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The Rarest Bronze Age Comic?

Started by MonumentalCo,

54 posts in this topic

underthebigw

underthebigw

Posted
Posted

OK-my post was not meant to be provocative. Here's how I feel about this-it is not absurd to collect anything that you have a passion or nostalgia for. And my post was in response to new_user's claim that it was absurd to collect variants. And in response to FF, it is certainly not a sign of sickness or obsession. On one of the pages of my website I remark that my interest in them is largely motivated by nostalgia for a period of comics that is at the heart of my love of the hobby and art form. I started collecting during the summer of 1976 and that is why I'm after a complete set (I'm coming after you, FD. But then again, I've made that claim for 2 years). In fact, some of my variants originally came off the newstand.

 

Other people may think it's absurd, but I collect US comics and love Bronze Age books--that's why I collect 30 cent variants and, to a lesser degree, 35 cent variants. I don't collect Whitman variants. In my mind they are reprints. Are some of them scarce and particularly hard to find. You bet, especially in grade. I just don't have an interest in them. Far be it for me, however, to tell someone they're not worth collecting or spending money on. A good portion of kids, some of which became collectors, bought the majority of their books (which they read to death) in the form of Whitman 3 packs sold in drug, book, and department stores. If they long to spend money on them because they recapture part of their youth (not because they are completists, even thought that is valid as well), then good for them. This is supposed to be fun.

 

As for the process by which they were created, I believe that new_user is accurate. They were printed at the same time as the original print run, and are therefore not reprints--a fact that makes them collectable to me. The print run of the normal version was stopped, the plate change was made, and a small percentage (who knows how small-probably not at all uniform across title or issue) were created with the different price.

 

Are they the same book-largely yes. Except for a variation, thus their categoriztion as "variants". They exist, they are rare, and they are different. If people feel they are worth more, then so be it. If someone does not want to collect them, then fine. You really shouldn't disparage other people's passions or pretend they don't exist and that many of them are truly rare. Just try to find some of them

 

And, for those of you have sent me either PM's or emails, thanks for the kind words. I will be updating my site, especially the list of 35 variants which has numerous errors and ommissions. For those of you who collect .35 variants, I'd love to hear what you have (even if it's anonymously) so I can start documenting those that are known to exist.

 

 

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fantastic_four

fantastic_four

Posted
Posted

And in response to FF, it is certainly not a sign of sickness or obsession
Sure it is. blush.gif We are the lifeless, we are the geeks, we are the doofuses. We are the adult males who spend far, far too many hours perusing and sizing up small pieces of paper. We are all in a state of arrested development; ten-year old cultural insufficiently_thoughtful_persons with the bodies and critical minds of adults.

 

We are rare comic book collectors.

 

All hail our social retardation! laugh.gif

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Rival61-migration

Rival61-migration

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There is certainly nothing wrong with collecting varients... of any type. For a short time in the 70's I collected a few oddballs that at the time, made no sense. I have a double cover FF 128, for example. Can this be considered a variant? Probably not, it is more of a printing error, but a case could be made for collecting double cover specimens. When Inhumans #1 came out, the difference in the hues of the inks between the issues delivered to the two drug stores I bought from made them almost look like different editions, so I saved several of each just for the novelty.

 

Once price variations arrived, I was not intrigued, nor was I interested in a different pricing logos for direct distribution issues. As far as my personal opinion, no pricing variant makes a n issue more valuable to my collection. Of course, others may see value there. people are free to collect whatever they enjoy, and whether you seek double covers, CGC 10.0, Deep-hued ink or price variants, these are all valid if they make you happy.

 

However, the initial question posed by the initial poster does have my interest. Not counting variations, which bronze age issues are the hardest to find?

 

I'm still hunting for that high grade Green-suit captain marvel #15.

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PovertyRow

PovertyRow

Posted
Posted

There is certainly nothing wrong with collecting varients... of any type.

 

Hell, variants or electric chair covers or black covers or spider covers or Hitler covers or anyrhing else. You be, to quote Marty Feldman in YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, "on the nosey!" grin.gif

 

Collectors are a strange breed when compared to the non-collector. WE can understand our proclivities but the non-collector cannot. And anyone who collects anything must acquiesce to the eccentricities of any other collector.

 

Because collecitng is one of the things that makes life worth living, and one of the things one can acquire that refelct the personality of the collector. It is ... time for a Kodak Moment ... it is a Special Thing. blush.giftongue.gifwink.gifgrin.gif

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