UPDATED: My Nominee for the "First Great Comic Collector" 12 12

[sfcityduck]

I would be good with the following commentary on following linked site as my obit (a long time from now): https://sonofstuckfunky.com/2023/11/28/a-snails-pace/

Quote

My first Google journey on Wigransky, (born Sidney David Wigransky, Jr.) led quickly to the comic book collectors chat forum of the Certified Guaranty Company. There, an incredibly and wonderfully obsessed poster going by the handle ‘sfcityduck’ had already done all the hard work for me. He’d gone on a multi-year frenzy of fact-finding on the life of David Pace Wigransky and this post will really just be a belabored summation of his exhaustive work. I can’t reinvent the wheel when this man has already built an atomic superwheel capable of crushing millions. So sfcityduck, whoever you are, I salute you good sir. Here is a link to the forum thread itself. Come for the thesis level research on an obscure subject, stay for the typical forum slapfight.

Aside from the nice comment, read the link for the very good summation of the Wigransky story.

Edited February 22 by sfcityduck

[sfcityduck]

Hell, here it is. A very interesting summation of what's on this thread (but there is more to come).  The key line?: "Comics didn't save him." Here's the article:

A Snail’s Pace

At long last, after many a long day on the tractor and a long night at the computer box, the promised post on David Pace Wigransky. I am finally ready to dissect the second real-world personage mentioned in this stupid little one week arc from ten years ago from a defunct comic strip that literally no one else on this earth but you guys, me, and the writer himself, cares about.

ARE YOU EXCITED?

To recap, since this has been an overwrought process of dragging things out that would make even GRRM and Patrick Rothfuss blush.

Day One: Chullo Head to Skunky: “Did u here vidya gamez iz bad 4 kidz?”

Day Two: Skunky to Chullo Head: “Did u no in 1950’s dude said comix wuz bad 4 kidz?”

Day 3: Skynky to Nobuddy: “Videya Gamerz are against the system dude.”

Day 4: Video Gamers and Comic Readers = People wrongly accused and hanged for witchcraft.

Day 5. Chullo: Did no one stand up for poor little comic books? Skunky: Yes, a literal child man.

And that brings us to today, the last day of that week, and my last post on this stupid subject.

Neat and tidy and preachy. So you know there’s something wrong with this story. I had to know the truth.

And my research tangled me into a multitiered web of intersecting obsessives and obsessions.

My first Google journey on Wigransky, (born Sidney David Wigransky, Jr.) led quickly to the comic book collectors chat forum of the Certified Guaranty Company. There, an incredibly and wonderfully obsessed poster going by the handle ‘sfcityduck’ had already done all the hard work for me. He’d gone on a multi-year frenzy of fact-finding on the life of David Pace Wigransky and this post will really just be a belabored summation of his exhaustive work. I can’t reinvent the wheel when this man has already built an atomic superwheel capable of crushing millions. So sfcityduck, whoever you are, I salute you good sir. Here is a link to the forum thread itself. Come for the thesis level research on an obscure subject, stay for the typical forum slapfight.

First, a little clarification. In this arc Batiuk lays it out as if David Wigransky wrote his rebuttal directly to Seduction of the Innocent, published in 1954. But this isn’t true. Wigransky was writing in response to an article by Dr. Wertham published in May 1948 edition of Saturday Review. The arguments in the article, “The Comics…Very Funny,” are nearly identical to the more detailed arguments from Wertham’s later book. David Wigransky’s rebuttal was also written in 1948 and excerpts of it were published in the July edition of Saturday Review of that same year.

Why only excerpts? Well, according to at least one news article sfcityduck found, little Davey’s rebuttal was tens of thousands of words long.

Tens, of thousands, of words. Obviously, David Pace Wigransky was far from an average comic book reading kid.

Here’s a picture of him in 1948, in his comic book room.

sfcityduck points out all the interesting facts he can surmise from the comic room picture.

First, take a look at the easily identifiable comics.  They span in time from 1935 to 1948.  They cover a wide array of genres.  They are:

 * Famous Funnies 17 (Dec. 1935)

 * Whiz 15 (March 1941)

 * Stuntman 1 (April/May 1946)

 * True Crime Comics vol. 1, no. 2 (May 1947)

 * Powerhouse Pepper 2 (Spring 1948)

 * Two Gun Kid 1 (March 1948)

Second, look at the comic storage.  All of his comics are very neatly stacked and separated in their respective cubes.  Clearly, they are organized.  And this guy had a frigging comic book room in 1948!

