Overstreet Picture Parade #1 is missing it's cover .....

[Comicdey]

It's a pie in the sky price.

 

What's to be discreet about it.

 

It's like asking $1,000 for a Hulk 181 in VG.

 

No one in their right mind would pay the price of admission.

[BLBcomics-migration]

Mark of Esquire forwarded the URL to this older thread thread last night - we were discussing something unrelated concerning his web site and he asked me if maybe my "price" on the Picture Parade #1 in my last catalog from Oct 2004 was a typo.

 

Actually no

 

- but did i think i was going to sell it at that? again, no

 

do i actually want to sell it? again, no

 

what i was trying to point out in my catalog is i think it to be a "sleeper" (old arcane CBM term from the 1990s) and $200 in Overstreet for a NM is stupidly low for how crazy this cover is

 

- one of the absolute best "oddball" covers out there

 

- if i remember correctly it made Scott Shaw!'s very first Oddball comics slide show at some San Diego comicon many moons ago

 

99% of my stuff is priced at Overstreet Guide - and i cheerfully give discounts when some one picks out a short stack and much of my VG range material is upwards of 50% off Overstreet

 

- i work out deals over the phone like i work out deals at comicons - just depends what it is

 

and as far as Gary C (and we have been friends for over 20 years) is thinking i am trying to "get back" at him over that WSF 29 Frazetta handcolored print, that is simply silly.

 

What truly hurt in the late 1980s when i was forced into a scenario of parting with my original art collection was the five Prince valiant Sunday originals, including one from 1938; my Krazy Kat Sunday plus a couple dailies, my complete book of X-men 58 by Adams as well as some 50 other Adams pages all bought in 1969 at the St Louis World Science Fiction convention for $5 a page; the dozen Curt Swan Superman and Action covers bought there as well for $5 a pop; my Shelly Mayer cover to Scribbly #`1 (now owned by Mark Evanier); my HG Peters nude Wonder Woman water color painting from 1942 (bought by then-Marvel exec Carol Kalish and given to her boy friend Richard); my 10 page Ditko Doctor Srange story from Strange Tales 129 as well as 40-50 other pages including some from Spiderman 13 and Hulk 6; my Little Nemo Sunday from 1907; my Crumb comic book cover from Motor City #2 and alternative ZAP #1 plus a dozen story pages out of Despair's first story and elsewhere; my Shuster Superman page from the early 1940s; my S&K Newsboy Legion page from SS #19; my Wolverton Powerhouse Pepper complete 8 page story; my Foster Tarzan Sunay from 1935; my Rick Griffin Tales From the Tube cover; my Will Eisner Spirit story from 1946 bought from Eisner when he moved from New York to Florida and 23 stories were offered out at $1K each as well as the Wally Wood "Outer Space Spirit" story which was in the same deal and this list is just beginning but will end here.

 

The Frazetta he mentioned was simply a piece of a much larger collection i used to own.

 

I still shudder at the thought of the 3000+ covers and pages of original comic book art destroyed in a flooding out of the comic book warehouse i owned back in 1986 in northern California - all of northern California was a Fed disaster area. There were 35-40 pages of Russ Manning Magnus Robot Fighter pages in there i had acquired from Bob Burden (Flaming Carrot); a few dozen George Perez Teen Titans pages i had acquired from a much larger deal from George at some Los Angeles show plus lots of Marvel covers bought up back when they were around $5 a pop in the 1970s thru early 1980s.

 

There have been times i have built uplong box stacks & given him thousands of dollars for same - he arrives at his own prices, like any one else,

 

I have been setting up at comicons since 1967 - and have always explored outer parameters on books i like a lot. Like i think the Back Cat 50 radium melting cover is under priced as well.

 

the silly money some of the slabbed books bring in terms of multiples of Guide makes me sometimes as well but maybe there is some sort of concensus agreement can be arrived at that there are still books "undervalued" in the Overstreet Guide just as there are many many books "over valued" in there as well

 

any way, enjoy the day, enjoy your collections, you never know when it might all go away one day - Katrina consciousness

 

Robert Beerbohm

http://www.blbcomics.com

[Comicdey]

Robert,

 

Thanks for clearing that up.

 

I've been scared off by your "list" pricing in the past, even when there are items that I think I'd really like.

 

I agree that the comic is an oddball and likely should guide higher, and that there is nothing wrong with asking a very high price.

 

I sold my copy of war fury #1 in VG for triple guide at $51 years ago, and now it would sell for hundred easily. You never know when one of the great covers will explode.

 

I'll peruse your catalog again, after your thoughtful post.

 

Sorry you sold all the great items for peanuts, and about the flood. All those years of collecting and dealing, and both good and bad things happen I guess.

 

Cheers to all of you old time collector/dealer/researchers.

[BLBcomics-migration]

Hi comicdey

 

Thanks - if people truly thought i could get a grand for a Picture Parade #1, and thought i was serious on the price, well, ..............i guess they just do not know me -

 

i should caveat that the 20% to half off scenario on short stacks of stuff in my catalogs i mentioned is for mainly 1960s and up stuff

 

- though i do discount most everything in my catalogs and on the website, many times without people asking for one.

 

This CGC multiples of Guide high grade top end has priced me out of that market place, and i tend to be looking at books for their artist content as well as paper quality. And everybody makes an occasional grading error, stuff slips by sometimes, and i brought this up as i have been going thru the Jason Ewert threads regarding trimming and tryingto hide that concept.

