Heroic Comics Warehouse Find?

[BOOT]

Lately a lot of very high grade copies of later issues of Heroic Comics seem to be popping up.

 

Has there been a warehouse find of these? I searched and didn't find any info on this.

 

Anyone know the story behind all these nice later issues of Heroic?

[Scrooge]

Nobody wanted to buy them when they came out

[BOOT]

Nobody wanted to buy them when they came out

Ha! Well, they did put out 97 issues, so someone must have been buying them. I'm just wondering where they've been hiding all these years, and why they're coming out now.

[zzutak]

Most are probably Eastern Color warehouse copies that first entered the marketplace in the mid to late 1970s. The find included multiples of most issues of Famous Funnies and Heroic Comics. The pre-1940 stuff was often tanned and brittle, but the post-war issues (including Heroic #1-29, which featured Bill Everett's Hydroman) were pretty sweet. I frequently had a half-dozen or more copies to choose from when I put together my runs (and I'm pretty certain the stacks I rummaged through were only a fraction of the total find).

 

In the mid 1990s, I was able to finally complete my Heroic Comics run by picking up a number of Salida copies from Bruce Ellsworth. Lately, some of those same Salida copies have been popping up on ebay, which suggests that at least one major collector of the title is selling off some or all of his holdings.

 

I'm not at all surprised by the quantity of great Golden Age material that's re-entering the marketplace. Many of the "serious money" folks who were active in the 1970s are now retirement age, and not everyone wants to be buried with his collection.

 

[TheWatcher]

Or the economy has forced some to sell

[Forbush-Man]

Nobody wanted to buy them when they came out

 

Damn you are good.

[BOOT]

Most are probably Eastern Color warehouse copies that first entered the marketplace in the mid to late 1970s. The find included multiples of most issues of Famous Funnies and Heroic Comics. The pre-1940 stuff was often tanned and brittle, but the post-war issues (including Heroic #1-29, which featured Bill Everett's Hydroman) were pretty sweet. I frequently had a half-dozen or more copies to choose from when I put together my runs (and I'm pretty certain the stacks I rummaged through were only a fraction of the total find).

 

In the mid 1990s, I was able to finally complete my Heroic Comics run by picking up a number of Salida copies from Bruce Ellsworth. Lately, some of those same Salida copies have been popping up on ebay, which suggests that at least one major collector of the title is selling off some or all of his holdings.

 

Thanks for the great info! This makes sense.

 

The "warehouse find" is a wild card for collectors. From a small scale find at a closed store, to larger ones at a distributor's or a publisher's warehouse, the find of a previously unknown cache of books can instantly change the collecting profile of a book. So it's no wonder some finds are underreported.

 

I remember as a kid seeing huge stacks of unread 1960s Charlton comics (including Ditko's Fantastic Giants) at a used bookstore in New Jersey for 10 cents each.

 

 

[Bruce1971]

Most are probably Eastern Color warehouse copies that first entered the marketplace in the mid to late 1970s. The find included multiples of most issues of Famous Funnies and Heroic Comics. The pre-1940 stuff was often tanned and brittle, but the post-war issues (including Heroic #1-29, which featured Bill Everett's Hydroman) were pretty sweet. I frequently had a half-dozen or more copies to choose from when I put together my runs (and I'm pretty certain the stacks I rummaged through were only a fraction of the total find).

 

In the mid 1990s, I was able to finally complete my Heroic Comics run by picking up a number of Salida copies from Bruce Ellsworth. Lately, some of those same Salida copies have been popping up on ebay, which suggests that at least one major collector of the title is selling off some or all of his holdings.

 

Thanks for the great info! This makes sense.

 

The "warehouse find" is a wild card for collectors. From a small scale find at a closed store, to larger ones at a distributor's or a publisher's warehouse, the find of a previously unknown cache of books can instantly change the collecting profile of a book. So it's no wonder some finds are underreported.

 

I remember as a kid seeing huge stacks of unread 1960s Charlton comics (including Ditko's Fantastic Giants) at a used bookstore in New Jersey for 10 cents each.

 

 

Yeah, there are a lot more finds then people realize. I had a friend who in the early 90's, maybe late 80's, sold his Avengers #1-4 to Harley. He asked for full guide. Harley looked the books over, and wrote a cheque, didn't even try to bargain him down. The Avengers #1 was the nicest of the lot, in the mid to high 9's I would say. These came from a Canadian dealer who bought out runs of Marvels up to 50 copies deep I think it was. He told me the dealer bound a set of FF# 1-50? I think it was.