Third, look at the comics themselves.  These aren’t comics “showing too much love.”  Instead, they are flat (unless “newsstand fresh”), with square corners, and aren’t showing rips or creases.  

Fourth, look at him.  He’s relatively young.  Only 14.  Yet, he is holding a copy of a comic from 1935 (13 years old) that is in really nice shape!  He clearly was not only pursuing back issues, he was pursuing really nice looking back issues!

In sum, this guy was a serious collector, with a serious collection, being kept in great shape.

Oh … one other thing, the photo is obviously a professional photo.  This collector had already, at his obvious young age achieved a degree of fame that the news media was photographing him.  

Due to sfcityduck’s research, we know that Wigransky wasn’t just a kid picking up his favorite issues at the newsstand to read. He collected back issues, he wrote to artists and writers, he put out ads in newspapers hundreds of miles from where he lived looking for more old comics. He was an obsessive nerd, full stop.

The other thing I’d like to point out is the tone and vocabulary of Wigransky’s insanely long letter. It’s written at a beyond a college level. And to my modern, meme-rotted brain seems almost overly wordy and pedantic. I don’t know if it’s an adolescent over-emphasizing a style that he thinks will give his arguments more weight, or if this is just how all snooty doctoral dissertations were written in 1948. But the kid is obviously very well read in more than just fiction.

Dr. Wertham seems to believe that adults should have the perfect right to read anything they please, no matter how vulgar, how vicious, or how depraving, simply because they are adults. Children, on the other hand, should be kept in utter and complete ignorance of anything and everything except the innocuous and sterile world that the Dr. Werthams of the world prefer to keep them prisoner within from birth to maturity.

David Pace Wigransky

It’s easy to see why Wigransky became the darling and poster boy for comic book supporters at the time. Other adults had written very well reasoned and educated arguments against Wertham. Other children had sent letters saying they read comics and they were fine. But here was the two combined.

Wigransky’s letter got several shout outs across different publications and newspapers. He was quoted, by name, in an editorial included in the pages of most Marvel/Timely comics published in February and March 1949. The editorial was likely penned by then editor-in-chief, Stan Lee.

Wigransky was even gifted original art by comics artists like Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

Wigransky’s letter was quoted again during the 1954 hearings of the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency, which led to comics publishers adopting the Comics Code Authority.

But what became of David Pace Wigransky, that precocious whiz-kid? Did he ever become a comic author and artist like he’d hoped?

Nope, he became a juvenile delinquent. At least according to himself in his self-published 1963 novel, Raising Hell, written under the psuedonym Dave Jay.

The book is full of his art and illustrations which sfcityduck says show Wolverton and Crumb influence.

The only comic we have of his creation is “The Uncanny Adventures of (I Hate) Dr. Wertham.” Written some time in the late 40’s. It was discovered about ten years ago in the archives of the National Cartoonist Society by Professor Carol Tilley.

Professor Tilley covers the plot of the 22-page handmade comic book in this guest post on the Ohio State University Libraries blog. Of note, “Wertham realizes the error of his anti-comics argument. He endeavors to retract it, but in doing so, he is professionally disgraced and left penniless. The comic ends with Wertham trading in the last of his worldly possessions for a revolver, which he uses to kills himself on a pier.”

If only Wertham had known his poster boy critic harbored such a dark revenge fantasy.

In 1951, Dave Wigransky graduated high school. His father died in 1955. I didn’t see any mention of Dave going to college in sfcityduck’s posts. Rather he seems to have spent the 50’s drinking and partying with his friends all while still living with his mother. He only moved out of his mother’s house in the late 60’s, a few years before he died. He spent most of his life in the D.C. area except for a time in 1966 when he lived in Berkeley CA.

In the mid-1950s, Dave made the acquaintance of guys who were members of the Bethesda Chevy Chase Rescue Squad. One of those squad members, Daniel Knowles, has published a book detailing some of the stories of the squad, including their partying. They drank a lot of beer. Knowles recalls that he had “befriended Beer Dave at the Hot Shoppe one time, and Beer Dave was a trusted cat. He was named Beer Dave because he drank beer.” Knowles also recalls that Beer Dave had “throngs of admirers at the Hot Shoppe” and that they had a lot of good times together. The “Hot Shoppe,” for those not in the know, was this drive-in:

It sold beer.  Beer Dave liked hanging out there.

