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

[Robot Man]

On 4/15/2023 at 5:52 AM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

@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)

I would agree with that. But before any of it, there were used book stores. Most sold used magazines and comics as well. Comics, generally were 5 to 10 cents each. Finding 10 centers was a major score. 

[Cat-Man_America]

On 4/15/2023 at 7:52 AM, GreatCaesarsGhost said:

@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)

Second hand bookstores gave rise to specialty comic shops, new age bookstores and head-shops. Dedicated comic shops were hang-outs for fans and culture-wise it was generational, like coffee shops in the beatnik era. Their inventories evolved with the culture to include HC books, SF paperbacks, gaming, action figures, costuming and other kinds of collecting interests. I'm pretty sure Mr. B. would agree; I'd love to here his take on it.

[Cat-Man_America]

On 4/15/2023 at 8:02 AM, genrlzod said:

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?  

The "scarcity index" has changed a bit real world numbers-wise, but scarce is still scarce with some books being harder to find than others. My recollection is that there were a couple of dozen "no shows" all of which have been discovered over time in the marketplace or in collections, some still rare and ...unless I'm mistaken... all being rare in grade.  

Here's one example, PRIZE Comics #20 with an outstanding Jack Binder cover:

My copy (second highest grade, 8.5 OW/W PQ, from the Jon Berk Collection; 7 copies in the CGC census, this is the 8th). Sorry, can't post the label without CGC approval.

There's a Church copy in a collection & Robot Man mentioned owning a raw copy, but at the time of Gerber's Photo Journals, this beauty was considered a No Show (IOW, thought not to exist).

[fifties]

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

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.

 

IMHO it did not.  The whole point of any book is to READ it, and of course that can't be done when the tome is entombed.  Yes, the hobby changed; now we have "investors" relying on slabbed higher grade books and looking for a "greater fool" to profit by flipping.  

[Aman619]

4 pages and no mentions of the "missing issue" stickers printed as inserts in CBM?

 

[Jayman]

This thread made me break out my copies I scored off the boards here.

[jdandns]

On 4/15/2023 at 12:48 PM, Aman619 said:

4 pages and no mentions of the "missing issue" stickers printed as inserts in CBM?

 

I have one of those pages (along with the books). Do you know how many supplemental sheets were made in total?

I'd probably want to get them all before I actually stuck them in  the books.

Edited April 15, 2023 by jdandns

[Robot Man]

On 4/15/2023 at 11:30 AM, Cat-Man_America said:

Second hand bookstores gave rise to specialty comic shops, new age bookstores and head-shops. Dedicated comic shops were hang-outs for fans and culture-wise it was generational, like coffee shops in the beatnik era. Their inventories evolved with the culture to include HC books, SF paperbacks, gaming, action figures, costuming and other kinds of collecting interests. I'm pretty sure Mr. B. would agree; I'd love to here his take on it.

As a kid in Pasadena, CA, there was the Book Nook. At the time considered a “bad” part of town by my parents. Full of pawn shops, junk shops, liquor stores as well as the Free Press hippy book store and Poh Bah records. We would ride our bikes over there and prowl around.

The owner of the Book Nook was a crusty old geezer that didn’t like kids much. He had a couple boxes of fairly recent comics (circa 1963-64). Price 10 cents each. Rarely saw 10 centers.

One day, I was sifting through a bunch of old Life mags and saw something colorful was peeking out. I pulled out a very early ‘40’s WDCS. A couple other old comics and a Superman #9! They had neat pencil marks on the back $3. I pulled it and another one out, picked out a few out of the 10 cent box and walked up to the owner. He saw the two GA books and had a fit asking me where I got them. He wasn’t going to sell them until I showed him the money. He took it and off I went. This happed several other times as well. Money always talks.

Local folklore among the kids was the basement where there were stacks of really old comics. We were afraid to sneak down there so we never found out. There was just something creepy about it. 

The store closed s few years later. Went and it was empty. By then we were mostly into the hippy scene in the area and didn’t care as much about comic books. 

Edited April 15, 2023 by Robot Man

[lou_fine]

On 4/14/2023 at 8:05 AM, comicjack said:

Suspense 3 splash page made you want it and so did many other collectors at that point. I still often look at them thinking all the stuff you missed picking up.

I believe all buyers of the PhotoJournal Vol 1 noticed the Suspense 3 frontispiece right off the bat when they first started to go through the book.  

I remember talking to Magik on quite a few occasions and he always mentions how he ended up having to pay Gerber 10X top of guide back then for that copy of Suspense 3 before he would finally let it go.  

Edited April 16, 2023 by lou_fine

[lou_fine]

On 4/14/2023 at 11:35 AM, vaultkeeper said:

I bought a set of the Photo-Journals when they first came out. The dust jackets held on for nearly 4 years. The spines blew out at around 7 years. I now have duct tape holding the covers on. 

Yep, I used them so much that the dust jackets ended up being all ripped up and torn from simple wear and tear over the first few years.  

I remember ordering a second set of the dust jackets back then along with the prints for the 2-page set for the covers of 'Tec 1-32 because I just absolutely loved the covers to those books back then, with the only problem now being I have absolutley no idea where I put them.    

[lou_fine]

On 4/14/2023 at 11:37 AM, ThothAmon said:

Study them hard and also the first 60 or so issues of Comic Book Marketplace and you’ll be eligible for a Masters in Comicbooking. 

