underthebigw

That's a great cover! I always liked this Juggy cover: Sweet copy of a GREAT book. I've always wanted a nice HG copy, and have never found one.

Definitely from a different era, but one of my all-time favorite Archie covers. I've always thought there was something timeless about it. (From the stash of hi-grade bronze Archies I found a couple weeks ago-more listed in the TWIYBAC thread)

Glad at least a few people are enjoying them. What boggles my mind is how little appreciation there is for their scarcity in grade. Especially prior to 1975, I think there were very few people who bothered to keep these in nice shape. That's what makes this batch remarkable. They clearly aren't unread returns, but I'd guess were hand-picked without the usual newstand defects. Of course, one or two have minor flaws I didn't notice, but across the board they are remarkable. I wish I could meet the person who cared enough to do this. It could be me, but I almost never see a copy of this book in any condition, nevermind HG. Same for this one.

Sweet books, Dover. I don't know that I've ever seen a HG copy of that Action. You're making me jealous. Back in the early 80's I set the goal of getting all Adams DC covers. At the time, most averaged $3 in NM. It was just impossible to find them, so I gave up. Now, even though there's no love for the Archie books, I'm going to inflict more on everyone. I can't even tell you how tough these are in grade. Unlike most Marvel and DC's, you could look for 5-10 years for a HG copy of some of these and still come up empty handed. The nice thing about this batch was that not only the Archie and the B&V's were there ( which are slightly more common in HG because, I believe, many were in multipacks), but some of the secondary titles like Archie and Me had nice HG copies, which you never, ever see. Hmm. Nothing like that 1970's teen fad, roller derby!! What were they thinking (I'm guessing it had something bizarre to do with "Rollerball")? And is this the only roller derby cover ever published? Hot pants again. I swear, for about 5 years, "hot pants" must have been the topic or punch-line of more Archie covers than anything else. I blame Dan Decarlo.

I mentioned in comics general that I picked up a haul of sweet, sweet Archies while driving through Ohio last week. Without a doubt the nicest ones I've ever found in a comic shop. Structurally gorgeous, bone white covers and pages, glossy covers, just beautiful. Especially the giants from 1973, which are exceptionally tough in grade. I have no doubt that some of these may be the nicest in existence. One painful part--the most structurally perfect books in the bins sadly had a strip of foxing/mold growth along the top back cover. I would have loved to be able to overcome my mold phobia for these. But, they were too ugly, regardless of how they would have been graded. Anyway, pardon the bags--but life's chaotic right now and time is short. Besides, it's always fun to see that gorgeous 35 year old books are still out there for a few bucks. Here's the first batch. One of my favorite BA covers. Another of my favorite BA covers--too bad it's probably the lowest grade book in the lot. Still super glossy and white. Love 1970's hot pants covers. Guess this is more like a hot pants-suite. God I miss the 1970's. How many "Betty doing a split" covers have there been over the years?

I've found lots of 30-cent variants in generic lots I've bought on EBay, and I'm always surprised to find a random 30-center in a long run of books. Often, it's just one or two books, but I've found complete sets of ASM, Daredevil, Defenders, etc when buying sight-unseen runs on EBay. But I have NEVER, EVER, EVER found a random 35-center in any lots I've purchased. Not even once, and as other have stated, these are exponentially harder to find than the 30-cent variants. I purchased this ebay lot in April due to the obvious undisclosed 30-center. I was shocked to receive the lot and discover an undisclosed 35-center! I love stories like that. Back in 2000, a seller on ebay had a lot of IF's that didn't sell. When I asked about his interest in selling them post-auction, he thought he was screwing me by asking an ungodly sum for the "nm" run. I knew the 14 was a variant, since there was pic of it. The lot showed up, and the 13 was not only the only book in nm (maybe a 9.6), but was also a 35 center.

Wow. Go away for 2 days, and look what happens. Nice to see this thread revived. Back in 1999/2000, I passed on a collection that had every possible superhero 30 cent variant in it, in HG (except for the mold that had begun to grow in the bags). As for 35 cent variants, I picked up about 36 of them from one dealer, all from one collection. Why aren't there more finds like this? I'm betting most people avoided the higher priced books like the plague, and they eventually became returns. The ones I found in a large lot were the result of the collector going out of his way to buy both versions off the newstand.

There are NO Canadian variants. Just Canadian editions. Seriously, and this isn't directed at you, but this drives me crazy. Every book printed for newstand sale in Canada in the 80's has the same freakin' price. They just differ from the direct version. That means you'll likely have a grand total of NONE, as these price variants were only distributed to select US cities.

Those are sweet. Congrats Thanks. They're not half as sweet as realitytrips Hulk145. I've never owned a remotely nice copy of that book. Great pickup.

I know I'm one of about 3 people on the boards who care about Charlton cartoon books... but I don't care. These are beyond sweet. Newstand fresh, white pages, with just a hint of storage wear. BA Charltons are just super good looking books in HG. I was pretty psyched to find them.

That 416 is sweet. And one of my favorite Adams covers.

Never saw pence copies of those before. Neat. Here's some more non-spandex fare. These copies are so far above average condition for these books, yet it's still impossible to find anything VF+ or better. I'm determined to finish a set of these from the 70's, but unfortunately it means collecting a few issues of complete drek, like Wacky Witch and Cracky (maybe the new mascot for our polls?)

Wow. After everything you've been posting, all I can say is that's flattering. Glad you like them.

Thanks for the compliments, guys. It's nice to see some other collectors enjoying them. They are way too under-appreciated. Like I said, these books went untouched for 10 years worth of shows, which is crazy. Sadly, when I went back to pick up another batch, someone else had beat me to them. My consolation prize was the Four Color Bugs I posted in the other thread.

