What got you into Golden Age Comics?

[shiverbones]

My first overstreet in 1984 did it! All those little pictures at the top of the page & the color inserts of all those wonderful books that were so foreign to me. All the notes about eye injuries & SOTI & whatnot seemed so intriguing to me! My first GA was a beat to death Vault of Horror #38 I got through the mail. I Went to a convention in Philly for the first time around 1985 or 86 and got a handful of beat to death GA books, nothing special, just any random thing I could afford. I just really liked the feel of something that old. I really have collected all ages at all times from that point on, but i tend to swing in cycles as to what I buy at the moment. After recently completing the DC Bronze horror run, I poked around to figure what was my next cycle & it turned out to be gold. First the DC funny animal & from there into DC hero & other misc 40's & 50's books. I'm loving it!

[ft88]

Pop culture combined with a shifting in comic tastes. I always enjoyed the Warner Bros cartoons and the 40's nostalgia from that era. Grew up on X-men comics which made me want to collect old comics. So I found Spiderman and got a near run. College and the Army and 10 years later, I made some coin in the stock market in the 90's and picked up an AF 15 from SNE. Then I started buying collections and discovered just how common 60's books were (in VG to VF that is) and how rare GA books were. Bought a full run of Superman from a long time collector (less issue #1) and enjoyed them but not my taste. Bought a full run of Walt Disney and really like those so I kept the early issues and then started buying Four color Bugs Bunny from Mile High (Dallas Stevens had some good ones) and the prices were right.

 

Ed

[djpinkpanther67]

I have never purchased any GA books. However, I am becoming more & more interested in them. The cost factor is one thing that has been holding me back, & also lack of knowledge...

I have been reading the GA threads & trying to learn. I have about 3 more SA grails to go before I delve into the GA vein. I am interested in the old Timely/Atlas & EC comics...

I had almost bought a GA book on the boards, but someone beat me to it by about 2 minutes. Maybe that would have got me started, but as fate would have it, it never happened. Hopefully soon, though!

[adamstrange]

I was exposed to GA right from the start of my reading years by having Batman and Superman From the 30s to the 70s, Famous First Editions, DC 100-pagers with reprints. The Great Comic Book Heroes was given to me at age six. So GA just seemed normal to me, a regular part of comics.

 

They talk about the "golden years" as being your interests between ages 8 and 12. I read BA, SA, and GA during that time so when I started collecting (much later) it seemed only natural to get books from all of the eras.

[HouseofComics.Com]

That's it exactly and then with a boost from my first guide and my first CBGs (which allowed me to start getting books I'd seen in Batman from the 30s to the 70s) I've always enjoyed GA books.

[JJBEE2001]

What got me into GA? Probably the fact that as a (stupid) kid, I bought many copies of the early 1990's versions of Spawn #1, X-Men #1 (yes - all the covers), Spider-Man #1, etc, etc. thinking I'd be able to sell them in the future. Now I'm stuck with 6 long boxes on Moderns that I'd love to dump.

 

Now that I'm grown up, I appreciate & can afford (to a very small degree) many of those great GA books that I always loved, but never thought I'd own. I'd truly love to sell every non-GA book I have & go for the Gold!

[adamstrange]

What got me into GA? Probably the fact that as a (stupid) kid, I bought many copies of the early 1990's versions of Spawn #1, X-Men #1 (yes - all the covers), Spider-Man #1, etc, etc. thinking I'd be able to sell them in the future. Now I'm stuck with 6 long boxes on Moderns that I'd love to dump.

 

Now that I'm grown up, I appreciate & can afford (to a very small degree) many of those great GA books that I always loved, but never thought I'd own. I'd truly love to sell every non-GA book I have & go for the Gold!

 

You have my permission.

[TheEyeSees]

Wow, Paul, great thread! It makes me all warm and tingly inside...

 

I don't remember ever NOT loving old stuff... I used to take reference books out of the library, like the 1970's reprint books and such, to pour over the pulp and comic covers (someone mentioned Famous First Editions previously)... I remember my brother bought a copy of ROM #1, and it had a reprint of the cover of MARVEL #1 in Stan Lee's editorial section, which I thought was the cool, murkiest looking artifact I had ever seen. At some point (either before or after ROM) my brother and I discovered Doug Sulipa's Comic World (in my hometown Winnipeg), and the dam broke...

