Coverdeath

On 9/2/2024 at 3:18 PM, bronze johnny said:

Excellent.

There are further progressions as the age gains greater definition that is evident by a publisher adding titles to correspond with the new genre and other publishers following suit.  Interestingly, This is evident with the catalyst of the Golden Age of the Superhero genre, which is Action Comics 1. It’s a distinct point of reference for the beginning of the Golden Age. We see what happens afterwards as DC expands its superhero line of titles and other publishers follow.

The Second World War is the most significant and revolutionary period of 20th Century History (in fact it can be argued in all of world history) and the primary focus for America and its allies at the time was wartime mobilization with a shift in economies to ensure victory. The arts assisted in further ensuring a message that would raise the national morale and spirit of the citizenry to contribute as much as possible to the war effort (see Capra films for the military in addition to Hollywood films like Casablanca), and the American Comic Book was no exception. It’s only fitting that the greatest era of the American Comic Book would coincide with the most significant period of 20th Century History. The superhero joined the war effort to help America fight the Axis powers. They would continue this fight up until the war ended with the defeat of the enemy dictators and in the case of the War in the Pacific, the dropping of the atomic bombs in August of 1945. Fascism and Nazism were no longer the forces to fear. The postwar Cold War era gave rise to new found fears that were initially not as distinct as those fought by the superheroes during the war. The anxieties and fears coinciding with the bomb, unclear future, rise of communism, and shift back to a peacetime economy that included the challenges presented for soldiers adjusting to a post combat life couldn’t easily be resolved by the superhero. The Atomic Age had begun.

Interestingly, Crime Does Not Pay #22 was published during the war and led the crime genre to becoming the dominant genre of the early postwar era (1946 - 1949). The crime genre was so popular that superheroes went back to fighting crime but it was not enough for those outside of DC’s mainstay superheroes Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman (special mention to Aquaman who hangs around throughout this period) to maintain their wartime popularity. 

The crime genre gives rise to the romance and horror genres with the publication of the two most significant comic books during the early postwar years: Young Romance 1 and Adventures into the Unknown 1. These catalyst books soon influence rival publishers to follow suit in publishing their own romance and horror titles. EC Comics would take the horror genre to its greatest height during the latter part of the Atomic Age.

The Golden Age published Archie comic book does the same for teen humor titles. 

The later part of the postwar era (1950 - 1956)  saw the Korean War and rise of McCarthyism. The communist threat and fears of an escalated war with “Red China” resulting in McArthur advocating the use of atomic weapons contributed further to the fears of Americans. Comic books continued to remain popular while television begins to move in a direction that would make it the most popular medium before the end of the 1950s. 

The Atomic Age would then give rise to one of the most significant changes to the comic book medium, which is the industry self censoring its publications to avoid government involvement in regulating content following the reactions to Wertham’s book, and Gaines’ testimony before Kefauver’s Senate Committee investigating the impact comic books had on young Americans. 

The Code and the subsequent successful addition of superheroes to DC’s already existing superhero universe along with the advent of the Big “5 War” comics, and the introduction to most significant sci fi character creation of that era in Adam Strange, and Kirby’s original concept team creation that laid the groundwork for an even greater achievement, began the DC Silver Age of Comic Books. We know that what followed in 1961 would rise to one of the greatest creative eras in the history of the medium when Marvel Comics would follow DC’s lead and take comic books to the next level of greatness. 

Perhaps the time has come for CGC to have a seperate forum for a well deserved and fascinating Atomic Age of Comics so any confusion about the existence of this incredible era in the history of the medium is clarified once and for all. @CGC Mike 

The Atomic Age deserves its own forum.

John

Thank you John.

On 9/2/2024 at 12:29 AM, grendel013 said:

I see a distinct cut off with Batman 163 and 164. The addition of the yellow oval around the bat. Same cover artist but looks like a very different Batman. May to June 1964.

Maybe this article could interest you, if you didn't know about the Batman transition 

https://galacticjourney.org/october-22-1964-introducing-a-new-look-batman/

On 9/1/2024 at 3:16 AM, VintageComics said:

Now you've done it. 

I want to know about it! 