Here's the second batch...

Forgot yesterday was a holiday and was tied up with family stuff. And I've only found one stack so far. But here they are. I picked these up from Marc Nathan, who had these for years in his back issue box. The were passed over for almost 10 years worth of shows, and the four colors and Lulu's were apparently just as nice, but had sold years earlier. Man, I wish I was interested in those books earlier so I would have grabbed them. All of these are the childhood books of one OO, who Marc described as "an old, Italian guy" who walked into his store. One more comment--I'm too lazy to remove them from their 10 year old mylites, which are somewhat worn. In almost all instances, any apparent scuffing along the spine and edges is on the mylite. Pretty much the only damage on these is the occasional dust shadow or ding. They are just beyond sweet. This is far and away the most spectacular of the batch--the blemishes along the spine are from the mylite. I honestly never thought I'd own a black cover book from the 1940's this nice. Just to be practical, I'll split this into two posts.....

Sweet book. I don't know how I missed this thread (OK, I do--to much time in general and BA), but I'm psyched to see everyones Dells. This is not good for my collecting focus, though. I'll start posting some GA Looney Tunes I just mentioned in the 4 Color thread tomorrow, including the 15 I just picked up. Man, I'm psyched. (And god, I'm pathetic).

I only own 3 Four Colors, all of which are already accounted for, but I've been meaning to post them since before the 33 was checked off the list. Anyway, I think they all deserve to be shown, so enjoy. 33 has always been one of my favorite GA covers. Too many of the Looney Tunes covers feel like children's books and don't capture the wise- feel of the LT cartoons. This is one of the best Bugs covers, I think. The 399 is sweet--got it off of someone on the boards and can no longer remember who. The 432 is very solid. I picked this up, along with about 30 high double-digit Looney Tunes, from Marc Nathan. They all came from the same OO owner collection of Dells that were owned by "this old, Italian guy" from Baltimore. While this book is solid, the LT's were just absolutely gorgeous, and I think many of them would be 9.0-9.4's if slabbed. All of them have the "B" newstand mark. I just started picking up Dells around 4 years ago, and I wish I had done so earlier because Marc said that the whole collection, Four Colors included was just beautiful.

Let's start the day by inflicting more funny books on everyone. Here's a BA rarity that I picked up off ebay. Truly tough. Sulipa and Overstreet consider it a digest. I think the Charlton digests (all impossible to find) start blurring the line between digest and paperback and I'm on the fence as to which they are. Regardless, they are impossible and this one has tremendous crossover demand from crazy Scooby collectors. Anyway, this allegedly NM bargain ($5) was shipped wrapped in one sheet of newspaper, in a manila envelope. Sadly, it definitely suffered some wear and tear on the trip. I hate to be malicious, but I'm going to zing the seller on this one.

I can't bear to start another Boston report, so I'm just going to post my loot here. Far and away my best find of the weekend was a super-sweet copy of Weird Wonder Tales 2 I picked up out of a bargain bin. You see #1 lots, but #2 seems much more difficult in grade. Too bad it's already lost in depths of my collection. I have no idea where I put it, but will try to dig it out tomorrow. Here's everything else. The Flinstones 1 is probably the nicest copy I've seen (the scan does not do it justice -I'm not sure why my scanner made the pages look brownish--they're super-white), and the price was right. Then, while Nik was examining a spectacular Marvel Premier 15 (I think that's what it was), I picked up this tough, tough book. Some minor storage rubs, but clearly unread. Traded a handful of 20 cent Caps and a few buck for this. I honestly have never seen this and always wondered about what it looked liked. Coincidentally, I then picked these solid copies from Hot Flips (sorry for the sloppy scans but I'm dead on my feet right now).

I honestly believe this is one of the toughest BA books in any condition, nevermind trying to find a HG copy of this. Too much cross-over interest combined with the fact that March of Comics is probably the toughest BA set to complete in grade. I was pretty tickled to get this in mail, along with another sharp MoC issue.

Here's the un-noted 105 variant I picked up on ebay for 50 bucks. Hated to part with it, but it seemed ridiculous to keep it once I decided not to go after the set.

three to five sounds like a prison sentence to me. I hope your prediction is not true for me, as alot of the fun is currently gone. Man, that makes me sad. But I do know what you mean. Toward the end of the 30 cent hunt, I pretty much just wanted it over with. The last few were like a grudge match, and I couldn't wait to return to my normal collecting habits. Then, when I finished, I couldn't remember what I was collecting and just aimlessly picked up books. Very frustrating. Which is why I couldn't even fathom continuing the .35 cent set and stopped at around 60 some books.

Is that including the Dr. Strange #14 orange starburst variant? I believe this is the order of sets completed (excepting the above variant). FlyingDonut Silver&Bronze 4Gemworks Darthdeisel Shieldagent Metarog Canickus Bonas Do we know how long it took everybody? It took me a little over two years from the time I got my first (DD 134) until my last (KC 208). I just did the math, and think I wanna puke. If I remember correctly, it pretty much took me just over 4 years, and that was with plenty of time on my hands and living in Balt., one of the distribution areas. It's just so much easier now, with ebay sellers noting them, CGC actually labelling them, etc. Back in late 1998, when I started, there was NEVER a listing for them on ebay (which is both good and bad), and most dealers had no idea what they were. That made it easy to find bargains, but tougher to get the difficult issues. Ah, good memories of Donut and I trying to race eash other through every box at the Tysons show. (thumbs u

Thanks. I actually haven't been able to find out, and I've been looking for a number of reasons. Only found one bio on-line, and it didn't say.