Sad News - R.I.P. Richard Olson - Yellow Kid 6 6

[Robot Man]

On 5/2/2024 at 8:36 AM, Hepcat said:

So was Richard Olson one of those few collectors who started buying comics circa 1950, kept them all and then when older began to hunt down issues he'd missed as a kid?

 

Yep. He, along with Leonard Brown and Malcolm Willitts, opened one of the first collector stores with a focus on comics in  the LA area in the mid 1960’s. His focus was early Disney and humor comics as well as Platinium era books especially Yellow Kid and Buster Brown material. A heck of a passionate collector and great guy.

[sfcityduck]

I sold Richard this comic.

It was apparently amongst his very favorites because he "made me an offer I couldn't refuse" when he learned of it, offered to fly me and my wife to New Orleans and put us up in a hotel so I could deliver it and visit him in person (which offer to my everlasting sadness I could not accept due to press of cases), and struck up a correspondence with me that I truly appreciate.

As I just asked over on the Ducks thread, anyone know what's happening with his collection? I wouldn't mind trying to buy this one back.

[sfcityduck]

On 5/2/2024 at 8:36 AM, Hepcat said:

So was Richard Olson one of those few collectors who started buying comics circa 1950, kept them all and then when older began to hunt down issues he'd missed as a kid?

 

I think there were more collectors buying and keeping comics in the 1950s then folks realize. More folks buying and keeping comics starting in the 1940s than people realize. A lot of the founders of modern comic fandom in the early 1960s fell into those categories. And stores were actively buying and selling back issue comics much earlier than people realize. Willits & Brown were on the cutting edge of modern fandom when they opened Collectors Showcase in 1964. And it became a top store as multiple guys here have attested. Richard once posted on this site about seeing 12 copies of Batman 1 for sale at one time at that store in the mid-60s. But, I've seen ads for stores buying and selling used comics that date back to the 1940s. Comic and original art collecting was a thing well before it got truly organized in the early 1960s. And by the late 50s, Willits and Olson were hunting down comics and selling them through the mail.

[plady69]

On 5/2/2024 at 1:13 PM, sfcityduck said:

I think there were more collectors buying and keeping comics in the 1950s then folks realize. More folks buying and keeping comics starting in the 1940s than people realize. A lot of the founders of modern comic fandom in the early 1960s fell into those categories. And stores were actively buying and selling back issue comics much earlier than people realize. Willits & Brown were on the cutting edge of modern fandom when they opened Collectors Showcase in 1964. And it became a top store as multiple guys here have attested. Richard once posted on this site about seeing 12 copies of Batman 1 for sale at one time at that store in the mid-60s. But, I've seen ads for stores buying and selling used comics that date back to the 1940s. Comic and original art collecting was a thing well before it got truly organized in the early 1960s. And by the late 50s, Willits and Olson were hunting down comics and selling them through the mail.

Thanks for the insight. Another reason to login on the boards everyday…

[Robot Man]

On 5/2/2024 at 10:13 AM, sfcityduck said:

I think there were more collectors buying and keeping comics in the 1950s then folks realize. More folks buying and keeping comics starting in the 1940s than people realize. A lot of the founders of modern comic fandom in the early 1960s fell into those categories. And stores were actively buying and selling back issue comics much earlier than people realize. Willits & Brown were on the cutting edge of modern fandom when they opened Collectors Showcase in 1964. And it became a top store as multiple guys here have attested. Richard once posted on this site about seeing 12 copies of Batman 1 for sale at one time at that store in the mid-60s. But, I've seen ads for stores buying and selling used comics that date back to the 1940s. Comic and original art collecting was a thing well before it got truly organized in the early 1960s. And by the late 50s, Willits and Olson were hunting down comics and selling them through the mail.

There is a big difference between people “buying and keeping” comics as opposed to people “collecting” and actively seeking out certian books and runs and actually paying well for them.

As a kid, I remember lots of used book stores that in addition to books bought and sold back issue magazines and comics usually at a discount to original cover prices. I remember buying GA comics (when I found them) for the same prices at comics that were a year old at the time.

