Comic Book Spinner Rack

Recil Macon pedigree

2006-02-03T14:40:00.000-08:00

RECIL MACON - In Abilene, Texas, 1990, this pedigree, similar in characteristics to the Lamont Larson collection, surfaced. The collector, Recil Macon, read comics during the 1940's and had a habit of writing his name on the books. Despite this, his collection was somewhat properly stored, as the collection exhibits white pages and beautiful colors and gloss. Unfortunately, they were stacked haphazardly, and many books were bent and became warped. As a result, cleaned and pressed Recil Macon copies are not uncommon.

In 1990 the son of Recil Macon began selling the collection off to Darren Wilson, a part-time dealer in the area. The collection numbered in the thousands and consisted of many early Timely, Quality, and DC. A few keys present included All-American #16, Captain America #1, Marvel Mystery #2-30, and Human Torch #1. Once the books were acquired in 1990 a majority were sold to Greg Bulls.

IDENTIFICATION-The main method to identify a Recil Macon is to locate the name written on the book. The location varies; the name can appear on the front cover, back cover, first page, centerfold, inside front cover, or any combination and sometimes multiple times. The name is written either in Pencil or Pen. Also present on many copies is the distributor code Mid-C. Using these two distinct markings identifying a Recil Macon becomes relatively easy.

DESIRABILITY-The two main detractors of a Recil Macon copy can be either the name (especially when written several times or in pen) or the warping from improper storage. But because of the fresh appearance of the books, along with minimal technical flaws, Recil Macons are quite desirable and currently bring 2x to 3x guide.

--from Matt Nelson's comicrestoration.com

Hawkeye pedigree

2006-02-03T14:39:00.001-08:00

HAWKEYE - The Hawkeye collection surfaced in Mason City, Iowa around 1984. There were two primary buyers during the original disbursement: Joe Smejkal and Mike Tekal, two collectors who did not know each other. Two middlemen were involved, and the collection was sold piecemeal very slowly. As a result, very little documentation exists on the Hawkeye collection. To compound problems there are no indicative markings or characteristics associated with a Hawkeye book. What little is known about this collection came from Smejkal and Tekal themselves.

In 1984 a person named Leroy sold Smejkal a small batch of high grade DC's. Seeing that the books were gorgeous, Near Mint, white paged copies, Smejkal called Leroy back and bought as much as he could afford. Over the next few months Smejkal purchased a small batch of ten to twenty books at a time. During this time Leroy was selling to other collectors as well, of whom Tekal was one. Tekal was purchasing books in a similar fashion as Smejkal, receiving about ten books a week, and paying only in cash. As it turned out, the original owner, completely unknown, had sold his collection to one person, who in turn sold it to Leroy. By estimate, there were around 1,000 comics in the collection, consisting predominantly of DC's and spanning the years 1939 to 1950. Some keys present included All-Star #3, Superboy #1, Adventure #72, More Fun #101, Mask #1, World's Best #1, and reportedly the best existing copy of Captain Marvel #1.

Six years later a second, smaller accumulation surfaced from the original owner, numbering about 100-150 books. Although exhibiting gloss and white pages typical of the first collection, the average grade was only about Fine. Smejkal purchased all of them and subsequently sold them to another collector.

IDENTIFICATION-Hawkeye copies exhibit no markings whatsoever. Because of this and a lack of a master list Hawkeyes can be tough to identify. Fortunately, because Smejkal has owned the majority of them, he can readily identify most any books in question.

Incidentally, Smejkal's Hawkeyes were stored in mothballs during the 1980's and have a very distinctive mothball smell. Although sketchy, this is one way to identify a Hawkeye previously owned by Smejkal.

DESIRABILITY-Hawkeyes are beautiful, Near Mint books with full gloss/colors and white pages. They are so comparable to Mile Highs, there is a report that one collector actually attempted to forge a Hawkeye into one. The forgery was discovered when someone matched the mothball smell of the pages with the Hawkeye collection.

Originally, Hawkeyes sold for 1.5x to 2.0 guide. This multiple now hovers around 3.0x guide.

--from Matt Nelson's comicrestoration.com

Windy City pedigree

2006-02-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

WINDY CITY - The Windy City collection surfaced out of Chicago and was purchased by Gary Colobuono. The collection consisted of around 2000 #1 comics, and thousands of #1 magazines. Almost every single #1 comic that came out between 1937 and the Silver Age was in the Windy City collection.

In the early 1930's a mailman who made regular deliveries to a bus station newsstand told the owner he wanted to buy every new #1 magazine. After doing so for a couple of years the newsstand owner suggested he also try collecting #1 issues of comics as well. Following his suggestion, the mailman began purchasing the #1 comics each week. This went on for nearly 30 years until communication was lost between the two.

In the 1970's the newsstand owner's son, realizing the comics were worth money, attempted to locate the mailman by finding his name in an old yearbook.

Successful, the son soon found out that the mailman had passed away, but his sister had saved everything he possessed, including the comics. Unwilling to sell them, the sister instead settled on trading them bit by bit for common items, such as a new microwave. When the son obtained the first batch of comics he brought them to show a local dealer who had just opened his store that particular day in September 1978--Gary Colobuono. In that first batch was the following books: Superman #1, Batman #1, Captain America #1, Marvel #1, Detective #1, Silver Streak #1, All-Star #1, All-Winners #1, Wonder Woman #1, Daring Mystery #1, Mystic #1, Sub-Mariner #1 and a few others. As he looked over it Colobuono thought to himself "and this is only my first day...what can tomorrow bring?" The son wanted to wait until he had received all of the books from the woman before he sold the collection. This was not accomplished until 1986, eight years later! By this time a few other dealers had caught wind of the collection and were making offers. The son ended up taking bids and Colobuono won the collection for $85,000, to be paid in three installments. The first batch received by Colobuono included many of the most sought after #1's and made it's debut at the Chicago Con that year. The second batch yielded the key Fawcetts and was put up for sale at the San Diego con a month later. Finally, the lesser #1's were obtained a couple of weeks after that.

The sister eventually died years later, and about 1000 more #1 issues missing from Colobuono's purchase were present, but most were insignificant. The lot was auctioned off to an anonymous bidder.

There never was an Action #1 or New Fun #1 in the Windy City collection, although the Detective #1 is one of the best existing copies and one source claimed the Marvel #1 to be the third best existing copy.

IDENTIFICATION-Over half of the Windy City collection has the name "A. Wallace" written in pencil in the first letter of the title logo on the cover. There is speculation that the "A" stands for Anna, the name of the mailman's sister. For any copies that do not have the name written on the cover a master list exists for which comparisons can be made. As far as the extra 1000 or so comics found separately from Colobuono's purchase, very little is known, and no assumptions ca be made concerning grade or markings.

DESIRABILITY-The grades of Windy City copies range from Very Fine to Near Mint with an occasional Very Good or Fine. A few of them exhibit brown pages, although the majority are structurally perfect with full gloss and white pages. The initial distribution sold for around guide with high demand keys selling for 2x to 3x guide. As an interesting note, the Windy City Batman #1, graded a VF+, sold for a record price of $13,400 at the 1986 San Diego Con. Now Windy City copies fetch 1.5x to 2x guide and 3x to 5x guide for high demand keys.

--from Matt Nelson's comicrestoration.com

Pennsylvania pedigree

2006-02-03T14:38:00.000-08:00

PENNSYLVANIA - The Pennsylvania collection surfaced about 15 years ago and was bought by Steve Geppi. Pennsylvania copies are well-known in the market, but very few collectors are familiar with its origin. Unfortunately, Geppi does not recall many of the specifics surrounding the discovery of the collection due to the length of time that has passed. According to Geppi, a woman came to a convention in Philadelphia in the late 70's to sell some Golden Age comics. Word got back to Geppi, who tracked her down. He bought the collection, which consisted of several hundred comics from the early 1940's (1941-1945). Because the collection began after 1940 many of the prime Golden Age keys were not present, but the grade was extremely high. The books also had a characteristic smell to their pages. The collection was split up and sold later. Bob Overstreet purchased a rather sizable chunk of the collection, where it remained until recently when his comics were put up for sale.

