War Comics 17 17

[sgtrock9211-migration]

Andy, the OAAW #33 is a tough book to find. I have seen very few. I said earlier that there would be 300 CGC DC war books still to go., but there will also be many lots similar to the one you have shown here that will also be for sale, so hopefully you all can fill some holes.

 

Keith

[thirdgreenham]

Thanks Keith, and good to know. I don't see many DC war books ready for sale in any of Heritage's auctions right now, though. Only one lot with 3 NM Our Fighting Forces bronze age books. If I'm mistaken, please send me a link. I'll be watching throughout the next couple of months. (thumbs u

 

Andy

[bigfiver69]

Hey Keith,

 

You're totally right that SSWS lives in the shadow of OAAW and GI Combat... which is a shame, and kind of hard to understand, considering that the title was home to some of the greatest covers in the Big Five.

 

I recalibrated my scanner, and warmed it up on some of these...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bigfiver69]

 

 

 

[Tatterdamillion]

 

 

 

Oooh, I really wanted that GIC #80, and didn't think my $250 would hold up very long. I was going to up my bid to try to win it, but I pretty much put a bid in on every one of those comics, so I was scared that I'd win too much.

 

Andy

Oh, man I put about 15 bids in as well. I went on a walk and got up to 2 m.p.h but I was sweating. If I had won them all I'd be selling my roomates computer. I'll post em when I get them.

[comick1]

The best deals for sure were on the OFFs, SSWSs and AAWOWs in 7.5 and under. In retrospect, I wish had jumped into hock and bid on a bunch of those.

 

Andy G, you got some beautiful deals.

 

As for the #80, I was looking forever for one to come to market. A friend found a really nice copy and sold me his undercopy. The day it arrived, a VG copy of #80 appeared on ebay with a BIN of $24!!!! I snagged it, flipped it, and paid for my nice one.

 

Happens to me once every five years!

 

Shep

 

By the way, I'm loving all the traffic on the silver age war thread!

 

 

By the way, me too.

 

 

I love the interchange that war collectors enjoy here and were deprived of for FAR too long. I was going to say that this wonderful forum has come with a price, but I think the damage was done some time ago and before the CGC boards. I loved writing about it in CBM and the like for a number of years and met all kinds of cool folks. The drawback was that the cat has been DEFINITELY out of the bag.

I initially was motivated to share my obsession with war books based on 2 premises. 1. Sharing an interest can be mutually rewarding. 2.Given a bit of notoriety and interest would drive them out of peoples' collections (and early on--from the basements or backstocks of virtually every comics dealer in the country. Dealers used to size us up and look at us like we'd lost our marbles to be wanting to collect something as worthless as a war book).

 

Was it worth it? Hell yeah, just meeting the cool folks was worth it alone. Wouldn't trade those friendships for a NM OAAW 83 (well, then again. . .). But seriously, those suckers went higher than I ever woulda guessed. Some people tried to say that I, like anybody who wrote about cool comics, was just trying to capitalize on the war books' $ ascent, but that rang true only insofar as my tendency to flip an undercopy or dupe and put the $$ back into. . .you guessed it. . .war books. Certainly didn't get rich off of 'em by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not sure that the 2nd premise actually came to any substantial fruition.

 

I kept thinking there'd be an awesome collection coming to light. . .and I'm talking something along the lines of EVERY issue being stunning. The Newsboys, though not as copy-paper-white as the Salidas, were more uniform in terms of structural quality with VERY pretty pages in the off-white to white range. The MA collection didn't go much further back than 1961. Wish it did. Then there was a collection of 10¢ DC war that Harley Yee unearthed and sold at a SD Con a bit less than a decade ago; but, though the books were structurally pretty (and fairly comprehensive from X date to Y date as I recall), they had cream pages at best pretty much across the board with most crossing into the tan category.

 

So premise #2 has yet to happen, and as more people found out about the Big-5, the demand has far exceeded the supply such that a K. Marlow collection on Heritage doesn't amount to a hilla beans in terms of demand being met. Talk about getting more than you bargained for!!!

 

[thirdgreenham]

Great post, Mick! I love reading about other people's renditions of "the good old days".

 

I started reading these great books when I was about 10 years old, and I'm just 34 now. Sgt. Rock, Haunted Tank, and the Unknown Soldier, I absolutely loved them. As I only started to seriously collect them around 1991, I don't have any stories of the good old days. My good old days really weren't that long ago. However for me, in the beginning I started to buy any book from the Big Five, the best that I could afford. I always tried for nice higher grade stuff, but there really wasn't much of it at all. At the rate my collection was growing, I'd never complete anything. I started to notice that these books in nice grade and even mid-grade, were genuinely scarce, and if I wanted a collection of any size I was going to have to drop my standards. So, from that point on, I picked up whatever I could find, still trying for the better books, but not very picky with grade. I found that this mode of collecting was best suited for me, I was happy buying the books that I love and I loved to see my collection growing as it was.

