50YrsCollctngCmcs

Off Topic - but there's a funny animal on the cover!

DC published Mutt and Jeff for twenty years. This issue is all strip reprints which I think most of them were. hard to imagine this series lasted this long.

Funny Stuff is a great title. The early "Three Mouseketeers" by Meyer were much more interesting than the later humorous fare. And who doesn't love a turtle modeled on the Flash!

On 4/15/2024 at 12:39 PM, Hepcat said:

Who are "them"? The file copies or certain individuals connected to Dell?

I have some of the Random House "File" copies. But how were any of these outfits associated with Dell or Western Printing?

I think a Google search might reveal some information on Random House. Also, if you want to read about Western / Dell / Gold Key I'd recommend Mark Evanier's blog. I don't recall where I read it but the story of George Delacorte (Dell) and Helen Meyer his right hand woman is quite interesting. As I was verifying Mr. Delacorte's name I just noticed Helen Meyer passed away in 2003 at the age of 95. There is a nice obituary in the NY Times but you need a subscription.

I don't know if the file copy story was ever written down but there were rumors of them going back to shows in New York in the late seventies. I think there are many sources for these (Racine, Poughkeepsie, New York, Random House); so other than the stamped Racine copies I don't know how it is determined they are file copies. Here is the old Racine office by the way back in the early 2000's.

On 4/7/2024 at 8:31 AM, OtherEric said:

Yeah, the price on the #450 is something of a jaw dropper

Yeah nice book but unless you are a high grade completist I just don't see the value. So many other places to drop that cash. And the edges don't look like a 9.2 to me; but I don't play the high grade game.

"Brittle Page Regrets!" It could be a classic lurid fifties paperback. I've only got two books in this category; they both make me want to cry. I remember when the Jerry Robinson books were on offer at a SDCC; they were mostly brittle pages. I would have bought one but the taint of the brittle pages steered me clear happily!

On 3/31/2024 at 1:36 AM, Robot Man said:

My observations…

First off, BAD weekend for the show. Easter is a day spent with families. Dealers don’t want to travel. Only a couple of out of state dealers. Mostly the local crowd I usually see at shows. Not to mention we got another big storm blowing through here. Will really impact all the cosplay folks and the fun out door activities today. Was weird that unlike its big sister SDCC, you could just walk right up, buy a ticket and walk in. 

Lots of folks just gazing at the big high priced wall books. Seems like every booth had numerous high priced ASM 300’s. Why people pay or ask those prices for a book that is common as dirt is beyond me. I seemed to have all the GA boxes to myself. I fished out a few nice very obscure gems at great prices. Just not a lot of WWII, obscure publishers and scarcer GA. I brought a ton of cash and came home with most of it. Most dealers seemed happy with sales though. But what dealer would admit they didn’t do well? Hard to find many Pulps, my current interest. And what was there was priced insane.

It was pretty pathetic how small the “GA/SA Pavilion was. 5 or 6 small isles with a slight spillover. Looks like a small postage stamp on the floor map. A pretty large Artist’s Alley but I didn’t go because I really don’t know many modern artists and everybody I used to go see had basically passed away by now. I had no desire to shuffle the rest of the show of new toy dealers, T-Shirts, gamers and the great un-washed…

I actually waited in line at the CGC booth to get some pulps graded. There seemed to be a lot of confusion as what to do with them. I figured now is the time to do some. Not many on the census and a lot of them have very few sales. Many real good ones still fit into the lowest tier. For now… I also got this cool pin for my submission.

One of the best parts of the show is bumping into old friends and making new ones. I had a few conversations with my older buddies. We all agreed as to how many of us are dropping lately. Now is the time to keep in touch more often. Another thing that was a little disturbing was how many former old time board members have given up posting here. Most cited hostile interactions here as the reason. Real sad, as I have always enjoyed their posts. I urged them to return. Hopefully, they will.

Was very easily a one day or less show for me. Still what a great way to spend a day and will go back as long as it’s here. 