IDENTIFICATION-Identifying a Pennsylvania involves simply locating a "P" written on the cover. The "P" sometimes looks more like an "R", probably from the quick handwriting of the distributor. Another way to identify Pennsylvanias is by their pages' characteristic smell. If ever in doubt of a Pennsylvania's authenticity, Steve Geppi is one collector who can probably identify it.

DESIRABILITY-Pennsylvanias are structurally NM to Mint copies with white pages. They originally fetched slightly above guide, but now can command prices as high as 3x to 5x guide.

--from Matt Nelson's comicrestoration.com

Carson City/Comstock pedigree

2006-02-03T14:37:00.000-08:00

CARSON CITY/COMSTOCK - This collection surfaced out of Carson City, Nevada and was sold as two separate accumulations to two different dealers, hence the two accepted names of the pedigree. The first purchase was made by Mark Wilson.

In 1992 an old woman contacted Wilson via his mail order business in Washington state and offered him a few various comics she had found. Her husband had owned a tobacco and candy store during the 1930's and 1940's and saved practically every periodical that passed through his store. He had stored them in various shacks on his property, where they stayed until the 1990's. His wife, deciding to clean the shacks out, threw all of the contents of one shack out, consisting of nothing but old newspapers. Upon cleaning out the second shack she noticed that inside each newspaper was another periodical, usually a magazine such as Life, or even a comic book. Upon discovering that some of the hidden periodicals held value she realized the fortune she threw away from the first shack.

Once contacted, Wilson quickly flew down to Nevada to purchase the comics from the second shack. The accumulation was small, about 50 books, but almost every comic was a #1 issue. In addition, the grade was immaculate and the page quality was beautiful.

As a gift Wilson gave the woman a new price guide and a set of Ernie Gerber's Photo-Journal. Upon inspection of the photo-journal the woman found Gerber's address and realized she was only about 30 miles away from him. She contacted Gerber and offered him the second batch of comics from the next shack she had since cleaned out after Wilson left. Gerber, unaware of Wilson's involvement at the time, gladly accepted. A deal was consummated, this time for about 200 comics, and Gerber left with the books. Wilson, expecting to purchase the second batch from the woman, tried to set up another visit, but she kept stalling. Ultimately, Wilson discovered she had sold the books to Gerber. In spite of the woman's questionable handling of the collection, neither Wilson nor Gerber harbored any ill will toward each other.

The earliest books were from 1939 and continued on into the 1940's with a few stretching into the 1950's. Some highlights of the collection included a Marvel #1, All-Star #1, Mysterymen #1, Science #1, All-Select #1, Boy Commandos #1, and reportedly the nicest existing copy of Big All-American #1 and New York World's Fair 1939. The average grade was VF-NM and the page quality ranged from slightly yellow to stark white. The occasional yellowing of pages was due to the various placement of comics in the six-foot stacks of newspapers in the shacks.

IDENTIFICATION-Because there are relatively few comics in this collection tracking the ownership of a copy in question is fairly easy. There are two other ways one can identify a Carson City/Comstock copy as well. 1)Most of the comics in the collection had "no.1" or "1" written on the cover, identifying it as the first issue in a series. 2)A date stamp can be found on a small number of authentic copies, usually on the back cover and in red or blue ink.

DESIRABILITY-Even though the Carson City/Comstock collection is relatively small in size the magnitude of books in it are substantial enough to warrant a pedigree in many collectors' eyes. This, coupled with the high grade and beautiful page quality, allows copies from the collection to fetch multiples of guide when sold.

When the collection was first sold by Wilson the asking price for the books was 1.2x to 1.3x guide, which was unheard of at the time. This was partially due to the slump in Golden Age comics during that period; the Marvel #1 was actually sold for under guide. Since then, movement of copies from this pedigree usually results in multiples as high as 3x to 4x guide, depending on the comic for sale.

--frm Matt Nelson's comicpedigree.com

"D" copy pedigree

2006-02-03T14:36:00.000-08:00

"D" - In 1991 Steve Fishler began to buy piecemeal what would eventually become known as the "D" collection. A person had located many boxes of old comics in Nyack, New York and was bringing Fishler one box every two weeks. No one knows where the collection originated from, but 99% of the books have a code written (possibly by a child) at the top of the first page. The collection ultimately numbered 1000, but there is reason to believe more comics were previously sold to other dealers. The range of the collection spanned from the late 1930's to the early 1950's. Some major keys present in the "D" collection included Sensation #1, All-Flash #1, Captain America #1, Batman #1, and Detective #28 and #29. The collection was initially distributed as a non pedigree and has just recently been dubbed the "D" collection because of the frequent "D" written on the cover and on the splash page.

IDENTIFICATION-As mentioned above, practically all of the "D" books contain a code written on the top margin of the first page. On occasion a "D" is written on the cover as well. Although most of the books exhibit foxing and a few have slightly tanned pages the books appear to have been unread.

DESIRABILITY-Because of the relatively new identification in the market "D" collection books still sell fairly close to guide.

--from Matt Nelson's comicrestoration.com

Crescent City pedigree

2006-02-03T14:35:00.000-08:00

CRESCENT CITY - One of the newest pedigrees in today's market, the Crescent City collection surfaced in early 1995 from an individual residing in New Orleans. Growing up in California his main focus of reading was Disney comics, although he dabbled in various superhero titles as well. The collection numbered approximately 175 comics and is one of the few Disney pedigree collections. It contained the finest existing copies of Walt Disney Comics and Stories #1-3, and March of Comics #20 and #41, along with a VF/NM copy of Four Color #9, all of the Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck one-shots in Near Mint, and one of the best existing copies of Batman #11 and Superman #14.

The collection was purchased by Bill Ponseti, Harley Yee, John Fairless, and Rob Hughes and was subsequently sold complete to a collector/dealer for an undisclosed amount of money.

IDENTIFICATION-No markings are present on any copies from the Crescent City collection. Almost all books are strong VF/NM copies with white pages. Because practically none of the books have been sold separately identification is fairly easy. Any book whose authenticity raises questions can be compared with the original list.

DESIRABILITY-What few have sold from the Crescent City collection have fetched 3x to 5x guide.

-- from Matt Nelson's Comicrestoraion.com

Blankis-Salida pedigree

2006-02-03T14:33:00.000-08:00

BLANKIS-SALIDA - This is a relatively new pedigreed collection that was purchased by Bruce Ellsworth in 1994. The collection originated from Salida, Colorado and was amassed by an individual named Frank Blankis. Because Blankis was handicapped he was unable to join the service, but read war books faithfully. He also loved Disney books. This was evident from his collection, which consisted of a complete run of DC and Atlas war books from 1950-1969 (with the exception of 10 issues total, all from the same month/year), most of the other various war titles from other companies, and Walt Disney Comics and Stories #50-210. The average grade was Very Fine to Near Mint. What is incredible about this collection is the page quality. I have to admit my skepticism upon hearing about this new pedigree, but when I saw my first Blankis-Salida book, I couldn't believe my eyes. To this day I have never seen whiter pages.

Ellsworth kept most of the collection, selling the bulk of the Atlas to one collector, and very little publicly. Included in the Blankis-Salida collection are the finest known copies of Our Army at War #1,81,83 and Our Fighting Forces #1.

IDENTIFICATION-Most of the Blankis-Salida books have stamps on the back or front cover. Variations of the stamp exist, such as: "Fred's News Stand", "Nor-Colo.", and the actual subscription stamp of Frank Blankis. Because the collection is relatively new and very little has been sold from it Blankis Salida books are easily identifiable.

DESIRABILITY-Despite the specified nature of the collection, the completeness of the war genre and Disney comics are impressive and the page quality is unsurpassed. Most books are technical NM and are the finest known copies to exist. Common Blankis-Salida books sell between 1x and 2.5x guide.

