Again, not my copy, but here is another I wanted that got away! Rare to begin with, but with colors like these, any grade will do!

On 1/8/2023 at 5:01 AM, ageofsilver said:

All solid reasons for collecting Planet, presented by board members of discerning taste. Beautiful cover art and wonderful color, when press inking was handled properly. I’d add something of equal weight were the excellent stories and illustration found inside the books. My favorite was the Futura run; great art and very imaginative. The Star Pirate stories, with art by Anderson, were a delight, as was the Lost World run, with art by Evans, I believe. The PS Artbooks reprints make the interior work available for those whose valuable comics are locked within their graded cases. Wonderful thread, this.

PSArtbooks are worth the price of admission. I recall the launch at a London Convention about ten years ago. Very exciting! Repro quality on all their books varies - not the same attention to restoration as bigger publishers, but hey, if the alternative is to crack the CGC shells, I'm not going to be picky!

On 1/8/2023 at 5:14 AM, Ricksneatstuff said:

Yes, it is. I owned this one before and let it go and got it back.  You were kind enough to let me know about it’s provenance. 

Yes, on reflection, I thought perhaps I'd mentioned it before. But these days, even my own name sometimes escapes me! Erm, what was I saying?

On 1/7/2023 at 5:27 PM, Artboy99 said:

Yes, the Toledo pedigree was removed from there list but then why did my book get the pedigree designation? I am thrilled that it did.

For what it's worth, I think CGC were wrong to retcon Toledo out of Pedigree continuity!

On 1/7/2023 at 4:45 PM, MattTheDuck said:

In any case, it's a very rewarding title to collect, but there was a huge increase in prices during 2022 - unfortunate for those of us who don't already have a full run of high-grade Planets.

My guess is prices will calm down somewhat now that The Promise Collection is no longer fanning the flames. At least I hope so, for the sake of new collectors.

On 1/7/2023 at 1:52 PM, Artboy99 said:

My Planet #22 is the Toledo copy and when I purchased it the book was cracked from it's slab but the CGC label was kept in the mylar. I sent it in to be encapsulated knowing it would lose the pedigree designation so I kept the old CGC label and then when it came back it had the pedigree. So it makes me wonder: are they recognizing Toledo or not?

Sadly not - its no longer present in the current list.

Pedigree Comic Book Collections

Just for fun, here are CGC's current criteria [I have a feeling there is at least one other 'former' pedigree collection but cant recall which one.]

On 1/7/2023 at 12:10 PM, LadyDeath said:

Thank you for the insight! Very informative. I'm a relatively new GA collector so there is a lot I'm still learning. I have noticed the wild assortment of cover colors with these books - some look like normal tanning or foxing but others I'm not so sure. Some Fight logos I came across appear red, orange or yellow. Backgrounds at times too. Is it solely a Fiction House thing? I haven't seen this nearly as prevalent in other GA books.

This topic is the place to be - lots of knowledge about Fiction House among dedicated fellow collectors here!

The variation in intensity of cover colors is very much a Fiction House thing, and there is an ongoing debate about the reasons which will probably never be satisfactorily resolved, given how little information there is to go on beyond the comics themselves.
 

In CMYK, Magenta combines with Yellow to create Red. [There are fellow boardies with experience of the Print Industry who will be quick to correct me if I get this wrong!] So one possibility is that as many print runs progressed, Magenta ran out quicker than yellow.... But that cant be the whole story, as virtually all colors vary from copy to copy of some issues. [Some collectors regard these as variants.]

But it seems likely [at least to me] that the first copies off the press had far more saturated colors than those at the end, and in addition, saturation varied from color to color within the print runs as well!

But also, this did not happen with every issue! Some invariably have strong colors across the print run. This seems to be the case with most if not all of the later issues for example. But it seems to be true of sporadic issues scattered across decades.

Another aspect of this complexity is that colors were sometimes used to create gradation - say a red/deep orange background that transitions to yellow. In other words, color used as composition.

And in certain covers, magenta was used to create folds in clothing, and when the magenta isn't present, the nuances are lost.

