lou_fine

Well, I wouldn't necessarily say that.........the 'Tec 1 and More Fun 73 looks pretty nice and is that a Conserved or Universal 5.0 graded copy of Detective 27? No sighting of either 'Tec 29 or 'Tec 38 from the upcoming CC Auction since they both seem to present much nicer than their assigned CGC 3.0 grades?

I still remember seeing the Larson 9.4 copy of Fantastic 1 when it was still raw and it absolutely blew me away with its depth of colours. So, I can't even imagine what a 9.8 graded copy would look like in real life.

+1 Yes, indeed! Allows the poor out-of-money boardies like me some feeling of being there in spirit, even though we are not physically there in reality.

Any idea if these would be some of the Fox books, especially since the CGC Census Population Report is still indicating only low or mid grades as being the highest graded copies for some of these issues, which does not line up with Chuck's MH catalogue?

Adam; Since we have now seen pictures of the gorgeous Church copy of Wonderworld 7 from Berk's collection, do you have any idea who was the lucky collector to be offered the Allentown copy of Wonderworld 7 in advance of the Gallery opening? I believe that Snyder was setting aside certain classic cover books to collectors as a enticement for them to come out and attend the opening. I believe that Wonderworld 7 may possibly have been one of the books set aside since I don't remember it being in the Fox box that Vereneault was lucky enough to get. Of course, it may also have been one of the Fox books that Vereneault might have offer to me to pick, but ended up throwing back and going for the earlier issues instead.

Richard; Since you was right there in the middle of the action when everything was unfolding, can you share some of your memorable insights with us? Besides the Planet run, what were some of the other books that Burrell had pulled out for himself as part of his payment from Chuck? Were they mostly runs or did he go through and pulled out some of the individual highlight cover books from within some of the runs? Since you don't believe Burrell was the one who had pulled out the Suspense 3 from the collection, do you believe it went to Jim Payne or one of the other local Denver area dealers who most likely had very early access to the collection after Chuck brought them back home? Especially interesting that somebody would have prior knowledge about this now classic cover since there was no Photo-Journal at the time, and being only a $6 non-descript book, would most probably have not yet been pictured in the Overstreet guide to that point in time.

It's because Chuck never got that one himself as part of the Mile High Collection. Edgar's wife was at least smart enough to pull that one out from the 20,000 pieces of junk that her senseless husband had amassed and was probably ecstatic that she could finally find some young foolish know nothing sucker willing to pay full brand spanking new cover prices to clean and haul that pile of used and smelly mess of books away from her house.

Sounds good to me and looking forward to some of the pics. Surprised they don't have the Tec 29 on display as this appears to be one of the bigger dollar books from their upcoming auction. Remember to save some memory space in your camera for pictures from Jon Berk's Collection in their gallery tonight.

It would be fantastic if you could post some pictures of booth display books for us. Any idea if Metro would have any of their books on display at the Con, such as some of the pre-Robin 'Tec books in their upcoming CC auction scheduled to close later this month. I assume all of the big Jon Berk books and items will be in their gallery, as opposed to being in the convention.

I'm writing this up right now. There's no copy in the catalog multiple people have stated categorically that there's no Church copy. This book didn't pick up steam until the Gerber Guide came up so it wouldn't have been kept out of the catalog as a "key." This is pretty crazy. Looks like even long-time people in the know was not even sure if this book existed or not. When Magik's Photo-Journal copy finally surfaced for grading a few years ago, there were some initial thinking that it might possibly be the long lost Church copy. After taking a closer look at the book, it looks like they made the right call in the end as it was clearly not the Church copy. Suspense 3 was definitely NOT kept out of the Mile High catalogue as it was an absolutely nothing book at the time of the collection's discovery. For comparison purposes, since Jon Berk's Collection is now also out there, even though Fantastic 3 was lumped in as a group with issues 3 - 5 at $45 each in the price guide , this was still miles ahead of the Suspense 3 which was buried within the issues 3 - 10 grouping at only a measly $6 a shot. Being a new and younger collector at that time, key books to go after were hotties like Spidey 121, 122, the Neal Adams big Avengers 93 52 pager at $3 a pop in the guide, or even something like Conan 1 at a huge $30. Certainly interesting to see how collecting trends change over the decades, as a dead and buried book like Suspense 3 can rise out from nowhere to shoot up and become one of the most sought after books in the hobby.