--from Matt Nelson's Comicrestoration.com

Goldcomics.com

2006-01-23T23:04:00.000-08:00

Looking for a new comic book website? Then go on over and check out Goldcomics.com. The site started out focused on MLJ comics, but has expanded to other areas of comicdom. That's not to say that you won't find a huge cache of MLJ information. In fact, Goldcomics.com offers the largest database of online scans for almost all MLJ comics published.

The interface is very much like the message boards used by CGC. So navigation should be very simple. Go on over and register.

Monster Blog!

2006-01-08T23:04:00.000-08:00

Monster Blog! A Tribute to the Monster Comics of Jack Kirby

You know the super-heroes, right? Spider Man, The Hulk, Fantastic Four, and Iron Man made Marvel famous. But do you know what Marvel Comics was all about in the late 50's and early 60's? Monsters! That's right, monsters!

Join me in a celebration of the Marvel monster comics of Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. Here you'll find the pulse-pounding tales of radiation run amok, of scientific experiments gone awry, of shape-shifting, mind-bending aliens from the furthest reaches of outer space!

There's a whole ton of reviews that need to be written but all covers are up, stories are listed and the comment system is on. If you're a big fan and know these stories, write in your own reviews — beat me to the punch! Otherwise, there's lots to see so look around and, most of all, enjoy.

Showcase Presents II

2005-11-23T22:13:00.000-08:00

So I just checked and DC is releasing in Feb. 2006, Showcase Presents: The House of Mystery.

Written by Len Wein, Robert Kanigher, Gerry Conway and others; Art by Bernie Wrightson, Neal Adams, Gil Kane, Alex Toth and others; Cover by Joe Orlando

Do you dare to enter…the House of Mystery? Everyone who does will find a full 22 issues of this classic DC series! Beginning with editor Joe Orlando's first issue (#174), this 552-page black-and-white trade paperback features a wealth of art from macabre masters!

DC Universe | 552pg. | B&W | Softcover | $17.99 US | ISBN 1401207863

On Sale February 8, 2006

Finally, I can read some of the early stories.

Showcase Presents

2005-11-08T17:43:00.000-08:00

In the same tradition as Marvel Comics's Essential series of books, DC launches their version. Entitled Showcase Presents, each volume will feature a different hero/group. Unlike Marvel, DC has printed their version with much better paper stock. Now DC fans can finally relive many of those stories reprinted. So far 4 volumes have been released with 2 more soon to be released.

Here is the breakdown of issues featured:

Showcase Presents: Superman Vol. 1
---SUPERMAN #122-133
---ACTION COMICS #241-257

Showcase Presents: Metamorpho Vol. 1
---THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #57-58, 66, 68
---METAMORPHO #1-17
---JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #42

Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Vol. 1
---SHOWCASE #22-24
---GREEN LANTERN #1-17

Showcase Presents: Jonah Hex Vol. 1
---ALL-STAR WESTERN #2-8 and #10-11
---WEIRD WESTERN TALES #12-14 and #16-33

Showcase Presents: Justice League of America Vol. 1
---THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #28-30
---JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #1-16
---MYSTERY IN SPACE #75

Showcase Presents: Green Arrow Vol. 1
---ADVENTURE COMICS #250-266, 268-269
---THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #50, 71, 85
---JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #4
---WORLD'S FINEST #95-140

Ghost Rider Movie

2005-11-03T22:24:00.000-08:00

The next big thing in comic book movies is here with Sony Pictures' Ghost Rider. This features Nic Cage as tormented Johnny Blaze and Eva Mendes as love interest Roxanne Simpson. Directed by Mark Steven Johnson, who directed both Daredevil and Elektra. I look forward to either hating it or loving it.

Official Site

Doc Frankenstein

2005-11-03T22:12:00.000-08:00

The coolest new modern comic I have seen in a long time has to be Doc Frankenstein. I was a little hesitant to but it, because I figured it would just be another attempt at making a monster character interesting. However, after reading the first issue I was blown away by the artwork and the story. The frequent oversize panels with extreme detail was mind-blowing.

The only criticism I have of the title is the shipping schedule which seems to be every other month.

Burlyman Entertainment

Also check out Shaolin Cowboy while you're at it.

OA Commissions

2005-11-01T12:53:00.000-08:00

I am not a big fan of OA, but I can understand the enjoyment some might get from spending thousands of dollars on it. One thing I do like is having artist commissions done of your favorite character. Here are 2 websites that offer artist commissions.

Fred Hembeck

2005-11-01T12:43:00.000-08:00

During my childhood reading comics in the 70s and 80s, one of the things I can remember was the artwork of Fred Hembeck. As far as I know Fred never drew a title of his own. However he did draw an issue of Spider-man, and he did several other pieces of humorous art. His trademark on his characters being the swirled knees.

Here is website for your enjoyment. Hembeck.com

New CGC Labels

2005-11-01T12:26:00.000-08:00

So the brain trust at CGC has decided their labels were not confusing enough and have decided to "simplify" them by changing them. The word on the street is that CGC was getting pressured by dealers to correct the stigma associated with PLODs (Purple Rrestored Labels). So CGC has listened and has changed the Universal Label to Certified Label, and the Restored Label to Apparent Label.

IMO, this is a tragic change that CGC should not make. Timie will tell if it was a smart move.

Here for your enjoyment is the link to their press statement and pictures of their pretty labels.

Proposed Label Changes

Minimate Madness

2005-09-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

Here is a very clever site that displays minimate figures to tell a story. Some great humor is involved in this. Especially the use of recurring gags, like the Bendis reference.

Enjoy!

Minimate Madness

Sid's Luncheonette Collection

2005-07-09T21:08:00.000-07:00

An unbelievable early Silver Age collection of 100 high grade DCs from noted CGC forum member and collector Harry Banks will be sold on www.pedigreecomics.com. There will be 10 books listed each night for 10 straight nights, each one being in CGC certified 8.0 or better (mostly better!!). Amazingly, every comic from this group was purchased by Mr. Banks himself from the same luncheonette (Sid's Luncheonette) in Orange, New Jersey and stored away for the past 44 or so years. Many of these copies represent the highest or second highest certified grade according to the CGC census and are truly scarce in even Very Fine. Most have off-white to white pages and all have incredible structure, ink reflectivity and a fresh, unread look (a testament to Mr. Banks' foresight in carefull storing each book since its date of purchase). You will probably never see such a high grade original owner group of early 1960's DCs ever again!!

Aquaman;
#4 - 9.4
#5 - 9.0
#10 - 9.4
#15 - 9.2
#16 - 9.2
#18 - 8.5

Atom;
#1 - 8.5
#2 - 9.0
#3 - 9.0
#7 - 9.2
#9 - 8.5
#10 - 9.4
#11 - 9.2
#12 - 9.2

Batman;
#146 - 8.0
#148 - 8.5
#149 - 8.0
#150 - 8.5
#157 - 9.0
#158 - 8.5
#159 - 9.2
#160 - 9.0(Q)
#161 - 8.5
#163 - 8.5
#165 - 8.5
#166 - 8.0
Ann#5 - 9.4

Brave & Bold;
#42 - 8.0
#43 - 8.0
#48 - 9.2
#49 - 9.6
#51 - 9.0
#53 - 9.2
#56 - 8.0

Flash;
#126 - 9.0
#127 - 9.0
#129 - 9.0
#130 - 8.5
#131 - 8.5
#136 - 8.5
#137 - 8.5
#140 - 8.5
#145 - 9.4

Green Lantern;
#14 - 8.5
#21 - 8.5
#22 - 9.0
#25 - 9.2
#27 - 8.5
#30 - 9.0

Hawkman;
#5 - 9.0

JLA;
#10 - 8.0
#11 - 8.0
#14 - 9.0
#20 - 9.0
#23 - 9.2
#24 - 8.5
#27 - 9.2
#28 - 9.6
#29 - 8.0
#32 - 9.0

Metal Men;
#2 - 9.4
#3 - 9.6
#4 - 9.4
#6 - 9.0
#8 - 9.2
#9 - 9.0

Mystery in Space;
#75 - 9.2
#76 - 8.5
#84 - 8.0
#86 - 8.0
#87 - 8.5
#91 - 8.5

Sea Devils;
#3 - 9.0(Q)
#4 - 9.2
#5 - 9.0

Showcase:
#35 - 8.0
#37 - 8.0
#38 - 8.0
#40 - 8.5
#43 - 8.0
#45 - 8.5

Superman;
#153 - 9.0
#154 - 9.0
#158 - 9.4
#162 - 8.0
#163 - 9.2
#165 - 9.2
#167 - 9.0
#168 - 9.0
#170 - 9.2

Wonder Woman;
#127 - 9.2
#128 - 9.0(Q)
#131 - 8.5
#139 - 9.4
#140 - 9.0
#142 - 9.2
#143 - 9.6
#144 - 9.4
#145 - 9.4
#147 - 9.2

DC's Checkerboard

2005-07-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite comic book gimmicks has always been the use of the checkerboard. This was the black and white artwork at the top of DC comics which was featured on all DC titles from February 1966 – August 1967. Several classic covers have the checkerboard at the top of the cover, covers like Detective #357. The checkerboard appeared the most on Action comics, a total of 20 issues. Three titles started with checkerboard covers on them, including Swing with Scooter, Plastic Man, and Inferior Five. In all, 535 issues carried the innovative design on the cover.

Known as Go-Go Checks, the checkerboard pattern that ran across the top of every issue for a year and a half was not simply a reflection of the era's pop-art movement. Since some newsstand racks displayed comics vertically, revealing only the upper portion of a book, the pattern was intended to make DC's comics stand out and thus, theoretically, increase sales. "What a ridiculous thing," Carmine Infantino declared. "It was the stupidest idea we ever heard because the books were bad in those days and that just showed people right off what not to buy." But Donenfeld disagreed: "I was trying to find a way of making DC Comics pop out on the newsstand. It wasn't a bad idea; it just didn't work the way I wanted it to. It didn't add anything, but I thought it might." In fact, total sales for the entire DC line during this period were at their peak for the 1960s, sales for Batman-related titles increased dramatically, and DC was outselling all of its competitors. The checks were most likely cancelled as a waste of precious cover space, and interestingly, sales did begin to stall about a year later.

Here is a checklist of checkerboard covers:

Action Comics #333-352 (20)
Adventure Comics #341-358 (18)
Adventures of Bob Hope #98-106 (9)
Adventures of Jerry Lewis #93-101 (9)
All-American Men of War #114-117 (4)
Aquaman #26-34 (9)
Atom #24-32 (9)
Batman #179-193 (15)
Blackhawk #218-234 (17)
Brave and the Bold #64-72 (9)
Capt. Storm #12-18 (7)
Challengers of the Unknown #49-57 (9)
Detective Comics #348-365 (18)
Doom Patrol #102-112 (11)
Falling In Love #82-92 (11)
Flash #159-171 (13)
Fox and the Crow #96-104 (9)
G.I. Combat #117-124 (8)
Girls’ Love Stories #117-128 (12)
Girls’ Romances #115-126 (12)
Green Lantern #43-54 (12)
Hawkman #13-20 (8)
Heart Throbs #100-108 (9)
House of Mystery #157-168 (12)
House of Secrets #77-80 (4)
Inferior Five #1-3 (3)
Justice League of America #43-54 (12)
Metal Men #18-26 (9)
Metamorpho #5-13 (9)
Mystery in Space #106-110 (5)
Our Army at War #165-183 (18)
Our Fighting Forces #98-108 (11)
Plastic Man #1-5 (5)
Sea Devils #28-35 (8)
Secret Hearts #110-120 (11)
Showcase #61-69 (9)
Star Spangled War Stories #126-133 (8)
Strange Adventures #185-202 (18)
Sugar and Spike #64-71 (8)
Superboy #127-140 (14)
Superman #185-198 (14)
Superman’s Girl-Friend Lois Lane #63-75 (13)
Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #91-103 (13)
Swing with Scooter #1-7 (7)
Tales of the Unexpected #94-101 (8)
Teen Titans #2-10 (9)
Tomahawk #103-111 (9)
Wonder Woman #161-171 (11)
World’s Finest Comics #156-167 (12)
Young Love #54-62 (9)
Young Romance #141-148 (8)

San Diego Comic-Con 2005

2005-06-06T18:21:00.000-07:00

Once again, the largest comic convention in the country is about to hit. Of course as the title suggests, it is the San Diego Comic-Con. This year the convention is July 14-17, 2005. Preview Night is July 13, 2005.

This year, as in years past will have a variety of events and guests for any and all people interested in Science Fiction, Comics, or just Spectacle.

As in years past, one of the highlights of the show is the CGC forum dinner. This casual dinner allows those of us who post on the CGC message boards to get together and talk comics. We get to meet new members who haven't been to prior dinners. Truly one of the best things about the hobby is to share the zeal for comics.

Here is the SD con official website ---->LINK

Funny X-men cartoons

2005-04-28T11:19:00.000-07:00

If you are a fan of the X-men you have to check out these cartoons by Matt Gardner.

X-Men: Death Becomes Them

X-Men: Dark Phoenix Rising

Rob Liefield - Official Website

2005-04-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

LINK

For those of you who have not heard of Rob Liefield. He was the superstar artist in the 1990s who set the comic world on fire with his art. He was so successful that many long time writers changed their style to imitate Rob's. Rob eventually started his own company with several other successful writers, like Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee, named Image Comics.

After the dust settled from the 1990s, comic readers took a hard look at the artists body of work and Rob was hit the hardest. His use of body proportions gorssly disfigured most characters. His characters all had the same facial expressions. To this day Rob continues to draw even though work is difficult to come by.

An example of Rob Leifield's work:

Wonder Woman #25 review

2005-04-03T09:48:00.000-07:00

written by Joanna Sandsmark

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Lamont Larson

2005-03-31T18:57:00.000-08:00

Joe Tricarichi found the collection. Jon Berk found the collector.

When Tricarichi, a Cleveland dealer, unearthed Larson's distinctively marked collection of 1,000 Golden Age books in the early '70s, he jealously guarded the identity of the original owner. It took Berk, the president of the American Association of Comic Collectors in 1994, to track Larson down, not far from where Larson grew up in Nebraska.

Born in 1927, Larson began reading comic books in 1936, picking up his favorite issues at the Cruetz Drug Store. Because the kid periodically missed a comic, store owner Fred Cruetz said, "I'll tell you what: We'll put your name on them...and when you want to come in and get them, they'll be here."

To reserve the comics, two store employees- Tryg Hagen and Cecil Coop - would scrawl his name on the covers. Larson told Berk that Hagen wrote either "Lamont" or "Larson" in a flowing cursive," while Coop, who came on staff after Hagen died in 1940, wrote "Larson" in a somewhat tighter script. The initials on some of the comics - "PN" for Publishers NEws and "ON" for Omaha News - marked the distributors to which unsold books would be returned.

Larson stopped reading the funny books in 1941, but he carefully stored his comics in a box. That box ended up in a Nebraska barn for most of the next 30 years. The comics were eventually purchased by antique dealer Dwaine Nelson, who in turn sold the collection for less than $100.

The condition of the Larson books varies, often falling far short of the Mile Highs, but the two characteristics of the collection- its original owner and the length of time it remained intact- warrant its pedigree.

--Comics: Between the Panels

IRS Collection

2005-03-21T21:35:00.000-08:00

The IRS name is a misnomer - collector Aran Stubbs worked for the Colorado Department of Revenue, not the Internal Revenue Service - but we're stuck with it, as we shall explain in a moment.

Aran Stubbs was, in the words of his lawyer, "a little different than the average person." "Very eccentric-looking," said Dorothy Dahlquist, a publicist with CDR. "Very eccentric-acting. And absolutely brilliant." "He had a very special Spartan lifestyle," according to attorney Steven Katzman. "It was just Aran and his dog." And as far as anyone could tell, Stubbs didn't care a whole bunch about the dog. He had two passions in life - computers and comic books - and his genius was figuring out a way to use the first to acquire the second.

When Stubbs was first hired by the Department of Revenue, the agency didn't run background checks, so the agency never discovered that its new clerk had two convictions for burglary as a teenager and in 1979 had pleaded guilty to mail fraud, serving four months of a four-year sentence. All CDR knew was that Stubbs was very good at his job and very adept with computers. He rose steadily through the ranks and kept his eyes open. By the time Stubbs became a chief computer programmer in 1990, he knew how the system worked.

He knew, for example, that if someone prepaid an estimated tax, then died due a refund, CDR would never send it out. Because no one would file for the refund, CDR would stow the money in that unopened account forever. "Never say forever." That was Stubb's motto. He had a huge comic book collection - several hundred long boxes - but he didn't have the money to fill in all the holes until he started tapping those unopened accounts.

"Aran would manipulate the system," Dahlquist explained, "forcing it to issue a check, either to himself or to the account. then he would either intercept the check or have it sent to his house." Dahlquist said agency investigators believe Stubbs began diverting funds in August 1991, and for several months no one was the wiser. Stubbs kept the checks small and his ears open, in case CDR had plumbers listening in for small leaks. As he hit the major-league mail-order dealers around the country, he always paid with cash.

But the caution didn't last. "The process got addictive," Katzman said. "You don't know when enough is enough. Greed overtakes your better judgment. The thing overtook him." Stubb's mistake was to begin paying for his larger orders not with cash but with the actual state warrants. "He contracted at least one dealer," Dahlquist said, "saying, 'I am representing a group of people who want to invest in comic books. I will send you a Colorado state income tax warrant. It will be endorsed. Just use that as payment.'"

The scheme quickly pricked the suspicions of one dealer, Harley Yee of Detroit, who called the Department of Revenue and asked if the check was good. When the investigator researched the refund check, he discovered the name on the check belonged to a dead man. Dahlquist said the agency security systems were already tracking a thief inside the agency: "We knew someone was doing it. The comic book angle identified Aran."

Stubbs was arrested on March 19, 1992. "If the scheme had run its full course," Katzman said, "Aran would have been out of the country. He didn't expect them to find out about it so soon." Estimates of what Stubbs stole ranged from $150,000 to $500,000, but the state eventually settled on $180,000. Stubbs was charged with a Class 3 felony - theft over $10,000 - and pleaded guilty to a Class 5 offense, embezzlement of public property.

Stubbs could have gone to jail for up to 16 years on the original charge; he ended up escaping prison time entirely. Instead, he was sentenced to four years' probation and ordered to forfeit his collection to repay the Department of Revenue. The collection consisted of 400 long boxes, or approximately 60,000 comics. Stubbs had stored the best of the lot - Detective #38, for example, and Showcase #4 - in three freezers in his house. In no mind to go into the retail business, the CDR decided to auction off the entire array in one lot by sealed bid.

The winners of the auction - RTS Unlimited of Golden, Colorado - quickly dubbed their take the "IRS Collection" in huge, obnoxious ads in the Comics Buyer's Guide. Although others who had viewed the collection came away unimpressed by its quality or the number of key books, RTS promised buyers that "each comic will be issued with a certificate of authenticity to validate it's pedigree and unique origin from this important part of comicdom history."

How important? RTS demanded $22.85 ($19.95 for the catalog and $2.90 for shipping and handling) for the "100+-page inventory listing" of Aran Stubb's ill-gotten gains.

--from Comics: Between the Panels

Hooded Menaces

2005-03-21T21:19:00.000-08:00

Many themes occur on comic covers, themes such as bondage covers, headlight covers, or even Robin corner shock covers. One such theme is Hooded Menace covers. These covers depict the villain with his head covered, typically in a red colored hood.

The most prolific artist to depict such hooded menaces was legendary GA artist Alex Schomburg. "It was just whatever came out of my stupid head," Schomburg said. "Then I put a swastika on them and made them nazis."

Below is a partial list of Hooded Menace covers:

Avon #27
Black Terror #20
Blue Beetle #29
Daredevil #27
Daring #2
Detective #191
Exciting #42
Fighting Yank #11, 23
Flash #20
Green Hornet #15
Human Torch #6, 16
Kid Komics #4, 9
Marvel Mystery #18, 28, 29, 45, 51, 52, 69
Master Comics #98
Mystery Comics #2, 4
Mystic #1
Shadow #61
Shock SuspenStories #6
Startling #20, 40
Sub-Mariner #13
Super-Magician vol. 4 #5
Suspense #3
Terrific #5
Venus #18
Wow# 3

Comic Butcher/Scam Artist

2005-03-17T17:22:00.000-08:00

In case some of you have not heard of Daniel Dupcak aka Comic-Keys aka Hammer.

Please check out the following site which will enlighten you as to the shameful practice he perpetrates upon the collecting community.

LINK

Marvel Comics #1

2005-03-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

Possibly one of the greatest comic book grails of all time. Given the higher number of Action Comics #1 appearances, I would think this book to be rarer. This is the beginning of the Marvel Comics empire. This is by far the best copy I have ever seen of this book, notice that it is unrestored. Currently being offered on Ebay --->LINK

Sin City Movie

2005-03-03T17:36:00.000-08:00

From legendary artist Frank Miller comes the gritty pulp Sin City to the big screen. Several of Miller's books are combined into one movie. What makes this film unique is the way the filmakers attempted to recreate the comic book feel. Much of the film is done in Black and White with CGI color added to it as well as CGI effects to make it seem more like a comic book.

Directed by Robert Rodriguez / Frank Miller
Hartigan.............Bruce Willis
Nancy................Jessica Alba
Gail....................Rosario Dawson
Jackie Boy...........Benicio Del Toro
Dwight...............Clive Owens
Marv..................Mickey Rourke
Shellie................Britney Murphy
Yellow Bastard.........Nick Stahl

Official Site

Deathlok Chronology

2005-02-24T16:50:00.000-08:00

So here is the chronology for Deathlok, or Luther Manning. This is only for the original Deathlok and does not include John Kelly or Michael Collins or any other person.

Astonishing Tales #25
Astonishing Tales #26
Astonishing Tales #27
Astonishing Tales #28
Astonishing Tales #30
Astonishing Tales #31
Astonishing Tales #32
Astonishing Tales #33
Astonishing Tales #34
Astonishing Tales #35
Astonishing Tales #36
Marvel Team-Up #46
Marvel Spotlight #33
Marvel Two-In-One #26
Marvel Two-In-One #27
Marvel Two-In-One #28
Marvel Two-In-One #34
Captain America #286
Captain America #287
Captain America #288
Marvel Fanfare #4
Marvel Comics Presents #62
Deathlok #1

02/23/05 New Comics

2005-02-24T16:36:00.000-08:00

Here we go True Believers, this weeks picks:

Batman: The Man Who Laughs GN
Seven Soldiers #0
Amazing Spider-Man #517 (Skin Deep pt. 3 of 4)
Batman #637
Rogue #8 (Forget-Me-Not pt. 2)
Excalibur #10
Fantastic Four #523 (Rising Storm pt. 4 of 4)
The Flash #219
X-23 #3
Uncanny X-men #456

Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #35

2005-02-22T22:06:00.000-08:00

The release date for the 35th Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide (OCBPG) is fast approaching. Not only does the OCBPG contain the current publishing data for almost all published comic books as well as current condition values, it is chock full of informative articles. The OCBPG is an invaluable tool for any transaction in the comic book hobby.

In today's market the biggest criticism the OCBPG receives is that of minimizing the effect of slabbed books on the market. The OCBPG does include a bit of prices realized in the past year for slabbed books. However it generally only reports key issues of benchmark sales. I suppose the thinking is that since such a small fraction of comic books that are sold/bought are slabbed, that the majority of the market is still in raw comics. So the OCBPG caters to this portion of the market.

Overstreet also publishes a quarterly pamphlet that tracks prices realized for slabbed books within the previous quarter.

Here is a sneak peek at the upcoming cover the 35th OCBPG:

02/16/05 New Comics

2005-02-20T14:33:00.000-08:00

This weeks releases:

New X-Men #10
Astonishing X-men #8
Ex Machina #8
Green Lantern Rebirth #4 (of 6)
Marvel Knights Handbook 2005
She-Hulk #12
JLA Classified #4
Teen Titans #21
Stormbreaker #2 (of 6)
JSA #70
Spectacular Spider-man #25 (Sins Remembered pt. 3)

Detective Comics #359

2005-02-18T14:36:00.000-08:00

1st appearance of Batgirl

The story opens with Barbara Gordon, daughter of Police Commisioner Gordon, sewing her costume for the Policeman's Masquerade Ball that night. On her way to the Ball she sees several Moth-men attempting to kidnap Bruce Wayne. Barbara leaps from her car dressed as Catwoman, and using her learned Judo skills fights the Moth-men. This allows Bruce Wayne to escape and change into his identity as Batman. Suddenly Killer Moth flies in via a strong wire suspended from an unknown source. Killer Moth overpowers Batgirl, until Batman shows up and saves Batgirl, while Killer Moth flies off.

The next morning Bruce Wayne learns from a letter mailed to him that Killer Moth plans on attacking Bruce Wayne until he pays him #100,000. Bruce, as Batman, learns that Killer Moth has sent similar letters to all the millionaires in Gotham City. Batman devises a plan to capture the Killer Moth.

Meanwhile, Barbara has been in training to keep herself in top physical shape. Later she receives a rare book that is on hold for Bruce Wayne. She decides to deliver the book in person. Upon arrival in the house she witnesses Killer Moth shooting Bruce Wayne in the back and killing him. Ingeniously she has developed her costume to be disguised as her clothes. Her beret pulls down to become her mask, her skirt pulls away to become her cape, her handbag becomes her utility belt, and her boots unfurl to reveal Bat-boots. Batgirl fights the Moth-men, while Killer Moth escapes. Batman and Robin watch from inside a side room and come out to help her. Batman reveals to Batgirl that it was a trap for Killer Moth, they used a dummy which was shot and Robin placed a homing device on the Moth-mobile. Batman & Robin leave Batgirl to track Killer Moth.

Batgirl removes a motor-bike from her truck, which she has modified into a Batcycle. When Batman & Robin at Killer Moth's hideout, a trap is sprung capturing them. It's up to Batgirl to rescue them from the trap. Upon release all three heroes search the hideout for Killer Moth. Batgirl is able "smell" Killer Moth behind a fake wall. Batman deduces that during her fight earlier, some of her perfume rubbed off onto Killer Moth. So she was able to smell it on him from the other side of the fake wall.

Quote from this issue: "Holy Interference!" - Robin

Credits: Gardner Fox (Script), Carmine Infantino (Pencils), Sid Greene (Inks)

02/09/05 New Comics

2005-02-11T22:06:00.000-08:00

A little late this week, but a some good reading:

Alpha Flight #12 (Days of Future Present, Past Participle pt. 3 of 4)
Captain America #3 (Out of Time pt. 3)
District X #10 (Underground pt. 3 of 6)
Captain America and the Falcon #12 (Brothers and Keepers pt. 5 of 5)
JLA #111 (Syndicate Rules pt. 5)
Young Avengers #1 (Sidekicks pt. 1)
Earth's Mightiest Heroes #7 (of 8)
New Thunderbolts #5
Fantastic Four: Foes #2 (of 6)
Action Comics #824

Fantastic Four Movie

2005-02-10T11:48:00.000-08:00

Well July 8th, 2005 is quickly getting closer. I am very excited to see how they interpret the Fantastic Four to the big screen. I really hope they dedicate the same attention as they did for the X-men movies, and not the dreck that they distributed as the Punisher movie. Although initial photos of the Thing does not instill any confidence that they have.

Here is the cast for the movie, also Legendary creator Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance as FF mailman, Willy Lumpkin.

Ioan Gruffudd .... Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic
Michael Chiklis .... Ben Grimm/The Thing
Jessica Alba .... Susan Storm/The Invisible Woman
Chris Evans .... Johnny Storm/The Human Torch
Julian McMahon .... Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom
Kerry Washington .... Alicia Masters

02/02/05 New Comic Listing

2005-02-03T19:35:00.000-08:00

Here are the books I picked up:

Uncanny X-men #455
Superman/Batman #17
Firestorm #10
Excalibur #9
Exiles #59
Superman #213
Shanna, The She-Devil #1 (of 7)
New Avengers #3
Justice League Elite #8
Detective Comics #802
X-Men Unlimited #7
X-Men: Phoenix Endsong #2 (of 5)
X4 #3 (of 5)

Comic Book Pedigrees

2005-02-03T14:54:00.000-08:00

The term pedigree is used quite frequently in the comic collecting community. There is a certain aura of excitement when a book is from a pedigree. Pedigree collections range from Golden Age books from the 1930s to Bronze Age books in the 1970s. They range from Superhero, Horror, Western, Romance, and more.

This is a list of pedigrees that are recognized by CGC:

Allentown
Aurora
Bethlehem
Big Apple
Boston
Bowling Green
Chicago
Circle 8
Cosmic Aeroplane
Crowley
Curator
"D" copy
Denver
Diamond Run
Gaines File
Green River
Hawkeye
Larson
Lost Valley
Massachusetts
Mile High (Edgar Church)
Mile High II*
Mohawk Valley
Northland
Northford
Nova Scotia
Oakland
Ohio
Okajima
Pacific Coast
Palo Alto
Pennsylvania
River City
Rockford
San Francisco
Spokane
Toledo
Twilight
Western Penn
White Mountain
Windy City
Winnipeg

Green River Pedigree

2005-02-03T14:26:00.000-08:00

reprinted by permission:

The Green River Collection

by Brad Hamann

Belying its serene-sounding title, the Green River Collection actually claims an indirect connection to one of the most horrific series of murders on record in American history.

William J. Stevens II began assembling this collection of mainly Silver Age Marvels and DCs in the 1960s when he was a boy. Stevens’ father operated a 1,200-square-foot pharmacy on a secondary road by Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, and Stevens and his adopted brother Robert would steal comics and boxes of trading cards from the store. Stevens meticulously cataloged and stored this quickly-growing collection.

The collection first began to surface in the early 1990s when Stevens, now in his forties, began selling some of the books to Craig Barnett, a local dealer who ran a store in Spokane called The Comic Book Shop. Stevens would arrive at the store with stacks of comics packed in brown paper grocery sacks whenever he needed money. According to Barnett, Stevens was looking to raise money for a microwave receiving station to track police calls as part of his apparent fixation with law enforcement. Barnett has described Stevens as very personable, and “a really nice guy, but an incredible con man.” These transactions went on for about a year and then stopped. Later, Barnett learned from Robert Stevens that William had died as a result of cancer. What Barnett did not know at the time of his purchases, was that William was not only a con man, but a convicted felon.

Convicted of burglarizing a uniform store in 1979, Stevens had served a two-year stint in prison. Then, in January of 1981, he had simply walked out of a King County jail work-release program and dropped completely out of sight. Stevens traveled extensively under several aliases and resided in the Portland, Oregon area until May of 1985, when he returned to Spokane and enrolled at Gonzaga.

Police discovered and arrested Stevens at his parents’ home in January of 1989 after several phone tips resulting from the television program “Manhunt Live: A Chance to End a Nightmare!” At the time, Stevens was in his last year at Gonzaga University School of Law and serving as the president of the Student Bar Association. He promptly issued a statement denying any wrongdoing. “I am not the Green River killer. They have made me out to be a very bad person, and I am not,” he declared.

