jcb193

I had already asked them before posting here and they gave me a somewhat satisfactory answer (though it didn't help that my books have already been graded). I was curious if someone knew why they hadn't or whether I was mistaken in his first appearance. He's a pretty major character in the Vertigo world, so I was shocked when my books came back without it. CGC response to my inquiry: "First appearance label notations are made at the discretion of the CGC Grading Team. You can find this information by visiting the CGC Census which will include the Key Comments, Art Comments, and First Appearance notations. If you would like to request a first appearance update or inclusion to the current label, please include a note along with the book in your submission (post-it on comic bag)."

So we have 1st appearances of Batman's bicycle and Zantanna's wand (/sarcasm), but we don't have a 1st appearance designation of Timothy Hunter. A character who is central to hundreds of comic book issues? Books of Magic #1.

Any other thoughts on this topic?

Any other thoughts on this topic? I know in the Jon Berk auction, in the descriptions, he seemed to place more importance on Famous Funnies: Carnival of Comics than on Funnies on Parade. CGC lists Funnies on Parade as the first comic book though, and it's hard to find research on these books. Just curious for more thoughts on these five books:

I think I preferred the way Gator phrased this news to me, but I can take it Thank you for the further verification. I was outgunned big time!

This might have been mentioned before, but is it safe to assume these were all presssed, cleaned before being graded?

Wow, thanks for the kind words @lou_fine !!! Very complimentary. I was pretty emotionally tapped out of right at the end of that book, so I figured the best was to help my mind process what had just happened in the last 30min was to write about it and assume some other people could relate. Obviously, looking back, it could use a little more editing, but I left as is. I've been collecting comics for most of my life, but this auction put a ton of books in the spotlight that I had never ever heard of or seen before. It was really hard to allocate my resources. We all collect comics at a different level, some in the $.10 bin and some in the $1,000,000 bin. This book was stretching my limits, and within a really short time period. Even a week later, I'm not totally sure what my max should have been You have to put a limit somewhere. But what an awesome ride, and one I'll remember for some time. You win some, you lose some. I was bidding against an infinite bidder, so it wasn't meant to be. Next time I'll just do $100 bumps and try to catch him with too many bidding windows open Thank you everyone for the kind words and support. I'm new here, but have lurked for awhile. AMAZING community you have here. I'll keep my eyes open for the Funny Picture Stories, but it wasn't so much the theme or racial covers, but the Star Comics #3 was a cover I recognized from Overstreet in my youth and it had enchanted me and stuck with me. As a kid, I didn't know that comics of that nature, type, or age had even existed outside of Superman, so the art and concepts from a totally different social time stuck with me. So if anyone happen across another Edgar Church High Grade Star Comics 3, give me a shout

Wowsers. Someone want to do a recalculation of the Edgar Church market value after this auction????? We're talking small country level now....

It does, and now I feel a little bad that I cost them more than they needed to spend, but I figured there was someone out there that wanted this at any price, and I couldn't compete with that. Grats winner! I gave it my best shot!

