miraclemet

Jesus h Christ on a cracker. Those inks! Those colors! I'm gonna need a minute.

great cover Timely! anyone know how to get a hold of Ron Murray of BIG RONS COMICS in FRESNO CA?

Also here are some more books, will check on release dates when I have time (and energy) tomorrow... these were books mentioned as purchased here on the boards (mostly in the "Have a Cigar" thread) Mary Marvel 5 Thrilling # 60 Thrilling #61 CGC 9.2 Okajima Thrilling #63 Thrilling #66 back is date-stamped April 12, 1948

Again, this is why this collection is so amazing to me. Look at the cover subject matter. Look at the hero killing a Japanese officer. And these books were being bought by a girl who's parents immigrated from Japan, and she bought them while in an Internment camp. Stumbled across this scan in some mycomicshop.com archive from a past sale/auction. This is another early book in the collection ('43)

Have not seen or heard of a single one (Bats or 'tecs) . Maybe there were some in the collection and they got bought (and vaulted) early when the collection was first discovered? No Actions either... and just one Superman so far. Also no Worlds Finest. Seems like quite a hole in the 1200 book collection. She did love her Fiction House though!

Here's one you dont have Griff Red Dragon #7

And Flash #54

Startling #24

this is comicdey's Jungle 54 (not sure if there's a better scan out there, I'll keep looking)

Here's SuperMagician v3n1

I think most of these were dug up by me here on the boards... let me see what i can find....except for the Superman, that one is visible in the video I linked to in the earlier thread (the dealer describes the date note on it). I have not found a scan of it, just the video. here's my More Fun 98

Here's another camp era, post -script/code from late in 44.

Did the story of her being in the camp come from one of her relatives? I ask because the background note posted earlier indicates that she was identified through a search of names in the National Archives, which would seem unnecessary if the story was already available from relatives. Here's the link in the thread to the pedigree certificate that has come with some of the Okajimas (depending on which dealer they came from) http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7335203#Post7335203 This states the story, and if you look back to earlier links there's a video interview with (name eluding me at the moment) who reiterates the story. The national archives search basically corroborates the story that was given by the family during the estate sale to the winning bidders. I dont know that the original bidders (who each got 1/3 of the 1200 book collection) knew ALL of the details (which camp, when her and the family entered and were released from the camp) and I've been making inquiries to some of the early owners of chunks of the collection to see what sort of info was passed along (verbally or otherwise).

Timely thats amazing. Thats the second earliest Okajima I've seen, and the earliest one with date/code markings. The Startling Comics #24 has the "okajima" -script, but no date or code. Im guessing that date note is 1-1-44 (its hard to read) and it looks like a "1y" notation... which would be the first book from the "1" series of notations.

That's a new one for my list! Think I'm going to have to dig through your registry! And maybe your journal....

yep, but for that whole year we've only uncovered two books. And they dont even have the same markings. And the Supermagician has the same marking as the '44 Mystery Comics 4 (10/21/44) (which has a date stamped) Wonder if the camp stopped getting as many comics, or if she wasnt able to buy as many... or what...

Dang, no markings. Wonder if there's a date stamp or a hand written purchase date on the back... I wonder what happened in '45 to make her change the way she tagged her books.

Im not sure the validity of Murray's information about the books being ordered and shipped to her at the camp for a few reasons. 1. He mentions that the code markings on the camp books could correspond to housing or bunk assignments, but when you look at the markings thru the camp era collection it is obvious that they are used as some sort of filing/order indica by the original owner. 2. I wonder if his assumption that they were shipped to her had to do with the fact that the comics were discovered wrapped in bundles in packing paper (as if they had been shipped). But I always thought that was just how she (or her family later) stored the comics. I wonder if he knew that there were PXs on the camp grounds where comics (and other goods) could be purchased? If someone else was sending her the comics from outside the camp I would have assumed a more "girl-subject" slant to the subject matter of the books (especially in that era) versus what was actually purchased. The idea that Okajima was interred from July of 1942 until Nov of '45 (I dont know this, but Im working under the assumption that most people were processed into the camp around when it opened, and were released when the Internment act was repealed and the camps were closed) means there's a lot of gaps in the camp era collection. I am aware of zero books form 1942 or earlier (and I'd assume she was not able to bring any books from her home to the camp when they were brought in) I only know of one book from 1943. My list is largely from '44 when the "okajima" -script appears on the books. By '45 (when she would still be in camp) that marking stops appearing and there's examples of date stamps, but there arent many '45 examples out there (Griff has found two)

Griff, Did you have a scan of Wow Comics 34? Does it have the date stamp like the Supermagician?

"Alan Bahr, owner of Heroes Comics in California, got 415 books..." which means there are just over 1200 comics out there.

Just want this information to be available in this thread as well. Original Source

And looks like Adamstrange used to own Venus #14. "I used to own the Okajima copy of Venus 14 that was also a "T" code so that does look suspiciously like it might be an Okajima."

plus it would be the 3rd Venus comic in her collection that I've seen (#5, #9 and #15) Venus #10 is one of my favorite Sci-Fi covers... wonder if she had one.

seconded. back cover marks seem less consistent. The front cover distribution mark seems consistent with the early 50s ones.

But is Columbia Comics actually a dealer buying for resale? Yes, and we're gonna have to live with it. There are plenty of dealers buying for their stock here. If they see a good deal, why wouldn't they? yep and there have always been dealers here. They buy, they sell... we get first dibs (often) on stuff they are going to take to cons as inventory. This time of year the dealers here are stocking up on the stuff that moves so seeing them grab the IH181s and the IM55s and such shouldnt be a surprise to anyone who's been here for a Jan-March buying fest before.