Getoutandstayout

One more.

Some Atlas stuff I picked up this past week.

18 minutes ago, Bob7891 said:

The original owner passed away and the family decided to sell them. I will be keeping them all, thanks.

That's the best kind of purchase - from an estate where they just want to be rid of them but not necessarily give them away. Enjoy!

I was in the perfect place at the perfect time to be buying up comics - the late 80s/early 90s (pre-Internet/pre-eBay) and buying up all the key Marvel comics I could get my hands on. I was single, living with my parents, and had almost no expenses while I brought in daily cash working at pizza delivery. Everything I made went to Silver Age comics, and there was a great comic shop in town that made me great deals. I wound up with six long boxes of comics - which doesn't sound like much, but what was in it! An entire run of Thor, going back to JIM #75 or so, with assorted JIMs going back to #13. At one time I had Amazing Fantasy #15,  JIM #83 (VF), The Incredible Hulk #1, #4, #6, #181, X-Men #1, #94-102, Giant-Size #1, Avengers #1 (VF) and #4 (NM), #57, the Silver Surfer run in NM, including double copies of #1-4, FF #4 and #5, #8 (NM), #48-50, IM #55, Strange Tales #101, #110, Tales of Suspense #58-110 (NM), and lesser keys down the line. I also had a Golden Age Captain America and All-Flash comic. I once spent my entire income tax refund ($650) on two comics at a Atlanta Comic Con - a Journey Into Mystery #83 (VF) for $340 and a Hulk #1 (VG) for $290 (one moment - I'm gonna be sick).

(Ok, I'm back). Working pizza, I didn't make a lot of money and was always living on the edge. Instead of just getting an additional job, or finding one that paid more, I got the extremely bad idea that I could fill my pockets with cash if I just liquidated my comic collection! And not to a collector, who would pay me what they were worth, but to a dealer! Right! A dime on the dollar, like a pawn shop. What was my asking price? A grand total of $1,000! Even for back then, it was a horrible financial move. Two months later I had spent all the money, had nothing to show for it, and now had no comics. I figure that if I had kept everything from back then to today, I would probably have close to $100K in comics.

2 hours ago, Bob7891 said:

Here’s a small original owner collection I picked up this past Wednesday.

Very nice! Good key issues in there to say the least. Was this original owner just tired of owning them or what? Are you planning on keeping all of them, or would you be willing to sell some of those Atlas issues?

My pickup yesterday. But after the previous post with all those delicious Atlas copies, mine suddenly isn't so special. :>/

On 1/4/2018 at 3:43 AM, reptilekingdie said:

Maybe

I kinda wish Stan wouldn't glut the market with his signature. He's been signing at so many shows in the last five years (at least) that everyone seems to have a Stan-signed comic nowadays.

So I'm wondering if the Comic Cons are the place not  to get the specific issues that you're looking for, but for the really good deals. With eBay you can pretty much zero in on whatever you want; but it's at the shows that you're going to find the nice deals, IMHO, that you won't see on eBay. True, you may not find that exact issue of what you want, but my wants cover a pretty wide spectrum. For example, I went looking for pre-hero Marvel comics at the last big show and didn't find much - but I did find a dealer who made me a sweet deal on FF #49 and a Tales Of Suspense #45, neither of which I went looking for, and they're both very nice additions to my collection. Does anyone else see the shows this way or found better deals there than online?

On 1/4/2018 at 2:15 PM, bc said:

Started seriously collecting PHMs in 2009; finished that run late in 2017.

Here's a close-up of the TOS 1 - got it from the ComicConnect Jon Berk auction last year to replace a nearly coverless copy:

-bc

*Drool* Comic porn for pre-hero collectors.

On 10/10/2017 at 6:02 PM, bc said:

Completed the Tales of Suspense PHM run. Put together a little cover gallery. Not all are slabbed, but they are mine

-bc

How long did it take you to get these together? I hope you got that TOS #1 a long time ago, because it sells on eBay now for over $5K.

For some strange reason, #48 is the Big One, even though it's just a cameo for Galactus and the SS. Not sure why that doesn't also apply to Hulk #180 with Wolverine's cameo. But if they do make it to the big screen, and they surely must, all three will skyrocket in value. #48 is still the one to get first while it's affordable. I picked up a 3.0 this past year, along with a 6.0 #49. I'm waiting on a #50 in the mail now. It's just a 3.0, but at least I'll have one (again).

On 12/24/2017 at 12:17 AM, Mr.Illmannered said:

Nothing to see here, just more of my drek.