Collector’s Book store was one of the first speciality shops that catered to actual collectors who were willing to pay serious (at the time) money for old comics. They had an emense stock much more than anywhere else. The mail order part came later as the actual collector market progressed.

The first comic I ever paid more than cover price for was a MAD #9 that I paid $3. for down the block at Cherokee Books. It was a LOT of money for a very young kid at the time. But I had never seen  MAD comic book that old. That was my “gateway drug” to collecting and paying up for comics. I actively was seeking them out to try and collect the entire run.

Collector Books was pretty high priced at the time and usually ran kids like me out. I bought more at Cherokee and Bond Street Books around the corner. 

 

[Robot Man]

On 5/2/2024 at 10:13 AM, sfcityduck said:

I think there were more collectors buying and keeping comics in the 1950s then folks realize. More folks buying and keeping comics starting in the 1940s than people realize. A lot of the founders of modern comic fandom in the early 1960s fell into those categories. And stores were actively buying and selling back issue comics much earlier than people realize. Willits & Brown were on the cutting edge of modern fandom when they opened Collectors Showcase in 1964. And it became a top store as multiple guys here have attested. Richard once posted on this site about seeing 12 copies of Batman 1 for sale at one time at that store in the mid-60s. But, I've seen ads for stores buying and selling used comics that date back to the 1940s. Comic and original art collecting was a thing well before it got truly organized in the early 1960s. And by the late 50s, Willits and Olson were hunting down comics and selling them through the mail.

An early photo of Leonard Brown with a recent “buy”. Yes, people coveted and paid up for Big Little Book back then.

A photo of Malcolm Willitts pulling out unbagged, high grade Batmans out of the vault. Collectors was located in an out of business bank building.

And a business card circa 1962 for Richard and Leonard before they opened the store and were combing the Long Beach area buying up old comics and selling them word of mouth. I got the card from Leonard. Notice he crossed out Richard’s info so I would deal directly with him. 

Edited May 3 by Robot Man

[plady69]

On 5/2/2024 at 8:19 PM, Robot Man said:

An early photo of Leonard Brown with a recent “buy”. Yes, people coveted and paid up for Big Little Book back then.

A photo of Malcolm Willitts pulling out unbagged, high grade Batmans out of the vault. Collectors was located in an out of business bank building.

And a business card circa 1962 for Richard and Leonard before they opened the store and were combing the Long Beach area buying up old comics and selling them word of mouth. I got the card from Leonard. Notice he crossed out Richard’s info so I would deal directly with him. 

So cool!  A vault for Golden Age even back then…

[Jesse-Lee]

On 5/2/2024 at 7:19 PM, Robot Man said:

An early photo of Leonard Brown with a recent “buy”. Yes, people coveted and paid up for Big Little Book back then.

A photo of Malcolm Willitts pulling out unbagged, high grade Batmans out of the vault. Collectors was located in an out of business bank building.

And a business card circa 1962 for Richard and Leonard before they opened the store and were combing the Long Beach area buying up old comics and selling them word of mouth. I got the card from Leonard. Notice he crossed out Richard’s info so I would deal directly with him. 

These are great! Thanks for sharing!

[sfcityduck]

On 5/2/2024 at 5:19 PM, Robot Man said:

 

The way Richard tells the story is that he was never a part of the store, having decided to head off to college.

This is an article Richard sent me that he wrote, it's in full on page 2 of the thread.

[Vintage_Paper]

On 5/2/2024 at 11:51 AM, Robot Man said:

Yep. He, along with Leonard Brown and Malcolm Willitts, opened one of the first collector stores with a focus on comics in  the LA area in the mid 1960’s. His focus was early Disney and humor comics as well as Platinium era books especially Yellow Kid and Buster Brown material. A heck of a passionate collector and great guy.

I had a question for him about his original short article about the platinum age in Overstreet in 1995 and the original platinum age section (before it got bloated up so large). Do you know if his research for that first section got donated to a college or library so researchers can access his papers?

[sfcityduck]

On 5/2/2024 at 4:58 PM, Robot Man said:

There is a big difference between people “buying and keeping” comics as opposed to people “collecting” and actively seeking out certian books and runs and actually paying well for them.

