Robot Man

Kinda slow here these days with the "Con of the Century" going on. Plus I am stuck in my wife's antique show booth helping her out. (Not that I didn't drift around and pick up a couple cool beauties for myself!). There are always a few of those people who have cool things that are just "out of place" in the room... Recently I was able to pick up a very cool pair of books from a boardie who was kind enough to cull them from his collection. Initially, I bought them for the covers. I collect (or rather accumulate) Baseball and Football covers. I also like Motorcycle covers and toys from another life long passions of "iron horses". These sure fit the bill. I also bought them for 2 other reasons... One was a slabbed Edgar Church issue and priced VERY reasonable. One can never have enough of Edgar's old books. The other was a fat GA issue of Boy Commandos also VERY reasonable. Now, I know these have seen their day and are very unloved these days. Not a huge Simon and Kirby fan, but these fat WWII issues are always a very fun read for me. I opened the package and went right away to that slabbed Church book. Smiled at the silly cover, turned it over glanced at the back cover then inspected it to determine why the folks at CGC would put that big "6.0" on the cover. Cool, maybe 5+ minutes of fun and put it aside. The Boy Commandoes, I checked out the nice group of wartime Harley's in Jack's style and opened it up. Checked the condition, counted the pages, smelled the paper (you all know the drill), then sat down and enjoyed the stories, the house ads (dreaming I had all the ones pictured that month and wondering why a kid selected this issue over other obvious choices to me). Maybe 15-20 minutes at less than half the cost of the Mickey Finn. As much as I appreciate slabbed books, understand the need for them and appreciate the extra value they add, they just leave me cold. I know, you can crack them... and I have but felt no need to on this one. The Boy Commandos, I had a "relationship" with. I had fun with and was happy with the money I spent on it. Now days, there seems to be so much attention to the big number on the slab and the front cover. Most folks have no desire to open them and enjoy them for what they are, kid's comic books. Books that transport us to a happier place where life and money sit in the back seat. There are a fair number of us that still remember the wonder of buying these and actually reading and enjoying them. You know, spotting it on a spinner rack, getting a few and sitting in the back of the station wagon on a long family trip. Reading the hell out of them and trading among our friends. As collectors, getting the last issue of a run you love, reading it and that feeling of a quest is over. So I ask you? Is the original thrill gone? Is it really about having the biggest number, posting it on Instagram or here. Having other collectors oh and ahh for a couple seconds and on to the next pretty thing? Am I missing something about graded books? Is it just about the money and the big number or are there still big kids like me that get that "thrill" about getting a new comic and devouring it?

Originally, before I ever saw it, it was just another number on my want list. When I saw it, I was blown away. I love surealistic covers and this one would make Dali proud!

I also like black ones. Condition be dammed but just LOVE those freak of nature high grade ones...

Was looking at some books today and had an idea. We have had several threads on showing us your (what ever color) books. Was thinking about my favorite color books. You know, the ones that grab your attention mainly due to the main color of the cover. Not a title, a character or single piece, the ones that are saturated with your favorite color. My favorite color is green. The color of nature, calming and cool and the color of money. Ha, ha, ha!

I have collected comics since before there was a guide... I have seen the prices rise every year since it came out. I never in my wildest dreams thought they would be worth what they are today. Overstreet’s opinion has always been to take a conservative approach to pricing. It has been good for the hobby overall. This approach has always been supported by dealers and collectors alike. Is it always accurate? No, but healthy for the market. I will approach just one current example... LB Cole books. I remember probably 35 years ago when I was introduced to them by Redbeard. Never really noticed them before and boy were they cool (and cheap too), They were off the radar to most collectors. I bought as many as I could find. Then the prices started to rise as people discovered them. The prices started to climb very fast and soon they just wern’t affordable anymore. I moved on for a while. A lot of people were left holding the bag when they stopped selling at (for that time) for nose bleed prices. Eventually, the market crashed and when they did, I was back in. In the past year or so they have started to spike drastically again to a level I have never seen. This seems to have come from a few opportunistic individuals and like rats to the cheese, the lemmings have swarmed to them. I ain’t buying the hype. I will wait until the swarm clears to start buying them again. And if you want you can slip in Matt Baker, Planets, and PCH in place of LB Cole if you want. They have all followed similar patterns as long as I’ve been collecting them. My question is, is this accurate or good for the hobby? I say no. People are going to lose a lot of money and many will leave the hobby. It has historically been the case for as long as I’ve been in it. Should Overstreet be caught up in this fury? As fast as they go up, they WILL come down as the market adjusts. We all agree that the Overstreet guide is out of touch with our ever changing market. LB Cole books are just a microcosm of our hobby. How on earth can we expect a yearly guide with thousands of books be completely up to date? I for one, (maybe old school) still believe that a conservative approach is much more healthy to our hobby. I think that prices in the “guide” (the word is after all guide) should go up AND down at reasonable levels to protect it’s self. And, no matter what you think about the pricing (which seems to be the most important aspect of this hobby to many), there is, and will never be, any more important book ever produced for information and history in our hobby...

Great run and congrats! Gotta crack that white mountain...

Congrats! My favorite GA DC title. Haven’t picked on up in years, just never see them...

