Justice League of America Collecting Thread 2 2

[Hepcat]

Here are scans of my twelve favourite covers from the Justice League comics that I have in my collection:

Northland copy

There are so many fabulous Justice League covers that I could easily do another ten.

Edited April 19 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

Almost all Justice League covers to mid-1965 are gems. Here though are a couple that do nothing for me:

Edited April 15 by Hepcat

[Hepcat]

This one gets honourable mention when it comes to my favourite Justice League of America covers but it's not actually eligible for the list since it's an 80 pg. Giant:

[BA773]

On 4/7/2024 at 5:06 AM, Hepcat said:

Here are scans of my twelve favourte covers from the Justice League comics that I have in my collection:

Northland copy

There are so many fabulous Justice League covers that I could easily do another ten.

#7 is so cool! 

[BA773]

On 4/15/2024 at 5:59 AM, Hepcat said:

Almost all Justice League covers to mid-1965 are gems. Here though are a couple that do nothing for me:

I love these 2 ones, what is your problem with them? Dont like concept of evil twins?

[Hepcat]

Compared to the twelve or even fifty Justice League covers I like the most, I just don't think they're very compelling. And after posting my favourites, I thought the opposite was in order.

[Math Teacher]

On 4/14/2024 at 10:59 PM, Hepcat said:

Almost all Justice League covers to mid-1965 are gems. Here though are a couple that do nothing for me:

I understand the concept of "different strokes for different folks," but this is one of my all-time favorite covers and stories.

[Hepcat]

I guess I'll have to reread it tonight.

 

[BA773]

Tought it was the best place to ask... now i own a JLA #1 for 1 month and i decided to start to complete an entire JLA Run. I completed several entire moderns runs but now its the first time that im gonna make a pre crisis serie.

Firstly notice that im relatively poor comparated to some of you in this thread...  and i dont care of the grade, I just want to have some copy which look attractive to my eyes and complete, i easily find books in 3 to 4 range who satisfy me. 

So now my question is that i found someone who own an almost full run from 95 to 261 and i have an agreement with him, i could get all that stuff for 3$ each and considering my location it could be smart to get a great run like that which is not easy when we re not talk about modern books... however i still hesitate for a reason... maybe especially considering my limited budget and the current situation of the market starting to pick up the early stuff could be a better strategy? If i purchase this stuff i wouldn't make any other purchases before like 5 months... and honneslty i look the auction on ebay on i see that at contrary as what some are saying the Bronze books still seems to worth totally nothing, i mean exept if your look for MINT books all this stuff from the 70s often go for ridiculous price of 1 or 2 and i dont really think that it will change in the next 5 or 10 years... what do you think?

Look: good exemple, this book is considered as a key and sometimes go for 10 or more but still in a really low market and sometimes just nobody are interested and the book go for starting bid price...

Edited April 19 by BA773

[Zonker]

Quote

95 to 261 and i have an agreement with him, i could get all that stuff for 3$ each 

I'm a big JLA fan, but assuming we're talking about mid-grade books, $3 each works for #95-120 or so, but is too steep for most of what comes later.  Particularly after #200, those books I would expect the seller to throw in for free to close the deal.  Shipping of course will be a concern.  I'm confident you could piece together a similar run for much less than an average $3 per book, but shipping costs to Europe might mean you wind up spending more with multiple sellers, multiple shipments.   

Edited April 19 by Zonker
typo

[BA773]

On 4/19/2024 at 3:31 PM, Zonker said:

I'm a big JLA fan, but assuming we're talking about mid-grade books, $3 each works for #95-120 or so, but is too steep for most of what comes later.  Particularly after #200, those books I would expect the seller to throw in for free to close the deal.  Shipping of course will be a concern.  I'm confident you could piece together a similar run for much less than an average $3 per book, but shipping costs to Europe might mean you wind up spending more with multiple sellers, multiple shipments.   

When i give an ammount in a disscusion its always including the shipping cost, without it the books are under 2 each...

And in fact i not totally revealed what i could get...  

I based the average price on only the issues that im gonna keep for me, but in reality there is 2 point:

1.The run is complete but i collect only Direct edition when i have the choice and DC started to get both editions after JLA 183 (newsies and direct) and in the lot many of the books after this are newsies, is why the lot will not be complete for me... yeah i know it could look like mad...