What a divergence between people on this era of comics history... Do you personally consider this age or is there gold, then silver and nothing else in between?

I just bought 8 new books to add to my collection this morning, all from this era and I'm really impatient to getting them!   these are my first books in this year range, I see them differently, it seems to be a different style, maybe more conventional and strict, less rude than GA and less crazy than SA, but I could be totally wrong, I don't know...

What do you think?

On 8/31/2024 at 1:22 PM, whomerjay said:

What I don’t understand is why everyone doesn’t evolve like this.

Do I have to remember you that it were no South Park during the GA?

Damn this is just terrible! At least this time it's not gonna be a sacrifice to slab a book considering that this one is unreadable 

I'm currently into a situation where I cannot buy anymore moderns books... and even BA and SA. For about 3 months now I throw out all my money on GA books only and I cannot stop, there is something weird, GA are like drug, I just became addicted to them 

Is there someone who had this kind of focus and turnaround of mindset?

I'm interested in every era of the comic books but I just think I justify much more easily to spend money on books when I feel that the opportunity to own them is really low. But I'm a bit feared that in 2 years I come to realize that I don't buy anything else that GA... wait a minute... why would it be bad? 

On 8/30/2024 at 4:13 PM, 0r0d said:

Why are you changing them every 2 years?  

'Cause the boy is lost

The opportunities to become the owner of a war time Batman book doesn't  show up often our days, so I'm really glad to acquired this one. I have some high standards for quality pages so I have to pass on tons of books, this one is just perfect and even if i will have pick up any random issue, a Joker splash is a great bonus! 

Let's see if the real Bat Fans are here, can you find out the issue number? 

UP

and by evidence if you take one second to look at the pics, you can see "super spectacular" wrote on the top of each pages...

Well I have no special love for the covers but I definitely enjoyed the post knightfall batman, a Batman like we never seen before and we ll never see again, a beast hide in the shadow and ready to strike, the atmosphere was really cool, dark and gothic, with an exaggerated art highlighted by vibrant colors. My profile picture is from a book of this run, #539, one of the first comic book I read and made me fan of an artistic team.

Here few pics of my favourites pages

Closed. too much message confusing my sale.

and the books have been graded by the forum and will be reposted.

On 8/26/2024 at 8:15 AM, Buzzetta said:

okay... we all just sighed a collective cry of relief.  

Not like the population report for a GA Joker cover is the same as an ASM 300. 

 

No joker on the cover... is why the coverless is even better, instantly in the action! 

On 8/26/2024 at 7:58 AM, Buzzetta said:

I don't know if want to know the answer to this.

Did you pull the cover off this book?  Was it once whole before it passed through your hands? 

I mean, many of us who have been following this thread are probably wondering. 

Lol...

I'm a poor guy, I don't win my life really well and comics are the only thing that I spent money in and yet my budget still really limited for them... I started to collect coverless firstly because I will not have anymore to carry about the cover but it quickly turned to a way to collect GA books, what would never be something  before... now the goals are much higher and I hope to create GA super heroes run with hard work and time, this bat book Is just a random book in a great future puzzle and I bought this one just because he was coverless and so a nice deal if I consider the price he s often goes for with a cover.

Hope it helped to understand.

However... yes I remove cover from the moderns 

Ok we're back with an absolutely thrilling splash page featuring the Joker with his deadly smile! 

My first war time Batman with this #28 of 1945, this book is presenting 4 amazing tales, 

With an especially "ethic" one where Batman is going to Washington and which is speaking about the reform of the criminals.

Hi, ok first: this thread primarily concern raw books in low grade

Honestly the stuff is so hard to find and almost everywhere I found stuff who interest me the price aren't correct if I comparate them to the overstreet guide... but seriously this just so sh*tty to find the gold that I think we have to put the question on the table: "WHY DO NOT OVERPAID?" 

I mean I found a nice star spangled book, I m really attracted by this one and the opportunity to buy it will probably not spawn before years or even NEVER AGAIN maybe... we re talking about a book priced to 90 dollars who probably not worth more than 40... but seriously 50 dollars is just the half of a monthly budget for me so is it really justified to restrict yourself that much? I think the GA books are simply to hard to find to pass on them for so few... and anyway we always say: " the book is only worth what you r willing to pay for"

Sometimes I read online to follow the full story of crossover linked with series that I dont collect, it does the job for sure but I'm the only to really dislike how the colors are flashy and not natural? And even when they are not redesigned it still look weird...