 

I completely agree. I don't think comic collecting really matured to the point of "paying well for comics" until the 1960s, if you can even call early 1960s prices "paying well."

But, I know from my research into the the Dave Wigransky story that kids were paying over face value for some comics early. The below article about Dave Wigransky's comic collecting in the Washington D.C. Evening Starr of July 19, 1946 reflects that he would "trade valuable items for the first two numbers of the Fawcett publications or the original oversize Master comics magazines he's heard about but never seen." Maybe the most shocking thing about that quote is not that he viewed the first two issues of Fawcett publications as something he'd "trade valuable items for" but that my best guess right now is that he was talking about the Flash and Thrill ashcans that he'd probably learned about from researching in the government archives - researching was something he enjoyed, was good at, and he was doing it to raise money from other comic collectors at the time to fund more acquisitions.

 

Basil Wolverton's son very kindly provided me with a complete copy of the digital images of the archive of his father's stuff, which includes a lot of fan and business correspondence, for me to sift through for my research. I learned that a few years later, Dave was writing Wolverton that "I have a friend who is an executive at King Features Syndicate, who sent me a Prince Valiant original at Hal Foster's request, as he [Foster] lives in Connecticut and had none available, and later, after the death of Carl Anderson, sent me a Henry original, along with a Krazy Kat, which are valued among collectors at several hundred dollars apiece, impossible to get, and very rare." In that same time period, Wigransky was running ads in pulps seeking comics from a single title - Fantastic Comics. And was running ads all over the nation seeking original art and comics from 1938 to 1942 - which Wigransky called the "Golden Age" of comics in other correspondence with Wolverton. 

 

This kind of stuff paints a whole different world than most of us think comic collecting was like before the 1960s.

One thing I think we all forget is that the comic pros back in those days liked their fans. They were, in fact, introducing their fans to each other. We've heard those stories about EC and DC creators like Gardner Fox and others. Well, it is obvious to me that Basil Wolverton did it too. Basil got regular correspondence from fans other than Wigransky, although it is obvious he took Wigransky more seriously than other fans and filed his correspondence in his business files not his fan letter files. One of those other fans was Ron Graham, who wrote Wolverton in 1948 trying to buy comics off of him and asking for his editor's address so he could try to buy back issues off of him too.  

Who is Ron Graham? He's one of those founders of modern comic fandom. He had a pretty remarkable letter in Alter Ego in 1961 (starts at bottom of first page below). In it, he talks about how Wolverton got him started collecting original art in 1948 and that by 1953 he had 150 pieces of OA and 5,000 comics. He said he gave the comics to Ted White in 1953 when Ron entered the Army because he knew Ted would take care of them and keep them intact! How'd Ron (of Indiana) know Ted of (Falls Church, VA)? Through SF fanzines for which Ted became an active contributor in 1951. Just like Lupof and Don & Maggie Thompson hooking up as comic collectors through the SF fan scene later. To me, that's comic collecting and that's a network of comic collectors. These were the guys who became the supposed founders of modern comic collecting in the early 1960s - but they were doing it before then.

Ron Graham shared with the budding comic collecting community of 1961 a lot of key information about comic history and their creators. Including some information that shocked Richard Kyle who was writing the first serious article on comic history for Xero's All in Color for a Dime series. Stuff like the history of the birth of superheroes, the sequence of character appearances, the DC lawsuit against Fox/Wonderman and Fawcett etc. So Richard Kyle called up Graham and asked him "where'd you learn all that?" Graham referred Kyle to that kid who was charging 5 cents a question to research comic history back in 1945 - Dave Wigransky. Obviously Graham got introduced to Wigransky, and Wolverton knew them both back in the late 1940s, so its seems Wolverton was probably the guy who introduced two of his fans. Just like Schwartz introduced Roy Thomas to Jerry Bails in the 1960s, and other pros did for fans earlier. And Wigransky told Kyle what he wanted to know about the history and more which Kyle then incorporated into his article in Xero. So the guys active in the 1940s became the foundation for the info being published in the fanzines of the 1960s. 

Comic collecting did not begin in late 1950s or early 1960s. It was a thing really early on. Pretty amazing when you think about it.

