Elson's Presents? 0

[ShieldAgent]

I like poly-bagged comics.  Mostly bronze and copper multi-packs are my thing.  I do like the interesting and oddball items too.

Last week at the Philly show, RCheli brought this stack of books over to the booth I was helping out at, and handed them to me.

I don't do much DC.  I know nothing about these books except for what you can see in the scans.  They are interesting and cool.

Hope this has not been discussed before, but I couldn't find anything.  Any insight?  Any thoughts?  Any discussion?

 

[Get Marwood & I]

They look cool.

Funnily enough, the UK Price Guide website has a page on them here:

https://www.comicpriceguide.co.uk/us_comic.php?tc=elsons

It says:

"A series of six issues of 1981 comics repackaged by DC Comics for Elson's Gift and News shops (typically found in hotels, airports and large office buildings). They consisted of 3 (remaindered?) coverless DC comics glued into a new cover. Each comic has the same cover art, but the background colors and the three-issue interiors are different for each book."

[batmiesta]

The cover is the same as the DC Super Heroes poster book. 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

53 minutes ago, ShieldAgent said:

Any thoughts? 

Yes. I do like your signature comment 

[tv horror]

13 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

I do like your

New Avatar but my goodness Richard E Grant looks very feminine in it. 

[Get Marwood & I]

1 minute ago, tv horror said:

New Avatar but my goodness Richard E Grant looks very feminine in it. 

Not tonight Dear, I've got a headache 

[Brock]

These are also listed and described in Overstreet. They’re pretty cool in my mind, and - in my experience - pretty hard to find in high grade. Yours look pretty nice, and I’ve never seen a polybagged one before.

[ShieldAgent]

2 hours ago, Brock said:

These are also listed and described in Overstreet. They’re pretty cool in my mind, and - in my experience - pretty hard to find in high grade. Yours look pretty nice, and I’ve never seen a polybagged one before.

  you know, I should have dug out an old overstreet.  Thanks for the thought.  I looked it up and it did say what issues were in each volume.  Pretty cool randomness.  

As far as condition, they are as nice as I guess can be for books that were stored in their polybag without any other support.  Other books I got from the same collection (coincidentally 30 something other DC's) all had nice white pages.

[ShieldAgent]

7 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

Yes. I do like your signature comment 

I have had signatures turned off for years.  Forgot I even had one.  Still true though.

[RCheli]

I've seen these books before plenty of times, but never polybagged. They all have old price stickers on them that say Elson's too, which is cool. A couple are even discounted. 

Does anyone remember Elson's as a business? I'm 46 and don't. 

[MAR1979]

I recall seeing a few of these as child in the 1982/1983 time frame at a friend of a friends home.  Appears that was 1-2 year after they were issued.  At the time I was a bit jealous. Wish I had asked how he got them.

I picked up a very nice graded one, since all the covers are the same except for color background any one to me was is representative of the "series" and my memory of seeing them long ago.

The most I was able to find on their history is this: http://www.kleefeldoncomics.com/2014/11/on-history-elsons-super-hero-comics.html

In 1981, Elson's Gift and News paid DC to repackage some of their comics into Elson's Presents Super Heroes Comics. There were six issues, each featuring the same cover (with just a change in background color). The interiors were pulled from existing DC books, including the original ads. The only new material for any of the issues was the Elson's comic style ad on the back covers with art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.

There's curious debate about the interiors. Because the original ads are included, and nearly all of the material comes from January 1981 issues, many people believe these were not in fact reprints at all. Rather, they were returned/remaindered copies of the originals which were literally pulled apart and glued back together with a new cover. .

Given they were 100 pages, the way they were packaged and distributed, and that they might have been remaindered pages, they are very much condition sensitive and apparently rather rare books. For those who have memories of them if you see one in 9.4 or above and price is "fair" in my opinion grab it. Interest in them is low however - probably why in Overstreet they have only gone up $4 over the last 16 years. 

In terms of content #3 with the New Teen Titans 3 and Wonder Woman 275 (vs Cheetah) is my favorite volume, #1 being very close due to the excellent Starlin penciled Superman/Spectre story

Elson's Presents
DC Comics (1981)

#1  DC Comics Presents 29, Flash 303, Batman 331
#2  Superman 335, Ghosts 96, Justice League of America 186
#3  New Teen Titans 3, Secrets of Haunted House 32, Wonder Woman 275
#4  Secrets of the Legion of Superheroes 1, Brave and the Bold 170, New Adventures of Superboy 13
#5  Legion of Superheroes 271, Green Lantern 136, Super Friends 40
#6  Action Comics 515, Detective Comics 498, Mystery in Space 115

Edited October 12, 2021 by MAR1979

[MAR1979]

Since the Elson's were all issued in 1981 does this topic belong in "Copper Age"? If yes how can that be requested?

 

Edited October 10, 2021 by MAR1979

[Qalyar]

Never seen one of these bagged, much less a full set. And I wouldn't sweat the spine tics and such too much, the only copies I remember seeing were utter dogs.

[Qalyar]

For those curious about items like this, there were also 3 issues distributed by Lionel Play World. They are not common books.

[MAR1979]

On 10/12/2021 at 7:27 PM, Qalyar said:

For those curious about items like this, there were also 3 issues distributed by Lionel Play World. They are not common books.

None in CGC census. Not listed in Overstreet.  As rare as Elson's are, the Play World's seem much more scarce. My memory was of the Elson's however so glad i have one in High Grade slab. 

Found some images of the Play World, cover except for name in upper left corner are same as Elson's. The Series #1 copy is on uPay.

Edited October 13, 2021 by MAR1979

[MAR1979]

Scanned one of mine. It's got some Newton's Rings

Edited October 31, 2021 by MAR1979