Ian_Levine

For every great book he has, he also had to buy 500 stinkers.

I don't really view them as stinkers.

I so enjoy having a complete DC collection that I still get a thrill out of the complete runs.

At around the 14th or 15th of each month, the next set of forthcoming DCs get put up on the DC website (if it's the 14th March, the June releases go up today), and looking at the new covers still gives me a buzz, adding new stuff to the collection from The Spectre, Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman, The Atom, Aquaman, The Justice Society, etc etc.

Knowing I have them all, it's great to watch them added to and grow and blossom. Even if all the comics aren't great, the same principal super heroes are still there, adding to the collection.

Here are some more pics of Ian's awesome DC collection...

You know I upgraded virtually every one of those keys since you took those early pics, Gary. I'd forgotten how rough some of them were, compared to the restored but pristine ones I ended up with.

Sorry but I couldn't resist one more as well

Sorry but I just couldn't resist.

Here is a link to several previously unlisted giveaways we mentioned in Scoop . A number of these are M.C. Gaines related and also a few DC's.

The Comic Cavalcade 13 giveaway is one of my rarities that I didn't think you knew about. I didn't think there was another copy about.

I've never seen or heard of that giveaway from Comic Cavalcade 1 however.

All the rest appear to be later ECs, many of which I saw on E-Bay. Of great interest to an EC collector, but not linked to DC.

HI Ian - I was wondering if you got any info. on the History of the Warlord giveaway when you purchased it - was it printed and mostly destroyed or were there only a few test copies printed or something along those lines ?

Mike Voiles insisted it existed when I used to refuse to believe it.

Paul Levitz said it was never made.

Certainly most copies of the 1982 toys did not have the comic.

The few that did were obviously meant to have been destroyed, if Paul Levitz was so adamant that they scrapped the comic.

Therefore it must be bordering on priceless.

Ian, you still have not responded to my question (quoted above).

I sort of responded to it two posts above yours.

I believe that it's quite clear. Ian is saying the book doesn't exist.

It is clear that at some point in the past sixty six years that it DID exist.

It is also probable that there was an ashcan. That's the one mentioned in Overstreet.

But just like Action 1 and Superman 1, there is no reason to expect the cover of the ashcan to be the same as the cover of the comic. Which is further confused and muddied by the fact that I don't believe the comic itself was ever sold at a newsstand, whereas the number two issue was.

What I want proof of, is where that ashcan mentioned in Overstreet, is right now. Does THAT still exist

cause its stolen from DC?

I would think that at some point (probably forty years ago), that is exactly what happened.

Remember all I ever got was a scan of it.

i think ian what he meant when he said you have to much at stake to be objective

is that if it does exsist then you will not have every d.c piece ever produced.

No one could ever have every dc piece ever produced because of all the giveaways, premiums, custom presses, and advertising comics, that no-one, least of all DC themselves, could ever know them all.

Even though I do have most of them.

But I have every DC ever released for sale as a comic.

And if Double Action 1 did exist, then it certainly wasn't ever offered for sale anywhere, so it doesn't count as part of the full set, although strangely, Double Action 2 does seem to have been sold in the shops.

But, I think you have to much a stake here to be an objective observer.

I don't have anything at stake other than the fact that I was fascinated enough to track down what existed and have a mock-up made, purely out of a collector's interest.

Overstreet claims a copy does exist, and was found in 1978 with 4 high grade Double Actions 2's. (See Overstreet 10.) He mentioned the book was saddle stiched. It was even listed for a while in the Overstreet with a value and sale price. It's an ashcan with a B/W cover. There is only one known copy.

I still don't believe this.

It won't be the first mistake to appear in Overstreet.

One known copy.... then where is it

My reproduction of the original artwork is the only authentic Double Action 1 around. If this ashcan had a black and white cover, does it match the ghoul and the wolf cover ?

Ian's photocopy has been debatable. Fishler claims its a fake and Ian's source wont give any background on the "color cover". It could very well be that both copies are real. Until we know more about both copies, the subject is still debatable.

