Gerber's Photo Journal Guide to Comic Books Vol. 1,2 3 3

[adamstrange]

On 4/14/2023 at 6:39 PM, Telegan said:

I thought about getting the Marvel books, and still may, but maybe another time.

For the GA volumes, Gerber used the Church collection as his primary source. 

For the Marvels, it was mostly Jon Berk's collection, and the condition of the comics was not so stellar, making it less desirable to my eyes.

[Robot Man]

On 4/14/2023 at 3:39 PM, Telegan said:

I bought my copies a couple of months ago after hearing about them on a YouTube video, I think.  I'm still making my way through the books, and I swear it's pure beautiful torture looking at all those pics.  I think the appropriate term is "masochism".  Many of those books I know I'll never have, not simply because of the budget, but just trying to find one at the right time on sale for the right price will be tough.  I wish there were a digital/Kindle copy of them, as well, because they're kind of monster books to read while falling asleep.  If you're into GA comics, you have to get these 2 books.  I thought about getting the Marvel books, and still may, but maybe another time.

There are digital reprints on line as well as someone selling copied reprints of a lot of them. I personaly, don’t approve of it even though perfectly legal on public domain material. I did break down and bought a Suspense #3 and a couple others just to have them in hand.

I had the Marvel set but gave it to a friend. They are just so available and a bit repittive compared to the wide assortment of GA books in the first set. 

[WolverineX]

On 4/14/2023 at 6:57 PM, Robot Man said:

There are digital reprints on line as well as someone selling copied reprints of a lot of them. I personaly, don’t approve of it even though perfectly legal on public domain material. I did break down and bought a Suspense #3 and a couple others just to have them in hand.

I had the Marvel set but gave it to a friend. They are just so available and a bit repittive compared to the wide assortment of GA books in the first set. 

Where are the digital reprints? 

[Robot Man]

On 4/14/2023 at 4:07 PM, WolverineX said:

Where are the digital reprints? 

On the internet…Seriously, I’m not a fan of them. Perhaps, someone here can direct you better. 

[WolverineX]

On 4/14/2023 at 7:13 PM, Robot Man said:

On the internet…Seriously, I’m not a fan of them. Perhaps, someone here can direct you better. 

Ok i tried googling.  Not sure if it's hidden behind some service.  I do own a real copy.  It's just beat up. 

[adamstrange]

On 4/14/2023 at 6:57 PM, Robot Man said:

I had the Marvel set but gave it to a friend. They are just so available and a bit repittive compared to the wide assortment of GA books in the first set. 

If only it had included all the Atlas issues

[Robot Man]

Not to do any more mudslinging, but since Rick Durell was brought up, here is a cool old newspaper feature on him. The first REAL serious adult I knew collecting comics. If that were my cat, it would never walk again...I

[Telegan]

On 4/14/2023 at 5:49 PM, WolverineX said:

How often do these get reprinted? I need a new copy. 

I got mine from eBay.  It was my first purchase on eBay ever a couple of months ago (even though I owned their stock back in the late 90's, I think. LOL.)  There was a store out of Colorado that said they had a stack that was a warehouse find.  Look for a seller named "rtsunlimited".  I got the books quickly and they were in great shape.  I don't know if every book will look great, but they're still shrink-wrapped.  The one volume I bought from them was still shrink-wrapped.  The dust jackets on these things start peeling or suffering damage after a while from what I've heard - even if shrink-wrapped (?).  I think they sell them for around $70 each, but I made a counteroffer of around $45-$50, if I recall, and they accepted.  I only needed one of the volumes because I had already gotten the other one from some place else, but last I looked these guys sell both volumes.  They also had the Marvel volumes.  I'm in no way affiliated with them, btw.

On 4/14/2023 at 5:57 PM, Robot Man said:

There are digital reprints on line as well as someone selling copied reprints of a lot of them. I personaly, don’t approve of it even though perfectly legal on public domain material. I did break down and bought a Suspense #3 and a couple others just to have them in hand.

