Funny Story About Iron Fist #14 1 1

[paqart]

On 7/6/2023 at 10:37 PM, WernerVonDoom said:

I heard stories of his famous back room, but never saw it. Jealous you got to go in. 

Funny you should mention Comics and Fantasies, I used to ride my bike there starting around 1980. One day, I was digging in a long box and found a  30 cent FF 171 and a regular 25 cent copy right behind it. I thought I had found something special. Unfortunately, the thought that there might be others never crossed my mind.  If I did, I'd probably have a full set of them.  Great memories of that store as well.

My mom forced me to sell my collection in 1979 to pay for our move to Las Vegas. I didn't want to do either, but it's hard to say no to a parent when you're 14. I have considered the comics stolen ever since and have been trying to put the collection back together. Unfortunately, many of them are so expensive today that it is very difficult to do. When my mom died, she left me her house, a shack in the middle of the desert. I used most of the money for living expenses during the pandemic-related lockdowns. The remainder went into starting my collection again. Right now, I have recovered 797 comics from my original collection, with about 2,500 to go.

I originally started working for Comics and Fantasies when I was 12, for 50 cents an hour. There was some kind of sales related incentive where, if the weekly sales hit certain targets, all the employees would get an extra 25 cents an hour bump for that week's wages. At that time, they only had the store on West San Carlos. By 1978, they had another store on Blossom Hill Rd, which is where I was working when we moved away.

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by paqart

[WernerVonDoom]

On 7/6/2023 at 9:48 PM, paqart said:

My mom forced me to sell my collection in 1979 to pay for our move to Las Vegas. I didn't want to do either, but it's hard to say no to a parent when you're 14. I have considered the comics stolen ever since and have been trying to put the collection back together. Unfortunately, many of them are so expensive today that it is very difficult to do. When my mom died, she left me her house, a shack in the middle of the desert. I used most of the money for living expenses during the pandemic-related lockdowns. The remainder went into starting my collection again. Right now, I have recovered 797 comics from my original collection, with about 2,500 to go.

I originally started working for Comics and Fantasies when I was 12, for 50 cents an hour. There was some kind of sales related incentive where, if the weekly sales hit certain targets, all the employees would get an extra 25 cents an hour bump for that week's wages. At that time, they only had the store on West San Carlos. By 1978, they had another store on Blossom Hill Rd, which is where I was working when we moved away.

 

Yep. I went to the Blossom Hill store as well. Seemed like nice people.

I hope you rebuild your collection.

[lou_fine]

On 7/6/2023 at 11:21 AM, WernerVonDoom said:

I once made the mistake of questioning the price on a book and he raised it $5. I always stayed silent after that.

Reminds me of Fishler at Metro back in the day..............if you ever asked him for a discount on a book, he would always say how about if he raised the price on it instead.  

If I remember correctly, I don't think I was ever able to get any type of discount from Fishler when he was the real power dealer back in those days. 

Edited July 7, 2023 by lou_fine

[lou_fine]

On 7/6/2023 at 6:58 PM, paqart said:

He always had all the Marvel keys on the wall at $500 apiece (Avengers #1, FF#1, Hulk #1, Spider-Man #1). I thought they weren't selling because they were overpriced. What the clerk told me is he sold them all the time, then replaced them from the hoard. This was in around 1978.

Well, back then $500 was indeed a lot of money to be spending on a book since that would have been well over top of guide for even all of the early SA Marvel keys save for FF 1.  

I still remember turning down a chance to pick up a HG set of Spidey 2 - 10 for only only $1K towards the end of 80's because the #1 was missing from the set.  Figured that I would have time since they hadn't really gone up in value throughout the 80's and needless to say, this was right just before SA Marvels took off like a rocket at the turn of the 90's and haven't really looked back since.  

Even though they have really gone up in value, my real biggest regret now is missing out on all those first appearances of Spidey's key villians.  

[paqart]

On 7/7/2023 at 1:15 PM, lou_fine said:

Well, back then $500 was indeed a lot of money to be spending on a book since that would have been well over top of guide for even all of the early SA Marvel keys save for FF 1.  

I still remember turning down a chance to pick up a HG set of Spidey 2 - 10 for only only $1K towards the end of 80's because the #1 was missing from the set.  Figured that I would have time since they hadn't really gone up in value throughout the 80's and needless to say, this was right just before SA Marvels took off like a rocket at the turn of the 90's and haven't really looked back since.  

