Who Was the First Great Comic Collector? 1 1

[sfcityduck]

6 minutes ago, Readcomix said:

Would you put Phil Seuling in the mix, or categorize him more as an early dealer?

Most dealers are also collectors and Seuling put on conventions etc., so he definitely qualifies.  But, his heyday was really late 60s and 70s.

[Readcomix]

1 minute ago, sfcityduck said:

Most dealers are also collectors and Seuling put on conventions etc., so he definitely qualifies.  But, his heyday was really late 60s and 70s.

Just crossed my mind; wasn't sure how early he started. Great topic; looking forward to the discussion!

 

[Robot Man]

Gary Arlington was the first hard core collector I ever met. Mostly known for ECs but he also had a big collection of other books as well.

[James J Johnson]

Bob Overstreet. A collector and by virtue of his incalculable impact on the hobby by publishing grading standards and his yearly price guide, without which would be like a religion without their bible, establishes him as #1..

Edited March 4, 2019 by James J Johnson

[telerites]

Don and Maggie were pretty early as was Buddy Saunders. Ron Goulart, maybe.

[Scrooge]

2 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

When did Larry Ivie start collecting original art?  I'd like to know more about him as well. 

Read this about Larry Ivie - http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_55&products_id=1340

There is a significant extract available in the free preview. Click on the frame to open full screen.

I had heard / read about Ivie here and there and a lot wasn't complimentary but reading this in Alter Ego revealed a lot more about him and I found it quite fascinating.

Enjoy 

[Scrooge]

2 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

I'd like to know more about Ted White.  He was publishing comic articles in SF fanzines in the 50s, but I don't think he ultimately had that much impact on comic fandom then or later.  I'd be happy to learn more if I'm wrong about that.

Ted was interviewed also recently in Alter Ego over a couple of issues (don't recall the issue #s) but, I'd agree with your assessment as shifting quickly over to SF but IIRC he would have been one of the earliest person to visit a publisher with visit(s) to the EC offices in the '50's. Can't quite dismiss that! More information in the articles since my memory can definitely be faulty.

[bronze johnny]

Bob Overstreet.

[James J Johnson]

1 hour ago, bronze johnny said:

Bob Overstreet.

+1   Bob wrote the Hobby's bible and almost everybody who was ever of any notoriety in this hobby. many talked about in this thread, were either written about, advisors, or advertisers in Bob's Bible. Until online this and that, who was a hobbyist in the 70s, 80s, and 90s that didn't look forward to picking up the Overstreet every Spring from the 70s through the 90s? Bob brought all these people talked about in this thread under one umbrella, the Amazon or Ebay for the comics hobby of his day!!

[Jaylam]

This is a little bit of a tangent to the topic, however I found this nice little tidbit about Forrest J Ackerman. He was truly one of the first great collectors and advocates of Science Fiction and related genres, of which we could arguably say comic books owe their origins to along with the “collecting” that followed them.

Photograph of "Morojo" (Myrtle R. Douglas) and Forrest J Ackerman in the "futuristicostumes" she designed and created, at Nycon 1 (the 1st World Science Fiction Convention} in 1939 in New York City. The origin of this photo is unknown to me; both subjects are long dead, and this photo is the best one I have as a fair-use picture of Morojo at a unique historical moment. This was the first instance of costuming at a science fiction convention, and is generally acknowledged to be the origin of what we now call cosplay.

Edited March 5, 2019 by Jaylam

[lou_fine]

4 hours ago, James J Johnson said:

5 hours ago, bronze johnny said:

Bob Overstreet.

+1   Bob wrote the Hobby's bible and almost everybody who was ever of any notoriety in this hobby. many talked about in this thread, were either written about, advisors, or advertisers in Bob's Bible. Until online this and that, who was a hobbyist in the 70s, 80s, and 90s that didn't look forward to picking up the Overstreet every Spring from the 70s through the 90s? Bob brought all these people talked about in this thread under one umbrella, the Amazon or Ebay for the comics hobby of his day!!

+2

I would definitely have to agree with Bob as being one of the early pioneers of comic book collecting here since he's been around since the old EC days of the early 50's.  

Probably not the first one, but most definitely one of the most, if not THE MOST influential person in our hobby and marketplace without a doubt. 

[James J Johnson]

Just now, lou_fine said:

+2

I would definitely have to agree with Bob as being one of the early pioneers of comic book collecting here since he's been around since the old EC days of the early 50's.  

Probably not the first one, but most definitely one of the most, if not THE MOST influential person in our hobby and marketplace without a doubt. 

Pop Hollinger. Ran a used comic book store from 1939 until 1971. He would advertise in periodicals of the day that he would pay by weight, from a pound to a ton and more.

[sfcityduck]

25 minutes ago, James J Johnson said:

Pop Hollinger. Ran a used comic book store from 1939 until 1971. He would advertise in periodicals of the day that he would pay by weight, from a pound to a ton and more.

Pop Hollinger was probably the first mail order comic book dealer.  But, he lacks a lot of other criteria.  And what he did to comics makes me shudder.

[sfcityduck]

32 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

+2

I would definitely have to agree with Bob as being one of the early pioneers of comic book collecting here since he's been around since the old EC days of the early 50's.  

Probably not the first one, but most definitely one of the most, if not THE MOST influential person in our hobby and marketplace without a doubt. 

