miraclemet

...when all we had was our imaginations So I've recently embarked on a new collecting area, that of Golden Age Sci-Fi. When I first re-started collecting a few years ago I had a few GA Sci-Fi books, but then turned my attention elsewhere. But now I'm back. I'm going to use this journal to 1) show books I've added to my collection and 2) document books I might be targeting. My end goal is to have an example from each Sci-Fi themed title from the Golden Age, and some examples of non-Sci-Fi GA titles that happen to have a particularly Sci-fi themed cover. As heretical as it may sound, I'm not all that interested in EC books. I think the art on the covers is amazing, and the stories are too (I've read most of them in reprints over the years), but for some reason the book cover layout (with the big title taking up the top 1/4 of the book) just feels boring to me when I see them (compared to non-EC counterparts). Im sure I'll get around to owning some of them, but right now they aren't tickling my fancy. What I am interested in is pre-spacerace images of space. I love the idea that before 1966 we had not seen photos taken from "deep space" (beyond our earth orbit), and that our ideas of "outer space" were still fantastical. Artists and writers created alien landscapes, creatures, and amazing starships to fill this void of information, and I love them. By the time we reached the 60s space was far more realistic, and we knew the nuts and bolts of how to travel there, even if we hadn't done it yet (FF #1 from 1962 had a relatively realistic rocket takeoff to space). But before the 60s it was still a place of wonder, and that's what I've decided to focus on, pre 1960 Sci-Fi comics. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.

I am pretty sure I know who four of them are but the identity of the other 6 allude me.

I remember this, and I remember noticing the comic books on the wall!

two somewhat recent adds... George Perez quick con sketch of Green Lantern... Space Adventures #9 Bethleham

that'd be Batman 66 Action 160 Superman 72 Detective Comics 176 Mutt & Jeff 54 Mr District Attorney #23 Worlds FInest 54

Also... I'll be listing a Rocket Raccoon lot (including RR1-4 and IH271 and more) this afternoon once I get done scanning.

just horror or maybe some Sci-fi?

they're indistinguishable to you... I couldnt tell one member of OneDirection from the other, but there are a billion screaming girls around the world who can tell them apart at 100 meters. just cause you dont get it, doesnt mean there arent plenty who can... (ps. Leo has the swords (blue) Michaelangelo has the nunchucks (wears orange), Donatello wears purple and has the staff, Raphael in red has the knives.

Fixed that for you. While both were done by Miller, Daredevil was good, Ronin was not. You could argue the covers to Ronin were pretty good. touché. (thumbs u -J. did you just include deadpool and venom in a list of the most amazing characters ever created? Deadpool was essentially a rip off of DC's Deathstroke and Venom... Venom was nothing more than a fanboy idea the Shooter paid $200 bucks for back in the 80s...

Big comeback win yesterday though. I do not know what is worse the Flyers goal tending over my lifetime or Wall Street's epic POS oil traders. If your Red Wings sneak into the playoffs then they will most likely play Bruins or Penguins which I can't believe I am saying this, but..........GO RED WINGS! (Pretty cool to have Detroit in the east. East playoff match ups are looking even more intense for the foreseeable future!) Did this topic just devolve into hockey discussion? Hockey is totally in a speculative bubble bloated by the winter olympics and Frozen winning an Oscar. relevant

I think copper (assuming you use the 1991 end date) is far less reviled than the 90s... Just look online at the retrospectives... the 90s are held up as largely ridiculous times...Rob Liefeld, foil stamped, multi-variant, hologram covers, birdcage fodder (thanks to ridiculous over production) that came out with very little substance behind the splash. The post-copper era included a Marvel bankruptcy, a loss of all of the early Batman momentum in the movies (Batman & Robin anyone?), and almost no meaningful product development into the mainstream. Marvel relaunching the whole line with Heroes Reborn, and it being horrible. The 90s gave us Clone saga, some other guy being Batman, Electric Superman, many horrible events (Zero Hour?), Carnage showing up all over the place... The lone good thing from the post-copper 90s was the development of creator rights thanks to Image Comics and other "creator owned" publishing ventures like Vertigo. That is the good that came out of the 90s. But I'll take the 80s copper every time. There are a few good moments in 90s comics (LoEG was good, Marvels & Kingdom Come were good [though they relied heavily on Golden Age], the birth of Image (as I mentioned) and Vertigo, along with creator owned Hellboy and Sin City), but I'll take Crisis on Infinite Earths, Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Miller's Daredevil, Alan Moore on Swampthing, Byrne's FF, Claremont's 80s X-men (future past, Phoenix..) and on and on... Most reviled? Doubtful. Again, you can cherry pick two dozen decent story lines from the CA, without changing the overall reality of things. You can even thrown in the sandman run while you're at it. But from a VALUE perspective it is the weakest designated age, by far. Very few investment opportunities there, and as cool as some of those stories you mentioned are, none of those books are particularly valuable. And I might add, there's a chorus out there that doesn't think some of those stories you mention have held up very well with time. I'm looking at you watchmen and dark knight returns. But like I said, to each his own. -J. and there's the clarifying point. When you say that the Copper age is the "most reviled" of the comic book ages you mean from a "value" and "investment" standpoint. And while I understand the OPs original question included a value component, your statements (up until now) didnt. And "reviled" is more of an emotional/quality type assessment than a monetary one. But now that I know what you mean, ok I'll cede your point. Maybe to investors/dealers the Copper age doesnt represent a lot of big dollar books do the 7 years post-copper era books represent more? That I dont know. But I seriously doubt the the quality of the books from a reading/writing/art perspective are considered "reviled" by the majority of comic fans. Im now going to go do some research on book values; Copper vs Post-Copper. As far as copper "keys" holding up over time... its no differently than Spidey's 60s/70s "issue" type books, the 80s Watchmen and DKR are definitely of and about the era they occurred in (Regan era cold-war/Iron Lady UK era), so sure they aren't going to hold up if you try and read them as fully modern, they are 20 years old and are deeply rooted to the time they were written (since they are "issue oriented" books).

