precodekeith

Thanks for sharing that email, Sterling! Yeah, Doug made similar comments in CBG last month and we briefly discussed it here, but it was nothing of this detail. I think the thing he was trying to drive home in CBG was that horror collectors have traditionally been readers and not speculators, happy with buying up the G to Fine copies. Only in the last couple years has there been a shift to an emphasis on HG BA material, in particular DC and Charlton.

Yeah gang, I don't think IMO that either Ghost or Gentleman Ghost are the same cat as Squire Shade. I think the editors just knew they had a cool looking character & said "this design would make another great horror host." BTW - for you Weird War Tales fans- just saw a flick called DEATHWATCH last night that you may enjoy. It's about a group of lost Brit soldiers in WW 1 who stumble upon an occupied trench &... well. I won't give away any plot. The production values are very high, I was impressed. A little hard to understand the dialogue at times, and plot flow not always the best, but a good way for WWT fans to spend an evening with their favorite squeeze...

Yeah! Red Circle has some great Morrow Covers! Certainly underappreciated on the whole!

Go get 'em, Shrunk! Good choice! I love "the mummy!" Like I said, those Fawcetts can be found without searching for years upon years. They were quite a huge publisher in their day, until that damned DC/ Big Red Cheese fiasco.

I just re-read this one today! Ironically, the classic "House of Endless Years" story has been reprinted in both the House of Mystery digest & Welcome Back to the House of Mystery, each time with different Cain framing panels replacing the original Abel ones. Poor Abel and the HoS.... no respect!!!

The cool thing about Atlas (other than good stories and art) is that they really aren't hard at all to put together in nice little runs IF you aren't a grade freak. They are all over the place in g/vg for $20 give or take. They had some of the best distribution of the times. The downside is that there were just such a GLUT of them out there that even in low grade you have quite a task if you are a completist like me, and it may take years and $$$ if you want them all. I'm not even close and I've been at 'em off and on for 11 years now.

Nah, they aren't tough to get if you wait it out. Fawcett was a huge publisher in their day, and I can only think of one TMIH and one WOF that may have had low distribution off the top of my head. Now, if you're only into HG stuff, I guess it depends on what YOU consider HG and your "cut off" grade for purchasing. Don't expect to throw together a nice run of Fawcetts in 8.0 or better in just a few weeks, but hell, you probably knew that already...

I've always loved that cover! Iger shop had some crazy and oft surreal work!

Thanks, Shiv!!! I'm trying to make each issue better than the last!!

I agree with this 100%!. The reason I think horror is a timeless genre is that it is dealing with "being scared," which is a primal human emotion since the dawn of time. Horror isn't going anywhere, although it may wax and wane in mainstream pop culture popularity. Westerns however only appeal to a much more narrow spectrum of potential buyer. I promise you that more people on this planet can relate to having their well being threatened by that proverbial "boogeyman" as opposed to fighting off savages 'round the wagon train.

Well, it's just one of those deals where it might draw a buyer who may not even be a horror comic fan but has the money to spend on a superior grade GA book as an investment. I've said it time and time again from my own experience, and I've noted that others in the field have made the same observation: "the majority of horror comic fans are readers and go for lower to mid-grade material." Horror, for some reason, seems to draw more of a completionist mentality as opposed to HG NM buyers who are purchasing a nice looking cover that might lose investment $ if opened in the wrong manner.

