What three books in your collection have stood the test of time?

[Flex Mentallo]

If good things do come in threes then we need a third thread on topic to make it a trio! So here it is - one to be reflective about.

 

 

Arguably the books we start out collecting are not the ones we end up with.

 

"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

Isaac Newton

 

Okay, a little pretentious maybe, but a nice quote - the sense of it here is that our tastes evolve - we start out with the obvious, or what other people tell us to collect, before coming to a better sense of our own tastes and predilections. And we discover. But some things that we start with, also stay with us for the journey.

 

So there might be several ways to play with this thread - one is to show the three earliest collected books that are still cherished in your collection. Another might be to show by comparison what you started out collecting compared to what you collect now.

 

Or you might see a different way to tell the tale.

 

The only unbreakable rule? The rule of threes!

[Flex Mentallo]

My earliest recollection of reading comic books is of being transported away by a coverless copy of MIS #57 at around the age of 7, just after comics started to be imported into Britain from the U.S. the other one I remember is B&B #29. But distribution was patchy. Full page ads for B&B #28, or DC annuals such as Secret Origins never actually turned up. I had no notion of a golden age of comics. Marvels were second best to DCs - they were monster books, and the colors were muddy. DC seemed brighter and cleaner.

 

In my teens I loved Conan, then drifted away from collecting. So it was only with the arrival of the photojournal that I began to learn about the golden age and I was blown away by cover after cover as they leapt off the page. Avon sci fi especially caught my eye - and The Man from Planet X. Though not by any means the first golden age comics I obtained, these are the three that have probably been in my golden age collection longest, and have since withstood the test of time insofar as my interest in them has never waned!

 

 

 

 

 

[G.A.tor]

three books that are always in my collection are silver surfer 1 (my first comic book), superman 14 and batman 47....doesn't mean they are my favorites, but since being an adult collector, I can't recall not having at least one copy of each in my collection at all times, since the late 80's

[walclark]

So, how about 3 comics that have a bit of a story behind them?

 

I would go with my younger brother to the monthly flea market in Nashville in the early 70‘s. He was into Marvel SA and I was buying baseball cards (I was a huge Baltimore Orioles fan after seeing them play an exhibition game in Japan… Palmer, Robinson, Powell, and Earl Weaver. That was also the year that Sam Snead yelled at me to get out of the middle of the fairway, but that’s a different story). So, one day, I saw this at the flea market and thought it was fun and funny. My first GA purchase.

 

 

 

 

 

Prior to the Internet, it was sometimes difficult to find a particular comic that you really wanted. (Today, you could just call G.A.tor and have it delivered to your door in 48 hours) I had my sights set on finding a Real Life #3 and searched high and low for a couple years. It was elusive. One year at Chicago, I was cruising the aisles and spotted it hiding on the bottom rack of a dealer’s wall (pretty sure it was Vincent Zurzolo in his pre-Metropolis days). I remember he brought it over for me to look at and said kind of apologetically, “It’s a little expensive because it’s kind of hard to find.”

 

 

 

 

 

Like many of us here on the boards, when the Gerber’s books were published, I spent hours looking at images of books I’d never seen before. And like most of us, I saw a beauty or two (or two hundred) that I never knew existed and became “I gotta get me one of those!” The one and only time I went to DragonCon in Atlanta, maybe 20 years ago, I bought this one.

 

 

[Larryw7]

I've posted the same scans a zillion times, so I won't bother doing that now, but the three most enduring books for me are:

 

 

1. Batman37-I received the book Batman: From the 30's to the 70's as a Christmas gift when I was in the third grade. I was enthralled with the stories in this book, but I was even more enthralled by the reproduction of GA covers. The one that really caught my attention was Batman 37, with the Joker signal being illuminated by Batman and Robin onto the Gotham City skyline. I wanted to read that story so bad as a kid, but I had no idea where to even look for a copy of that book. I finally got a copy in 1987 from the infamous Danny Dupcak. It was a "high grade" copy(G-d only knows what he did to it to make it look that way), and it was gorgeous. The story lived up to my very high expectations, and I've always had at least one copy of this book in my collection ever since. Right now I'm down to a lowly, spine rolled 4.0; I need to upgrade that sucker soon.

 

 

2. Crime Suspenstories 25- I was introduced to the greatness of EC through another Christmas gift- the great book Horror Comics of the 1950s, which I received as a gift on Christmas day, 1977. My father loved the EC books as a kid, and I started asking questions about them when I saw the reprints offered for sale in the back of Famous Monsters magazine. I also saw the Horror Comics hardback book at a local bookstore, Marlo Books on Cottman avenue in Philly. The 19.95 price was prohibitive to an 11 year old. I told my father about it, and he acted uninterested.

