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Schomburg Rank Order Results Are In...

Started by Vision75,

22 posts in this topic

Vision75

Vision75

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Forty-nine boardies rank-ordered the top eleven Schomburg covers. Points were awarded similarly to the AP poll seen in college football and basketball rankings. That is, 11 points were awarded for each 1st-place vote cast; 10 points for each 2nd place vote and so forth. The highest possible score, therefore, is 539 (49 x 11, the points awarded for each 1st place vote). The table below provides the results. A little further down in this thread I include an album displaying the covers and the individual rank distribution of each.

 

Regarding history, it's long. Here's a link if you want to read the back story:

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7450418&fpart=1

 

For those who voted: Thank you!! :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

 

If you didn't, well you're stuck with these results until somebody else runs another Schomburg poll :D .

 

:banana: Hail, Hail to Suspense 3!! :banana:

145203.jpg.6be1f903aeb5406ef8aedebf57088786.jpg

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Vision75

Vision75

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Suspense 3 and All Select 1 were 1-2 in my voting. We should get at least 100 different voters to make "n" statistically significant (if I recall my Stats 13 correctly). :)

 

Thanks Keston for compiling all the data :)

 

Thanks Ben for the kind words. Out of both polls - the first where people cast votes for their top 10 (but in no order) and this one - Suspense 3 and All-Select rose to the top.

 

Curious to me was MM46. Apparently, many people felt strongly about it (received the 2nd highest #1 votes) but others were dismissive giving it near last-place finishes. So it's distribution is heavy at both tails and that's why its total score is in the middle of the pack.

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gino2paulus2

gino2paulus2

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this was really fun gentlemen thanks again for puttin' it on my hats off to ya's... :applause:... I too was surprised to see how many 11th or last place votes USA #7 & Cap #3 got hm also I would like to know who are the 2 that put All-Select #1 as the least greatest of the bunch :makepoint: that's BONKERS IMHO lol these are all really cool though so great to see em and thanks for postin the stats and sharing the books (thumbs u

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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My general observation is that the results are fairly close with the winner having only a 50% higher score than the last place. Run the poll in a different year with different participants and you could easily get a re-ordering, though it wouldn't surprise me if Suspense 3 remains on top most of the time.

 

I've not found Cap 3 all that exciting. The colors are muted compared to most of the other covers and the Red Skull image isn't iconic like the poorly drawn but far more compelling depiction on Cap 74. Cap 3 is a transitional artwork as Schomburg was shifting from his original more stately, simpler designs to the cluttered, dynamic eye-candy of his prime WWII covers.

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sfcityduck

sfcityduck

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Ultimately, this poll leads me to conclude:

 

* Most voters do NOT view Suspense 3 as Schomburg's best cover (by a 2:1 ratio voters picked other covers as their favorites, and the results suggest that a single cover representative of his Timely style would have gotten the most votes) ;

 

* Schomburg's line drawn covers are overwhelmingly preferred to his airbrushed covers; and

 

* Of his line drawn covers, the cluttered later Timely style is preferred overwhelmingly over the earlier pulp style.

 

 

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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It may be that the airbrush style itself is the cause in the drop in popularity but I'm not sure we know that. I would characterize it a bit differently:

 

WWII covers > non-WWII covers (only 3 books didn't involve WWII)

Superhero covers > non-Superhero covers (only 3 books didn't have a superhero)

 

Airbrush covers, being neither superhero nor WWII, are weakly represented in the top 11 (ie. only Startling 49).

 

Many of the earlier simple style do depict superheros in WWII so it seems reasonable to think that the style of the art is less esteemed than his later styles.

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thunsicker

thunsicker

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It may be that the airbrush style itself is the cause in the drop in popularity but I'm not sure we know that. I would characterize it a bit differently:

 

WWII covers > non-WWII covers (only 3 books didn't involve WWII)

Superhero covers > non-Superhero covers (only 3 books didn't have a superhero)

 

Airbrush covers, being neither superhero nor WWII, are weakly represented in the top 11 (ie. only Startling 49).

 

Many of the earlier simple style do depict superheros in WWII so it seems reasonable to think that the style of the art is less esteemed than his later styles.

 

That pretty much sums up my Schomburg tastes:

 

WWII covers > non-WWII covers

Superhero covers > non-Superhero covers

Comic Style>Airbrushed Style>Pulp Style

and I'd add

Timely covers>Standard/Nedor covers>Other covers

 

Which is why, for me at least, the reign of Suspense #3 is surprising. It's only nominally a WWII cover, it's not a superhero cover, it's pulp style, and it's not Timely. Luckily tastes are different so not everyone is going for the same covers as me.

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mikephoen

mikephoen

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Ultimately, this poll leads me to conclude:

 

* Most voters do NOT view Suspense 3 as Schomburg's best cover (by a 2:1 ratio voters picked other covers as their favorites, and the results suggest that a single cover representative of his Timely style would have gotten the most votes) ;

 

* Schomburg's line drawn covers are overwhelmingly preferred to his airbrushed covers; and

 

* Of his line drawn covers, the cluttered later Timely style is preferred overwhelmingly over the earlier pulp style.

 

 

I know you and a few others continually want to run down Suspense 3 for some reason, but it got the most 1st place votes (by a wide margin) and also scored the most total points. It is the most popular Schomburg cover whether you want to admit it or not.

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sfcityduck

sfcityduck

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I have no interest in "running it down," if you mean trying to impact its price, as I have no interest in buying one. All I'm doing is stating my subjective opinion on art (for me its overrated amongst his covers) and noting that by a 2:1 ratio most folks don't think its his best cover (contrary to a claim I see made about the cover). Is it his most popular cover? For what its worth, based on this poll, that's a reasonable claim. Anyone should be proud to own one.

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rjpb

rjpb

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My general observation is that the results are fairly close with the winner having only a 50% higher score than the last place. Run the poll in a different year with different participants and you could easily get a re-ordering, though it wouldn't surprise me if Suspense 3 remains on top most of the time.

 

I've not found Cap 3 all that exciting. The colors are muted compared to most of the other covers and the Red Skull image isn't iconic like the poorly drawn but far more compelling depiction on Cap 74. Cap 3 is a transitional artwork as Schomburg was shifting from his original more stately, simpler designs to the cluttered, dynamic eye-candy of his prime WWII covers.

 

I agree with you on the Cap #3, it was my #11 choice. Cool cover, but not worthy of being in the top ten, if it didn't have The Red Skull on it, it wouldn't have made it as far as it did. Cap #74 is not only the greatest Red Skull cover of the era, but IMHO, the best Timely cover period.

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