My Warren Pubs Key/Scarce "Hit List" 5 5

[wombat]

Both pickups from board sales, right?

 

It's kind of funny. I see some sales threads and I guess what books NerV is going to claim.  

[N e r V]

7 hours ago, wombat said:

Both pickups from board sales, right?

 

It's kind of funny. I see some sales threads and I guess what books NerV is going to claim.  

Yes sir. The Vampi #3 was an impulse buy. I have 6 dogs at home now so no way I wasn’t going to buy something from Solar Boy.

The Vampi special was a bit lower grade than I was looking at but white pages and great price were hard to beat.

 

 

 

Edited June 16, 2018 by N e r V

[oakman29]

Just wanted to update this cool thread, and put another  on the table.

As I go through completing my Warren Eerie run I'm finding out that its actually quite tough to find Eeries in high grade numbered in the 20's . 22,23,25,29 are the toughest. Oh yes you might find them, but high grade is a whole different animal.

Here I thought 17 was going to be the white elephant,  but #23 took me over 2 years. 

#22 was brutal in finding a clean white cover with no creases, or spine ticks that move to the back of the book.

And forget it #25 is insanely tough, still looking for that one.

Edited November 24, 2019 by oakman29

[The Lions Den]

43 minutes ago, oakman29 said:

Just wanted to update this cool thread, and put another  on the table.

As I go through completing my Warren Eerie run I'm finding out that its actually quite tough to find Eeries in high grade numbered in the 20's . 22,23,25,29 are the toughest. Oh yes you might find them, but high grade is a whole different animal.

Here I thought 17 was going to be the white elephant,  but #23 took me over 2 years. 

#22 was brutal in finding a clean white cover with no creases, or spine ticks that move to the back of the book.

And forget it #25 is insanely tough, still looking for that one.

The #25 has been elusive, to say the least. I've found a couple of nice copies over the years, but it's pretty ridiculous how pricey it is these days...  

[Randall Dowling]

On 11/24/2019 at 9:13 AM, oakman29 said:

Just wanted to update this cool thread, and put another  on the table.

As I go through completing my Warren Eerie run I'm finding out that its actually quite tough to find Eeries in high grade numbered in the 20's . 22,23,25,29 are the toughest. Oh yes you might find them, but high grade is a whole different animal.

Here I thought 17 was going to be the white elephant,  but #23 took me over 2 years. 

#22 was brutal in finding a clean white cover with no creases, or spine ticks that move to the back of the book.

And forget it #25 is insanely tough, still looking for that one.

I'll add my small sampling of information for what I consider to be the 4 main Warren titles.  Perhaps we can get @Stevemmg to chime in as well as he's been like a bloodhound with these things for quite awhile.

My experience is that the following books are ridiculously hard to find in high grade (over 8.5, issues in bold are particularly scarce in very high grade):

Blazing Combat 1, 2

Creepy 2, 6, 9, 13, 19, 29, 41, 42, 45, 46, 48, 55, 56

Eerie 11, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25, 38, 39, 40, 41, 50, 51, 54, 55

Vampirella 14, 19, 23, 26, 30, 33, 51, 109, Annual 1, Color Special Softcover (Hardcover is practically non-existent in 9.0 or better)

My grading is probably a bit stricter than current CGC grading but these are the very tough books to find in high grade in my experience.  Many have particular issues that are so common place that one wonders if copies exist without them (i.e. rubbing at staple through cover, etc.).  Additionally, I believe that the following is a list (completely unconnected to the previous list) of "classic covers" for these titles:

Blazing Combat 1-4

Creepy 1-7, 9-11, 15-17, 27, 32, 34, 36, 42, 46, 49, 51, 52, 53, 56-64, 73, 75-81, 88, 90, 113

Eerie 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 17, 23-25, 27, 29, 33, 35, 37-41, 50, 52-60, 66, 69, 76-78, 81, 82, 90, 95, 112, 117

Vampirella 1-61, 70, 71, 78, 89, 100

This list is completely subjective but generally speaking, I think any and all Frazetta covers are grossly undervalued and many, many Sanjulian and Ken Kelly covers are severely under appreciated.  This is quickly thrown together and I'm sure I've missed a few but these are the obvious ones.  And yes, I do think that the first 61 issues are Vampirella are all classics!  