Even though they have really gone up in value, my real biggest regret now is missing out on all those first appearances of Spidey's key villians.  

At the time, FF#1 was at $500 in mint according to Overstreet. The other three were around $350-$375. I bought an 8.0 (app) Thun'da #1 for $375 in 1977 or 1978, to give you an idea of relative value. ECs were very pricey also, but anything Frazetta was nearly untouchable.

[lou_fine]

On 7/7/2023 at 12:28 PM, paqart said:

At the time, FF#1 was at $500 in mint according to Overstreet. The other three were around $350-$375. I bought an 8.0 (app) Thun'da #1 for $375 in 1977 or 1978, to give you an idea of relative value. ECs were very pricey also, but anything Frazetta was nearly untouchable.

Looks like it was $600 to be exact for FF 1 in top of guide Mint, but clearly overpriced with some of the others then since AF 15 was valued at only $360, ASM 1 at $300, Hulk 1 at $240, JIM 83 at $225, and the rest of the early ones including Avengers 1 barely cracking 3-figures.  

Clearly less popular was X-Men 1 at only $60 in top of guide Mint condition, or at the exact same price point as a couple of now classic GA goodies in the form of All-American 61 with the Solomon Grundy cover and Fantastic 3 with the robot cover.  Way behind were books like Suspense 3 and Suspense 8 with the classic Cole spider cover at only $7.50 if you could actually find them at those prices which I would very much highly doubt.  As for the Frazetta books, yep his Thun'da 1 was indeed valued at $360 (i.e. same as AF 15), yet his classic Buck Rogers Famouse Funnies 209 - 216 run were listed at only $75 a pop.  

If we only had a time machine and knew what we know now, and yet like I said, although the early SA Marvels might have been available at close to those prices, I highly doubt the GA books were actually available at those listed values.  

[paqart]

On 7/7/2023 at 6:19 PM, lou_fine said:

Looks like it was $600 to be exact for FF 1 in top of guide Mint, but clearly overpriced with some of the others then since AF 15 was valued at only $360, ASM 1 at $300, Hulk 1 at $240, JIM 83 at $225, and the rest of the early ones including Avengers 1 barely cracking 3-figures.  

Clearly less popular was X-Men 1 at only $60 in top of guide Mint condition, or at the exact same price point as a couple of now classic GA goodies in the form of All-American 61 with the Solomon Grundy cover and Fantastic 3 with the robot cover.  Way behind were books like Suspense 3 and Suspense 8 with the classic Cole spider cover at only $7.50 if you could actually find them at those prices which I would very much highly doubt.  As for the Frazetta books, yep his Thun'da 1 was indeed valued at $360 (i.e. same as AF 15), yet his classic Buck Rogers Famouse Funnies 209 - 216 run were listed at only $75 a pop.  

If we only had a time machine and knew what we know now, and yet like I said, although the early SA Marvels might have been available at close to those prices, I highly doubt the GA books were actually available at those listed values.  

The highest price I paid for any comic in the 70's was the $375 for the Thun'da 1. Next highest was $175 for FF#5 and ASM 6 together, both in what I believe would grade as a 9.8. After that, I spent $250 for a box of about 175 Barks ducks, all in VF-NM condition, that included Christmas on Bear Mountain (first Scrooge) and Only a Poor Old Man (US 1). My copy of Avengers #1 cost $50. I also had a Batman #2, Comic Cavalcade #2, World's Finest 2 or 3 (I forget which) and an Action 27. The first three cost, I think, around $75 each, and the Action, which was in about 8.0 condition, cost about $200.

This is not including all the original art I had. I owned about fifteen pages by Kirby, including 4 pages inked by Bill Everett (3 from Thor, a fourth from one of the pre-hero horror titles), 2 pages from FF 19 and 21 (or 22) and a splash from Demon. I also had Walt Kelly, about 15 pages of Byrne, Colin Wilson (Judge Dredd, a gorgeous page by Jose Louis Garcia-Lopez, and much more. I didn't pay more than $250 for any of those pages. 2 Captain America pages and a Kamandi, all Kirby, cost around $50 a page.

[lou_fine]

On 7/7/2023 at 7:36 PM, paqart said:

The highest price I paid for any comic in the 70's was the $375 for the Thun'da 1. Next highest was $175 for FF#5 and ASM 6 together, both in what I believe would grade as a 9.8. After that, I spent $250 for a box of about 175 Barks ducks, all in VF-NM condition, that included Christmas on Bear Mountain (first Scrooge) and Only a Poor Old Man (US 1). My copy of Avengers #1 cost $50. I also had a Batman #2, Comic Cavalcade #2, World's Finest 2 or 3 (I forget which) and an Action 27. The first three cost, I think, around $75 each, and the Action, which was in about 8.0 condition, cost about $200.

