Wayne-Tec

30 minutes ago, fishbone said:

Wayne-Tec

You just had to make this thread, didn't you 

I am trying to forget about them, but had all 3  and now gone 

#7 and #10 ext. restored, #13 universal 4.0 hopefully found a good home

Sorry bud. If memory serves, you still have a pretty nice Superman cover Early Action. Think it came before Action #7. 

3 hours ago, comicdonna said:

 I remember a board member purchasing an Action #10 raw on ebay for $200  It graded a 3.0 blue.   There was a discussion predicting final results, when it went to auction.  Many felt it would sell for less than an Action #13 would in the same grade.  It sold for nearly 20K which was way more than the current value of #13.

 

My order of preference has always been #7, #10 #13

The hierarchy of Actions has shifted quite a bit through the decades. The very underrated Action #2 used to command greater appreciation than its later issue (Superman cover) peers. The story was a continuation of the Action #1 story (a good one), with an impressive non-Supes cover to boot.

The slab age has made classic covers more desirable than ever. It just so happens that content-wise, Action #10 and #13 have some of the best of the Early Action run.

#10 has one of the greatest splash pages of all-time as well as the 2nd (uncredited) app. of Jimmy Olsen.

#13 has the 1st app. of the 1st supervillain in DC history. So aside from the covers, there’s great interior content.

#7, which is easily the 2nd most valuable book of the run, is the odd one out content-wise. In today’s world, it doesn’t matter because it is the 2nd Superman cover ever and it’s a really good one.

Just a theory, but I believe a general unfamiliarity with the interior content of these books has led to wild swings in valuation/hierarchy. Supply and “cool covers” is, at this time, a stronger driving force. When/if “all” buyers of these books read all of the Early Action run, we may see some changes.

5 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Well, how about this raw POS Poor graded copy from Heritage then:

that still managed to fetched almost $15K in one of their Sunday Auctions a few years ago.   

Looks like there have been a few copies of Action 13 sold during the past few years, which has undoubtedly upped the census count on them.  

That’s my copy (page 1 of this thread), now slabbed.

4 minutes ago, Chicago Boy said:

Any stats to back up 1940 books overall being in greater supply than books from 1938,1939.  I agree I just don’t have any hard numbers. I guess print runs wud have been up because of the hero craze solidified ??

There are other on the boards more qualified to comment on print-runs, but using census numbers to give us a rough idea...

CGC Universal

18 = Action #10

24 = Action #13

29 = Action #7

80 = Action #23

5 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Speaking of Hugo Strange, I absolutely love the way he has been portrayed on the Gotham TV show.  

Definitely a much bigger character on the TV show, as opposed to the comic books. 

I've watched nearly every episode of the series and overall, I don't think it's very good.

I put it in the "so bad it's good" category and being a huge Batman fan, I can't look away. But the series has had its moments.

Huge Strange in Arkham City is one of the best versions of the character that I have ever seen.

6 hours ago, Chillax23 said:

For me Action 23 is the second most important Action, but I accept I am in the minority with that opinion

Amazing books everyone!

That's not an unreasonable take IMO.

It being a 1940 book with much greater supply puts it on a different level than some of the other Early Actions, but the 1st app. of Luthor cannot be denied. Even considering the boost in popularity recently, it's still one of the most underrated books of the GA.

5 hours ago, lou_fine said:

 

Interesting to see how opinions of the board members here change over time as more copies of these books come into the marketplace.

I remember when the Atlantic City copy was auctioned off by CC about 8 years ago for something like $185K at the time.  Many of the boardies said at the time that this was the rarest of all of the early Action books as very few had ever come to market by that time.  

I think perception is impacted by supply and of late, Action #10 has been offered the least offered book of the three. As far as slabbed copies go, the numbers are pretty similar: with all three being very, very tough to find in any condition, especially blue label.

CGC Universal

18 = Action #10

24 = Action #13

29 = Action #7

CGC Total

37 = Action #10

43 = Action #13

46 = Action #7

Action #10 has the most iconic interior splash page and the least iconic front cover, so it stands to reason that there is more incentive to keep #10 raw and to slab #7 and #13. I don't know if that would be enough to make the census numbers equal across the board, but they're already close. It's remarkable to think that in almost 2 decades of slabbing, this is all we've seen of these 3 iconic issues.

50 minutes ago, AnkurJ said:

Here are pics of my 7 and 13. The 7 was conserved, the 13 is restored.

 

1 hour ago, thejudge01 said:

Never owned a complete 13, sold the #7 to Gator but still have the #10 which I’d personally prefer over 13 . Earlier issue, 3rd ever superman cover , scarcer and great Superman #1 panel

Gorgeous books.

17 hours ago, Knightsofold said:

I only have the 13, but it’s my favorite art of the 3.  It’s iconic the same way tec 31 is.

This looks like the 1.8 green label, right?

Just now, bluechip said:

Dr. Death also died at the end of his two-part story, which ran from IIRC tec 29-30.  

Ultra-Humanite was, on the other hand, clearly created with Siegel's intent that he would recur.

For sure. And although Ultra and Luthor have differences, it’s no coincidence that Ultra disappeared (after 6 appearances in a short period of time) right after Luthor arrived.

Luthor himself was in many respects, a tweaked version of Ultra.

I don’t know if you follow the show Gotham, but it’s similar to how future characters evolved out of Jerome Valeska.

Jerome was not the final product. He was a different character, but one that paved the way for what was coming.

Just now, bluechip said:

Dr. Death appeared 2x but in only one 2-part story.   So he can't really be called a recurring villain.   

