ThreeSeas

36 minutes ago, sagii said:

Don't i know it. You can always (mostly) upgrade, but grab a beater toughie if you can in case!

Nice subset, and the cool covers on all these! What was with the 'nephew' thing and the classic cartoon characters? (Donald, Mickey, Porky, Jerry -can't remember if Nibbles was his actual nephew or adopted 'son') 

Only Sylvester was a Dad by my recollection.

I think that the main characters maybe needed a sidekick or two, and suspect the nephew thing would be a lot easier to explain to 1950's America then a dad without a mom. Where's mom? and why aren't you married to her? A visiting relative could be used then if no longer needed they would "go back to their parents".

20 hours ago, Wolverinex said:

What is quisp??????

I used to love this stuff, and coincidentally, when I had a dentist appointment one time as a kid I had eleven cavities at once...yep eleven.

But back to the title of this thread What does Quisp have to do with Aquaman? I think I may need to re-read this maybe as I've missed something.

I used to eat Quisp all those years ago, my older brother liked Quake.Late 60's early 70's I'm guessing. I think at one time I had the beanie with the propeller on top (that Quisp wore). Going from memory here as I had not seen the cereal in ages

On 2/6/2019 at 12:46 AM, the blob said:

My wife wants to flee to Australia given our current political climate, your initial post had me hoping I could make a living selling comics there. Oh well.

My ex did that, fled there to be with her online boyfriend. She's been married to the guy four years now and is still not a citizen. Really hard to become one the way we understand it. The judge in my divorce case said his best friend moved there and it was really hard for him to get citizenship. (my ex had left the country 7 months prior to this and never came back, not even for the divorce date)

The Australian immigration agents or whatever they are called wanted a heck of a lot of information about her. One of her friends had to go and get a copy of her first divorce doc from the county, and then a copy of hers and mine too, plus they requested copies of the birth certificates of our two kids, then they came back checking and verifying any time she has flown anywhere in the last 20 years - we flew to Vegas back in 2000 for her sisters wedding and they wanted to know about that.

Right now she loves it because she is on a tourist visa and cannot be caught working, she said she would have to get a different kind of visa for that. She and her hubby have to leave the country every 9 months to reset her visa. Before she married him she had to leave every 90 days. I only know all this from her online chat with our daughter. I could've been not such a nice person and not helped her, but I wanted to be the better person (I hope).

2 hours ago, jools&jim said:

http://travischarestart.com/#/spacegirl-vol-1/

http://travischarestart.com/#/spacegirl-vol-2/

 

Now that is a comic that could get me back into buying new comics again. 

I used to really like the horror comics in the 70's and I tried to pick up a couple of modern horror comics just a few years ago and the art just made my brain hurt.

In regards to the 10 cent versus 15 cent prices, here are the scans from two different copies I have, of the front cover, indicia, and statement of ownership (if there is any useful data there). They are dated Feb-Mar 1958.

4 hours ago, CanadianGothic said:

Not sure if anyone is still following this thread, but your assumption they are Canadian is not correct.

In 1957-58 Dell released a number of their comics with a 15c cover price instead of the usual 10c cover price. These were test market prices and were sold in Arizona, California and Nevada.

They did the same with Dell Giants with a 30c cover price instead of a 25c cover price.

This may explain the Mickey Mouse comics from that date range I have. Not sure how I picked up three copies of the same issue, but two of the three have a cover price of 15 cents and the other is ten cents. I'm not home so I cannot remember which issue it is. Back in the late 70's, early 80's I used to buy a lot of back issues from a place out of California (mail ordered), so they, I believe, came from that region.

$1,066.98

1 hour ago, Gaard said:

She must be older than the hills by now. I remember watching her many years ago.

I think 76 now. I saw an article online stating that she was going to retire, and also another article stating that she was the highest paid TV personality at 47 million a year salary.

Edit: just read that the 47 million was from 2013, in 2017 she made $147 million.

Kevin.J. Too bad you couldn't take the guy on Judge Judy's show. Maybe you should look into that, she would tear him a new one. (The producers of JJ are always looking for new cases - had a cousin get lawn damage from a drunk neighbor and when he wanted to take them to small claims court, a few days after filing he got a letter from the JJ show asking if he wanted to go in front of her, he didn't but I wish he had.)

On 12/2/2018 at 9:28 AM, Ghastly542454 said:

I collect all kinds of vintage toys from the 50’s and 60’s. My main focus is Marx, Archer, and Ideal playsets, monster toys, Aurora models, Captain Action, and a lot more.

 

 

I am almost certain that I had the Creatures of the Sea set when I was a kid. As soon as I saw the picture of the Manta Ray in the top right of that box an instant feeling of familiarity hit me, if that's the proper way to say it. Would this set have been out in the 60's? Quite a treat to see all of these. Some I've heard of, others were new to me.

