Dale's Comic Fanzine Price Guide

[TheWatcher]

I didn't see the fanzine price guide at the con. I did go to two panels, the first an interview with Bill Schelly. That was interesting and he shared his experiences on putting together his books. Nice guy and a real unassuming personality.

 

The second interview was with some of the founding members of fandom including, Maggie Thompson, Pat and Lupoff, Bill Schelly, Roy Thomas, Richard Kyle and Jean Bails (Jerry's wife.) This was a fascinating panel with many stories from the early days of fandom.

 

I brought a copy of the Comic Book Book and had Maggie Thompson and the Lupoff's sign it. Sorry no pictures although I did assist with manning the video camera for a bit!! Wonder where all those videos go anyway?

 

Sounds like you had a great time. Wish I could've been there

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

I didn't see the fanzine price guide at the con. I did go to two panels, the first an interview with Bill Schelly. That was interesting and he shared his experiences on putting together his books. Nice guy and a real unassuming personality.

 

The second interview was with some of the founding members of fandom including, Maggie Thompson, Pat and Lupoff, Bill Schelly, Roy Thomas, Richard Kyle and Jean Bails (Jerry's wife.) This was a fascinating panel with many stories from the early days of fandom.

 

I brought a copy of the Comic Book Book and had Maggie Thompson and the Lupoff's sign it. Sorry no pictures although I did assist with manning the video camera for a bit!! Wonder where all those videos go anyway?

 

Sounds like you had a great time. Wish I could've been there

 

Yes, it was probably time the convention actually took its hat off to these pioneers. As pointed out by moderator Evanier, Roy Thomas is now 70, Evanier himself is 60, Jerry Bails has already passed away and I would guess the Lupoffs must be close to their eighties. A great debt is owed to these folks by the hundred thousand plus participants at the convention.

 

Who knew their pioneering efforts would lead to such results!!

 

One interesting note by Richard Kyle was to point out that their had been a subtle shift in attitudes against comics that happened well before Wertham and his articles began appearing. Kyle pointed out that he remembers wanting to buy an issue of Famous Funnies as a youngster and it was not looked down upon in any way. Probably the influence of the respected Sunday funnies making up the contents.

[rodan57]

Yes, it was probably time the convention actually took its hat off to these pioneers. As pointed out by moderator Evanier, Roy Thomas is now 70, Evanier himself is 60, Jerry Bails has already passed away and I would guess the Lupoffs must be close to their eighties.

 

Roy Thomas is 70. My, how time passes.

 

 

Fantastic Four Annual #7 • 1969

[aardvark88]

The second interview was with some of the founding members of fandom including, Maggie Thompson, Pat and Lupoff, Bill Schelly, Roy Thomas, Richard Kyle and Jean Bails (Jerry's wife.) This was a fascinating panel with many stories from the early days of fandom.

 

Sounds like a great panel. I hope the video shows up on youtube or something.

 

I was at the 3rd interview on Sunday. Sadly, there were only about 15 fans in that hall including the SDCC technical support staff. We figured some of the GA or fanzine devotees left after the Sat. night meet and greet fandom after hours event (for the elderly?).

 

I was lucky enough to get sigs for my hardcover 1st printing of "All in Color for a Dime" from the typist Maggie Thompson, writer/editor D*ck Lupoff and support staff Pat Lupoff.

** There was also a forumite from Toronto, ON, Canada who will upload this stellar interview about the growth of comic fandom from sci-fi World conventions, and writers to Xero zine like a very young Harlan Ellison.

 

Sat., I went to the Two Morrows Publishing booth were an electric Roy Thomas was regaling Marvelites with many stories about Stan Lee, Neal Adams X-men, BWS Conan, etc., and signing lots of bronze or SA Marvels plus those Marvel hardcover archive books for dealers.

 

[SOTIcollector]

I haven't seen this guide, but based on the sample page provided I don't hold out any great hope that it will do what needs to be done. This hobby needs a comprehensive listing of fanzines, their content, and their absolute or relative print runs/scarcity. In my experience, people search out zines for their specific contents rather than trying to collect runs. Therefore, listing primarily just prices without listing contents or significant features misses its target. A 'guide' that lists the issues of Amazing World of DC, but does not indicate what's in those issues or say why #9 (Legion issue) sells for a lot more than others, is of very little use, IMHO.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

Just ordered the limited edition mimeograph edition with the discount and free shipping. Looking forward to this and the many mystery's it contains. This is a great project as I have always enjoyed this side of the hobby. It is unappreciated to be sure.