Next time I went to the store, the book was gone. I was saddened by this, but elated when I saw the book under the Christmas tree a few weeks later. Even gift wrapped, I recognized the book. I devoured the stories over and over again; a few months later when I found a local comic shop, I was able to buy the reprints offered by East Coast Comix. The one that stood out to me was Crime Suspense 25, with the incredible stories "Dog Food" illustrated by Reed Crandall, and "Key Chain" by Bernard Krigstein. I've had a copy of this book in my collection since the late seventies; right now I have a nice Fine+ with gorgeous cover gloss and white pages(and I don't have a scan of that one!). To me, 25 is the true gem of this series, despite not having a cover on the scale of #22.

 

3.Amazing Spider-Man 121 and 122- The death of Gwen Stacy and Peter Parker's reaction to it will always stay with me. I read these books new on the stands, and it was pretty strong stuff for an eight year old kid. I don't collect much Marvel these days, but I'll always have a copy of both of these books in my collection.

 

Sorry for the rambling...

[rodan57]

I've posted the same scans a zillion times, so I won't bother doing that now, but the three most enduring books for me are:

 

 

I think you should post the scans. As with any collection, how you put the books together will mean more than the individual books. (thumbs u

[Larryw7]

I've posted the same scans a zillion times, so I won't bother doing that now, but the three most enduring books for me are:

 

 

I think you should post the scans. As with any collection, how you put the books together will mean more than the individual books. (thumbs u

 

Well, this is the only one I have a scan of right now(and it's been posted a lot):

 

 

 

 

I do need to upgrade this puppy. That spine roll is starting to annoy me.

[Cat-Man_America]

For me, this book signed by the late gentleman who influenced my own work has been with me since the early 70's...

 

 

 

 

And this book, the Mile High copy of which I always regretted selling, is now back in my collection in almost as nice of a condition as the dearly departed copy...

 

 

 

This is a bit of a cheat, only because it isn't a COMIC book, but rather a fanzine, this one conceived by my late friend Jerry Weist, who after the modest introduction of this zine in '67 would take EC fandom to incredible heights...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Doohickamabob]

Avon sci fi especially caught my eye - and The Man from Planet X. Though not by any means the first golden age comics I obtained, these are the three that have probably been in my golden age collection longest, and have since withstood the test of time insofar as my interest in them has never waned!

Very nice stuff. That Strange Worlds is one of the best comic covers of all time, in my opinion. It has it all: Lovely lady pointing at compositional elements in both directions, a sky full of stars 'n' planets on one side, an elaborate piece of machinery on the other, with nudefolk in rocket tubes (gotta love the strategically placed metal bands around the glass), and a man with a raygun. Add to that the brilliant electrified lettering and it's a winner.

 

[Scrooge]

Wow, that's a lot of books to narrow down to three ... but I'll take the evolution approach.

 

I recall this to be the second GA book I have ever purchased.

 

 

That's a vintage American comic. It has 1) a recognisable character, 2) a patriotic color scheme, 3) an appeal to buy more bonds, 4) signatures by memorable WW II actors and so, what better comic to buy as a start to a collection, right? I view comic as entertainment and my doorway to a past that not only goes beyond my early days but also my home culture. This has all the hallmarks of the mystique of my adopted country and I proudly display it whenever I can.

 

My education into comics history (and the shortfalls of my budget) led me to focus most of my collecting to the 1950 - 1955 period for the sheer attraction of the diversity in genres & companies and the relatively under-exposed talents working in the field at the time. The book hereafter is a perfect reflection on that interest and also is a book I am damn proud to own as when I started collecting, I thought I'd never own a copy.

 

 

In the end, these days, I have slackened in my buying habits and have few books truly on my want list. I am still interested in '50's comics but will more readily pick any stray issue from Fiction House (e.g., Fight # 12 this morning) but also return to my original reading preferences for good, simple, wholesome and thoroughly entertaining Four Color / Dell comics, of which this next book is a shining example.

 

 

These are three books I don't see myself parting with any time soon

[Annihilus]

My story is a bit different being that I didn't start collecting Golden Age books until last year, but the genesis of my collecting does involve the Golden Age in (what turned out to be) a big way.

 

My first comic ever was Amazing Spider-Man 200, purchased by my Dad off the racks at Osco Drug in an effort to get me away from the 'bad influence of Dungeons and Dragons' back in 1980 when I was 12. Years later he was a bit chagrined to know that he was the cause of a several thousand dollar a year 'hobby'. That book has always been with me.

