GL 76 -- HG Prices Still Going Up

[Foolkiller]

Also, you point to the fact that Conan #1 is so plentiful as a negative, when in reality, it's a huge positive for its influence and instant popularity. Publishers emulate financial success, not failure.

 

I didn't point to Conan #1 being plentiful being a negative, rather that GL 76 is scarce in HG being a positive. there's a difference.

 

I can see your point that Marvel's bronze and DC's bronze age are different, so perhaps there need to be recognition for both books. I suppose I would argue for equal recognition with Conan #1 as the beginning of the Bronze Age.

[BLBcomics-migration]

I have always dated the end of the Silver Age is when Kirby left Marvel to join DC

 

So, actually, the two companies become intertwined in that regard, and Marvel was rarely good after that - just occasional blips on individual titles, but that is just my humble opine

 

I also have never liked the term BRONZE, as that led into the equally dumb COPPER concept

 

Then again, SILVER never appealed to me except on jewelry - i prefer using the term Second Heroic Age, cuz i do not think of the comics eras in terms of when super heroes began/stopped in their popularity - there is sooooo much more to the comics world than super heroes, which i like a lot as much as other genres, just not the main one which runs my personal reading habits wagon

 

To me, having read a LOT of comics, the GOLDEN AGE OF COMICS is circa 1900 thru 1920, when so much good stuff was first invented, like Happy Hooligan, Little Nemo, Mutt & Jeff, Krazy Kat, Bringing Up Father, etc - and also began being collected into comic books.

[drbanner]

[joe_collector]

I also have never liked the term BRONZE, as that led into the equally dumb COPPER concept

 

Old fogey.

 

[BLBcomics-migration]

And the reason Conan 1 2 4 5 onwards are so plentiful is because some affidavidt return frauds specialists known in some circles as Mafiaosa salted away some 30,000 of each - but no #3

 

We at Comics & Comix began buying out of that hoard in 1973

 

- cases of Conan #1 with 300 copies per case were $600 the first year we tuned in, we must have bought 5 cases that way, then the price went up to $3 each ($900 a case by 1974)

 

Other dealers were buying out of this hoard as well

 

By the time Chuck Rozanski got the remnants in the mid 80s, turning it into the Mile High Two collection of some 2.2 million comic books, it had pretty much been picked thru by many others, so one can just "speculate" what it originally contained

 

There also were no Silver Surfer #4 in that holdings, located in the NY/NJ area - that is why that book is scarce today - I wrote about this in CBM back in the mid 1990s, don't remember which number right now

[BLBcomics-migration]

I also have never liked the term BRONZE, as that led into the equally dumb COPPER concept

 

Old fogey.

 

 

i prefer the term "dinosaur" myself

[Zonker]

There also were no Silver Surfer #4 in that holdings, located in the NY/NJ area - that is why that book is scarce today - I wrote about this in CBM back in the mid 1990s, don't remember which number right now

 

I think you also covered this in the TwoMorrows Comic Book Artist #6-- the only reason I remember is I used to quote from it here on the forums before you showed up yourownself.

 

But are you saying you know there was a single source for back issue comics that all you 1970s dealer guys pulled from, and that only the dregs of that single connected source became what we later heard about as Mile High II?

[joe_collector]

But are you saying you know there was a single source for back issue comics that all you 1970s dealer guys pulled from, and that only the dregs of that single connected source became what we later heard about as Mile High II?

 

I'll bet he wishes he snagged a few cases of Hulk 181 when he was there.

[BLBcomics-migration]

There also were no Silver Surfer #4 in that holdings, located in the NY/NJ area - that is why that book is scarce today - I wrote about this in CBM back in the mid 1990s, don't remember which number right now

 

I think you also covered this in the TwoMorrows Comic Book Artist #6-- the only reason I remember is I used to quote from it here on the forums before you showed up yourownself.

 

But are you saying you know there was a single source for back issue comics that all you 1970s dealer guys pulled from, and that only the dregs of that single connected source became what we later heard about as Mile High II?

 

That was just one source, albeit a major source to be sure - these guys were getting their stash by affidavidt return fraud, starting circa 1965 or so, and stashing thru sometime in the mid 1970s

 

I was mostly always buying my own batches from local ID distributors, as well as the Seuling start up which began with SANDMAN #1 S&K, the first book Seuling shipping out we bought at Comics & Comix

 

The stash Chuck R bought (Mile High Two) yes, it was the remnants of a once much bigger stash - and mostly east coasters got into it, as shipping across country was very expensive, and many of us had our own regular sources

 

this Conan #1 source i mention was the largest one i knew about

 

It was not worth it to get copies of just anything out of that source as we could buy them cheaper on the ground coming in the door

 

I covered parts of this in Comic Book Artist 6 and 7, and always meant to contribute a Part 3, then got into researching pre 1930 comic book stuff, finding the first comic book in America dating back to 1842 - now it is a lot of years later and i am back to researching this time span again more so than i was for a decade there.

[BLBcomics-migration]

But are you saying you know there was a single source for back issue comics that all you 1970s dealer guys pulled from, and that only the dregs of that single connected source became what we later heard about as Mile High II?

 

I'll bet he wishes he snagged a few cases of Hulk 181 when he was there.

 

Actually, i would have had approx 900 copies of Hulk 181, as sales in the 1970s were a lot larger than they are these days -all sold off at cover price at the time. If sales dipped below 50 copies of these 25¢ books, it was not considered important enough to worry about stocking every month as i would rather have put the bucks into some other hot book which would keep on selling months later.