Knowles recalls that “Dave usually knew what he was talking about because it was said that he had graduated from BCC High School with the highest score anyone ever had in about 1952, and I had no doubt that was true.”  

But, Knowles mainly tells lots of stories about excessive drinking and minor mayhem that might have amounted to delinquency in the 1950s, but didn’t really do any lasting harm to anyone.

sfcityduck

So Dave built a persona for himself, complete with a costume of a leather jacket and hat, such that years later people still remembered him.

A Bethesda College reunion website for the class of 1961 includes this message:
How many of you remember “Beer Dave,” a notorious Hot Shop habitue who wore a black leather motorcycle jacket festooned with beer can openers? OK, so it’s probably a niche group; but just in case you ever wondered about Dave, he went to California and wrote a book called Raising Hell, ” . . . a contemporary novel [1963] of modern juvenile delinquency told from the standpoint of the delinquents themselves, under the nom de plume of Dave Jay”

On the sleeve of a 45 record he self-released in 1960, we can see him in his costume of choice, the same one worn by the lantern jawed biker on his novel’s cover.

Wanna hear the voice of Dead Skunk Head’s hero?

Why a record? Though sfcityduck found evidence via ads and personals that Dave still collected comics through the 50’s and early 60’s, Dave Wigransky had another obsession at the time in record collecting. Specifically old jazz records and even more specifically the vaudevillian, Al Jolson.

You know, THIS Al Jolson

Among the Al Jolson fan community that existed then, and still exists, Dave ‘Jay’ was THE superfan. He had the biggest collection, the most records, and all the facts and trivia. He put on a DJ show where he played old wax records of vaudeville and jazz and provided commentary.

 

He wrote a couple of books (one of them about Irving Berlin, another about Al Jolson), wrote a bunch of articles for the International Al Jolson Society (IAJS), and was the IAJS’s first researcher. On the message boards of Al Jolson collectors (yes, they exist), Dave is referred to as Dave Jay, and he is still spoken of with awe. An original edition of his self-published “Jolsonography” is considered a major trophy. He is credited with a quote that Jolson fans revere, “An Al Jolson doesn’t come once in a lifetime. He comes once.” One of Dave’s friend’s, Maynard Bertolet (who was once considered to own the largest vinyl collection in the world, but has recently died and his collection sold), authored a very nice “memorial” to Dave for one of the Jolson collector journals (yes, those exist also).

sfcityduck

By ’67 Wigransky’s love of Jolson had completely supplanted his love of comics, sfcityduck managed to contact a fellow Jolson fan who’d visited Wigransky in 1967.

 

When I visited Dave at his home my girlfriend (now my wife of 50 years) joined me that day, and I just asked her tonight if she remembers anything about comic books or cartoon art in Dave’s home that day. Her answer agrees with mine—no.

Your point —how or why did he move from that passion into one involving the life and career of Al Jolson—is beyond my answering for you (or for me). During the years I knew him, he was TOTALLY obsessed with Jolson. His living room included a huge, beautifully lit, photo of Jolson—probably 3 feet by 3 feet long—which was the first thing to be seen in the house. No comics, no cartoons –nothing at all except Jolson throughout. His basement/museum included hundreds (literally) of framed 8X10 photos from Jolson;s films, lining every inch of each wall. Again…no comics, no cartoons—nothing but Jolson.
Now I have one of the largest Jolson collections in the country—my wonderful “hobby” since 1960—BUT—I have wonderful loving family, wife, kids, grandkids, etc.—the whole nine yards. The Jolson thing, so very important to me, stays where it belongs—as a wonderful hobby, NOT as a life.
His passion for comic books evolved into a passion for Al Jolson, ‘way beyond what you or I would consider “normal” boundaries.

Dave ‘Jay’ Wigransky never married, and seemed to have trouble connecting with women. Though he did put some suspect personal ads into the local newspapers looking for love. “WANTED: Beautiful girl partner (all girls are beautiful) with whom to join sexual freedom league and/or anyone willing to lend, share or (as last resort) rent a typewriter so that I can write the greatest satire on humanity since “Gulliver’s Travels.””

sfcityduck, taking all his research and correspondence together, comes to the conclusion that Dave Wigransky was smart, funny, obsessive, opinionated and occasionally difficult.

