A Timely Question

[ultimatevenom]

Ok

 

I have always had a big interest in Timelys.

And i have now decided to follow up my interest by starting to collect.

Now i do not have as much money as some Timely collectors on this board.

So i was wondering what title all of you think would be the cheapest to start with?

Only Superhero, looking for good eye appeal really, nothing under Good/Very Good but nothing extravagant either.

 

Thanks

 

Danny

[Rip]

Young Allies might be fun for ya. They have some great covers and aren't as expensive as some of the others.

[143ksk]

As long as you're not looking to complete a run, I'd start with Marvel Mystery. Lots of great multiple character covers and G/VG books aren't going to set you back too much.

 

If you're looking for complete sets, the shorter the better (cost wise) Young Allies seems like a good choice to start.

[RushComics]

The absolute cheapest is reprints, but I assume you meant originals. If you don't have any objection to restoration, that's always a route to look at. Timely/Marvel pulps are cheaper than comics, but of course I assume you mean comics.

 

Mid grade is more affordable than high grade, of course.

 

There's non-hero books. For example, I see a fairly cheap low grade copy of Ideal #3 (Joan of Arc) on ebay.

 

If you like World War II books and major super heroes, "Daring Comics" short run (after it was Daring Mystery Comics) had some great issues featuring Torch and Subby. VG copies of #10-12 list in Overstreet around $200. The complete run (4 issues #9-12) would cost under a grand in VG.

 

As the others said, later issues of Marvel Mystery and Young Allies. Some issues of Marvel Mystery had Captain America in them. There's Kid Comics which featured the Young Allies.

 

Certain Timelys can be a bit hard to find. Female books are sometimes cheaper. Miss America Comics V2, for example, almost every issue Overstreets below $100.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Charlie

[aardvark88]

Or u could collect the pre-cursor to Timely which is Centaur. Some nice covers by Bill Everett or Gustavson on Amazing-Man for less than 1/2 price of a later Timely.

[rjpb]

I never understood the Centaur as a precursor to Timely arguement. They actually overlap by about three years in their publishing schedules, and while Centaurs have a certain charm to them, they would never be mistaken for Timelys.

 

That aside, my suggestion would be not to worry about titles and crack open your Gerber, look for covers that interest you and search for them. You don't have to worry about breaking the bank on first issues, and can collect examples of alot of different titles. There are some great Timely Schomburg covers, including WW2 themed ones, that can be picked up for $150-$250 in the 3.0-4.0 range. Also, if you discount the Captain Americas & Young Men 24, the Atlas revival titles are fairly affordable as well.

[Zonker]

The way I made the plunge into Golden Age collecting was to shoot for a 'type set,' one each of Action Comics, Detective Comics, More Fun, Smash Comics, Captain Marvel Jr. etc. etc. Of course, I'm now hopelessly beyond that, so beware of starting down this road...

[ultimatevenom]

Thanks for all of your help.

 

I have decided to start on Daring Comics 9-12 and then move on to Daring Mystery Comics 1-8.

 

Danny

[Timely]

A good decision! The Daring #11 is my favorite cover of the four issues, but #9 is the toughest to get.

 

Timely

[aardvark88]

Motion Pictures Funnies Weekly #1 came out about 5? months before Marvel #1 1939 Timely. In between #2-4 MPFW covers were found in the publisher's file. #5 would up being Amaz-Man #5 (1st issue of the run) by Bill Everett & Gustavson android story. 1 month later Sep?, 1939 Marvel #1 debuted by Timely with Everett art on Namor. 1st 8 pgs. reprinted from MPFW #1 (forgot name of publisher, but it was not a Centaur. Human Torch was the 2nd android story/character in comicdom. That's why I feel Centaur was a pre-cursor to Timely.

[CentaurMan]

It's not a direct predecessor, but the demise of the Centaur line can be pretty directly traced to the fact that Timely "took" their artists and writers. Most publishers in the late 1930's outsourced their stories to a few content creation studios, most importantly the Harry "A" Chesler studio, the Will Eisner - Jerry Iger studio, and a little later, the Lloyd Jacquet shop (called Funnies Inc, consisting of a number of ex-Chelser stars).

 

The Jaquet shop had some tremendous talent, and these folks were primarily responsible for keeping the Centaur publishing house supplied with stories and art. Some notables:

 

Bill Everett - drew the cover for Amazing Mystery Funnies #1 in 1938, wrote the science fiction serial "Skyrocket Steele", and ultimately created one of the absolute incredible heroes of the late 1930's, "Amazing-Man". The 7 Everett Amazing-Man stories are among the best early Golden Age hero tales ever written. Of course, Everett later created the Sub-Mariner.

 

Carl Burgos - responsible for the sci-fi series "Air-Sub DX", and the earliest iron man "The Skull". Later, of course, he created a true man of metal, the android "Human Torch".

 

Paul Gustavson - created two of the very best Centaur superheroes, "Fantom of the Fair", and the violent "Arrow". On the Timely line, he drew the "Angel".

 

Ben Thompson - created the inventor-genius hero "Masked Marvel", and later the Timely backup feature "Kazar".

 

A salesman for Funnies Inc, Frank Torpey, helped convince Martin Goodman (publisher of the Marvel Science Stories pulp magazine) to publish a new comic called Marvel Comics, and recycled the poorly-distributed Everett Sub-Mariner story from Motion Picture Funnies Weekly in that first issue.

 

Within 12 months, the burgeoning Timely line had forced the Jaquet crew into pulling double-duty to meet the creative demands of both Timely and Centaur. Centaur had always had distribution problems (thus creating the infamous scarcity that collectors today find so appealling), while Goodman's Timely line had his pulp infrastructure to fall back on.

 

By 1941, right when superhero comics were flourishing, Centaur was forced into running reprints of older stories, due to lack of funds available to lure good writer/artists. Centaur folded soon afterwards, and none of its creative early superheroes were ever revived.

 

So, Centaur is clearly not the direct predecessor to Timely, but any avid Timely collector would instantly recognize the formative artwork and story-telling present throughout the doomed Centaur line.