Blind Owl Posted January 27, 2008 Share Posted January 27, 2008 Nice Books Scrooge; I love St. Johns, and you are right, they are difficult in grade, and in fact among the rarest of all comic publishers as a whole. I think only Centaurs are probably more scarce if you were collect all of them. Oops!!! I probably need to clarify what I mean by that statment. What I mean is this: If you added all books published by this publisher you'd find that a high percentage of their books will be hard to obtain!!!! Let's say over half (50%). I think Centaurs are probably 75% as being difficult to locate in grade. There are some books much rarer scattered about from various publishers (I'd consider DC as #3 in this catagory), but St. Johns are up there. Anyway didn't mean to ramble on, Nice Books!!!! (thumbs u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 I see what you mean and agree. I'll go further and we can compare and contrast St. John's output and surviving stock with that of Star (which I completed thanks to today's mail: True-to-Life Romances # 10): Stars are easier to find in grade. Wanna a proof: check out my books and they all look tons better than the St. John's! However, there's a study in contrast in QP. Someone at Star could have afforded a phone call to the printers to let them know they wanted their books printed straight! Miswraps a-galore in this shot. Oh well, one more publisher down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blind Owl Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Nice Scrooge; Most of those covers I've never seen before. I especially like that Holiday Comics, Merry Christmas issue. Stunning colors!!! Thanks for posting them!!! (thumbs u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.A.tor Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 all great, but I especially like that BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamstrange Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Now that's one cool grouping! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blind Owl Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Since I completed my St John needs I figured I'd post them as a group. As you can see St John's are tough to find in good shape. I mean I generally have a book or two in semi-nice shape but for these there are quite a few beat-up books, proof of 1) their scarcity and 2) that as I near completion I am jumping at the first copy available of books I need. St John's output is concentrated in: TerryToons and Romance books, kind of a specialty publisher if you wish. An in-depth analysis of the company is due in Alter Ego # 77 and there are also John Benson's 2 books: Romance without Tears that reprints St John romance stories and his follow-up book: Confessions, Romances, Secrets, and Temptations: Archer St John and the St John Romance Comics which I have yet to read even though it's been sitting on my bookshelf for the better part of a year. Ahhh, I wish I had more time - Hi Scrooge, I was just wondering when you say completed, are you talking about every issue published by St. John!!! According to my research there are 104 titles published by St. John, some of these are extremely tough to locate. Do you have all 104 titles!!! Joe P.S. for the record in the next day of so I'll post a little chart with publishers with the most Gerber 7 and up books for those interested. Briefly here are the top five: 1) Centaur- a total of 85 books Gerber 7 or higher. 2) Dell- a total of 71 books Gerber 7 or higher (surprised!!) 3) DC- a total of 68 books gerber 7 or higher 4) St. Johns- a total of 57 books Gerber 7 or higher 5) Fox- a total of 54 books Gerber 7 or higher. Of course we know Gerber Scarcity Index is a little flawed, but it's still quite interesting as I believe it's probably somewhat close to reality!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayman Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Great group Scrooge! I've always found it odd how LB Cole rendered his "Funny Animals" so shiny as if they were made of glass. Even the furry ones...strange, but I still like 'em! (thumbs u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Hi Scrooge, I was just wondering when you say completed, are you talking about every issue published by St. John!!! According to my research there are 104 titles published by St. John, some of these are extremely tough to locate. Do you have all 104 titles!!! Joe Heck no. I guess some people aren't familiar as to what my "needs" and "goal" are. I am building a synchronic collection. I am assembling all books that were published in March 1952 (or Jan-March, Feb-March, Spring, ... you get the idea) so the books you saw posted were all the St Johns on the stands for that time period. Same with the group of books by Star. Lately as I am knocking off publishers, I post groups of their entire line at that time period. Next up, if my bid wins tomorrow, I should be able to show the completed Ziff-Davis I'm looking forward to that list of Gerber 7's and up. You're right though, we'll have to look closely at those Dells ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seank Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 P.S. for the record in the next day of so I'll post a little chart with publishers with the most Gerber 7 and up books for those interested. Briefly here are the top five: 2) Dell- a total of 71 books Gerber 7 or higher (surprised!!) Dell published A LOT of books. They probably got into that list from sheer quantity. I bet they top the list of Gerber 4s and 5s also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straw-Man Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 COMPLETE! i posted this a couple weeks back, with a missing wingman for the one hole in the moon girl appearance run. but, the hole is now filled--here's the last bad girl, thanks to Rob at Four Color. love that feeling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacentaur Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 P.S. for the record in the next day of so I'll post a little chart with publishers with the most Gerber 7 and up books for those interested. Briefly here are the top five: 2) Dell- a total of 71 books Gerber 7 or higher (surprised!!) Dell published A LOT of books. They probably got into that list from sheer quantity. I bet they top the list of Gerber 4s and 5s also. I thought the same when the numbers were first put up. From 1934 to 1962, Dell published 5,756 issues so 71 Gerber 7 is 1.2% of books. Let's contrast to some others: 1) Centaur- a total of 85 books Gerber 7 or higher. From 1938 to 1942, Centaur published 194 books so the %age is a high 43.8%!! 