Why are cartoon comics not as popular with collectors as superhero comics are? 3 3

[Jayman]

On 11/25/2023 at 10:59 AM, Robot Man said:

Yeah but from about 1952-1954 they just kept ramping up the shock/gore factor. This one from 1953 drives home the point. I may be a little weird but if I were a kid at the newstand this would have gotton my fime a  lot faster than Bugs or Superman! 

EC will always be the exception to the rule, as the front runner in quality!

[Tri-Color Brian]

I'll tell you what makes 1953 special...it was MY birth year, and all these were on sale the month I was born...

[fifties]

Although there were a few horror titles and cover illustrations in the post war period (Adventures into the Unknown, Eerie), I would suggest that PCH really started in 1950, with EC's three horror books.  From that year until the end of '54 was the PCH period.  I'm good with all those years.  Here's my copy of a mid 1950 Vault.

[MrBedrock]

Since Smallie Paulie was busy and couldn't come up with any supportive info regarding 1953 I decided to do a little research... and you know what? The little fella is right! 1953 had some pretty good books...

 

[fifties]

It's too bad that '54 was cut short in PCH output, or I think it could have surpassed '53.

[Jayman]

Some of my ‘52 Favorites!

[dikran]

On 11/20/2023 at 1:26 AM, IngelsFan said:

I’m a big fan of some of the cartoon comics, and one reason I feel that they don’t have the same popularity is that there are few “first appearances” in the comics. So you have to settle for “first comic book appearance” which does not carry the same weight. For example, Action Comics 1 is the first appearance of Superman, anywhere. I struggle to think of a cartoon character parallel from the GA. Combine that with the fact that even a lot of the first comic book appearances aren’t well-documented, and it makes for a hard jumping on point for traditional collectors, even those familiar with the cartoons.

Scrooge McDuck is probably the best example of a cartoon character who first appeared in a comic and went on to a storied run in both comics and TV afterwards. 

[stormflora]

Random bump, but figured I'd ask here as well.

I keep seeing dozens of listings of a series called "Richie Rich", almost as frequently as I do Archie, but I've never seen or heard of the series before in Canada. Is it a super common slice-of-life series that's similar in nature and isn't particularly worth much?

Another question I have is regarding Dell/Gold Key PCH comics: Why are they not worth much either?

Edited December 10, 2023 by stormflora

[BA773]

Im sorry but im only answer is that...

IM BATMAN!

[BA773]

On 11/22/2023 at 2:34 AM, Paul (GG) © ® ™⚽️💙 said:

I love the classic animated cartoons, particularly DD, T & J, basically anything HB, WB or Disney....however that's animation.

The comic book derivatives are fun and some (cover-wise) are aesthetically pleasing....but let's be real...in comparison to other genres like PCH, men in questionable tights et al, there ain't much going on in terms of cover art.

OA lovers for example...a Schomberg busy cover, an EC horror classic or Bugs Bunny eating a carrot?

No contest.  

Totally agree, its cute, its friendly, but its okay for 2 minutes after that im bored...

[fifties]

On 12/10/2023 at 11:46 AM, stormflora said:

Random bump, but figured I'd ask here as well.

I keep seeing dozens of listings of a series called "Richie Rich", almost as frequently as I do Archie, but I've never seen or heard of the series before in Canada. Is it a super common slice-of-life series that's similar in nature and isn't particularly worth much?

Another question I have is regarding Dell/Gold Key PCH comics: Why are they not worth much either?

Go here to see the Richie Rich run; all pretty cheap  https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=168791

AFA "Dell/Gold Key PCH comics", there were none.  

[stormflora]

On 12/10/2023 at 6:53 PM, fifties said:

Go here to see the Richie Rich run; all pretty cheap  https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=168791

AFA "Dell/Gold Key PCH comics", there were none.  

Those prices don't look cheap to me, but that's probably because I'm speaking from perspective of someone who's tackling this hobby with a tight budget.

254 issues, even at $3 each, would be $762 USD + tax/shipping/etc. That's a lot in my eyes. But probably not for most seasoned collectors.

As someone who has no idea about the series, was it just as significant as Archie, in the USA?

