Doohickamabob

So much great stuff in this thread. Now for some less-great stuff...

I've been going through a few of my magazines, which were tucked away in storage. Snapped a few photos for fun.

Photo 1:  A couple of groovy 1960s mags/comics. The Mod Love is a favorite, and as far as I know it's the only issue.

Photo 2: CARtoons. These were bought off the magazine rack when I was a kid. I never really tried to "collect" them per se, I just really enjoyed them because I liked drawing cars.

Photo 3: Women-in-crime magazines. I have a small collection of these. These are three of my favorites. I love these painted covers.

Photo 4: Love and Rockets #1 (2nd printing...I'll probably never get a 1st printing). Also, 1st printing (I think) of the #1 issue of EC-fanzine Squa Tront.

I've been organizing some stuff, including putting magazines in better-quality slipcovers and backings. I had a lot of my magazines in the cheaper poly-sleeves with the cheaper backings, but I decided I'd better play the long game and get them the best archival material I could. So I got a bunch of acid-buffer backings, and thick mylar sleeves, and I'm putting several sheets of microchamber paper in the magazines. Especially if they're extra-valuable, or if they seem musty/smelly/acidy.

Anyway, while organizing, I snapped some photos. Nothing new here, but the photos are new. Here are my issues of Mad #24. I hoarded four of 'em.

On 7/25/2017 at 11:20 AM, sacentaur said:

Recently I took a risk and bought this off ebay, and sure enough it turned out to be the reprint.

The original and reprint editions are nearly exactly the same, so it's difficult to tell them apart. On the original, the paper ages normally. On the reprint, they actually colored the paper that way - looking at the blank box on the back cover, the pixels to create a tanning affect are visible under magnification.

Isn't there also a difference with the staples? I think the original has 3 staples (top, middle, bottom) and the reprint has the normal 2 staples. I could be wrong....

On 7/5/2017 at 10:36 AM, sagii said:

On another note, one week after Negro Romance 2 went on the block, Negro Romance 3 closing soon on eBay. Of all three (and all three are tough)#3 is the toughest. Nicer copy than the #2 last week. Whoever scores that one is lucky.

(I will not hoard, i will not hoard, i will not hoard...)

Closed just shy of $1,600.... I was well out of the running...

On 5/24/2017 at 10:31 AM, Josh Rachlis said:

I was born in 1972. I had about 200 MAD Magazines from the 70s and 80s until about 8 years ago. I decided to declutter my condo, and I walked the magazines over to BMV in Toronto (Books Magazines Videos). It's a store that buys used books, magazines and videos. Hence their name. Anyway, the guy flipped through them and gave me about 50 cents each. And that was it. It didn't occur to me that I could categorize them and save them like my comic books. Now I'm regretting the sale. Did I give away a fortune?

Naw, you didn't give away a fortune. But if you put the time in, you might have been able to get $2 to $5 for each issue, depending on condition. You saved yourself a lot of time by just selling them all in one lot. Maybe you could have made a little more on eBay. The good news is, you can easily get any issue back that you want, for a few bucks.

The thing with Mads from the 1970s and 1980s is that this was their highest circulation period. Actually I think it peaked around the early 1970s. I saw a chart somewhere once, that shows how Mad's circulation rose and fell with the baby boomer generation. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Mad's circulation was in the range of 2 million copies. I think by the 1980s it had dropped to 1 million, which is still nothing to sneeze at.

So even if 199 out of every 200 readers in the 1970s trashed or thrashed their copies, there would still be 5,000 to 10,000 issues out there somewhere. Not rare.

On 5/3/2017 at 8:13 AM, adamstrange said:

Jumbo 1 - 8 are the size of placemats.

Okay thanks -- that explains quite a lot.

On 4/24/2017 at 3:35 PM, Doohickamabob said:

He asked me to ask you Fiction House experts the following question.

"Hope all is well.  Just wondering if you could check with the boardies and find out why CGC has no graded copies of Jumbo Comics 1 to 8.  I was under the impression it was because of their size (so much larger than the other books) that they wouldn't fit in the standard CGC holders.  However, it seems like they could use a magazine size holder and they shouldn't be excluded from grading.  I would like to know since I am seriously considering getting those books graded (if it can be done)."

Got an answer to the above question from CGC recently. One of their representatives wrote, "I checked with our graders and unfortunately we are unable to grade this book (Jumbo 7); it is too large for us to safely encapsulate."

