Lulu is HOT (no, not in THAT way!)

[garthgantu]

Inspired in part by the 'State of the Golden Age Market' thread, I wanted to make the case for Little Lulu as one of the hottest titles in the GA/SA sectors. Here are some data points on Little Lulu:

 

- Recent eBay examples - Unslabbed Lulus going off at/over guide:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2200475382&category=67 (raw FC 139 in what appears to be FN/VF at best; sold for around guide.)

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2202343836&category=3972 (raw Lulu #17 in VG ...sold for 2x guide!)

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2200818716&category=3976 (FC #444, Tubby's 3rd comic; in raw VG, sold for 2x guide)

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2203342943&category=3976 (Lulu #100 in raw VF/NM...sold for approx. 80% of guide)

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2201589284&category=3976 (Lulu #151 in raw VF+ ...sold for over guide)

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2203243521&category=3972 (8 early Lulus in more or less unspecified condition, for $500...if not over guide, than probably right at guide, based on small scans)

 

CGC/Lulu factoids:

- Lulu issues that have never been slabbed:

Four Color 97 (2nd Lulu); FC 110 (3rd Lulu); FC 139; FC 146; FC 158

Little Lulu (Dell) 8 - 21; 23 - 50; (of the issues from 51-150, about half have one or more copies slabbed; in most cases, no more than 3 copies of any issue)

 

- Early Lulu issues with less than 5 slabbed copies

Four Color 74 (1st Lulu) - 1 copy, in FN+ 6.5

FC 115 - 3 copies, best in VF/NM 9.0

FC 120 - 1 copy, in VF- 7.5

FC 131 - 4 copies, best is in VF+ 8.5

FC 165 - 1 copy, in VF 8.

 

Essentially, of the 10 Four Color appearances of Lulu before she got her own book, five have never been submitted to CGC for slabbing, and of the five that have, there are a grand total of 10 slabbed copies, with the highest grade being VF/NM 9.0.

 

High grade Lulus are hard to find in the census, and almost never appear on eBay. Raw copies sell for guide, if not more, in just about any grade.

 

By contrast, WDC&S, Donald Duck and other equally pricey 'funny animal'-type books tend to sell for considerably less than guide, unless they're very key or in high grade. (And even in high grade some of them only fetch 50-70% of guide.)

 

Does anyone have 'official' stats on the scarcity of any issues of Little Lulu, either in her own book or in her FC appearances?

[ft88]

Richie Richs are doing the same thing

 

1970s #1 CGC 9.2 $115

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2201874590&category=35758

 

#10 $150

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2200345256&category=3976

 

Millions #10 $95

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2201608396&category=3976

 

Census only has a few graded though someone has a sweet collection of 9.0-9.4's

 

Unslabbed #1 @ 9.2 sold for $3200 though with only one bid.

[Mushroom]

I believe that Dot's and Little Lotta's are as well. Seems like there is a general adjustment upwards of this genre.

[bobpfef]

Lulu has been like this for awhile. The Little Lulu Library Vol #1 put out by AR about 10 - 15 years ago sold for over $1000 the last time it was on Ebay. And that is just B/W reprints.

 

The problem is there are a decent number of Lulu collectors who just want to READ the comics but they haven't been reprinted like the EC or Barks or DC Archives. A Good early copy will always fetch over guide on ebay. However at comic cons and shops often you can find Lulu's underguide because the audience for Lulu's isn't the audience for Superman or Spiderman.

 

 

 

 

[garthgantu]

Richie Richs are doing the same thing

 

Which in some ways is even more remarkable, since Lulus have always been in at least moderate demand, while RR titles languished in quarter bins for decades...

[garthgantu]

However at comic cons and shops often you can find Lulu's underguide because the audience for Lulu's isn't the audience for Superman or Spiderman.

 

I've noticed this as well... eBay reaches the non-convention crowd of comic book *readers* that represent much of the demand for Lulu. It's a wonder to me that someone doesn't just start reprinting the Lulus again, in some form. Heck, you reprint them as-is, sell 'em in the new comics section for $1.50 (you're not paying artists or writers, after all, and could include advertising which the Lulus didn't when first printed), and presumably make $... I know I'd buy 'em all...

[seank]

I'd buy Lulu reprints for $1.50.

[ft88]

[bobpfef]

Lulu reprints would FLY out at $1.50 if you had enough press to let people know they were out there. I always though Gladstone would do them, but it never came to pass. It would have made sense, they did the Barks and the EC stuff, plus AR which was tied to Gladstone put out the expensive LL hardcover sets.

 

The Sets were done in reverse order, 5 first then 4, etc. 3 - 5 are easy to find, but 1 and 2 are impossible. I think they printed a lot of extra of 3, 4 and 5. I wonder if they printed so few 1 and 2 because they were in a financial crush or because they weren't happy with the sales figures on 3 - 5 and just printed the bare number of 1 and 2?

 

[ArnoldTBlumberg]

Actually, Gemstone Publishing did the LL hardcover box sets.

 

[seank]

Actually, Gemstone Publishing did the LL hardcover box sets.

 

Perhaps Gemstone should look into the rights to do Lulu comics. They're doing a great job with the Disney books at the moment.

[ArnoldTBlumberg]

I know absolutely nothing about it in any official way - I certainly don't think there are any plans for it - but it *does* sound like a neat idea. We could use some more Little Lulu I think.

 

[garthgantu]

We could ALL use a bit more Little Lulu in our lives... Heck, if G.W. Bush had been given some Lulus as a kid (or even as an adult), he might be a better president - or at least a literate president!

 

Anyone remember the story in which Lulu smokes her doll's hair and hallucinates? From FC 139, I think... It's buried somewhere in my collection... too funny.

[OldSchoolTerry]

Maybe that's one of the ones dubya read......

[ArnoldTBlumberg]

In my Comic Literature course, I assign a nice Little Lulu story in which the girls take the corks that the boys use to safeguard their boys' club boat (they keep the corks in the boat to keep it afloat and then take the corks out to prevent others from using the boat) and use the boat to have a tea party in the middle of the lake. I have the class read it in conjunction with a current Akiko story to take a look at how comics from 50 years ago still inform creators today.

 

Arnold

[FlyingDonut]

Comics literature! How do I sign up! You should also use the Donald Duck story where the nephews pump ping pong balls into a boat to float it to the surface - somebody actually did it once in a salvage operation.

 

Oh, and just to not be off topic:

 

Four Color 120, 5th Little Lulu:

 

 

 

 

[bobpfef]

I have a friend who also taught a comic literature class. Though he didn't use Lulu, I am not sure exactly what the books were, but I remember Kings in Disguise, Watchman, and some Barks.

 

I did my Master thesis on Lulu so there are more academics out there that enjoy that stuff then you might think

 

Nice Four Color there....you selling it