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Some Unconfirmed Speculation About Two Brothers
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124 posts in this topic

Great work so far. The dovetailing of the bagging of the books with Robert's passing in 2001 is just too significant. 

Which, if true,  leads to a certain dismay at Brian's statement as regards that. The most favorable view is complete incompetence. The worst is a bald faced lie to further the narrative. Either way, not a good look for HA. An unnecessary unforced error.  If true.

 

Edit:  Apparently not true.  Not true.

Edited by Dr. Love
accuracy
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2 minutes ago, Dr. Love said:

Great work so far. The dovetailing of the bagging of the books with Robert's passing in 2001 is just too significant. 

Which, if true,  leads to a certain dismay at Brian's statement as regards that. The most favorable view is complete incompetence. The worst is a bald faced lie to further the narrative. Either way, not a good look for HA. An unnecessary forced error.  If true.

I'm not out to embarrass anyone.  I think the correct view is probably that Brian just didn't have sufficient information and, in the heat of the interview, made an assumption or misremembered something he'd been told.  It is not a make or break moment for anyone.  It's just an inconsistency which has to be resolved.  No need to jump to the conclusion that there was some intentional misleading going on.  Especially since he was up front that the books have been bagged and boxed twenty years ago (which is consistent with Heritage's kept in the attic for over half a century line). 

And, as I've repeatedly said, there is always the possibility that I'm wrong in my speculation.

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25 minutes ago, MasterChief said:

I really appreciate the effort you put into the thread -- the level of detective work is inspiring! 

I agree that you, I, or anyone has every right to discover, and piece together, as much of this story as we are humanly able to do. It is an amazing collection!

So, continue your exposé. I support it in the fullest! (thumbsu

+1!

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In case it is not transparent, I'm not going to be posting anything further until tomorrow so that Heritage or CGC, which both begin their days before I do on the West Coast, have the opportunity to let me know if I'm wrong in my speculation.  They can do so by affirming that the brother who survived Korea died last year, not in 2001.  Or they can contact me directly by PMing me a phone number, and I'd be happy to talk.

Of course, if the thread gets locked or deleted without any definitive statement, that'd probably be telling, right?  I'm sure that neither CGC nor Heritage would answer that question falsely, because that would potentially open them up to consequences.  

For those concerned about "outing," I want to emphasize, again, that I have not contacted the family of the two brothers I have identified (although I could do so), and have no intention of revealing the names of any family members or their contact info.  

To repeat, I think the brothers I've identified have a really interesting and compelling story.  Hopefully, tomorrow I'll get to share some of it.

 

 

 

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Guys I commend your inquisitiveness.  However, 788439506_SomeoneTalked.jpg.6ff17a006585d76369ad61302de0876c.jpg please respect the wishes of the family and keep a lid on the owner's name should you find it. There could be other motivations for keeping the names confidential. If there is a dispute by other family members RIGHT OR WRONG, the books could get locked up in a legal spiderweb. 

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3 minutes ago, madgypsy1 said:

Guys I commend your inquisitiveness.  However, 788439506_SomeoneTalked.jpg.6ff17a006585d76369ad61302de0876c.jpg please respect the wishes of the family and keep a lid on the owner's name should you find it. There could be other motivations for keeping the names confidential. If there is a dispute by other family members RIGHT OR WRONG, the books could get locked up in a legal spiderweb. 

Well, if there is a dispute between family members that is RIGHT, I would not be sad that the books get locked up.  Because justice matters.  I would not want to facilitate a screw job by staying silent. And since the story is going to come out one way or another over the next 18 months, I am sure Heritage and the family would rather sort this out up front than face the big damages claims later.

Edited by sfcityduck
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55 minutes ago, madgypsy1 said:

Well, I have a newsflash for you. This puzzle has been solved for almost a week now and circulated in certain circles just not here. 

I'm not surprised.  I've known this since they started showing the comics.  I've been sitting on this because I think you have to be very very cautious and certain in some situations.  But here's the question, mystery man with 4 total posts on this site and is the ultimate insider:  

Why haven't your "certain circles" circulated the info? 

Think carefully before you answer. 

Edited by sfcityduck
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How DARE you tell a compelling story that I am reading while rocking my little one and make me wait longer to know the ending!!!!!!

Here I was thinking I’d get some lovely comic knowledge at 2:30 in the AM but noooooooo, I have to wait until the morning or god forbid, 2am again!

Inconceivable 

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Ambiguous indeed...Yes, the story is not as anonymous as it has been portrayed. Once the collection has been made public, the family does lose an ounce of inscrutability. If their desire was to remain completely stealth, they would have sold outright,  the entire collection to Heritage. It is known in "inner circles" that the collection is on consignment and that the family still owns the books.