It's not a fake.

I promised not to break a confidence and I keep my promises.

But it's not a fake. It's the real artwork from the time. Whether a finished copy ever did exist and has been lost to the ravages of time I guess is a question that we will continue to ask.

Thanks Ian and congrats on finally getting one of these. Based on the serial number it is possible there were only 2 or 3 thousand of these ordered.

Yes but how many of those survived

If there were two thousand copies around, then the copy you located for me wouldn't have been the first copy to show up for over three years, now would it

Hey Ian, could you post up a nice size scan of the Rain Blo? I have never gotten a real good look at one. Thanks.

Here it is.

The rarest Batman promo by a MILE.

Hi Ian. Did you know there was a Left Behind TPB as well as the regular issues?

 

Earl.

Yeah, I got it.

I agree, these variations are trivial. I was wondering though, if any particular variation perhaps indicated a first print, vs a second or later reprinting, etc. Or as I asked in my previous post, is the first vs later printing largely indicated by whether the printing was in the USA or done elsewhere?

I guess the US ones are the DCs.

Having said that, many of them say copyright DC comics inside, so that in itself makes them DCs in my book, as I collect any promos or giveaways which are licensed by DC to outside companies.

That includes the dreadful Christian series called "Left Behind", which was actually printed by DC, but because so many of the DC staff are Jewish, Paul Levitz wouldn't let the name DC go on the comics.

What do you know about variations among these 11? For instance, I noticed

that these two mini-comics have identical front cover art, but the copyright

info on the back cover differs! The indicia inside the front cover is identical,

and it appears all of the interior pages are identical too.Also the copy on the left has a much heavier paper used for the cover,

a thin cardstock I suppose. The cover on the right mini-comic is printed

on ordinary thin paper.Do you know if there are multiple versions of each of the 11 or has this

variation gone unnoticed until just now?

No I noticed several variations, but decided to keep one of each only, as they weren't different enough other than sheen or thickness of paper to actually be considered variations in my personal opinion. I gave some spares away to both Jerome Wenker and to Metarog.

Congrats on the Rain-Blo Comic. I don't know if the Aquateers comic exists. I have seen another of those Dirt Minataur comics for sale BTW but it was over $60 - more than I want to pay for a 4-page promo!

 

Someone mentioned a Max Steel promo you might want to look out for if you don't already have one.

 

Earl.

The Dirt-Minator is more than four pages. Where was it for sale ?? Given its ridiculous rarity, it's a steal at sixty bucks. I'm kicking myself for not remembering to include it in my photo.

What's Max Steel ?

The Australian DC reprints were published by Murray and others rather than by DC in the US so they are not DC publications.

 

The pence variants were published by DC in the US and shipped over to the UK news outlets so they are DC's.

 

Earl.

Oh by the way, Earl.

I finally got a Batman Rain-Blo gum comic.

Now if I could just find The Aquateers Meet The Super Friends. Do you actually believe it exists

The pence variants were published by DC in the US and shipped over to the UK news outlets so they are DC's.

For me that's one step too far.

I've avoided the pence variants like the plague.

have you posted some photos of this incredible collection yet?...can't wait to see it.

Go back a few pages and you'll see them.

Yeah, and when he gets all of those, he needs to get all of the Australian DC reprints too!

Some of these have original covers not released in the US, and some of these are 300 page comics! I bought one just for the oddity factor.

Despite never setting out to complete the foreign stuff, I have almost all the early British black and white editions, and believe it or not, probably most of the Australian editions (a few thousand).

Hi Ian,

 

Have you determined how many of the Masters of the Universe related mini-comics were printed by DC? The info I've seen says that the first 11 were by DC. Here's a pic of a few of them...

That is correct and I have all eleven.

Tale Of Teela is the hardest, as, for some reason, it goes for about fifty dollars every time one appears on e-Bay

So when this thread falls off again what will be the excuse you use to bump it again?

I don't think I like you very much.

No, scratch that.....

I don't think I like you AT ALL.