RIP Mr. Stan Lee. I've never met him, but feel like I know him just a little bit. My first Halloween costume I ever wore was Spider-Man - this was some time in mid to late 60's. I first heard him speak (for any length of time) in the TV show "Who wants to be a Super Hero?"

Back in the 70's I used 3" x 5" index cards. I think that I was up to about ten boxes of the cards before I used a computer in the late 80's to index them. The program I used was called Dataperfect. This program was made before computer mice were widely used so it is keyboard input only. I liked it because it gave me a total quantity of books along with the break down of which number of which comic I had. One flaw was you couldn't enter issue 0 (zero) of a run, had to enter 1 with a note that it was really issue zero. I stopped using that program in 1992.

Right now I am reading off and on on using OfficeLibre's Base program. Just as soon as I figure out the proper way to link tables and so forth then I'll be re-logging in my comics. I like the modern programs as I can insert a cover scan picture and other information that I couldn't do with Dataperfect. Also another pain with old DP is that I have to run a virtual machine with Win XP or older as it will not run with anything newer. 

Last winter I scanned one of my old homemade cedar long boxes of comics, I scanned the front and back covers, the indicia page plus the statement of ownership if an issue had it. (I am wondering if instead of a database if it would just be easier to keep track of my books just by the scanned files.) I have a file folder for each title, then inside each folder I have each issue listed as number, title, fc (front cover), rc (rear cover, I use rc so it will show up in order after the front cover), In for indicia, and soe for statement of ownership. So inside my Uncle Scrooge folder for example, I have listed the front cover scan as "002 Uncle Scrooge (Four Color No. 456) FC", the indicia page as "002 Uncle Scrooge (Four Color No. 456) IN", and the back cover as "002 Uncle Scrooge (Four Color No. 456) RC", and I would use SOE if it had a statement of ownership. One good this is if I ever wanted to find all of my comics that had a statement of ownership, I could just use the search string *SOE*.jpg. It took me a while to just finish scanning that one box of 425 issues, so I don't know how long it will take me to scan the rest. I figure that when I get back to doing it, if I could scan 10- 12 issues a day in my spare time, I should be done in close to 5 years.

Count yourself fortunate that you got 8.0's. Boy, I'd be lucky if my 70's comics would hit 8.0. The only comics I've gotten that are close to near mint are those I bought when I was an adult, because by then I figured out how you were suppose to handle them.

I started buying comics on my own with my allowance money when I was 10, so 1973 and on. All of those I had from that time until maybe 1979-1980 were well read. Remember those 16 page ad things that they put in the comics in the mid 70's? I used to hate them as a kid and I removed/tore them out - I was so mad that "how dare they put in 16 pages of ads"....I almost want to cry and cringe when thinking about that now  

When I first read this story, the thing that stood out right away was that the finder said how he acquired the books. I thought "who in their right mind would mention that, because they are just opening themselves up for a fight over the ownership (if they were real/valuable)"

If some serviceman did originally own them, then the family could try and claim them as his effects belonged to them, or whomever owned the barn before it was abandoned would maybe try to claim them. Also the person that bought the abandoned property could say that they never intended to discard those valuable chests and the picker had misunderstood his instructions. I just find it hard to believe that the finder would mention all of these details and open himself up to losing them (once again, based on them being the real thing, which after doing a lot of reading, I am in doubt)

In regards to ethics. I've watched PBS' Antiques Roadshow for years, and I do not recall any appraiser or anyone else for that matter, ever tell someone "you need to go back and give so and so some more money because that item you bought for two dollars is worth twenty thousand". It seems like every show has some type of item or items that are bought dirt cheap and turn into high dollar items, and never once did I think "hmmm maybe he needs to kick some money back to the original owner.." Or are the ethics different because in comics we have a pretty good idea what books are worth a lot ahead of time versus neither the buyer or seller of some antiques being aware of an items value until appraised? So in other words, it's not unethical to get a good deal out of ignorance? I just go by my instinct - if it doesn't feel right, then maybe it's not...

Which story or stories I like the most? Too many to list. When I think of Barks' stories, what pops into mind is Christmas at Shacktown, the Andes story, the Fountain of Youth story, the African Adventure where they peel off part of a ticket book and all scatter for their lives, and many more. Most of these I haven't read in over 25 years so I cannot remember the titles.

But I'm starting to reread them. I just got one of my old Abbeville Press hardcover books out last night (The Best of Uncle Scrooge, that one I bought in '79). I had forgotten how small those reprints were. I didn't need reading glasses the last time I opened that book.

Next I'll probably go to the 30 volumes in ten slip cases set in B & W, but I may skip those and go right to the color reprints. 

It's a fun adventure.

50 minutes ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

Amazon has a digital sale up right now DC first volumes for $4.99. Each of these trade paperback books average 200-240 pages.

So why would the average comicbook reader want to a buy a floppy with about 22 pages for $4.99, while they can get 200- 240 pages from Amazon for the same price?

See drive a half hour out of my way to pick up a 15 minute read for $4.99

or

order a 1-2 hour read delivered to my Kindle instantly for $4.99?

