Double Action Comics #2 Revisited

[woowoo]

I was going to bid on a copy on e-bay in 1998. The seller pulled it after 1 day.

I would have went 5gs easy.

[Moondog]

I never found out where those 1979 copies originated, Mark. I will add that Ray Belden, a local Chicago dealer/collector, had one for sale at an old Wabash YMCA show in 1975/76. It was a very nice looking book.

 

Here are images of the cover I sold in 2004. Note indicia on inside front cover.

 

 

 

 

[Ameri]

I think Metro had a restored copy for sale in the recent past -- last two years or so, I think. Not sure whether it's known which of the copies discussed in these threads it might have been.

 

I believe that was an untrimmed cover from the editor's files married to a coverless interior. Found this letter from Steve to a collector which references another copy Metro had many years earlier:

 

[Moondog]

The married copy and the other copy that Metro had within the past two years or so are different books.

[eman13]

I organized and combined the pages from Et-Es-Go's scan of his DA2 into a digital comic file. If anyone is interested to read it, please PM me

[Badger]

Pretty sure Et-Es-Go's DA #2 is the copy that Zaid bought.

No, I don't believe that Et-Et-Go's copy (which was around a g-vg) is the same copy as Mark Zaid's, although it's possible.

 

The copy Mark has is indeed the same one I had. A few owners in between. I am certain as I scanned the entire book. The scans are all on Google now. Let me see if I can link it here so you can have a little looky yourselves.

 

Lets see if this link works. Why does Google make it so friggin difficult?

 

 

Just click on the first photo/page and it will bring up the album in a slide show. I think. It works for me from my test.

 

Well %$#@, Google has completely scrambled the order so as you click through it will not be consecutive. I gotta find a new place to store these to share. At least you can see the front cover and compare the minor defect to Mark's copy to see that it is the same. I wish I had never sold that book.

 

One more edit, headed out to see Dishwall tonight. If you scroll to the end of that scrambled mess I think it gives access to my picture posts and you can see the Double Actions pages in their serial sequence. They are skewed because I would not flatten them out on the scanner bed if you are wondering. Happy Friday people!

 

 

 

Thanks for posting the interior!

[esquirecomics]

Pretty sure Et-Es-Go's DA #2 is the copy that Zaid bought.

No, I don't believe that Et-Et-Go's copy (which was around a g-vg) is the same copy as Mark Zaid's, although it's possible.

 

The copy Mark has is indeed the same one I had. A few owners in between. I am certain as I scanned the entire book. The scans are all on Google now. Let me see if I can link it here so you can have a little looky yourselves.

 

I purchased it through Heritage and before that it was on display in GEM. Love the book!

[IngelsFan]

What is the current consensus on how many copies exist of this awesome book? Ive been looking for a copy for 4 years and have had no luck.

[Hudson]

What is the current consensus on how many copies exist of this awesome book? Ive been looking for a copy for 4 years and have had no luck.

 

I don't know how many exist but I know there was one up for auction 2 years ago on HA. I looked at it, but it went up beyond what I was willing to pay.

 

There is another copy for sale right now at Heritage.

[ThothAmon]

Rip -- if you happen to have your guides handy... do you know when the Overstreet copy estimate jumped from 5 copies (4 from a single source plus the previously-discovered copy) to 7 copies?

 

That aside, as far as information flow goes, to beat a dead horse, a quick google gives us:

 

1980 [Overstreet]: 5 copies of #2 known, #1 ashcan known. Wikipedia states, "Distributed only in New York City newsstands," which also seems to be sourced from Overstreet but I can't easily verify that just now.

 

1987 [Overstreet]: An Overstreet top 10 list promoting that year's guide apparently hit the newswires this year. The story that hit the Chicago Tribune states, "Never sold on newsstands, only five copies are known to exist." Double Action Comics #2 is the 9th most valuable comic on Overstreet's top 10 this year, according to the Trib... edging out Cap #1!

 

1996 [Metropolis]: Stephen Fishler writes a letter for collector Daniel Kylberg documenting the provenance of the copy he is selling to Kylberg as being from DC Editor Sol Harrison. Fishler believes only 4 copies exist, and that there was no #1. He also says "The book was test marketed at newsstands in Connecticut only."

 

2003 [forum member Rarehighgrade] At least one copy has been located that was apparently bought off the newsstands and was not part of the original group that was discovered. That copy is in VG condition and was sold on ebay in 1999. I don't know what it sold for. Finally, it is rumored that of the original 6 books that were found, only two were complete books, while the others were just cover sheets. One book that was on the market a few years ago appeared to have have had its original cover replaced with a high grade cover sheet. I saw the book and it was apparent that the cover had been added because it did not fit the book properly.

 

2004 [ forum member Ian Levine] Ian states he believes there are about 11 copies, and that "Rich Muchin was very certain of his facts that it was a tryout on the east coast only. I have heard this from many other independant sources also. It was limited to cities in the tri-State area."

 

Now, this is the same thread where the Double Action 1 mock-up scan surfaced, and Ian was pretty convinced that the image itself was legit. With respect to everyone involved, I don't think anyone believes that now (and honestly, it always looked like a photoshop job imo). This 2004 period is where sort of an "expanded" view of the situation took hold, with the idea of about 7-11 copies being in existence and more generalized northeast test distribution, which has been repeated fairly often since. But if you go back and look at it, there's just not much credible info there (again, with respect to the participants).

 

2008: Lots of discussion about ALL copies being "hand assembled" due to a stance Heritage took when auctioning off a couple copies. I don't think anything substantive came from this, except if that's true, it does imply a VERY small number of copies, I think. Even a test in one city would seem to imply several hundred copies at the least. I'm not sure you'd "hand assemble" more than "a few" copies.

 

****

One thing that has never really been addressed as far as I can see, is if at least 2 and perhaps more of known copies were created by marrying file covers to existing interiors, where did the interiors come from? (presuming they are the correct interiors)

 

 

 

Now I finally understand why I don't move the hell away from Connecticut.

[sacentaur]

The married copy and the other copy that Metro had within the past two years or so are different books.

 

Correct - in their typical fashion the married copy was originally quietly marketed raw to high-end collectors without any mention of the cover (from Sol Harrison's estate) being surreptitiously married to a coverless.

 

We sensed something Fishy going on, no one took the bait, and so the book remained unsold. Only later was the provenance letter fabricated to justify the asking price when the married copy was eventually sold.

 

This gave rise to the "hand-assembled" theory as people didn't know that the estate-find cover had been married to a coverless.

[sacentaur]

1996 [Metropolis]: Stephen Fishler writes a letter for collector Daniel Kylberg documenting the provenance of the copy he is selling to Kylberg as being from DC Editor Sol Harrison. Fishler believes only 4 copies exist, and that there was no #1.

 

As I note above, this provenance letter was a fabrication that was created simply to mislead and to justify a big-ticket sale - the cover (only) came from Sol Harrison's estate, and it was then married to a coverless copy.

 

When I was buying the first groups of ashcans from Sol Harrison in 1986 there were only 2 loose covers and no complete copies. Fishler bought one cover and I bought the other. His cover ultimately was married to a low grade copy. My cover was sold in 2004 and to my knowledge the buyer still has it as a loose cover so I don't believe there are two married copies out there.