Bob Beerbohm, June 17, 1952 - Mar. 27, 2024 6 6

[jimbo_7071]

On 7/24/2024 at 12:13 AM, Hepcat said:

Huh?! What was contentious or controversial about any of Bob's opinions/views regarding comics?

 

On 7/24/2024 at 2:56 AM, Cat-Man_America said:

You've been on the CGC boards five years longer than your's truly, so it's assumed you'd be aware of the Obadiah Oldbuck and the San Francisco/Reilly pedigree debates. If not, please search archived posts for these topics because the discussions were indeed lively. Bob was quite passionate in his beliefs about comic history and that isn't meant as a negative reflection on him.  

Some of the discussions may have occurred before you ventured out of your Comics-General litter box into the GA forum, @Hepcat.

Some of Bob's threads may have poofed when he was kicked off of the CGC boards. I'll give you the short (and possibly inaccurate) version of one issue. There is a Victorian-era book called The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck that is somewhat like a comic book in that the story is told through illustrations with captions. (It's debatable how revolutionary that concept was; pictures have been used for storytelling for quite some time—and by quite some time I mean millenia.)

Because of the book's detailed illustrations supplemented by minimal text, Bob considered The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck to be the first true comic book and Obadiah himself the first comic book superstar rather than Superman of Action Comics fame.

Surely, Action Comics #1 would fade into obscurity once the world became aware of Obadiah Oldbuck, who would claim his rightful place front and center in the pantheon of comic book deities.

Never mind that The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck bore little resemblance to modern-format comic books with their panels and word balloons. Never mind that Superman's appearance in Action Comics #1 had essentially kicked off the superhero craze that became the Golden Age of Comics (sometimes referred to as the Golden Age of Superheroes specifically). Those collectors who had not yet attained enlightenment would eventually mature past their pedestrian tastes and become acolytes in Bob's cult of Obadiah Oldbuck; it was just a matter of time.

Get the picture?

Personally, I appreciated Bob's passion even if didn't agree with his assessment of Mr. Oldbuck's importance. Some board members, however, really got their hackles up and fought Bob tooth and nail, fiercely defending their beloved Man of Steel. It seems odd that the topic was so contentious, but perhaps old rivalries or personal dislike of Bob came into play. Perhaps Bob's tone struck the wrong chord. Whatever one's views on the Obadiah Oldbuck debate, Bob's knowledge of pre-Golden-Age comic books would be difficult to deny.

Edited July 24 by jimbo_7071

[woowoo]

Forwarding a message from Katy Beerbohm if anyone here is interested.

 

Katy Beerbohm-Young 

Dr Jeff Rapp would like to know if anyone would like to get together and have a little remembrance gathering for my dad at SDCC this weekend one evening. If you are interested, let me know and I'll get you in contact with him. He's not on Facebook.

[Aman619]

On 7/24/2024 at 7:40 AM, jimbo_7071 said:

 

Some of the discussions may have occurred before you ventured out of your Comics-General litter box into the GA forum, @Hepcat.

Some of Bob's threads may have poofed when he was kicked off of the CGC boards. I'll give you the short (and possibly inaccurate) version of one issue. There is a Victorian-era book called The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck that is somewhat like a comic book in that the story is told through illustrations with captions. (It's debatable how revolutionary that concept was; pictures have been used for storytelling for quite some time—and by quite some time I mean millenia.)

Because of the book's detailed illustrations supplemented by minimal text, Bob considered The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck to be the first true comic book and Obadiah himself the first comic book superstar rather than Superman of Action Comics fame.

Surely, Action Comics #1 would fade into obscurity once the world became aware of Obadiah Oldbuck, who would claim his rightful place front and center in the pantheon of comic book deities.

Never mind that The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck bore little resemblance to modern-format comic books with their panels and word balloons. Never mind that Superman's appearance in Action Comics #1 had essentially kicked off the superhero craze that became the Golden Age of Comics (sometimes referred to as the Golden Age of Superheroes specifically). Those collectors who had not yet attained enlightenment would eventually mature past their pedestrian tastes and become acolytes in Bob's cult of Obadiah Oldbuck; it was just a matter of time.

Get the picture?

Personally, I appreciated Bob's passion even if didn't agree with his assessment of Mr. Oldbuck's importance. Some board members, however, really got their hackles up and fought Bob tooth and nail, fiercely defending their beloved Man of Steel. It seems odd that the topic was so contentious, but perhaps old rivalries or personal dislike of Bob came into play. Perhaps Bob's tone struck the wrong chord. Whatever one's views on the Obadiah Oldbuck debate, Bob's knowledge of pre-Golden-Age comic books would be difficult to deny.