 

I also know a Canadian dealer found a drugstore? find of either the Batman or Superman 3D. Or how about all those Charlton's Ewert had, say midway through his dealing carrier. Think it was stuff like Gorgo or whatever that monster title was.

 

Kent Mitchell in Canada also had a lot of later King comics, like the Phantom in decent qty, newsstand fresh. Think I saw 20 of each one time, and these did not have tape on the tears or other amateur resto

 

Bruce

 

 

[jdjunker]

Most are probably Eastern Color warehouse copies that first entered the marketplace in the mid to late 1970s. The find included multiples of most issues of Famous Funnies and Heroic Comics. The pre-1940 stuff was often tanned and brittle, but the post-war issues (including Heroic #1-29, which featured Bill Everett's Hydroman) were pretty sweet. I frequently had a half-dozen or more copies to choose from when I put together my runs (and I'm pretty certain the stacks I rummaged through were only a fraction of the total find).

 

 

Hmm, to my knowledge there are no Eastern Color warehouse copies. Perhaps some legitimate books turned up in the early 70s that have been lost to history.

 

However, what I do know is Danny Dupcak, legendary comic book scam artist/con man created the Eastern Color File Copy hoax/scam.

 

There are multiple threads pertaining to Dupcak and his criminal ways. Perhaps someone more forum savvy than me can link them here.

 

But, no one should leave this thread thinking that anything called an "Eatern Color File Copy" is a desirable book.

 

Here are Borock's comments from a CBG article on dupcak:

 

 

"CGC Primary Grader Steve Borock told CBG in no uncertain terms: There's no such thing as an Eastern file copy. 'We learned this from research years before CGC,' he said, 'Publishers said that Eastern didn't keep file copies but, even if they did, they didn't stamp them. That stamp is not legitimate.'

 

 

Borock said that CGC has seen a few hundred of the copies in the last four years. 'Somebody would take these books, trim them, color-touch them, and then stamp, usually on the first page, 'Eastern Color File Copy,' with a fake signature on it. They were touted as file copies to people who had no knowledge. Basically, whoever was doing this was just a thief.'

 

 

Borock said that most of the fake Eastern file copies are Marvel comics, with some DCs. 'All are trimmed or color touched, mostly with stamps with a fake signature and a fake date. It is not where the comic book was printed. Whoever was stamping these just made up a fake stamp that said Eastern.'

 

 

Borock said CGC has not seen a Golden Age comic book stamped as an Eastern File copy. 'We have seen Amazing Spider-Man, Journey into Mystery, Metal Men, etc. Whoever was doing this was just greedy and they were able to trim the comic books really easily. They trimmed them to make them look as if they were in maximum condition when owned by the printer.' "

[Bruce1971]

Most are probably Eastern Color warehouse copies that first entered the marketplace in the mid to late 1970s. The find included multiples of most issues of Famous Funnies and Heroic Comics. The pre-1940 stuff was often tanned and brittle, but the post-war issues (including Heroic #1-29, which featured Bill Everett's Hydroman) were pretty sweet. I frequently had a half-dozen or more copies to choose from when I put together my runs (and I'm pretty certain the stacks I rummaged through were only a fraction of the total find).

 

 

Hmm, to my knowledge there are no Eastern Color warehouse copies. Perhaps some legitimate books turned up in the early 70s that have been lost to history.

 

However, what I do know is Danny Dupcak, legendary comic book scam artist/con man created the Eastern Color File Copy hoax/scam.

 

There are multiple threads pertaining to Dupcak and his criminal ways. Perhaps someone more forum savvy than me can link them here.

 

But, no one should leave this thread thinking that anything called an "Eatern Color File Copy" is a desirable book.

 

Here are Borock's comments from a CBG article on dupcak:

 

 

"CGC Primary Grader Steve Borock told CBG in no uncertain terms: There's no such thing as an Eastern file copy. 'We learned this from research years before CGC,' he said, 'Publishers said that Eastern didn't keep file copies but, even if they did, they didn't stamp them. That stamp is not legitimate.'

 

 

Borock said that CGC has seen a few hundred of the copies in the last four years. 'Somebody would take these books, trim them, color-touch them, and then stamp, usually on the first page, 'Eastern Color File Copy,' with a fake signature on it. They were touted as file copies to people who had no knowledge. Basically, whoever was doing this was just a thief.'

