My Little Lulu Four Colors

[bobpfef]

I first got interested in Little Lulu and John Stanley in the mid-1980s when my friend Randy and I were visting Paul Curtis over the summer. Paul was a fellow small press publisher and had a cool old house full of old comics, artwork, records, etc. He also had the first set of the Little Lulu Library that had just came out. I was looking through his comics and I laughed at him because he has spent several hundred dollars for a bunch of "Girl Comics" (he had purchased the autographed set with the John Stanley and Marge signature! )

 

He said, "Read 'em, you might like them." So I did.

 

The first story I read was a Tubby Spider story and I was hooked.

 

Every since then I started picking up Lulu comics on the cheap at cons or comic shops. It wasn't too hard, as beat up reader copies of Dell and Gold Key books are easy to find and usually priced cheap.

 

By the early 90s I had a decent size collection. I was in grad school at the time and I decided to do my thesis on Little Lulu and Little Lulu collectors and so I started to get more serious into the comics. I found that I didn't have ANY issues before 40. The early stuff just never seemed to turn up. I did have an Annual #2 which reprinted some of the older stories and I thought they were really interested.

 

Around this time I was in Sioux City Iowa reading a paper on Lulu at an academic conference and during a break was exploring the town. I found a neat old antique shop that had tons of pop culture type stuff in it. I noticed a few comics and asked the guy if he had any more. He said he had the "good stuff" upstairs and if I was serious he could show me them. I said sure, and had to crawl up this ladder to this tiny crawl space. He had the motherlode up there, tons of Golden Age stuff, 99% of the stuff I could never afford. But I did find a beat up FC 110 (the third Lulu) for about $25. This was WAY more then I ever spent on a comic. But I decided I had to have it and used the credit card to pay for it. My wife was mad, but I had a cool old Lulu

 

Since then I have been working my Lulu FC collection. I decided not to pay over guide from the beginning (a rule I had to break a few time ) and I didn't mind low grade copies as long as they were complete. Well, over 10 years since I started I finally finished and celebrated by making high-res scans of all the comics. The majority of these aren't the high grade stuff you usually see on these boards, but I am darn happy to have them anyway

 

I purchased this from Eega Beeva on ebay after chatting with him at the Chicago Con. I paid way over guide for it, but after years of looking I decided I was never going to find one that I wanted for anywhere near guide price. He allowed me to make time payments on this so I could afford it, and for that I am extremely grateful

 

A recently purchase from Jim Payette. This is an upgrade of a completely beat-up copy I had that was missing two centerfolds. This is the hardest Lulu FC, I think. I've only seen 3 copies of this and I bought two of them. I paid twice guide and am very happy I did.

 

The one that started it all. Probably should upgrade, but I still love it.

 

Part of a major Lulu haul I purchased in Chicago from Krypton Comics out of Nebraska.

They offered me a good deal and had reasonable prices and accurate grading.

 

Part of the same purchase. This looks really sharp in person, too bad for the corner

ding.

 

Any ebay VG

 

Another Krypton book

 

Probably my highest grading Lulu FC. Purchased during the early days of ebay

before most people had photos. The seller graded in FN, it might bet even a little

better. Sometimes you get lucky.

 

A Heritage auction win. I've owned 3 copies of this one and passed on many more,

the easiest Lulu FC for me to find.

 

Nice book except for the rip on the cover that I didn't notice when I was bidding on it

[Larryw7]

Excellent books! And compared to some of the stuff I have they are high grade!

[Fan4Fan]

Nice books!

 

My LCS sez the recent Lulu trades have been selling very well... reordered twice!

 

He also had the first couple of sets of that harcover Little Lulu Library still in plastic.

 

Thanks,

Fan4Fan

[bobpfef]

Thanks.

 

I hope Dark Horse sells tons. I have some minor complains about the book, but in general it is a very good thing.

 

If they are first or second set I still need those.

 

Nice books!

 

My LCS sez the recent Lulu trades have been selling very well... reordered twice!

 

He also had the first couple of sets of that harcover Little Lulu Library still in plastic.

 

Thanks,

Fan4Fan

[143ksk]

Very nice books, Bob

 

The FC 74 has great colors. Most of the copies I've seen of that issue have a washed out appearance especially the blue border.

[143ksk]

He also had the first couple of sets of that harcover Little Lulu Library still in plastic.

 

Does he have the first one? If so, how much does he want for it? I would love to get one!

[tilleycs]

I've never even seen a Little Lulu book in person, much less been interested in collecting them (I'm strictly a superhero-book collector, which I guess means that I'm not your competition, heh heh), but good for you! I hope you're able to complete your run.

[bobpfef]

Actually many of the early Lulu books have dark cover backgrounds which make it tough to find a really nice copy. FC #97 had that dark green, #1 has that really dark purple. Then of course there is the #5 with the solid white background.

 

Very nice books, Bob

 

The FC 74 has great colors. Most of the copies I've seen of that issue have a washed out appearance especially the blue border.

[PUNYHUMAN]

Very nice collection!! I've said it before as alot of you,if you been collecting long enough esp. "Golden Age" having a copy that's solid in any grade of a book you have been looking for along time;your just happy to own one!! Hey ,I love the high grade stuff,but when it comes to Golden ; SHEESH!! plus price prohibitive!!

Double SHEESH!!!!

[Bonds25]

Nice books - love 'em!