This is not including all the original art I had. I owned about fifteen pages by Kirby, including 4 pages inked by Bill Everett (3 from Thor, a fourth from one of the pre-hero horror titles), 2 pages from FF 19 and 21 (or 22) and a splash from Demon. I also had Walt Kelly, about 15 pages of Byrne, Colin Wilson (Judge Dredd, a gorgeous page by Jose Louis Garcia-Lopez, and much more. I didn't pay more than $250 for any of those pages. 2 Captain America pages and a Kamandi, all Kirby, cost around $50 a page.

Well, all I can say is Those Indeed WERE The Days:

Unfortunately for me, I got into vintage comic book collecting about 5 or 6 years too late or as John Snyder would tell me, I could have gotten some quality Edgar Church books into my collection from him.  Then again, I most likely never would have been willing to pay that kind of money for them back then. 

[Robot Man]

On 7/7/2023 at 7:36 PM, paqart said:

The highest price I paid for any comic in the 70's was the $375 for the Thun'da 1. Next highest was $175 for FF#5 and ASM 6 together, both in what I believe would grade as a 9.8. After that, I spent $250 for a box of about 175 Barks ducks, all in VF-NM condition, that included Christmas on Bear Mountain (first Scrooge) and Only a Poor Old Man (US 1). My copy of Avengers #1 cost $50. I also had a Batman #2, Comic Cavalcade #2, World's Finest 2 or 3 (I forget which) and an Action 27. The first three cost, I think, around $75 each, and the Action, which was in about 8.0 condition, cost about $200.

This is not including all the original art I had. I owned about fifteen pages by Kirby, including 4 pages inked by Bill Everett (3 from Thor, a fourth from one of the pre-hero horror titles), 2 pages from FF 19 and 21 (or 22) and a splash from Demon. I also had Walt Kelly, about 15 pages of Byrne, Colin Wilson (Judge Dredd, a gorgeous page by Jose Louis Garcia-Lopez, and much more. I didn't pay more than $250 for any of those pages. 2 Captain America pages and a Kamandi, all Kirby, cost around $50 a page.

The most I can remember paying in the mid 1970’s was $125. For a nice Flash #1. At the SDCC. It was more that half the money I brought for the weekend. But I HAD to have it. 

[Robot Man]

On 7/7/2023 at 12:28 PM, paqart said:

At the time, FF#1 was at $500 in mint according to Overstreet. The other three were around $350-$375. I bought an 8.0 (app) Thun'da #1 for $375 in 1977 or 1978, to give you an idea of relative value. ECs were very pricey also, but anything Frazetta was nearly untouchable.

In the very early ‘70’s, ECs were around $5-7 each. But virtually all PCH, GGA and obscure GA were unbagged in boxes under the tables for a buck or two each. I was on my hands and knees a lot…

[Robot Man]

On 7/7/2023 at 10:53 PM, lou_fine said:

Well, all I can say is Those Indeed WERE The Days:

Unfortunately for me, I got into vintage comic book collecting about 5 or 6 years too late or as John Snyder would tell me, I could have gotten some quality Edgar Church books into my collection from him.  Then again, I most likely never would have been willing to pay that kind of money for them back then. 

I got a lot of Church books from either Chuck directly at shows or from Redbeard (with a “buddy” discount). These were of course, mostly “lessor” titles at the time. Everybody was buying the DCs, Timelys, and more well known superhero titles. I bought the “low end” stuff like PCH, GGA, Crime and obscure “cheap” stuff that, at the time wasn’t very popular. In retrospect, I did real well.

Snyder wouldn’t have given me the time off the day. Then later, I heard talk of let’s just say “manipulation”…

[Hschwartz]

Great memories in this thread. Sidebottom absolutely hated kids. My brother and I were teenagers when we first went to his shop in the mid seventies. He just grunted at us if we dared to ask a question about something that we couldn't find on the shelves. When we graduated into our twenties he softened up a bit but just a little. This was a cool time to be a comic collector in the Bay Area. Right around the corner from Sidebottom was Comics and Comix plus at least two other stores sold old comics within two blocks. Then in San Francisco you had three stores that sold old comics within two miles of each other in the Sunset District by the late seventies. Hard to hold on to your money in those days because there was so many things you could buy.

