And you're absolutely right that you have more experience identifying artist than I do.
While this may be true, bchat, what I was trying to convey is that I have more experience LOOKING at old comics that most folks. My comic collection is boxed. It's not bagged and boarded, nor, gasp, slabbed. I look at my comics all the time as I'm constantly answering some question for somebody somewhere. Currently I'm:
1. Working with Hames Ware and Michael Vassallo on a Timely artist project
2. Working with John Benson on some Horror Comic credits
3. Working with Greg Sadowski on a couple of reprint books
4. Working with you on this thread
5. Anxiously awaiting the return of the GCD to enter some data on single-digit issues of Jumbo Comics.
In all instances, it involves opening up the comics and LOOKING at them. It is something that just doesn't happen all that much any more. Most people don't have the books or the access. Comics are seen as artifact not art. All the more NEED for GAC, IMHO. The more people that can look at the books, the more people that will notice different things, have different theories, recognize different artists, and make different connections. It can ONLY help to deepen our knowledge of comics. There is SO much that is unknown.
My personal theory is that there are as many UNKNOWN artists in pre-1960s comic books as there are known artists. Of course, the known artists are responsible for over 90% of the work, but the number of artists whom we don't know the names of is staggering. We need more eyes reviewing the stories. GAC is ESSENTIAL for the furtherance of comics history.
As you might be able to tell, the history of comics fascinates me. There's an absolute aspect of it that is like a science. The characters are of little interest to me. What's neat or interesting about one can be negated and refuted the next month by a different writer and what was sweet about a costume can disappear with a change of artist. There are no "facts" in the content of the medium. It is, after all, pure fiction. But the HISTORY of the medium is still to be fully written, and there IS an absolute TRUTH there somewhere. We simply have to discover it somehow. The more researchers on the team and on the trail of that truth, the better chance we have of finding it.
Keep reading and questioning. There is MUCH to be uncovered, recovered and discovered.
Peace, Jim (|:{>