If you are talking a GA GL 16, I believe Mike Carbo had one at Torpedo on Sunday.

Well frankly, his goal was to make money. But along the way created an American institution and made several generations laugh. MAD will be missed by many...

Will be interesting to see what you SDCC attendees think of the prices. If I were you I’d box dive Terry, Harley and Jamie Graham. They all told me they were saving their stuff for SDCC... Also hit Steve Ritter as he wasn’t at Torpedo and his box stock will probably be pretty fresh...

You local guys might appreciate this... we all know that film flam rip-off man Angelo. I can’t figure how he stays in business but like a roach he keeps coming back. I have almost never bought anything from him. He is also very annoying. On my way out of Torpedo, I got caught by him. I usually avoid him like the plague. While listening to him yap about what I had in my bag to sell him, I noticed a book on his wall that I really wanted. Asked him the price. It was crazy not real crazy like most of those sellers but way too high for me. Was about to hand it back but I could tell he was having a bad day. I took out some cash (less than half) his asking price (now a real bargain) and waved it at him. He started to whine but I stuck to my guns. He couldn’t take his eyes off that cash. I walked away. I got down to the end of the next table and who should show up? Walked off with a real nice book I’ve wanted for years, cheap and I took a desperate Angelo the roach to the cleaners. Good times!

We already picked that booth and most of those dealers at Torpedo last Sunday...

Post some of them. I love those “freaks of nature” and get what you say. I remember about that long ago going to a guy’s garage full of comics, pulps and paper. He had full runs of ECs which what I wanted bad. He wanted to sell them in full runs. No way I had the money. I was crushed. So he offered to sell me just all the annuals for a hundred bucks which was what he knew was all I had. He also threw in the run of Piracy because I loved them. I even had to leave a Timely Subby #1 due to lack of money. I made several trips back when I could save up some money. Asking my parents for a loan for comic books would never happen. Other kids were making trips there as well. He seemed to have different stuff every time I went there. One day I showed up and the garage was closed and empty when I looked into the window. No one answered the door. Never found out what happened to him and that wonderful garage. I still think about it once in a while and can still smell all the old paper... And welcome to the boards!

Brian Peet’s had a family emergency. Missed him and Ritter. Two of my favorites...

You just gotta be on your game with GA. Watch the boards, eBay, big auction houses. Some books like those Features are hard sellers. Others like romance and maybe that Crackajack are on the rise. The cover on that Marvel Family makes it a hot seller. I just don’t “make offers”. Whatever offer you make is usually turned down and quoted to the next guy. Even if you make a fair or generous offer. A seller needs to know what they need to make on them. Unless I want books REAL bad, I will walk from that situation.

Nice motorcycle cover! I was happy to pick up a nice Prize #42 at Torpedo on Sunday from an un-named major dealer. Paid up a little for it as well. Was pizzed to come home to find the centerfold missing! My bad, I should have checked I guess. I emailed him on Monday to send it back. Haven’t heard back but he is at SDCC. Will see how it goes. Amazes me that a major dealer doesn’t do a page check on an expensive book. I can forgive an occasional oversight if he does the right thing...

Nice picks and a great assortment! Looks like a lot of us got lucky in Jeff’s boxes. His prices were pretty high on some stuff but real low on others. On his later Dollmans (best part of the run in my opinion), seemed to be priced with $40 or $80 give or take even though they were in similar condition. Have them or not, I should have bought all he had in the $40 price range. I think those “have legs”. Plus they have Torchy! I got a Dollman 41, and an LB Cole Target in presentable or better shape for $30. each as well as a nice Planet 23 with a neatly taped spine cheap I thought as well. Nationwide (Ritter) wasn’t there sadly. Neither was Brian Peet’s who as of this year has given up SDCC as well. That Komi Pages looks like a Bedrock sticker who also had a lot of good deals in his boxes. Was a great show. Sad to think it’s now a year away...I talked to both John and Steve and they both assured me they will be back next year.

Interesting Jimmers. Yeah, never heard that. I believe it was “A town without pity”. Love is like he was showing his influences at an early age. I believe he was around 20. Probably just before he went full rock-a-billy with the Stray Cats. Playing a Strat instead of his signature Scotty Moore Gretech guitar. And as sacentaur said, he is the definition of “cool” in my opinion. He and I have similar backgrounds. Raised in a house with blues, jazz and ‘50’s rock’n roll. We both love hot rods and vintage motorcycles. Unusual fact. He started out as a horn player. One day while listening to the Beatles “Honey Don’t” his dad came in and started singing along. Told him it was an old Carl Perkins song. He took up guitar and his signature look from Carl. Much like my mom told me I was listening to a Muddy Waters song while listening to the Stones.

This ain't comics, toys or junk but I've been rocking this morning a bit and thought I'd post this for the cool kids. Damn this kid knows his way around a Gretsch guitar! Ain't it sweet? Hey it's my thread isn't it?

I figured out what a gem it was many years ago.

Brutal cover. Maybe this was an inspiration?

Don't forget that cutie the Black Cat...

Or just Sharon. Biggest heart on the boards...

Cross post but this deserves to be here too...

Not one of my favorite Coles either but I couldn’t pas it up for that price in this current marketplace...