Platinum Comics are not Comic Books

[Timulty]

Perhaps, Overstreet should break the guide up into chunks. Platinum and Golden Age. Silver and Bronze Age. Copper and up. And lastly, one separate book for Exotics "BLBs, strips, etc." A general grading guide could be included in a section on each with a recommendation to buy the regular grading guide.

Put yourself in the NON collectors shoes for a minute.

Many of our collections will end up in the hands of family members upon our demise. The price guide needs to remain easy to understand and easy to look up information. For example Jonah Hex.

A Collector has died and now the wife has to go through the books. She arrives at a copy of Jonah Hex #1. If a price guide book were divided into AGES then she might be getting the wrong information about that book. (especially if only one series is shown in that volume). As it is now, you'll notice that there's 2 identical series and the person must determine which one is which by the date.

 

Sure we regular collectors that have been at this for years can tell the difference with a glance at the book and have the knowledge that there are two Jonah Hex #1's but the average Non Collector won't.

 

And Jonah Hex isn't some anomaly. This same title same-character stuff happens from time to time. Look at Bugs Bunny-DC comics, and the other Bugs Bunny-DC comics. (By the way it's not the guides fault on that...it's DC's for not coming up with a different title to distinguish which is which.)

 

If the price guide is not informative and easy to determine by Non Collectors then selling off a collection will be too much of a hassle and that nice collection that you've spent so much time on will be gathered up and taken to the LCS.

 

The guy behind the counter will offer $50 bucks for the whole shebang and it might seem good to the person who doesn't want the hassle.

At this point the original collector will roll over in the grave.

 

I'm against the idea of seperating the guide into ages. It would interupt numerous titles and numerous runs.

The following guides would then need to say "continued from..."

 

Ten years from now the Guide Books should come in a two volume set.

A through L

M through Z. Then they could satisfy this need to have two design covers. which would save us the trouble of having to determine which cover to get.

 

It's the spouses' job to make sure that the relative worth of any asset is communicated properly to both their lawyer and partner. This, to me, makes your scenario a non-issue.

[mica]

It's the spouses' job to make sure that the relative worth of any asset is communicated properly to both their lawyer and partner. This, to me, makes your scenario a non-issue.

Yes perhaps. But how many family members roll their eyes when a comic geek even mentions items in a long box.

Face it, they don't want to touch our collection with a ten foot pole unless they are told that there are SHOWCASE/Museum quality items and so forth.

But chances are the average collection of Web of spiderman; Justice League; and Conan is not going to be worth much effort to someone who doesn't give a rip but knows they can get 50 bucks if they load them up and take them to a store.

If it's not easy...it probably won't get done. And that's a choice made by surviving family members to accept pennies on the dollar.

You're saying "so be it", and I'm saying if it gets harder to get good info in the future then this scenario will continue.

Tell me Timulty (and I don't mean to put you on the spot except in good nature) but you are a bachelor. Do your immediate family members know more than 5 details about what's in those long boxes?

 

If anything good comes out of this discussion it's that we all need to take good notes. Hopefully those notes will be easy to comprehend and the future guidebooks will continue to be easy to consult.

[Timulty]

Actually, my mother is aware of the fact that I currently have around $10,000 value in comics and that I am putting together a detail for her, in case my untimely death. This detail currently includes dealer contacts, break down of issues/prices paid and what to expect for money on each issue. And yes, she doesn't really want to know this but I have informed her that it is absolutely necessary or else they will loose out. If they don't take the care to look through my papers then the should expect to get shafted. Hope that helps Mica.

[mica]

Actually, my mother is aware of the fact that I currently have around $10,000 value in comics and that I am putting together a detail for her, in case my untimely death. This detail currently includes dealer contacts, break down of issues/prices paid and what to expect for money on each issue. And yes, she doesn't really want to know this but I have informed her that it is absolutely necessary or else they will loose out. If they don't take the care to look through my papers then the should expect to get shafted. Hope that helps Mica.

It does. I'm using CollectorZ to organize my books. Can't plug it enough.

Glad to hear that you've taken steps to provide info. I think a lot of collectors forget that we see things as being IMPORTANT that non collectors say

[CentaurMan]

My wife knows that if something happens to me, she's supposed to call PedigreeMan (Alan, who happens to live half a mile away) and let him take care of my collection's disposal (allowing him to keep 15% of the proceeds for his efforts). Unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to telling Alan about this yet. I gotta do that sometime.

 

And then after telling him, I've got to watch my back.....

[Scrooge]

And then after telling him, I've got to watch my back.....

 

I just got a PM from Alan asking me about coming to pay you a visit in the night this weekend, Sandman-style

[mica]

And then after telling him, I've got to watch my back.....

 

I just got a PM from Alan asking me about coming to pay you a visit in the night this weekend, Sandman-style

Sounds like someone's going to pound sand.

[CentaurMan]

And then after telling him, I've got to watch my back.....