[Cat-Man_America]

Just ordered the limited edition mimeograph edition with the discount and free shipping. Looking forward to this and the many mystery's it contains. This is a great project as I have always enjoyed this side of the hobby. It is unappreciated to be sure.

 

I thought about doing that but ended up buying the ltd. ed. full color version since there were only 12 copies remaining.

 

I still have nightmares about working in mimeo and ditto from back in those early days of fanzine publishing.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

I caught the tail end of mimeo publishing, but what little I caught was a total nightmare. No fun. Thank God for the cheap Xerox machines that came along in the seventies. My Great Uncle was a lawyer and had an office where we got to run off copies if we needed to do so. In the early days that cost a lot and I think they charged by the copy with a meter. Today it is much different and color copies are ubiquitous not to mention color printers in the home.

[capt_comics]

Just ordered one

 

 

[markseifert]

I caught the tale end of mimeo publishing, but what little I caught was a total nightmare. No fun. Thank God for the cheap Xerox machines that came along in the seventies. My Great Uncle was a lawyer and had an office where we got to run off copies if we needed to do so. In the early days that cost a lot and I think they charged by the copy with a meter. Today it is much different and color copies are ubiquitous not to mention color printers in the home.

 

I've always been fascinated by this myself, as the technical side of printing/publishing has gotten VASTLY easier in the 15 yrs I've been in it. The effort that people were putting into zines in the decades before then... truly a labor of love. My hat's off to anyone involved.

 

Just ordered this guide myself. Looking forward to it.

 

 

[Robin Dale]

I haven't seen this guide, but based on the sample page provided I don't hold out any great hope that it will do what needs to be done. This hobby needs a comprehensive listing of fanzines, their content, and their absolute or relative print runs/scarcity. In my experience, people search out zines for their specific contents rather than trying to collect runs. Therefore, listing primarily just prices without listing contents or significant features misses its target. A 'guide' that lists the issues of Amazing World of DC, but does not indicate what's in those issues or say why #9 (Legion issue) sells for a lot more than others, is of very little use, IMHO.

4

 

Hi this is Robin Dale and I am the author of this guide. I have to say, you are absolutely right about needing that level of information. I have tried to provide as much as I could for this first edition, but you can fit only so much in either the space or time that is available. Still, there is a lot of info in the guide, and at least we now have a decent (I hope) book documenting much of this material (the sample page on the site sucks, and is an older page; I will be changing it tomorrow to one from the actual finished guide.)

 

What you are proposing is more of an index type publication, which is something I am working toward should there be enough interest. I already have hundreds of fanzines indexed into a custom database for just such a purpose. I am thinking of doing something like a series of indexes for fanzines to fill this area, if there is interest in such a thing.

 

And for those interested, the guide is done, printed, and copies are shipped out to the pre-orders as of yesterday. Thanks so much again to everyone for the support and interest, and to the great pioneers of comics fandom - how I wish I could have been at San Diego to meet you!

[TheWatcher]

Can't wait for my copy to arrive so I can look through it

[thecollectron]

I ordered one today. I'm really looking forward to it.

 

I went to the first of the SDCC panels devoted to the founders of fandom, and it was very interesting, pretty well attended, and a long overdue salute to them. I attended the mixer on Saturday night as well. It was held in a room at the very far end of the convention center where nobody ever goes. I think the idea was to have a quiet gathering place while the Masquerade and Con party were going on, but we joked as we were walking over there that they just wanted to sweep all the older comic geeks into a corner out of the way.

Anyway, the mixer was a lot of fun, and at least one collector generously supplied displays of fandom history and, of course, fanzines.

I carried around my paperback copy of All In Color For A Dime (which I bought off the spinner rack in 1970) and Richard Lupoff, Maggie Thompson, and Roy Thomas each signed it. It was really great to rub elbows with old-school comic book people.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

I haven't seen this guide, but based on the sample page provided I don't hold out any great hope that it will do what needs to be done. This hobby needs a comprehensive listing of fanzines, their content, and their absolute or relative print runs/scarcity. In my experience, people search out zines for their specific contents rather than trying to collect runs. Therefore, listing primarily just prices without listing contents or significant features misses its target. A 'guide' that lists the issues of Amazing World of DC, but does not indicate what's in those issues or say why #9 (Legion issue) sells for a lot more than others, is of very little use, IMHO.

4

 

Hi this is Robin Dale and I am the author of this guide. I have to say, you are absolutely right about needing that level of information. I have tried to provide as much as I could for this first edition, but you can fit only so much in either the space or time that is available. Still, there is a lot of info in the guide, and at least we now have a decent (I hope) book documenting much of this material (the sample page on the site sucks, and is an older page; I will be changing it tomorrow to one from the actual finished guide.)