 

The Golden Age comes into it when I picked up my first OSPG with the big L.B. Cole feature in 1981. I was blown away by his art and always dreamed of owning some Cole books (Mask 1 and 2, especially), but growing up and spending all of my formative years in Montana, the possibility of running across one was, as it turned out, non-existent (not to mention, I could in no way afford any of his books at that age). As the years went by, I kind of forgot about Cole, until I discovered this place and its plethora of knowledgeable GA collectors. It was at this point that I picked up my two all-time comic book grails that I will own forevermore. So while they haven't 'stood the test of time' in my collection, they have in my mind (and would have in my collection if I could've found them at the time!). Here they are:

 

 

[Pat Calhoun]

Mask 1 & 2 = great personal story, sweet books!

[MrBedrock]

Three stories told many times...

 

I started working at a comic store called Camelot, owned by Burrel Rowe, here in Houston in 1978. I was fifteen.

I was working on the weekends and during the summer for trade. There was one book that I really wanted, but it was $1000. That's a lot of work trade.

Six months worth to be exact...

 

I started subscribing to The Comic Buyers Guide around late 76/ early 77. Every Thursday it would be waiting for me after school.

I'd spend every waking hour pouring over it dreaming of being able to afford the cool stuff available.

I had saved $40 from yard mowing when The American Comic Book Company offered this (the first thing I ever bought through the CBG)...

 

A month or so later I ordered a fine copy of Great Comics #3 for $60. I had heard that it was a cool Hitler comic. Well in fact it is the ultimate Hitler comic.

The copy that I got was totally taped and restapled up and down the spine. It was just ugly. But I read that bad boy a few times before sending it back for a refund.

The search was on for a nice one. It took forever. In the pre-internet days it was tough to track down an oddball golden age book.

Sometime in the late 80s I showed up at San Diego Con and Stephen Fishler was waiting with this. He had saved it for me, remembering that I was looking for one.

We may have our differences but I'll always appreciate Steve for remembering!...

[Pat Calhoun]

Bravo!, Mr B...

[BangZoom]

 

 

That issue has a beautiful back cover.

 

 

 

It's nice to see you back here posting again, Scrooge.

[cheetah]

As far as GA goes, my first two are easy. Startling 49 was a favorite of mine before I ever knew who Alex Schomburg was. I upgraded from a 7.5 to a 9.4 in order to get a copy that was really special looking. To me, it typifies an entire era of American pop culture and is the pinnacle of good girl art.

 

 

Planet 1 was the first GA book I wanted so bad that I tracked it for something like two years waiting for my resources and nerve to allow me to pick it up. While it wasn't cheap, I got it at the right time and got some good advice from some of the more experienced boardies in what was a reasonable value. I doubt I will part with this until most everything else is gone.

 

 

As far as the third goes, it could be any one of my Xela Nedors, a number of the Schomburg Nedors, half my Fiction House run. Probably 75% of my GA books I wouldn't see parting with any time soon. But I think when it gets down to it, Tales from the Crypt 30 is the best of the EC books I've picked up. The ECs have really grown on my and the quality of the Gains File Copies just blows me away.

 

[Scrooge]

Well, thank you BZ!

 

Just for that, here's a tip to a pulp you would like: Popular Detective, June 1945 ... but I have to guess you already have a copy? Care to scan it if you do

 

[Flex Mentallo]

 

It's nice to see you back here posting again, Scrooge.

 

As BZ said. Things havent been quite the same without you. Nearly pm'd you on a number of occasions recently buddy, but figured you had your reasons. Welcome back - all I ask is that you dont change your board name! [i was thinking of changing mine to Candide, but it's more a reflection on work than play, so I will resist the temptation!]

[Pat Calhoun]

great carnival cov on that pulp!

[Cat-Man_America]

Awesome, Richard.

 

I wish I had such a great story to tell, but my journey took me away from comics fandom for a number of years. Having read an earlier posting about your being mentored to some extent by Willie Patterson (who I knew as well back in the old days) and some of the social attitudes of the time in Oklahoma and Texas, I think you may glean some understanding of why I got out of comics and into the SF community (loved the comics but the extreme attitudes of some older collectors, not so much).

 

My first GA purchase, long ago sold, was a VF\NM copy of Plastic Man #10 (Quality; Jack Cole art) purchased from Howard & Gail Rogofsky, sometime in 1967 if memory serves. I have no idea why I sold this book because it meant a lot to me at the time, but I may just have to buy another high grade copy because of my fond recollections of it.