Does anyone remember a time when Silver Age DCs were plentiful?

[Hepcat]

I'd like to hear from other longtime DC and sundry esoteric title collectors such as those by Harvey, Charlton and Archie Adventure series. Has anyone been collecting Silver Age DCs for so long that he can remember a time when these could easily be found?

 

While Silver Age Marvels were plentiful at the comic shops I frequented in 1978-79, trying to find pre-1965 DCs in decent condition was like pulling teeth. Even at conventions basically all the wall books were Marvels with only the occasional tough DC comic to be found. Was this also the case everywhere else?

 

It's a pity Gary Carter doesn't frequent this board. I understand he had amassed a very good Silver Age DC collection by the eighties but he's the only such fellow (I think).

 

[kimik]

Tim (tth2) might be a good person to comment on this as he amassed an amazing SA DC collection.

 

From my own experience, they are very difficult to find in HG, especially anything from 1956 - 1960.

[1koko]

tth2 had a half decent collection

[1koko]

Tim (tth2) might be a good person to comment on this as he amassed an amazing SA DC collection.

 

From my own experience, they are very difficult to find in HG, especially anything from 1956 - 1960.

 

Beat me to it

[jimjum12]

I'd like to hear from other longtime DC and sundry esoteric title collectors such as those by Harvey, Charlton and Archie Adventure series. Has anyone been collecting Silver Age DCs for so long that he can remember a time when these could easily be found?

 

While Silver Age Marvels were plentiful at the comic shops I frequented in 1978-79, trying to find pre-1965 DCs in decent condition was like pulling teeth. Even at conventions basically all the wall books were Marvels with only the occasional tough DC comic to be found. Was this also the case everywhere else?

 

It's a pity Gary Carter doesn't frequent this board. I understand he had amassed a very good Silver Age DC collection by the eighties but he's the only such fellow (I think).

 

 

I never saw many in HG......but what grade do you call nice.? Me, I love a NM as much as the next guy, but a sharp 5.0 to 7.0 copy makes me happy as well. GOD BLESS....

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

[tth2]

Has anyone been collecting Silver Age DCs for so long that he can remember a time when these could easily be found?

My experience is that Silver Age DCs were never easily found, unless you were old enough to have bought them off the newsstand. When comic collecting came of age around 1965-66, the focus was all on Marvel (for good reason), and therefore it was Marvels that got hoarded and brought to shows and dealers. DCs were always an afterthought.

[Hepcat]

I never saw many in HG......but what grade do you call nice.? Me, I love a NM as much as the next guy, but a sharp 5.0 to 7.0 copy makes me happy as well. GOD BLESS....

 

In the early eighties I was happy with Fine+, which was labelled NM- by most dealers at the time.

 

My experience is that Silver Age DCs were never easily found, unless you were old enough to have bought them off the newsstand. When comic collecting came of age around 1965-66, the focus was all on Marvel (for good reason), and therefore it was Marvels that got hoarded and brought to shows and dealers. DCs were always an afterthought.

 

My suspicion as well. In fact, I'd say that DCs continued to be an afterthought until say 15 years ago. I recall phoning Want List Comics because of the ad they were running in Overstreet 15-20 years ago. The ad stated that their policy of soliciting want lists meant that they ended up with the best inventory because they'd buy to fill want lists they knew they'd be getting. Well I asked for Fly and Jaguar comics and the stupid woman had never heard of them! And they had the gall to run those ads! I wanted to swear at her. Neither of course did they have any early Flashes, GLs or Mysteries in Space. Despite their talk, they probably wanted requests for the comics with the Punisher intro and the death of Gwen Stacey.

 

Then there was the time I dropped into the Batcave in New York in the early eighties because they too had a full page ad in Overstreet. A big time New York City dealer should have everything, right? Right?? Ahhhhh, no, close to nothing of interest for me.

 

I also liked to ask dealers for Drag Cartoons. I was addicted to the dumb looks I received in return.

 

 

 

[oakman29]

there's never been any 56-61 DCs that have been plentiful.

[Silver]

there's never been any 56-61 DCs that have been plentiful.

 

Not sure I totally agree with that statement. Some titles are more available than others. There has always been a huge difference between hard to find and hard to find in grade.

