Rarest Golden Age Books

[FlyingDonut]

Wow, What a Magazine (any issues)

Big Book of Fun Comics

Captain America Annual

Lucky Star 12 (Nationwide - has only been seen in photocopies)

 

see CBM 111, page 8-13. Those are rare books.

[Mephisto]

 

Is the Cap 74 so rare, or is it just the Red Skull classic cover that gets people revved up?

 

I agree with Timely. Cap 74 isn't hard to find if your just looking for any copy and have the money. Metro use to have several copies. They current;y have a restored one. PGCMint has/had a Canadian version that was graded fairly high but I honestly can't recall the actual grade and the site still sin't working unless it's moved and knwon has told me the new address.

[buttock]

Teenage Diary Secrets 7 & 9. I need the 7 desparately.

[Mephisto]

Teenage Diary Secrets 7 & 9. I need the 7 desparately.

 

Are you the secret that is in that diary?

[lou_fine]

All right, I'll make a disagreement also on the New Fun #2.

I've had a couple of them and Mark Wilson has had several,

I think that the #6 is a tougher issue to get (#7 and #8 seem

pretty tough also).

 

But Big Book of Fun Comics definitely needs to be on the DC list.

 

Sean;

 

It's certainly good to get your expert opinion on this topic. I am in full agreement with you on the Big Book of Fun Comics.

 

What is your opinion of New Comics #2. I have seen a slew of #1's in the marketplace over the years, but virtually no copies of issue #2 have shown up during the same time frame.

[Forbush-Man]

"If the Devil Would Talk", Roman Catholic Catechetical Guild, B&W version; 4 copies known to exist. Also," Is This Tomorrow", B&W advance copy titled "confidential" ; only 2 known copies. Spawn #1; less than 3,000,000,000 copies known to exist! I have one of these, guess which one?

[RareHighGrade]

I disagree on the Marvels/Timelys. Motion picture funnies and Red Raven you may have a point

but I would say (other than the annuals) something like...

Daring Comics 2

All Winners 19

Comedy Comics 9

Sub-Mariner 32

and maybe Red Raven 1 or Cap 74

 

I disagree with myself too!

 

The two annuals have to be rarest of the rare, right? Wasn't there a Canadian Cap Annual as well? I figure those two or three with the MPFW and Red Raven 1 gives you the rarest Timely/Marvels.

 

Is the Cap 74 so rare, or is it just the Red Skull classic cover that gets people revved up?

 

 

I've always thought that Red Raven #1 was rare too. But I see that there are 16 copies on the census, which is significantly more than the census figures for many of the early DC's. I wonder whether more Red Ravens have been slabbed because it is a more common book, or because it is a high value book.

[mrwoogieman]

I disagree on the Marvels/Timelys. Motion picture funnies and Red Raven you may have a point

but I would say (other than the annuals) something like...

Daring Comics 2

All Winners 19

Comedy Comics 9

Sub-Mariner 32

and maybe Red Raven 1 or Cap 74

 

I disagree with myself too!

 

The two annuals have to be rarest of the rare, right? Wasn't there a Canadian Cap Annual as well? I figure those two or three with the MPFW and Red Raven 1 gives you the rarest Timely/Marvels.

 

Is the Cap 74 so rare, or is it just the Red Skull classic cover that gets people revved up?

 

 

I've always thought that Red Raven #1 was rare too. But I see that there are 16 copies on the census, which is significantly more than the census figures for many of the early DC's. I wonder whether more Red Ravens have been slabbed because it is a more common book, or because it is a high value book.

 

Geez, 16 copies of RR1! None of the Marvel Mystery books I first listed, #s 8, 9 or 10, have that many graded copies. #8 only has 9 graded copies. Maybe they are around in lower grade like the Cap 74 and just haven't been slabbed.

 

It's possible the RR1 is graded more frequently because it is perceived as rare and thus any grade is slabbable?

 

Also, I would bet there are more MMC 8, 9 and 10s raw in collections than RR1s, since those three MMC's are pretty much the cream of the run, whereas RR1 is just a novelty item not really an important book from a fan's standpoint (acknowledging that rarity alone does make books more desireable to some).

[Filter81]

I don't think you can go by the CGC census to tell you whats rare that way. (obviously if a book has had 10 copies graded its rarer than a book thats had 250 copies graded...but one book having 8 graded copies vs another having 15 copies graded could just be a coincidence. For instance, I have a copy of More Fun Comics 11. That book only has 5 CGC graded copies, but I have one and comiclink has one so it can't be that rare.

 

(Another example would be New Comics 1. There's only 10 on the census, but I own 3, Metropolis has 2, and there is one on comiclink)

 

Anyway, thats just my thought. I don't really know what the 5 rarest books for each publisher are. (I do know that New Fun Comics 2 is very hard to find, and same with the Marel Mystery and Captain America annuals.

[ArAich]

Green Giant Comics #1 is rare....'nuff said....

[dgillock]

Of the books listed, I have only ever owned one- a low grade copy of New Fun #2 (split spine, chipped, and a little bit brittle). With it, I had also purchased a slightly better copy of New Fun #5 from a PA paper dealer. I traded them off in the later 80's for a stack of early SA Marvels and DCs...

 

Charting the true scarcity of some of these early "over-sized" books remains a little tough since they can't be CGCed. The evidence of the availibilty of these books remains anecdotal. One would assume that if a "tabloid" slab was available, most copies of these books would probably wind up slabbed. When and if this option becomes available, it will be pretty interesting to see how close OS and Gerbers scarcity estimates are. My understanding is that there have been a few books that we once thought to be fairly scarce that were proven to be slightly more available once the census numbers started coming in.

[nearmint]

It's interesting to read about books thought to be incredibly rare with 5, 10, or 15 copies in the census. The vast majority of Nedors that I own are either the only copy graded, or one of two. Very tough books.

[Metarog]

Has anybody ever seen Giant Comics Edition 1-3 from St. Johns from the mid 1940's? They are Gerber white-spaces and the only issues 1 and 2 I have turned up where from United Features. If they exist these are incredibly rare comics. I did find a GCE #4 last year which is also missing in Gerber.

[RareHighGrade]

Anybody want to hazard a guess on the rarest Fox books? I suspect that two of them are Wonder Comics nos. 1 and 2.

[PUNYHUMAN]

Mystery Men # 7 I own one , but you don't see it often ,that's for sure.

How about Fantastic Comics # 3 you hardly ever see that one come up for sale.

If you have one , post it , Love to see it!!!!

[Crowzilla]

What is your opinion of New Comics #2. I have seen a slew of #1's in the marketplace over the years, but virtually no copies of issue #2 have shown up during the same time frame

 

New Comics #2 is much tougher than #1.

I have had one copy of #2 and maybe seen one other,

but lots and lots of #1s (relatively speaking)

[Rip]

There was a Giant Fox Romance book that was rediscovered a few years ago. I think its the only one known. Other than that It's got to be some of those harder to find Giant Comics Editions.

[mrwoogieman]

Has anybody ever seen Giant Comics Edition 1-3 from St. Johns from the mid 1940's? They are Gerber white-spaces and the only issues 1 and 2 I have turned up where from United Features. If they exist these are incredibly rare comics. I did find a GCE #4 last year which is also missing in Gerber.

 

Do you have a scan of this GCE #4?

[Metarog]

Here you go-

 

[mrwoogieman]

Awesome thanks! Great looking book too!

 

Was this reprints or original material? And, since I know nothing about St. Johns' publishing, did they do a superhero line too? Thanks