Underground comic books - I need your advice for buying 1 1

[rjpb]

"Complete Cannabis Cultivator  1969  Rare"

Not an underground and not rare. There's a copy on ebay for $6

[thehumantorch]

I’m not a underground expert but for years we couldn’t sell them yet at the last few shows they flew out to multiple buyers.  I’d love to restock so yes , buy them if you can get a deal

[oakman29]

I only dabble in some independent/ underground comics. If it were me I would go for anything Crumb.

What is a Zap #1 1st print that has been burned from the initial fire at the printer's worth these days?

[Yorick]

On 5/13/2022 at 7:29 PM, Qalyar said:

Bakersfield Kountry is a cool book, but the three printing were identical

No way to tell at all?  Dang.  I like that one.  I suppose mine is the third print, of course.

[Qalyar]

On 5/14/2022 at 1:40 PM, Yorick said:

No way to tell at all?  Dang.  I like that one.  I suppose mine is the third print, of course.

Nope, completely indistinguishable. For all practical purposes, pretend it just had one printing of 40k copies. It is a pretty cool book, and I think underappreciated in the market -- just don't pay for one as if it were a 1k or 5k print run rarity.

[Upgrayedd2]

I love underground comics but only buy them based on the cover/content. I have no expectations they will rise in value.

A few months ago, I passed through a comic book store in Anchorage (Bosco's). They had a sold inventory and I acquired an entire collection of RAW comic/magazine.

[sfcityduck]

Buy these if they have them in high grade:

They are:

Spoiler

The first version to "Maus" to see print and the first appearance of any part of the final version of Maus to see print.

 

[Qalyar]

On 5/14/2022 at 7:37 PM, sfcityduck said:

Buy these if they have them in high grade:

They are:

  Reveal hidden contents

The first version to "Maus" to see print and the first appearance of any part of the final version of Maus to see print.

 

The two issues of Short Order are also basically prototypes to Raw magazine, although of course #1 is way more important for the Maus bit. It's rarer, in my experience, than Funny Animals. The latter had over 30k copies printed (maybe a lot more!), so there are quite a few copies out there.

[sfcityduck]

On 5/14/2022 at 5:58 PM, Qalyar said:

The two issues of Short Order are also basically prototypes to Raw magazine, although of course #1 is way more important for the Maus bit. It's rarer, in my experience, than Funny Animals. The latter had over 30k copies printed (maybe a lot more!), so there are quite a few copies out there.

Only two copies of Short Order on the census, print run is unknown but small, and you are looking at what is presently the best copy on the census (I have another better copy I have not submitted yet).  The Funny Aminals has got 7 9.8s on the census with a 9.9 as well.  

To be honest "Prisoner of the Hell Planet" is my favorite part of his Maus opus.  It was drawn when Spiegelman was in his early 20s and only two years removed from his mother's suicide.  It is the most raw biographical comic storytelling I've ever seen.  A very very underrated comic.  First appearance of any part of the Maus and an absolute classic in its own right.  It is also the part of Maus that is being used to justify calls for banning Maus from public schools.  Really important work.

Oh and one other thing few people seem to know:  

Spoiler

It is Art Spiegelman's first solo full size comic cover in color.  He'd earlier done some little size covers in black & white - basically like Tijuana Bible size - and collaborated on a cover (basically one panel) with two other artists.

 

Edited May 15 by sfcityduck

[namisgr]

On 5/14/2022 at 12:23 AM, MattTheDuck said:

Somebody else also ran a long UG sales thread not that long ago.  @namisgr?

I did, indeed, sell my underground comix collection here on the Boards.