Ameri

I never visited his shop but I visited Bell at his house once to pick up a TOS 39 because I didn't want to wait for it in the mail. The only thing I remember was that it was a lot hilly roads going through a quaint suburb. Richard Muchin recently told me that Bell is retired in Miami.

The kid

Yes, there was a path between the glass fronts to enter the store, about 15 feet (?) from Flatbush Avenue. There was a lot of platform to display things inside the two glass areas. I remember a lot of posters and the pulps. First time I ever saw a pulp so it sticks to my memory. I remember never venturing much passed Dottie and her glass showcase because all the good stuff was closest to her. I don't remember too much creaking but I was lighter back then so less creaks I met some interesting people in that shop like Warren Reece who eventually did some Timely golden age articles for Marvel. My friend Mike bought a high grade All Winners 12 and a Cap 38 for $20 each from My Friend's around 1972. That kind of money was astronomical to me. Regarding the Diamonds, I still have contact with Lou. He lives in Long island somewhere. There was a lot of comedy in that bookstore I did a search and I came up with this about My Friend's posted by a Tony D. This was in an old forum thread called "earliest comic shops": "The first book store that sold comics I can remember was "My Friend's Book Store" in Brooklyn, NY. I think I first went to the location on Cortelyou Road in Brooklyn off of Flatbush Avenue in about 1964 or 1965. They were a used book store that also sold back issue comics and magazines. I bought FF #1 there for $8.50. There were boxes filled with back issues grouped by title behind the counter on wooden shelves. The more rare issues, such as Golden Age and early Marvel Silver Age first issues were in binders inside the counter showcase. A friend of mine bought a Famous Monsters Of Filmland #1, with an autograph by Jim Warren on the cover, there as well. The owner was a man named Ruby. He had a price list hand lettered on a piece of cardboard from the back cover of a spiral notebook. The more common and recent issue were in wooden bins and were not in any particular order. Included in this horde were Pre-Hero Marvels which were not as sought after as the Hero comics. He must have had a relationship with the "Passaic Book Store" in NJ because another friend of mine sold some Golden Age books to Passaic and they turned up in Ruby's stock. "My Friend's Book Store" eventually moved to a larger location on Flatbush Avenue. A fire in the 1970's put them out of business."

You were about the same age I was when I frequented the shop. If you know them then you must know Jerry's Trick Shop which might have been closer to Cortelyou. Jerry had his wife working there and his son Bruce who also collected comics. Unless you bought one of his tricks, Jerry wouldn't reveal the secret Then there was Flatbush Books run by Lou Diamond (later called Flatbush Video). Not sure if he took over My Friend's Bookstore or if it was another storefront. He seemed to to be around Newkirk too. Great great memories.

Wow, you have a sharp memory. I was vacillating between Newkirk and Cortelyou but you're right it was farther up by Newkirk. I don't remember the front being elevated though but you might be right about that because the paperback section in the back looked a little lower. The glass showcase was fairly small and messy and I can't imagine a standard cash register would even fit on it. They may have had an adding machine on it. What I do remember was there was a lot of glass storefront to display a lot of comic items for the passerbys. I remember that the better books were behind the glass showcase in little bins that were carefully marked. Mostly key silver age. Dottie used to let me go in back of her to pull out those shelves. To the right of the glass case, I remember two boxes of better silver that you could rummage through and they were called "specials." They had a back stock room as well and Dottie went back there one day and pulled out multiple copies of Avengers 1. I'm trying to remember what was to the left when you entered the shop. It was a more open space. I'm thinking pulps or posters?

I remember this old guy used to hang around the Flatbush book shop and one day I asked Dottie if she had any Submariner books from the 40's and the old guy immediately corrected me with "no, it is not Submariner, it's pronounced Submareen-er. All my friends bought these books at the newsstand and we always asked for Submareen-er and the newsstand guy pronounced it like that as well so please stop with the Submariner stuff because it's wrong."

