So i go the call we all wait for ....

[jerome34]

Check the coverless items. It looks like you might have all parts of a Talbert

Mundy story. If so, there might be some people interested in it.

 

I would think, being completely ignorant of current prices, that a wholesale

price for the lot would be around 50 cents per issue.

 

My own interest would be in a series called "Old Songs the Men have Sung"

which, seems to have ended sometime before these copies were published.

 

For historical notes, I bought copies of Argosy, All Story, and Adventure

containing science fiction or fantasy stories from a bookstore in Minneapolis

during the period 1950-1955. The dealer had a room about 8 x 10 feet

covered with 3 foot high piles of these pulps (except for minimal walk space).

Price was 10 cents an issue.

 

When I was in Boston, urban renewal took his store; he had to move to a

smaller place; all pulps were left behind for the wrecking ball. I learned this

at least a year after it happened.

 

I still have my Doc Savage pulps; the others including the Shadow and the

Avenger were found by my brother who stole them to sell for booze

and cigarets.

[Scrooge]

I'm a reader and I would pick those up (for the right cheap price). I too had noticed the Mundy stories but doesn't look like there'd be any complete serials from this batch. That also is a detractor. Still, love those covers and I am sure there are plenty of fun reading in these issues of Adventure.

[ComicConnoisseur]

As cool as those pulps are, that's the stuff that when someone brings it in and I try to explain to them that their low grade pulps are essentially worthless they look at me as if I'm the lowest form of crook who walked the Earth. I've learned that I cannot talk value with someone who is trying to sell this type of material until after I've explained that I have absolutely no interest in buying it.

Agree that they are wicked cool,but isn`t it interesting that the lot of them combined couldn`t get you a Walking Dead #1 that came out just nine years ago?

The stuff I guess just doesn`t seem relevant anymore with today`s audience, kinda like how my 73 year old uncle tried to sell his 78 rpm records collection, and was shocked they he couldn`t get 25 cents a piece for them after holding onto them for 60 plus years!

Not knocking pulps or 78 rpms,but I just find it interesting how they both faded,and comic books continue to endure. (thumbs u

[Bookery]

Agree that they are wicked cool,but isn`t it interesting that the lot of them combined couldn`t get you a Walking Dead #1 that came out just nine years ago?

The stuff I guess just doesn`t seem relevant anymore with today`s audience, kinda like how my 73 year old uncle tried to sell his 78 rpm records collection, and was shocked they he couldn`t get 25 cents a piece for them after holding onto them for 60 plus years!

Not knocking pulps or 78 rpms,but I just find it interesting how they both faded,and comic books continue to endure. (thumbs u

 

When an entire format ceases to exist, eventually the people that remember them die off and interest from future generations fade. Pulps existed from the 1890s to the 1950s, with their heyday in the 30s and 40s. But they didn't disappear... only the format changed as they morphed into paperback books. The famous pulp writers continued to write... Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, Louis L'Amour, Jack Williamson, Robert Bloch, John D. MacDonald, etc., etc.... they just continued in the paperback format. 78s morphed into more improved models of music delivery.

 

Many comics have already faded. Platinum-age, which looks "different" from what we think of as comic books, are a tough sell to all but a very narrow market. So are Big Little Books. Even many early comics essentially in "comic book" format are fading from interest to all but die-hard completists... Famous Funnies, King Comics, Popular Comics, and dozens if not hundreds more.

 

Comics nearly died out in the 1960s save for one genre... super-heroes. The reason is pretty obvious... westerns, romances, detective stories, "true life" tales, sports... these were all suddenly available for free on television or for small change at the movie theaters. Comics... essentially visual story-telling... had serious competition. Super-heroes thrived because technology of the day didn't allow TV and movies to compete. 1950s "The Adventures of Superman" clearly wasn't challenging the full-color interplanetary adventures and super-hero clashes that were offered in comics.

 

Now... for the first time super-hero comics have serious competition. The same things once only portrayed in comics are now splashed across the theater and TV screens on a regular basis. You can watch them on DVD any time you want. You can control your own super-hero battles in video games. These other forms of competition also now generally offer a lower cost-per-minute of entertainment as well.

 

Anything can endure when it doesn't have any competition. Pulps endured until paperbacks came along. 78s endured until long-play records came along, which endured until cassettes came along, which endured until CDs came along. Books endured for 500 years, but are now fading as they are being replaced by eReaders. Super-hero comics now for the first time have competition.

 

So we'll see.

 

 

[Sqeggs]

Many comics have already faded. Platinum-age, which looks "different" from what we think of as comic books, are a tough sell to all but a very narrow market.

 

Despite Overstreet's best efforts!

 

Comics nearly died out in the 1960s save for one genre... super-heroes.