2. Is there also a tons of duplicates, mostly in the early books.

So in reality if i just speak of the price for the overall it comes down to 2.25 per books shipping include. But im not really expect to could succesfully sell these books that im not gonna keep, however even if it took years it could refund a part of the lot... we re talk about 188 books and i will keep 135 of them.

So maybe it changes your opinion...

 

And as you said well, many sellers, many shipments... 

It s always worked for me to buy in bulk for saving money, its really different to live in Europe comparated to US, i dont get some dollar bins here 

Edited April 19 by BA773

[Zonker]

Well, $2.25 shipped for mid-grade copies is more than I'd want to pay for that run, but you're right, we are spoiled collecting here in North America!  

So I'm guessing that's a pretty good deal for you considering other buying options.  Also, I'm assuming you like the idea of getting a big stack at once instead of the "thrill of the hunt" chasing down individual books over time, always looking for the best price.  If that's you, then I'd say go for it.  You might not have an equivalent opportunity to get so many at once.

Do you know other collectors of American comics in the EU?  If so, selling the duplicates becomes interesting, as you could undercut most eBay sellers by not having as high a shipping cost for your European buyers.  And you're probably aware some people are willing to pay more for the newsstand versions, although I think that is generally a high-grade phenomenon.  

Good Luck!  

[BA773]

On 4/19/2024 at 7:17 PM, Zonker said:

Well, $2.25 shipped for mid-grade copies is more than I'd want to pay for that run, but you're right, we are spoiled collecting here in North America!  

So I'm guessing that's a pretty good deal for you considering other buying options.  Also, I'm assuming you like the idea of getting a big stack at once instead of the "thrill of the hunt" chasing down individual books over time, always looking for the best price.  If that's you, then I'd say go for it.  You might not have an equivalent opportunity to get so many at once.

Do you know other collectors of American comics in the EU?  If so, selling the duplicates becomes interesting, as you could undercut most eBay sellers by not having as high a shipping cost for your European buyers.  And you're probably aware some people are willing to pay more for the newsstand versions, although I think that is generally a high-grade phenomenon.  

Good Luck!  

Thanks for the effort of making this detailed reply!  yes i know few of them, prices are really different here, it explain my views of the prices and why people from US often take me for an insufficiently_thoughtful_person on the forum  about newsstand higher price... its only a real fact for the moderns, as i know the ratio was at opposite  when it started, in the early 80s newsstands were more common than direct.

[Hepcat]

On 4/14/2024 at 11:59 PM, Hepcat said:

Almost all Justice League covers to mid-1965 are gems.

There was in fact a very clear demarcation line between the run of generally superb Justice League covers and ones that were ho-hum. There was a great run of covers up to and including #35 cover dated May 1965:

But things went off the rails beginning with issue #36:

Oh I love the colours but what's with that huge messy arrow-shaped Marvel style cover blurb that does little but take up space? Well rumour has it that the DC "brain" trust had noticed that Marvel comics were starting to sell a lot better and eating into DC's market share. They therefore looked at a few Marvel covers (clearly they didn't read through the stories in between the covers) and decided that the key to Marvel's recent sales success was that the messy blurbs infesting Marvel's covers were drawing kids' eyes and inducing them to part with their pocket change.

The next two Justice League covers were absolutely lousy:

 All the blurbs take up so much space that far less canvas remains for the traditional DC house look cover artwork that had delighted me since early 1962! Moreover up until mid-1965 Justice League covers generally portrayed a situation where the League members were very seriously imperiled by some menace.  After mid-1965 covers switched to promising "Action!" à la Marvel.

Consider. Marvel's strengths were one unified Universe with continuity not only from one issue to the next but across titles. A story in one comic not only segued seamlessly into the next but frequently hinted at the next by leaving loose ends, e.g. Thing or the Human Torch walking out on the Fantastic Four on the last page. Or the next issue's villain would be shown peaking in on the action in the current issue. Moreover x-overs of both heroes and villains were almost an every issue occurrence thus weaving each individual comic into the wider Universe. This all meant you couldn't read just one Marvel comic. You had to read more, many more, to get the whole picture! And of course there were punch-ups galore in Marvel stories, most particularly when "heroes" met! (Kids loved that.)

