Moondog

Top Comics are an interesting subset of Gold Key collecting. I never quite figured out where they came from or why; nor have I read about their story. I do remember seeing them at newstands in New York in the early seventies, hung up on those great binder clips above the newsdealer. Even in those youthful years I found such book abuse offensive. Spotting one then was a bit of an oddity as they were no longer in general newstand circulation where I lived although I had picked some up from some used book dealers at that point. If anyone knows the story on this imprint I would love to hear it! I've always been under the assumption that Tops Comics are giveaways. I know American Airlines gave them away. If newsstand dealers were selling them then they were probably buying the dirt cheap and getting a bit more profit on each.

Hey Gary. Here's a Pirate cover for you. Real Smart (1930) Thanks, BZ! I love the vest...

Just keeping the greatest thread in the world alive...

I never saw/heard/read about this book before. Fabulous!

I love the stress marks along the spine too. Now that's authenticity!

Bob Gray and I were good friends back in the mid-80s into the 90's, but I haven't spoken to him in over 10 years...

Finally, middle of the second page before this one was mentioned. Thanks, Theagenes. The funny thing is that this book SHOULD exist...

Thanks, Jon! Very nice!

Totally agree with you. I don't think we'll see the number of multiple ultra-HG copies that we've seen from the Harvey files or Gaines files, but my guess is that more copies exist than previously thought. Maybe with the strengthening of the USD and the increase of supply, the multiples might moderate a bit, because they've been really whacky for the past couple of years. As long as CGC doesn't care about page quality (lots of those Dells are VERY brown) when it gives a numerical grade, there will be MANY high grades.

If I can find it I'll post it!

Gary, I know you had a copy at Chicago con but I foolishly didn't buy it. I got this one off eBay. Is it the same? I know I didn't buy it from you on eBay though ... Could be. I thought the (grease pencil?) 50 sure looked familiar. I love this book!

Another great little series from Fox from the first closing of its doors. You will find the #4 the toughest to find. jb Heck, I've never owned any of them!

Well, you should be grateful you lost those auctions, then. If you feel this disspirited, imagine how you'd feel if you had won the books! I think the moral of the story is that there are likely multiple HG file copies of issues that many had considered to be scarce to non-existent in HG, and collectors should bid accordingly. I personally have been most stunned by the number of 9.6 copies of MOC 20 that have emerged, and am very happy that I did not bid up after the book, even though I would say it is a fairly significant Barks key. Maybe one of these days I'll win one of those copies at a reasonable price. Especially the ECs. Mark Zaid bought a 9.8 Mad 1 and later found that there were two or three others, and now a 9.9 appears. Crazy. I believe I may still have this list somewhere. I know there were multiples of everything except # 1. MOC 20 is DEFINITELY a major key!

That copy looks familiar...

I believe most of those were from this lot. It's my understanding that Jim Payette (or one of his customers) ended up with the hand-picked copies I segregated. Regarding the multiples of the WDC&S - There was only one # 1, but multiples of the others some of which were very nice. I was there for the magazines as I was collecting them at the time. These issues today would be 9.4 through 9.8 - they were that nice.

AJD: It would be interesting to hear which Rosa stories are considered as classics? For Barks, most fans would probably agree that "Only a Poor Old Man", "Lost in the Andes", "Christmas on Bear Mountain" etc. are keys and that the original art would have been the most desirable if it had existed. Any thoughts on Rosa? ciorac: Thanks for the increcible CC photo. As for the V5#4, few people probably realize just how difficult it is to find some of these larger sized issues in nice condition. For several of them, I have never seen a copy better than FN which makes them far more challenging than any issue from V3 and V4. Luckily for my own run, I picked up two nice copies of #4 around 2001 (one of them from moondog, who told me it was the nicest he had seen). Nothing high grade since then. There was a complete high grade set of MMM's that was a precursor to the CC batch. I did not get a chance to buy it, but I did see them and they were all incredible. They looked brand new. Mid and low grades are fine by me these days. This one is pretty solid. The scan makes it look more rough than it really is I almost landed it. Back in the early 90's an accountant for Western was given the opportunity to clean out some sheds and keep anything he found. He had multiples (unread) of MMM from the first color issue through WDC&S around 24 or so. We met in Kansas City for an auction. Fishler was on the phone. So was Geppi. Bob Cook was there representing him. I knew I didn't have a shot at the entire lot with this big hitters, so I tried a little end run. I hand-picked the best copies of MMM and tried to buy them separately from all the stuff there. I offered double guide for just this run, but the buyer didn't want to change the rules. Needless to say, Bob brought the books back to Baltimore... The colors were unbelievable. Deep and rich. The books were flat and beautiful. Oh, well...

Hmmm...BZ's response leads me to believe that the trunk/box has made an earlier appearance. Tracys - very cool, Bill.

What? Nobody notices the cool wooden trunk/box/locker?

Nice! Love that book!

Yes. Maggie relates in the latest CBG how Shel started his conventions in Detroit and then moved to SD.

Very cool clipping. I had no idea that the Detroit Triple Fan Fair started that early. I'm glad I bumped into this. I do part-time security at Ford Field. I told my partner that I collect comics and he started telling me how he used to collect comics. He told me about a guy named Eugene Seger and the huge collection he had. I had never heard of him, so this is pleasant coincidence. Also, a local collector has an original poster advertising the first Detroit Triple Fan Fare. I missed a show where he was displaying it. I've been bugging him to let me take a photo of it. Maggie has recently reported that Shel is very ill...

I'm late to this thread and didn't poke around all the pages/images, so forgive me if these have already been posted. AFR never got the recognition it deserved. Great authors and some great art too.

I can't wait for 2009. I won once in '07 but appears I'm getting shut out this year....

So many books are slabbed now. It's nice to see a nice raw copy like this. Mike Agreed, what a beauty. the guy at bottom left is yelling "they forgot to draw the wings on his ankles!!!!" That dude looks like a reject from a Kurtzman "Hey Look!"

There was 25% more profit if you sold these remainders! I love old weird stuff like this!