So CGC can encapsulate magazines, but not extra-large-sized golden age comics.

On 4/3/2017 at 4:12 PM, Robot Man said:

Come on you slackers. I know you got baseball covers. I know a couple of Superman's and Worlds Finest #3? right off the top of my head and I ain't gonna go home and scan 'em.  Even G.A.tor posted one. Give some up you lurkers or 'ole Robot Man's gonna close the door!

Has this been posted yet?

On 4/2/2017 at 11:05 AM, Robot Man said:

I don't know who these folks were, but does it matter???

Just look at those two big things! So round and shiny!

I guess they're some kind of character masks or helmets.

On 4/2/2017 at 10:00 AM, Robot Man said:

After that... I took a break from books and boobs for a while and made the long trek over to Artist's alley. Why the folks that run these two shows don't just put the comics and comic artists in the same area is a mystery to me. Long trek for a geezer like me.

I wanted to do this one for a while and finally got it done. Sergio is one of a nicest guys in comics and often get a bit overlooked I think. Got a great loose style and has seen MAD magazine in the "golden years"

I decided to have him deface this book for me. Whadda you think?

 

Wow!

On 4/2/2017 at 9:35 AM, Robot Man said:

A couple different takes on Capt. America...

 

I'll take the one without the color touch!

These comics like to hang out together:

A friend of mine, who is old-school and doesn't use the CGC forums, has been putting together a run of *every* Fiction House comic issue for *every* title (except Planet....he's had a tough time with Planet Comics). One of these days I'm going to get him to let me take photos of his collection so I can post it here. I posted some of his WTB issues (like Rangers #2) in the WTB area. I'm trying to get him to join the CGC forums but like I said, he's old-school -- someone from the era when the San Diego Comic-Con was at the El Cortez hotel. Also, he is one of those purists who doesn't get anything graded, though I have debated him on that subject a little bit, and now he's coming around to the idea of grading certain issues.

Among his favorite issues in his collection are his two copies of Jumbo #7, which apparently is a Gerber 10.

He asked me to ask you Fiction House experts the following question.

"Hope all is well.  Just wondering if you could check with the boardies and find out why CGC has no graded copies of Jumbo Comics 1 to 8.  I was under the impression it was because of their size (so much larger than the other books) that they wouldn't fit in the standard CGC holders.  However, it seems like they could use a magazine size holder and they shouldn't be excluded from grading.  I would like to know since I am seriously considering getting those books graded (if it can be done)."

By the way, in case you're thinking of answering with, "Why doesn't he just contact CGC and find out directly?", that is the first thing I told him. Still, I thought it might be illuminating to hear some input from the board experts. (If you look at the CGC census, it begins with Jumbo #9.)

Thanks.

"Presenting the Ultra rare FIRST EVER Batman comic from 1940." -- I love those ultra-rare modern reprints! So hard to find!

"Here is where it all started in 1940,"... -- Detective Comics #27? Phooey on that. Batman #1 is where it really started.

"Batman is the favorite superhero of worldwide population and this comic started the glorious journey 77 years ago." -- That's glorious!

"Own this jewel and feel proud to be a Batman lover,"... When I own a reprint, I always feel a tingly sensation of pride.

"...a must have for comic lovers..." -- Gotta have that reprint!

"...and to boast among your other comic loving friends." -- "Hey comic-loving friend, guess what? I got a reprint! Oh yeah, I'm awesome."

"A wonderful rare opportunity to posses this precious comic..." -- A rare opportunity to possess a reprint. A precious reprint. Precioussssss.

"...which will make you the ultimate comic guy who owns the first Batman comic prints!" -- Cool, I wanna be the ultimate comic guy!

"I purchased these prints from Netherlands a few months ago for my niece who is a huge batman fan but he has got another one on birthday so I decided to sell this one of." -- In just a few months, his niece got gender reassignment surgery! But hey, it's the Netherlands. (Though the seller is in Delhi, India, but clearly he's a sophisticated world traveler.)

"Note that these prints are new and in a like new high definition print quality,"... -- Ooh cool, they have that newfangled printing quality unlike all the garbage printing from the previous 77 years.

"...there are no fears of wear and tear of pages,"... That's my biggest pet peeve when getting a reprint, and the pages are all worn and torn. I hate it when my modern reprinted material is all ratty.