On 8/25/2024 at 2:00 AM, vheflin said:

good lord! @Coverdeath  finally you started a cool thread

congrats 

If it's your tought about my threads on overall i can close this one right now pal. 

And I don't think drink beer sorry.

On 8/24/2024 at 6:39 PM, zzutak said:

EVERYDAY! 

So few months ago I started to collect coverless books, and 2 days ago I just bought a coverless copy of the most valuable book that I have in my collection, so I will soon have 2 copies.

For me it's a bit different because I just bought a new copy to keep that one and i dont want anymore of my ancient one, i will just keep it for years because I see this book increase over years and I think it's clearly not the time to sell.

But this topics is made for something a bit different... let's see the books you have 2 copies, a good beater to appreciate the story and another one to impress your godson at the Christmas diner 

Show us a pic of the 2 books abreast.

On 8/22/2024 at 8:25 PM, Happy Noodle Boy said:

Thanks all for your insightful comments. I'm still dealing with this reassessment of what I collect and why, and, to put it in perspective and perhaps to offer insights some of you may find interesting, I'm going to share with you my history with comics, the ways in which my collecting has evolved, and how I came to this strange impasse, in which I know I love something, but am trying to figure out how best to do it. (Warning: this might be a little long.) 

Like, I suspect, all of you, I started off buying individual issues of comics, in my case at neighborhood variety stores and newsstands off of spinner racks. I was probably about six or seven. It was the 1970's, the Spider-Man cartoon was on my television every afternoon, and like all children I lived for Spider-Man. (It's the costume. It has some mysterious visceral appeal to children.) My comics buying started as a way for me to have more Spider-Man, and was of course strictly regulated by the generosity of my parents on any given day. ("You want a quarter for a funny book?") 

A couple years later I had discovered the paperback reprints Marvel was releasing through Pocket Books. These paperbacks reprinted six issues each of characters like Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, and the Hulk, starting from the beginning of their runs, and I bought them all. I started with Spider-Man (three volumes were released) and expanded from there to the Fantastic Four (I had encountered them in the first issue of Spider-Man) and the rest. I can't overemphasize how foundational these paperback books were for my comic collecting. They were like going to Marvel School. And I noticed that the stories were better than the ones coming out every week on the spinner racks. I still remember reading the fourth issue of Fantastic Four for the first time and being absolutely enthralled by the Sub-Mariner and the gigantic walking whale he unleashes on New York City, and only poor Ben (at that time looking very monstrous and not at all the "bashful blue-eyed Benjamin" he would later become as his look was refined and some of his rough edges smoothed over) could stop the creature, by wearing a bomb strapped to his back and walking into its mouth! I now understood that Marvel had a vast, mysterious and utterly fascinating history. I had to know more. I was officially a Marvel Maniac. 

At this time my comics and my pocket paperbacks were in piles on the small bookshelf in my room, stored flat. No plastics, no backing boards, no comic boxes. I hadn't heard of them yet. "Condition" literally did not enter my mind. You bought the comic off the rack and you read it and threw it on the pile. All the pages were there; that's all that mattered. If I went back in time and tried to explain to my nine-year-old self about condition he would literally not understand. You can still read the book, right?

