If there was a Hall of Fame for Comic Collectors/Dealers/Advocates 2 2

[James J Johnson]

3 hours ago, HouseofComics.Com said:

That's a good list, for sure!  Kind of amazed that Bob Overstreet doesn't make the OP's top four!

I'm the OP and I didn't pick my 4 yet. I still haven't figured out who my 4 faces would be, but I do lean towards Bob Overstreet being one of them.

[James J Johnson]

4 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

I'm trying to separate out the pros/creators from the fan side of collectors/dealers/advocates (by advocates I mean fanzines, scholars, etc.).

Exactly. A tough job! Say Jack Kirby was one of your picks, or Carl Barks for that matter. Were either of those two of equal or more significance than the contributions of the Thompsons or Overstreet? Or Phil Seuling? Or Stan Lee? Tough choices with only 4 slots to fill.

[Larryw7]

4 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

All great choices, but still no one has mentioned a seminal figure from the earliest days of comic fandom.  I'll keep waiting.

I agree, of course, about Jerry Bails.  

Pop Hollinger, the first comic book dealer. He did have a unique way to keep the books from falling apart.

[PUNYHUMAN]

My personal opinion Jerry Bails , kickstarting Fandom. G. B. Love , Rockets Blast . Phil Seuling, Comic cons . Bob Overstreet , Legitimizing the hobby.

[sfcityduck]

2 hours ago, PUNYHUMAN said:

My personal opinion Jerry Bails , kickstarting Fandom. G. B. Love , Rockets Blast . Phil Seuling, Comic cons . Bob Overstreet , Legitimizing the hobby.

A good pantheon.

But, I think everyone is still failing to name a key figure.  Really curious if anyone comes up with him.

[sfcityduck]

5 hours ago, Larryw7 said:

Pop Hollinger, the first comic book dealer. He did have a unique way to keep the books from falling apart.

A really good guess, but not the guy I'm thinking about.  Similar time period.  Pop Hollinger was clearly the first back issue comic dealer and deserves special consideration for any HoF.

[otherworldsj331]

2 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

A really good guess, but not the guy I'm thinking about.  Similar time period.  Pop Hollinger was clearly the first back issue comic dealer and deserves special consideration for any HoF.

The only ones I can think of from that era, the early to mid fifties first comic fandom group, are Ronn Foss, Roy Thomas, and possibly Bill Schelly, though he is a little later on. And they are known for collecting comics at that times, not really involved in fandom. It was improbable in those days for collectors outside of their town or city to ever meet up or even know of each other.

The early to mid fifties with the founding of EC comics fandom, is generally considered the rudimentary start of the beginnings of comic advocacy or fandom. As far as founders (using the word loosely) of comic fandom I don't know if you can go back much further than that.

Of course if one is just referring to collectors, and not organized comic fandom, then maybe Lamont Larson? Or Recil Macon or Tom Reilly? I can not think of a earlier well known collectors then them, aside from Church.

Edited July 22, 2018 by otherworldsj331
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[Tony D]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Shel Dorf.

[thunsicker]

18 hours ago, otherworldsj331 said:

 

Bruce Hamilton, Steve Geppi ,Ernie Gerber, Don and Maggie Thompson, G.B. Love, Robert Bell, Burt Blum, Steve Borock, and Paul Levitz.

Jerry Bails, w/o a doubt. A first (no brainier) ballot choice.

Bails and Thomas #1 and #2.  Or does the fact that Thomas went from fan side to creative side invalidate him?

EDIT:  And if we allow Thomas than I'd definitely put Lee in there.  No one promoted comics (or still does to this day) like Lee promotes comics.

Edited July 22, 2018 by thunsicker

[telerites]

A few others that I didn't see that may not make the Mount but for consideration - Grass Green, Don Newton (a fandom mainstay and art teacher before becoming a pro artist) and Don Glut.

[DavidTheDavid]

17 hours ago, Stevemmg said:

That seems like a logical argument against.  However, I’ve always thought that there must have been more to his massive accumulation and long runs of books than just the reference material explanation. It just seems like far too much to acquire for that purpose alone. Maybe it was, but it just seems unlikely. I think most accept it, but if I needed to reference say, Bob Kane’s Batman, style, I could probably get everything I would need from a few issues. 

All that being said, I think you changed my mind on him for consideration. 

I’ve always wondered about this. That kind of amassing of comics, it seems to me, had to have something more at its root than just reference materials. 

[2muchhorrorbusiness]

Suprised i have not seen anyone mention Don and Maggie Thompson. There is a great book called The Founders of Comic Fandom. Great book. 

[PUNYHUMAN]

How about also for dealers, Bill Thailing , Claude Held, Howard Rogofsky. Bert Blum.

Collectors , Raymond Miller and Rick Durell.

[steveinthecity]

I was thinking that Max Gaines is worthy of consideration.  While working for Eastern Color Printing he had the idea to repackage newspaper strips in magazine format and published Funnies On Parade.  Shortly thereafter in conjunction with Dell he published Famous Funnies: Carnival Of Comics with Famous Funnies then launching as an ongoing series that ran 200+ issues.  By the late 30's he was publishing under the name of All-American Publications(with the help of Jack Leibowitz) and produced titles like Flash and All-Star Comics among others.  When All-American was sold he then started Educational Comics which following his death a few years later became EC when his son took over.

[DanCooper]

A lot of GREAT names mentioned in this thread and deserving!

How about Gary Carter? (the comic book/collector Gary Carter that is. The "other" baseball Gary Carter is already in his respected Hall of Fame!)

Creating and publishing the Comic Book Marketplace fanzine should alone get him consideration! (among many other comic achievements - from being an early buyer of Mile High collection books/runs to a brief stint as Editor in Chief of Overstreet guides)

 

 

[James J Johnson]

9 hours ago, jessebrook11 said:

Suprised i have not seen anyone mention Don and Maggie Thompson. There is a great book called The Founders of Comic Fandom. Great book. 

This looks like a must read, thank you for posting that!       Off to find one for sale on the net. .

[Kizarny]

Bob Overstreet, Russ Cochran, Bill Gaines, Claude Held

[sfcityduck]

This HoF topic is really about fans not pros so Gaines and Lee really do not belong.  The tougher case foe me is Gardner Fox, who introduced Bails and Thomas and really helped kickstart fandom in the late 50s early 60s.  But, he probably does not belong on the list either.

[pemart1966]

Mitch Mehdy has to be there.  His picture in the early 1970s holding Action 1 for which he paid the then CRAZY sum of nearly $2,000 made newspapers all around the North American continent if not the western world.

That was the one of the first things that I can remember that brought comic collecting into the public eye.

I still have that newspaper clipping Mitch...

 

Edited July 23, 2018 by pemart1966

[shadroch]

The Mad Maple.