 

Dave was undoubtedly very very proud of the profile he had achieved. In fact, he was probably insufferable. A firefighter friend of Dave’s in the later part of the 1950s remembers Dave as being like E.F. Hutton – “When Dave spoke, people listened.” However, one of Dave’s friends from the record collecting world of the 1960s noted that while Dave was a charismatic presenter of arguments, and he was often swayed by what Dave argued, “disagreement was anathema to Dave.” The impression you get is that Dave loved to pontificate. Loved to argue with others (but not be questioned). Loved to delve deeply into his passions. And comics were certainly one of his passions.

sfcityduck

In 1969, Sidney David Wigransky Jr. died at the age of 36. Since then some rumours have said he died of stomach cancer, some said of an brain aneurysm. But sfcityduck found that it was very likely Dave had taken his own life. In an Al Jolson Collectors publication he found a memorial from one of Dave’s friends and fellow collectors, Maynard Bertolet.

His mother, Lillian, sold her home in DC in 1970 and moved back to her childhood hometown in Mississippi. She died in 1988 at the age of 93.

And it was this sad revelation that made this post so daunting, and difficult for me to finally get out. Because David Pace Wigransky, the plucky kid that Tom Batiuk decided was the hero of his little morality play, was such a tragic, interesting, and enigmatic character.

There was a refrain that echoed in my head for the last month, as I drove tractors in the dark, as I checked cows, as I wolfed down turkey and schmoozed with family.

Comics didn’t save him.

I had a long conversation with my roommate about it. Comparing Wigransky’s life with Wertham’s. And from a cruel and cold part of my brain came the view that Wigransky had lived a selfish life, and Wertham a selfless one. Wigransky seeming a spoiled only-child who never held down a job, bouncing from one self-aggrandizing project and obsession, determined to be noticed and praised in his own narrow circles, until he selfishly took his own life, leaving his mother childless. Wertham, by contrast, had a wife and a career where he sought to guide others who desperately needed help through their darkest moments. He lived a long life, and for better (desegregation) and worse (the 50’s comics collapse) had an larger than normal impact on the world.

But that isn’t fair. People who knew Wertham describe how he was a proud, sometimes petty, man, who was put-out when he felt like his work wasn’t getting what he thought was the proper respect. And Wigransky is remembered fondly by his friends. His research, as niche as it was, remains important to its audience. And we don’t know what darkness or issues let Dave to take his life.

Wigransky’s later life also doesn’t invalidate the points he made in his letter against Wertham in 1948. Because those points were based on logic. Violence existed before comics. Violent stories existed before comics. And the vast majority of children still turned out alright. These things remain true.

But comics didn’t save Dave Wigransky.

Not that I think they did much to hurt him either. His concurrent Al Jolson obsession shows that Wigransky was the kind of guy who was going to absolutely go full nerd-mode over something. If it hadn’t been comics it would have been stamps, rocks, westerns, movies, paperbacks, trains. Modern armchair psychologists would probably say he was a high functioning autist. I think modern armchair psychologists would probably be right.

I know better than anyone the absolute refuge a nerdy obsession can be. There have been dark and stressful times in my life where knowing the names of all the Aerialbots or being able to recount the entire history of dragons in Middle-Earth served a soothing distraction from a life that had become too much.

But I’ve seen other people who let a nerdy obsession trap them. People who can’t face and accept the average awkward autist they are, because they’ve overdosed on the highfalutin world they spend all their time in. People who won’t get jobs, won’t move on, won’t grow beyond a selfish comfort zone, because all they want is to be the famous actor, artist, or writer, they just HAVE to be or their life becomes meaningless. Even though they lack the real talent or drive to achieve that state. Even though their life, as is, could be rewarding, fun, and full of real and tangible gifts to give to others.

In the best cases, fun little obsessions have led me to friendships that have been the real lifesaver when things get grim. Dave Wigransky made friends through his fandoms too, it seems, even if in the end those weren’t the lifesaver he needed. Ironically, maybe what he needed was a psychiatrist. A professional. Like a drowning man needs a lifeguard, not his untrained friends.

Comics didn’t save David Pace Wigransky. And he was far from the perfect poster child of all a young comic fan could be. It’s not a simple story of Wertham bad, Wigransky good, comics good, censorship bad. As much as Batiuk wants it to be. It’s a complex tale of real and complex humans, and of what fiction can and can’t do for people.

Next time! I promise! Stupid NONSENSE!

Edited February 22 by sfcityduck

[sfcityduck]

On 2/22/2024 at 6:52 AM, Marty Mann said:

Pleased to see that DAVID WIGRANSKY and I were buying comics and entering contests at the same time.

