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A Visit to Casa Berk
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Started by adamstrange,

85 posts in this topic

Bonds25

Bonds25

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Posted
I've known Jon (jbcomicbox) for a number of years and though he had invited me to visit, it wasn't until a week ago that we finally met up at his place. If you've been reading the GA forum this year, you'll have seen scans of quite a few of his comics and understand what a special event this was. I'll give you a cliff notes version of the visit.

 

mad.gif

 

Sounds awesome!! yay.gif

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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Great story...did you wear gloves? 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

No, but he'll never wash his hands again. grin.gif

 

27_laughing.gif

 

No, I didn't wear gloves, though I would have been happy to. I washed and dried my hands shortly before arriving. I would wipe my hands on my shirt before holding each book.

 

I had made no request for him to take these books out -- it was a generous act on his part, although we are both believers that you cannot fully appreciate a comic without seeing it out of the mylar.

 

Now that I think about it, once I was comfortable that he was okay with taking the books out, there were a few occasions that I indicated I would like to see the book and in each case he obliged. Wonderworld 7 and 11.cloud9.gif

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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Wow, wonderful. To actually get to hold a Detective #1 and #27 in your hands. 893applaud-thumb.gifcloud9.gif

 

....as i said (and meant) to 'Adam' ...."They are only comicbooks..."

 

The kick is that very few see the collection and fewer still can 'appreciate' it. Our family friends just politely nod....I always get a kick when someone knowledgeable like 'Adam' looks and knows what he is seeing....and it is always a kick to 'expand' his knowledge....

 

to me much of the fun of 'collecting' is sharing (and, from time to time, 'styling off')....

 

...reading his account, i am astounded at what he remembered......Personally, i am on the downside of brain cell retention.....jon

 

Jon, I was concentrating the whole time I was looking at the books or the art. Shortly after I left, I wrote down just a few notes about the books I'd seen to remind when I did finally getting around to the write-up. Oh, I left off the very cool Ryan artwork, the LB Cole Mask 1 recreation, the Schomburg recreation, all very, very beautiful.

 

The artwork behind the closet door was 3 pages from Cerebus. It turns out Jon is a closet Cerebus collector! Me too -- though I don't have all 300 issues.

 

Thanks Again!

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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does john own pedigree copy of action1?

 

Jon has posted a picture of it somewhere in the last month. I believe he said it was restored.

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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What a great way to spend the day ! 893applaud-thumb.gif

 

I would love to know the grade of the Action #1 to #10 (part. #1), and the Detective Comics #1 and #27 ? flowerred.gif

 

Jon actually jiggled the Detective 1 in his hands just to show that it's really a solid copy and that he's not afraid of handling his books. I'm primarily a 50s on up collector those books can't be treated in the same way.

 

I didn't give much thought to grading the books. Most of the ones I was looking at are exceedingly rare and I was far more interested in understanding from Jon about the significance of a particular book and gaining an impression of the art, colors, and appearance of the copies. Stopping to look for defects and the back cover would have been a waste of the oppportunity I had.

 

The Detective 1 was quite nice with just some very minor restoration on the lower spine tape removal?). I don't knowingly purchase restored books, but it didn't seem that significant given the other qualities of the book (it was a bright, glossy orange like one of those safety cones). The Tec 27 and Action 1 were both restored but had a nice appearance. We didn't discuss restoration on the other Actions but I don't recall any being high grade.

 

If you gave me a stack of Action 1-10 and Detective 27-36 and another stack of 20 Lou Fine Church copies and told me I could only look at one, I'll look at the Lou Fine books every time, without hesitation. I spent more time staring at Mysterymen 3, Fantastic 3, Wonderworld 2-11 (his Wonder 1 was incredible as well) than I did with the Actions. If I'd had more time, then I would have paid more attention to the classic superheros. Just me. confused-smiley-013.gif

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mrwoogieman

mrwoogieman

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Wow,

 

Lucky you! That was an experience few of us will have the pleasure of having in our lifetimes. Thanks for sharing!

 

And isn't it great that Jon isn't some arrogant tool who doesn't share his goodies? If he were a different kind of man, we might not even know these rare books even existed... Thanks again, Jon.

 

893applaud-thumb.gif

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adamstrange

adamstrange

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does john own pedigree copy of action1?

 

Jon has posted a picture of it somewhere in the last month. I believe he said it was restored.

 

not restored...just a chip out of spine...

 

There were so many gems for me to look at that, afterwards, I couldn't remember that I had seen an unrestored Action 1!

 

Now that's an impressive collection!

Edited by adamstrange
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