RareHighGrade

Hkp, the bright colors on that Vol. 2 No. 8 are something else. Your Disney books are incredible; I've never seen so many in such amazing condition.

Ft88, I've really been enjoying your books too. Keep posting.

Today's post is a cover that has been the subject of much discussion over the years. Early Golden Age collectors have long argued over whether the cover of Adventure 37 was drawn by Creig Flessel, Leo O'Mealia, Fred Guardineer or some other artist. Because the style is somewhat different from that of Flessel, O'Mealia and Guardineer, and because there is no signature identifying the artist (these artists routinely signed their work), the answer has remained a mystery. Recently, however, CGC has taken the position that the cover is by Flessel. It would be great if Timely or some other CGC insider could tell us what this recent decision was based on. In any event, in light of the CGC designation, here is a scan of Adventure 37:

I'm still waiting for Jon Berk and others to post some of their Flessels. In the meantime, here is Detective 15 (Church copy):

Wow, nice books, Acme!

 

Question: how is the art inside the books? Flessel only did the covers, correct? Isn't one of the criticisms of a lot of GA, particularly the smaller publishers, that they engaged in bait and switch by commissioning gorgeous covers by truly talented artists and then filling the insides with horrible cut-rate art?

Some of the art inside is among the best the Golden Age had to offer. For example, Leo O'Mealia's work on the Barry O'Neill stories found in the pre-hero Adventure Comics is unmatched by any work done before or after. I wish that I had a beater copy so that I could post an example of that interior art. Other examples include interior artwork done by Siegel & Shuster, Bob Kane and Fred Guardineer. Of course, these pre-hero books also included humor strips that were not notable for the quality of the artwork.

Here is another great Flessel cover from More Fun 35, which shows the careful detail that went into his work, from the expression on the rabbit to the frog spilling the can of bait into the stream. No other artist was drawing covers like this in 1938:

Those Lost Valley copies are gorgeous ACME. For early Detectives, the Lost Valley collection was second only to the Church collection. In most cases, for each book, the top two copies in existence come from those two pedigrees.

Flessel had different styles for the different titles that he worked on. His Detective covers, not surprisingly, all had a crime/police theme. His Adventure and More Fun covers were different. Some of them had a Norman Rockwell flavor to them, oftentimes depicting the carefree nature of youth. Here, for example, is the first cover Flessel did for Adventure Comics, New Adventure 15 (Church copy):

Thanks FFB. This next cover is one that CentaurMan has posted before, but it is such a classic-style Detective cover that it deserves another view. Here is my copy of Detective 9:

For Golden Age trivia buffs, it should be noted that this cover was redrawn for Federal Men 2, an obscure 1945 book published by Gerard Publishing Co., that consisted of reprints of Siegel and Shuster's Federal Men stories.

One of my favorite Golden Age artists is Creig Flessel, who drew many of the covers of DC's earliest comics. We've seen postings from John Berk, CentaurMan and others of some of the Flessel covers, but there are many that have not been posted. Hence, I am starting this thread to pay homage to this Golden Age legend, and to see how many of these great covers can be shown by the collective body of forumites. I'll start things off with one of his classics:

hkp, Four Color 318 has one of my favorite duck covers and your copy is one of the best I've seen. Nice.

Since some people may not be familiar with the Barks March of Comics, I'll give a little background. A lot of collectors aren't familiar with these comic books because they are seldom offered for sale and Overstreet moved them out of the comic book section into the "Promotional" section of the guide.

March of Comics nos. 4, 20 and 41 each contain a full length original Barks story. They are among his best works. No. 20, which I posted yesterday has the story "Darkest Africa," which has never been reprinted by Disney because it contains exagerated racial stereotypes. Two other March of Comics issues, nos. 56 and 69, also have Barks art, but do not have complete Barks stories like the others.

These books are considered by some collectors to be the hardest Barks books to find. Also, because the covers are made of cheap pulp, they are rarely found in fine or better condition. In the 1990's, Geppi and Snyder placed a full page ad in the Comic Book Marketplace offering to pay over guide for any copies of nos. 4, 20 or 41.

Here's no. 41, which has the classic story "Race to the South Seas":

Here's one of the Barks books that Disney banned from being reprinted:

Nice thread. Did anyone find the thread for the scarce books?

This is probably the thread that you are looking for:

http://boards.collectors-society.com/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=539491&an=0&page=2#539491

Jon, that Marvel Comics #1 is amazing. Is it a pedigree? Is it restored? How would you grade it? From your scan, it looks like it could be the best out there other than the Mile High.

You may be interested to know that, for pre-hero and other 1930's books, the Lost Valley pedigree is second only to the Edgar Church collection.

Hkp, that is the nicest copy of MOC #4 that I have ever seen. How would you grade it? Your taste in early DC's seems to parallel mine. Those early, non-superhero books are incredible; especially the ones with Flessel covers.

Here's the Mile High copy of More Fun #86:

TLC55555, that's a great collection of Fox keys! What are the grades of your Wonder Comics # 1 and # 2?

HKP, that MM Vol. 5 No. 12 could not have found a better, and more appreciative, home than yours. Since you've posted your Holy Grail, here's mine:

CentaurMan, judging by your name, you'll probably appreciate this 1938 book. Amazing Mystery Funnies #1: One of the rarest Centaurs, and the first ever Bill Everett cover.

I got it back in the early 90's. If you like early Fox books, you'll probably appreciate this one too.

Speaking of Fantastic Comics, here's the Denver copy of #1, unslabbed and unrestored.