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Fox Comics Appreciation Thread!
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Started by Point Five,

7,165 posts in this topic

gifflefunk

gifflefunk

Posted
Posted
Kooba signs turn up about once every two years on eBay and Kooba bottles turn up about once every five (based on my experience to date). I've seen three signs turn up so far and in contacting the sellers of the first two I was able to learn that they had been found in drug store storage. It is possible that Fox did have some markets outside of NY, but to date I have not found any evidence of such, so the likely scenario is that he had a small NY market and was hoping to gain national distribution.

 

Given that signage and bottles exist and that Fox advertised Kooba Cola for about a year, it is almost ludicrous to believe that the beverage itself was never manufactured. My theory is that Kooba's failure helped to drive Fox into bankruptcy. I think he tied up to much comic capital in starting Kooba Cola and he never got the expected return to make up that deficit, which then caused him to default against his printer/distributor debts for the comics line and his entire "empire" imploded.

 

Another sign turned up on eBay, this time from a seller in Arizona (I'm not sure how the sign got to AZ!):

KOOBA COLA TIN SIGN

kooba1.jpg

 

Here is some interesting tid bits from the New York Times (8/25/1940, 4/28/1941, and 6/22/1941):

 

nyt_19400825.gif

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nyt_19410428.gif

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nyt_19410622.gif

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Seems like the Kooba market was limited to a 150 mile radius from New York City (and perhaps some smaller markets outside of New York? I still haven't found any evidence to suggest it got distributed outside of NY).

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MrBedrock

MrBedrock

Posted
Posted
By request...the Mystery Men run story, (the short version)

 

Scan0001.jpg

 

And since there was a run of Mystery Men in Chuck's books, I ended up with two runs! cloud9.gif

 

Bill;

 

Great little story and that's a nice looking Mystery Men #1 you got in the Fotress. cloud9.gif

 

Which was the better copy and do you remember whatever happened to your two copies of Mystery Men #1? 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

The More Fun copy was the best by far, the bathroom copy was a GD+ if memory serves. I will have to find the old catalog list to verify the MF copy, but I think it was VF+.

 

They both sold at shows, to whom? I don't recall.

 

Wish I had the MF copy back. foreheadslap.gif

 

Actually, Bill, you sold it to me. It was vf+ with a minor amount of resto to the bindery chips and staple reinforcement. Beautiful paper. I sold it to a collector in New York who has since passed it on to someone else.

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ciorac

ciorac

Posted
Posted
By request...the Mystery Men run story, (the short version)

 

Scan0001.jpg

 

And since there was a run of Mystery Men in Chuck's books, I ended up with two runs! cloud9.gif

 

Bill;

 

Great little story and that's a nice looking Mystery Men #1 you got in the Fotress. cloud9.gif

 

Which was the better copy and do you remember whatever happened to your two copies of Mystery Men #1? 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

The More Fun copy was the best by far, the bathroom copy was a GD+ if memory serves. I will have to find the old catalog list to verify the MF copy, but I think it was VF+.

 

They both sold at shows, to whom? I don't recall.

 

Wish I had the MF copy back. foreheadslap.gif

 

Actually, Bill, you sold it to me. It was vf+ with a minor amount of resto to the bindery chips and staple reinforcement. Beautiful paper. I sold it to a collector in New York who has since passed it on to someone else.

 

You are quite correct Richard! Thanks for refreshing my old memory. Wish I had that sucker back! grin.gif

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MrBedrock

MrBedrock

Posted
Posted
By request...the Mystery Men run story, (the short version)

 

Scan0001.jpg

 

And since there was a run of Mystery Men in Chuck's books, I ended up with two runs! cloud9.gif

 

Bill;

 

Great little story and that's a nice looking Mystery Men #1 you got in the Fotress. cloud9.gif

 

Which was the better copy and do you remember whatever happened to your two copies of Mystery Men #1? 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

The More Fun copy was the best by far, the bathroom copy was a GD+ if memory serves. I will have to find the old catalog list to verify the MF copy, but I think it was VF+.

 

They both sold at shows, to whom? I don't recall.

 

Wish I had the MF copy back. foreheadslap.gif

 

Actually, Bill, you sold it to me. It was vf+ with a minor amount of resto to the bindery chips and staple reinforcement. Beautiful paper. I sold it to a collector in New York who has since passed it on to someone else.

 

You are quite correct Richard! Thanks for refreshing my old memory. Wish I had that sucker back! grin.gif

 

You and me both.

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adamstrange

adamstrange

Posted
Posted
Thanks. Being a Fox freak, i find this kind of info very enlightening. Jon

 

Nice score on that Kooba sign, Jon. Looks beautiful!

 

Takes Fox esoteria to a new level....jb

 

Speaking of Fox esoterica, the dentist is selling period promotional sheets for books like Mystery Men 1.

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Point Five

Point Five

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Many thanks to Jim Payette for this Science Comics #5! I don't usually pay above guide for a GA book, but I just couldn't resist this one. Been wanting another Science for a long time now. Something about these cover colors really hits the sweet spot for me. Some fun interior art too...

 

sciencecomics5.jpg

1697648-sciencecomics5sm.jpg.da90763b4bc06c0a38c2aa9bf93fadc8.jpg

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october

october

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Posted

Sweet book! Fox is an underappreciated company. Apply the same cover artistry to DC or Timely characters and you would probably have some of the most expensive books in the hobby. As they are, they are a bargain.....which is good as I might actually be able to afford one or two soon.

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Point Five

Point Five

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GREAT book P5!! I'll admit that cover never did much for me in the Gerber book, but seeing a large scan sold me on it. That is just a fantastic series, and that is a fantastic cover.

 

Joe Simon cover?

 

Thanks Ryan!

 

I'll defer to the other Fox experts here, but I would guess it's a Simon cover too. Timing (right after the last of Fine's covers) seems to fit.

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Point Five

Point Five

Posted
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Sweet book! Fox is an underappreciated company. Apply the same cover artistry to DC or Timely characters and you would probably have some of the most expensive books in the hobby. As they are, they are a bargain.....

 

Shhhhh..... wink.gif

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MrBedrock

MrBedrock

Posted
Posted

greenmask10.jpg

 

A later Fox book. If it weren't for the condition I might not have paid any attention to it. Then I realized it had the origin of One Round Hogan. Woo Hoo!

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