Infinite Bronze Horror Thread 16 16

[sterlingcomics]

[sterlingcomics]

I don't understand why CGC labels the first few issues as "True Ghost Stories"--they all say that. I suspect that they changed the title of the book after a while. BTW, some of the early issues say "True War Stories"-#3 and #5 I believe.

 

[Buck Biggins]

 

I like that cover a lot. Are these titles readily availble in high grade? File copies?

[Zonker]

I don't understand why CGC labels the first few issues as "True Ghost Stories"--they all say that. I suspect that they changed the title of the book after a while. BTW, some of the early issues say "True War Stories"-#3 and #5 I believe.

 

 

Best I can tell from reading the Overstreet Guide, Gold Key put out a couple of 1-shots in 1965:

Ripley's Believe it or Not! True Ghost Stories #1

Ripley's Believe it or Not! True War Stories #1

 

Then followed up in 1966 with

Ripley's Believe it or Not! True Ghost Stories #2

 

When 1967 rolled around, they launched the ongoing series, and decided to start it with #4 as a continuation of all 3 of the above books:

Ripley's Believe it or Not!

 

From that point on, the subtitle True Ghost Stories or True War Stories was just on the cover, not on the indica. Overstreet and CGC treat whatever is on the book's indica as the official title of the book.

 

Always interesting to think back to a time when a #1 issue was a stigma rather than a highly-prized sales gimmick!

[sterlingcomics]

Thanks for the info Zonker. I was unfamiliar with the history of the title. Andrew, to my knowledge, these issues were not very easy to find until the RANDOM HOUSE file copies came about. Even so, the raw ones I'm buying are not "extreme" ubber grade but respectible 8.5-9.2. Less than 30% of the series have been CGC graded, and I pretty much have all of 'em.

[Guest]

I don't understand why CGC labels the first few issues as "True Ghost Stories"--they all say that. I suspect that they changed the title of the book after a while. BTW, some of the early issues say "True War Stories"-#3 and #5 I believe.

 

Sterling, top books by the way. I did a similar thing myslef a little while a go and pick up the Northand copy of the twilight zone #1 for what I considered very resonable $$. Your RBION books are great, but the earlier ones seem a little elusive, has someone already snapped up the earlier file copies?

 

I'll call my friend and check on those Oakland HOM's for you.

[sterlingcomics]

One thing I've noticed so far is that there seems to be a ton of copies available for certain issues (in terms of file copies). I'm curious if certain issue numbers weren't available from the RANDOM HOUSE copies or were they, as you eluded, tucked away in a collection that never went public. And I'm basically picking these up because they are reasonable (relative to guide price) and b/c it's getting tougher and tougher to get the final pieces of my DC collection as I'm nearing completion. I have no idea if these books were tough prior to the release of the file copies...I'd be curious to hear from those collecting the series...my guess is that most who did were not looking for HG.

 

The RH copies are essentially unread stacked books; it was great to thumb through those puppies and find that the pages were still clung to each other. The basic problems I've seen with them are spine stress (stacked effect maybe) and some dings in the ULC fc/bc. The gloss and PQ are very nice.

 

I've seen the TZ and BK books but haven't gravitated to them for some reason. I'm a sucker for a decent ghost story I guess. The few stories I've read thus far have been great; a breath of fresh air relative to the Marvel reprints and the classic EC and typical DC horror storylines.

[sterlingcomics]

I'll call my friend and check on those Oakland HOM's for you.

 

I need the usual suspects: 175, 176, 179, 183, 184, 187, 190 in 9.4 or better. Funny how this list hasn't changed in the last several years. I've definitely had failed attempts at the DON ROSA books but other than that it's been tumbleweed city.

[Buck Biggins]

I'll call my friend and check on those Oakland HOM's for you.

 

I need the usual suspects: 175, 176, 179, 183, 184, 187, 190 in 9.4 or better. Funny how this list hasn't changed in the last several years. I've definitely had failed attempts at the DON ROSA books but other than that it's been tumbleweed city.

 

Isn't 184 more common in high grade?

[sterlingcomics]

Isn't 184 more common in high grade?

 

I guess it's just a matter of experience. Many of the issues above I have in 9.2 and simply want to upgrade. I've never, ever seen any CGC 9.4 or better issues of 175 and 176 since I've been collecting the series. I heard from a fellow collector that Joe S. purchased the 175 CGC 9.4 (which he was nice to show here) issue about six months before I started collecting. It took me several years to realize how hard the earlier books are to obtain, but by then-a few slipped through my fingers.

 

I think that these late SA/early BA books look to be truly scarce (at least in HG), or the people who own these books are legally brain dead because now would be the time to sell if you have 'em. On the other hand, if they are hard core like I am then I fully understand why they wouldn't have sold it.

 

I have a feeling I will be putting a hard stop on my collection at a certain point. I would like to be able to complete it, but it won't be the end of the world if it doesn't happen.

[sterlingcomics]

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The man at the table looks like Charles Bronson.

 

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