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CIORAC (Bill Ponseti) Scoop Profile

Started by esquirecomics,

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esquirecomics

esquirecomics

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Well, well, look what I found in my Scoop yesterday! Strange. No mention of the Vampire chick! :screwy:

 

WTG Bill!

 

CIORAC PROFILE - Just When I Thought I Was Out…

 

Just When I Thought I Was Out…

The Main Event, Scoop, Friday, July 13, 2007

 

 

Bill Ponseti tried to get away from comic books. That didn't last long. The veteran collector - dealer's interest in the four-color world has survived ups, downs and hurricanes, and it's now thriving again. Scoop asked, and he told us his story.

 

I was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in November 1962. My father was career military so we traveled around quite a bit, but I call New Orleans home as most of my family hails from there. My mom used to buy comics and read them to me and my brother, Joe, when we were very young. She saved them for us and would re-read our favorites to us. I guess the first one she bought for me must have been 1964 or 1965. Once I started receiving allowance, at around age six, I started buying comics for myself. The prized moment was for Thor #159!

 

Mom worked at the Base Exchange (which was kind of a department store) as an accountant at an Air Force base in Rantoul, Illinois, it also had a little shop with magazines, candy, comics etc. I had a dollar burning a hole in pocket and spied that Thor. I scooped it up, a handful of candy and a soda and I was off to enjoy it. My brother was two years older than I was and he would accompany me on my comic buying trips. The Exchange was just a couple of blocks from our house so we could walk over.

 

My mom passed on the love of collecting to us both, so we had the ones she saved for us from the early 60s and added to them the ones we started buying for ourselves. So, I would say that we collected right from the start. We enjoyed trading with each other and some kids from the neighborhood.

 

Batman, The Avengers and Thor were my favorites. Batman, because he was an "every man." He wasn't super, so as a little kid I thought it might actually be possible to become like Batman one day. Thor, because I was very interested in mythology. Add that to my love of comics and it was a perfect fit. The Avengers, because Thor was a member!

 

The summer of 1974 we went to a comic and science fiction convention in Phoenix, Arizona. It was a great show! We were exposed to comics that we didn't even know existed up until that point. We attended the show each year after that until we graduated high school and went away to college.

 

The conventions in the early years were heavily focused on sci-fi. Star Trek dominated the guest lists, and the programming. The comic dealers were much less sophisticated and many had their comics in raw stacks on their tables allowing for potential damage. The upside was...they were much cheaper!

 

I met some local dealers and dealers from other states that I could correspond with and buy/sell comics with. We had began selling comics as early as 1972 through mail order lists and these new connections helped us grow the "business" and our collections quite a bit.

 

On the receiving end it was a real hit and miss operation. I ordered a Journey into Mystery #112 from a prominent Canadian dealer that I never received. Many of the books I ordered came in damaged as they were not properly packaged. Grading was all over the place.

 

On the sending end, I learned from the bad experiences we had as buyers and tried to give better service than we had been receiving. By and large our customers were very pleased and gave us repeat business. However, since we were just kids, replacing inventory was very difficult.

 

I dabbled in toys, original art and Big Little Books for a few years. I always enjoyed toys, but didn't really collect them per se until I was an adult. My mother always ensured that we had the latest G.I. Joe accessories and vehicles. It was great! Later, I found that finding these toys again as an adult helped me recapture some of that feeling I had as a child. Although we did sell toys through the store, they were mostly newer items, the vintage stuff that was offered to us ended up in my collection. I also had a huge passion for Mego Star Trek toys and amassed a complete collection of them.

 

Artwork came into the store along with comic collections. At first, I thought it was cool but felt it was too narrow a market to really take off. How wrong I was. Oddly though, one collection we bought had some great pieces including some nice Herb Trimpe Incredible Hulk covers. I priced the covers at $350 each and they sat and sat. Years later I traded them for comics. Sigh. A few years back I had managed to get a sizeable art collection together, but sold it all to jump start my comic collection again. The page I regret selling most was a Bill Everett page from Daredevil #1. I may get back into art again one day.

 

Years ago I bought a group of comics from Joe Tricarichi, the Larson collection finder, and he showed me a box of high grade Big Little books. I always enjoyed Flash Gordon, Tracy, Buck Rogers, Mickey Mouse in books and comics, and so when I saw them in this format I was intrigued. Being obsessive as I am, I decided to get as many high grade BLBs as I could. Eventually the quest became too daunting and I sold all of them to Ken Stribling. I think he got around 200 of them in that deal. Now I really wish I hadn't I've started buying them again.

 

Many of my friends collected things other than comics and they turned me on to them. It was more fun to have folks around that enjoyed the same things you did. Being a completest in one area or character or genre has its benefits as you are focused and know exactly what you are after all the time. However, having done that, I now realize having items from as many genres as possible makes the collection so much more fun and rewarding. Since I've seen how I can grow bored of chasing one type of collectible at a time, this new approach keeps me fresh and engaged in the process. I never know what might catch my eye next and end up on the want list!

