperback department.

A few years back, Marvel "adopted" Dr. Nemesis, a golden age character from Ace Magazines who had fallen into the public domain.  They had him join the X-Men's Science Team, and he's proven surprisingly popular.  I pitched an idea to Marvel for a TPB collection reprinting all of Dr. Nemesis' Golden Age appearances.  They're tentatively interested, but they'd like more info.

They want me to create a "research map" for my proposed TPB -- which basically answers the questions, "what issues, how many pages, and are there any 2-page spreads?"  (That becomes an important factor when laying out the actual book ... gotta make sure any spreads are published on facing pages!)

Dr. Nemesis appeared in:

Lighting Comics #6
Lightning Comics vol. 2 #1-6
Lightning Comics vol. 3 #1
Super-Mystery Comics vol. 3 #3-4 & 6
Super-Mystery Comics vol. 4 #1

Scans of five of those twelve issues are hosted here, and I found three more on a similar site.  (Awesome!)  However, I need a bit more info on the last four issues ... does anyone own Lightning Comics vol.1 #6, vol.2 #4 & 6, and Super-Mystery Comics vol.3 #4?  If so, could you tell me how many pages each Dr. Nemesis story is ... whether there are any 2-page spreads ... and if so, what pages do they occur on?

Going a hypothetical step further for a second ... assuming that Marvel agrees to my proposal, they'll need source material to print from.  Which means hi-res scans of the original comics.  If anyone owns them -- ANY of the twelve listed above -- would you be willing to help us out with scans?

From the info I have, Lightning Comics v2 #1 and v3 #1, and Super-Mystery v3 #3, 6 & v4 #1 were scanned by someone called "bhcomics".  Lightning v2 #2-3 & 5 (which I found on a similar site) were scanned by "dsdaboss".  Are either of them posters here?  I'm hoping they still own the issues, and might be willing to help.

If anyone *else* owns them and wants to volunteer their services, please feel free to speak up!  I'd need 600 dpi .tif scans, which will end up being pretty big files -- but I'd only need the cover and Dr. Nemesis story from each issue; only around 7-11 pages total.

If anyone would like to help out, please get in touch with me!  If I come at Marvel with a completed research map *and* a list of issues that I can readily provide scans for, they'll be much more likely to make the book a reality.  And I'd love to see that happen.  :-)  (I'm trying to convince them to print the pages unrestored, like the two Fletcher Hanks volumes that Fantagraphics published ... all yellow and off-register.  Mmm, pulpy goodness.)

Thanks, guys!  Can't wait to hear back from you!  Feel free to either post here, or drop me an e-mail at jephyork@yahoo.com.

-Jeph York