 

Now as I near the end of my goal, I realize that there will be no end for me. I will achieve my goal, but my collecting will not cease to exist. There will always be that strong desire to buy a higher grade copy, and so upgrading will be my ongoing challenge for the future. Sometimes, in order to finance bigger purchases, you need to let go of your under copies. But, there's also something in me that doesn't want to let my under copies go. Although I have sold many DC war books, I feel it's not an easy thing to do (unless I have many copies of something). This shows the strong connection that a Big Fiver has with his/her books. I believe that this is something that is not as prevalent in any other collecting genre. But hey, what do I know.

 

Andy

[thirdgreenham]

Great books Andy. They look fantastic. (thumbs u

 

Thanks a lot, Park! I appreciate the kind words.

 

Andy

[bigfiver69]

Here's a coupla more SSWS books that I just adore.

 

 

 

 

 

[bigfiver69]

Mick and Andy and all,

 

Great posts, fellas. I started back into war books 8 years ago, when I was 30 and the pleasure of meeting so many other collectors and going to cons and the war dinners and everything... well, that's been as much of a pleasure as collecting the books themselves.

 

Mick, never feel bad about 'letting the cat out of the bag'. These books are simply too good to stay quiet forever, and if anything you should feel proud about the fact that the articles you have written have helped elevate these books to the place they deserve. One of the things that is interesting about the DC war stories is that, generally, they are very intelligent and thoughtful. Sure, there are talking helmets and guys riding torpedoes, but there is much pathos, humility, honest heroism and understanding in the war tales. So, raise the big five flag high and let it wave! If all of comicdom wants to gather under that flagpole, well... so be it. It'll just mean our American Express bills will be a bit higher.

 

The recent Heritage sale of Keith's books amply demonstrates the deep love and respect that exists for these books from a tight but passionate cadre of collectors. I don't think that the big five have moved into a dominant position in the minds of collectors in general, but I think the desire for nicer and nicer copies amongst hardcore collectors is growing, and as you said, it's an appetite that will not easily be fed.

 

Is there a motherlode of highgrade white-paged DC war out there? I hope so. And I hope I find it at a garage sale this weekend.

 

Awesome chat these days, fellas. And it's great to see everyone on these boards hooking up with some really nice books.

 

Shep

 

 

[thirdgreenham]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shep, I forgot to mention how great these books are! I guess now I know why they were never offered to me....

 

 

Andy

Edited August 14, 2007 by thirdgreenham

[bigfiver69]

Hey Andy,

 

You got a load of them, but I hung onto a few.... The truth is, I almost got out of Silver Age war altogether to get nothing but super high-grade bronze age war. Seeing all the stunning Silver age books that have been on these boards and in auction lately, I'm glad I didn't.

 

Actually, maybe I could ask the guys on this thread for their opinion... I have a bit of dilemma.

 

I've been laying off the silver age war books as I pursue Our Army at War #200-#300 in CGC 9.4 or better. So far, I've got about 25 books, but man they are not cheap certified. I love them, but the truth is I have all those books raw in strong 9.0 to 9.4 already... in fact my bronze age war collection is complete in really nice grade. As much as I love getting the certified BA books, it means I'm passing on a lot of nice silver. And in a way, getting certified copies of books I already have raw in grade is a bit redundant.

 

So.... do I continue on my current path? Or should I liquidate the certified bronze books, and got for a more complete overall war collection? If I blitzed all the CGC books, I'd put about $3500 in my pocket... and that could fill in a lot of holes in the silver collection.

 

Anyway.... if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I always appreciate the opinions and advice of other collectors.

 

Shep

 

 

[Aman619]

the simple answer is, keep going for both. But I suspect you are asking because thats not the 'best' answer. SO, how about picking your best 9.4 raw candidates and slab them. That ought to put you a lot further to the complete slabbed run, and save some bucks for older books.

 

I also think that the Bronze run will only get easier in time. There arent too many slabbed now, right? Chances are more should come along.

[Tatterdamillion]

Hey Andy,

 

You got a load of them, but I hung onto a few.... The truth is, I almost got out of Silver Age war altogether to get nothing but super high-grade bronze age war. Seeing all the stunning Silver age books that have been on these boards and in auction lately, I'm glad I didn't.

 

Actually, maybe I could ask the guys on this thread for their opinion... I have a bit of dilemma.

 

I've been laying off the silver age war books as I pursue Our Army at War #200-#300 in CGC 9.4 or better. So far, I've got about 25 books, but man they are not cheap certified. I love them, but the truth is I have all those books raw in strong 9.0 to 9.4 already... in fact my bronze age war collection is complete in really nice grade. As much as I love getting the certified BA books, it means I'm passing on a lot of nice silver. And in a way, getting certified copies of books I already have raw in grade is a bit redundant.