When Wonder Con moved from the Bay Area to Anaheim it lost a lot of the fun local vibe. But I thought hey it is close and I can get there easily and it will be bigger and more interesting. Well it was bigger and other than cosplay the comic book aspect was much diminished. Still I try to keep an open mind at shows and purposefully go explore areas not comic related to see what else I might enjoy and try to understand the broader collecting world. That approach makes the shows more interesting and has led to some fun discoveries. Thanks for the report Bob.

On 3/27/2024 at 12:26 AM, Robot Man said:

Is that all that surprising? They were cheap items for kids. We used to roll them up or stuff them in our backpacks after hitting the drug store on our way home from school on our Sting Ray bikes. No one was concerned about condition or future value then.

Sting Ray bikes!! I still remember mine so well! It had purple seats and a real gear shifter on the top bar like a car! What a ride!!

On 3/18/2024 at 3:14 PM, Darwination said:

The EVO cover looks like Crumb to me, I noticed that one, too.  Finding the underground papers is tough in the first place, finding them unfolded is a miracle.

Crumb for sure!

I love this show! Wish I could have been there! A few years back I got to meet Lupoff at the show and grabbed an autograph on my well read copy of AICFD. I would have snagged that Classic Comics peeking out of the comic pile if it was an interesting book. That copy of the East Village Other also looks intriguing. Those early counter culture newspapers are interesting reads and don't show up too often; they mostly got tossed in the bin.

I always find something intriguing at this show; I picked up a pile of Humbug magazines at the last one I attended. 

Looks like great fun Bob!!

On 3/14/2024 at 4:07 AM, dikran said:

So sorry to hear about his passing... he got me hooked on GA Disney and was a fountain of information in the short time I corresponded with him on the boards.

Rich made a lot of connections on these boards all driven by his love of Disney comics! A wonderful thing for the rest of us to aspire to here!

On 3/13/2024 at 4:17 AM, Marty Mann said:

These Kelly covers always make me smile!!

On 3/12/2024 at 9:56 AM, Badger said:

Those are nice looking copies. Pardon my ignorance but did something happen to Rich? I never met him personally but we had talked a little through the boards.

Oh I'm sorry you didn't know but Rich passed away last year. Here is the tribute thread if you would like to read it.

RIP Rich Olson

On 3/11/2024 at 8:19 AM, Tom789 said:

Recently acquired from MCS, perhaps from one of you fine folk.  Cover detached.  As a new collector of GA, I'm continually amazed at how vibrant the colors can remain after 80 years.

 

Awesome very early Barks book! I've only got a couple in the thirties; they are great books!

Quite the journey so far; thanks for posting all these great books!

Interesting research endeavor. How did you determine he came to be known as Dave Jay in the RBCC ad?

On 3/9/2024 at 8:42 AM, Badger said:

They gave me $95 in store credit; that's close to what you mean right? Right?   (It was a 5 figure purchase.) Its still a sore spot with me and even though they have had a couple of things I would have purchased otherwise, I passed for now.

Interest on the money they tied up at the current rate seems a reasonable settlement. I’d ask for cash not store credit though. The $95 seems appropriate given that. Not every problem should result in a lawsuit; I’m afraid that is something not everyone understands.

Nice piece and I really like the cover with the embossed penny. Very interesting but not a comic; but then again who cares!! Try finding another one! Thanks for posting.

On 3/5/2024 at 8:38 AM, Ameri said:

my only Terry

Were these characters all in animated cartoons? I should go see what is available on You Tube for viewing. Other than Mighty Mouse I don't recall seeing many of these characters.

On 3/4/2024 at 3:19 PM, Topnotchman said:

A couple more

Looking at the covers of this era were there simply more fantasy based movies coming out in the early sixties? Today we have the windfall of superhero movies from Marvel but the variety does not seem to be there. Of course we recently had a new Godzilla and Dune just came out but beyond that what other movies are on offer that might compete?

On 3/3/2024 at 4:07 PM, Topnotchman said:

More from a recent pick up, glossy with white pages. 

I really like this era of the Four Color Series with the movie photo or illustrated covers. They have a unique early sixites feel to them. Even the revised Dell logo is interesting; perhaps a nod to stamp collecting. There were also some great movies coming out at that time to feature in these books. The Jules Verne adaptations are always great.