THE YEAR IN REVIEW: What have you collected in 2023 and aspire to in '24? 8 8

[johnenock]

Wow! Amazing pulps this year, I have been trying to resist.

This year and next year working on Quality comics especially Ken Shannon Police:

 

[Robot Man]

On 12/15/2023 at 9:25 AM, Professor K said:

One unusual thing at least for me this year was a Photoplay Magazine from 1929 I got cheap (around 30 bucks) on e bay. I was happily surprised by the condition, pages are pure white. There are a few of these Hollywood type mags from the 20's I''d like to find. 

Those are printed on rag paper as opposed to pulp. Thusly, they survived better. I used to see a lot of those at local flea markets but pretty much dried up now. Great covers. This one is a great one. All about the eyes…

[Robot Man]

On 12/16/2023 at 5:19 AM, johnenock said:

Wow! Amazing pulps this year, I have been trying to resist.

This year and next year working on Quality comics especially Ken Shannon Police:

 

Nice grabs! Later Quality books like these were notoriously cheap but no longer. Some of Reed Crandall’s best work. Glad I got most of mine when I did. 

[Professor K]

On 12/16/2023 at 10:24 AM, Robot Man said:

Those are printed on rag paper as opposed to pulp. Thusly, they survived better. I used to see a lot of those at local flea markets but pretty much dried up now. Great covers. This one is a great one. All about the eyes…

Yeah Greta had some eyes on her. Yep the paper is pretty thick. I've seen old newspapers like Civil War era and older and you're right the paper they used back then really would hold up well. These are the few other Hollywood mags I aspire to finding and grabbing if I ever see them for a fair price and in at least OK shape. Corrine Griffith, Colleen Moore, Louise Brooks, Dorothy Mackaill because she looks so sad, and a Clara Bow if I ever see one with a cover of her I like. 

Edited December 16, 2023 by Professor K

[badback83]

On 12/8/2023 at 4:06 PM, MrBedrock said:

Two biggies for 2023....

Caught up on this thread just now while at Starbucks.  The barista is currently cleaning off my table because when I got the 1 - 2 punch of these I barfed all over it.

[Pickie]

On 12/15/2023 at 4:57 PM, Robot Man said:

Wow, that Sunday Journal Yellow Kid football cover is a stunner! How many of those still exist?

I might have to look for that stamps book. Although, I don’t collect them, I too love the story of the hunt. Looks cool.

If you love the hunt, you might want to pick up a copy of this book. A facisinating story of the hunt for the rarest of the rare 78 blues records.

The Yellow Kid sheet is not a cover but a newsstand poster (following Outcault's transfer from Pulitzer's "World" to Hearst's "Journal" in 1896).  The stamps book is indeed cool (and I am not a stamp collector): Among a lot of great history on stamps and on the Island of Mauritius itself it contains the "CVs" of all 37 or so surviving copies of the famous first editions of the "Blue" and of the "Red Mauritius" stamps. And yes, the book about the exceedingly rare 78 rpm records (not only "blues") is very good, too.

I read it in 2022 - based on a previous recommendation from you. 🧑‍🎄

[badback83]

I was able to nail down my #1 book this year.  Something I thought would never happen.  I was fortunate enough to find several fun books this year.  But this one is by far the most important of them all to me.  Sometimes I obsess over finding a specific item.  It can be exhausting and eventually take the fun out of the pursuit.  I'm really happy that didn't occur this time.  I took my time, made connections, worked out deals and eventually it led to the final goal.  As silly as it sounds, I was able to take a breath and relax after.  What a wonderful hobby this is...

[D84]

I had a very productive year for pickups, but no clue what my goals are for next year.

A few favorites from this year.

[MattTheDuck]

For 2023, I kept a promise to myself that I would be more focused in my spending/purchasing.  With this as a goal, I bought only about 200 comics this year, one-third of which were "promotional" books with the stunning first book below as the obvious top dog. Wrong forum, but I made real progress in my main collecting focus - Silver Age Marvels - including some new books and a few really choice upgrades in Avengers, ASM, FF and Journey into Mystery (Thor).  

Two interesting "in the wild" experiences included 92 Bronze Age books with Mark Jewelers inserts (and a few missing Marvel Value Stamps) and an Estate Sale with a total of about 120 Amazing Stories and Fantastic Adventures pulps, a reasonable number of which were in decent condition. Unfortunately, the owner had access to the internet and believed what he saw there about value and so was asking for a gigantic amount of money.  I ended up with just these 10 which I thought were either in the best condition or had the coolest covers.  Four are bedsheets. Karma dictated he had a lot of these left after the sale.  Greed may be good, but you have to pick your spots.

I remained as susceptible to cool stuff as always, and so am now keeping an eye out for Paperback book vending machines which were apparently a thing back in the day.

I'm at the point in my collecting where I have to spend real money to basically get almost anything that fits my goals so we'll see what money-flow allows in 2024 and whether anything comes in over the transom at Estate/garage sales.

 

 

 

 

[Daveb25]

Very likely my last pickup of 2023. For 2024 hopefully a restored Superman 1 🤞

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

On 12/17/2023 at 6:18 PM, badback83 said:

I was able to nail down my #1 book this year.  Something I thought would never happen.  I was fortunate enough to find several fun books this year.  But this one is by far the most important of them all to me.  Sometimes I obsess over finding a specific item.  It can be exhausting and eventually take the fun out of the pursuit.  I'm really happy that didn't occur this time.  I took my time, made connections, worked out deals and eventually it led to the final goal.  As silly as it sounds, I was able to take a breath and relax after.  What a wonderful hobby this is...

