What are the Scarcest Comic Books of the 1950s? 6 6

[gino2paulus2]

How about this one from 1950? I have asked around for over half a decade and no one has ever seen a real physical copy that I have spoken to. 1st cover app of Darna in Pilipino Komiks #78. Probably not too wise to post as everyone will want one now it’s such a cool cover and piece of history but at this point i just want to see a physical copy!! 

[AJD]

On 10/1/2021 at 5:40 PM, gino2paulus2 said:

How about this one from 1950? I have asked around for over half a decade and no one has ever seen a real physical copy that I have spoken to. 1st cover app of Darna in Pilipino Komiks #78. Probably not too wise to post as everyone will want one now it’s such a cool cover and piece of history but at this point i just want to see a physical copy!!

Have you asked @Komic Kazi International? If anyone around here has one it would be him.

As a general comment in this thread, many many non-US comics from the 40s and 50s would be Gerber 9s or 10s. For example, there are scores of Australian comics that are thought to exist but no copies have been found to be scanned or photographed. For example, I just added Piracy #4 (Australian EC reprint), which doesn't appear in any list of Australian comics I've seen, to the GCD after seeing one listed in a Heritage lot. (With no pic, alas.)

The comic collecting culture started in the US long before most other places, and print runs were smaller to start with.

[Point Five]

And ditto for UK comics. I used to have a bunch of these 1950s Streamline books; now down to just this one. Like the Australian books, the UK cover art is quite a hodgepodge; some (like this one) are redrawn versions of US covers, while others have original covers with no US equivalent. Perhaps UK collectors would have a different perspective, but I've rarely seen more than one single copy of any of them.

[jimjum12]

On 10/1/2021 at 3:40 AM, gino2paulus2 said:

How about this one from 1950? I have asked around for over half a decade and no one has ever seen a real physical copy that I have spoken to. 1st cover app of Darna in Pilipino Komiks #78. Probably not too wise to post as everyone will want one now it’s such a cool cover and piece of history but at this point i just want to see a physical copy!! 

This is too cool... I never realized Redondo was in the game that long, or that he was once a Wally Wood acolyte.  GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

.... you'd probably have to have your ears on Manilla to find one. I doubt that sort of thing leaves the island on a regular basis ... 

Edited October 1, 2021 by jimjum12

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

On 9/29/2021 at 12:27 PM, jimjum12 said:

This one was considered by Overstreet to be "One of the Scarcest 1950's D.C.'s" if I remember correctly. There was a time I rarely saw one offered, but the internet has changed much of that. It almost seems that I see # 2 the least nowadays... anyway, with the rep it once had, I had to get a copy from @ft88 when he listed one. They don't publish stuff like this anymore. This genre later became  the "James Bond" era . GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

Yeah, all these funky fifties DC titles were rare until the word got out and it brought them out of the woodwork when they started selling for $$. Phantom Stranger is a good example of that. I bet some of the obscure funny animal titles from this era may be rarer because few collected them back in the day and few collect them today. But then again I don't think any mainstream DC title would make this list.

 

Edited October 1, 2021 by 50YrsCollctngCmcs

[jimjum12]

On 10/1/2021 at 3:56 PM, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

Yeah, all these funky fifties titles were rare until the word got out and it brought them out of the woodwork when they started selling for $$. Phantom Stranger is a good example of that. I bet some of the obscure funny animal titles from this era may be rarer because few collected them back in the day and few collect them today. But then again I don't think any mainstream DC title would make this list.

 

Absolutely.... the rarest 50's DC  would probably be a Scribbly or something. One of my friends still owns an LCS after more than 40 years... I still find stacks and boxes I haven't been through and often encounter 50's books that I never saw before... usually crime, western, teen, or funny animal.  GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

Edited October 1, 2021 by jimjum12

[OtherEric]

On 10/1/2021 at 1:01 PM, jimjum12 said:

Absolutely.... the rarest 50's DC  would probably be a Scribbly or something. One of my friend's still owns an LCS after more than 40 years... I still find stacks and boxes I haven't been through and often encounter 50's books that I never saw before... usually crime, western, teen, or funny animal.  GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 I don't think any of the Scribbly issues are actually terribly rare, although they're not common either.  I do agree that the rarest 50's DC is probably something that nobody realizes is tricky from the middle of a long run; the problem being there are actually a lot of randomly scarce issues out there (or, more accurately, NOT out there).

Still, if you think Scribbly is worth mentioning in this context, I'll link to this thread:

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/430688-everybody-but-everybody-loves-scribbly

[jimjum12]

On 10/1/2021 at 4:31 PM, OtherEric said:

 I don't think any of the Scribbly issues are actually terribly rare, although they're not common either.  I do agree that the rarest 50's DC is probably something that nobody realizes is tricky from the middle of a long run; the problem being there are actually a lot of randomly scarce issues out there (or, more accurately, NOT out there).