But just as important, maybe more so, is that what collecting is today is due to the huge boost that came with the guys of the 1960s organizing comic collecting into something much more serious than it was before. And those guys in SoCal were a huge part of that in the early 1960s. Its a fascinating history with a lot of credit to go around.

 

       

 

Edited May 3 by sfcityduck

[Hepcat]

On 5/2/2024 at 1:13 PM, sfcityduck said:

I think there were more collectors buying and keeping comics in the 1950s then folks realize. More folks buying and keeping comics starting in the 1940s than people realize. A lot of the founders of modern comic fandom in the early 1960s fell into those categories. And stores were actively buying and selling back issue comics much earlier than people realize. 

That would mean that there are likely many more comic collections/hoards in private hands unknown to the broader collecting community. That would be very good news indeed to the present day collector since it's probable that these comics will surface at some point in time.

On 5/2/2024 at 1:13 PM, sfcityduck said:

Willits & Brown were on the cutting edge of modern fandom when they opened Collectors Showcase in 1964. And it became a top store as multiple guys here have attested. Richard once posted on this site about seeing 12 copies of Batman 1 for sale at one time at that store in the mid-60s. But, I've seen ads for stores buying and selling used comics that date back to the 1940s. Comic and original art collecting was a thing well before it got truly organized in the early 1960s. And by the late 50s, Willits and Olson were hunting down comics and selling them through the mail.

But!!! Are you sure this wasn't overwhelmingly a west coast phenomenon back then? Where or what were the equivalents of Willits & Brown's Collectors' Bookstore in the major eastern population centers such as New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, St. Louis, New Orléans and Montréal back in 1964?

Edited May 3 by Hepcat

[sfcityduck]

On 5/2/2024 at 10:15 PM, Hepcat said:

That would mean that there are likely many more comic collections/hoards in private hands unknown to the broader collecting community. That would be very good news indeed to the present day collector since it's probable that these comics will surface at some point in time.

But!!! Are you sure this wasn't overwhelmingly a west coast phenomenon back then? Where or what were the equivalents of Willits & Brown's Collectors' Bookstore in the major eastern population centers such as New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cleveland, St. Louis, New Orléans and Montréal back in 1964?

I'm sure there are more folks in fandom than just me who were given their father's childhood comic collection. In his case, given he's younger than our own soon to be 90 year old "Marty Mann", so his comics ran from the late 40s to the early-mid 50s.

As for where were the stores? Comic book only stores was just a way for collecting to create identity for itself. But they weren't necessary for kids to collect comics. New comics were on sale pretty much everywhere until the emergence of the direct market. Vintage comics were sold all over the place also. And they had been for many many years. Collectors were seeking out comics almost as soon as they appeared. This is a classified ad from the Hastings Daily Tribune in April 1939:

In the early 1960s, comic collecting was very much originally organized east of the Rockies, as that's where most of the major players in comic fandom were living and publishing fanzines and adzines. There were a lot of East Coast dealers selling by mail. Did they need brick and mortar? Apparently many did without. Longer than the guys in LA. Comic specialty shops apparently got more traction on the West Coast earlier than the East. It apparently didn't hurt east coasters dealing or their collections. By around 1970 or so comic stores really started popping up all over. 

 

 

Edited May 3 by sfcityduck

[Hepcat]

On 5/3/2024 at 2:27 AM, sfcityduck said:

As for where were the stores? Comic book only stores was just a way for collecting to create identity for itself. But they weren't necessary for kids to collect comics.... Vintage comics were sold all over the place also. And they had been for many many years. Collectors were seeking out comics almost as soon as they appeared. This is a classified ad from the Hastings Daily Tribune in April 1939:

 

 

In the early 1960s, comic collecting was very much originally organized east of the Rockies, as that's where most of the major players in comic fandom were living and publishing fanzines and adzines. There were a lot of East Coast dealers selling by mail. Did they need brick and mortar? Apparently many did without. 