Myself, I love the BA horror comics, simply because I love HORROR COMICS! The DC material especially has art and story quality that all horror comic fans ought to be able to enjoy. I personally started SERIOUSLY collecting horror with the pre-code books. Pre-code books were all "grails" to me at one time. I didn't want anything to do with a book with a code stamped on it. However, as a kid I had bought and read titles like Unexpected off the racks in the late 70's and early 80's. So, what happens to a lot of collectors my age is that one day maybe we don't have the cash for a pre-code book, or are maybe feeling a little stingy or are appalled by a dealer asking price, and we mosey along elsewhere and stumble upon a BA HoM or HoS and we pick it up for a pittance and realize..... hey! I remember these! They aren't so bad! A friend of mine (and board member here, hehe) traded almost his entire pre-code horror collection to more quickly complete his HG DC and Charlton BA horror runs. At first, I thought it insane. Then I realized that the BA books have a more personal draw/attachment for collectors in my age range. We grew up on this stuff, but ignored it for awhile because of the stigma of that little white stamp. I think that is what has happened in the horror market. Prices were getting out of hand a few years ago for pre-code, and Gen X'ers moved slowly more and more away from that and toward the material that we have memories with. Now, a couple years after the migration, the speculators are joining in and an unslabbed HoM advertised as 9.4 goes for over $300 while a nice VG Atlas pre-code ends on the same day for less than $10 !!! Pre-code horror is always going to do well simply because it is what it is. Hopefully, the balloon inflation days of the mid 90's will never happen again. I know I'm happy to be paying less on average for a book now! If only more dealers will wake up to the fact that more pre-code will move if priced accordingly. In the world of comic book collecting, you never know what is going to happen.....

I didn't say EC's weren't collectible! Nowhere did I state that! There's a huge market for 'em. I sometimes set aside an entire area to report EC sales alone in the Market Mania column of my fanzine. What I said was that for MY money, if I have a choice between an EC reprint for a dollar, an EC LG original for say $35, and a low/mid "other guy" for about $35, then I am going to buy the "other guy" and the reprint, and take a pass on the original EC. Simple. More bang for the buck.

I'm with ya 100%, brother!!! Give me the "other guys" any day! Don't get me wrong, EC was king, with the best quality all around. Like you said though, they were reprinted out the wazoo and easy to acquire for like $1 a pop via that route. If I'm going to drop say $35 for one low/mid grade pre-code, it's going to be on something from the "little imitators." They were often more garish and over the top in order to make up for their shortcomings.

I think it's a little of both, honestly. The Guide is probably "catching up" on some of the more high demand books. I think though the guide has "overpriced" many of the "common" pre-code issues. However, I know of several instances in which books are going for less than guide. In fact, I have made a couple purchases lately that were the same prices I was paying in say 1994 just before things "blew up." I can't tell you how happy I am about that!

Yeah, in the latest issue of my fanzine I note in the market report how there are many great pre-code horror deals right now. In part due, in my opinion, to the recent frenzy in the BA horror area, especially HG DC material. Also, I hope it is somewhat of a "market correction", coming down from the balloon-inflation pre-code craze of the mid-late 1990's. Let's pray this continues to last!!!

No doubt about it. The Star publications in particular had some classic Cole "horror" covers, but the interiors were usually some stinky crime, jungle, etc. material. As an avid "reader" of horror comics, I have to shy sadly away from them for now. My skinny pocketbook demands I buy books I can read for enjoyment alone.....

Bravo! Simply awesome books! I don't think the Iger shop gets enough respect. A/F put out some really kooky/kool pre-code horror books. Gotta luv 'em!

I was wondering when someone would get around to scanning some cool Gold Key & Whitman horror covers! Certainly they are respectable and collectible just as much as the long ignored Charltons. Keep 'em comin'! AAaaaahhh BA horror..... I'm gonna turn on some Led Zep, crack open a cool one, and get into the BA " horror mood" , hahhaha....

Welcome aboard, noob! Oh yeah! I remember those kits distinctly, but I never had the pleasure of owning one. Great looking box art. I think they ran ads for them in several BA horror comics. HHmmmm... maybe I'll start searching eBay....

Hey POV! That Weird Terror 7 is one of my favorite pre-code covers of all time, man! You, just gotta love that perspective!

Anytime! Thanks for the trades! Here's something else for ya, you big Charlton freak! (hope this hasn't been posted already!)

Shiv... your GHOSTS 65 is on the way, brother! Sent the books out priority yesterday. I was lucky enough to get doubles of 65. I actually need 21 more books to go to finish my GHOSTS! AAaaaaaaahhhhh!!!

AHA! I haven't seen the movie, but that might explain why at a show I set up at in early August there were a couple different "hero guys" ( who had dealer tables as well) who were sniffing through my two long boxes of bronze horror dupes and asking me if I had any Man Wolf! Let the Marvel speculation begin!

That's what I call "no carbs!"