Wonder what else Mr. Rozanski remembered. Did that aficionado with "eagle eyes" only pick up one book (before the list was made up)? Of course his possible further purchases may have re-entered the market already if one would assume the S3 had been "the last one to part with". Either way I assume the most likely scenario is that Burrell pulled the Suspense 3 out of the collection as part of his payment for loaning Chuck the $2K in order to purchase the entire Mile High collection from the Church family. After all, I believe he was entitled to the first $10K worth of books to be pulled at his discretion based upon the top of guide price at the time. Looks like he wasn't into the big super hero books back then since that would have chewed through his $10K pretty quickly. Took the Planet run with the beautiful covers which gobbled up just over $2K of the total. Since there was no Gerber Photo-Journal at the time and not much info on GA books, he probably stumbled across the Suspense 3 cover by accident, liked the cover, and pulled it out of the run since there was nothing special about the book in the guide at the time. Highly doubt he went searching specifically for this book, especially since it was simply lumped in with the Suspense 3 - 10 run at the time, at only $6 a pop and probably figured this wouldn't chew up too much of his $10K allotment.

From all of the other prior auction sales scans on the Heritage website, it would indeed appear to be a one-staple book.

+1 Most definitely, as no Top 10 list would be complete without Pep 22.

Geez, Lou...I'm being a bit silly Point is, then or now, Black Terror #1 looks like the Mediterranean Ave of this Monopoly board. That said, some of those books are basically kinda flat at best, considering the 22 years (Tec 225, World's Best #1). But obviously more than not would be considered bargains today. To be honest and looking back now, virtually all of the prices for the comic books pictured and listed in their brochure were relatively reasonable. It was the prices for the piles of books that were pulled out and set aside for Steve and Bob to priced out later that went through the stratosphere and became relatively unreasonable. And I guess we would have the East Coast Triumvirate to thank for that and how they subsequently handled the Terrific 5 transaction.

+1 Yes, like most other long-time collectors, I would also love to hear the back story on this "lost" Church copy and certainly hope Heritage does something to this end when it goes to auction. I guess the book is finally being brought out to market from the long-time infamous Unknown Collector who also has all of the SF Nedors as part of his personal collection.

Lou, your analysis of posts are some of the best. Always thoughtful, and thought provoking. I am inclined to agree with you on most of what you said because of your very arguments. However, though i'm in the tank for FC3 taking it, there seems to have always been some 'mystique' about a Church copy of SC3 existing or not. Now we know. That just may hold some allure for a buyer to want the copy from the most revered pedigree in fandom, and driving a wedge between the hammer price of the Woo copy and it. Greatly appreciate your kind comments! Anyways, thought of a couple more points in favor of Fantastic 3, but then also one big overriding factor that could push Suspense 3 over the top first. The recent heat in the GA comic book market has definitely cycled through to some of the 2nd and 3rd tier publishers and I feel that Fox has been and will now continue to be one of the major beneficiaries of this current market cycle. This is clearly evident with some of the record sales that Fox books have been receiving, even including raw books in the VG condition grade range. This associated heat in the other Fox books will help to support and propel the price for the Fantastic 3. Although Suspense 3 is a book that really stands out on its own, I believe the associated heat from the other Suspense issues in this more niche of a run is definitely not as hot. As a result, it will not get the same support to help propel the price upwards that FC 3 will. Although the sales results are stale, if you check the Heritage archives for the Mile High sales for the other issues in this Suspense run, one trend is very noticeable. The sales price trend for every single Church Suspense issue that have had subsequent sales of the same issue, without any exception at all, is a downward trend over time. Of course, since this is going to be a first time sale for the Church Suspense 3, I guess it's going to do blowout numbers. Just don't come back and try to hit the market a second or third time. Another point and one which I will surely be crucified for is that I don't feel that the cover image for S3 is a totally original concept. From just a personal point of view, I feel that the cover image for Suspense 3 is really just a far superior and much better and artistically crafted version of the cover image for Suspense 1 done a few months earlier by Charles Quinlan. The same full moon in the sky, man at the top, woman in bondage at the bottom being threatened and sacrificed by bad dudes in robes. Well, okay, why don't we just say they did it 3 times in the first 4 issues if we also toss Suspense 4 into the pile. The one big point for putting Suspense 3 on top of Fantastic 3 is that the S3 book will surely become the featured item and most probably also the front cover image for the Heritage Catalogue whenever it goes to auction. This might not necessarily be the case for the individual special catalogue which I am sure CC will be putting out for Berk's collection. If it's just one item on the front cover, they would probably lean to the cover art for Planet 1, and if it's a montage of various items, the Fantastic 3 will just be another one of the many featured items from this collection.

