Suspense Comics #3 - most overrated GA book in existence???

[Bronty]

Whatever happened to Magik? I haven't seen him in years. Do you remember his enormous silver "Magik" belt buckle?

 

Can't believe he had his own name on his belt buckle

[hammer-migration]

Bronty,

Who are we talking about? Still buys and sells today? Major dealer?

[lou_fine]

Bronty;

 

I would have to agree that Suspense Comics #3 is an overrated book based upon the current market value required to pick up a copy. I agreed with most collectors that it does contain a classic cover and is very tough to find. It should be noted, however, that there are quite a few other classic covers which would be equal to or even better than the Suspense Comics #3 which has a much lower market value. In fact, I believe that the cover of Suspense Comics #3 is basically a SWIPE from SUSPENSE COMICS #1 which goes for substanitally less in the Overstreet Price Guide even though it is a number one issue. I would have to agree with ODIN88 that Fishler is the primary reason why this book is priced so high in the guide since he was basicaly buying up every copy which came into the marketplace back in the mid to late 90's.

 

Maybe this is a good opportunity for collectors to list their TOP 5 Golden-Age covers?

[drbanner]

the cover of Suspense Comics #3 is basically a SWIPE from SUSPENSE COMICS #1

 

Yeah, it sure looks like it, and incredibly enough, there's a copy of this scarce book currently on ebay!! However, the "army" of Quinlan collectors would be quickly squashed by the hordes of Schomburg collectors looking for each book...

[sfilosa]

THis is really a useless debate.

 

Come on; "WE ALL COLLECT COMIC BOOKS". These are piece of paper that only have a real value to those who collect them. They aren not even original works of art, mere reproductions.

 

EVERY COMIC BOOK IS OVERPRICED .

 

But that's not going to stop me from collecting. As long as I get a book that I like (and everyone has different taste), and I feel that if I HAD to sell it (not WANT but HAD) that I could get by money back (or a little more or less), I will pay whatever I feel that it is worth.

 

Nuff Sad!!!!

 

 

[PovertyRow]

Come on; "WE ALL COLLECT COMIC BOOKS". These are piece of paper that only have a real value to those who collect them. They aren not even original works of art, mere reproductions.

 

Pretty much all of us here know that. But this is NOT a useless debate. It is a very interesting one.This type of debate can never be "won" by any side. But in the process of trying to win it, some very cool insights and subjective perceptions come out.

[sfilosa]

But this is NOT a useless debate.

 

I agree, it is not useless assuming you take the position that "NO ONE WILL WIN" (which you did).

 

Of course, to me the purpose of debating is to present evidence to someone else in the hopes of change their mind (thereby, you have WON).

 

If the arguement had been, "What is the worst investment in a Golden Age comic" then the VALUE of the comic should be debated.

 

But the topic of the Thread is "Suspense Comics #3 - most overrated GA book in existence???" which doesn't not have anything to do with value.

 

Did I change anyones mind yet?

No!

Darn!

 

 

[Bronty]

Hammer,

 

Magik (lastname: edited by Bronty for privacy) was never a national dealer as far as I'm aware. He was a local dealer here in Vancouver in the late 80s and was a mainstay at every convention with some higher end and higher grade books. Was a major early supporter of Tim Vigil - bought a signficant portion of the print run for the early Faust comics. Gotta be some 9.8s in there

 

Also a bit of a character as he was pretty uncompromising on prices... and had an enormous silver belt buckle with his own name on it!

[Bronty]

sfilosa,

 

All I am saying is that while it is a nice book, for my limited collecting dollars, it is the single worst GA buy out there. I can't think of another book where I could sink so much money and get so little in return.

 

Dan

[sfilosa]

So you are really saying you think it is a bad investment? At 50K, I probably would agree with you.

 

On the other hand, I'm not sure buying 50K of ultra-high grade supposedly key bronze age books is a very good investment either. Ten years from now they could be worth 20% of there current value (especially if the census starts showing 100's-1,000's of high grade copies).

 

Still, I think Suspense #3 has a great cover (but I do like several other covers in the series better).

[Bronty]

I'm not talking about a purely profit motivated investment - I just mean that my collecting resources are not infinite. Therefore, Suspense 3 is the last book I would buy. As I have stated above, the price tag on this book is not justified. Consider the type of book you could get for the same money - Hammer's example was a cgc 7.0 Cap 1. Now which would you rather have?

[greggy]

That's Magic W., right?

I think he has at least 3 copies if I remember correctly.

 

Yeah, I was about 2-3 months too late when I made my offer to Ernie.

And I think guide at the time was $200 - so my offer of $2,000 seemed pretty good.

Although at the time, no one was paying 10X guide for Mile Highs.

 

Again - great cover. I like it better than the others in the run.

But it should probably be on par in value with a Phantom Lady #17 - not

5-6x as much.

 

Yeah, that's him. However, I remember him mentioning that the book was actually a copy Ernie bought from Bob Overstreet. He said that he did not believe that a Church copy existed.

 

He's been long since retired from collecting or selling comics. He got bored when he couldn't find some obscure books for his collections.

 

Also, too bad he was such a fan of having most of his high grade Silver books cleaned and pressed back in the day. He has a phenomenal run of Spidey 1-20 and 28. He said that he showed the #1 to Steve Fischler in the early 1990s and was told by Fischler that it was the best copy that he has seen in 10 years. I've only seen a laser copy of the book but odin88 saw it in person. Looks like a solid NM copy to me. Too bad about it being cleaned and pressed. Luckily I don't think he cares anymore, as buiding and riding motorcycles is his passion now!

