EC Star&Bar

Certainly true that newspapers and magazines continue to go digital, you could practically say at an exponential rate. Other ominous signs abound -- Sports Illustrated in recent years changed print frequency to bi-weekly (26/year) and now, just monthly (12). Quite a drop from weekly (and the monthlies are not all that thick). There's a distinction though, that for many decades comic books have been considered collectibles. And increasingly in recent years, variant cover art has driven much of collecting of new releases. Publishers are aware that so many sales are of comics that will not be read, and realize there's a collecting crowd -- the trick is to keep it a big crowd.

You may want to inspect the inside front cover carefully. The comic could grade higher if there are no issues comparable to ones seen on the (outer) back cover. It's a nice-looking book, hard-to-find ECs with that kind of crisp appearance.

I believe certainly by the '70s he was wearing a toupee, I mean I don't think I'm revealing anything longtime fans weren't aware of. It's nothing to be ashamed of -- even glamour boys like Ted Danson and Steve Garvey have done things to combat hair loss.

If considering worldwide, I would think The Phantom's no. of appearances have easily exceeded Wonder Woman's.

I think the FF consulted with televangelist Jim Bakker for the Baxter Bldg. updates. He recommended gold-plated faucets and A/C for Lockjaw's doghouse.

The 1976 Overstreet Guide was my first one, and despite not having looked at it in decades, I immediately recognized Holstein's ad photo (shown in this thread). IIRC one of the books he was looking to buy was Boy Commandos #1.

One book was tossed out with demo debris apparently, and became wet before it could be retrieved. I read something about a claim of Superman battling dinosaurs in that one, but the description may be way off.

In the CBR story, Fishler mentions the tear dropped the value by $75000 (mentioned in this thread) -- which I'm almost certain is the exact same amount Zurzolo claimed, so that confirms it's the 2013 find in the video I saw. I didn't realize the story went back so far. We never did find out which other comics were in that find (not that it matters).

I saw a news feature with Zurzolo of Metropolis holding the book -- unless I'm mistaken, it was a 1.5 in a CGC holder. Zurzolo commented that family members fought over the newly-found book and created a large tear in the back cover. The tear has obviously resulted in a tremendous loss in dollar value considering the book involved. (Currently the CGC census shows two universal 1.5 copies.)

Then, if the bag itself is well-preserved, you can wrap the sandwich in the next lunch you pack.

Here is a beat-but-complete book in my collection: Fifth Printing copy, with no cover price. Fortunately the back cover is much nicer. Lots of these were sold by mail, so not all that surprising to find one where the cover price wasn't a necessity. How much did I pay for this, you ask? Answer: $0.39 (39 cents) in 2016...!

That's definitely a wrinkle in the paper from the book's printing process, and not a rare occurrence I might add. Very nice copy -- 7.0 ?

Sometimes when it's so light and not affecting interior pages, it's just the result of slight moisture. Paper acts like a wick.

No doubt the 9.2 came from a pedigree collection, maybe the Edgar Church copy, These early issues are really Sheldon Mayer productions in most every way. Look at that inside front cover! No doubt he also was doing front cover design work. He likely performed a lot of the newspaper strip paste-up work as well. All of that in addition to his new Scribbly pages.

FF 4 is my favorite among the early issues. Stan Lee creatively shows where Namor has been, capped with a well-designed cover.

He has to be careful if deciding to cherry-pick the collection, because that can effectively kill interest in larger lots for the remaining books devoid of early issues and later keys. I had the opportunity to go through a large SA collection in 2000 and the dealer was letting me buy almost anything I picked out for $5 per book. I took all sorts of very high grade DC war, 80-pg Giants, obscure DC titles, and stunning copies of Showcase and B & B. He regretted doing it, but needed the cash badly. Some of those issues now guide for more than $200 each in about VF+ to NM. Anyway my post in reply ended up in the wrong thread, but notice I said "ideally" as far as a collector buying the lot. I wouldn't sell to Dolgoff for pennies per book.

Notice I said "ideally" as far as individuals willing to buy, The first step is to get the word out. Being willing to sell breaking-up by era or publisher could well factor in. I'm sure a dealer like Dolgoff will be ready to buy the entire lot immediately. But those dealers who regularly buy big collections will not be willing to offer comparatively much.

Oh, sorry that happened to you. You will likely buy a replacement, so until then I would just keep & read the book, and then give it to a young collector or a charity.

As an alternative to dealers, ideally you would locate a private collector willing to make an offer for the lot. For example, within the past year Regie Simmons purchased a collection of 100,000 comics of comparable age breakdown to what you have. It takes time & patience, but an individual who is primarily a collector will oftentimes make a much better offer than a dealer can. I think "Very Gary Comics" resides in your area and I would definitely try to contact him -- he travels to view collections and for such high-grade stuff; likely he would make an offer. (I believe I have his current email address -- send me a PM if you are interested.)

Katy began as a backup in Wilbur Comics (MLJ / Archie). She was highly popular in the 1950s, with spin-off series and specials. Cut-outs are a concern; I run into that at times as a collector of DC's Sugar & Spike. Also, titles like Katy's Fashion Book appealed mainly to girls -- it's been my experience that girls were a little more likely to write inside their comics.

Since the main concern is to prevent deterioration, I would contact a conservator at your local university, historical society, or museum. Those institutions often deal with old newsprint. Maybe there's a service they use for deacidification, and they can refer you. Send an email, someone working in Rare Books & Manuscripts might be interested in seeing your comic. It's still a very nice book to own. Good luck.

Sorry to see this. It's of no help to you, but it serves as a reminder of what can happen, so thanks for posting your experience. (By the way, I think you meant to say disparate instead of disparaging.)

You could also argue that Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon wore colorful costumes and engaged in heroic action -- and both of them pre-dated The Phantom.

It always bothered me more when it appeared on front covers. I can remember having to choose between a copy with significant ink on the back vs. one without much, yet noticeable on the front. Just another factor when hand-selecting that later (thankfully) became an obsolete practice.

Yes, same here -- the ink was applied before the comics hit the stands of the ones I purchased. In later years, no longer needed once publishers went to the printed color striping. (As far as affidavit returns, as late as the late '70s retailers were still tearing off front covers of unsold issues, for credit.) Also, to the OP, your ink has not bled "over time." What you're seeing is how the ink looked once it was applied and dry. It was often messy, and sometimes books stuck together at the edges -- so comics sometimes hit the racks joined to other copies (from the same stack that was sprayed).