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

[Bronty]

That's my opinion... now I don't collect much GA and I don't have a copy of this book, but what is the fascination here? Why on EARTH would anyone in their right mind pay as much as $50K for a hg copy? A non-bizarro world price for this book is about $5K in my opinion.

 

Sure, it is scarce. Agreed. Wtf else does it have going for it? An appearance of the Grey Mask. Give me a break The "classic" Schomburg cover? Give me a break! The cover is mediocre by Schomburg's high standards. Certainly not as good as one of his Marvel Mystery covers. Certainly not in the same league as his "Xela" airbrush covers. On a par with some of the Black Terror covers, perhaps. Not as good as the LB Cole covers on 8 and 11!!! In fact, as far as I remember, there never was any particular interest in this cover until Gerber decided to showcase it as the full page inset to one of his PhotoJournals.

 

So let's review:

-scarce: yes.

-classic cover: sorta. Great artist but average for his oeuvre. (sp?)

-first appearance? No.

-origin? No.

-historical importance? No.

-early book of a major publisher? No.

 

...and the "no" answers keep coming.

 

Basically, I think we have a rare book that took off to the stratosphere based on exposure from the Photo Journal.

 

Let me repeat: Why on EARTH would anyone in their right mind pay as much as $50K for a hg copy?

[aardvark88]

Hmmm, the pricing on Suspense 3 & Fantastic Comics 3 (Robot cover by Lou Fine) may have been manipulated 10-12 yrs ago b/c Fischler (Metro) was running around paying overguide for every single copy he could lay his hands on. Low print run & strong demand, but I prefer Lou Fine's Hit Comics 5 black spine.

 

Suspense 3 is popular b/c of the controversial early KKK torture cover. Would agree that L. B. Cole's Mask #2 devil cover is also outstanding & still underpriced now.

[Bronty]

I prefer Hit 5 as well - just a beautiful book.

 

As for being an early KKK cover - big deal. There is nothing that special about this book to warrant the price tag

[Bonds25]

Average cover?

[Bronty]

Average Schomburg cover. Are you honestly telling me that you think a guide price of $17K is reasonable?

 

It's NOT a first appearance or otherwise important. Please tell me how this price makes sense

[aardvark88]

Because JP the Mint took out a color ad in the Overstreet promoting his Suspense 3 cgc 7.0 fn/vf for a reasonable $49,500.

[Bronty]

That's what I mean - the price is ridiculous!!! This book is not a "super-key" - everybody say it with me - OVER-RATED!!

[hammer-migration]

VERY overpriced and over-rated. One of the Golden age dealers on the Golden age section thread that had his website link posted has a Suspense 3 in CGC 4.5 for the bargain price of $21,500!!!!!! You can buy a Cap 1 in CGC 7.0 for that!!

[Bonds25]

I wouldn't pay $17K for it, but I do love the cover!! It's just a rare book that has a MUCH bigger demand than supply.

[Bronty]

..."Thus spoketh the Lord, and none did question"

 

Hammer - that is an excellent comparison!

[Bronty]

It's just a rare book that has a MUCH bigger demand than supply.

 

Could say the same about a Cap 1 cgc 7.0!

[PovertyRow]

If anyone has the following CBM 3/98 issue could they quote this Marketplace Mail or give the gist of it?

 

Collector's Item Mentality?" / Dan Hampton. p. 75-76 in Comic Book Marketplace, v. 2, no. 57 (Mar. 1998) -- (Marketplace Mail) -- Letter on Suspense Comics #3 and the reasons it might be collectible. -- Call no.: PN6714.C632v.2no.57

 

Oh - one last thought - it is NOT what they are ASKING for it - it is what they are BUYING it for!

 

[blowout]

How about someone posting a scan of the cover of Suspense #3, so we can all see what you are person_without_enough_empathying about?

[PovertyRow]

A few observations. You really can't compare the Schomburg airbrushes or the WWII Timely covers with this one. It is really a different presentation and one which is a bit startling considering the subject matter. I recently read that there are about 12 complete copies of this book but have absolutely no way to verify that and am having the dickens of a time finding that site again.

 

One thing of interest:

 

EC did a rare (for EC) swipe of that cover in THIS.

[drbanner]

Yep, the subject matter/presentation of this cover is quite different from most of his Timelys and any of the airbrushed covers. Like Mask 2, you have a nice centered, primary bad guy, and lots of cool action around it - bondage, sacrifice, hooded nazis, and so forth. I would put this as one of his best covers, and think most Schomburg collectors would agree. Also, Suspense Comics is a great little mini-series to collect if you can pick up the #3 due to the great Cole covers (link to Suspense cover gallery) on the rest of the books, so there is some demand due to collector mentality in finishing the run.

 

Heritage has sold 2 of these, and the description they provide includes something to the affect of "20 copies known to exist...only about half of them are complete."

 

[Crowzilla]

I love the cover, but I also agree with everything that is being said here.

It is way overpriced.

The last copy I had looked like a G/VG, but it was missing 3 centerfolds, and I still sold it to Jason Ewert for $2,500! And this was in San Diego in 1995!!

 

If you're going to get a classic cover book as an investment, better to go with a mainstream superhero. I'm still ticked at myself for not upgrading to the 9.0 Superman #14 that Heritage had about a year ago. It only went for around 4k if I remember right.

No way is a 4.5 Suspense #3 worth 5x what the highest graded copy of Superman #14 is worth.

 

[rob_react]

That's funny, on the way into work this morning I read a letter you (zillatoy) wrote to CBM mentioning this very book. You talk about offering Gerber 10x guide for the Mile High copy.

 

At that point guide was probably two or three hundred dollars so it's not as scary as it sounds.

 

For my part, I like the cover, but I can think of probably dozens of Schomburg covers that I'd rather have. Scarcity obviously plays a factor in the price, but playing it to the tune of $50,000 is above and beyond the call of duty.

[Bronty]

Banner - thanks for the scans and the links. Everyone reading this thread please do me a favor and check out the LB Cole covers to 8 and 11 - they are superior to #3. Now it's a cool little series, but only if you feel like giving away a down payment on a nice house to afford it

[greggy]

That's funny, on the way into work this morning I read a letter you (zillatoy) wrote to CBM mentioning this very book. You talk about offering Gerber 10x guide for the Mile High copy.

 

At that point guide was probably two or three hundred dollars so it's not as scary as it sounds.

 

For my part, I like the cover, but I can think of probably dozens of Schomburg covers that I'd rather have. Scarcity obviously plays a factor in the price, but playing it to the tune of $50,000 is above and beyond the call of duty.

 

Actually, I believe that a former collector locally owns that copy. He purchased it from Gerber in the early 1990s for around $1,800!

[Crowzilla]

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.