And Stan Lee never stopped pitching the Marvel line to readers which he labelled "Real Frantic Ones". What kid wouldn't like that? Lee made Marvel readers feel a part of the Marvel family of writers, artists, letterers, colourists and even secretaries by speaking to the readers directly on the pages of Marvel comics and even creating the Merry Marvel Marching Society which was a concept so zany that young readers were both delighted and proud to join. Only Topps understood and marketed to kids as well as Lee.

So what did DC have? Well they didn't have Stan Lee. DC had two competitive edges though.

They had legacy heroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Hawkman, Green Arrow, etc. none of whom were plagued by any kind of head problems. They were rational, competent men. In a word they were heroes, someone to emulate.

Secondly in early 1965 they had a stable of artists such as Curt Swan, Murphy Anderson, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Joe Kubert, Russ Heath, Dick Dillin, Irv Novick, John Romita, Jay Scott Pike, Howard Purcell, Lee Elias, etc, etc. whose artwork was a pleasure to the eye. DC "house look" covers and even individual panels were very often mini works of art. (Ask Roy Lichtenstein.)

So DC should have leveraged and built upon their strengths. Offered a strong alternative with cross title continuity! Rather than allowing each Editor to jealously guarding his own bailiwick/title lines, Editor-in-Chief Irwin Donenfeld should have cracked the whip and demanded a co-operative effort. But Donenfeld didn't do his job.

What DC's management opted to do instead was mimic Marvel's weak point, e.g. messy covers. Groan.

Then of course in 1966 they infected their entire line of titles with camp from the Batman TV show to court the TV crowd but in so doing alienated their core fans. So after the silly Bat-craze ended, what was left?

Edited Saturday at 07:33 PM by Hepcat

[Lee Enterprises]

Here's one of those great JLA covers. 

[Jaylam]

On 4/26/2024 at 12:58 AM, Hepcat said:

What DC's management opted to do instead was mimic Marvel's weak point, e.g. messy covers.

Have to agree with you there. DC's covers from that era seemed to have better composition and use of colors, however, there is one later cover that I thought was catchy and clever, this one:

[Jaylam]

This is also one of my personal favorites. (This also was the last one to feature Batman as the centerpiece hero character that had been the norm since issue #47, unless you want to count the grown-up Robin with the hybrid Batman/Robin uniform in the next issue. No doubt they were trying to capitalize on the popularity of the Batman TV show during this time).

Edited Saturday at 08:49 PM by Jaylam

[Hepcat]

On 4/27/2024 at 1:46 PM, Jaylam said:

...there is one later cover that I thought was catchy and clever, this one:

Yes, that's a good one. While it didn't make my top thirteen, it would make my top twenty from the Silver Age.

What's also interesting is the addition of all those messy Marvel style blurbs beginning with issue #36 forced a reduction in the style and size of the "Justice League of America" logo beginning with issue #43. More background canvas space was needed for Mike Sekowsky's cover art!

On 4/27/2024 at 4:33 PM, Jaylam said:

This is also one of my personal favorites. (This also was the last one to feature Batman as the centerpiece hero character that had been the norm since issue #47, unless you want to count the grown-up Robin with the hybrid Batman/Robin uniform in the next issue. No doubt they were trying to capitalize on the popularity of the Batman TV show during this time).

 

The single worst Bat-craze cover abomination may have been this one:

[Jaylam]

On 4/29/2024 at 1:34 AM, Hepcat said:

Yes, that's a good one. While it didn't make my top thirteen, it would make my top twenty from the Silver Age.

What's also interesting is the addition of all those messy Marvel style blurbs beginning with issue #36 forced a reduction in the style and size of the "Justice League of America" logo beginning with issue #43. More background canvas space was needed for Mike Sekowsky's cover art!

The single worst Bat-craze cover abomination may have been this one:

Yes, I almost included #44-46 as that looks like when they were starting to test the waters of featuring Batman on the covers more than they had been before, but things went full bore with #47. I wonder if there was a memo sent out to the cover artists to do this from the top brass? 

[Hepcat]

On 4/29/2024 at 4:38 AM, Jaylam said:

I wonder if there was a memo sent out to the cover artists to do this from the top brass? 

I'd bet on it.