[PovertyRow]

the cover of Suspense Comics #3 is basically a SWIPE from SUSPENSE COMICS #1

 

I initially said "Huh? Are you nuts?" but then took a good look. There are definite swipe elements - the moon. The 90 degree angle background upon which the hero is standing. The large center figure. The cloudy streaks in the sky.

 

But I submit this is one of those ocassions where the swipe is superior to the original. The swipe elements are pretty much incidental. The Suspense #1 looks like any number of Rangers, Wings, etc. bondage covers. What Schomburg did was to take the central theme and really go somewhere with it. Suspense #3, in my opinion, leaves #1 in the dust and it is Schomburg's dust (which is good dust).

 

On a more serious note, the Suspense #3 is more of a "composition swipe" - made that term up but I mean elements of design and composition were pretty obviously copied, but the feel and intent of #1 vs #3 are very different.

 

I posted the Shock SuspenseStories in a link but am gonna add a comparative image direct. I think the feel and intent of Shock SuspenseStories and Suspense 3 are basically the same. The hooded figures - Nazi in Suspense and KKK in Shock, add real emotional elements that transcend the compositional. Both figures represent an evil, and the annonymity of the hooded figures adds much to the feel. Portraying the woman kneeling and bound implies a sense of - how to put it - subservience? Something more humiliating than simply being helpless. (No, I don't get off on that - am trying to be analytical). The end result is an image that is far more powerful in the Suspense 3 and Shock swipe.

 

Now do I feel the Suspense 3 is worth 50k? It depends on my collecting proclivities. I am still looking for a Captain America's Weird Tales 75 which shows a quite good (but certainly not GREAT) pre-code horror cover and am willing to spend considerably more than pretty much any of the comics in my collection, even though some of my covers I consider superior. What is NOT superior is knowing this is a Captain America's Weird Tales. The book is legendary as is that Suspense 3. For a completist like I am trying to be, the book is essential or my collection will not be - well - complete.

 

So I think this aspect may also be a factor. What price does one pay to achieve their goal?

 

Oh yea - the swipe comparisons:

 

[Dr_Neff]

I think someone had a fair .5 go for $5,000 but hey it was complete!

I think the rarity and the sensatoinalism of the subject matter propelled the value. Obviously by my signature you can tell what my favorite A.S. work was. As for the OTHER A.S. I like his Saturday Evening Post Covers of the late 1930's.

 

 

Let me check the Church copies real quick, he had 1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11, and 12.

 

No number three my friends!

 

Oh yeah I forgot, Mr. Magik did quite a few shows 1987-1991 especially dealing in high grade comic books. On rare ocassion he had books pressed by Cicconi.

He had books photographed by Ernie for the Photojournals. He did help the boys put out Faust: Love of the Damned premiere issue and also

dealt quite a few Cry For Dawn's until Canada Customs confiscated boxes of them.

Furthermore you can thank Mr. Magik (And Gary Colabuono) for the Spider-Man: Skating on thin Ice saturation in the U.S. (I am exaggerating but they had alot)

 

I sold books for him that people would get and just send checks for, sometimes 10x guide. I think I only had to ask for money one time and they paid cash!

 

His ASM # 1-20 ARE NOT pressed or cleaned or anything. His # 1 I told him we could get $100,000.00 for in 1993. There are NO stress lines, unlike even the 9.8's (unslabbed) I've seen. Now I think he could easily get 7 figures for the 1-20.

 

He was my first want list customer in 1988, for a Showcase # 34.

 

He was involved in a head on collision with a truck coming into his turn lane as he was sitting waiting to turn on his motorcycle. He was down for awhile but came back, to work on his collection of Triumph chromes.

 

Mr. Magik taught me to watch for trimmed books and married covers, and to always bring cash when viewing collections because a lot of times other competing dealers would bring checks and promises and you whip out $2,000.00 canadian AND $2,000.00 U.S. just like that and walk away with everything even though the other dealer may have been there "1st", and offered more than 3 times what you had. No one wants to wait for money.

NOW BACK TO THE TOPIC let's start a Mr. Magik thread or something!

 

AS for rare, how about Batman # 19? or the Ashccans?

 

 

[Bronty]

Dr. Neff,

 

Are you based in Vancouver??? Interesting insights on Magik. If you're right about the ASMs being unrestored, they would be quite a treasure trove indeed

[COI]

I'm coming into this a little late, but it's a great thread.

 

POV, nice comparisons. Personally, I think the Shock Suspenstories is more compelling. I've been wanting this book for a while, and you've just rekindled my interest. Have you or anyone else read either the Shock Suspenstories or any of the Suspense series? If so, are the stories half as compelling as the covers?

[Dr_Neff]

Bronty, no on the Vancouver, and I'm not Matt Schiffman either. I think the ASM copy could be the only 10.0 .

 

what about ekgren covers?

[Bronty]

10.0??? C'mon, there's no way to even speculate on anything above 9.8!

 

We are talking about the 60's Spiderman series not the 90's one, right?

[PovertyRow]

I'm coming into this a little late, but it's a great thread.

 

POV, nice comparisons. Personally, I think the Shock Suspenstories is more compelling. I've been wanting this book for a while, and you've just rekindled my interest. Have you or anyone else read either the Shock Suspenstories or any of the Suspense series? If so, are the stories half as compelling as the covers?

 

Yes, the stories can be quite compelling, especially in Shock where they usually have a "morality tale" that is very hard hitting (various aspects of racism and its ilk were presented in-depth. In fact, that SS cover above depicts one of those morality tales and it is a doozy.

[ghoulaid]

Shock Suspense is my favorite EC title (behind the science fiction books)! There aren't that many issues so it's managable to collect. I like the stories because they seem more based on reality, as though they were ripped out the (then current) headlines. Great stuff!