 

 

Borock said that most of the fake Eastern file copies are Marvel comics, with some DCs. 'All are trimmed or color touched, mostly with stamps with a fake signature and a fake date. It is not where the comic book was printed. Whoever was stamping these just made up a fake stamp that said Eastern.'

 

 

Borock said CGC has not seen a Golden Age comic book stamped as an Eastern File copy. 'We have seen Amazing Spider-Man, Journey into Mystery, Metal Men, etc. Whoever was doing this was just greedy and they were able to trim the comic books really easily. They trimmed them to make them look as if they were in maximum condition when owned by the printer.' "

 

Interesting, as the poster you are quoting was states these entered the market in the mid to late 70's . I don't think Danny was scamming that far back. Maybe not Eastern File copies but obviously a find if someone was offering him "a half dozen or more" copies of many of these books and he believed they were "only a fraction of the total find"

 

Bruce

[zzutak]

Steve was talking about frankenbooks that had been created by marrying an unused/uncirculated cover to the interior of a lower grade copy. Dupcak stamped the splash page himself to make the books look legit. I'm talking about warehouse copies (which are commonly referred to as file copies, even though they were neither file copies nor stamped). Check 'em out:

 

[zzutak]

And, to the best of my knowledge, Dupcak's file copy scam involved only early- to mid-1960s Marvels.

[Bruce1971]

And, to the best of my knowledge, Dupcak's file copy scam involved only early- to mid-1960s Marvels.

 

These are the best threads. Conflicting information comes together and the average "current"collector can get an idea of the truth.

 

Bruce

[batman_fan]

Most are probably Eastern Color warehouse copies that first entered the marketplace in the mid to late 1970s. The find included multiples of most issues of Famous Funnies and Heroic Comics. The pre-1940 stuff was often tanned and brittle, but the post-war issues (including Heroic #1-29, which featured Bill Everett's Hydroman) were pretty sweet. I frequently had a half-dozen or more copies to choose from when I put together my runs (and I'm pretty certain the stacks I rummaged through were only a fraction of the total find).

 

In the mid 1990s, I was able to finally complete my Heroic Comics run by picking up a number of Salida copies from Bruce Ellsworth. Lately, some of those same Salida copies have been popping up on ebay, which suggests that at least one major collector of the title is selling off some or all of his holdings.

 

Thanks for the great info! This makes sense.

 

The "warehouse find" is a wild card for collectors. From a small scale find at a closed store, to larger ones at a distributor's or a publisher's warehouse, the find of a previously unknown cache of books can instantly change the collecting profile of a book. So it's no wonder some finds are underreported.

 

I remember as a kid seeing huge stacks of unread 1960s Charlton comics (including Ditko's Fantastic Giants) at a used bookstore in New Jersey for 10 cents each.

 

 

Yeah, there are a lot more finds then people realize. I had a friend who in the early 90's, maybe late 80's, sold his Avengers #1-4 to Harley. He asked for full guide. Harley looked the books over, and wrote a cheque, didn't even try to bargain him down. The Avengers #1 was the nicest of the lot, in the mid to high 9's I would say. These came from a Canadian dealer who bought out runs of Marvels up to 50 copies deep I think it was. He told me the dealer bound a set of FF# 1-50? I think it was.

 

I also know a Canadian dealer found a drugstore? find of either the Batman or Superman 3D. Or how about all those Charlton's Ewert had, say midway through his dealing carrier. Think it was stuff like Gorgo or whatever that monster title was.

 

Kent Mitchell in Canada also had a lot of later King comics, like the Phantom in decent qty, newsstand fresh. Think I saw 20 of each one time, and these did not have tape on the tears or other amateur resto

 

Bruce

 

 

If it was the find from back in ~1989 or 1990, then it was the 1966 Batman 3D, I picked up a copy for $275 which was WAY over guide but the book was just so darn nice.

[Flash105]

And, to the best of my knowledge, Dupcak's file copy scam involved only early- to mid-1960s Marvels.

 

He did have DCs. He used Fantazia ads in CBG in the late 80s to move his "file copies". I was a sucker and bought a high grade Green Lantern 1. It was a beautiful book and had its little file copy stamp on the title page. Of course it was trimmed and eventually I got rid of it at a loss. That book was probably the biggest reason I took a two decade hiatus from the hobby.