CentaurMan

Here's Funny Pages v3#3, one of the other Windex 27's. I'm missing the 3rd, v3#4. Besides being scarce, these books are a bit more expensive than the covers would suggest due to the presence of The Arrow inside.

I already knew about yours, actually. VERY tough book, and one of the 5 I'm missing out of the 24 book run.

I don't have any idea. I know that a 27 is virtually impossible to find, but I'm not skilled at translating that into population numbers. This index is primarily designed with relative scarcity in mind. A 27 is clearly scarcer than a 21, which is clearly scarcer than a 15. Once I've got numbers on a few thousand books, I think it'll be relevant even without the population data. For someone like myself who tends to prize scarcity above grade, it's invaluable. It tells me whether to bid aggressively on a book (because I might not see it again) vs. wait for another copy. It also tells me where to be grade-conscious vs. completionist. It's especially useful in titles where I haven't developed an intuitive feel. For instance, I know Funny Pages. I don't need my Windex tool to tell me when to buy and when to pass. But on a title like, say, Blonde Phantom, it's very helpful for me to know that #16 is easy to find but #17 is super tough. I don't have anywhere near the data that someone like Metro has, but I'm getting more each month and I've got a core competency in statistics, so ultimately I expect this to become a very useful tool.

Now that's a really key issue of Funny Pages to own! Extremely tough to find these books all the way from back in 1938. Any idea as to what the true market value would be on this particular issue? Not sure if this book is fairly valued or slightly undervalued in guide since it is a very early first appearance that is listed for less than $5K in top guide. Maybe it's the humour cover that 's keepig prices down on this particular issue? Thanks; That's a critical Centaur, v2#10, with the first appearance of The Arrow hidden in those pages. I liken it to Feature Comics #27, first Doll Man, which also has a nondescript funny cover, also has very few sales data points, and also sells for many multiples of guide when it comes available. Here's my Funny Pages "Windex" ranking for scarcity (higher is tougher): v1#6:....24 v1#7:....22 v1#8:....22 v1#9:....22 v1#10:..19 v1#11:..19 v2#1:....15 v2#2:....19 v2#3:....19 v2#4:....15 v2#5:....17 v2#6:....15 v2#7:....18 v2#8:....16 v2#9:....18 v2#10:..25 v2#11:..16 v2#12:..24 v3#1:....20 v3#2:....20 v3#3:....27 v3#4:....27 v3#5:....27 v3#6:....24 v3#7:....23 v3#8:....18 v3#9:....23 v3#10:..26 v4#1:....18 35:........19 36:........21 37:........21 38:........23 39:........24 40:........26 41:........24 42:........25 Keep in mind that with books this scarce, it's much tougher to assemble an accurate gauge of scarcity, but I think this is at least directionally correct. Also keep in mind that the single toughest issue of Sub-Mariner scored a 21, which gives you an idea of how tricky even a basic issue of Funny Pages can be. For perspective, other books scoring a 27 on my system include All-American #3, #7, and #10, Amazing-Man #26, Amazing Mystery Funnies #23, and Fantastic Comics #19. For more perspective, I consider ratings of 12-14 as pretty tough, and 15-18 as challenging. Books scoring a 15 on my system include Action #1 and Detective #27. All-American #16 is a 16, and Adventure #40 is a 17. Detective Comics #1 is a 19, while Action #7 is a 20. The infamous Fantastic Comics #3 is a 24. Batman #1 is a 9, and All-Flash #1 is an 8.

Here's a pretty lame cover, Funny Pages v3#5 from 1939. This is a very tough book (a 27 on my scarcity index). I've now got 31 of the 37 issues of Funny Pages, and the six I'm missing are all obscure humor covers like this, very hard to find but not in demand either.

Not only is it an freakin' awesome cover, the actual Solomon Grundy story is quite good. The artwork is only so-so, but the plot is strong. They really capture the non-evil brute mayhem of the "villain" in his very first appearance, and Green Lantern has to get really, really lucky to beat him.

Holy *spoon*ing mother of *spoon*ing *spoon*! $400??!?? My god..... I mean seriously, how the Sam Hill am I supposed to assemble a full run of Centaurs in today's market??? I need to take a walk.....

Adventure #40. Even if it weren't one of my favorite books (see avatar), I'm aggressively opposed to the "feel" of cleaned comics, so I'd be against that 'Tec #29 from the outset.

Here's Wham Comics #2. This one was tougher to find than I had expected.

Wow, that's odd, I log in this morning and see a comparison between two exact copies that I currently own. With both books in hand, I'd easily say the #4. The resto job on #9 was shoddy, while the #4 was brilliant. Bill, do you know who did the work on those two books?

I'm really growing to love Cosmic Aeroplane books. Moving on, here's Comics Magazine #1. This one's not impossible to find, but it sure is tough in any sort of grade due to the paper covers. Significant because Dr. Occult's storyline from More Fun pops in here for 1 issue as Dr. Mystic, the Occult Detective, before moving back over to DC.

Nice! Some of those books are very tough. Lots of underrated covers in there. I love that issue #5 especially.

He does, yes. As far as I know, he's the only one who does. It's a brutal feat to have accomplished. I've got around 240 of the ~290 Centaur books, and I'm not too worried about finding 30 or so that I'm missing, but there are 10-15 Centaurs that are simply impossible to find, even if money were no object. I'm expecting a long, long effort to finish off the publisher.

Church copy of one of Centaur's late fact-based comics:

Man, that's pretty.

Recent pick-up:

hello all... I will still be collecting in 30 years (I hope...gulp!) Batman for me rick So will lots and lots of people. This is the first thing I have ever disagreed with Win on. He may have said it tongue in cheek. You got it.

Yeah, tough to craft a rational argument in favor of the Flash here. Plus, in 30 years when no one collects comics anymore, the Batman will have at least retained some value as a vestigial cultural icon while the Flash will be worth pennies on the dollar as an esoteric curiosity.

Here's a very early Keen Detective Funnies not often seen. Church copy:

I like books from this time period. That's a sharp copy. DC's from like 1952-1955 are fun to collect. Tough to find, not too pricey, and generally fun reads.

Well, it sold before on Heritage for $63,250. Here's the link. The question is, why did it get cracked and re-subbed for the same grade? Does it look like the slightly crumpled upper left corner from the original scan has had any work done on it?

Here's a standard issue of Star Comics, which are generally very hard to find but also in very low demand due to non-descript cartoony covers.

And one more on the same theme I forgot yesterday, by Charles Biro:

Yeah, I know. Sorry about that snipe.

Action 2's? Goodness, just one. And it's likely the only one I'll get. It took me years to find one I though was a decent value.