4) St. Johns- a total of 57 books Gerber 7 or higher St John published 873 books so their percentage is 6.5%. 5) Fox- a total of 54 books Gerber 7 or higher. Fox published an ominous 666 books so the Gerber 7 and higher represent 8.1% of the population. It seems that Fox books are tougher than those St John's BlindOwl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonds25 Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I'll go further and we can compare and contrast St. John's output and surviving stock with that of Star (which I completed thanks to today's mail: True-to-Life Romances # 10): Stars are easier to find in grade. Wanna a proof: check out my books and they all look tons better than the St. John's! Awesome group of books - L.B. Cole was great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blind Owl Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 P.S. for the record in the next day of so I'll post a little chart with publishers with the most Gerber 7 and up books for those interested. Briefly here are the top five: 2) Dell- a total of 71 books Gerber 7 or higher (surprised!!) Dell published A LOT of books. They probably got into that list from sheer quantity. I bet they top the list of Gerber 4s and 5s also. I thought the same when the numbers were first put up. From 1934 to 1962, Dell published 5,756 issues so 71 Gerber 7 is 1.2% of books. Let's contrast to some others: 1) Centaur- a total of 85 books Gerber 7 or higher. From 1938 to 1942, Centaur published 194 books so the %age is a high 43.8%!! 4) St. Johns- a total of 57 books Gerber 7 or higher St John published 873 books so their percentage is 6.5%. 5) Fox- a total of 54 books Gerber 7 or higher. Fox published an ominous 666 books so the Gerber 7 and higher represent 8.1% of the population. It seems that Fox books are tougher than those St John's BlindOwl. Looks like you're right on that Scrooge!!!! Didn't know how many books FOX published during their stint!!! Nice research job!!!! So I guess as far as a % FOX would rank #2. Still working on some of the others if I recall correctly I think Marvel had 36, Gerber 7 or above books!!! Now you want to try to try & guess how many DC's were published. I don't know but it must be astronomical!!! P.S. I think maybe when I have more data I'll start a thread to input this info. I don't want to tie up this thread with such mundane matters!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Now you want to try to try & guess how many DC's were published. I don't know but it must be astronomical!!! The numbers of issues both DC and Timely / Atlas published is rather easy to figure. The problem is that we have to set a specific time limit: 1956, 1960 , 1962? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blind Owl Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 (edited) P.S. for the record in the next day of so I'll post a little chart with publishers with the most Gerber 7 and up books for those interested. Briefly here are the top five: 2) Dell- a total of 71 books Gerber 7 or higher (surprised!!) From 1934 to 1962, Dell published 5,756 issues so 71 Gerber 7 is 1.2% of books. Let's contrast to some others: 1) Centaur- a total of 85 books Gerber 7 or higher. From 1938 to 1942, Centaur published 194 books so the %age is a high 43.8%!! 4) St. Johns- a total of 57 books Gerber 7 or higher St John published 873 books so their percentage is 6.5%. 5) Fox- a total of 54 books Gerber 7 or higher. Fox published an ominous 666 books so the Gerber 7 and higher represent 8.1% of the population. It seems that Fox books are tougher than those St John's BlindOwl. By the way Scrooge I think your numbers are wrong on the Centaurs!!! I can't verify it since I am at work right now, but I believe Centaur published 238 books. How did you come up with other numbers such as Dell & St. John??? P.S.- I am including the Pre-Centaurs from 1936-1937 in my numbers (Gerber included). Edited January 31, 2008 by Blind Owl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrooge Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 By the way Scrooge I think your numbers are wrong on the Centaurs!!! I can't verify it since I am at work right now, but I believe Centaur published 238 books. It's quite possible but since we're not covering the same time period we can't be too sure. How did you come up with other numbers such as Dell & St. John??? I relied on some emails from Dan Stevenson to the GCD Chat List about the amount of cover missing in the database. I like to rely on Stevenson's data as I believe he has built one of the most extensive comic book database. Tonight I'll check John Benson's book on St. John to check what his count is for that publisher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blind Owl Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 COMPLETE! i posted this a couple weeks back, with a missing wingman for the one hole in the moon girl appearance run. but, the hole is now filled--here's the last bad girl, thanks to Rob at Four Color. love that feeling. I love Moongirls!!!! I think this is probably one of the most difficult runs in the entire EC line!!! Great to see them all grouped together like that!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.A.tor Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 my title as run collector has now officially been passed onto parker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blind Owl Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 my title as run collector has now officially been passed onto parker You don't have to do that Gator!!! Just do like I do and collect small runs!!! (thumbs u Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
