Action Comics #1 makes for awesome insulation.

[comicsnyc22]

$75,000 tear...

[Hibou]

Why is it always Action 1 "found in the walls"?

 

What was wrong with Action 3 or 8...

[Bookery]

Why is it always Action 1 "found in the walls"?

 

What was wrong with Action 3 or 8...

 

Actually, you are correct in your suspicion. Were there other comics in the wall along with this one? I will go out on a limb and state that in the history of the medium, no one ever just went out and bought Action #1 and never purchased any other comic (as per the phone calls every shop gets every year... "no, grandfather just bought this one comic in 1938... and I know it's not a reprint!"). Also, nobody only insulated their wall with only Action #1 and no other contemporaneous comics and magazines. Nobody in 1938 bought Action #1, and only Action #1, and tucked it in their safe because they knew it would be valuable only a mere 30-40 years later (still in "the original bag" no less!).

 

Now I don't know... maybe there were other beat up comics along with this one and the article (and Metro) just don't mention it becasue they aren't of great interest or value. But if not... and this was the ONLY comic in the wall... then I call BS on the seller's story.

 

[seanfingh]

Wonder why only half?

 

Yea I didn't understand this either. Seems like bad press for Comic Connect reading the comments.

 

And man the rip is rough. Incredible what some people will do for money.

 

He had someone help him as a middleman in the transaction. Someone that understands, slabbing, pressing and online auction sales. I think 50% commission is very heavy for that service, but it might pay for itself based on what the guy would have done without the consultant.

[Bill1]

I have an All-Winners #9 and a Sensation #55 that came out of a wall in my town. I was actually in my LCS when the person brought them in-- same story, tucked behind the old plaster wall as insulation. He was remodeling on his own and found them. After my LCS bought them from him, I paid a little profit and bought them from my LCS! They are complete and really not too bad, but a little sooty....

[comicwiz]

Wow, just found the before and after pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jiminy_Cricket-migration]

Newspaper is an excellent insulator. It's the preferred choice of blanketing for all the homeless I see in Philly/NY.

[JazzMan]

Wow, just found the before and after pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it's not just the back cover that's torn but a handful of interior pages, as well.

[ChrisInBaltimore]

Wow, just found the before and after pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it's not just the back cover that's torn but a handful of interior pages, as well.

 

Yea they really did a number on the book.

 

I don't get why someone would just sit a comic in the wall as insulation though... Wouldn't it work better ripped and balled? Something about this story doesn't add up...

[Mark 1]

Wow, just found the before and after pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it's not just the back cover that's torn but a handful of interior pages, as well.

 

Yea they really did a number on the book.

 

I don't get why someone would just sit a comic in the wall as insulation though... Wouldn't it work better ripped and balled? Something about this story doesn't add up...

 

I hate to also be a pessimist here but this all sounds weird.

 

 

Nevermind...I realize the rip is still there in the second pic. That's a decent press job

 

 

[Dr. Balls]

Wow, just found the before and after pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it's not just the back cover that's torn but a handful of interior pages, as well.

 

Yea they really did a number on the book.

 

I don't get why someone would just sit a comic in the wall as insulation though... Wouldn't it work better ripped and balled? Something about this story doesn't add up...

 

Ripped and shredded would work better, but back in the 30s and 40s, people's concepts of how/why to insulate and what their energy expectations were different than they are now. It could simply be explained that the person stuffing this into the wall didn't know better (as with many people at the time), or had seen his neighbor do the same thing.

 

I had a historical registry house that was built in 1888, and it had no insulation. While tearing down one of the exterior-facing interior walls for a bathroom remodel, I found all sorts of newspaper (I remember being excited when I saw it tearing down the wall, but alas, no comics) stuffed like insulation bats in-between the studs. They werent nailed up, they were just stuffed in with a slight bend to the newspaper and those bends were enough to hold it in place. The lathe and plaster wall was built on top of it, entombing it from when they built the addition to that part of the house in the 1930s.

 

The only thing that is surprisingly lucky about this Action is that it wasn't nailed to the inner wall to hold it in place.

[comicalgems]

Makes you want to go find really old houses and dig in the walls.

[Heronext]

Wonder why only half?

 

Seems like a particularly bad deal (for the seller)

[porcupine48]

I am gonna put some holes in my walls to see if I can find any Victorian Age books..

[VintageComics]

Makes you want to go find really old houses and dig in the walls.

 

The owner of the house found the book during a renovation.

 

Once he found the book and realized what he had (and after discussing it with the dealer who consigned the book to Metro) he tore up the rest of the walls of the house in search of more books. None others turned up - just newspaper - actually, one other insignificant book turned up...can't remember what it was.

 

That's how the story goes. I heard it from the first dealer.

 

 

[gradejunky]

I don't see why people are having a hard time with this story. And the fact that someone could/would buy one comic in their lifetime, and end up using it for wall insulation. I'm sure their were people in those days who maybe saw a friend or neigbor with the same book, went to the 5 & 10, picked a copy up, read it, and never bought another comic again due to lack of interest or funds.

[Mark 1]

It's not hard to believe a comic would be found in a wall.

 

It's strange it always ends up being an Action 1.

[gradejunky]

Action #1 was said to have a huge print run according to the best estimates by the postal service. I guess they used the postal records to figure print runs from this time. Anyhow, it's possible that this book in 1938 was as common as Spawn #1 today.

[nearmint]

Action #1 was said to have a huge print run according to the best estimates by the postal service. I guess they used the postal records to figure print runs from this time. Anyhow, it's possible that this book in 1938 was as common as Spawn #1 today.

 

Not really. The print run was 202,000, of which 130,000 sold. Superman #1 had 3 print runs totaling 900,000.

[gradejunky]

202,000 is quite large even by today's standards. I used Spawn #1 just as an analogy because there were way less people on the planet in 1938. Not saying they printed 10 million of them or whatever. Superman #1's print run is insane for a comic of that time period IMO.