shadroch

A musician once pointed out that while Zep certainly lifted music from old black blues players, that the music had been stolen from them years ago and the rights were in the hands of children of the men who had stolen it.

Slow down. Hopefully, you aren't in it for a quick buck so take your time and learn a bit before you jump into the fight. Pick out a few books and study them. See how often they are sold, follow trends. There are many great sites to explore and use. Any fool can get a book at an auction by simply throwing money at it, but a real win is getting the book at a great price. Most people discount eBay sellers given grades pretty substantially. On the other hand, many people think most Mycomicshop very goods might actually be Fines or better so prices are strong on their raw books. When buying Silver Age, just remember that 99% of SA books are easy enough to find and most are pretty common in mid to low grade. For most non high grade or key books, it's a buyers market. Quality or quantity? That is what you need to decide? In the 70s, I'd hit cons with a good friend. We both had similar budgets, but very different styles. We would meet up and he would have two or three books, all in fantastic shape while I'd have fifty or sixty lower grade books. I was proud that I owned 1500 books to his 100 or so, but in the end his collection would have been worth much more than mine. These days, if one wants to get into the SA, I'd recommend buying the Omnibus versions. Get three years worth of issues for a hundred bucks.

Just read a very old interview where Stan is talking about Ditko. He mentions how he spoke to Steve about a one time return to do a Spidey story and Ditko responded by saying he wouldn't do another Spider-Man story until Martin Goodman paid him the royalties he promised him. Seems there might be more than one side to the story.

I'm far from an expert, but the Kirby signatures I own all have a distinct space between his names. Yours seems sloppier than his normal signature in my very amateur opinion.

Trump cover sells well.

To me, that just shows how poor a negotiator Kirby was. A newcomer somehow makes a deal for his art to be returned while Kirby doesn't. Gray Morrow evidently also struck a deal. How was it that a journeyman and a rookie were able to get their art back? Because they put it into their work contracts, perhaps?

Shooter was EIC when Marvel was owned by Cadence. Do you seriously think it was up to him to call the police? Maybe a large corporation didn't want to get dragged into a lawsuit over things best left quiet. Exactly who owned the art was nebulous at the time. The comic companies originally claimed ownership but backtracked when it was pointed out they never paid sales tax on their "purchases", or at least that was Tom DeFalco's view. He got caught up in this when he replaced Shooter. I know he regretted not being able to include Jack in the 25th Anniversary but it wasn't his call. It sucks Kirby didn't get his art back, but corporations tend to do what is legal, not what is moral. I have a mural painted on the side of my building. It was there when I bought the building. Do I have any obligation to the artist who painted it and was paid for it by the previous owner. Suppose Disney buys the building . Do they owe the artist?

It tells me how open he is to opposing positions. The mind is like a parachute. Dead weight if you choose not to open it.

This is the Stan bashing thread. The reasoned discussion thread is up and to your left.

Stan held one job his entire life. Jack switched companies at least a dozen times and for whatever reason couldn't cut it at DC, but Stan was the difficult one. Once he got rid of that parasitic, credit stealing Stan, Steve Ditko's solo work certainly rose to new heights, didn't it? How did Stan treat Jack when Jack wanted to come back home?

Comic wiz posts a letter from Marvel stating they don't sell artwork but will make an exception in this one case for a museum and that is proof of Marvel engaging in a conspiracy, and of course it is all Stans fault. Should Marvel have done a better job of storing the art? Absolutely, but it wasn't some conspiracy against the artists. Where is all the DC art from that era? How about the Disney art? I personally think the art should be returned to the artist, and recommended the Kirby family to retain lawyers to pursue the art that was stolen, but it wasn't Stan who did any of that.

Sparta sent the books in bundles, but distributors and distributors usually used boxes. If I had ordered 1,000 copies, and they came in five boxes of 200, I'd have no problem calling them a case.

That's a cool story but I'm not sure how true it is. Phil was the main distributor to the NY/NJ area and him not delivering that book would have been huge news. It would have been a repeat of the Howard the Duck craze where the books never hit the racks but we're going for 20x cover by the time #3 came out.

I've been looking for an article I read quite a few years ago, but can't find it. It was something to the effect that Seuling had made what amounted to a side deal with Marvel. That the non returnable sales started as an experiment, not everyone was in the loop and it was quite awhile before the accounting and book keeping was squared away. Does any of this sound familiar? The editorial side of Marvel was a mess at the time, I wonder if the business side was much better.

They may not be relevant to you, but perhaps they are to some.

It's not just shows. I dropped off a blank book for Herb Trimpe to do a sketch on. Len Wein was also at the show and I asked that he also sign it. Len got sick and missed Sunday so the facilitator held on to the book for two months before getting Len to sign it. I'm reasonably certain he didn't keep it in his immediate possession the entire two months.

Anyone can create a COA. Many are worthless, but not all. I attended an auction and the catalogue said all lots come with a COA. Sounded good until I looked at the COA. It said something like- As a long time collector, I certify that years of collecting has given me the authority to recognise this as an authentic fillintheblank.

In 1980, I doubt more than a third of these stores was selling direct market books. Seagate minimums were too high for most shops and by the time you dealt with distributors and shipping cost, it was easier and more economical to deal with the newsstand distributors. In NY, comic shops were still a year or two away from really taking off. Biggest store on Long Island was actually a book store that devoted maybe a third of the space to comics. Most comic shops doubled as head shops, or poster shops and didn't depend on new issue sales. I'd looked into one but the revenue wasn't there. It really wasn't until books got to sixty cents that selling new books was profitable enough to attract non fans into the business.

When Paul Gulacy signs and numbers 250 copies of a book for Dark Horse, I think the COA is every bit as legit as if I paid some dealer to watch Gulacy sign a raw copy at a show. Not all COAs are equal. Nor are they all worthless. If you ask me if yellow label is more desirable than many, if not most COAs, I don't disagree. Where you lose me is if you tell me you trust CGC 100% and everyone else 0%.

I'm not arguing with you. I don't care much for signature series or autographs. Only one I own is an Avengers 4 with Joe and Stans signature. I do have a great lithograph signed by all three, that I'm pretty sure is real but my heirs can find out. However, it the Kirbys did accept money from DF for Jack to sign and his wife signed instead, it's a black eye on his legacy. I, for one, hope you are mistaken and that Jack signed them.

Nice spin but in the end you are trusting the witness, trusting CGC , and trusting a yellow label. A number of former Signature Series facilitators are no longer certified or whatever the term is.. Why do you think that is? If you chose to think that gives you more province than a COA from a reputable dealer, I hope you enjoy the kool aid.

I agree. It's amazing people seem to okay with it.

These books weren't given away. People paid big premiums to get them for Dynamic Forces, QVC or wherever. As far back as 1974, Marvel was charging premium prices for limited editions signed books.

I'm not aware of one's that charge a hefty premium and then have some one else do it, but even if there are, it's still fraud and a despicable practice. Jack was a millionaire, many times over, and certainly didn't need the money.

His philosophical views are what makes him Ditko. Personally, I don't care for his art. Never have. I missed his glory days by years and when I'd see his art in a bronze age book, I'd generally pass. He must have been a tough guy to work with. While he might have quit Marvel, his departure from DC was pretty quick and mutual,at best. Funny how well Jack and Steve worked under the " Marvel Method" and failed when forced into the DC way". I'm sure it was all coincidental.