Robot Man

Cheating a bit here. This isn’t a comic. But very cool none the less. Paid $10. What would this go for if it were a comic? Never thought I would say this. But after over 50 years collecting comics, I either have, or have had, or not going to get the rest of what I still want. Seems like I have pretty much seen everything and am mostly just upgrading books now. Yeah, I still seek out some stuff and buy them when I see them. But my comic buying has slowed down considerably. I have always bought pulps when I ran into them, but was never a big focus. There are SO many great ones and they have really ignited that spirit “of discovery” in me again. They have brought me back to the days in comics when everything was new. At the end of the day, comics and pulps are really the same to cover collectors especially in a slab.

Nice! There seem to be a good amount of devil covers out there to hunt down. A recent pickup got me. That darn devil always seems to be smiling…

I saw that one. Nice score! Skeleton covers on pulps are on fire!

Love that cover. My second favorite Super Science just behind this one.

Got my second submission. Very happy with it. Also came back a bit better than I expected. Got it from Dave Smith years ago. My best grade Yakima. How often do you see white pages on a pulp? This one also moves around in the slab due to the thickness. I contacted CGC and they noted that the process is new and they are working out the kinks. I suggested putting the thinner ones in a comic slab.

Got a couple cheap “women in peril” covers yesterday. Just can’t go wrong with Belarski covers!

Take it

An early photo of Leonard Brown with a recent “buy”. Yes, people coveted and paid up for Big Little Book back then. A photo of Malcolm Willitts pulling out unbagged, high grade Batmans out of the vault. Collectors was located in an out of business bank building. And a business card circa 1962 for Richard and Leonard before they opened the store and were combing the Long Beach area buying up old comics and selling them word of mouth. I got the card from Leonard. Notice he crossed out Richard’s info so I would deal directly with him.

There is a big difference between people “buying and keeping” comics as opposed to people “collecting” and actively seeking out certian books and runs and actually paying well for them. As a kid, I remember lots of used book stores that in addition to books bought and sold back issue magazines and comics usually at a discount to original cover prices. I remember buying GA comics (when I found them) for the same prices at comics that were a year old at the time. Collector’s Book store was one of the first speciality shops that catered to actual collectors who were willing to pay serious (at the time) money for old comics. They had an emense stock much more than anywhere else. The mail order part came later as the actual collector market progressed. The first comic I ever paid more than cover price for was a MAD #9 that I paid $3. for down the block at Cherokee Books. It was a LOT of money for a very young kid at the time. But I had never seen MAD comic book that old. That was my “gateway drug” to collecting and paying up for comics. I actively was seeking them out to try and collect the entire run. Collector Books was pretty high priced at the time and usually ran kids like me out. I bought more at Cherokee and Bond Street Books around the corner.

I recently received my first pulp submission. Very happy with the process. I did notice that although the pulp does not move side to side, it does flop a bit top to bottom due to the thickness of the case and the thickness of the pulp. My question is, is it possible to request a comic case instead of a pulp case to midigate this problem if the pulp would fit better? Thanks!

Yep. He, along with Leonard Brown and Malcolm Willitts, opened one of the first collector stores with a focus on comics in the LA area in the mid 1960’s. His focus was early Disney and humor comics as well as Platinium era books especially Yellow Kid and Buster Brown material. A heck of a passionate collector and great guy.

I wonder the same thing when I see low grade common average cheap GA books.

My weirdest job (and I’ve had a few) was in the late ‘60’s. I spent the summer at a friend’s parent’s house in Lake Tahoe. We both got a job from 11pm-8am (yes, graveyard shift) at the morgue. Our job was to wash up bodies. Put on a mask and rubber gloves, pull out the drawers and sponge bath dead folks. Was a bit creepy at first but we got over it pretty quick. The advantages were, we could have long hair and were pretty much unsupervised. There was often not a lot of work so we could burn a joint and play cards and listen to any music we wanted. Our hours were great because we could have most of the day and evenings off and didn’t work weekends. Also, where most kids were working in fast food or gas stations for $2-4 an hour we made $8. an hour. A lot of money for teenagers.

“Ground Advantage” seems that ever since this was instated, packages are moving slower with spotty tracking. In all fairness, I have received several before their estimated delivery date as well. Priority Mail seems pretty stable at 2-3 days though. On a local level, I have had the same carrier for a couple years. I buddied up with him and trained him to stash my packages in a spot where someone walking by couldn’t see. But I have had several new carriers in the past couple of months who just dump them on the front porch…

Just a few motorcycles

You should post this in the events thread.

Take it!

Some days I’m 10 years old and some days I have a hard time getting out of bed. I am old enough to remember this first hand. Glad to have lived in my time frame.

Roger was one of the earliest EC super collectors. He was in the right place at the right time to hook up with the right people. Probably one of the best EC collections. I can’t even imagine what all he was able to collect. And a heck of a great guy. He is missed by all of us Ghoulantics…

Tin vehicles. Cars, Trucks and Motorcycles. A couple recent pickups. 1930’s and 1950’s. Cars have sure come a long way.

And why I started a thread about this trending market. Always been a sleepy hobby to most. PBs will never reach Pulp money and Pulps will never realize Comic Book money. But a real affordable hobby even if you only dabble in like I do. I doubt anyone will get rich on them but a real affordable and a fun pursuit.