The fact that this cover portrayed such a pivotal event, on top of being one that was as of yet unknown to Americans, catapults this cover into unique status. Congratulations!

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

My buying habits are very modest compared to some and I usually aim to get 12 books (slabs) a year.

This year I've exceeded that and also started buying raw to read again. I've also started buying slabs to crack out, also for reading and keeping with the other raws.

All my buys are in now, with the exception of two books which will probably arrive at the turn of the year. I hesitate to use the term 'grail', because I think it's naff and corny, but really these two books I've acquired are certainly grails for me. They represent my two most expensive purchases this year I think, and I've been after both of them for years, one book for over 15 years.

I'll post them up when I get them in hand, but for now here are my readers for 2023.......

my cracked out slabs for 2023....

and the pick of my slabs for the year.....

[Jayman]

On 12/18/2023 at 11:58 AM, Paul (GG) © ® ™⚽️💙 said:

My buying habits are very modest compared to some and I usually aim to get 12 books (slabs) a year.

This year I've exceeded that and also started buying raw to read again. I've also started buying slabs to crack out, also for reading and keeping with the other raws.

All my buys are in now, with the exception of two books which will probably arrive at the turn of the year. I hesitate to use the term 'grail', because I think it's naff and corny, but really these two books I've acquired are certainly grails for me. They represent my two most expensive purchases this year I think, and I've been after both of them for years, one book for over 15 years.

I'll post them up when I get them in hand, but for now here are my readers for 2023.......

my cracked out slabs for 2023....

and the pick of my slabs for the year.....

You’ve been on a tear lately with tons of great books! Congrats! 

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

On 12/19/2023 at 12:11 AM, Jayman said:

You’ve been on a tear lately with tons of great books! Congrats! 

Cheers meister! 

[Jayman]

On 12/18/2023 at 7:14 PM, Paul (GG) © ® ™⚽️💙 said:

Cheers meister! 

[walclark]

I think my buying for the year is over. Here are some highlights of my acquisitions. Not so much buying this year. Concentrated on two bigger (for me) purchases and then just some things that caught my eye.

I've always thought Blackhawk deserved more respect in the hobby. After all, he survived from the Golden Age to the Modern Age without superpowers.

 

I had a Catman #20 that looked nicer than this but lived in a PLOD. I drank the Kool-Aid and bought a Blue that doesn't look as nice. Mixed feelings.

 

A lot of you know that I have a special place in my heart for Cookeville Collection comics.  Added some to the pile.

This one is a puzzler.  What's with the hat? Was Supes afraid of getting sunburned?

 

Another Cookeville with Batman and Robin doing some detective work in Detective Comics. Or checking for rats in the sewer. Didn't NYC just appoint a new rat czar? This may be the first appearance of the Rat Czar.

 

More Cookevilles highlighting unique modes of transportation:

 

Started picking up a few Boy Comics in 2022 and the trend continued into 2023. Seems they kept coming up with new and fun ways to gruesomely kill people. Impaled by a flag stick on the golf course = fun for the whole family and hours of entertainment for the kids!

 

I have got to give some respect to the subway riders on this one. The engineer gets machine gunned up front and the riders calmly remain in their seats and the guy standing and holding the strap quietly reads his newspaper. Just like every day on the NYC subway system. 

 

And finally, as a goal, I continue to slowly chip away at completing the Real Life Comics run. I am holding out for higher grade copies (but I'm weak and sometimes stray off the path). Often that means getting a pedigree because this doesn't seem to be a widely collected title. It's kind of what makes the chase fun. If you've got any of these that you think I might be interested in, hit the DM button.

 

Happy holidays, denizens of the boards, and may all your wantlist wishes be filled in 2024!

[batman_fan]

On 12/22/2023 at 2:23 PM, walclark said:

I think my buying for the year is over. Here are some highlights of my acquisitions. Not so much buying this year. Concentrated on two bigger (for me) purchases and then just some things that caught my eye.

I've always thought Blackhawk deserved more respect in the hobby. After all, he survived from the Golden Age to the Modern Age without superpowers.

 

More Cookevilles highlighting unique modes of transportation:

 

Happy holidays, denizens of the boards, and may all your wantlist wishes be filled in 2024!

That Military Comics looks WAY better than the assigned grade

And the Batman 24 is awesome !  Must have snagged it from a collector with amazing taste.

[walclark]

On 12/22/2023 at 6:12 PM, batman_fan said:

That Military Comics looks WAY better than the assigned grade

And the Batman 24 is awesome !  Must have snagged it from a collector with amazing taste.

Not sure if I know a batman fan with amazing taste. 

[Ameri]

These Alex Schomburg pencil roughs were my most memorable acquisitions this year. The finished products were published in the Asimov science fiction digests.  

[Paul © ® ⚽️💙™]

On 12/24/2023 at 2:06 PM, Ameri said:

These Alex Schomburg pencil roughs were my most memorable acquisitions this year. The finished products were published in the Asimov science fiction digests.  

Incredible!   Congrats.