Lastly, I can think of only one book that has become difficult to come by in any grade:  Eerie 23.  To validate what @oakman29 has stated a few times, many others are tough but Eerie 23 is quickly becoming a unicorn in terms of availability.  You could add the Vampirella Color Special Hardcover as well but that's a fairly exotic variant, thus I don't include it (I don't own a copy and doubt that I will as the price required is beyond what I'll pay).    

Edited November 26, 2019 by Randall Dowling
Error correction

[icefires]

On 11/24/2019 at 9:59 AM, The Lions Den said:

The #25 has been elusive, to say the least. I've found a couple of nice copies over the years, but it's pretty ridiculous how pricey it is these days...  

So if the lone CGC 9.8 #25 was up for sale, how much would it go for?

[The Lions Den]

1 hour ago, icefires said:

So if the lone CGC 9.8 #25 was up for sale, how much would it go for?

That's a good question. 

I can tell you that an uncertified copy which was graded 9.2 recently sold for almost $272... 

[Randall Dowling]

2 hours ago, The Lions Den said:

That's a good question. 

I can tell you that an uncertified copy which was graded 9.2 recently sold for almost $272... 

It is interesting.  I don't think that most magazine collectors are number chasers which is a little surprising as 9.8s in magazines are considerably harder to come by than they are in smaller size comics.  My guess is that a 9.8 ("single highest graded" is a bit precarious in an era of manufactured grades) would go for around $700-$800.  But that is completely a guess.  It could be hundreds less or hundreds more.  I think people are only just beginning to catch on to which issues are super cool, which are very tough in high grade and which are worth top tier prices.

[icefires]

54 minutes ago, Randall Dowling said:

It is interesting.  I don't think that most magazine collectors are number chasers which is a little surprising as 9.8s in magazines are considerably harder to come by than they are in smaller size comics.  My guess is that a 9.8 ("single highest graded" is a bit precarious in an era of manufactured grades) would go for around $700-$800.  But that is completely a guess.  It could be hundreds less or hundreds more.  I think people are only just beginning to catch on to which issues are super cool, which are very tough in high grade and which are worth top tier prices.

The lone Eerie #25 CGC 9.8 WP (Don/Maggie Thompson Collection) sold for $448.13 on Heritage (including buyer's premium) in May, 2014.

The next highest grade on the census is 9.4.

Edited November 27, 2019 by icefires

[Taylor G]

21 hours ago, Randall Dowling said:

My experience is that the following books are ridiculously hard to find in high grade

For those that are on a budget, it's arguably pointless to go after some of these:

Creepy 18-28, 117-146

Eerie 13-22, 111-139

The first range (the "Dark Age") was when Warren's revival of EC stalled and they couldn't afford to hire the top notch writers and artists they had before.  They were saved by the success of Vampirella, the arrival of the Spanish artists, and fresh domestic talent like Corben and Wrightson.

The second range ("Decline and Fall") was when they were in decline, to a large extent because Marvel was deliberately squeezing them off the newsstands with their own B&W magazines (Skywald was an early casualty of this strategy).  There are still some good all-reprint issues among these.  Vampirella notably managed to maintain their high quality up to the end.

[Hamlet]

On 11/26/2019 at 6:25 PM, Randall Dowling said:

It is interesting.  I don't think that most magazine collectors are number chasers which is a little surprising as 9.8s in magazines are considerably harder to come by than they are in smaller size comics.  My guess is that a 9.8 ("single highest graded" is a bit precarious in an era of manufactured grades) would go for around $700-$800.  But that is completely a guess.  It could be hundreds less or hundreds more.  I think people are only just beginning to catch on to which issues are super cool, which are very tough in high grade and which are worth top tier prices.