By age eleven I had discovered a little hole in the wall coin / comic shop called Giarla's Rare Coin Studio. This was in my home town of East Boston, Mass. I discovered it when an acquaintance of mine said that they had Superman #1 for sale. By this point I had greatly expanded my comics buying and was familiar, generally, with all the major Marvel and DC characters. The DC characters I discovered through the Super-Friends cartoon. But although I liked the DC characters on TV, I found their comics lacking. I had also read with interest the occasional newspaper article devoted to how comics were collectible and that some of them, especially the first appearance of Superman, were worth a lot of money. I promptly walked into Giarla’s, which was exactly large enough for a total of two customers to shop at the same time, and said, "Do you have Superman number one?" To which Mister Giarla replied, "Do you have three-thousand dollars?" He then pointed up at the Superman Famous First Edition treasury on the wall, and said, "But I have a reprint of it for two dollars." He took the treasury down off the wall and let me look at it. I had never seen a treasury before. It was a cool new way to read comics. I bought that treasury (it was okay, nothing special, nowhere near as good as Spider-Man), and lots of other ones too, and filled in the blanks of my comics knowledge with the history of the previously unknown DC Golden Age. And I kept coming back to Giarla's after that, week after week, every Saturday morning (he was open on Wednesdays and Saturdays.) I was usually the only customer, and he and his partner (a man about his age--his brother maybe? I never did find out) were very generous with their time, chatting with an 11-year-old kid about comics history, the importance of first issues, the proper way to pronounce "Sub-Mariner", and protecting comics in plastic bags. He had a couple of quarter bins full of comics that weren't in plastics and, behind the counter, a box of more expensive back issues that were in plastics. I would save my allowance money to buy $5 books from that box, including the first appearance of the Inferior Five and Binky #1. These were collectible, you see. You kept them in plastic bags, no matter how goofy you thought they were after you read them. He also introduced me to the Overstreet Price Guide, and sold me one (he ordered it for me.) Here's where I began to understand about "collecting" comics, and that condition mattered. Everything changed.

After this I put all my comics in plastics, stored upright in a long box. (At some point I started using backing boards; I forget exactly when.) Every week I was on the hunt for new first issues. Man-Thing #1 (second series.) Shogun Warriors #1. Moon Knight #1. These were prized objects and they made me giddy with excitement. But it took longer to buy comics now. Instead of just pulling an issue off the rack, I had to inspect them to get the best copy. Comics weren't just stories. They were collectible objects. They went in plastic bags in a box. My collection expanded as Marvel got better and better in the early 80's under Jim Shooter. I had two full long boxes by the time I was fifteen, and I had even gone to the Million Year Picnic with my mother, who bought me Daredevil #7 for $7.50. I was a collector now.

Then I started dating. By the time I was 19, the collection went away. All those books in plastic bags stored upright in boxes were a pain to hold onto and they just didn't entice me anymore. In their plastic bags, alphabetized, they had become more collectible objects than stories. The boxes were heavy. The books were always sliding around inside the boxes. It was a hassle. 

I got back into comics a few years later, as I had heard about the DC Archives: having the opportunity to read all the golden age Batman stories, in order, was too enticing to pass up. (They mostly hold up, but Batman was better before Robin.) They were printed in a hardcover book. It was the 1990s, and trade paperbacks were becoming a thing. Trade paperbacks didn't need plastic bags or long boxes. They were far less hassle to deal with and a better deal for the money. I got back into comics--but I only bought collected editions. As the years went by and Marvel and DC and Dark Horse reprinted essentially everything, it was a viable way to collect. I was reading stories for grown-ups now, in book format. Preacher and Madman and Sin City. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The Marvel Masterworks. Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. (I had owned the floppies a decade before; now I bought the trade paperbacks.) It was all very...grown-up. But some essential magic was missing. I enjoyed not having to bother with plastic bags and boards and long boxes, but these weren't exactly comics. I couldn't put my finger on it, but something was missing.

I got back out of comics again in the early 2000s--sort of. I got rid of my trade paperback collection and switched to digital instead. Much more convenient. After moving a few times over the years I was thoroughly sick of hauling trade paperbacks around. Unfortunately, I never did find a comfortable way to read digital comics. My computer screen was too large and not shaped correctly. Tablets are too small and their weight eventually becomes a noticeable distraction if you're reading for a while. And holding them one-handed, as intended, is an awkward way to read something that's supposed to open out like a book. To this day I haven't found a way to read a digital comic comfortably. I can read digital books just fine on my Kindle Fire; books look great on it. But comics? No. I got out of comics again around 2012, knowing that Comixology had my purchases saved if I ever wanted to read them in some uncomfortable fashion again.

