Who was "ACE"

[Timely]

I've graded many "ACE" books and have seen many others over the years (and many in Gerber like Detective Comics # 55) but I do not know the history of them, but most of the books I've seen are dated from 1940-1944.

 

West

[The Black Hand ®]

Thank's West, it's most likely one of those minor comic mysteries that will remain unsolved. I guess I'm wondering if it was done by the original owner or someone later who collected books from that time period.The fact that I've recovered a comic that I had owned as a kid is what's driving me to find out. I'm just sentimental.Thank's for your info, these boards are a valueable resource.

[thedude]

there's an Action #38 listed on Comiclink, that has ACE on the cover..

 

http://www.comiclink.com/./itemdetail.as...%3DCB&id=590318

[The Black Hand ®]

Thank's!

[Larryw7]

So are all of the "Ace" books from the Lost Valley pedigree?

[Timely]

No, that ace notation is completely different from the other ones, plus the Lost Valley collection is a recent find and none would be pictured in Gerber.

 

West

[The Black Hand ®]

Thank's for that piece of info Timely. All the books I've had with ACE on them have been in Capitol letters spaced close together and not too large and haved seemed to detract less from the covers than other writing has. In my opinion.Now of course writing on the cover is a no no, but one of the things about collecting golden age that appeals tome is who has owned that book? What is the history of that book? No matter how minor. The kid who loves his comics and marks them etc.

[143ksk]

I agree with that completely! I always get a big kick when I get books with the same owner's name on them from different sources (and, no, I'm not just talking about Larsons).

 

Since we're on the topic of marked GA books, does anyone here know anything about the run of books with a check mark on them that are pictured in Gerber? I purchased Pep 24-34 in Gerber's big post Photo Journal auction and several of the books have a distinctive check mark on the front cover (see the copy of Pep 24 or 30 in the Photo Journal). Anyone know where these books came from? They are interspersed with Church copies in Gerber, so I assume he couldn't find the Church copies of those books.

 

This is what the mark looks like:

 

[esquirecomics]

one of the things about collecting golden age that appeals tome is who has owned that book? What is the history of that book? No matter how minor. The kid who loves his comics and marks them etc.

 

I agree 100% with this sentiment. I bet that many of us who are true lovers of GA books are also history afficionados. It goes hand and glove.

[The Black Hand ®]

I think my Top Notch 2 has a mark like that on it, but I have no idea about it other than that. Wait a second, I believe that's a sideways V.. which is the first letter of my name..signifying that those books belong to me... the long lost Vince collection of MLJ's. Yeah, it all making sense now, Nice Pep!!!!!

[Timely]

I believe it is an "L" and not a check mark, however I see books with just an "L" on the front cover all the time. It's hard to say if they come from one massive "L" collection or if many different people who put an "L" on their books as kids (or perhaps some call back code for that matter!).

 

West

[143ksk]

I think my Top Notch 2 has a mark like that on it

 

I'd love to see a scan of it!

[The Black Hand ®]

It's an s or a 5, see attachment, sorry.

[The Black Hand ®]

Anyone have any s or 5 books? Or ACE books? Or sideway v books?

[143ksk]

I've seen that mark (or similar) on a number of books. Anybody out there know what any of these marks means?

[The Black Hand ®]

First Nazi war cover by the way.

[comicparadox]

I have ACE's copy of World's Finest #4. Being a skier, I've always liked that cover. I purchased it a few years ago, along with a Captain America #25, to initiate a "skiing cover" collection. When the Gerber Guides came out a few years later, I found about a dozen "ski cover" books to add to my want list.

 

Does anyone know how hard it is to find a Don Winslow of the Navy 41??? I've found almost every one except that issue, which is of course the only one I want since it's a "ski cover"...

[The Black Hand ®]

The mystery deepens! Who are you Ace?!!!!

[Mister_Comics]

Sorry I don't know who ACE is. Don't even remember ever seeing any with ACE on them before.

 

But if you ever see comics with a "J", pen written on the cover, I can tell ya everything about those.

 

The only ACE I know is BATHOUND.

[HouseofComics.Com]

I agree with that completely! I always get a big kick when I get books with the same owner's name on them from different sources (and, no, I'm not just talking about Larsons).

 

I don't suppose anyone has any GA with the signature " Graham" scrawled on them? Or a more neatly-written " Kimble" on the cover. These were 100+ book original owner collections from the 1980s that I was lucky enough to be involved with. I've always hoped to run into one of those books again but never have. The Grahams were probably 1939-1942 and included stuff like Supes 2 and 3 and Batman 3. Some very early Timelies too but this was one I split with Harley and he got those while I got the Bats and Supes. (Harley got the Superman 14.) The fun history story about those is that Graham walked into the Pittsburgh show with them in 1986. He originally had more books including Superman #1 but he had a garage sale in the 1940s and about half the books sold for a nickel each!

 

The Kimble books were slightly later. Some Timely war covers as I recall. A water-damaged Mary Marvel 1. So maybe 1944-1948. There were a few SA books in there with a Don Kimble signature--his son's comics!

 

Anyway, I agree with the love of history comment 100%.

Marc

BA in history, 1987