Here is a question for the group.  What are the key Warrens in mid-grade as opposed to high-grade?  

I’m not a guy that needs a perfect copy, just one that looks decent, say FN-VF for most books.  Obviously I get the best copy I can find at a price I’m comfortable with, but mostly I just want a decent looking copy.

I feel like the Vampi Frazetta covers are really the must own books in the run for me.  What are the others you would buy in FN condition first if you didn’t have them?  Certainly there are covers I like a lot - are there books you feel must be owned for the content within them?

[chevalmeow]

On 11/26/2019 at 3:38 PM, The Lions Den said:

That's a good question. 

I can tell you that an uncertified copy which was graded 9.2 recently sold for almost $272... 

At the risk of showing off (yep!), this is my copy of 25.  It did take a while to locate.  I remember looking out for it early on as I really liked the cover.

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by chevalmeow
neat it up

[oakman29]

1 hour ago, chevalmeow said:

At the risk of showing off (yep!), this is my copy of 25.  It did take a while to locate.  I remember looking out for it early on as I really liked the cover.

 

How much?🤨

[oakman29]

No really how much.😟

[tv horror]

On 11/27/2019 at 2:06 AM, Taylor G said:

The first range (the "Dark Age") was when Warren's revival of EC stalled

That's interesting I've always wondered what issues had this mini revival as they would be the only magazines I would be interested in getting, also I'm not fussy on the condition ask the wife! Please wait a mo while I dislodge this damn Axe from my head...That does it  now I have a splitting headache.  Can anyone let me know the titles and numbers please.

[Hepcat]

On 5/1/2017 at 1:15 PM, N e r V said:

I'm in 100% agreement with you there. I met these are the books I see as either most challenging, expensive or "must have" in my collection so they get top billing in my searches before looking downward to everything else I want.

I'm just wondering if I missed something that maybe should also be on my radar?

Why are no issues of Wildest Westerns on your list? Do you have them all?

http://monstermagazinegalleries.blogspot.com/2010/03/wilest-westerns.html

They're not widely seen yet they contain a lot of fabulous artwork.

 

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

18 hours ago, tv horror said:

That's interesting I've always wondered what issues had this mini revival as they would be the only magazines I would be interested in getting.... Can anyone let me know the titles and numbers please.

I think Taylor G is implying that Warren's "mini-revival of EC" took place in the issues below and then stalled for ten or eleven issues:

Creepy 1-17

Eerie 2-12

 

Edited December 1, 2019 by Hepcat

[tv horror]

4 hours ago, Hepcat said:

I think Taylor G is implying that Warren's "mini-revival of EC" took place in these issues and then stalled for ten or eleven issues:

Creepy 1-17

Eerie 2-12

 

Thank you Hep I think I'll get them in the collected volumes, all the best.

[The Lions Den]

19 hours ago, chevalmeow said:

At the risk of showing off (yep!), this is my copy of 25.  It did take a while to locate.  I remember looking out for it early on as I really liked the cover.

 

That's a sweet looking book!  

[N e r V]

17 hours ago, Hepcat said:

Why are no issues of Wildest Westerns on your list? Do you have them all?

http://monstermagazinegalleries.blogspot.com/2010/03/wilest-westerns.html

They're not widely seen yet they contain a lot of fabulous artwork.

 

 

Nope. With a few exceptions I haven’t ventured far into most westerns comics or magazines. Same with a lot of war stuff. Strange too because I do watch a whole lot of westerns and war movies so go figure...

 

My hit list is a few years old and now pretty out of date anyway since I’ve acquired or reacquired as the case may be a number of those on my original list. Also upgraded some.

Maybe in 2020 I’ll post a new list with some new “hit list” goals. 
 

Either way glad you posted Hepcat. Missed seeing you over here since I rarely post on the MarvelMasterworks boards these days. Besides your great condition DC comics I miss seeing all those really cool model kits and stuff you have.