Thanks for the 1978 end date. Do you know when they opened? I can't believe Paul Levitz worked there. I mentioned this on the Passaic thread, but it was Dotty and her husband Rudy and they had some kind of co-ownership with Passaic. They brought comics from Passaic to the Brooklyn shop and all the comics were in front of the store (the good stuff was in a glass case) and the rest of the shop was millions of paperbacks. I always remember Dotty with a little scarf around her neck and the rubber gloves handling the books. They were way up Flatbush Avenue around Cortelyou Road. There was a mimeographed list pasted on the outside glass with Action 1 $450, Detective 27 $300 and Marvel 1 $500. I asked about them and they said they didn't have them but could get them from their other store. A lot of their golden age was brittle though and in those big plastic sleeves with colored plastic backing that were intended for something other than comics. I had some fond memories at that store.

Doe anyone know if a Rudy or Dottie worked with Passaic? They used to run a bookstore in Brooklyn (My Friend's Bookstore) in the 60's and 70's and Rudy told customers he was co-owner of Passaic.

Do you recall the name of the bookstore in Brooklyn?

Not Robert Bell, but this is from the Bell years, an interesting 1974 perspective on the hobby. It was a pamphlet the seller included with his comics catalog. June 1974 June 1974 June 1974

Here's some goodies Aug 1977 Aug 1977 Aug 1977 Aug 1977 Aug 1977 April 1978 April 1978

:golfclap:those are some unique Wolvertons for sure!

So rumor has it.... Wasn't one of the Leave it to Binky's among the last books he needed? Buzzy 70 or something like that? You could be right that it was Buzzy, not Binky. Yes it was Buzzy 70. I'm the one that found it for him

Pretty obscure

wowzer

Thanks guys. I found the seller's description of my old copy and here's some shots of the book. This was bought from a Jest N Fun Comics back in the 90's. The book was literally torn in half and every page was mended "Alex Schomburg’s first cover for Timely, one of the first bondage covers, and sporting a crazy guy with cut off legs wielding an ax to attack The Angel! Typical Timely mayhem from their first year of publication. This is a great looking yet affordable copy of a key Timely. It's an apparent Fine because of page mending that was performed throughout the book. Apparently, there was a bad rip on every page which necessitated rice paper mending. However, each page has been expertly mended and I have included pictures that provide an example of the type of work done. To the naked eye, the restoration is not readily detected. The cover is beautiful, bright and supple as well as the pages, and it does not appear that any other type of restoration outside of the mending was done to the book. I apologize for the dull cover scans, the front and back covers and lettering are much sharper and vibrant than displayed.The reserve is set at the price I paid for it back in 1993. Don't miss this opportunity. Please email me if you have any further questions. Happy bidding!"

Here's my copies of the above 4 beauties: unrestored 7.0 5.0 some glue on spine Sold this copy and kept the 3.0 because the colors were better. This was an unrestored 2.0 with a spine split.

to the neithers and abstains...why not play fine fine If these are the only 2 USA 7s left on the planet and I can't crack either of them, then I am taking the 1.8. Then I'd do an Ameri "mylar trick" by making a form fit color copy of that lower right missing piece and tape it to the outside of the slab. That would help a "little" with the eye sore missing piece. hey, don't give away my magic tricks

Sounds good to me Adam! Recently, I had an opportunity to line up a copy of the 50 with a 48 and the width was pretty dead on but there was a slight spine roll that may have skewed the result.

I'm too lazy to do each cover so here's a mish mash of RBCC

The funniest part of that cover is "a mysterious bag holds the secret." Looks like a kid holding a log to me. Is that a secret log perhaps? The Captain's log? Very mysterious.

Nice book. I have a question. Is the 50 still super golden age size? I get conflicting stories about that. I think someone said it was and the 51 was sort of a hybrid between super gold size and the narrower run that started with the 52.

dang that's a nice copy and perhaps his best cover here's a pencil sketch he did in 2000

Enjoyed seeing the Feature Books 5 (Popeye) and 7 (Annie). Here's the 8

That's an amazing collection Robot Man! I can't believe that shirt is 57 years old. There was also the Aurora Alfred Neumann model back in the 70's. I built it but it's long gone now. If you had that creative bent, one could do a fine job painting those Marvel figures