But back in 1963-65 in London, Ontario I had no idea of how/where I could get back issues of the titles I liked the most, e.g. Justice League, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Mystery in Space, Atom, Showcase, Brave and the Bold, Adventures of the Fly, Adventures of the Jaguar, etc. Somehow Julius Schwartz's occasional mentions of comic fanzines such as Rocket's Blast Comicollector  in the "Flash-Grams" letter column failed to register with me.

Seeing the house ads in the few back issues I had was therefore somewhat disheartening. I thought those comics were basically lost in time forever and I had negligible chance of ever acquiring them. I probably would have continued actively buying and collecting comics as a kid much longer had I stumbled upon a semi-good back issue source. Even a good fanzine would have done the job!

Edited May 4 by Hepcat

[Robot Man]

As a kid, we got back issues by trading with our friends. Money was almost never exchanged. But comics had value. You had to trade several Harvey’s or Charltons to get a Spiderman or Batman. They were all basically worthless but popularity held the cards.

A lot of times older kids would give us their comics. My uncle gave me his ECs. Me and my brother would pull our wagon down the streets ringing doorbells and asking for them. They would often be given to us for the asking or in exchange for cutting lawns.

There were no comic stores but we got adept at hitting used book stores for nickle priced comics. The same with garage sales and later flea markets.

Then came mail order and early small comic shows and the floodgates opened. And with that prices started to rise. The rest is history…

Edited May 4 by Robot Man

[shadroch]

Rents in LA and California were much cheaper than similar-sized stores in NYC, from what I've been told.

[Hepcat]

On 5/8/2023 at 11:23 AM, Robot Man said:

Rich and I were very different. We were on different political sides, I liked PCH and GGA and he liked Funny animals. He liked Superman and Capt. Marvel, I liked the darker Batman & The Spectre. In high school I played in a rock band and ran around with “hoods” and he was a jock.

We're all different people. I'm sort of a blend of you two. Not being an American, I don't fit into this current great divide of yours. (As a Libertarian, I don't fit anyway.)

Like Rich I prefer funny animal comics to PCH but I also like GGA for obvious reasons. But I'm interested in neither Superman or Batman from the Golden Age. Among DC's, it's Green Lantern, Flash, Black Canary, Hawkman, Doctor Fate, Hourman, Starman and Kirby's Sandman and the Newsboy Legion I really like.

I played all sports with my friends but being skinny and uncoordinated I was never any good and couldn't even make a school team. But now I have no joint pains or knee problems because I never participated in competitive sports. And after lifting some weights after university, I ended up looking like I must have been an athlete! (I'm still no good at anything though.)

Meanwhile I was heavily into the Rolling Stones, Doors, Animals, Kinks, the Cream, the Who and rock music and hi-fi components in general. I grew my hair long to annoy my father, but with my red Dodge Charger I looked not so much like a hippie but like a greaseball hood which is the image I preferred to project. But I was actually a bookish scholarly academic at heart! And I still am. I don't even have a TV!

So yeah, I'm a blend of you and Rich. But like I say, we're all individuals.

Edited May 5 by Hepcat

[PDGray]

On 5/2/2024 at 11:26 AM, sfcityduck said:

I sold Richard this comic.

It was apparently amongst his very favorites because he "made me an offer I couldn't refuse" when he learned of it, offered to fly me and my wife to New Orleans and put us up in a hotel so I could deliver it and visit him in person (which offer to my everlasting sadness I could not accept due to press of cases), and struck up a correspondence with me that I truly appreciate.

As I just asked over on the Ducks thread, anyone know what's happening with his collection? I wouldn't mind trying to buy this one back.

 

To add to this, if anyone has contact information for his family I would be glad to help them with anything related to his collection.  Like I said, I know I am somewhat close to where they are, but I don't have anything beyond that.

 

PDG

[adamstrange]

On 5/5/2024 at 12:17 PM, PDGray said:

 

To add to this, if anyone has contact information for his family I would be glad to help them with anything related to his collection.  Like I said, I know I am somewhat close to where they are, but I don't have anything beyond that.

 

PDG

The family does not need help.

[PDGray]

On 5/5/2024 at 11:39 AM, adamstrange said:

The family does not need help.

Ok, just offering to help - particularly since I am so close by.  I would love to see what all he owned.  I bet it's a fascinating collection.

 

PDG