 

I think during the first trip there, around 1980, he had a CAPTAIN AMERICA #3 in the showcase, along with an FF #2 and a Popeye Marx wind up toy... I was hooked. I had no idea there even were Captain America comics that old!! I also found an Overstreet guide, which I never knew about previously, and got my mom to buy it for me (yes, the comic store was a family affair)... in the back of the guide, in the cover gallery, was the cover to AMAZING MAN #6, which blew my mind. I miss that stink of newsprint and decaying pulp that was Comic World...

 

So , it wasn't until two years ago that I started to have a decent enough cash flow to put some of it towards GA comics I have always wanted, and I started picking away at my fav covers, like AMAN #6, RED RAVEN, some FOX's and Centaurs ... I had bought GA stuff since the 1980's but not seriously, and purchases were few and far between. I sold most everything (about 15 GA books) to finance my Frank R. Paul original art purchase about 7 years ago, but kept two comics, from which I am building a new collection.

 

Oh yeah, I finally did track down a CAP #3, and it was worth the 26 years of waiting!

 

[october]

my Frank R. Paul original art purchase

 

Have a pic?

[adamstrange]

Wow, Paul, great thread! It makes me all warm and tingly inside...

 

I don't remember ever NOT loving old stuff... I used to take reference books out of the library, like the 1970's reprint books and such, to pour over the pulp and comic covers (someone mentioned Famous First Editions previously)... I remember my brother bought a copy of ROM #1, and it had a reprint of the cover of MARVEL #1 in Stan Lee's editorial section, which I thought was the cool, murkiest looking artifact I had ever seen. At some point (either before or after ROM) my brother and I discovered Doug Sulipa's Comic World (in my hometown Winnipeg), and the dam broke...

 

I think during the first trip there, around 1980, he had a CAPTAIN AMERICA #3 in the showcase, along with an FF #2 and a Popeye Marx wind up toy... I was hooked. I had no idea there even were Captain America comics that old!! I also found an Overstreet guide, which I never knew about previously, and got my mom to buy it for me (yes, the comic store was a family affair)... in the back of the guide, in the cover gallery, was the cover to AMAZING MAN #6, which blew my mind. I miss that stink of newsprint and decaying pulp that was Comic World...

 

So , it wasn't until two years ago that I started to have a decent enough cash flow to put some of it towards GA comics I have always wanted, and I started picking away at my fav covers, like AMAN #6, RED RAVEN, some FOX's and Centaurs ... I had bought GA stuff since the 1980's but not seriously, and purchases were few and far between. I sold most everything (about 15 GA books) to finance my Frank R. Paul original art purchase about 7 years ago, but kept two comics, from which I am building a new collection.

 

Oh yeah, I finally did track down a CAP #3, and it was worth the 26 years of waiting!

 

 

What a nice "cap" to a great story!

[seank]

Early to mid 1980s I was big into punk rock and at one of those monthly comic shows in LA. I'd been into comics since the late seventies, but it was all superhero and SF stuff -- bronze, silver, and (then) moderns. One dealer has some Jumbo Comics. Since Sheena was a punk rocker, I bought one. The dealer said, "That's got Matt Baker art in it." I said, "Who?" He explained, showed me Sky Girl, and was hooked.

 

Sky Girl

 

Pretty much all of my back issue buying right now is Fiction House comics or GGA.

[*paull*]

I first got into SA Marvels in the late 80s in my teens, and my LCS had a decent selection of books to choose from. I didn't have much money then, so a $20 copy of Sub-Mariner (1968) #1 required a temporary loan from my girlfriend at the time. I don't even recall noticing GA books at my LCS... I doubt he had many, if any, on the wall. I also didn't take much notice of GA books at shows I went to back then. I wasn't educated about them and didn't have money for them either. Even though GA books were much cheaper then, a Doctor Strange 169 in VF for $10 was a much easier purchase than a Captain America #59 for a couple hundred bucks.

 

It wasn't until the mid-90s, after I finished undergrad that I really noticed GA books. It was the auctions by Dark Adventure, Nick Kronfeld, and a few others in CBG that highlighted L.B. Cole, obscure hero books, Schomburg covers, and pre-code horror books that really caught my attention. I bought my first real GA book not long after when I went to a con about 10-12 years ago. Mask Comics #1.... I saw it and instantly knew that I wasn't walking away without it. I bought a small number of books very slowly over the next five years, primarily L.B. Cole covers. I went into hibernation until about three years ago and decided that I really wanted to make a push to acquire all the great and classic (and gruesome) pre-code horror covers that I saw in those auctions. I bought Mister Mystery #12, Horrific #3, Tomb of Terror #15, Black Cat Mystery #50 and a bunch of others.