As an example, here are two very different copies of Rangers #25 - neither of them mine. [I did once have the opportunity to acquire one with the deepest colors I'd ever seen and stupidly passed on it because it seemed too expensive - more fool me!]

On 10/21/2022 at 12:46 AM, Ricksneatstuff said:

Back in the collection. I missed this copy quite a bit. 

Nice catch Rick. I'm fairly certain that is the Toledo copy I used to own, before I landed the Jon Berk copy. I made the mistake of having it regraded, and when it came back,  the Toledo appellation had disappeared [because its no longer regarded by CGC as a ped]. Harshly graded if you ask me!

On 1/6/2023 at 8:54 PM, LadyDeath said:

Is there any reason why Planet seems costlier than its Jungle/Jumbo/Fight/Wings/Rangers counterparts? I've been having a tough time tracking down slabs moderately priced. All the covers I want are always astronomical. Is it just because the vintage Sci-fi aesthetic is desirable among collectors? So far Planet remains the only holdout in my collection of Fiction House slabs.

Binding my time and hoping to find the right one eventually!

Historically, Planet Comics was always the leading Fiction House title overall. In fact the gulf in prices compared to their other titles has narrowed in recent years. There have always been specific issues of the other titles that rivaled Planets of course!

The other significant change in the past decade is collector awareness of cover color variation - a Fight #36 in mid grade with strong colors went for over 3k on Heritage recently.

Relative to Centaurs, Fiction House books are quite common - but once the cover color is factored in, certain issues with deep colors are almost impossible to find. [I should know - I've spent decades searching for unicorns!]

So it's a much more varied picture than in days of yore, I think.

That's just my perspective of course. Do others here agree?

On 10/20/2022 at 10:34 PM, MrBedrock said:

Me too. Heck, even when I am talking to myself I am suspicious of my motives.

I'm suspicious of your motives when you have me as a  guest in your home, feed me good food, introduce me to your wonderful friends, chauffeur  me around Houston, and sell or trade me books at fair and reasonable prices.

Twice.

I may never forgive you - unless you come to Manchester.

Twice.

Thanks for the great description! Pretty sure PSA would not have bought their own copy so the line is complete thanks to your remarkable generosity.

I hope they gave you a free set of the books in compensation! 

Did you note much in the way of restoration comparing your scan with the published pages?

On 9/23/2022 at 2:28 AM, Yorick said:

This bothers me immensely.  I doubt very much that they asked permission to use the scans from all the fans that were trying to help preserve these fantastic books.  The fans that spent all that time carefully scanning (do you realize how hard that is without taking the books apart?) are not sharing in any of the profits.  I'd imagine that use of those scans without the scanner's permission amounts to copyright violation.

On 9/23/2022 at 5:51 AM, Cat-Man_America said:

Since the Digital Comics Museum is sharing public domain materials.

Some facsimile editions are better at recreating the GA comics "experience" than others.

I am not very kbowledgeable about copywrite and I understand why it bugs some of us.

PSArtbooks seem to rely on what is in the public domain for example. So unless someone uploads a full copy of Chilling Tales to the Digital Museum I doubt they will ever complete the out-of copywrite PCH project they started so long ago.

I have many of their titles, and one can clearly see that resto is minimal.

Shout out to our very own @Artboy99

who loaned PSA his precious copy of Planet #15 or that book set might never have been completed.

But at least we have them even if as books not facsimiles, though they have now done a few of these.

Plus we have EC (did anyone else collect the facsimile sets from the nineties like me?)

Wherever I can, I pick up HB editions -Fantagraphics deserve a mention.

LMK if you guys would like more info as it's going off topic strictly speaking.

On 9/13/2022 at 3:39 PM, Krydel4 said:

Here's a pic of the actual book. The one in the post was just from DCs website. 

I have some of the recent Marvel and DC facsimiles too, though not this one. Have to say, the bar code kills them for me.

I have more [PCH] if people want to see, but the above should give you a good idea. The covers are well produced. The interiors are on white paper and the books don't close properly. So they don't exactly feel right. And it's odd when the scan used is of a comic with creases! Personally speaking, I'd rather have them than not, but I'm sure others will disagree!