I had the Marvel set but gave it to a friend. They are just so available and a bit repittive compared to the wide assortment of GA books in the first set. 

Are you talking about individual comics?  I was referring to the Gerber books themselves.  I know about the various sites where you can read the old comic books online.  There's not quite as much fun in that whether you're just in it for the reading, the art, or the collecting.  Well, not to me, anyway.  I can understand people who get slabbed copies or don't want to handle maybe pricey ones too often reading them like that, though.  Not to mention with a lot of those sites, there's no telling which ones have malware and who knows what else running on them.

On 4/14/2023 at 5:54 PM, adamstrange said:

For the GA volumes, Gerber used the Church collection as his primary source. 

For the Marvels, it was mostly Jon Berk's collection, and the condition of the comics was not so stellar, making it less desirable to my eyes.

The one thing about the Marvel comics books is that I either have seen or know of many of those books since they were more recent or have covers, artists, subjects I'm more familiar with.  With the original/GA volumes, it was like entering a new world to me since I really had very little knowledge of GA comics outside of Action 1, Tec 27, etc.  I knew nothing of PCH horror, for example, so there'd be no way for me to even ask a question about it or look to see what else existed because I didn't even know the genre existed.  Once I started looking at some of the covers posted in some of these threads and in those 2 original Gerber volumes, it was mesmerizing.  Like when I first saw Blue Bolt #115 or many of the Schomburg covers that were Nazi/war-related, Matt Baker's covers, etc.  At that point, I just shifted to collecting GA comics (albeit very slowly and financially responsibly *cough*).

Edited April 14, 2023 by Telegan

[Sarg]

On 4/14/2023 at 12:34 PM, sfcityduck said:

The Gerber Photo-Guides are an essential publication that I'm very glad exists.

But the back story on how he allegedly funded the making of those books, if true, makes me shudder.  Allegedly involved the collection of the guy on the left below. Given his reputation, he probably bought those trashy Action 1, Whiz 1, and D27 strewn about the desk. I will let others tell the story about the liquidation of his collection who have more than just the passing tenthhand knowledge that I have. I think it ended up in litigation, and I don't know how that came out.

I never get tired at looking at this mindblowing photo. 

[sfcityduck]

On 4/14/2023 at 4:36 PM, Robot Man said:

Not to do any more mudslinging, but since Rick Durell was brought up, here is a cool old newspaper feature on him. The first REAL serious adult I knew collecting comics. If that were my cat, it would never walk again...I

I went looking for that cat photo earlier today. Hard to forget.

[adamstrange]

On 4/14/2023 at 7:53 PM, Telegan said:

Like when I first saw Blue Bolt #115

The original brochure was printed on the back of the page of LB Cole Blue Bolt Covers, and then folded into quarters as picture above.  Seeing those for the first time was mesmerizing.

[fifties]

On 4/14/2023 at 2:11 PM, adamstrange said:

Gerber never made a dime off the PJs.  On the contrary, they broke him.

Your verified source for this, please?

[fifties]

On 4/14/2023 at 4:30 PM, adamstrange said:

If only it had included all the Atlas issues

Click on any title to open up all it's covers.

https://www.atlastales.com/titles

[PopKulture]

On 4/14/2023 at 9:37 AM, Robot Man said:

Along with the Overstreet guide, the two most important contributions to the hobby.

I agree that Overstreet's guide is one of the two, but I believe the other is storage media, notably comic bags. 