Marty,

Always happy to see your posts!  But everytime I see that contest winners announcement, I want to start taking bets on which one you are. I hope that some day you will share in a bit more detail about your early comic collecting days. Of course, I love your thread - linked here for others: 

And if you ever want to cash in on your Pep 60, let me know because I'd love to have a copy associated with a winner of that contest. (My advice though is keep it in the family! What a great bit of family history!).

[Marty Mann]

On 2/22/2024 at 4:41 PM, sfcityduck said:

Marty,

Always happy to see your posts!  But everytime I see that contest winners announcement, I want to start taking bets on which one you are. I hope that some day you will share in a bit more detail about your early comic collecting days. Of course, I love your thread - linked here for others: 

And if you ever want to cash in on your Pep 60, let me know because I'd love to have a copy associated with a winner of that contest. (My advice though is keep it in the family! What a great bit of family history!).

Thank you for your very kind words and link to my thread...which h I will have to update.

[Marty Mann]

On 2/22/2024 at 10:17 AM, Robot Man said:

Still got your club pin Marty?

That is FANTASTIC...I'm afraid mine is long gone. Thanks for sharing.

Marty

[sfcityduck]

On 2/25/2024 at 10:07 AM, Marty Mann said:

That is FANTASTIC...I'm afraid mine is long gone. Thanks for sharing.

Marty

If you want to buy one you are in luck:

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/172504139_shield-g-man-club-golden-age-premium-buttonbadge-set-including-rare-size-varieties

[Marty Mann]

On 3/1/2024 at 11:01 AM, sfcityduck said:

If you want to buy one you are in luck:

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/172504139_shield-g-man-club-golden-age-premium-buttonbadge-set-including-rare-size-varieties

Thank you for the offer, but my collecting days are over...TERRIFIC GROUP!

[Robot Man]

On 3/1/2024 at 8:01 AM, sfcityduck said:

If you want to buy one you are in luck:

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/172504139_shield-g-man-club-golden-age-premium-buttonbadge-set-including-rare-size-varieties

Cool, I have never seen the 1 1/2” version (top right). Must be quite rare. Their estimate seems quite low. I have seen the larger first year version bring more than the top estimate alone.

Matesky had probably the best collection of GA superhero memorabilia I’ve ever seen. Many one of a kind pieces. He was really rabid in seeking it out. A cool guy to boot. 

[sfcityduck]

On 2/20/2024 at 5:39 PM, sfcityduck said:

For any Wigransky fans out there - here's an opportunity (no affiliation to me and my copy is not for sale):

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31735993981&searchurl=kn%3Dwigransky%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title1

 

 

Congrats to whoever snatched up the "Raising Hell" by Dave Jay for $750 on Biblio or ABE etc.!

Welcome to the club. 

[sfcityduck]

And good news for me, thanks to Kayo Books in SF, I was able to snag one of the 250 (numbered 80/250) Jolsonography books that Dave produced in 1969 (the year he died):

It is crazy detailed. Including with pasted in xerox's of record labels:

He definitely had a level of OCD that puts a lightweight like me to shame.

This book was definitely a major goal for him, all the more strange that after achieving it he committed suicide. Or maybe not.

 

[OtherEric]

On 3/13/2024 at 8:53 PM, sfcityduck said:

And good news for me, thanks to Kayo Books in SF, I was able to snag one of the 250 (numbered 80/250) Jolsonography books that Dave produced in 1969 (the year he died):

It is crazy detailed. Including with pasted in xerox's of record labels:

He definitely had a level of OCD that puts a lightweight like me to shame.

This book was definitely a major goal for him, all the more strange that after achieving it he committed suicide. Or maybe not.

 

Kayo Books is my favorite active bookstore even if I only get there about once a year, hopefully I'll be able to get there when I'm down in SF in May.  I wasn't able to during my visit last year because they were moving and not really set up for browsing. 

[sfcityduck]

New and fascinating Wigransky discovery - a Wigransky Article from the Evening Starr of July 19, 1946: 

Here's what it says:

Here'

Here's what we learn:

* In 1946, Dave's collection was 1,240 comics. (It would number 5,000 to 6,000 two years later) and he'd joined and had pins for a bunch of comic clubs (remember he won a Pep comic as a member of the Shield club);

* He was amassing a "a complete set of the Fawcett publications" which he "never let any one else handle them, and I very seldom handle myself" - again, reinforcing that Dave was keeping his collection in top condition - and was looking for Master Comics 1 and 2 which "he heard about but not seen" which evidence he was in contact with other comic fans as was the fact that other young comic fans were coming to him with questions;

