Flex Mentallo

On 8/17/2023 at 9:08 PM, MrBedrock said:

I am first and foremost a Timely collector, so Verzyl's collection was always the most intriguing to me. But Jon's collection was so deep in so many areas right up to and through the silver age. And he was always willing to show and share his books. That is now the way I would like my collection to be.

That's a worthy torch to be the bearer of, I'd say.

On 8/17/2023 at 9:03 PM, adamstrange said:

At its peak, I think that was a good answer to a subjective question.  Other people might have more valuable books (The Dentist, Verzyl), but Jon's was certainly very interesting, containing rare and important comics, as well as many sparkling jewels from the Church pedigree.

...and if one includes the OA, and the wonderful reproductions by Murphy Anderson et al, it's that sheer love of the medium you've so eloquently described that illuminates his collection.

As I recall, it was the remarkable depth and diversity of Jon's collection that Richard described to me, years before it went to auction.

On 8/17/2023 at 8:42 PM, MrBedrock said:

I've since bought a few back. I wonder if CGC would relabel them "From The Collection of Jon Berk"?

 

Stunning - especially that #5!

On 8/17/2023 at 6:50 PM, MrBedrock said:

One little correction - I bought the National run 1-23 from Jon, then foolishly sold them to Joe Smejkal. Selling them was one of the worst comic decisions I ever made.

I remember asking you who in your opinion had the best Golden Age collection, and your answer was Jon Berk.

On 8/17/2023 at 6:42 AM, adamstrange said:

In all the time I knew Jon, I never purchased a book from him, even though he had sold hundreds of comics.  When the auction was announced, I was anxious to fix that.

I doubt very many people realize that what was offered by ComicConnect was a scaled down version of his collection, reduced considerably from its peak.  In addition to Church runs of Hit and National, there were SA keys, misc GA, and quite a few 50s books.  Jon was not a wheeler dealer cyclying books in and out, but he got bit hard by the original art bug.

The first big bite of that apple occurred with the arrival at San Diego Con of the original art to the cover of Planet 1.  Alex Acevedo, a dealer in modern art but also previously a dealer in comics and comic art, gave the cover prime location in his booth.  Jon was smitten, and a deal was reached to exchange the Church copies of Pep 1 - 5 plus cash for the art.  The next day Alex had second thoughts and offered Jon $10k just to call the deal off, but the art mattered far more to Jon than the money.

Even with a nice trade value for the Peps, Jon still needed to raise the rest of the funds in time to meet the terms of their deal.  His solution was to sell the Church copies of National 1 - 5.  I was one of the people he called, but those are not my favorite issues even of that run and, at 4x Guide, it was over $40k so not pocket change.  Those did sell (and later the rest of the run) to Joe Smejkal, who eventually submitted them to Heritage.

Duly paid, Acevedo shipped the art to Jon's office while Jon was away.  He called his secretary to open the package and verify the contents, which resulted in an awkward conversation as she tried to describe to him the image of the aliens menacing the space men and women.  It was always his favorite piece of art, but, even though he could have afforded to keep it, he understood it was important to include it as one of the anchor lots of the auction.
 
As Jon continued to pursue other pieces of art or as funds were needed for family priorities, chunks of the collection were peeled off and shipped to a buyer.  His collection was extensive and de-accessioning was done thoughtfully, which is why the auction was still spectacularly stuffed with rarities and pedigrees, the favorite of which to him were the Fox comics.

My hopes for the auction were modest: one comic book and one piece of original art. Unfortunately, the ones I wanted were likely to be contested by others, who were sure to be rudely unconcerned with my interests.   

Which comic book?  It wasn't cheap, but I have the ability to recreate this picture any time I want to with a book freed from captivity, which I think would have pleased Jon.  I intend to be as careful a custodian and as generous a sharer as he was.

Fascinating, Adam.

On 8/14/2023 at 7:07 PM, Mmehdy said:

I had read that John kept a few books when he sold his collection, I think he posted about that on the boards. So he did keep some material with him to end. Can anyone confirm that. John is a collector they just do not make anymore.

I seem to recall reading that too, Mitch.  Was it some of his Centaurs perhaps?

On 10/15/2021 at 3:59 PM, buttock said:

Over the years I've seen a rare few books with an EJ Kery stamp on the back where Bethlehem is spelled wrong, i.e. "Behtlehem".  I've been told by several people that these are fake, but I'd like to know more.  The story of the faked Mile Highs is notorious, and everyone loves a good gossip story, so I'm hoping someone can clarify this.  

Interesting idea for a topic, buckott!

On 7/25/2023 at 10:53 PM, Sarg said:

Promise grade 9.0.

Such much?

On 7/25/2023 at 2:55 AM, Artboy99 said:

Hello my friend! 

I own the Cage copy of #6, which also presents way nicer than the given 6.5 grade due to a small spine split at bottom ( about 1/2" )

 

Sharp!

Nice to see you back, Jeff! Glad to see this thread successful!

On 7/14/2023 at 7:28 PM, Randall Dowling said:

Agreed, and that's really saying something come from you, a consummate box-diver! 

I've been actively pursuing them for about 10 years and they're only getting harder to find, particularly in nice shape.  I have no idea what original print runs were but the real issue is that these were kind of just this side of smut and over the last 50 years, I think most were just trashed rather than face the awkwardness of trying to sell them.