 

[paqart]

On 7/8/2023 at 5:59 PM, Hschwartz said:

Great memories in this thread. Sidebottom absolutely hated kids. My brother and I were teenagers when we first went to his shop in the mid seventies. He just grunted at us if we dared to ask a question about something that we couldn't find on the shelves. When we graduated into our twenties he softened up a bit but just a little. This was a cool time to be a comic collector in the Bay Area. Right around the corner from Sidebottom was Comics and Comix plus at least two other stores sold old comics within two blocks. Then in San Francisco you had three stores that sold old comics within two miles of each other in the Sunset District by the late seventies. Hard to hold on to your money in those days because there was so many things you could buy.

 

I remember riding my bike down Blaney Avenue in pouring rain to get to the bus stop on Steven's Creek Boulevard. Then I'd buy a day pass for a quarter and head toward Vallco Village Fashion Park, around the mall, back to Stevens Creek, then it changed to West San Carlos. After 40 minutes or so, I'd either get off at Comics and Fantasies, where I worked, or go another stop or two if I was going to Recycle Books. Sidebottom's was right across from Recycle, but I rarely went in there. I remember Comics and Comix, but I went to the shop in Palo Alto, which was a much longer bus ride. That's where I bought the Thun'da. What you say about C&C being on the same street or near Sidebottom's sounds familiar, but I don't remember the place at all. I'm sure I did go in if I saw it though. Is it possible it was opened after 1979?
Do you remember the DeAnza College flea market? That's where I met Roger Grant-Ribal and Allan Sand, the guys who owned C&F. They sold at a table at DeAnza before they opened their shop downtown. Some comics I bought at DeAnza were critical to getting the Thun'da. I'd bought some Warlock Strange Tales from a guy who used a marker to write prices on green stickers he put in the bags. Later, a kid I knew from school broke into my house and stole a lot of comics. I brought him to court and was able to identify my comics by those stickers. The judge said comics were too uniform to be distinguished from each other, but the insurance agent attending with the family of the crook was convinced, so he cut me a check for the value of the stolen comics. That was how I had the money to get what was to me the most iconic Frazetta comic of the time.

Edited July 8, 2023 by paqart

[WernerVonDoom]

Here are some more memories (hopefully accurate) I have of Comic Collector Shop.  The store seemed small, barely big enough to walk around because there were books everywhere. The smell of comic book paper was overwhelming (almost nothing was in a bag) and there was not much light. As soon as you walk in, the counter was on your left and Bob Sidebottom would be there listening to jazz music. The wall behind the counter always had gold/silver age keys and on the counter were mint condition 10-15 year old Overstreets for sale (he probably had cases of them in the back). Near the counter were the previously mentioned stacks of unbagged comics. The kinds of books we found in those stacks included a set of ultra-high grade Sgt. Fury Annuals wrapped in wax paper (wax paper?!), Lois Lane 70, lots of high grade hero books and Marvel/DC horror books from the early 70s. You'd turn a sharp corner in a kind of cubby area and the wall was covered in multiple copies of Marvel/DC Treasuries. On the floor in a circle were stacks and stacks of bronze books - you'd have to sit cross-legged on the floor and go through each stack. Nothing organized, you never know what treasure you might find. These were books he thought didn't deserve to be in the front stacks, but there was good stuff in there. Prices of everything that wasn't on the wall seemed to be from $0.50 to $15.

I have a memory from when I was around 7 years old, my family randomly visited the shop and I took in the smells and looked at everything in wide-eyed wonder. Pretty sure that triggered my love of comics.

Edited July 8, 2023 by WernerVonDoom

[Hschwartz]

I remember walking around the corner from Sidebottom's to get to Comics and Comix. They were definitely open before 1979 because I remember them having stacks and stacks of Peter Parker #1 which I think came out in 1976 or so. In my mind it was less than a two block walk but it could have been longer since it was so long ago. I lived in Santa Cruz so I never went to the De Anza college flea market. We had a good one in Santa Cruz during the seventies and occasionally you'd find something worthwhile there.

[paqart]

On 7/8/2023 at 8:52 PM, Hschwartz said:

I remember walking around the corner from Sidebottom's to get to Comics and Comix. They were definitely open before 1979 because I remember them having stacks and stacks of Peter Parker #1 which I think came out in 1976 or so. In my mind it was less than a two block walk but it could have been longer since it was so long ago. I lived in Santa Cruz so I never went to the De Anza college flea market. We had a good one in Santa Cruz during the seventies and occasionally you'd find something worthwhile there.