 

I just got a PM from Alan asking me about coming to pay you a visit in the night this weekend, Sandman-style

 

Wow, you're prescient. My 2-week old daughter is awake pretty much every night from midnight to 3am. I definitely could use a Sandman-style nighttime visitor to help me out this weekend. Alan's such a great guy.

[PedigreeMan]

My wife knows that if something happens to me, she's supposed to call PedigreeMan (Alan, who happens to live half a mile away) and let him take care of my collection's disposal (allowing him to keep 15% of the proceeds for his efforts). Unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to telling Alan about this yet. I gotta do that sometime.

 

Eh, you'll get around to it. You're a busy guy and all ....

 

And if I happen to meet an untimely end, I'm counting on you to save my Box o' Salidas from the bonfire my wife's going to be starting out on the patio.

[CentaurMan]

Have you trademarked "Box o' Salidas" yet? Cause that would make a hell of a t-shirt idea for people who want to keep women away.

[PedigreeMan]

Have you trademarked "Box o' Salidas" yet? Cause that would make a hell of a t-shirt idea for people who want to keep women away.

 

Yep. Which means you owe me a royalty fee. "Fair Use."

[jbud73]

Honestly it doesnt really matter me and I doubt it matters to 99% of the people who collect comics. They could put cave drawings from 5000 BC in the OSPG, I still wouldn't buy them. maybe Overstreet has an agenda maybe they are just trying to document the historical record of the items that were precursors to what most of us conceive as comic books.

 

I consider the Platinum stuff more along the lines of antiques etc. Sure its a waste of space, but its their publication they can put what they want in there. Same goes for BLBs.

 

Put it this way how may threads are there devoted to these two items on the boards, if you don't count threads devoted to "what the are BLBs and Platinum age books doing in the OSPG?" Not too many.

[jbud73]

Ive always considered Funnies on Parade to be the 1st comicbook[in the format you suggest] followed by a Carnival of Comics and Century of comics.

 

1st Coimic book ever sold[ Famous Funnies Series 1] sold in chain stores 1934

 

1st Comicbook ever sold on a newstand [Famous Funnies #1]

 

All in the format known as the modern comicbook 1933 to today

 

Totally agree.

[BLBcomics-migration]

Greetings-

 

Here are the links to the Obadiah Oldbuck pages Scoop published in 2003's Main Event section:

 

 

http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=2721&si=124

 

http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=2766&si=124

 

http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=2808&si=124

 

http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=2858&si=124

 

Hope these help! If I can be of further assistance, please let me know.

 

America's Earliest Known Comic Gets Scooped

The Main Event, Scoop, Friday, June 06, 2003

 

The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, which is recognized as the earliest American comic book, has been reprinted in Italy. The limited edition - only 1,000 were made - reprints material first published in 1842.

 

Artist Rodolphe Töpffer's rollicking slapstick adventure of Obadiah Oldbuck and his pursuit of his (mostly) unrequited love is a compelling narrative that will surprise most modern readers with its complexity and cleverness.

 

While many of the earliest comics are hard to recognize as what we would today consider to be a comic book, this example is far different. With panel-to-panel storytelling that integrates words and pictures to achieve a greater degree of storytelling possible than with either component on their own, The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck is an impressive indication of what can be done with the medium. That it was done so long ago, though, may redefine for many the history of the art form.

 

Comics dealer and historian Robert Beerbohm lead the charge in the discovery and documentation of the work, and was interviewed for this re-publication by Edzioni Napoli COMICON, the concern that published the reprint. And while the interview is in Italian, the story itself is presented in its entirety in English.

 

In this edition of Scoop and over the next three weeks, we'll be presenting the full story The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck. Click the images below to see the story.

 

Note: Need larger images? Hold cursor on the image, wait for the zoom icon to pop up and click once.

[mica]

What was dropped from this year's Guide that is making some of you upset?

 

robert beerbohm

Go look up the grading definitions. Then report back.

[BLBcomics-migration]

Re No Grading section in this year's Overstreet - i had already noticed that a few weeks ago day one when i got my contributor copy in the mail.

 

Looks to me to be a marketing ploy to get all of us to buy the "new" grading guide they are going to be issuing later this year.

 

Rather han pick on the 1800s and early 1900s American comicbook section i have bene compiling for this Guide for a decade now, i wonder why no one has stumbled upon and read the ten page "Pioneer" comics section of the Guide. the one that sez "The American Comic Book 1500s-1828

 

If one was to actually READ the Obadiah Oldbuck 1842 comic book i posted the URLs from SCOOP which ran in 2003, one will conclude that, yes, this is a true blue full-blooded comicbook story which spawned a boatload of comic strip stories in America, imported in the beginning from Europe, then original USA home grown material beginning in 1849.

 

The Pioneer section is where the waste of space resides in Overstreet

 

Robert Beerbohm