Here's my story from tonight: I've always wanted a Church comic to own, but I didn't want it to be some random comic book that I had never heard of, and the popular ones are obviously well out of the range of us mere mortals. Star Comics #3 was a book I remember being fascinated about as I read through an old Overstreet book on my grandfather's floor. That was the only Overstreet I had ever seen and I read it from cover to cover every summer I visited. I'm not sure why this Star Comics stood out to me. Maybe the rarity, maybe the fact that even as a kid I knew what a different time it was in the past and how out of place those characterization felt today, but I always was enchanted by the book. When I saw the Jon Berk collection come out, I immediately knew I would be targeting this book. It stayed below $4000 all week long and I thought to myself "well, there's little to no GPA on this book, and the GPA is around $1000. There's only 7 graded copies, but maybe this one will slip past. It's barely even mentioned anymore, and even on internet searches for "racial covers" or inappropriate covers of the past, it rarely comes up. Maybe people's memories had moved on from the book and maybe I could sneak a nice sentimental win. Even if it wasn't worth $4000, I could justify that for a book I could cherish. Well, I set a limit in my head of $7000 (though assuming it might go to $10,000 since it was a Church with at least some notoriety). Bidding seemed to slow down around $6000. I started to get happy. Could I win this? But every time I put in a winning bid, one of two others would come back and take it over. I started to notice the patterns of the bidders and I think it was down to four or five of us. I put in a strong bid of $7600 to try and scare some of them away, and a few people tested the limit, but seemed to be reaching their max with bids of $5999 or $6999. Was I close to winning this? But it started to climb $1000 at a time. Soon we were approaching $9000 and I gave myself a new limit of $9100. Then I gave myself a limit of $10500 (maybe the other people had a cap of $10,000). But it kept climbing $200-$300 at a time. We were each trying to just outlast the other. By this time I guessed it was me and two others and as we hit $11500 I decided to bow out. I continued to watch (probably a bad idea) and watched as the clock ticked down to 25 seconds. I thought in my head about what books I could liquidate and if I could do so in six months and decided to jump in with $12,200. Images of selling off high grade silver age Batman books began to dance through my head as I wondered to myself: is this book really better to hold on to than Batman???? I kept reminding myself of the sentimental value, but let's be honest, nobody wants to buy a book that is overpriced. I rationalized it by thinking "it's a Church. It's the highest grade by far on a super rare book. It has some historical significance," as I keyed in my final, final, final, final price, I was quite sure that it was down to me and one other guy. I began to remember the old Golden Age adage of bidding against one other person and how you can quickly over-value a book. Maybe this guy is prepared to go to $25,000. Maybe he needs it for a high grade set and will win no matter what. Maybe he's just like me, trying to outlast the other. But then I thought to myself, only 3 of us thought this book was worth more than $8000. I just can't afford to take this book any further. In comic collecting, the "value" is never my chief concern, but I also didn't want to bid a book into the stratosphere that only two people thought was worth that level. My pulse quickened I finally thought to myself, well, I'm already in $12,200. What's another $1000. I can try to sell off a Showcase 30 or something. Let's get this book. I keyed in $13,000 and then the longest 3 minutes of my life. Around 1:45 remaining with me still in the lead I began to worry that I was grossly overpaying, and on top of that, how many books would I have to sell. Did I need the 6 months interest free program? Would I still value this book a week from now? 1:01 remaining. I continued the dreaded self-doubt. I began to think "please outbid me, please outbid me." I could afford the book. I wasn't in dire straights, but a $13,000 comic book purchase isn't a walk in the park for me either. 30 seconds left. I began to quiver in excitement mixed with fear. "OMG I'm going to win this. OMG, is it worth it? Am I just paying a premium for the Jon Berk auction hype? Will someone else want this book someday down the road? Will I get offers two months from now for double because someone HAS TO HAVE IT, and I'll continue to rebuff their offers for eternity. Will it ever surface again if I don't win. Where are the other six copies?" :20 seconds left ......YOU HAVE BEEN OUTBID. I breathed a sigh of relied, as fate had decided the decision for me, and walked away from the computer. I walked down to the kitchen and began to wish I had won, but began to accept reality. Someone else wanted the book more than me. Did they want it $100 more than me, or $5000 more than me? We'll never know. Maybe it will turn up again someday, but I doubt it. I gave it my best effort. So...anyway....there's a story and picture of a book I didn't win.

I know once or twice I've sat there during that 3min of refreshing saying "please god, what was I thinking, Please have someone outbid me "

@BOOT @IngelsFan@rjpb@KirbyJack Thanks for the responses guys! How do you feel about the 5 I listed above (as these seem to be the mainstream "firsts" of the Platinum era."

I only have one restored book in my collection (aside from my recent All Star 3 purchase). It's a Sub-Mariner #1 that I traded in my entire baseball card collection as a kid at a show to a dealer for because it was such a nice looking copy. It was worth over $150 dollars!!!!! I finally got around to submitting it last year....3 edges trimmed....I'm keeping it forever. It's my anti-Rosebud.

I would likely never do this, but the spine seems really tight, and since the trimming damage is already done, wonder if it's worth getting the other edges trimmed and see if can pull a higher grade? I'll have to see in person first. I personally place a premium on one edge trimmed versus 3, but curious if others do.

Yeah, I understand this. Mostly curious why Funnies on Parade get the least hype of them all, when it's the "first comic book." The fact that is is pretty freaking rare too seems like it would garner a little more attention. Just found it interesting in the Jon Berk collection that it didn't even warrant a paragraph.

Or you could argue they'll get a 10% rebate on the total purchase price, playing with house money and all

This will be amazing to watch. An absolutely gorgeous cover, but astounding to see a non 1st appearance, non #1, or non-current character cross over $200k (let alone $100k) barrier. Amazing.