 

for example, i bought 13,000 Dazzler #1 - and sold 12,000 of them, with a thousand being destroyed in my ware house flood in 1986

 

I was buying 10,000 per month of the John Byrne X-men, having begun increasing the orders with #100 and by #108 had kicked it into high gear spec, as it was no longer speculation, as the X book was a proven seller - there was a time one could carry nothing but Xmen and see that as 90% of your sales. EVERYTHING else was in that other 10% - twas a bit crazy then

[chrisco37]

Always good to hear from someone who was actually there. I'd never considered the Christmas-time on-sale date of the April cover-dated GL #76. That's very likely a part of the puzzle.

 

Indeed! Thanks to Bob for dropping in. Never crossed my mind regarding the middle/late run #'s either (ie, not a #1 issue). Definitely could've had an effect on it being under the radar.

 

Also, what Bob said re: press coverage, etc of #85/86 seem to fit nicely in with the census #'s.

[chrisco37]

Given its scarcity in HG -- I can see why it has the potential to reach some new heights, and may have the potential to become the highest value book of the Bronze Age.

 

I love this book -- and I especially enjoyed Bob giving us some perspective on what has driven the scarcity.

 

One of my favorites as well. And, we've said this before (on the boards and in person), while it is one of the most popular and important books of the BA, it remains one of the most under-valued books in guide.

 

I think there is definitely potential for this to overtake HOS #92 and DC 100 Pg. SS as the top DC BA Book at some point.

[BLBcomics-migration]

Given its scarcity in HG -- I can see why it has the potential to reach some new heights, and may have the potential to become the highest value book of the Bronze Age.

 

I love this book -- and I especially enjoyed Bob giving us some perspective on what has driven the scarcity.

 

One of my favorites as well. And, we've said this before (on the boards and in person), while it is one of the most popular and important books of the BA, it remains one of the most under-valued books in guide.

 

I think there is definitely potential for this to overtake HOS #92 and DC 100 Pg. SS as the top DC BA Book at some point.

 

Today's collector has to keep in mind that back then, in the 1960s, the comic book publishers did not advertise in advance what and more so, who, was going to be doing any given book.

 

ergo, almost no one really knew, out in the middle of America, that Neal Adams was going to be doing GL much less brining in GA into the title

 

We had The Comic Reader, and it did contain as much news as possible, but it was mailed out, and sometimes a week or so of data would be "late" in that books had already come out

 

Concrete data of what was going to be in the comics only came about in the mid 1970s, and even then could be wrong - so many buyers like myself usually had to wait till a book came out that was way cool and then scramble - like when Spectre #9 came out with its Wrightson story in the back - who knew back then?

 

When i scrambled to get books, i would order "all" copies that came in on returns from the Omaha News distributor - and that could take a month or two of waiting - sometimes i hit paydirt, sometimes nada

[Zonker]

drbanner is gonna laugh at the predictability of it all, but this thread did prompt me to dig out my copy of GL #75, hoping to find the on-sale date for the next issue. I didn't, but I did find house ads for Batman 220 and Flash 195, both cover-dated March, and both on sale Jan. 22. So GL 76 was certainly in the post-Christmas doldrums Bob is speaking of.

 

More importantly, in this issue I found the GL circulation statement, dated October 1, 1969. Get this: Total Paid Circulation: 160,423 averaged over the preceeding 12 months. 146,372 in the issue nearest to the filing date. That's a horrible sales figure by 1969 standards. How horrible? Check out this previously posted data from the Standard Guide...

 

 

1969

Avengers.....239,986

Batman.......365,782

JLA..............233,000

F.Four.........340,363

Superman...511,984

ASM............372,352

 

 

1970

Avengers.....217,394

Batman.......293,897

JLA..............200,715

F.Four.........285,639

Superman...446,678

ASM............322,195

[otherworldsj33]

It is not so surprising to me that the GL 76 is scarce in high grade. The DC's of 1961 to 1972 are in general quite a bit scarcer then Marvels in high grade of the same period. I have been looking for about a dozen DC's from around 1967 to 1972 or so in cgc 9.4 (or true raw grade) or better for over three years now, with it being even toigh to find some of these even in 9.0 to 9.2 range. I have a 9.4 and a 9.6 GL 76, and if I could purchase another 9.4 I would. I would also purchase more then a handful of DC's I already have that are the highest grade, in the same grade, if I could get them. Try finding a Teen Titans 25 in true 9.4 raw. The highest cgc grade is 9.0, and I own both of them, knowing how scarce it is in high grade. It does not hurt that I have a nostagic attachement to many of these books. I would not be surprised if the GL 76 one day does become the highest priced BA comic, for the reasons stated in this thread.

[joe_collector]

I was buying 10,000 per month of the John Byrne X-men, having begun increasing the orders with #100 and by #108 had kicked it into high gear spec, as it was no longer speculation, as the X book was a proven seller

 

Even for me, that's

[TeddieMercede]

Joe,

You wouldnt be able to put a scan up of the GL 76 9.6 ? I think almost everyone here would love to see the book.

[awe4one]

Joe,

You wouldnt be able to put a scan up of the GL 76 9.6 ? I think almost everyone here would love to see the book.

 

I remember it but didn't save the scan...I bet it has very nice edges though...

 

Jim

[HighVoltage]

This is one of the greatest threads ever!

 

Thanks for all the info, guys - truly a great read!

[Monstro]

This is one of the greatest threads ever!

 

Thanks for all the info, guys - truly a great read!

 

all right...thats it. let me read this thing from the start