 

I see your point, but Dell funny animals sold well through the 1960s. I think Uncle Scrooge was the best selling comic book in some years. The decline in western comic books may have matched their general decline in popular culture. Both in film and on TV, westerns had really faded by the end of the 1960s.

[vaillant]

From a time when people *actually* read.

 

Nothing "fades out", as long as it has value. True value does not coincide with monetary value.

[Bookery]

From a time when people *actually* read.

 

Nothing "fades out", as long as it has value. True value does not coincide with monetary value.

 

Except that nobody was talking about value... we were talking about levels of "collector interest". Value may decline accordingly, but that's beside the point. (Some Platinum Age still list for very high $$$... that doesn't necessarily mean a lot of people care about them).

 

We also weren't talking about reading, per se. Books may disappear altogether in the comings years... but it's because they've been replaced by eReaders. In each of the situations I mentioned, it was a case of one "format" being replaced with a new one... it wasn't a matter of being concerned about "value".

 

And yes... all literature "fades out" sooner or later... some last longer than others, depending upon generations and reader attutudes over decades.

 

19th-century superstar Edgar Allan Poe -- still read.

19th-century superstar Oliver Wendell Holmes -- not so much.

Best-selling author Ernest Hemingway -- still read.

Best-selling author Sidney Sheldon -- not so much.

Captain America -- still read.

Captain Midnight -- not so much.

Detective Pulp author Raymond Chandler -- still read.

(once even far more popular) Detective Pulp author Carroll John Daly -- not so much.

 

 

 

 

[Foxtrot70]

If the pulp market is finally dead, send me your ERB pulps!

 

I agree, Platinum age may not be HOT, but they are appreciated by myself, and alas $$$, so that keeps me at bay 98%. Id enjoy owning New Fun, Prehero Tecs et al, but if I am going to spend a few thousand I am going toward books i really cherish like GA Sandman, Sup or Batman. I tried to win some New Adventure at last CC auction but was priced out.

[Bookery]

If the pulp market is finally dead, send me your ERB pulps!

 

I agree, Platinum age may not be HOT, but they are appreciated by myself, and alas $$$, so that keeps me at bay 98%. Id enjoy owning New Fun, Prehero Tecs et al, but if I am going to spend a few thousand I am going toward books i really cherish like GA Sandman, Sup or Batman. I tried to win some New Adventure at last CC auction but was priced out.

 

Few things ever really "die"... there's always somebody out there that collects anything. That's why I prefer the word "faded"-- in that it suggests a gradual drop in interest, without saying there is no interest at all. Old comic characters never die... they just fade away...

 

As for pulps... there's a slight resurgence right now, according to my various sources. ERB stuff is always popular... especially being the 100th Anniversary of both Tarzan and John Carter. Original Lovecraft appearances... can't keep them in stock. And good cover art remains popular just like with comics and paperbacks.

 

Not too many pulp collectors specifically asking for issues containing Stanton Coblentz or Wilbur Peacock, however.

[ComicConnoisseur]

From a time when people *actually* read.

 

Nothing "fades out", as long as it has value. True value does not coincide with monetary value.

 

Except that nobody was talking about value... we were talking about levels of "collector interest". Value may decline accordingly, but that's beside the point. (Some Platinum Age still list for very high $$$... that doesn't necessarily mean a lot of people care about them).

 

We also weren't talking about reading, per se. Books may disappear altogether in the comings years... but it's because they've been replaced by eReaders. In each of the situations I mentioned, it was a case of one "format" being replaced with a new one... it wasn't a matter of being concerned about "value".

 

And yes... all literature "fades out" sooner or later... some last longer than others, depending upon generations and reader attutudes over decades.

 

19th-century superstar Edgar Allan Poe -- still read.

19th-century superstar Oliver Wendell Holmes -- not so much.

Best-selling author Ernest Hemingway -- still read.

Best-selling author Sidney Sheldon -- not so much.

Captain America -- still read.

Captain Midnight -- not so much.

Detective Pulp author Raymond Chandler -- still read.

(once even far more popular) Detective Pulp author Carroll John Daly -- not so much.

 

 

 

Right now we would have to say that the comic book character from this list trumps them all mainstream interest wise and has the best future with more big blockbuster movies,videogames and action figures yet to come.

Certain comic book characters(Batman,Avengers,Spider-man) can reinvent themselves over and over again for new audiences, while most of the great pop culture personalities from the 20th century have faded.

IMHO.

[Scrooge]

Not too many pulp collectors specifically asking for issues containing Stanton Coblentz or Wilbur Peacock, however.

 

No, but I'd take low-grade cheap Argosy & Adventure & DFW at bargain basement prices ... Do you have a list? I unfortunately can no longer make it to Windy City nor have I had the chance to attend PulpFest, which are great places to find pulps priced reasonably.