I think copper (assuming you use the 1991 end date) is far less reviled than the 90s... Just look online at the retrospectives... the 90s are held up as largely ridiculous times...Rob Liefeld, foil stamped, multi-variant, hologram covers, birdcage fodder (thanks to ridiculous over production) that came out with very little substance behind the splash. The post-copper era included a Marvel bankruptcy, a loss of all of the early Batman momentum in the movies (Batman & Robin anyone?), and almost no meaningful product development into the mainstream. Marvel relaunching the whole line with Heroes Reborn, and it being horrible. The 90s gave us Clone saga, some other guy being Batman, Electric Superman, many horrible events (Zero Hour?), Carnage showing up all over the place... The lone good thing from the post-copper 90s was the development of creator rights thanks to Image Comics and other "creator owned" publishing ventures like Vertigo. That is the good that came out of the 90s. But I'll take the 80s copper every time. There are a few good moments in 90s comics (LoEG was good, Marvels & Kingdom Come were good [though they relied heavily on Golden Age], the birth of Image (as I mentioned) and Vertigo, along with creator owned Hellboy and Sin City), but I'll take Crisis on Infinite Earths, Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns, Miller's Daredevil, Alan Moore on Swampthing, Byrne's FF, Claremont's 80s X-men (future past, Phoenix..) and on and on... Most reviled? Doubtful.

havent heard anyone who preferred the TMNT actually disparage the AF15 (unless you call saying that the "book is more common" disparaging)

for 30-smoething year olds TMNT does hold a special little place in our hearts, and considing the rarity of the book, and the further rarity in that high a grade yes, having something that rare, but still with significant popularity (though I will cede that Spidey has FAR more popularity) and desirability that was a cornerstone to the Copper age (which many of us grew up in). the collector/investor in me wants the AF15 the 13 year old in me still wants a TMNT1 and if there was no risk, why not enjoy indulging that 13 year old voice every now and then?

If I have an AF15, I trade it for the TMNT #1 If I have the $9k and Im investing it, I invest it in the AF15 (what can I say I like the safe and steady investments) If I win the right to choose one of the two books I'm taking the TMNT. Its just so rare and still desirable in high grade that I'd love a chance to own one if Im betting with "house" money on it.

if all the prizes are relatively equal, then it's not a raffle. "10 mystery boxes being offered @$100/each. Each box will contain a mix of slabs, trades and raws with a market value greater than or equal to $200" nothing raffle-ish here. No winner, no losers. There's no "chase" book, or outlier value (among the lots). Even if 1Cool's raffle had been "$5 gets you a book worth $5 or more" (in which case everyone is at least getting their "moneys worth") the fact that most of the books were in the $5 range, while there were two books worth $75-100 made it a raffle due to there being definitely a few "big winner" books, which entices sales. (this is key)

He's not good at following the marketplace posting rules, but that means he's just a "report" and let the mods scrub his posts... if they get tired of deleting/moving his threads they could give him a strike for "repeated incorrect posting in the marketplace" or something like that... but so far he's just been bad at posting, and no ones reported any actual transaction problems (getting cash, getting books, etc)... oceanavekid - strike Simultaneously attempting to sell books on the boards and eBay. Reposting a deleted thread. guess the mods are backlogged.

so raffle =no mystery boxes = yes ?

Im betting all the schools, churches and other groups dont get a lottery license.... I'm not a fan of them, but at least here on the forums there's some amount of transparency and the community is small enough that anything sketchy could be sniffed out (unlike the ebay ones where there's no way to know if the seller ever actually "paid out" on the chase prize, or if it magically went to his best friend, while everyone else got dollar bin dreck) Also its not like the guy running it is a newbie with 12 posts, 1Cool has been around a looooong time.

I still have one question... Will the Fantasti-Car have a HEMI?

+1 thats a good point, I hadnt thought about the TinTin connection. CGI will be better than a silly padded suit!

I could be wrong, but the rationalization is that with it being the 1st appearance of a Golden Age character (the Sub-Mariner) in the SA universe, it is key because it ushered in Marvel's tapping of various GA characters into the new Silver Age universe. Eventually including Captain America, who did pretty well with his return in the SA. It's less about the specific appearance of Sub-Mariner, and more about what it represented. Kind of like the first Silver Age Marvel "crossover" was in FF12 and showed the ongoing strategy that Stan would use to cross-promote and cross-pollinate the Marvel titles into a coherent shared universe.

He's not good at following the marketplace posting rules, but that means he's just a "report" and let the mods scrub his posts... if they get tired of deleting/moving his threads they could give him a strike for "repeated incorrect posting in the marketplace" or something like that... but so far he's just been bad at posting, and no ones reported any actual transaction problems (getting cash, getting books, etc)...

With Fiction House I'd say the main thing to keep an eye out for is centering. Seems they were not the straightest of shooters when it came to lining up spines, staples and such. A well centered cover is a great find, even if the condition leaves more to be desired.