MrBedrock Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Honestly I don't know what I would have taken first. What is most emblazened in my mind about looking through Burrel's haul is still the oddball books that impressed me so much because I had never seen them before. On top of one of the stacks was an issue of International Crime #1 ... a book we hardly even talk about today ... but which I can still picture like it was yesterday. And I'd still love to have that book. I know what I would pick if I knew then what I know now. But I would have picked a bunch of crazy stuff back them because EVERYTHING would have been new to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Chuck was and is a pretty smart guy to come up with the idea to get that dough together. ..... not only did he put it together, he put it together quick. Here's how that thought process went... "I'll call Burrel Rowe!" Boom...quick cash (thumbs u Got his phone number? I need some dough... I do, but he is now out of comics. He is the guy that loaned Chuck the money...$2000...to buy the collection. He was the first to get to pick books. Glorious stacks of books. I saw Burrel's stacks probably a few weeks before you saw Chuck at the show. Fried my thirteen year old peanut brain more than any drugs ever could. Yeah, I know that story. But what happened to them? I have rarely seen any Church ECs for sale. Are they locked up somewhere? Did they get destroyed in his garage? I know he didn't get all the Friction House 'cause I got the censorship ones at that con and there were more I passed on. I know, I was pretty fried seeing those box fulls of GA goodness myself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBedrock Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 I have rarely seen any Church ECs for sale. Are they locked up somewhere? Did they get destroyed in his garage? I know he didn't get all the Friction House 'cause I got the censorship ones at that con and there were more I passed on. I know, I was pretty fried seeing those box fulls of GA goodness myself! I remember him selling a huge chunk of the ECs to Geppi in 1982 or so. He had sold single issues here and there through Camelot or to friends. But at that time he didn't sell them as "Mile Highs" or even pedigrees. They were just killer beautiful books. If someone asked where he got it he would tell them, but if it usually didn't come up. I bought a Detective 39 for $400 from one of other guys who worked at the shop which I later realized was a MH (I sold it a few years later while I was in college for the whopping price of $2000...can't go broke making a profit). One of the old time collectors down here brought in some books to show me about ten years ago and there were six MH Fiction House books in his collection that he had no idea about that he had bought from Camelot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Honestly I don't know what I would have taken first. What is most emblazened in my mind about looking through Burrel's haul is still the oddball books that impressed me so much because I had never seen them before. On top of one of the stacks was an issue of International Crime #1 ... a book we hardly even talk about today ... but which I can still picture like it was yesterday. And I'd still love to have that book. I know what I would pick if I knew then what I know now. But I would have picked a bunch of crazy stuff back them because EVERYTHING would have been new to me. Yeah, I know what you mean. EVERYTHING looked good. I did have some focus back then but there were so many books I had never seen it was real hard to choose. Putting stuff back just killed me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 I was stupid and traded a lot away long time ago for stuff I wanted more at the time. Pedigree was an unknown term back then. A few years ago I got a couple back from someone I had traded with. Much different value by then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBedrock Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 To give you an idea of how different it was then...Burrel had been collecting in grade for a while. His big deal was Fiction House. When he got the Mile Highs he actually already had most of the runs complete, and he thought that more than a few of his copies were better than the Mile Highs. So like any of us would have done, he just sold off his "under-copy". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 It was a different time then. A few years earlier At the small local cons, ECs were $4-8 each on average unless they were "mint". At the same time there were dollar boxes under tables full of pre-code horror and other "odd" stuff that wasn't real popular. You could get most horror books other than ECs in there. And I got down on my hands and knees and pulled out loads of those. I kinda laugh to my self today when I see what some of my dollar books go for today! How about Phantom lady's for a buck? Oh, good times! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Gotta sign off. Going over to a friends house to see today's Dodger game on Internet feed. A few more weeks my friend! Have a good weekend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciorac Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Can you imagine being Burrell Rowe and being the first one on the Church collection with an under guide discount? I believe he took all the EC's, a lot of Fiction House and Fawcetts. Probably some other misc stuff. It's kind of funny that in the early years the bigger buyers, Carters, John McLaughlin, Verzyl, Redbeard went for quantity not quality. I know I did. I just couldn't get enough of them. For years, the collection was fairly intact because of Chuck's aggressive pricing. The dentist really had the forsight to buy the big ones. Now my question to you... If you were Burrell, what would you take first? (Not knowing what you know now of course). Me, I would have definately grabbed all the EC's first. After that, all the pre-code horror I could then if I had any money left over a few Caps. What would you have taken back then? Probably similar stuff that I would pick now. Batman, GL, Superman, etc. DC GA is what makes my heart go pitter patter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doohickamabob Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Now my question to you... If you were Burrell, what would you take first? (Not knowing what you know now of course). Me, I would have definately grabbed all the EC's first. After that, all the pre-code horror I could then if I had any money left over a few Caps. What would you have taken back then? Suspense Comics #3....