Anyone who kept up with the annual Overstreet had seen all the big books in increasingly better color photos going back to number 6, which featured the quartet of Action 1, Adventure 61, All-American 16 and All-Star 4 all on the first page of the cover gallery! Other books pictured in that guide include: All Winners 1, Amazing Fantasy 15, Amazing Mystery Funnies V2N7 (recently for sale here on the Boards!!), Batman 1, Blue Ribbon 9, Four Color 33, Captain America 1, Detective 27, Detective 31, Four Color 9, Exciting 9, Fantastic Four 1, Flash Comics 1, Human Torch 2(1), Looney Tunes 1, Marvel Mystery 2, Four Color(1) 16, Military 1, Miss Fury 1, Motion Picture Funnies Weekly 1, Pep Comics, 1 Police 1, Shock Suspense Stories 6, Spirit 22, Sub-Mariner 1, Superman 1, Thun'da 1, Walt Disney's Comics and Stories 1, among others. All in all, a dizzying array of mega-keys as well as some notable classic covers. Subsequent Overstreets would start to fill in even more keys and notable trending books such that, by the time the Photo-Journals came out, a lot of collectors had a pretty good idea what the most important books in the hobby looked like.

The Photo-Journals to me, along with the encapsulation that would follow a decade or so later, made comic collecting more cover-focused, if anything, which led to less and less interest in the contents. In that aspect, they were profoundly influential.  

Edited April 15, 2023 by PopKulture

[jimbo_7071]

On 4/14/2023 at 2:00 PM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

This is what I want to see when I walk into a convention. 
 

but what I actually see nowadays is this . . .

@lou_fine is that you in the red cape?

[Cat-Man_America]

On 4/15/2023 at 12:43 AM, PopKulture said:

I agree that Overstreet's guide is one of the two, but I believe the other is storage media, notably comic bags. 

Anyone who kept up with the annual Overstreet had seen all the big books in increasingly better color photos going back to number 6, which featured the quartet of Action 1, Adventure 61, All-American 16 and All-Star 4 all on the first page of the cover gallery! Other books pictured in that guide include: All Winners 1, Amazing Fantasy 15, Amazing Mystery Funnies V2N7 (recently for sale here on the Boards!!), Batman 1, Blue Ribbon 9, Four Color 33, Captain America 1, Detective 27, Detective 31, Four Color 9, Exciting 9, Fantastic Four 1, Flash Comics 1, Human Torch 2(1), Looney Tunes 1, Marvel Mystery 2, Four Color(1) 16, Military 1, Miss Fury 1, Motion Picture Funnies Weekly 1, Pep Comics, 1 Police 1, Shock Suspense Stories 6, Spirit 22, Sub-Mariner 1, Superman 1, Thun'da 1, Walt Disney's Comics and Stories 1, among others. All in all, a dizzying array of mega-keys as well as some notable classic covers. Subsequent Overstreets would start to fill in even more keys and notable trending books such that, by the time the Photo-Journals came out, a lot of collectors had a pretty good idea what the most important books in the hobby looked like.

The Photo-Journals to me, along with the encapsulation that would follow a decade or so later, made comic collecting more cover-focused, if anything, which led to less and less interest in the contents. In that aspect, they were profoundly influential.  

Great post! Encapsulation insured the survival and growth of the hobby. There are notable downsides to cover-centric dominance, but the hobby definitely changed for the better.

If listing historical benchmarks, mine would go something like this (warning: irreverent humor ahead!):

On the first day there was Stan the Man; he rested not and Marveled at what he begat ('nuff said) >>>

Into the SA comics appeared back-page classifieds, fandom grew and begat networking via fanzines (GB Love's RBCC) >>>

And mail order dealers riseth (Howard Rogofsky, et al., the first money-changers bought and sold back issue comics through lists via classifieds giving rise to the coming of collectors) >>>

The story ark has a great flood of bookstores selling back issue comics, which begat early comic shops; the green sea parteth >>>

Growth of fan run conventions (starting with Phil Seuling's NYCC, then regionals went forth and spread throughout the known land) >>> 

In this fertile land arose the first semi-pro/professional fanzines (Alter Ego and Jerry Weist's EC prozine Squa Tront) >>>

Then Bob Overstreet's Guide was born to stabilize & rationalize prices followed by more money-changers >>>

Alan L. Light's Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom brought civilization to collecting advertising (around this time there might've been a plague of Locus, but that was an SF zine) >>>

Discovery of "pedigree" collections and the garden of Eden (Beerbohm's et al. Riley/San Francisco, Rozanski's Church on the mount, etc.) >>>

High end auctions followed and the Holy See (Jerry Weist's Sotheby's auctions that evolved into the tower of bid-babel) >>>

Third-party grading and encapsulation (singing, dancing and money talking time capsules arrives; CGC, et al.) >>>

That's All Folks! (my focus here has been on GA with an emphasis on the tongue 'n cheek, but the growth of direct marketing & indie publishers has relevance to evolution & diverging texts in the hobby).