 

I'm still favoring pre-code horror and L.B. Cole, but occasionally pick up a hero book that I have wanted for a long time, such as Cap 74 or Master Comics 27.

[TheEyeSees]

my Frank R. Paul original art purchase

 

Have a pic?

 

Well, the picture doesn't look like much, but at the time, for me, to own a Frank R. Paul original was a slice of Heaven ... still is. He is one of my all-time favorites. The fact that the man's pose holding the gun is similar to the MARVEL #1 cover (in reverse) is a bonus... ok, maybe that is pushing it. But thats what I (want to) see!!

 

Its about 17 x 24" ... pen and ink... circa 1941. Next one I own I want to be color!

 

[Norrin_Radd]

I read my Batman Archive volume 1 again in the summer of 2005. I bought it in 2001 but only read it once and put in on a shelf. I really enjoyed it that time and re-read the pre-Robin issues 5 or 6 times.

 

I also had been reading the GA board more and came to the realization that GA comics weren't too expensive to collect. So I started thinking about buying some GA Batman.

 

In October of 2005, I bought my first two GA comics... a Detective #42 and a Batman #10. Last year, I bought most of the GA Two-Face comics and two Joker-cover Detectives (among others).

 

I loved the Batman animated series and it was heavily inspired by the moody GA Batman stories. So it's no wonder I love reading GA Batman.

 

The GA board (especially the Detective Comics Thread) has been great in opening my eyes to all that's out there.

[aardvark88]

As a little kid, I would buy DC 100 pagers with GA DC reprints in the back. Square-jawed artwork from GA Detective, Dr Midnight and Black Canary.

 

Couple of years later, I picked up 70s Sub-mariner by Bill Everett. Kinda cool as I learned Everett drew Namor back in 1939.

 

RyanH:

I do not own the following Everett originals but I would not mind just 1 to round out my comic art collection.

 

[aardvark88]

RyanH,

It is not duo-tone, but still cool line work by Everett from 1940:

 

[october]

my Frank R. Paul original art purchase

 

Have a pic?

 

Well, the picture doesn't look like much

 

Even in that small pic it looks killer.

[TheEyeSees]

As a little kid, I would buy DC 100 pagers with GA DC reprints in the back. Square-jawed artwork from GA Detective, Dr Midnight and Black Canary.

 

Couple of years later, I picked up 70s Sub-mariner by Bill Everett. Kinda cool as I learned Everett drew Namor back in 1939.

 

RyanH:

I do not own the following Everett originals but I would not mind just 1 to round out my comic art collection.

 

 

Thanks for coming through on those, Aardvark!! I recognize those... are they from the SUBMARINER index from the 1970's??? (or they look like they could be from a catalogue?) That was another book that got me hooked on the GA... a complete B&W gallery of the GA SUBMARINER books!! Great stuff.

 

I used to buy anything with cool GA stuff reprinted, even if it was only a couple of covers. Never thought I would be able to own the comics themselves.

 

( I want to hear from someone who was kicking it old-school, buying GA stuff in the sixties or seventies. Or, even (gasp)... off the stands!! )

 

[TheEyeSees]

my Frank R. Paul original art purchase

 

Have a pic?

 

Well, the picture doesn't look like much

 

Even in that small pic it looks killer.

 

Thanks October... well, its a Frank R. Paul... 'nuff said!

 

I tracked down the issue of Famous Fantastic Mysteries it was printed in too...

[plady69]

This is good reading...

 

I remember buying X-Men #1 and #2 (at the same time) from a milk store in California so that was 1963 that I started collecting. I was a big DC kid (Flash, Green Lantern, Atom), but they looked cool. I then remember picking up a JLA #39 giant that reprinted several All-Star covers and I was hooked! I bought an All-Star # 4 and #7 around 1968 and gave up collecting Silver Age. Around 1977, I got hooked on Good Girl comics and finished my run of All-Top and Phantom Lady and wrote the Phantom Lady Index for Bill Black and Paragon Pubs. around this time.

 

Great memories...thanks!