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7 hours ago, madgypsy1 said:

 If there is a dispute by other family members RIGHT OR WRONG, the books could get locked up in a legal spiderweb. 

Why would anyone here support this? So, keep the name(s) private and stick our heads in the sand? If there is proper legal standing,  shouldn't this be sorted out first?

Edited by Funnybooks
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I am on the fence. The family wanted to remain anonymous. Obviously, eventually, I think the comic world will know who they are and the story (or already do if this detective work is all correct). Should it be revealed now? Later? Does it make a difference? That I don't know. Maybe it is something that should be revealed after the sales of the books? I don't know.

Plus, what would revealing the names of these brothers (and possibly allowing people to link them to current day family) do for this family? Are comic fans going to harass them in some way? How or why? I want to make sure the family's wishes are respected but at the same time, I think the story is important for comic history and should be told. And since I cannot see a reason why telling the story would hurt the family, it is why I am leaning towards it continuing. 

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27 minutes ago, comicginger1789 said:

I am on the fence. The family wanted to remain anonymous. Obviously, eventually, I think the comic world will know who they are and the story (or already do if this detective work is all correct). Should it be revealed now? Later? Does it make a difference? That I don't know. Maybe it is something that should be revealed after the sales of the books? I don't know.

Plus, what would revealing the names of these brothers (and possibly allowing people to link them to current day family) do for this family? Are comic fans going to harass them in some way? How or why? I want to make sure the family's wishes are respected but at the same time, I think the story is important for comic history and should be told. And since I cannot see a reason why telling the story would hurt the family, it is why I am leaning towards it continuing. 

Jon Berk's disclosure of Lamont Larson's identity did not cause Larson to become the target of harassment by the comic collecting community.  So that is not a concern at all.

The notion floated by the poster up thread that the information should stay under cover because "If there is a dispute by other family members RIGHT OR WRONG, the books could get locked up in a legal spiderweb" is, frankly, unethical.  If Heritage or CGC acted in that fashion to try and suppress the info from coming out, they would be opening themselves up to serious liability for punitive damages if they were sued by the "absent" family members.  They don't want that.  No one wants that.   So that argument is a non-starter.

The grounds that the family's privacy is paramount makes perfect sense up until the point at which the family decides to market these comics by revealing this story:

Quote

In the early 1950s, a young man called Robert was drafted by the Army to fight in Korea. His younger brother, known as Junie, enlisted in the hopes of keeping watch over Robert. Junie had but one request of his big brother – that Robert take care of his collection of funny books should anything happen to him in battle.  Robert knew how dear those books were to his brother. So he promised him: Yes, of course. He would take care of those funny books. If something happened. God forbid.  Then Junie was killed in action. He was 21 years old.

Why?  Because the family has elected to boost the value of these comics by revealing the story.  As buyers, we're entitled to verify the story.  Brian and Matt both acknowledged the role of the story in the value of the books on the Tales From the Flipside interview.  That makes the story worthy of discussion and no longer a private concern.  Here's their comments:

Quote

 

Brian:  It’s an incredible story.  And I’m telling ya, to me, the story makes this one.  You know, we’ve heard about the Mile High for years, we’ve heard about Larson, we’ve heard about San Francisco, but this one has the best story I’ve heard in my life.

...

Brian:  I like books that have history, which is why I'm such a big fan of this collection.  I'm a fan of the collection because it is coming in high grade.  But, the story, to me, is more important than anything this collection has to offer.  The story is the most important thing.  The guy gave up his life for our country, he loved comics, and we all love comics like this.  So its important to me for those reasons.  Anybody else can be a naysayer and say what they want to say, and the CGC chat boards are full of this. I don't care.  The simple fact is, anybody who wants to talk to me can call me and I will tell you on the phone, I don't care.  I really don't.  The most important thing to me is the story.  It hits a heart string. ... You are almost in tears when you hear the story.  Its that important to me.

...

Deno: This, this to me, is a hybrid between the quality and condition-wise of the Mile High and then the emotional story aspect of the Okajima.

Matt: YES! 

Matt:  You nailed it!  That’s perfect.  That explains the dual impact of this collection.  You know, because you’re right, the Okajima just recently, the past couple few years, the price, the multiples paid for those have exploded!  And its due to the story and it’s so cool to see these collections finally being  recognized for something, they always were, but the story, I don’t know, magnifies it.

Brian: It does! It absolutely does!

Matt: It’s the Mile High collection, almost, with a story similar to the Okajima.

 

 

Edited by sfcityduck
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