In addition to how you summed up the story of Obadiah, remember too that Bobs hyping of it was done off the boards.  We all heard of it and chimed in when the buyer of a copy posted here proudly convinced that the $22,000 he paid Bob for a copy of what he was convinced (by Bob) was to be a cheap price for the next Action 1 of comics. He received almost zero support and the thread was quite lively. And shifted the focus to what was considered a very one sided transaction.  Then followed by other dealings that tarnished nearly all of the good Bob did in the hobby. 

I used to chat with Bob in his booth at conventions. He didn’t carry the usual stuff everyone else did. I may have even purchased the handful of Cupples and Leon Hardbacks I have from him too, but don’t recall. 

[sfcityduck]

On 7/24/2024 at 10:25 AM, Aman619 said:

In addition to how you summed up the story of Obadiah, remember too that Bobs hyping of it was done off the boards.  We all heard of it and chimed in when the buyer of a copy posted here proudly convinced that the $22,000 he paid Bob for a copy of what he was convinced (by Bob) was to be a cheap price for the next Action 1 of comics. He received almost zero support and the thread was quite lively. And shifted the focus to what was considered a very one sided transaction.  Then followed by other dealings that tarnished nearly all of the good Bob did in the hobby. 

I used to chat with Bob in his booth at conventions. He didn’t carry the usual stuff everyone else did. I may have even purchased the handful of Cupples and Leon Hardbacks I have from him too, but don’t recall. 

Hard to believe a dealer would be criticized for making a market for a historically important piece of comic history based on a reasonable premise: The book arguably was the first American published "comic book" (albeit a reprint and not in what we now view as the classic comic format). A number of scholars seems to agree and the book and related objects has made it into the libraries of top Universities and Museums. Two examples: https://www.library.dartmouth.edu/digital/digital-collections/adventures-mr-obadiah-oldbuck; https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG167376

That's a lot different than flogging copies of a minor and insignificant comic book like Major Inapak the Space Ace, which is plentiful due to a warehouse find, as being worth $100, even though it routinely sells on eBay for $10, which I shockingly saw a dealer doing recently at a Bay Area con (I'd didn't ask about the price, my hope is it was a joke or mistake). 

The hard thing about selling comics is that they are only worth what folks will pay. They have no objective value. The value derives from a mix of things like the historical import, the beauty of the interior art, the first appearances of important new characters, increasingly the cover art, etc. The market sets the price.

But when you are selling a very very rare comic for which there's no market history, the seller has to go with their gut and hope a buyer agrees. I've had to do that for comics I sold for four and five figures, and I can tell you that the comics I've sold keep me up at night not because I think my prices were too high given the merits of the books in question, but that I sold them too low. And since none of those books have re-sold, and may not re-sell or other copies come to market in my lifetime, I may never know. But at least the next sellers of any copies of those comics that emerge have some market history to work with. Something I didn't. 

So I can't really criticize BB on selling an Obidiah Oldbuck or claiming it is part of comic history. 

The unsupported hype of the San Francisco collection is more specious to me. Would have been better to just let the comics speak for themselves or to fully document his claims (and he did neither). But hard for me to take even that too seriously given the similar practice industry on the backstories of a number of "pedigrees." Hard for me to trust most of them.

[brainbats]

On 7/24/2024 at 12:10 PM, sfcityduck said:

That's a lot different than flogging copies of a minor and insignificant comic book like Major Inapak the Space Ace, which is plentiful due to a warehouse find, as being worth $100, even though it routinely sells on eBay for $10, which I shockingly saw a dealer doing recently at a Bay Area con (I'd didn't ask about the price, my hope is it was a joke or mistake). 

 

Somehow an unslabbed Major Inapak graded as VF/NM sold for $204 on Heritage this month.

[sfcityduck]

On 7/24/2024 at 1:42 PM, brainbats said:

Somehow an unslabbed Major Inapak graded as VF/NM sold for $204 on Heritage this month.

Fool and their money? Around twenty separate copies have sold on eBay in recent months with most below $10 and a number below $5. There are over 60 copies on eBay now with prices starting at $5 and only one of those priced over $100. It will probably never sell (Cgc 5.0 for around $150).

[MattTheDuck]

On 7/24/2024 at 1:42 PM, brainbats said:

Somehow an unslabbed Major Inapak graded as VF/NM sold for $204 on Heritage this month.

Wasn't that copy signed by the Major though?

[Straw-Man]

HA!!!