Mattbird's 2 year Action Comics parade

[SuperBird]

So, after taking a dip in the GA pool with some early Action WW2 covers, I decided to get a bit more serious and focused in my collecting. I was looking to put some money into a good, continous run of books that I would enjoy, that I was sure would not depreciate in value, and would be mainly liquid if I decided to sell them at any point. I was also working on a generally fixed budget, thereby eliminating runs of books that I would need to collect in super high grade to ensure thier long-term value, and also runs that would include many key issues.

 

After following Superman books for the past few years online, in stores and at shows, I finally honed in on what run of books I thought best fit what I was looking for-

 

Action Comics 11-20

 

These books are relatively hard to come by in any grade, but not so scarce that I would have trouble completing the run. They also always seem to finish over guide in auctions in unrestored condition. And last, but certainly not least, Suprman has been my favorite character since I was 8. I'm also 100% certain he will still exist in mainstream culture 20,30, 40 years from now, ensuring that there will always be some interest in these books. I would give myself about 2 years or so to collect the run, as I think that's about all I can get away with without my wife giving me a hard time. Within those 2 years, this will most likely be all that I am collecting!

 

So, after balking at paying an extraorinarily over guide Action 12 on ebay that finished at $2250, and a nice VG but trimmed #17 from Harley Yee at $400, I gave up on eBay for the time being, and stopped by my local comic shop to see what they had.

 

Luckily, in my case, my LCS is Metropolis Comics.

 

Apart from a rather tatty #15 they had listed on thier website, Ed Sanchez kindly pulled from out of nowhere this truly awesome looking VG copy of #15.

 

 

Apart from the tiny bit of tape at the lower staple and the small chip on the right edge, this book was smacking awesome in every other way. Sold!

 

Next up were 2 newly listed Good-condition non-Superman covers. Working on a budget as I am, and not particularly desirous of either of these books apart from the fast they will be needed to complete the run, I decided they were just good enough for what I was shooting for. I'd rather save money on these so I can shoot for higher grades of the Superman covers.

 

 

 

These were both complete and unrestored with good eye appeal (moreso in the case of #16), although #16 had a spine split going halfway up the book, detached cover, and a small stain/hole in the middle of the cover. #18 had some iffy insides, but was all there and still had the cover firmly attached.

 

Sold! and Sold!

 

So, after the largest comic binge of my life, I'll give myself 2 years or so to track down the other issues. I suspect that #12 and #13 will be the most difficult, but now that I'm off to a good start I'm willing to wait. I'll continue to update this thread, periodically as I either purchase or pass on books that come my way. The national is next week, so I expect I'll have an update by then at the latest.

[Durden08]

Congrats on getting 30% of your run in one day! I was considering the Action #16 myself but you beat me to it. The 15 & 16 have nice eye appeal.

 

You may have done the right thing in passing on the #12 on ebay. For some reason the front cover scan was cropped to the edges, but the back cover was not. Maybe innocent enough, but that's a lot of money to not be sure of what you're getting.

[SuperBird]

Thanks! I was sort of waffling on the 16 and 18, but I didn't think I could beat the price at a show or on eBay.

 

I had actually emailed the seller of #12 asking for a wider scan of the front of #12; the upper right corner was a bit beat, but nothing that would effect the grade. I'm mainly just not that comfortable dropping serious money on something in debatable condition with debatable monetary value. I know #12 is supposedly scarce, but on a 'blue chip' book like that I'd rather wait until Overstreet recognized it so. There will be dealers who sell it based on Guide, I'm certain.

[Timulty]

Agreed, #12 just doesn't have the notoriety. Though, I would love to get my hands on that one. Not very many Zatara Covers, none the less, in Action.

[JohnBull]

Excellent books and a worthy collecting aim

 

Good luck on the others!

[Thegoldenage]

Good luck with your quest. When I was putting my run of Action Comics together in the late 80's-late 90's the toughest issues were the ones from 140-200. Believe it or not issues between 11 and 20 weren't that hard to find then. Many have since been sucked up into collections. The last issue I needed was 123 and it wasn't until ebay came along that I picked that one up.

[Point Five]

Great thread, Matt, and it's a cool way to focus your collecting and hopefully end up with a very sweet run of books. (I have a handful of very rough early Actions myself, but so far they're less of a "parade" and more of a lurching stumble...)

 

I happen to think the early Siegel & Shuster Actions are some of the very coolest early DCs...and as you say, they will always be in demand so you can resell if you have to (hope you don't have to, tho). Best of luck!

[JohnBull]

Good luck with your quest. When I was putting my run of Action Comics together in the late 80's-late 90's the toughest issues were the ones from 140-200. Believe it or not issues between 11 and 20 weren't that hard to find then. Many have since been sucked up into collections. The last issue I needed was 123 and it wasn't until ebay came along that I picked that one up.

 

Would anyone care to suggest why the title is this difficult? I collect Adventure Comics from the same period and although they are hardly common, when I look at comparative auctions on e-bay, there are maybe 5-10 times more copies of Adventure than Action around.