After a search of his parents’ home, where Stevens was then living, police found 29 firearms, and a box full of phony driver’s licenses and credit cards acquired under assumed names. Credit-card fraud and robbery were apparently a means by which Stevens had survived through the years. Also discovered were more than one hundred police badges, and a large collection of pornographic videotapes and sexually explicit Polaroids of naked women.

Stevens seemed a strong suspect in the series of murders in the Seattle-Tacoma area that began in the early 1980s. In all, the Green River Killer had tallied 48 victims between 1982 and 1984. The killer systematically left his victims, all women, near the banks of the Green River outside of Seattle. Many were prostitutes, but several runaways and hitchhikers became the unfortunate victims of the most prolific killer in American criminal history. After his arrest, Stevens was exhaustively interviewed about the Green River murders, but a series of alibis placed him on trips with his parents out of the Seattle area at the time of some of the murders. Police eventually released Stevens and took him off the list of suspects. Stevens died of cancer on September 20, 1991. In 2003, Gary Ridgway, another longtime suspect, confessed to all of the murders.

Craig Barnett has not kept a detailed list of the nearly eight hundred books he purchased from William J. Stevens, but after Stevens’ death in 1991, Barnett announced the as-yet-unnamed collection in one of his market reports in the Overstreet Monthly Price Guide Update.

In an April 2004 e-mail to a collector, Craig Barnett recalled some of his 1990-1991 dealings with William Stevens:

Bill kept me on the hook as far as what other books he had and mentioned over and over that he had between five and fifteen Amazing Spider-Man #1’s and would bring them in as soon as he found them. Considering some of the quantities of some of the books he did bring in I really had no reason to doubt him. I don’t remember having any quantity of the major keys so it's unlikely that he sold me more than one or two of any keys that he did have, but I really don’t know which ones they might have been and in the grades they were in, they would have sold rather quickly. He did bring in quite a few annuals and specials ─I remember getting several copies each of the FF and Spider-man annuals and specials early on as Bill thought they would be worth more because they were larger but I have no idea as to what quantities of each there were─ most of the books were grouped together in threes and fours with an occasional grouping of five─ I don’t remember getting more than five of anything.

What emerged over the course of time was that in addition to the books he sold to Barnett, William J. Stevens had bartered the sale of nearly 1,650 of his books to attorney Craig C. Beles in order to pay off some of the legal bills that had accumulated as a result of his run-ins with law enforcement. After reading through the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, Beles sent out a letter to many of the dealers who advertised in the book, notifying them that the collection was for sale.

John M. Hauser, a well-known dealer from Madison, Wisconsin was alerted to the solicitation by a fellow Wisconsin dealer, Jef Hinds. Hauser flew to Seattle and initially viewed about one hundred of the comics. “After seeing these, I knew I wanted the rest,” said Hauser. “I put in a competitive bid and won out against the crowd of dealers.”

Hauser purchased the collection in partnership with James Haack, another dealer. Each put up half of the $25,000 winning bid. The collection they acquired contained a wide selection of DCs and Marvels. “There were multiples of almost every annual I received. I think [the Stevens brothers] stole more annuals, as the cover price was higher and they thought they would be worth more. Most of the annuals have graded at 9.4 or 9.6. Sadly, all of the Flash’s I bought were water damaged,” said Hauser. The Amazing Spider-Man #1 that Hauser and Haack purchased was later graded a 7.0 by CGC.

At the time of the purchase, Hauser was unaware of Barnett’s connection to part of the collection. Later, Hauser read in one of Barnett’s market reports in the Overstreet Monthly Price Guide Update that Barnett had sold multiple copies of Fantastic Four Annual #1 and Spider-Man Annual #1. Hauser then contacted Barnett, but by then most of the DCs and Marvels had been sold. Barnett still retained a number of Gold Keys and books by other publishers.

Hauser and Haack first offered their books for sale to the public in 1993 when the two dealers ran an ad in the March 26, 1993, issue of Comics Buyer’s Guide. The books listed for sale included nearly complete runs of Silver Age X-Men, Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Daredevil, Journey Into Mystery (from Issue #91 up), Sgt. Fury, and Fantastic Four (from Issue #8 up). The collection also included a large assortment of DCs and some Gold Keys, as well. Once Hauser and Haack had recouped their initial investment, they split up the remainder of the books.

According to Barnett, John Hauser coined the name for the Green River Collection. Once the name became better known, Barnett began to put a certificate explaining the collection behind each backing board, along with the shop stamp.

The collection was officially recognized as the Green River Collection by Comics Guaranty Corporation in 2001. Mark Haspel, senior grader and pedigree expert at CGC says that the collection was already well-known when John Hauser began submitting books to CGC for grading. The existence of the original sales lists made it that much easier to document and verify the books in the collection.

In 2003, Craig Beles attempted to sell a raw copy of Daredevil #11 on eBay. The book did not meet reserve and an interested collector took the initiative and contacted Beles directly to negotiate a price for the book. When Beles told the collector that he had other books as well, a deal was struck for an additional 75 books.

The books that make up the Green River Collection number approximately 2,400, and are among the easiest to identify of all the major pedigrees. The vast majority of these books carry a small red arrival date stamped on the front cover. The books are characterized by incredibly white pages, terrific cover gloss, great color strike, tight cover wrap and an overall unread, right-off-the-newsstand freshness. Edges and corners are razor sharp. When examined first hand, it is hard to believe that these books are forty years old.

The collection contains single copies of many of the books, but also cases of multiple copies, as mentioned; for example, the original sales manifests compiled by Beles listed six copies of Avengers #22, and nine copies each of Strange Tales #138 and Fantastic Four Annual #3.

The majority of the collection has yet to be graded by CGC, but those books that have been graded received outstanding marks, ranging generally from 8.5 to 9.6. Books graded at 9.6 include Amazing Spider-Man #29, Daredevil #11, and Tales of Suspense #83.

Collector Shin C. Kao has compiled a near-complete list in PDF format of all the titles in the original sales manifests, along with a scan of the original Comics Buyer’s Guide ad. This additional material can be found at www.corpcity.com

©2004 Brad Hamann

.25 cent PictureFrame issues

2005-02-01T15:28:00.000-08:00

Between November 1971 and March 1972, Marvel Comics experimented with their titles by releasing .25 cent issues. By today's standards this seems very inexpensive, however comic books at the time only cost .15 cents. So a ten cent jump seemed excessive. Marvel eventually only raised the cover price by five cents to .20 cent issues.

Another change Marvel made was the introduction of the Marvel Comics bar across the top of their comics, which has become a mainstay for most of the 1970s to 1980s.

Here is a complete list of the .25 cent PictureFrame issues:

Amazing Spider-Man #102

Avengers #93

Avengers Annual #5

Captain America #143

Captain America Special #2

Chamber of Darkness Special #1

Conan #11

Daredevil #81

Daredevil Special #3

Fantastic Four #116

Fear #6

Incredible Hulk #145

Incredible Hulk Annual #4

Iron Man #43

Kid Colt Outlaw #156

Marvel Feature #2

Marvel's Greatest Comics #34

Marvel Special Edition #4

Marvel Spotlight #2

Marvel Tales #33

Marvel Triple Action #1

Mighty Marvel Western #16

Monsters on the Prowl #14

My Love #14

Rawhide Kid #93

Ringo Kid #12

Sub-Mariner #43

Sub-Mariner Special #2

Thor #193

Where Monsters Dwell #12

Western Gunfighters #7

01/26/05 New Comic Review

2005-01-31T21:56:00.000-08:00

Every week I will review the new comics that I read each week. Each comic will be reviewed and I will give my thoughts to each. So this week's comics:

Amazing Spider-Man #516: Skin Deep (part 2 of 4) So after the building collapsed last issue on Peter Parker's childhood friend, Charlie Weiderman, we see the emergency crews cleaning up the mess. Rescue crews find Charlie lying amid the charred remains of the building, his body a red metallic tint. Charlie awakens and panics throwing the rescue crew away from him. By accident an oxygen tank is ruptured igniting yet another blaze. Meanwhile, Peter is at home with Mary Jane getting ready for a Dress Rehearsal. Peter hears about the the inferno on the news and rushes out the house as Spider-Man. Peter has a flashback of childhood when Charlie would routinely get picked on by the school bullies.One day Charlie is so fed-up with being picked on that he chooses to fight back, with the aid of his father's pocket knife. When the bullies confront Charlie and attempt to pick on him, Peter sees that Charlie has a knife concealed behind his back. Peter knocks himself into Charlie, which dislodges the knife from Charlie's grip. A teacher runs over and discovers the knife on the ground and asks to whom it belongs. With Charles silence, Peter says it is his. Peter's Uncle Ben is called and the Peter tells him the truth about what happened. Uncle Ben understands and tells Peter to stay away from Charlie, because he is nothing but trouble.
Peter exhausted from swingin around the city, returns to an empty home. A knock is heard at the door, it is Charlie asking for Peter's help. Peter and Charlie discuss what has happened. Charlie demands that Peter help him, Peter is unsure. Charlie then threatens that he will kill everyone Peter knows unless he gets his help.

Teen Titans #20: Starfire and Cyborg stand atop the Titans Tower talking, she is telling him that she has to leave. She wants to be with Dick Grayson, Nightwing. Robin, Tim Drake, watches as Starfire flies off. Robin tells Cyborg that he is going camping with his father. We know this to be a lie, because Tim's father was murdered during Identity Crisis.
Interlude: Electrocutioner visits Bolt in the hospital. Electrocutioner wants to know what was in the box that Bolt was hired to get when he was shot by a couple gang members.
Robin has made the decision that he doesn't want to let his teammates know that his father was killed. Upstairs, Wonder Girl is helping Raven become more personable. Suddenly Beast Boy interrupts them, and notices Raven's new look. This triggers Raven's anger and she casts Beast Boy out of the room. Meanwhile, in Robin's room Superboy drops in and tells Robin that he knows about his father. Abruptly an alarm sounds, there is a problem in Opal city. On a rooftop we find the two gang members who stole the Luthor Suit from the box that Bolt was supposed to acquire. One of them has the suit on and is testing it, when the Titans arrive. Simultaneously, Electrocutioner arrives to take back the suit. A battle ensues, with the Titans victorious, except during the battle, the villain Warp teleports in and takes the suit with him. After the battle, Robin is able to tell his teammates that about his father.
Epilogue: Warp delivers the suit to Lex Luthor, who is seen studying Superboy for some menacing reason.

Other issues out this week:

New X-Men Academy #9
X-23 #2
Earth's Mightiest Heroes #6 of 8
JLA Classified #3
Uncanny X-men #454
Batman #636
Fantastic Four #522 (Rising Storm part 3 of 4)
Spectacular Spider-Man #24 (Sins Remembered part 2)
Legion of Super-Heroes #2
The Flash #218
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Women of Marvel 2005

Oscar Buzz

2005-01-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

So there are several films that have been getting a lot of Oscar buzz. I haven't seen them so I couldn't tell you if the buzz is sincere or just unfounded. Here are a few of the noteworthy contenders.

Million Dollar Baby: Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this dramatic piece about a boxing coach (Eastwood) who coaches a young talented female boxer (Hillary Swank). During the course of the film several life lessons are learned. I wasn't that fond of Eastwood's previous film, Mystic River, although Sean Penn did win the Oscar last year. Perhaps Eastwood has another hit on his hands this year.

Sideways: This small film recently appeared and has garnered some great praise. It features Paul Giamatti, who is becoming a terrific actor by choosing to do small meaningful films. I look forward to seeing this one soon.

The Aviator: About a week ago I wouldn't have mentioned this film as being an Oscar contender. Yet at the Golden Globes, this film attained much respect by winning Best Picture (Drama) and Best Actor (Drama) for Leanardo DiCaprio. Two heavyweight awards for this film, has to be taken into consideration for Oscar night.

There are of course other films that will be receive various other nominations, but I don't think we will see any film that will sweep the Oscars. This past year did see several big-budget movies, like Troy and Alexander. However, their box-office doldrums may prevent them from Oscar night glory.

I look forward to hearing the nominations, which I believe will be announced January 25th.

RB

My Church Experience

2005-01-14T17:03:00.000-08:00

So in the comic collecting world, the legend of Chuck Rozanski is well known for his discovery of the Church collection. For those that do not know what this is, I will briefly explain. In the 70's a teenage boy by the name of Chuck Rozanski who dabbled in buying and selling comics, received a call about a collection of comics in Colorado, where Chuck lived at the time. So Chuck goes to investigate the collection. What he finds is an immaculate collection of every imaginable old comic in mint condition. He is so taken with the collection he buys them all for a small fraction of their actual worth. Apparently the seller was the wife of the owner of the collection, as the owner, Church, was terminally ill. So anyway, Chuck quickly sells off the collection to the highest bidders and makes a fortune. In the process he builds a chain of comic books stores, known as Mile High Comics. To this day, Chuck is an icon in the comic field.

On to my story.

On the CGC message boards. A new user posted that he had a collection of old books that he had to sell right away. He lives in the area and needs to sell fast. So I contacted him with dreams of finding these mint copies of rare books. I was thinking of how I could quickly sell them for a profit and what I would buy with the money. Then I started to think that maybe this was a scam to get me to go to his place to see his "collection" with a lot of money. He might then rob me of my money, and leave me forlorn.

He seemed polite enough and helpful. So we arranged a time when I could see the comics the next day. I went there fully expecting to get robbed. I hide my money in the car along with wallet, and for security I took a pocket knife with me. Not that I felt the pocket knife afforded any sort of protection, but at least I wasn't empty-handed.

I had no need to be afraid of the seller, he was genuine in needing to sell his collection. There were no thugs awaiting me behind the door to waylay me. Of course in flipping through his collection, which was very neatly laid out upon the floor, I saw several books that I would love to own and keep for my collection. However most of the books were lower grades and not the mint copies that I had dreamt of. When I asked how much he wanted for the books, he told me he would accept 50% of guide. This depressed me, because I knew that even at 50% of guide the books would be a significant amount of money. So my dreams of leaving with boxes of comics, was reduced to the reality of leaving with 4 comics. My total spending ended up being $23.00.

I guess this should teach me a lesson of some kind. Yet, if I receive another tip about a old collection of comics, you can bet I will dreaming of my own Church collection.

RB

Lost

2005-01-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

After watching last night's episode, I really wish the story would move along a little faster. This is the best show on television right now. Although they do leave a lot of open plots.

Some of the characters I like:

Sawyer - the rebel: I love his attitude and the easy going manner in which he handles himself. He provides a very strong male influence on the island and is the only one that challenges Jack.
Locke - the adventurer: The true hunter and an enigma. He seems to be the only on the island who truly understands the mysteries of the island. Although he sems to have a darker side to him.
Hurley - the big guy: Very genuine in his manner. He provides a little bit of comedic relief for the castaways. They haven't shown his background yet, but I look forward to seeing his story.
Kate - the beautiful felon: She has quite a bit of skills and a keen intellect. This is probably due to her criminal background. Not to sure of what her motivation is to do bad things, outside of the thrill of it.

The rest are very enjoyable to watch and I look forward to each week's episode.

Fresh Start

2005-01-12T11:08:00.000-08:00

So this will be my first attempt at writing a Journal or Blog, as it's known on the web. My 2005 commitment is to update this frequently. Hopefully I can provide entertaining reading for anyone who happens to wander by.

My main interest right now is comic book collecting, which I will go into detail at a later date. Hopefully in the next few months I can show you some pictures of some great looking comic book artwork.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and have a nice day.

RB