* The walls of his room were covered with "his own drawings of comic characters, photographs of admirals and generals and a few Varga girls" showing he had pretty normal WWII young teen boy attitudes;

* Dave was focused on "first editions [no. 1s] of comics books, especially valuable numbers in which new characters had appeared for the first time" showing Dave was focused on "keys" at that point;

* Dave believed that "comic books started in 1933"; 

* Dave had a pretty sophisticated opinion that comic quality dropped off in 1943 because of shrunken page counts, increased ads, and the best artists joining the military - this was clearly next level thinking for any comic fan in 1946;

* Dave used a "lecture tone" in reciting comic history (probably annoyed the reporter enough that he mentioned it);

*  His mom wanted him to become a Baptist preacher and was a little disturbed he was a comic fanatic (if only Wertham had known!); and

* Dave was advertising a service for researching comic and cartoon history at 5 cents a subject (which is what got him in the newspaper).

Amazing stuff!

My question: What was the first article about a comic collector?

 

Edited March 19 by sfcityduck

[jimbo_7071]

On 3/18/2024 at 12:11 PM, sfcityduck said:

*". . . and a few Varga girls" showing he had pretty normal WWII young teen boy attitudes;

 

*  His mom wanted him to become a Baptist preacher and was a little disturbed he was a comic fanatic (if only Wertham had known!)

He would have fit right in with Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggert.

Edited March 18 by jimbo_7071

[MattTheDuck]

Also, that Dave was (apparently) smart enough to realize that if he didn't charge reporters for asking questions, he would get more favorable coverage.

[sfcityduck]

For those curious as to what happened to Dave's record collection - from Scott County Times, April 22, 1970 - McMullan was a cousin I believe.

Edited March 19 by sfcityduck

[Crowzilla]

On 3/18/2024 at 12:11 PM, sfcityduck said:

New and fascinating Wigransky discovery - a Wigransky Article from the Evening Starr of July 19, 1946: 

 

Here's what we learn:

* In 1946, Dave's collection was 1,240 comics. (It would number 5,000 to 6,000 two years later) and he'd joined and had pins for a bunch of comic clubs (remember he won a Pep comic as a member of the Shield club);

* He was amassing a "a complete set of the Fawcett publications" which he "never let any one else handle them, and I very seldom handle myself" - again, reinforcing that Dave was keeping his collection in top condition - and was looking for Master Comics 1 and 2 which "he heard about but not seen" which evidence he was in contact with other comic fans as was the fact that other young comic fans were coming to him with questions;

This is really amazing. This article was around the same time that Action #100 was on the stands, so to have a collection of 1,200+ books (soon to be 5,000+) and be condition conscious of at least part of them at that age is remarkable. Same age as Jerry Bails, but obviously started researching long before him.

When the article mentions he is looking for the first two numbers of the Fawcett Publications, I wonder if he is already looking for Thrill/Flash #1?

[sfcityduck]

On 3/20/2024 at 3:03 PM, Crowzilla said:

This is really amazing. This article was around the same time that Action #100 was on the stands, so to have a collection of 1,200+ books (soon to be 5,000+) and be condition conscious of at least part of them at that age is remarkable. Same age as Jerry Bails, but obviously started researching long before him.

When the article mentions he is looking for the first two numbers of the Fawcett Publications, I wonder if he is already looking for Thrill/Flash #1?

It is amazing! I feel like this thread has jaded folks a little about Dave. I don't know of an earlier article about a comic collector.

I would be shocked if he knew about Thrill 1 and Flash 1. But, he did live in D.C. and maybe the info was available in government records (LoC, copyright, trademark). Still, I was thinking he was looking for Whiz 1 (which didn't exist) and Slam Bang 1.

[Crowzilla]

On 3/20/2024 at 10:42 PM, sfcityduck said:

I would be shocked if he knew about Thrill 1 and Flash 1. But, he did live in D.C. and maybe the info was available in government records (LoC, copyright, trademark). Still, I was thinking he was looking for Whiz 1 (which didn't exist) and Slam Bang 1.

I would (and wouldn't) be shocked also. But certainly the information about Thrill was out there for some reason - though I seem to remember that the Flash took everyone off guard when it was also found. Maybe Dave was the first person to research and then actively hunt for Thrill Comics #1.

[sfcityduck]

[sfcityduck]

I'm looking for some info on the dawn of original art collecting.  Posted this over on the original art thread. Please let me know if you have any of the requested info: