The Complete New Adventure Run, At Long Last 10 10

[sfcityduck]

On 4/10/2024 at 7:30 AM, RareHighGrade said:

This pristine Church copy of issue #26 is the jewel of my collection.  One of the things that makes it unique is the name written in the upper left-hand corner of the cover.  Of the 18,000 books in Edgar Church’s collection, only around 10 have the name “Church” written on the cover.  One of the other books sharing this rare distinction:  Edgar’s copy of Action Comics #1.

Along with its terrific cover, the issue also includes an ad for Action Comics #1.

#26 is renowned for its rarity.  As anyone who frequented the CGC Boards in the mid-2000’s will remember, it was Ian Levine’s White Whale, eluding him for years until it became the very last issue he needed to complete his collection of all DC books ever published.

 

Do you know the rhyme or reason for the "church" names on the 10 covers?  All from the same month?  Just curious. 

 

[woowoo]

@RareHighGrade you or anyone have the link to your pre Batman Tecs ?

[grendelbo]

On 4/12/2024 at 10:31 AM, woowoo said:

@RareHighGrade you or anyone have the link to your pre Batman Tecs ?

https://comics.www.collectors-society.com/registry/comics/PeopleSetDetail.aspx?PeopleSetID=95568

 

[RareHighGrade]

On 4/12/2024 at 8:21 AM, ThothAmon said:

Incredible collecting accomplishment as were the Pre Bat Detectives. My understanding was an unknown number of the earliest Church copies of Detective were not purchased off the newsstand by Edgar but were actually back issue purchases. Anything to that on this run?  

I believe that the Church copy of NA #12, posted at the beginning of this thread, was purchased second-hand by Church.  I understand that the Church copy of #13, which I have not seen, was also lower grade, so it too may have been second-hand.  The first issue that Church bought off the stand was probably #14 (posted herein), which is in relatively high grade.

Edited April 13 by RareHighGrade

[RareHighGrade]

On 4/12/2024 at 9:09 AM, sfcityduck said:

Do you know the rhyme or reason for the "church" names on the 10 covers?  All from the same month?  Just curious. 

There's no rhyme or reason that I can think of.  They were not all from the same month, as demonstrated by this book, which came out several months after NA #26 and Action #1:

 

[Badger]

On 4/6/2024 at 4:58 PM, RareHighGrade said:

It has been a decades-long goal of mine to complete the run of New Adventure Comics, which most seasoned collectors agree is the most challenging series of DC books.  This 20-book run includes numerous classic covers by my favorite Golden Age artist, Creig Flessel, as well as interior work by the likes of Siegel and Shuster, Leo O’Mealia, Fred Guardineer and Bob Kane (before Batman).

My quest started in the 1990’s, when I ran monthly want ads in the Comic Book Marketplace magazine offering to purchase any of these books.  How many responses did I get?  Not even one!  So I had to do it the hard way – picking up, at most, a copy or two a year from dealers, fellow collectors or auctions.  Although I was able to complete most of the run after a couple of decades of effort, one issue continued to elude me.  Until now.  

Having finally completed the set, I plan to post the books in sequential order in this thread.

I'm late to the party but I'll add my cheers to this accomplishment. Completing just about any GA run is tough but this is an order of magnitude more difficult than most! Congratulations! 

Edited April 12 by Badger
typos. so many typos.

[Bronty]

On 4/12/2024 at 11:45 AM, adamstrange said:

DCs from 1938 - 1940 were printed on much better paper stock than was used for Timely's. They are, from my experience and with some exceptions, the pinnacle copies of the Church collection.

Good point.   

Although I suppose we do have some idea of what to expect from the Timelys...  come to think of it !

Edited April 12 by Bronty

[adamstrange]

Speaking as someone who owns some, Church Timely's are spectacular. 

I am among the lucky few who have seen many of these New Adv comics in person (thank you, RHG ). 

It is difficult to convey how disconcerting and delightful it is to look at a comic book that you know is more than 80 years old but that looks like it was printed yesterday.

Edited April 12 by adamstrange

[Bronty]

On 4/12/2024 at 3:51 PM, adamstrange said:

Speaking as someone who owns some, Church Timely's are spectacular. 

I am among the lucky few who have seen many of these New Adv comics in person (thank you, RHG ). 

It is difficult to convey how disconcerting and delightful it is to look at a comic book that you know is more than 80 years old but that looks like it was printed yesterday.

Awesome.   May I ask which ones you own?   I thought the whole run was with the Verzyl's. 