[fifties]

On 12/10/2023 at 3:58 PM, stormflora said:

Those prices don't look cheap to me, but that's probably because I'm speaking from perspective of someone who's tackling this hobby with a tight budget.

254 issues, even at $3 each, would be $762 USD + tax/shipping/etc. That's a lot in my eyes. But probably not for most seasoned collectors.

As someone who has no idea about the series, was it just as significant as Archie, in the USA?

LOL, anytime I see single digit prices for "ancient" comic books I consider them cheap.  Why would you ever buy a full run of a title you know nothing about?  I'd suggest considering an order of maybe 3 or so, to see if you like them or not.

AFA significance, I'd say a run of 254 issues speaks for itself.

[stormflora]

On 12/10/2023 at 7:05 PM, fifties said:

LOL, anytime I see single digit prices for "ancient" comic books I consider them cheap.  Why would you ever buy a full run of a title you know nothing about?  I'd suggest considering an order of maybe 3 or so, to see if you like them or not.

AFA significance, I'd say a run of 254 issues speaks for itself.

Oh, I'm not buying any Richie Rich comics. I was just saying that I kept seeing them all over storefronts online, and was curious what the big deal was about it. It seemed far more common than a lot of other cartoon series from that age.

I suppose having a 254-issue run does indeed speak for itself. If it wasn't good, it wouldn't have kept going for so long.

[Jayman]

On 12/10/2023 at 6:58 PM, stormflora said:

As someone who has no idea about the series, was it just as significant as Archie, in the USA?

Richie Rich comics were geared for a younger audience than Archie. He was very popular for a while (60’s-70’s) and had multiple titles. Billed as “The poor little rich boy”, his was a world of luxurious fantastic adventures. Kids reading this title could fantasize about building treehouses made of gold bricks, playing checkers with diamonds and rubies, etc. He had $$$ to burn!

Edited December 11, 2023 by Jayman

[stormflora]

On 12/10/2023 at 8:09 PM, Jayman said:

Richie Rich comics were geared for a younger audience than Archie. He was very popular for a while (60’s-70’s) and had multiple titles. Billed as “The poor little rich boy”, his was a world of luxurious fantastic adventures. Kids reading this title could fantasize about building treehouses made of gold bricks, playing checkers with diamonds and rubies, etc. He had $$$ to burn!

Oh wow, thanks for the clarification! That definitely sounds interesting. It's kind of like the first Tom & Jerry cartoons which showed them living in then-luxurious conditions that were clearly out of reach to the common folk, except taken further up a notch.

Why did it die in popularity after the 70's? Kids grew up and moved onto superhero comics?

[Jayman]

On 12/10/2023 at 8:23 PM, stormflora said:

Why did it die in popularity after the 70's? Kids grew up and moved onto superhero comics?

Not exactly sure. Maybe it didn’t, but for me it did. I was 10 years old in 1974 and read RR and other Harvey titles (Casper, Spooky, Wendy and Hot Stuff) up to around 1978ish? I just outgrew the media and other books captured my attention. RR’s last issue was in 1991 so he must have still had a good younger reader following!

[Marty Mann]

Could be the"BEST OF BOTH WORLDS!.

 

[Jayman]

[VintageComics]

On 11/19/2023 at 12:04 PM, stormflora said:

Everywhere I go, it seems that most people only talk about superhero comics, not cartoon comics. Personally, I'm a fan of old cartoons like Tom & Jerry, Road Runner, etc., although it may have been because I grew up watching those on TV. Superhero comics until this day feel like a dime a dozen, although some key issues can go for ridiculous amounts of money. But given the choice, I'd rather pick up new indie series instead to see what they have to offer, over new spinoffs of past superheroes.

Am I the only one sailing on this boat? Some of these old cartoon comics can cost quite a lot of money to collect as well and sometimes are just as difficult to find as certain superhero comics. But they're still not seen as highly valuable. The cost of a couple of superhero key issues could cover the cost of gathering the entire collection of a particular cartoon character.

The primary reason is storytelling quality. It's a lot tougher to tell an interesting story with a cartoon character with limited emotional facets than a multi-faceted human-based character, and for that reason it's not as easy to get emotionally invested in cartoons.

Barks managed to do it, but there aren't many others that rose to that level of depth and popularity. 

This guy explains it really well.