"...these reprints are of superior quality photo paper and are much better looking both in feel and in touch to the old comics." -- Both in feel AND in touch! That's saying something!

"There are transparent case cover on the comic prints which makes it more attractive and safe against." -- Now that is important, and it's also special, because I want my precious reprint to have transparent cover because otherwise it's not safe against!

CONCLUSION: *Totally* worth $2,000!

Seriously... How much stupider can it get... 

Batman #1 garbage scamming sale of awfulness

I wish eBay would come down hard on this stuff. At least this guy says it's a reprint of some sort, but still...

Any other good recommendations? I know a guy who just needs to have one comic pressed -- and nothing else. Just needs a spine roll pressed out, on a Golden Age comic. What are the best options? Anything on the West Coast? Thanks in advance.

On 4/11/2017 at 0:20 PM, Robot Man said:

An original Prohias? Ohhh mannn, that's a keeper!

The way ebay seller divebaja treated the OP is indefensible. The "Did you really start a CGC thread to trash me?" thing is wrongheaded, because the OP did not "trash" the seller. The OP simply described what happened and asked others for advice about it, which is a normal human reaction and is his prerogative as a part of a collecting community. The seller yanking his item away because he didn't like the price is a lame move, but his response to this thread makes it several notches worse: (1) insulting the OP's intelligence with a made-up, nonsense story about international sellers; (2) dangling the item over the OP as if the OP could have had it at a lower price; (3) guilt-tripping the OP for communicating his experience with other people, as an attempt to manipulate/punish the OP for standing up to mistreatment.

Jerry Seinfeld recently tweeted about a replica of the "Seinfeld" set that some company is selling. Check out the art on his wall...

On 3/30/2017 at 11:25 AM, Montezuma said:

This is just another e-bay rant, but I need to get a little of the bile out of my system. cydoraswardrobe2011  sold me a lot and charged me $12 for shipping, no problem, the shipping was listed in the auction and  I figured it in my price. The seller then shipped the lot in a USPS priority flat rate box with a media mail label for $6.05 shipping on the box. Of course the USPS hit me with a postage due of $7.55 because I had to pay the difference between media and Priority. (Yes I should have refused the box, but like the fool I am I figured the seller would make me whole). Of course he didn't, his first response was that I was wrong and it hadn't been a priority box, I sent a picture disproving that, then the response was basically tough.

 

  All this is normal e-bay BS and I can live with it, but he was a "Top Rated Seller", and 49 minutes after I left appropriate negative feedback saying

"Item was nice, but charges $12 for shipping, package came prioity $7.55 pst due "

he got e-bay to change it to a neural.  That's the part that gets to me, Ive left nearly 8,000 feedbacks on e-bay and less than a dozen are negative, this one should have stood.

Ridiculous all around -- both on the seller's part and on eBay's part.

7 hours ago, thehumantorch said:

i have an addiction to smelling mothballs. I do not chew them tho i buy them from the store and have found the easiest way to snif them is to them then in a sock and snif from the bottom.

I thought the easiest way to sniff them was to pull their little legs apart.

5 hours ago, ThothAmon said:

Nancy has grown up.  If I buy it will you include a lifetime supply of paper bags?

I would, but it was already purchased, by somebody named Lois O'Flarp.

On 3/29/2017 at 9:48 AM, Bookery said:

Here's a good-girl cover... with extras.  This is Ed Wood's "Orgy of the Dead", complete with pre-production unbound copy, 2 sets of galleys with corrections, and Wood's original manuscript, with numerous corrections in Wood's hand and the editors, plus Forrest Ackerman's original manuscript for the book's Introduction.

Whoa... WHERE did you get that? That's a keeper!

Posted a one-day sale of a very rare comic on eBay. This comic is a Gerber 11 so I suggest you take a look. Like I said, one day only!

Here's the link.

10 hours ago, Lazyboy said:

Even the most recent reprint, properly described, sells pretty well.

Thanks for that link; that's a good overview of the actual market value. Looks like most nicer raw copies are selling in the $20-$40 range, with a single CGC 9.6 going for a premium 3x above that. That's a long way off from the $500 some zero-feedbacker is trying to get for his raw copy...

Anyway it's an ongoing curiosity. I am wary of the 0-feedback sellers who keep dumping their raw copies with minimal info ("Action Comics #1 1938") in the hopes that somebody with bad eyesight and an overdeveloped sense of wishful thinking will get an itchy bidding finger.