A real tough decision a comic book reader has to make.

lol. 

 

 

Yes, you do get more story for your money with digital comics, but I guess I am old school as I like my paper comics. I do read a bunch of different comics online too so I am not against digital comics, it's just that I, as a collector, want a copy that I can hold on to.

For me, sitting at home I want a physical comic, but if traveling some place I would rather have digital access. 

Right now I am debating whether I want to continue scanning just my comic covers or maybe scan every page front to back so as to have a digital copy I can read any time. If only it didn't take so much time to do it lol.

It's been a while since I have bought any new DC comics, so yesterday I had to pick up a few things at the local Walmart, and while there I thought I would look for the 100 pagers. I finally found where they keep their collectible cards and sure enough, they had some DC comics, but not the 100 page giants. Instead they had $5 three-packs. So I got three cover price $2.99 comics for five bucks. Let's see, that comes out to a price of about 55% of cover cost or 45% off, however you want to look at it.

I bought four packs for the heck of it. If anyone wants to know what I got for my twenty bucks:

The New 52 Future's End 7, 8, 14, 15, & 17.

Supergirl (rebirth) 1

Harley Quin (rebirth) 1

Batman Trinity (rebirth) 1

Batman: I am Suicide (rebirth) 1

Batman: Eternal 23,

Grayson (the new 52) 4

Infinity Man and the Forever People: Future's End 1

They are dated from 2015 through 2017

So for a $1.67 each I'm not complaining, That is until you all chime in and tell me you can find these in the dollar bins at the lcs's lol, but that's okay, as long as I get my entertainment value out of them.

Anyways it appeared that there were enough comics there that I didn't envision them running out any time soon.

Five dollars today is probably what it felt like when I spent a dollar or so back in my childhood so I see this as a good thing. And anyone buying this hodge-podge of different numbered issues may end up going to the local comic shop to get the missing issues so as to have a complete story. I have to believe this is a win win situation.

I too, own some of the Spire Christian comics. My grandparents, who got me started in comics by buying me two or three a week, for a while they were getting me the Spire comics. I can remember how upset my little 10 yr old self was at getting these instead of the usual standard Archie comics. Now after all these years, I'm glad to have gotten them and really thankful to have had grandparents that did that.

I do not recall having received any non-Archie Spire comics but I may have. I'll have to check my list.

The Slings and Arrows note states that they were only to be in Christian bookstores - I never knew that. My grandparents must have occasionally shopped at whatever Christian bookstore was in Saginaw MI back in the 70's.

Wow, Badger and AJD, those are beautiful books.

I finally got a chance to hit some garage sales. Went to a city wide sale where typically comics are as rare as hens teeth, but I was able to find a couple of comics for a dollar each. The Huckleberry Hound is No. 39 from 1969 and the Donald Duck is one of a type I've never heard of being a European version and all. It is strange how "sleepy" from the Seven Dwarves is on the cover instead of Donald, but when I got it home I realized it was not in English. I've posted the front cover, back cover, and indicia of this one in the hopes that someone here would be able to tell me a little bit about it.

26 minutes ago, thunsicker said:

And Adolescent Radioactive Black-Belt Hamsters.  Oooh or The Elementals.

Fish Police, Boris the Bear, ....Ohh man, one by one you all are listing my collection. Yep I bought them all back in the day, but at least it was for cover price less my discount. I should have sold them when the selling was good. And anyone remember the Fish Police Animated show? I remember watching it.

I can remember back during the Black and White craze in the 80's there were more than a few books that shot up to the $10 to $40 range only to fall way back down. I do not remember ever paying more than cover price as my then LCS was good to me and made sure I got the issues that I was reading/collecting. 

22 hours ago, BeholdersEye said:

Easy!  Just tell them to:

1) Go to eBay

2) Type in the title of the item them have

3) Click on "Sold Items" on the Show Only category on the left tool bar side

4) Sort by Lowest, or Highest or Most Recent to show the historical precedent of actual sales to get a good range and recency analysis 

5) Then, unclick "Sold Items" to see who's selling the same item in question, if there's any bids or "buy it now" offers to see what the competitive landscape is for the item being sold now.

There's no need to explain more or do any work for these people, even if you know info, it's speculative at best, and this is the best way for pedestrians to get actual valid information of actual transactions... since a comic shop can put up a comic book with a price tag of $50 all day long and if it sits on the shelves, it's probably not worth $50 or at least isn't a bargain, otherwise someone would have bought it, so he simple fact that it's available for purchase tells you the price might be too high. Same with eBay and all of the "Buy it Now or Best Offer" listings or those with a high minimum bid yet no bids that keeps getting relisted waiting for an impulsive sucker who doesn't comparison shop.

To all of you who get pestered by the same "what's my comic worth?" question. I think that the above items 1 - 5 should be either printed on a business card to hand out, or on a big sign under the caption "What's your comic worth".