[RareHighGrade]

On 4/12/2024 at 8:04 AM, buttock said:

Peter, do you remember which was the first of these issues you got and when? 

That's a perfectly timed question Dan.  The first book that I purchased is the last issue in the run, #31. My raw copy, which I picked up 3 decades ago, comes from the “penciled S” pedigree.

 

[adamstrange]

On 4/12/2024 at 4:48 PM, RareHighGrade said:

is the last issue in the run, #31

Your public demands moar!

[1950's war comics]

does that mean this great thread is over ??   ohhh nooo !!

[1950's war comics]

On 4/11/2024 at 9:05 AM, RareHighGrade said:

Issue #28 is another very tough book, with only 8 Universal copies in the census.  It has a great cover depicting armed pirates taking over a vessel.  The captain’s distressed look is understandable, given that his undersized billy club is likely to prove ineffective against his assailants’ swords and guns.  If you look closely, you can see Flessel’s signature subtly hidden along the ropes. 

This non-pedigree CGC 9.0 copy tops the census.  No one has seen a Church copy.

that pirate bottom right is one of the most evil looking guys i ever seen !!

[RareHighGrade]

On 4/12/2024 at 2:01 PM, adamstrange said:

Your public demands moar!

 

On 4/12/2024 at 3:01 PM, 1950's war comics said:

does that mean this great thread is over ??   ohhh nooo !!

I appreciate all of the kind comments made by everyone throughout the course of this thread; they have made my completion of the run even more satisfying.  I'll finish by noting that, starting with issue #32, the title dropped “New” and became simply “Adventure Comics,” which is the title that remained until the series ended in 1983 with issue #503.  Creig Flessel's classic shark/raft battle cover was an awesome way to introduce the new title.  

 

[Jayman]

Amazing thread! Thanks for sharing these gems. 

[sagii]

On 4/12/2024 at 7:11 PM, RareHighGrade said:

 

I appreciate all of the kind comments made by everyone throughout the course of this thread; they have made my completion of the run even more satisfying.  I'll finish by noting that, starting with issue #32, the title dropped “New” and became simply “Adventure Comics,” which is the title that remained until the series ended in 1983 with issue #503.  Creig Flessel's classic shark/raft battle cover was an awesome way to introduce the new title.  

 

Sweet bonus and killer thread! Thank you for sharing these awesome books  with us, cool experience

Edited April 13 by sagii

[Crowzilla]

Peter such a wonderful and beautiful run, many thanks for sharing with us.

 

As a side note, am I the only one who looked at the pictures of the Church Adventure #s 26, 29, and 30 and imagined the copies of Action #1, 3, and 4 sitting in the original stacks next to them and in similar conditions?

[ttecwaf]

Thank you for sharing.  Truly a one of a kind.  

As far as "value" as RareHighGrade noted issue #15 only has 5 registered copies (only 3 universal) which makes it the least common in the run. 

Based on CGC census the other 4 "rarest" would be issues 25-28.

25 8 universal 1 Qualified 3 restored TOTAL 12

26 7 universal 0 Qualified 2 restored TOTAL 9

27 11 universal 2 qualified 1 restored TOTAL 14

28 8 universal 0 qualified 2 restored TOTAL 10

Sale prices on 26 and 27 have historically been higher than 25 and 28 despite similar (extremely low) census numbers.

The question is are issues 15, 25 and 28 "undervalued" or are 26 and 27 "over valued"?

 

 

[Robot Man]

On 4/12/2024 at 4:11 PM, RareHighGrade said:

 

I appreciate all of the kind comments made by everyone throughout the course of this thread; they have made my completion of the run even more satisfying.  I'll finish by noting that, starting with issue #32, the title dropped “New” and became simply “Adventure Comics,” which is the title that remained until the series ended in 1983 with issue #503.  Creig Flessel's classic shark/raft battle cover was an awesome way to introduce the new title.  

 

Any plans to continue the run up to maybe #40 when the Sandman appears? So many cool covers there as well.

Thanks for posting these as a run and letting us live vicariously through you!

 

[RareHighGrade]

On 4/13/2024 at 7:50 AM, Robot Man said:

Any plans to continue the run up to maybe #40 when the Sandman appears? So many cool covers there as well.

Thanks for posting these as a run and letting us live vicariously through you!

The reason why I was so focused on completing the NA run is my love of the great Flessel covers. Similarly, his covers in the early Detective run were the original impetus for my pursuing the Tec 1-26 run,  His last Adventure cover was #33, so I haven't made it a goal to collect all the issues through #39, although I really like the Flanagan covers in that run (nos. 36, 37, 38 and 39).