Hugo Strange was clearly the first villain intended to be a recurring villain.   At the end of his first appearance he's shown in jail vowing to return, which became one of the most-used tropes in comicdom.   Ultimately he lost out because he just wasn't as good as the Joker, who first appeared in the same book Hugo Strange first reappeared (Batman 1).  

 

Good points. 

12 minutes ago, path4play said:

My humble entry.

 

 

 

Love the 1939 date-stamp.

Building on what I said earlier, lots of cool similarities between Action #1 and Action #13.

What a way to kick off the 1-year anniversary!

27 minutes ago, Knightsofold said:

I only have the 13, but it’s my favorite art of the 3.  It’s iconic the same way tec 31 is.

Mine with some appropriate music.

 

Now that was awesome! 

2 hours ago, Primetime said:

There really aren't too many full front, large Supe covers in the early Actions. 7 is by far the best and largest image of him. 1,10,13 he is drawn relatively small. 15 is larger but it's a side shot and I have never liked the cover too much overall. 17 he is small again. 19 is large but the green logo is odd. 20 is semi good but missing the S on his chest. I really like 21 - good pose and decent size of him facing front. 22 he is small again. 23 is a nice large pose but now it's getting late into the game (1940). 

There really isn’t another cover like Action #7 until Action #23. It just so happens that both are amongst the greatest and most desirable books of the Early Action run.

#13 is similar to #1 as it pertains to the size of Superman (small), interaction with a vehicle, blue/red “Action Comics” color scheme and positioning of character (facing right).

2 minutes ago, bluechip said:

While I think super-villains in comics were inevitable, fans still like to mark the first-evers, and should.  So I think Action 13 and Detective 36 both deserve a bit more credit as the first arch-villains in each series.   The Action 13 gets overshadowed for its cover, which I like but not as much as the 7 or 10.

I love all three covers. You can’t go wrong with any of them. The fact that Action #7 is the first comic book to ever feature the name “Superman” on the cover is significant, and doesn’t get mentioned enough IMO.

Dr. Death appeared 2x in Detective Comics prior to Hugo Strange. But I agree with you, Detective #36 is underrated.

The shift to reoccurring “supervillains” was huge for superhero comics. Not only did it give our heroes a more formidable challenge, but as stories branched through multiple issues, readers followed. That started with the Ultra Humanite, then Doctor Death, eventually paving the way for Luthor and The Joker.

Comic books were never the same. Universes were being formed. One of the many things that made this genre special.

28 minutes ago, G.A.tor said:

I’m guessing 9/10 don’t feel the same way.  Villains had been part of the story tell lore since the dawn of storytelling. Ultra humanite does nothing for me. Show of hands who likes action 13 bc if that? (Genuinely curious)

Villains had been a part of comics prior to Action #13, but from a historical perspective, Ultra Humanite is the first DC “super” villain and reoccurring villain.

I suspect that you are right in the sense that many GA collectors aren’t thinking about the interior content as much as the cover. On a grander scale, the 1st appearance of the Joker in Batman #1 takes a backseat to the “No. 1” factor.

Books with historically significant content that isn’t currently a driving force behind desirability have tremendous untapped potential. I’m only one collector, but the interior content adds a lot of luster for me.

8 minutes ago, fishbone said:

130K USD  too high at this point ,  but in 3-5 years maybe 

There is a best offer option.

28 minutes ago, G.A.tor said:

And while the Superman 1 cf ad in action 13 is awesome, it’s an ad and not story content so I certainly don’t think action 13 can even think it can hold tec 33s jock strap, story content wise 

Few books are on Tec #33s level content-wise. One could argue that the origin of Batman is the most important comic book story ever told.

But Action #13s centerfold containing the Superman #1 add is not the main reason I referred to it’s “historical content.”

The 1st appearance of the Ultra Humanite changed superhero comic books forever. He was the first supervillain in DC Comics history and appeared 6x between 1939 and 1940 before the creation of (Lex) Luthor.

They didn’t want two bald, evil genius type supervillains, so Luthor ended up replacing Ultra. While I wouldn’t rank it ahead of the origin of Batman, the 1st appearance of DCs 1st supervillain, a precursor to Lex Luthor, makes this book the 2nd most historically significant “Early Action” after Action Comics #1.

5 hours ago, G.A.tor said:

Action 7 is closest to tec 31

Rick, where does Action #7 currently rank in FMV? 4th or 5th?

Where do you predict it will rank 10 years from now?

Here are the current census numbers for Action #7, #10, #13 and Detective #29, #31, #33 and #35:

*Universal copies in parenthesis.

37 (18) = Action Comics #10

43 (24) = Action Comics #13

46 (29) = Action Comics #7

63 (34) = Detective Comics #29

84 (45) = Detective Comics #35

89 (50) = Detective Comics #31

91 (53) = Detective Comics #33

The closest yet imperfect matchups you could have would probably be... 

Action #7 vs. Detective #31 (2nd most valuable and desirable)

Action #10 vs. Detective #29 (Rarest and 3rd most valuable)

Action #13 vs. Detective #33 (Most historically significant)

10 minutes ago, Chicago Boy said:

Action 7 = Tec 29

Action 13 = Tec 31 ? ( too much of a leap ??) 

Action 10 = ?

No perfect matches here. Just amongst Superman and Batman covers after Action #1 and Detective #27...

2nd most valuable: 

Action #7 and Detective #31

2nd hero cover:

Action #7 and Detective #29

Best cover:

Action #13 and Detective #31

Most Historically Significant:

Action #13 and Detective #33

Rarest:

Action #10 and Detective #29 (?)

1 hour ago, FutureFlash said:

I don't own any...unless Superman: The Golden Age, vol 1 counts.

Though 7 is out of reach for me, I could maybe do a 13 someday.

All 3 of these books are incredible, but #13 has the best combo of classic cover + historically significant interior content.