 

What you are proposing is more of an index type publication, which is something I am working toward should there be enough interest. I already have hundreds of fanzines indexed into a custom database for just such a purpose. I am thinking of doing something like a series of indexes for fanzines to fill this area, if there is interest in such a thing.

 

And for those interested, the guide is done, printed, and copies are shipped out to the pre-orders as of yesterday. Thanks so much again to everyone for the support and interest, and to the great pioneers of comics fandom - how I wish I could have been at San Diego to meet you!

 

 

Robin, I applaud your efforts and look forward to getting the book. All projects must start somewhere and all are hard to not start but do and most importantly finish. Can't wait to get my copy!

 

[Theagenes]

I haven't seen this guide, but based on the sample page provided I don't hold out any great hope that it will do what needs to be done. This hobby needs a comprehensive listing of fanzines, their content, and their absolute or relative print runs/scarcity. In my experience, people search out zines for their specific contents rather than trying to collect runs. Therefore, listing primarily just prices without listing contents or significant features misses its target. A 'guide' that lists the issues of Amazing World of DC, but does not indicate what's in those issues or say why #9 (Legion issue) sells for a lot more than others, is of very little use, IMHO.

4

 

Hi this is Robin Dale and I am the author of this guide. I have to say, you are absolutely right about needing that level of information. I have tried to provide as much as I could for this first edition, but you can fit only so much in either the space or time that is available. Still, there is a lot of info in the guide, and at least we now have a decent (I hope) book documenting much of this material (the sample page on the site sucks, and is an older page; I will be changing it tomorrow to one from the actual finished guide.)

 

What you are proposing is more of an index type publication, which is something I am working toward should there be enough interest. I already have hundreds of fanzines indexed into a custom database for just such a purpose. I am thinking of doing something like a series of indexes for fanzines to fill this area, if there is interest in such a thing.

 

And for those interested, the guide is done, printed, and copies are shipped out to the pre-orders as of yesterday. Thanks so much again to everyone for the support and interest, and to the great pioneers of comics fandom - how I wish I could have been at San Diego to meet you!

 

Robin, does your guide include the early SF and Weird Fiction fanzines from the 30's and 40's like Time Traveler, Science Fiction, Fantasy Fan, Phantagraph, The Acolyte, etc. or just limited to comic book fanzines? Thanks.

Jeff

[Robin Dale]

" Robin, does your guide include the early SF and Weird Fiction fanzines from the 30's and 40's like Time Traveler, Science Fiction, Fantasy Fan, Phantagraph, The Acolyte, etc. or just limited to comic book fanzines? Thanks."

 

The guide is primarily a comics (mostly comic book, but some strip stuff will be included as well) fanzine guide. Now, there are a few crossover kinds of zines (like the strip ones mentioned) and a few of the more important ones are included such as Fantasy/Phantasy World.

 

As with anything like this, you have to pick where to draw the line (ditto for where the line is between fanzines, undergrounds, and simply independent comics) or you end up covering everything tangentially related.

 

That being said, I am always interested in discovering anything that might fit the guide, so feel free to send any suggestions along to the main email (fanzine guide AT gmail.com) for consideration.

 

Also, it may come to pass that later on we may be able to do (or publish, if someone else can do the research) guides for this other material. I'm certainly open to it.

 

-Rob

www.AmdaleMedia.com

[Theagenes]

Thanks, and welcome to the boards!

[TheWatcher]

My copy arrived Sat and I eagerly scanned through it. One thing that I was happy to see was an explanation of the difference between various printings of fanzines like Alter Ego. There's also a nice article about Gene Klein and his association with comic fandom that made for entertaining reading. The amount of info is much more than I'd thought there'd be, so that's a huge plus (thumbs u

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

I received my copy earlier this week and have been going throught it page by page each night. It reminds me of when I got my first price guide back in 1972 and I devoured it trying to get a handle on the history of the comics. I am amazed at the number of early fanzines as well as the listings going all the back to the thirties.

 

The other part of the book that I really like and is a total plus as it is not even advertised is your listing of books about comics. Very interesting stuff.

 

Finally, are you taking submissions on omissions? I'm sure there are many on these boards who could provide valuable addtions to the project.

[BustedFlush]

40yrs had produced a wonderful fanzine when he was in pre-kindergarten with some other collector whose name I dare not speakth of.

It is time 40yrs.

Show the world.