 

Early Superboy's hardly turn up in droves, so is this maybe down to the solid back up features in Adventure - Shining Knight, Johnny Quick, Aquaman and Green Arrow - compared to Tommy Tomorrow, Congo Bill and Vigilante? [i've nothing against those Action features but presumably there was a reason why Aquaman and GA survived for as long as they did].

[krazykat-migration]

I plot world domination and eternal corruption of the hobby from within my fortress of solitude. Long live Ewert!

[squidmo2000]

I plot world domination and eternal corruption of the hobby from within my fortress of solitude. Long live Ewert!

What's the matter KK?Couldn't refill your meds on Sunday?

[SuperBird]

Good luck with your quest. When I was putting my run of Action Comics together in the late 80's-late 90's the toughest issues were the ones from 140-200. Believe it or not issues between 11 and 20 weren't that hard to find then. Many have since been sucked up into collections. The last issue I needed was 123 and it wasn't until ebay came along that I picked that one up.

 

Would anyone care to suggest why the title is this difficult? I collect Adventure Comics from the same period and although they are hardly common, when I look at comparative auctions on e-bay, there are maybe 5-10 times more copies of Adventure than Action around.

 

Early Superboy's hardly turn up in droves, so is this maybe down to the solid back up features in Adventure - Shining Knight, Johnny Quick, Aquaman and Green Arrow - compared to Tommy Tomorrow, Congo Bill and Vigilante? [i've nothing against those Action features but presumably there was a reason why Aquaman and GA survived for as long as they did].

 

I don't think Actions are in and of themselves difficult to colect; I might say that Adventure comics are less collectible than Actions, as Superman has a much higher comic profile than any character in Adventure. Therefor owners of Adventure comics may be more apt to sell them.

 

I know Action 150-200 are harder to find, as the print runs were substantially lower than other issues. Action in general also had significantly lower print runs than Superman; this is clearly illustrated by eBay auctions, as GA Superman books have auctions 3-6 pages deep, while Action typically has 1-2 pages.

[SuperBird]

The National comic con update-

 

.

 

Went to the National this weekend, looking to fill in some holes. For whatever reason, this show always seems to have books consistantly over guide and overgraded, and this past weekend was no exception. From an Action #10 in G for 2X guide, to a heavily restored #12 in VG for 1.5X guide, to one dealer with a good selection of #11,16,17,and 18 all in G/VG, all at near 2X guide, nothing was exactly calling out to me.

 

One dealer did have a nice VG copy of 17 that I was considering, at a high but acceptable price, but I decided to pass in the end.

 

On an interesting note, there was only 1 single WW2 Action cover (The other niche I collect in) that I saw at the entire show for sale, an overgraded beater #60.

 

So in the end the convention was mostly a bust. I did end up filling out 90% of the issues I was missing from my Master of Kung Fu and Conan runs, though

[thedude]

thanks for the show report Matt, I find it's the same way at most shows, with the Actions anyway, the low numbered ones 10-20 are either very low grade or restored, and the War covers are almost non-existant...I'm also, currently collecting the war covers and am finding it difficult to get mid-grade unrestored copies.

[Durden08]

The National comic con update-

 

From an Action #10 in G for 2X guide, to a heavily restored #12 in VG for 1.5X guide,

 

Was the Action #12 at Harley Yee's booth? If it was it was probably the same massively resored copy I saw some time ago. I may actually have considered the Action #10 at 2x guide IF it truely was a 2.0 and had decent page quality.

[SuperBird]

Yeah, that was Harley's. I'm not familiar with resto work in general, but this copy had large amounts of paper added into the front and back cover. The new paper was kind of wavy, almost like it had water damage. Pretty obvious from looking at it.

 

The #10 was $2800 I believe, didn't look at the insides, but there was a bunch of spine chipping, though it did look attached. definitely 2.0-3.0 area from my quick look at it.

[SuperBird]

haven't had anything to update this with in a while. There was a restored #17 VG- on eBay that I passed on ( finished @ $300, didn't meet reserve). There's also an unrestored 5.0 on Heritage this week

 

http://comics.heritagegalleries.com/comm...;hdnSearch=true

 

that I have reservations about. For one, it's a pretty dirty copy. And this same copy has been popping up for sale a few times over the past year or two, so previous owners don't like something about it either. Plus there's a gorgeous Action 19 6.5 coming up in January that I'd much rather have...

 

mmm

[Durden08]

The #17 in the Heritage auction does look a little rough for a 5.0. I think the main concern might be that the staples appear rusted (hard to tell for sure though). Maybe if it could be had for a cheap price, but chances are it will go for at least guide.

 

The #19 though looks pretty sweet.

[thedude]

hey Matt, what do you think of that #14

 

http://comics.heritagegalleries.com/comm...;hdnSearch=true

 

I don't see this one going too high, due to the tanish back cover and water spots on the top corner back cover.. still not too bad af a book, the front cover looks good though. and it's says it's the highest graded copy so far.

[Durden08]

The Action 14 will probably bring some extra attention due to the "highest graded" tag on it. However, is that water damage that goes through the book or is that strictly tanning? I am liking the cover to #14 the more I see it.

[Timulty]

I guess, I am going to have to drop Action #14 off my list of comics to collect. I can't help but think this one, has several copies sitting around in someone's collection.