30 in 30 - Day 9: Parting Ways - Part 2

[Brandon Shepherd]

Be careful what you bid on, because you just might win.

 

Continuing from Day 8, where I wrote of selling my one and only Golden Age piece, I also sold my one and only book from the 1950s. This was Action Comics #254 (July 1959) the first meeting between Superman and the adult Bizarro. This issue was also the third appearance of a popular new heroin, Supergirl. Bizarro first appeared in Superboy #68 (Oct. 1958) as Frankenstein like version of Superboy. Action #254 graded 7.5 with Off-White pages, commendable for a book from the period. I purchased this off eBay in the spring of 2010, the seller had a several Silver Age Action Comics listed, all supposedly from the original owner. Books from the 1950s are notoriously difficult to come by in decent grade (especially the early to mid years of that decade) due to the poor quality of the materials used in printing. There was also the controversy from psychiatrist Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, correlating juvenile delinquency with reading comic books - leading to declining sales and the destruction of many comic collections. For awhile I made a habit of checking online auction sites for books form this period, especially books published during the height of Wertham's controversy, the pre-code books. With history on my mind and a few Silver Age books listed online, I thought I would keep an eye on them, after all some books have a way of slipping through. The eBay auction ended kind of late on a weeknight, I selected the Action #254 out of the sellers listings because of the early Bizarro appearance. I did not have high hopes, these books tend to jump up in price at the very last second, so I put a bid in just because I could. When the timer ran out I realized I actually won.I was happy to get what I thought was a good price for such a piece, but the final price was still a bit much for me. I thought to myself how I had actually won, now I have to actually pay for it! I actually wrote the price on my hand before I went out the next day, to remind me not to spend too much.The book was really neat, held something of a historical significance to Superman in the Silver Age, and displayed well but I was ready to pass it along, like my Golden Age Action #65, it really didn't fit into my focus. The price realized was much greater than what I paid originally, I'm pleased with the outcome and I have learned a lesson, be careful what you bid on! I still like the cover, I understand Bizarro was something of a tragic figure in the beginning, before becoming a literal backwards being, who lived on a squared planet and wore a backwards S logo. The cover to Action #254 makes him look like an interesting antagonist.Brandon

 

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[SW3D]

Who came up with Bizarro? The concept is well... for lack of a better word... Bizarre!

 

I never got into him... and as you keenly observed, he is like a Frankenstein version of Superman, save that he's not put together with various reanimated body parts.

 

That comic is quite nice! I would have a very hard time letting go of Golden Age. That comic is 54 years old. Wow!

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

SW3D

 

[Brandon Shepherd]

According to Wikipedia, Bizarro was created by scribe Otto Binder and artist George Papp. I too never really got into the Bizarro world, the version I knew was from the John Byrne Man of Steel miniseries, where Bizarro was an imperfect clone of Superman, due to the complexity of his Kryptonian DNA and the limits of 20th century science. The clone from the Byrne reworking did not last long, due to his imperfect replication. I liked that version, I can't say I dig the mirror image, total opposite concept but that was part of a time long gone, not for me but there are those who dug it then, and that's ok in my book.