 

I know of a handful of collectors that lost items and collections from Hurricane Katrina. Most notably was one of my best friends who lived in New Orleans at the time. He had a massive collection of comics, toys, artwork, movie posters, etc that was completely destroyed. Very sad. I've decided that I am going to do two things to prevent such a catastrophic loss. First, I bought a house well north of the one I owned that was destroyed in the storm, and second I am trying to keep my collection as portable as possible. That way, if I have to evacuate I can take much of it with me.

 

After selling off the last of my comic stores in 1996, I did one last season on the show circuit, 1997, and became disenfranchised with the industry. I think the rigors of the show circuit and some other factors took a lot of the fun out of the hobby and I walked away. I stayed pretty much on the sidelines, but kept abreast of what was going on through my close friends who were still active in the hobby/business. I started actively collecting again about three years ago.

 

What brought me back was friends. Pure and simple, I missed my comic friends and having the hobby to share with them. It enriches my life more than I can put into words. Because I lost the excitement I once had about comics, I left the hobby. Now that I have that excitement back, things are right with the world. I have always loved the smell, feel, look and simple nature of early comic books. The stories of the '60s and '70s were so compelling and I enjoyed them, but the innocence of the Silver Age and Golden Age transcends it all for me.

 

Marvel Comics #1 has eluded me my entire time in the hobby. I believe the only key Golden Age comics I have never owned would be Marvel #1 and Whiz #2 (#1). I've owned issues that are scarcer than them: Detective Comics #1, New Fun #1, More Fun #14, Action Comics #1, Detective Comics #27, etcetera, but never those two books. I am eyeing up a Whiz though, so that drought may end!

 

Famous Funnies has also always intrigued me. In my opinion it is the linear first comic book title. So having the first 50 issues would be cool! It would bridge the gap from the dawn of comic books up until the time of Superman, which is where my real collecting interest starts.

 

I still need the first 10 Famous Funnies, and a number of Golden Age keys. I also grab other Golden Age comics with cool covers as I see them come up for sale. I would love to have an original page of artwork from Detective Comics #27, preferably page 1. That would be the ultimate for me. Batman has always been my favorite character, and to have artwork from his first appearance would be nirvana. Since it probably doesn't exist, I would settle for Action Comics #1. I've owned two copies in my lifetime but couldn't hang on to them. If I get one again, it stays!

 

Getting into selling comics happened by accident. My math teacher in elementary school caught me reading a comic book in class and took it away from me, instructing me to stay after class. Afterwards she gave me back the comic and told me that her son, who had been killed in Vietnam, had left his comic collection behind and she asked me if I wanted them. I told her I did and scheduled a trip over to her house for the weekend. My brother and I went over that Saturday and picked them up. The box was so big and full that we had to carry it between us as we rode home. Lots of 1950s and '60s books were in that box. We used that collection to start our little mail order business.

 

I always had toyed with the idea of opening a retail shop. I met Matt Nelson when he was just a lad in high school at a local con I was set up at. I talked to him about my dream of opening a shop. He convinced me it was the right thing to do, so I found a great location in Uptown New Orleans and rented out a killer shop on the corner of Oak Street and Dublin Street (It is still there today). We were very successful and opened another shop out by the lake. (Katrina took that one).

 

We carried all the new comics, toys, posters, trade paperbacks etc, but our real bread and butter was Golden Age and Silver Age.We had tremendous luck those first few years. Tons of huge silver age collections came in the store. We went from a store with less than two dozen long boxes of back stock to several hundred long boxes within the first year! At one point we had over 1,600 comics on the wall with a minimum value of $100. Those were the halcyon days or yore.

 

It is such a fun hobby to be involved in. But the most rewarding part is the people. I have made many lifelong friends through the hobby, chief amongst them are Matt Nelson and Billy Parker. They have been with me right from the start of the store and continue to be close friends today.

 

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Fazybones

Fazybones

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This is going to sound so corny and I really enjoy hearing the stories about

long time collectors and their collections and interests almost as much as the

comics themselves. Being fairly new to the hobby it fascinates me to

hear about some of you guys that have been at it for 20 years or more.

 

Great story Bill. (worship) (worship) (worship):applause: :applause: :applause:

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ciorac

ciorac

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Thanks everyone for the kind words!!! I was very surprised and honored when Tom Gordon contacted my about doing the interview. He asked some great questions that triggered some of those old memories.

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greggy

greggy

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Thanks everyone for the kind words!!! I was very surprised and honored when Tom Gordon contacted my about doing the interview. He asked some great questions that triggered some of those old memories.
Go scold Mark for mispelling your name! sumo.gif
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