+1 The Supes 1 is unrestored and is also much tougher to find in this grade.

I just cracked out a handful of PXG books I have, and all I can say is ...... wow..... I'm sure some are going to drop two full grades... Just my opinion though. Never you mind.......it looks like it has now moved past the Pacific Coast highest graded copy of Amazing Spidey 28 with the classic black Molten Man cover that is supposedly impossible to find in grade. In fact, it is now on the verge of passing the $25K mark and also catching and passing the CGC 7.5 graded copy of Hulk #1.

Well, if I was picking, I would most likely go for the Fantastic 3 myself. Especially since the Fantastic 3 is a higher grade at 9.4, while the Suspense 3 is slightly lower at 9.2 and also with a Penn Copy in 9.0 graded condition nipping right at its heels. In addition, the Fantastic 3 has been graded by the more established grading company with a bigger brand name at this point in time, as compared to both of the Suspense 3's which have been graded by the other company. In addition, the Fantastic 3 seems to be a relatively tougher book to find in comparison to the Suspense 3. If you take a look at the Heritage archives, it almost seems like there have been more copies of Suspense 3 sold by them then all of the other Suspense issues combined, albeit in lower grade. Of course, this might also be skewed by Fishler scarfing up most of the Fantastic 3's before they even hit the marketplace. Finally, although both of these titles are not part of the mainstream names known to the less sophisticated collectors, I feel that the Fox family of books are still more well know and will provide a stronger supporting base from which Fantastic 3 can benefit from going forward. Especially when you compare it to Suspense 3 which is published by Continental Magazines and is really much more of a niche publisher as compared to Fox. So, put me down for Fantastic 3 since the market has been aching for a high grade copy of this book much longer than a Suspense 3, which was already available in the marketplace a mere 2 short years ago.

Well, if you want a second 9.2 graded copy to keep it company, you can always pick this one up: http://www.comicconnect.com/bookDetail.php?id=710277 Just jumped out of nowhere to hit $22.5K in CC's current auction and it still has another 14 more days to go. Never realized that a PGX graded book could go for that kind of money!

Not sure if this is exactly a fair showdown since Suspense 3 will be out there on its own, while Fantastic 3 will also be competing with all of the other flagship books coming out from Jon Berk's collection at the same time.

Well, if you asked Jon Berk, he would say Mystery Men 3 without a doubt. My guess though, is that you probably had another fantastic book in mind when you ask this question.

Any idea where this particular copy has been residing for the past few decades, especially since there have been long standing questions as to whether a Church copy of this book even existed in the first place?

Thanks for your punk rock opinion. I will never understand CGC's policy of not allowing people to talk about other grading companies but I didn't want the thread pulled because it's a book worth talking about. Like I said the other day, thank God Jon Berk's collection was graded by CGC, or else we would all be in a lot of trouble talking about his amazing collection of books here.

Is that just a new listing in the Sell section of the CL website or is that an actual copy of Supes 1 that sold for that price?