Bob started buying comics in 1952, after a number of others already mentioned, and didn't really become a force in the comic collecting world until the late 1960s or 1970.  Really really important comic collector, but not one of the earliest important guys.

[sfcityduck]

I'll be starting my presentation on the person I think was the first great nationally known comic book advocate over on the GA forum after this upcoming weekend, I hope.  

I really appreciate the comments being made, and as I take on board information may re-think my argument.  So far, though, I haven't seen anything to change my mind.  

Please keep your thoughts and ideas coming!

[bronze johnny]

10 hours ago, lou_fine said:

+2

I would definitely have to agree with Bob as being one of the early pioneers of comic book collecting here since he's been around since the old EC days of the early 50's.  

Probably not the first one, but most definitely one of the most, if not THE MOST influential person in our hobby and marketplace without a doubt. 

The thing I considered when deciding that Overstreet was the first great comic book collector has to do with how collecting changed once we had the Overstreet Price Guide. A reference book to work with for collectors. Buyers and sellers had the "industry bible" to work with. The earliest editions of the guide provides insight into where Bob Overstreet was at the time and what kind of visionary he was in seeing the need for a price guide. I believe that this was based on his own collecting experiences and his guide is the greatest achievement any collector had achieved up to that time. What's important is that Bob Overstreet was a collector at the time he started putting together the first printing of the Guide's 1st Edition. Nothing prior to Bob's achievement as a collector comes close. His collecting insight changed the way comic book collectors collected, traded, sold, and bought comics. Overstreet also gave collectors greater insight into the history of this hobby with the first articles in the 4th Edition of the Guide. These articles have served as a tremendous reference library for comic book collectors and historians of the hobby. 

We owe this to Bob Overstreet, the first great collector of the greatest period of comic book collecting that continues to this day. 49th Edition of the Guide will be out this July! 

Kudos to Bob Overstreet!

Edited March 5, 2019 by bronze johnny

[lou_fine]

1 hour ago, bronze johnny said:

We owe this to Bob Overstreet, the first great collector of the greatest period of comic book collecting that continues to this day. 49th Edition of the Guide will be out this July! 

Kudos to Bob Overstreet!

+1

Very well said and I doubt many here can truly put up an argument against what you have stated here in your excellent post. 

[sfcityduck]

1 hour ago, bronze johnny said:

Nothing prior to Bob's achievement as a collector comes close. His collecting insight changed the way comic book collectors collected, traded, sold, and bought comics. Overstreet also gave collectors greater insight into the history of this hobby with the first articles in the 4th Edition of the Guide. These articles have served as a tremendous reference library for comic book collectors and historians of the hobby. 

We owe this to Bob Overstreet, the first great collector of the greatest period of comic book collecting that continues to this day. 49th Edition of the Guide will be out this July! 

Kudos to Bob Overstreet!

Please don't take this post as arguing against Overstreet's influence.  He's on my Mount Rushmore of Comic Collectors.  But, the assertion that Bob was "the first great collector of the greatest period of comic collecting" is something I cannot agree with.  That assertion ignores the events of the 1960s and the people Bob would probably acknowledge as more deserving of that title.  

There were several comic book price guides before Bob's.  Bob's was better, but it was not first.  The articles in the guide are nice, but they are just a small portion of the library of articles on comics and comic collecting generated since 1960.

Bob, who is the first to acknowledge this, also benefited tremendously from the extensive notes provided to him by Jerry Bails, who had begun drafting his own price guide before handing off his notes to Overstreet.  Long prior to Overstreet's first Price Guide in 1970, Jerry Bails had already published "Alter Ego" (1961) with Roy Thomas which was arguably the first great comic fanzine, published "Comicollector" (1961) which was the first comic buying and selling adzine (it later merged with the Rocket's Blast and became the RBCC), published "On the Drawing Board" (1961) which was a comic news zine publicising upcoming comics and identifying their creators which was the forerunner to the "Comic Reader," founded the Academy of Comic-Book Fans and Collectors (1962) which was the first great society of comic collectors, created the Alley Awards (1962) which was the first comic awards, hosted some of the earliest comic conventions (1964), published CAPA-APA (1964) which was the first comic APA, and published extensive indexes of Golden Age comics such as the Collector’s Guide to the First Heroic Age which were relied upon Bob for the non-price info in his guide.  

Jerry Bails, in my opinion, is also someone I would put on my Mount Rushmore of Comic Collectors and I think he's more important than Bob, something I think Bob would probably agree with.  There is a reason that Jerry Bails is called the "Father of Comic Fandom."    

Even so, I don't think Jerry Bails was the "First Great Comic Collector."  And Bob, while he is a contender for the pantheon of greatest comic collectors ever (and IMHO on Mt. Rushmore), is not even close to the conversation for "First Great Comic Collector" because so many others were doing important things before him in the 1960s.

Edited March 5, 2019 by sfcityduck

[sfcityduck]

2 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

+1

Very well said and I doubt many here can truly put up an argument against what you have stated here in your excellent post. 

I can always put up an argument.  

[lou_fine]

2 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

6 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

+1

Very well said and I doubt many here can truly put up an argument against what you have stated here in your excellent post. 

I can always put up an argument.  

Absolutely nothing wrong with that at all.    

I also agree with your viewpoint on Jerry Bails, but feel that Bob's long and continuing influence over the decades has made him a more important figure in terms of today's marketplace.  If you are focusing on the "first" one and only though, I would agree with you about Jerry Bails then.