Are you just photographing this at the comic show, or did you actually buy this? At 8.5 that would set you back a couple of grand, I would think.

On 12/15/2017 at 11:14 PM, jsilverjanet said:

Some recent auction wins

Where do you find these auctions anyway? Awesome stuff. Cheaper than eBay, I'll bet.

On 12/29/2017 at 1:38 PM, NP_Gresham said:

Been mostly Atlas/Marvel Pre-hero for me lately But I did pick-up one bargain Bronze for $15.

 

Nice 2001 book there - the first Machine Man if I'm not mistaken. If Disney takes him to the big screen, it'll go through the roof.

On 12/23/2017 at 8:29 AM, marvelmaniac said:

I do not think they are under rated at all.

I have complete runs of TOS and TTA, I need to fill runs of JIM (1-33) and ST (1-42) and even the higher numbered books I need/want are selling for $60.00 + for low grade readers which at this point in my life is out of my price range.

A dealer at the big Orlando Comic Con a few years agotold me that he sold an entire pre-hero run of Journey Into Mystery in high grade for $70K to an attorney who didn't want to have to track down every single issue. It must be nice to have the money to get them all in one fell swoop like that.

On 12/22/2017 at 9:21 PM, KirbyJack said:

I once had 'em all, but now my Pre Hero Marvels are down to these...

It's a really fun genre to play in, I say go for it!

You say you had them all? Can you elaborate? Surely you don't mean all the pre-hero comics of every title? Even one title run would be awesome.

25 minutes ago, incognito said:

There is an article in Overstreet Price Guide 22 by Gary Carter and Pat Calhoun which may be the one you are looking for.

From what I can find, I do believe you're right. Thanks!

53 minutes ago, Mackenzie999 said:

I remember when pre-hero was overlooked and undervalued, but that has changed a lot in recent years. I'm no expert but I'm guessing tales to Astonish 13 is probably the top PHM key, or at least one of the tops. Good luck, it's a fun category!

Yeah, the one with "Groot." Because of the GOTG movie. Who woulda thought a few years ago? My favorite TTA cover, though, is #7. But it's such an early issue that I think costs more than I can afford right now. I'll have to save up.

1 hour ago, sfcityduck said:

What you are describing is the "Atlas Implosion"of 1957.  Here's a good article on it:

https://books.google.com/books?id=TrZ7Jx2nqIQC&pg=PA134&lpg=PA134&dq=Atlas+implosion.&source=bl&ots=ND4WkBoJDH&sig=rkUViM6MlRSlX9cvFScqRiwNXPU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi53pCSgZ7YAhVV5WMKHfKxCJUQ6AEINDAB#v=onepage&q=Atlas implosion.&f=false

 

Thanks for the info, but it was only a partial article (without buying it, I guess), and mainly got into the politics of the situation.

Does anyone else think that the pre-hero Atlas comics are the great underrated comics flying under the radar right now? All the key Marvel superhero issues are red-hot right now with all the superhero movies coming out. But at some point those are going to be priced out of reach of the collectors by the speculators and Wall Street investors, and then I think the pre-hero category will be the next ones to be chased after. And let's face it - they're older comics and not all that easy to find, especially in higher grades. As an example of their rise in popularity, I had a chance to buy a Journey Into Mystery #1 in 1997 for $700 which now sells for $9,000 on eBay (the story of my life).

Once I've completed my acquisition of the Fantastic Four Galactus/Silver Surfer trilogy (#s 48-50), my sole focus will be on the pre-heroes.

22 hours ago, Drummy said:

All of these books and art are great!  Thanks for sharing.

I put these in a SA thread recently, but they do represent my most treasured pick-ups from 2017:

 

Just for 2017? I'd hate to ask what the most valuable in your collection are.

On 12/19/2017 at 8:54 PM, Bunky Brian said:

And probably our biggest buy of 2017 for the personal collection, thanks to Mr Foolkiller and Greg Reese

 

Took a second mortgage out on the home for this one?

The Overstreet comic Book Price Guide once printed an article years ago (I think in the nineties?) about how the comic book industry almost died in the fifties for Marvel Comics during the Atlas era, and how multiple titles went under during that time with only the ones like Tales To Astonish, Tales of Suspense, Journey Into Mystery, etc., surviving into the sixties. This downfall may have been tied to the new comics code implementation, but I don't recall. Anyway, it was fascinating reading, especially now that I'm collecting all those Atlas issues, and I'd love to get this Overstreet copy again - if I only knew which one it was in!

Why am I not seeing the images people are posting?

My acquisition this past week. I'm gunning for the pre-hero titles now. An underrated gold mine.