I mean, let's take the Jon Berk collection for example. How is there no homage paid to Funnies on Parade???? Even Carnival of Comics (2nd) and Century of Comics (3rd) get a lengthy introduction or exclamation. Funnies on Parade, which is only 5 graded issues rarer than Famous Funnies Series 1, and multiples rarer than the others, doesn't even warrant a single sentence. Am I missing something? The write ups from Comic Connect are the following. Funnies on Parade: 1st comic book; 1933 Eastern Color giveaway Century of Comics: 100 pages! RARE; Eastern Color giveaway (1933)The Jon Berk Collection VF Overstreet is $25,000.00 and is so much rarer than Famous Funnies:A Carnival of Comics or Famous Funnies #1. Overstreet Guide 2016 FN+ (6.5) value = $8,736. Famous Funnies #1: ow/white pgs; Mod (B-3): pcs added, cvr clnd, int. lightened, reinforcedRARE!! 1st monthly newsstand comic book; golfing coverThe Jon Berk Collection Eastern Color published Famous Funnies 1, in July 1934, a sixty-eight-page periodical they distributed to newsstands through American News Company. While it was a huge hit with readers during the cash-strapped Great Depression and sold close to ninety percent of its original 200,000 print run, the expenses left Eastern Color with a $4,000 loss. Eastern's luck would eventually change as the book turned a $30,000 profit with every issue after 11. Famous Funnies ran for 218 issues, inspiring imitators and launching a new form of entertainment readily consumed by the masses. It's quite possibly one of the most important comics ever published. Without this trailblazer it is hard to imagine that American comic book readership would have developed as successfully as it has. "Famous Funnies reprinted popular newspaper strips of the day. As legend goes, the format of Famous Funnies was conceived by Harry Wildenberg, sales manager of Eastern Color Company of Waterbury Connecticut, to take up some of the slack time available on the presses. Eastern Color produced many of the Sunday comic funnies for the New York newspapers, and Wildenberg noted that the standard tabloid comic pages, when folded in half, yielded an appealing sized book which could be run on Eastern's presses. Adding a glossy cover, Wildenberg, together with M.C. Gaines, a salesman for Eastern Color, (yes, that M.C. Gaines!), came up with the idea of reprinting comic strips and giving away the books as premiums. "After the initial success of the give-aways Funnies on Parade, Carnival of Comics and Century of Comics, financial backing was obtained to experiment and try to sell a comicbook. This resulted in the production of Famous Funnies Series 1, which was distributed only in the greater New York area in early 1934. Apparently, this experiment was successful enough so that Famous Funnies 1 was released under cover of July 1934. "This historic issue, then, was the first newsstand comicbook series of the modern format." Famous Funnies Series 1: crm/ow pgs; Sl/Mod (B-2) ct, glue cvr, tr sls, spn splts sld, reinforcedVERY, VERY, VERY, RARE! first-ever newsstand comic! Mutt 'n' Jeff, Joe PalookaThe Jon Berk Collection This is the beginning, the start of it all. Incredibly historic and immensely important, this piece of Americana is the first comic book to reach American newsstands and survives in such low numbers that, for decades, collectors believed it to be a myth invented by the Overstreet Guide to prevent counterfeits! Time has proved otherwise, as copies have surfaced but only few and far between. Cobbled together with reprints of popular newspaper strips and rushed to market to attempt to move the slowly-dying comic strip field into a new era, this comic unwittingly launched a whole new business and a whole new medium. The success of the comic later led to the launch of the Famous Funnies monthly series and proved the viability of the medium. It's hard to overestimate the importance of this artifact to American comics and American pop culture in general. Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics: 2nd comic book; 1933 Eastern Color giveaway; wraparound cvrThe Jon Berk Collection It begins here. Considered by most serious comics historians to be the first true American comic book, this 1933 one-shot established the size, length, and format of the comic book for decades to come. A sprightly, vivid, seismic shock that may not have seemed important at the time, but essentially provided the foundation for the art form that would come to dominate the latter half of the 20th century and fire the imaginations of generations of readers and artists. This incredibly rare comic, distributed through the late, lamented chain of Woolworth stores, enjoyed an aggressively high print run, yet survives in extremely low numbers today, making it not only one of the most important comics ever published, but also one of the most coveted.

Wow, the PLOD label actually looks awesome in this slab! Bravo!!

I'm a long time lurker, but I'll post. Grabbed this book (1 of my three grails). Not sure whether I overpaid or not. I personally hate trimming more than anything (page quality doesn't mean as much to me in slabbed books these days, especially since many of them are probably rotting in their cases as they sit in warm areas or on people's walls), but it is trimmed. It seemed like a decent price and because All Star 3 is crazy overpriced in blue label right now, I took the plunge. This has always been one of my favorite covers. Maybe the unrelaxed positioning of the heroes, the simplicity of the cover, or the haunting appeal of the yellow. I just love this book. I do hate the PLOD (not so much for the restoration, but the color purple just clashes with so many comic book covers). I wish CGC would do something like CBCS on restored books. I've sometimes felt regret the next day after a large purchase. I don't regret this one.

Platinum Age (Famous Funnies vs. Funnies on Parade, etc) I'm curious as to what you guys think is the hierarchy of the Platinum Age comics? I've seen lengthy write-ups on Famous Funnies, or even Famous Funnies: Carnival of Comics, but I rarely see auction houses pumping up the Funnies on Parade- which CGC lists as the "1st comic book." Is this just an oversight? Curious how you guys think this all shakes out, as Funnies on Parade is seriously rare, barely more common than Famous Funnies: Series 1? How would you rank: Funnies on Parade Famous Funnies: Carnival of Comics Century of Comics Famous Funnies: Series 1 Famous Funnies #1 Is this a dead category overshadowed by superheroes? I personally think it's a very overlooked category in comic collecting.