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Starstream

Started by jimbo_707,

10 posts in this topic

jimbo_707

jimbo_707

Posted
Posted

It is probably a long shot whether anybody will know what I'm talking about, BUT in the mid-80s I picked up some copies of the Whitman Sci-fi comic Strarstream, issues 1-4, that were on sale at a drug store near my house. The were for sale new, even though they were already about 10 years old.

 

My copies were ultra-high grade, probably 9.8's (they had sturdy cardboard covers), but unfortunately I sold most of my bronze age comics wholesale to a dealer in the early 90s and didn't think to pull those.

 

I'm not sure why they were available for sale so many years after they were published. I thought maybe there was a large warehouse find of them. Does anybody know anything about that? (Ultimately I would like to find some ultra-high-grade copies again, even though I won't get them for the cover price this time around; I don't collect much BA, but I always liked those covers, along with many of the other Gold Key and Whitman painted covers.)

 

 

 

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50YrsCollctngCmcs

50YrsCollctngCmcs

Posted
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Back in the seventies on the east coast I would run into the occasional batch of old comics between ten to fifteen years old for sale in discount department stores. Where these books had been is anyone's guess but I would surmise that books either:

 

Never got distributed and were lost in the warehouse system

Were stolen or diverted during the distribution process

 

I don't think he books I saw were ever distributed and returned as they were too nice too have gone through that. The old distribution system was arcane, inefficient and porous and was probably run by some less than scrupulous business men. I don't think we will ever know the real tale.

 

The books I picked up were Marvels and Charltons; I don't recall any DCs. Whitmans were always hard to find with sporadic distribution to department stores.

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jools&jim

jools&jim

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This nails it:

 

The old distribution system was arcane, inefficient and porous and was probably run by some less than scrupulous business men. I don't think we will ever know the real tale.

Back in the late '70s ('78 maybe?), I remember going to a country fair or farm festival with my parents in central PA. I figured it would be another boring day full of fruit stands and square dancers, but while wandering around I found a small flea market on the grounds in a large barn, and right in the middle of it were several long wooden tables stacked with piles and piles of DC comics back issues from 1974-1977 or so--including all the major titles--with many multiples of each issue. All looked brand new, and all were being sold for half of cover price. Looking back, this was clearly a distributor hoard of some sort, and possibly ill-gotten.

 

I was mainly a Marvel kid, but cheap new comics were too good to pass up, so my dad gave me a few bucks to buy a stack of them, and I spent the rest of the day at a picnic table reading my haul. :cloud9:

 

 

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Brock

Brock

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I vaguely remember seeing the Starstreams in a discount store in the mid-80s ("Bargain Harold's" or "Bi-Way" in Canada, maybe around 1985 or 1986?)... I didn't pick them up at the time, but did grab some other books - including the Whitman versions of All-New Collector's Edition #C-56 (Superman vs. Muhammad Ali) and Famous First Edition #C-61 (Superman #1 reprint).

 

I also grabbed some of the "Enterprise Logs" from 1976/1977, which reprinted Gold Key Star Trek issues, though these versions had black bars overprinted on the price (presumably so they could be sold at a discount). I still have those tucked away...

 

I wonder if the presence of these books suggests some kind of Whitman distribution of back stock at the time? Whitman is already known for odd and spotty distribution (pre-packs, etc.) so this may not be a surprise.

 

Does anybody have any other pieces to add to the puzzle?

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rjrjr

rjrjr

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It is probably a long shot whether anybody will know what I'm talking about, BUT in the mid-80s I picked up some copies of the Whitman Sci-fi comic Strarstream, issues 1-4, that were on sale at a drug store near my house. The were for sale new, even though they were already about 10 years old.

 

My copies were ultra-high grade, probably 9.8's (they had sturdy cardboard covers), but unfortunately I sold most of my bronze age comics wholesale to a dealer in the early 90s and didn't think to pull those.

 

I'm not sure why they were available for sale so many years after they were published. I thought maybe there was a large warehouse find of them. Does anybody know anything about that? (Ultimately I would like to find some ultra-high-grade copies again, even though I won't get them for the cover price this time around; I don't collect much BA, but I always liked those covers, along with many of the other Gold Key and Whitman painted covers.)

 

 

 

You might be onto something concerning the warehouse find. The Starstream issues are definitely plentiful in high grade in comparison to other comics from Whitman/Gold Key of the same era.

 

Believe it or not, you won't have to pay too much for them. The issues should be easy to find in high grade for around $10 each and in some cases, less. There is not much of a demand for them.

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