You are 110% dead on right when it comes to the Comic Book Marketplace magazine, especially with respect to the firsr 20 or so issues which were totally done by the Carters before Geppi ended up buying and taking over the magazine.  

I remember calling Gary at the time to start my subscription with issue #2 and he was so nice that he said he would send me a copy of the first issue free of charge since he didn't want me to miss any of them.  

An absolutely amazing and informative magazine for newbies who wanted to learn about GA books and I clearly remember checking my mail box back then in great anticipation of the receiving the next issue to read from cover to cover.  Who can forget those wonderful articles like the "50 Rarest Golden Age Comic Books", "The First 1,000 Comic Books", focus on specific publishers like Centaur Comics, artists like Schomburg, pedigrees like the 4-issues articles on the Church pedigree, along with articles and charts on the Relative Scarcity and Demand for specific SA DC titles.    

[thehumantorch]

On 4/15/2023 at 7:34 PM, lou_fine said:

You are 110% dead on right when it comes to the Comic Book Marketplace magazine, especially with respect to the firsr 20 or so issues which were totally done by the Carters before Geppi ended up buying and taking over the magazine.  

I remember calling Gary at the time to start my subscription with issue #2 and he was so nice that he said he would send me a copy of the first issue free of charge since he didn't want me to miss any of them.  

An absolutely amazing and informative magazine for newbies who wanted to learn about GA books and I clearly remember checking my mail box back then in great anticipation of the receiving the next issue to read from cover to cover.  Who can forget those wonderful articles like the "50 Rarest Golden Age Comic Books", "The First 1,000 Comic Books", focus on specific publishers like Centaur Comics, artists like Schomburg, pedigrees like the 4-issues articles on the Church pedigree, along with articles and charts on the Relative Scarcity and Demand for specific SA DC titles.    

I love that mag.  I found it around issue 20 and contacted them to order the early issues I had missed.  Continued to buy it every month from my LCS.  My LCS got heavily into Magic the Gathering and started making mistakes and missed some of the issues around #100.  I was so mad I closed my file.

[lhcomics]

It was either 1988 or 1989 when I had a booth selling at SDCC that I was asked if they could photograph a few of my comics for the Photo Journal. I was surprised when my name made the book in the list of contributors.

I remember 2 comics specifically. Famous Funnies #17 & #18. Back then the 17 would be called NM, today's standards easily a 9.0. The only flaw was a 1/4" bindery tear at bottom of spine.

The comic was stolen a few months later at the Bruce Schwartz LA show. Gone forever but located in 1999 on eBay auction. I messaged the seller asking how he got the comic book, but I didn't get the answer I was looking for.

I guess I expected him to say I stole it from your booth at the LA comic show. Anyway, I never told him it was stolen years ago. If I ever see it again for sale, I will try and buy it. If anyone knows who owns it I would like to buy it. 

The LA shows at the Ambassador Hotel and later at the Shrine Auditorium were awesome in the 80's but thieves were everywhere. 

[Randall Dowling]

On 4/15/2023 at 4:03 PM, Jayman said:

This thread made me break out my copies I scored off the boards here.

What was in that glass, Jay? 

Edited April 16, 2023 by Randall Dowling

[LDarkseid1]

Is the Gerber Scarcity Index still as relevant today?

Edited April 16, 2023 by LDarkseid1

[Jayman]

On 4/15/2023 at 10:08 PM, Randall Dowling said:

What was in that glass, Jay? 

A Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout!

(I did a lot of yard work today!) 

[lou_fine]

On 4/15/2023 at 6:51 PM, thehumantorch said:

My LCS got heavily into Magic the Gathering and started making mistakes and missed some of the issues around #100.  I was so mad I closed my file.

Well, that was when the editorship of mag was already taken over by Russ Cochran and needless to say, it was a mere shadow of its former self when it was run by the Carter's.  

Totally not worth reading by then and I was just glad when they put it to its final death as that was just a slow tortuous death under Cochran.    

[adamstrange]

On 4/15/2023 at 3:48 PM, Aman619 said:

4 pages and no mentions of the "missing issue" stickers printed as inserts in CBM?

 

We were waiting for you

[adamstrange]

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

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".

Tim/rts bought the unsold remainders. There were a lot of them even after a bunch of years of Gerber and then Geppi trying to sell them.

[lou_fine]

On 4/15/2023 at 7:52 AM, Robot Man said:

I would agree with that. But before any of it, there were used book stores. Most sold used magazines and comics as well. Comics, generally were 5 to 10 cents each. Finding 10 centers was a major score. 

Yes indeed, as I clearly remember these old used books stores with some of them carrying used comics for 5 cents back in the 60's.  

I remember my favorite being Evelyn's Book Shelf where my brothers and I would have to ride our bike right across to the west side of the city.  My favorite because they would have the Marvel super hero books at times and all at 5 cents a piece.  Looking back, definitely not the wisest move as I simply should have paid a few pennies more and gotten the brand new copies off the shelves of the local grocery stores instead of old beater copies for half price.    

At least not as bad as my two brothers who were into the Westerns as they were just so popular on TV at the time.  Unfortunately, now virtually worthless in today's super hero-centric marketplace and now nowhere else for a few large orange boxes full of Western comics except for him to reread them and then to toss them into the recycle bin or drop them off at the local community dropoff box hoping that somebody else might pick them up to read.  

Although now worthless comic books from back in those days, but still priceless childhood memories of days long gone by.    

Edited April 16, 2023 by lou_fine