 

Since I am primarly a DC collector, I am going to illustrate

 

Common: (no, not in 9.4, but high grade copies aren't rare either)

 

 

uncommon (in most grades)

 

 

very difficult above VG (rare)

 

 

Obviously, some of these are pre-silver age. My experience has been that the 1952-54 era is the toughest couple of years in the 50's to find many DC's. But with that being said, I have found some 1959 issues to be tough too.

 

Many DC's are not uncommon at all, but almost all are rare in true NM, it isn't even realistic to discuss the population of NM 1950's DC's, they are fairly unique.

 

There are a lot of collectors here that can add to this discussion.

 

 

[Kevin.J]

You want to try and collect these living in the UK, I am currently finding about 3-5 issues a year from my DC want list, I am complete from about 1957 onwards, working backwards on DC is a very hard task, never-mind NM if I find something in the UK in GD, I class myself as lucky.

[bane]

You want to try and collect these living in the UK, I am currently finding about 3-5 issues a year from my DC want list, I am complete from about 1957 onwards, working backwards on DC is a very hard task, never-mind NM if I find something in the UK in GD, I class myself as lucky.

 

This is what is going to be both exciting and frustrating for me, I'm nearly finished with my 200 - 299 run of Batman in high grade and will be focusing on #100 - 199

[Flash105]

Is the CGC census a good indication of what issues are hard to find raw or otherwise or does it indicate only what "key collectors" are looking for?

[sakaridis]

uncommon (in most grades)

 

I can't even begin to describe how much I love this cover!

[john72tex]

You want to try and collect these living in the UK, I am currently finding about 3-5 issues a year from my DC want list, I am complete from about 1957 onwards, working backwards on DC is a very hard task, never-mind NM if I find something in the UK in GD, I class myself as lucky.

 

This is what is going to be both exciting and frustrating for me, I'm nearly finished with my 200 - 299 run of Batman in high grade and will be focusing on #100 - 199

Yeah, good luck on that. Once I got below issue 130, it was very difficult to find anything at VF or above. I've come to accept copies in F to F/VF.

[Hepcat]

This is what is going to be both exciting and frustrating for me, I'm nearly finished with my 200 - 299 run of Batman in high grade and will be focusing on #100 - 199

 

Good luck! The lower numbers will get exponentially more difficult.

 

 

Is the CGC census a good indication of what issues are hard to find raw or otherwise or does it indicate only what "key collectors" are looking for?

 

That's a very good question! I've always suspected that the census is padded with the most highly prized issues. But where then are the less highly prized issues? Or perhaps they don't exist.

 

[markseifert]

Anecdotally:

 

There was a time in the late 70s / early 80s when SA DC's seemed much easier to find than SA Marvels. This was in the wake of Marvel's rise to dominance on the back of the X-Men franchise and other factors, and every kid I knew who was into comics was trying to fill in runs of their Marvel titles.

 

As a kid I was pretty hardcore about scouring flea markets and yard sales for comics, and Marvels were MUCH tougher to find this way than DCs, in that era. Superman and Batman related titles were particularly prevalent, it seemed.

 

That said, of course the earlier stuff was much tougher. Though I was mainly looking for SA Marvels at the time, I would pick up pretty much anything with a ten cent cover, and early SA DC's were as tough as you'd expect.

 

I also recall seeing much less of stuff like JLA, GL, B&B, etc. As I say, Superman, Batman -- and for some reason, Flash -- seemed relatively commonly available compared to most SA Marvels at that time... though again, I suspect that everyone scouring the countryside for Marvels at that time was a contributing factor in this.

 

When I got to college in the mid-80s and had access to the first real comic shop in the area, that was the first time I really saw significant runs of SA Marvels first hand. Before then, stacks of 12 cent Superman & Batman related books seemed relatively common by comparison.

[Stevenrams]

uncommon (in most grades)

 

I can't even begin to describe how much I love this cover!

 

Here's my copy. I believe it's a tough book even in low grade so I snagged this copy and if a high grade copy pops up somewhere I'll make an effort to buy it. Though low grade I like the colors. As I recall the book contains a retelling of the origin of Superman making it a minor key.

[MrBedrock]

uncommon (in most grades)

 

I can't even begin to describe how much I love this cover!

Yeah. The theme of Batman and Robin in costume picnicking alone in the woods with two young attractive females never gets old.

[Bronty]

its a welcome change from the ambiguously gay situations they usually find themselves in

 

Not that there is anything wrong with that!

[peewee22]

Always been and will be hard to find > .6.0. No one can argue that.

 

Showcase 17, Adv 242, OAAW 83 are hair pullers.