Since you're from SC, do you remember Crazee's Comics? Or Curiosity Books in Los Gatos? I bought loads of sixties Marvels at Curiosity, along with my copy of SOTI. My comic collecting pretty much started with Crazee's. At least, my serious collecting.

Before 1977, The adults around me occasionally gave me comics, or money to buy comics. At the time, I didn't know condition mattered and my comics got pretty beat up over time. This is the period my first comics came from: Avengers 93-110 or so, Marvel Premiere 9, Hulk 168, Captain America 164, etc. Then, my mom started dating a guy from Santa Cruz, now a recently retired professor emeritus of electrical engineering at UC Davis. He was an odd guy, and one night (according to my mom), she woke up to find him suffocating her with a pillow. She escaped, grabbed my sister and I, and we were out of there. My comics remained.

The guy, named Bob, held onto all of our things. My mom sued him for their return and won, so he returned most of it (not my comics), but he'd ruined everything in all sorts of sadistic ways. For instance, by committing indecent acts on my sister's stuffed animals. 

As you might imagine, I wanted my comics back, my sister wanted new stuffed animals, etc. We were, however, poor. My mom earned about $6,000 a year as a secretary in a good year, and this wasn't a good year, thanks to Bob, the lawsuit, and attendant financial headaches.

My mom liked to drive to Santa Cruz to calm her mind on weekends. On one of those trips, we saw a garage sale by the side of the road in (I think) Scott's Valley. It was a rainy day. The people running the sale hadn't adequately protected their things, so it was all getting soaked. I asked if they had any comic books. The lady running things said she might. She called out to her son and asked him to bring me to the comics. He brought me out to their spacious side yard and pointed at an upended apple crate. At the bottom was a stack of about twenty comics that had seen more than one rainfall. For fifty cents, they were all mine. Even that was a lot of money to my mom, but I convinced her it was okay because one of them was a Conan #1. The rest were other Barry Smith Conans.

My mom wanted her money back soon, so we drove into Santa Cruz and asked around about a comic shop I could sell the comics to. Someone told us about Crazee's, a tiny basement shop in the back of a retail building. We went there, met Crazee, who paid me five dollars for the Conans, despite the condition. They were hot at the time, so he was pretty sure he could sell them for a profit. 

That sale is what got me into collecting for real. From then on, I bought and sold comics constantly. I even sold other people's collections for them on consignment. One of them was Crazee, whose real name was Scott Appel. He wanted me to buy his collection when I was at Comics and Fantasies and worked as their appraiser. I'd told my boss that Scott's comics were worth about $3k, which they were, so he offered Scott $750. I told Scott not to sell because he could make more at a convention in San Francisco coming up in a couple weeks. He borrowed my mom's car for the show, where he cleared $2k for his comics. That, is where, at the end of the day, I picked up my mint FF5 and ASM6 for a total of $175.

I have a feeling it was that show that convinced my mom that she wanted the money from my collection because she forced me to sell it right afterward. Also, I lost my job at C&F because of this. Roger didn't like the fact I told Scott he'd make more selling at the convention. "Why do you think I paid you to spend all day appraising his collection? So he can go somewhere else?"

Edited July 9, 2023 by paqart

[Hschwartz]

I never went to either place you mentioned. I left Santa Cruz for San Francisco in 1978. The only comic shop for years was Cymbaline Records and Comics. In 1976 Atlantis opened and there still going 47 years later. 

[paqart]

On 7/8/2023 at 9:31 PM, Hschwartz said:

I never went to either place you mentioned. I left Santa Cruz for San Francisco in 1978. The only comic shop for years was Cymbaline Records and Comics. In 1976 Atlantis opened and there still going 47 years later. 

I got my first Donald Duck at Atlantis Fantasyworld. It was banged up and cost $2.50. Because it looked old, I figured it was worth it. Turns out it wasn't a good deal. The cover was by Walt Kelly and featured Donald lighting what he thinks are candles in a candleabra, but they are fireworks. I think it was WDCS #112 or so.

[jdandns]

Got mine in Redlands, CA in the late 90's for a dime from a shop that was liquidating a large collection.

My friend got a Special Marvel Edition #15 for the same price that same day. 

[lizards2]

Epic Thread!