 

I remember some one coming into my Berkeley comics store on Telegraph Ave oh maybe 25 years ago and had three trimmed copies of Capt America 2 3 4 which fit neatly into "regular" bags designed for 1960s comics. That brought up a lot of heated conversation at the time -

 

Some 5000+ catalogs are mailed out each time i do this catalog and i will scan a couple samples for people so they can see what they are getting, but not long lists of stuff.

 

I have had a couple War Fury #1 issues over the years - that is the bullet hole in the head cover by Don Heck, right? - seems to me the head hole portion was used on a later horror cover, with a green cover, do not remember title of that later one right now

 

if i remember correctly, another way underpriced true classic of which there ar emany still out there just like i think the Weird Terror cover on the front cover of my newest color catalog i mailed out a couple weeks ago is another sleeper with the body parts in the fired up furnace and the guy shoveling in more coal.

 

but, yeah, very few of the books i offer are prices set in stone

 

- i aim to move stuff out on a constant basis, using the bucks to buy more books to turn over to fuel my research into comic books dating back into 1842 which has fascinated me for a decade now. This research came at a time when i thought i had almost nothing left to learn about comic strips and books.

 

- the pre 1930 stuff is what i am still learning and sharing the data on in the three history essays i supply the Overstreet Price Guide. This is my 10th year sharing arcane comics history lore in those pages for others to learn from. I hope you all read those pages. The quiz is next Tuesday.

 

The first one was OPG #27 1997 which i wrote in late 1996 and was 15 pages. Looking back, that first one has a lot of good data, but is chock full of errors brought on by believing previous faulty research.

 

OPG #35 contribution was 66 pages as i compile the Victorian and Plat price indexes as well

 

Next guide in 2006 should creep up a couple more pages but they say there is no more room to expand in - maybe i should get my history book finished up before we all die

 

My art collection, which was not destroyed, of which i rattled off just a small portion, was sold off at then top dollar prices at the time in the late 1980s following that ware house flood

 

- a warehouse which in addition to the several thousand comic book covers and pages used to contain a million comic books, half a million baseball cards, 1000s of posters, worth a pretty penny at today's prices. I had spent 20 years of my life building it up from 1966 thru 1986.

 

I was devastated at the time, but no one i knew died in that flooding. Stuff like the hurricanes of a couple months ago would truly warp a person's outlook on life, so blessings do get counted all things considered.

 

If you see stuff in my catalog you might have an interest in, please contact me - most of it is for sale net below what i list it at

 

best

 

robert beerbohm

[Moondog]

Bob:

 

You're right about my saying you were "getting back at me for the WSF print" was silly - that's why I put the head-knocking icon thingee in at the end...

 

But...since we've known each other for so long I can call you on this...I was a bit P.O.'d when I saw your listing of the PP, but I'm long past that now.

 

That being said, what an incredible art collection you had. I knew it was good but not that good...

 

How did the conference in DC go?

 

Peace and love, brother.

 

 

--Gary

[BLBcomics-migration]

Hi Gary

 

The 10th annual nternational Comic Art Forum (ICAF) this time was held last month in October at the Library of Congress as part of their official proceedings. It was a gathering of PhD and Master's program people seeking their PhD sheep skin in some aspect of comics research.

 

The curators at the Library of Congress were gracious hosts, as a new generation of them have been taking over and treating the comics holdings there with infinitely more respect than from earlier times. They have been hosting comics art exhibitions there with increasing regularity the last few years.

 

We were treated to a display of some of their original comic art including a 1907 Buster Brown Sunday original which also had Yellow Kid in it plus Walt Kelly, McManus Bringing Up Father Sunday, Spiegelman, Chris Ware, and a whole bunch more all the way back to Rowlandson, Gilray, Crucikshank, and even a Paul Revere from thew 1700s using word balloons. I cannot even begin to recall right now that display without havingto pause to think more deeply on the concept.

 

It was pretty neat, lasting three days. I room mated with Randy Scott, the archivist at Michigan State University (MSU), home to one of the largest comics holdings in the world, where one can go to conduct research.

 

Randy & I shared expenses at my first Angouleme France comics festival in 2000, which is the largest comics gathering in the world, with some 250,000 people hitting that one - it takes up the entire town.

 

Jerry Robinson was one of the guests this year. His talk was interesting delving into his earliest days in the USA comics industry.

 

Jon Cooke and his brother showed the 45 minutes to an hour long Will Eisner tribute bio-documentary - and it will be twice that when they finish - that was well worth checking out. Along with this film, there were other presentations about Eisner, with me learning some stuff i did not know - the long awaited A SPIRITED LIFE by Bob Andelman was showcased in a power point presentation and that was fun as well.

 

There were comics presentations from China, South America, Europe as well as the US.

 

This is a gathering of comics researchers, with nary a twinkling of comics prices being discussed, much less comics conditions.

 

I like this event because it focuses on content over form. It'll be there again in October 2006.

 

and it was a treat running into you at the Chicago airport while I changed planes and you were headed to Atlanta - we gotta stop meeting like that -

 

and i have no plans on selling that Picture Parade #1 any time soon - but i bet a whole bunch of people are re-thinking that book now - it is one of the neat ones. And one of the most impossible covers ever drawn. And maybe i should have just typed it was a typo - but i also well knew no one would pop for it - that was not my intent.

 

peace bro

 

bob beerbohm