 

So.... do I continue on my current path? Or should I liquidate the certified bronze books, and got for a more complete overall war collection? If I blitzed all the CGC books, I'd put about $3500 in my pocket... and that could fill in a lot of holes in the silver collection.

 

Anyway.... if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I always appreciate the opinions and advice of other collectors.

 

Shep

 

Stay away from silver! They are mediocre books at best. Only enjoy that stuff.You got your chocolate in my peanut butter! No, you got your peanut butter in my chocolate!

[rodan57]

 

This whole cover is beautifully composed. Is this contemporary with the Phil Silver's Show?

 

Dennis

[bigfiver69]

the simple answer is, keep going for both. But I suspect you are asking because thats not the 'best' answer. SO, how about picking your best 9.4 raw candidates and slab them. That ought to put you a lot further to the complete slabbed run, and save some bucks for older books.

 

I also think that the Bronze run will only get easier in time. There arent too many slabbed now, right? Chances are more should come along.

 

Good advice. Truthfully, I thought a LOT more certified bronze age war would have come out by now, but there really has not been a lot. I would say in the past year, maybe 50 bronze Our Army at War books in 9.4 or better have entered the market.... and when you consider that these books are only 35 years old and commanding pretty good prices, that is not a lot. Many of the books in the census only have 4 or 5 copies in 9.0 or above.

 

Not to say there aren't large troves out there.... I just figured they'd be hitting the market by now.

 

As for your advice, as you suggest I'll probably do that... hang on to what I have and move a little money into silver as it becomes available.

 

Sorry Tatter!

Shep

 

 

[thirdgreenham]

Hey Andy,

 

You got a load of them, but I hung onto a few.... The truth is, I almost got out of Silver Age war altogether to get nothing but super high-grade bronze age war. Seeing all the stunning Silver age books that have been on these boards and in auction lately, I'm glad I didn't.

 

Actually, maybe I could ask the guys on this thread for their opinion... I have a bit of dilemma.

 

I've been laying off the silver age war books as I pursue Our Army at War #200-#300 in CGC 9.4 or better. So far, I've got about 25 books, but man they are not cheap certified. I love them, but the truth is I have all those books raw in strong 9.0 to 9.4 already... in fact my bronze age war collection is complete in really nice grade. As much as I love getting the certified BA books, it means I'm passing on a lot of nice silver. And in a way, getting certified copies of books I already have raw in grade is a bit redundant.

 

So.... do I continue on my current path? Or should I liquidate the certified bronze books, and got for a more complete overall war collection? If I blitzed all the CGC books, I'd put about $3500 in my pocket... and that could fill in a lot of holes in the silver collection.

 

Anyway.... if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I always appreciate the opinions and advice of other collectors.

 

Shep

 

 

I wanted to reply to this earlier today, but haven't had the time till now.

 

Shep, if your main goal is to get that 101 issue run, then keep at it. If there's nothing on the market to fill those holes, and you find yourself with extra cash, pick up a nice silver age beauty.

 

I agree with aman, dig through your raw copies and try sending off the most likely candidates to bring you that 9.4 grade. If you want to have a reading copy of each of these as well, then hang on to your raw copies. If you want to create a bit of cash for your future purchases, you may decide to have another board sale, and sell off your duplicates.

 

I believe the most important thing and best advice is for you to collect what you like and enjoy. For me, the older Big Five books give me the greatest pleasure to own, and a fantastic feeling when they're in grade. For you, it seems to be high grade bronze, and that works very well for me as I don't care tooooooo much for that period. If you want to pick up more silver age books, sure that conflicts with me, but who cares? If that's what you want, go for it! Buy a book that you like and you'll never be disappointed. (thumbs u

 

[bigfiver69]

(thumbs u

 

Sage advice.

[qualitycomix]

I agree with Andy. In addition, the SA market is red hot right now and will die down in due time. Unless you're going to buy the small 3, many of the GIs and OAAWs are a little overpriced right now due to a few extra guys snapping them up.

 

In 2 years, the market will have cooled again.

[Hedge]

Hey Shep, Its always good to step back and reassess your collecting goals. I have done this a couple of times since I started collecting. I would definitly send in your raw bronze to CGC, that would be my first step. Lets say you only pick up one CGC bronze a month for one year, you would have gone from 25 to 37. Small steps will make a big difference in your lifelong hobby. I agree that silver will cool down. Its hard to see books of that quality in the Heritage auction pass by and not take a stab at one but for me it just wasn't my time! In the future I will be able to grab a few..... It always reaffirms my collecting goals when I pull out some short boxes of war books I havn't looked at in a while and just smile! I saw your group shot post that you left in the other thread! How could you get rid of those beauties!!!

 

Larry

Edited August 14, 2007 by Hedge