Increasingly, even antique dealers are on to the fact that these are valuable. 

In addition to much of the OA, the collector Rich Oberg hoovered up multiple high grade copies of the desirable titles. He consistently outbid the likes of me on the books he wanted.

So he single-handedly took most nice copies out of circulation. (He authored a book some years ago which spotlights his amazing collection, which is well worth seeking out.)

The discovery of large warehouse finds about 20 years ago brought numerous high grade copies to market and spawned a feeding frenzy - I suspect all the more intense because of previous scarcity Rich helped to create. 

@lbcolefan and I didn't know each other back then, but we were both involved in those bidding wars.

That was the first time I saw multiple high grade mags being listed all at once. Man, it was great to take delivery of a hefty box fill of high grade copies for the first time!

Those copies seem to have remained locked away in collections ever since.

A decade later, the high grade NAPA collection had already been plundered before I got my mitts on any. In particular, virtually all the Mans Story and Men Today issues had vanished.

No idea where most of those ended up, though I wouldnt be at all surprised if it turns out Mr Oberg has a lot of them!

What seems to be left are the occasional attic finds we see on Ebay - often low grade copies at high grade prices.

So many great covers one hardly ever sees these days!

I've long since given up the search - so hats off to those like you, RD, who still hunt them down!

If things run in cycles, we're due another high grade find any time now!

On 7/11/2023 at 12:26 PM, Straw-Man said:

forever thankful for jeff closing my 9-20 run for me.

Those colors!

On 6/12/2023 at 3:57 PM, Robot Man said:

I didn’t post those pictures of Mitch to mock or embarrass him. Just to show the fun, innocent times when SDCC was just so great.

I remember carpooling down from LA with friends. Paying the nice old lady at a card table my $5. Weekend pass. Piling a bunch of us into an El Cortez room. Eating at Denny’s because it was close and cheap. Away from our parents staying up late, drinking beer, smoking weed and playing poker with comics as chips. Hanging around the pool in the evenings listening to Kirby, Eisner and others swapping stories. And spending every dime I had in the dealer’s room.

One year I spent half of my entire budget on a GA Flash #1. Had to think long and hard about it. I was “the man” with my buddies. 

Great times that are gone forever…

 

Were there ever conversations along the lines of 'I wonder where the hobby might be in 50 years time?'

On 3/24/2023 at 2:52 PM, Robot Man said:

Or more fearsome?

On 5/21/2023 at 8:11 AM, GermanFan said:

Drawing/painting hands is complicated. Painters like for instance Velasquez when doing paintings of royalty charged more when painting more hands in the portraits.

Albrecht Durer was so fascinated by hands he made portraits of them - as expressive as any face!

On 5/20/2023 at 1:52 PM, adamstrange said:

 Along with a couple friends, I visited Heath at his apartment back in the 90s.  We took along a few comics to see what he might remember about them.  Among the stack was War 23, a favorite of mine for both the art and the color design, which I considered unusually good for Atlas.

When we came to War 23, he said "I colored that" and proceeded to break down his use of each of the colors.  Atlas had their own primary colorist but was so loosely managed that when Heath; whose artistic talents include a great sense of color and who was dissatisfied with their typical muddy, dull coloring, decided he wanted to do it himself, they let him.  They weren't, of course, going to pay him any extra for that, but he had the satisfaction of seeing his art published consistent with his vision.  He did not say how often this happened because it was so long ago and depended on whether he had time when he delivered artwork in person to the office.

To recognize his coloring, look for a cover that is very appealing, realistic, and with subtlety.   As an artist, he prided himself on accurate depiction and that included the coloring.  At the same time, he wanted to keep things interesting, so his tried to make them stand out from the usual fair.

For War 23, he drew a night scene but didn't want to go with the usual black background.  Instead, he imagined the scene happening at the peak of the explosion of the bombs dropped from the jets.  They would produce a red/yellow light, turning reddish brown the further away things were, that would dictate the rest of the colors on the cover. 

The underside of the silver metal planes were closest to the light and would reflect the intense brightness as white and orange.  The GI's helmet is painted green, but under the light of the explosion would look white (closest to the explosion) transitioning to light blue, blue, then black to the front of the helmet completely shaded from the blast.  The brim is green as it would be lit indirectly.  The star on the commie's hat is red but under the reddish brown light would be a dark red.  Care is taken everywhere to place white highlights appropriate to how the light would strike each surface.

I'm sure one of our board artists could provide a better breakdown, and point out aspects that are not realistic, but it's a comic book, and the cover needs to scream "BUY ME" to the young men who were the likely audience and Heath took that into account as well.

 

Great analysis of a perfect cover.

As a composition, it has so many disparate elements,  but Heath orchestrates them brilliantly, so it doesnt feel cluttered.

The almost lyrical 'dance' of the circling jets contrasts with the static tension of the foreground, with the explosion serving as a unifying device.

The light falling on the knife echoes the planes.

The apocalyptic explosion makes  manifest  the G.I's berserker rage.

And every element of the composition leads us inexorably to the Chinese soldier's panicked eyes.

It's cinematic!

There is a unifying psychology holding the entire composition in a fugitive balance.

In another instant, darkness will fall.