Still, if you think Scribbly is worth mentioning in this context, I'll link to this thread:

https://www.cgccomics.com/boards/topic/430688-everybody-but-everybody-loves-scribbly

I very well may have the details wrong... but I think Scribbly 70 was one of the last (or last) DC's that Ian Levine needed for his full DC run. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

[OtherEric]

On 10/1/2021 at 1:41 PM, jimjum12 said:

I very well may have the details wrong... but I think Scribbly 70 was one of the last (or last) DC's that Ian Levine needed for his full DC run. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

You're thinking of Buzzy #70, not Scribbly.  Although the publicity was enough that the issue actually has 8 copies on the census currently.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

On 10/1/2021 at 1:48 PM, OtherEric said:

You're thinking of Buzzy #70, not Scribbly.  Although the publicity was enough that the issue actually has 8 copies on the census currently.

Yeah I don't think any of these DC's are super rare; copies are out there if you are patient.

[goldust40]

On 10/1/2021 at 8:46 PM, Point Five said:

And ditto for UK comics. I used to have a bunch of these 1950s Streamline books; now down to just this one. Like the Australian books, the UK cover art is quite a hodgepodge; some (like this one) are redrawn versions of US covers, while others have original covers with no US equivalent. Perhaps UK collectors would have a different perspective, but I've rarely seen more than one single copy of any of them.

Been to countless London marts (sort of like a con but only dealers) over the last four decades and although I've seen plenty of L. Miller, Alan Class and Australian reprint books featuring American material from the 50s and 60s at such shows, I have never once seen a Streamline book at them, or indeed in collections, or offered on any British FB group etc. They never featured in U.K. price guides about American comics because they're British books (the irony!).

In fact I'd barely heard of them until you posted that. I know a couple of older collectors (one of whom specializes in British comics) who are in their seventies who were around when fandom began over here in the late 60s, and would know more about these rarities, but they've never mentioned their existence to me. Maybe Marwood and I would know something.

Either way, that is a cool piece.

[OtherEric]

On 10/1/2021 at 3:48 PM, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

Yeah I don't think any of these DC's are super rare; copies are out there if you are patient.

The 50's DC that surprised me with how long I took to find a copy was Adventure #151.  It's one of the Frazetta issues, so moderately high profile.  But there's aren't nearly as many copies of it as the other 7 Frazetta Shining Knight issues, and the census shows that.

[Kevin.J]

On 10/2/2021 at 12:15 AM, goldust40 said:

Been to countless London marts (sort of like a con but only dealers) over the last four decades and although I've seen plenty of L. Miller, Alan Class and Australian reprint books featuring American material from the 50s and 60s at such shows, I have never once seen a Streamline book at them, or indeed in collections, or offered on any British FB group etc. They never featured in U.K. price guides about American comics because they're British books (the irony!).

In fact I'd barely heard of them until you posted that. I know a couple of older collectors (one of whom specializes in British comics) who are in their seventies who were around when fandom began over here in the late 60s, and would know more about these rarities, but they've never mentioned their existence to me. Maybe Marwood and I would know something.

Either way, that is a cool piece.

Not sure if this is the stuff getting spoken about here, apologies if not 

I have lots of these books, I dont really collect them so no listings, here are a few examples, not sure of dates as all packed away in the loft or garage or somewhere  

 

 

 

  

 

 

[Robot Man]

I would venture to say most non USA GA books are in general much more scarce than their US counterparts. Even in the country they were published. Probably lower print quantities and even less people keeping them. 

[JvR11]

On 9/30/2021 at 9:22 AM, sagii said:

I can't remember where I got mine, maybe eBay many years ago.I was never able to locate any of the Honeymoon Romance series. Super rare. 

[sagii]

On 10/3/2021 at 12:03 PM, JvR11 said:

I can't remember where I got mine, maybe eBay many years ago.I was never able to locate any of the Honeymoon Romance series. Super rare. 

[JvR11]

 

Here's another one you don't see often.

[buttock]

On 10/3/2021 at 10:03 AM, JvR11 said:

I can't remember where I got mine, maybe eBay many years ago.I was never able to locate any of the Honeymoon Romance series. Super rare. 

I have a beat up #2 also, but I don't have a scan handy. 

[Sarg]

On 10/1/2021 at 2:40 AM, gino2paulus2 said:

How about this one from 1950? I have asked around for over half a decade and no one has ever seen a real physical copy that I have spoken to. 1st cover app of Darna in Pilipino Komiks #78. Probably not too wise to post as everyone will want one now it’s such a cool cover and piece of history but at this point i just want to see a physical copy!! 

1950? Wow. The shading on the lady's body looks amazingly Wallace Wood-like.

[sagii]

On 10/3/2021 at 8:14 PM, buttock said:

I have a beat up #2 also, but I don't have a scan handy.