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Couchy81 Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Unbelievable my man, the first Walking Dead. I love this thread. As a child of the 80's I missed the glory days of GA collecting but grew up on EC reprints. I never collected the "X" comics or Spawn and the like in the early 90's but had a fat stack of those glorious pre-code horror reprints. I went to my LCS every month and instead of spending my allowance on new release I'd dig through those drawers for my beloved reprints of the tomes of epic horror and sci-fi. Never had the cash to buy a scuffed up original GA horror book back then, but I'll make sure to get one someday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat-Man_America Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Can you imagine being Burrell Rowe and being the first one on the Church collection with an under guide discount? I believe he took all the EC's, a lot of Fiction House and Fawcetts. Probably some other misc stuff. It's kind of funny that in the early years the bigger buyers, Carters, John McLaughlin, Verzyl, Redbeard went for quantity not quality. I know I did. I just couldn't get enough of them. For years, the collection was fairly intact because of Chuck's aggressive pricing. The dentist really had the forsight to buy the big ones. Now my question to you... If you were Burrell, what would you take first? (Not knowing what you know now of course). Me, I would have definately grabbed all the EC's first. After that, all the pre-code horror I could then if I had any money left over a few Caps. What would you have taken back then? My recollection is that when Chuck first acquired the Church collection he tried selling without aggressive pricing at a few shows and very few collectors paid much attention to the specialness of the books. At some point along the way he was given the sage advice to try a different marketing strategy that would build interest in the collection. So, he established the NM+ grade for the best books, doubled the then-current Overstreet FMV and printed a multi-page newspaper tabloid to advertise the Mile High collection (bundled with subscription copies of Alan Light's Buyer's Guide, if memory serves). Also, I seem to recall Chuck's tabloid section was sporadically illustrated with winged fairies, but don't ask me the name of the artist or rationale for the fae theme, ...my memory only stretches so far. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmehdy Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 (edited) Unbelievable my man, the first Walking Dead. I love this thread. As a child of the 80's I missed the glory days of GA collecting but grew up on EC reprints. I never collected the "X" comics or Spawn and the like in the early 90's but had a fat stack of those glorious pre-code horror reprints. I went to my LCS every month and instead of spending my allowance on new release I'd dig through those drawers for my beloved reprints of the tomes of epic horror and sci-fi. Never had the cash to buy a scuffed up original GA horror book back then, but I'll make sure to get one someday. For that time period, reprints are available that are just SUPER. The newest release from the publisher of "pre-code" classics include Space Detective reprints and the complete run of Weird Tales of the future issues 1-8....the quality of the reproduction is outstanding and some come with slipcases..pspublishing from the UK and order from Bud Plant..and is under $50 from the complete set, it is by far the best comic art book released this year..outstanding Edited March 8, 2015 by Mmehdy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Hey Kids Comics! Since I was ranting on about the "good 'old daze" and my trip to Casual Con to lay my eyes on box fulls of the sweetest comics I've ever seen, I thought I'd post a couple from that day. As I said, I was heavily into EC's, Pre-code Horror and Censorship books. A gentleman name Bob Nastasi on the other coast and I were jonesing for any we could find. Between the two of us, we found and informed Overstreet of their existance. Bob still owns a store in NY somewhere. If you are reading this Bob, Howdy! First up is Jumbo #155 used in Parade of Pleasure.Hard to tell by this crappy photo but this is one of the glossiest books I own! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Next up is Western Adventures #3 sporting a great Graham Ingels cover and used in Seduction of the Innocent. Again, as glossy as the day it rolled off the press! Again, sorry for the murky photo. These are WHITE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Well, it's a beautiful Sunday and that means a trip to the Rose Bowl Flea Market for Robotman! Did OK today. I managed to find a nice vintage gum ball machine, and a few nice advertising pieces including this. Kayo was of course Moon Mullin's side kick in the funny paper in the 1930's. How many of you knew he had his own bottled drink? I love this very large embossed tin sign and was lucky to find it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 And, an un-expected surprise! "Paul" sighting! A friend who was selling sports collectibles had these two books sitting on his table. He bought these from Joe at a collectibles show. Got 'em very cheap because as he said: "They have writing all over them". That is the most writing i've ever seen on a "Paul" comic. Kinda funny what he wrote. I have a feeling that I will bump into a lot more "Pauls" in the future out here because Joe not only sold to private parties and ebay but at several toy shows and the Long Beach Comic Con as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmehdy Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 any space western...nazis on the moon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sqeggs Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Next up is Western Adventures #3 sporting a great Graham Ingels cover and used in Seduction of the Innocent. Again, as glossy as the day it rolled off the press! Again, sorry for the murky photo. These are WHITE! Are this and the Jumbo in the previous post Church copies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 any space western...nazis on the moon... Sure, next time I dig out that box. Stay tuned... Any issue in particular? Pretty sure I have the whole run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