In doing this off-the-wall exercise it became clear to me that a lot happened in rapid succession and overlapped the first decade (approx. '63 - '73, from the first fanzines through Alan L. Light's Buyer's Guide)

Apologies in advance if anyone isn't amused (no offense intended)   

 

Edited April 15, 2023 by Cat-Man_America
Ale!

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

@Cat-Man_America, you’re suggesting old back issue comic stores gave rise to our current LCSs? Interesting (along with the rest of your historical perspective)

[genrlzod]

Due to this topic I had to breakout the books last night. Forgot how much fun it was to look at all the covers 

Of course this made me think, how relevant is the scarcity index for today’s market?  Are books that are listed at a 7 or higher still in that range, or has the internet changed things?  

[Robot Man]

On 4/15/2023 at 1:24 AM, Cat-Man_America said:

Great post! Encapsulation insured the survival and growth of the hobby. There are notable downsides to cover-centric dominance, but the hobby definitely changed for the better.

If listing historical benchmarks, mine would go something like this (warning: irreverent humor ahead!):

On the first day there was Stan the Man; he rested not and Marveled at what he begat ('nuff said) >>>

Into the SA comics appeared back-page classifieds, fandom grew and begat networking via fanzines (GB Love's RBCC) >>>

And mail order dealers riseth (Howard Rogofsky, et al., the first money-changers bought and sold back issue comics through lists via classifieds giving rise to the coming of collectors) >>>

The story ark has a great flood of bookstores selling back issue comics, which begat early comic shops; the green sea parteth >>>

Growth of fan run conventions (starting with Phil Seuling's NYCC, then regionals went forth and spread throughout the known land) >>> 

In this fertile land arose the first semi-pro/professional fanzines (Alter Ego and Jerry Weist's EC prozine Squa Tront) >>>

Then Bob Overstreet's Guide was born to stabilize & rationalize prices followed by more money-changers >>>

Alan L. Light's Buyer's Guide for Comic Fandom brought civilization to collecting advertising (around this time there might've been a plague of Locus, but that was an SF zine) >>>

Discovery of "pedigree" collections and the garden of Eden (Beerbohm's et al. Riley/San Francisco, Rozanski's Church on the mount, etc.) >>>

High end auctions followed and the Holy See (Jerry Weist's Sotheby's auctions that evolved into the tower of bid-babel) >>>

Third-party grading and encapsulation (singing, dancing and money talking time capsules arrives; CGC, et al.) >>>

That's All Folks! (my focus here has been on GA with an emphasis on the tongue 'n cheek, but the growth of direct marketing & indie publishers has relevance to evolution & diverging texts in the hobby).

In doing this off-the-wall exercise it became clear to me that a lot happened in rapid succession and overlapped the first decade (approx. '63 - '73, from the first fanzines through Alan L. Light's Buyer's Guide)

Apologies in advance if anyone isn't amused (no offense intended)   

 

There it is. The history of comic collecting in a nutshell! And I have been around to see it all.

I even remember 8 track tapes…

[Robot Man]

On 4/14/2023 at 5:00 PM, Sarg said:

I never get tired at looking at this mindblowing photo. 

Awww, the “Inner Sanctum” of Cherokee Books. Although people like me and @Tri-ColorBrian were regulated to the hallway of dollar PCH books, we were granted admittance to pay homage and money to Burt Blum. Was the first place I ever paid over cover price for a comic book.