That brings me to the present. I got back into comics again in 2021 (perfect timing!) This time I was all in on the collectible aspect rather than reading. I wanted a collection of cool golden, silver and bronze age books with cool covers, and I could afford some, within reason. Although I don't like slabbing, Comixology's influence on the hobby, along with ebay shopping, nevertheless changed the way I collect: covers are much more important to me now. Which means, of course, that a book's condition has to be important too, for those covers to look as good as they can. And I haven't read most of the books I've purchased for this new collection. Because I haven't been collecting books I would necessarily want to read, but instead I've been collecting books with great covers from my favorite artists.

One focus of my new collecting though, has been to explore titles I never gave a second, or even first, glance to as a kid. Archie books, and bronze horror. And I do intend to read those. But when “condition” means so much, reading a comic is a little bit nerve-wracking. I miss the books just sitting on a pile on a shelf.

So after that long-winded preamble, I guess I can sum up my situation thusly: I’m trying to figure out how to interact with comics, and what they mean to me. I can never go back to the childhood days of comics being only for reading, because as an adult the collectability of them isn’t lost on me, and they can be truly beautiful objects. But they are still created to be read. They aren’t art prints. An analogy I keep coming back to would be: if you were a rich man who collects classic cars, would you ever buy one that you had no intention of ever driving? Would you buy a 1957 Chevy Bel Air only to look at it, parked in your garage? Sure, the thing’s beautiful. It would in fact be extremely fun to look at. But to never drive it, ever?

And I’ve read a lot of comics over the years, and a lot of them were great. But the idea of collecting all those runs of books all over again, and then to have to put them all in bags and boards and boxes again, and watch as they eat up all my space…it doesn’t sound like fun. I don’t need to own every comic I ever enjoyed as a kid. I don’t need to own some random issue of Roger Stern’s Spider-Man or Simonson’s Thor. I don’t need 100-issue complete runs. Maybe I’m all superhero-ed out. Maybe that’s a big part of it: I’ve done the whole Marvel Universe continuity thing. As fun as it was, I really don’t feel like reading all those books yet again.

I feel like there has to be some perfect balance I can strike, some way of enjoying comics as reading and as collectibles, in a comfortable format, that won’t take over my entire house and be a pain to deal with. Some series seem like they work better as trade paperbacks (Preacher comes to mind.) I’m considering a part trade paperback – part floppy comics collection that still involves collecting great covers by great artists. But there is a purist part of me that just wants to buy floppies only, not put them in bags, and just store them upright in a box. Like Gaines file copies. Gaines didn’t use bags or boards and look how good those books look.

The bottom line is the more hassle they are to deal with, the less fun comics are to collect. And I want to collect comics. Right now I’m leaning toward a collection of mid-grade floppies without bags and boards, all standing upright in short boxes. For some reason those damned bags and boards really are a psychological barrier to reading. It’s a small thing, but having to take each book out of its individual bag and then seal it back up again when I’m done is just…annoying. Looking at a short box full of books in bags and boards doesn’t make me want to read. But looking at a short box full of comics? Yeah. Those, I want to read.

Thanks for listening.

A pleasure to read it, thank you!

I think this seller could be dangerous for the market, I have no issue with facsmile comic books cover stuff... but here we re om the case of books who even got a copied copyright on the first page. I don't think that the publisher would really agree with this business and more of that these books could fall in the hands of people with bad intention to sell them a original. What do you think? More of that i cannot trust  that some have paid that much for facsmile books... as exemple some coverless copy of an original supes 76 goes for the same price that this poor brand new printed pages. This is sick... 

I totally overpaid... but sometimes you need 

I cannot trust to got this book. 

For me it's in a way the "Detective 27" of Robin.

Here we have "Star Spangled Comics 65" featuring the first solo adventure of Robin! forget the time he was just the febrile teenager on the back of the bat, now the boy wonder is gonna take the whole business himself and punching the bad guys!

I'm sure it's actually a pretty underestimated book, this is an important key issue for a charachter which never stop to gain popularity over time, and also a really rare book with actually only 50 issue on the Cgc Census! The book is starting to really up in value over the last few years, so really happy to found it to a low coast and my advise is that if you r interested in this one is maybe the time to buy before it will be too late! (Yes my last sentence is really look like these poor comics investment channel on YouTube 

Wow! Thanks for all the replies. Some great information here