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ecgt

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  1. Thanks for tagging me @Jesse-Lee. I did write this article. Sorry that it has taken me a month and a half to respond to you: I have been on hiatus due to a series of family emergencies. I am planning to return to my "Forgotten Silver" column at Comic Book Daily soon. Gamut is a special series that continues to fly under the radar (like so many comics from the Canadian Silver Age). I own the first two issues and plan to purchase the others at some point down the road, but as I mention in my article (and as @Qalyarmentions here) the last two issues are hard to find. Your error copy of # 1 looks like it is great shape. I have seen other examples of the error cover, but they don't come to market often. I'm glad you are enjoying some vintage Canadiana and thanks for reading my article! Cheers, brian
  2. I, for one, thank Dan for carefully curling (not folding) his Cerebus # 1 cover for the benefit of the collector's community.
  3. Meeting him in person left no doubt in my mind.
  4. Hi everyone, I have been writing a monthly column on Comic Book Daily called "Forgotten Silver" for a few months now. The focus is based on research that I have been conducting with a couple of other boardies regarding the Canadian Silver Age (which is not the same as that found in the USA). Longtime followers of the work of Ivan Kocmarek know that the ebbs and flows of Canadian comic production during the Golden Age also does not jive with the dates of American releases because of a widely different context. We have taken the definition that John Bell uses to describe the Canadian Silver Age from approximately 1974/75 to 1988 and have expanded it to include the era from 1960-1989/90. For more information about how we delineate this era of Canadian comics, please see my inaugural post about the topic: https://www.comicbookdaily.com/columns/forgotten-silver/introduction-to-the-canadian-silver-age/ This thread is for all things Canadian Silver Age related. I would love to learn whether or not there are people on the boards who are interested in collection these books (some of which are incredibly rare) and if anyone has any of this stuff in their collections it would be great to see it. That said, the one thing that really does not fit in here are Canadian Price variants of non-Canadian comics. The singular research focus has been about comics made by Canadian creators and published in Canada. Here are a few beauties that I have in my collection, including Captain Newfoundland # 1 (which is the focus of my most recent column: https://www.comicbookdaily.com/columns/forgotten-silver/a-tale-of-two-captain-newfoundlands/). Cheers, brian
  5. There was no need: before he started signing a single item, he stood up and sang his own rendition of Frank Sinatra's "My Way." That was all we needed to know. In reality, he was quite humourous and his jabs and jests were not meant to be mean spirited.
  6. Essentially, the idea was that only a poser would bring a Spawn comic to a Cerebus signing.
  7. Looking at the gorgeous Cerebus # 1 that FattyDaddyComics purchased on eBay, I am inclined to think that it is real without seeing the inside front cover tell because of the signature. Raw specimens in this condition are like unicorns because of Sim holding back the best copies that he eventually sent to CGC. Sim's go-to inscription has always been "Best Wishes" and the signature on the comic in question looks correct for the era. When I met him at The Last Signing, I brought a Spawn # 10 with me to see how he would react. He made a big stink about it and called me out in front of the other people waiting in line. It was quite funny and I got the reaction I wanted. He personalized it for me, included a sketch and inscribed "Best Wishes" with the signature. He had been signing for four to five hours by this point and the signature is not as crisp as it would be if he wasn't so tired. However, the "Best Wishes" is consistent with other specimens I have seen, including the Cerebus # 1 that FattyDaddyComics recently purchased. Here is a picture of the Spawn # 10 in question with the postcard that Strange Adventures handed out at the event, which I kept in my files for the sake of provenance.
  8. By far the best measure of whether or not a Cerebus # 1 is authentic is the inside of the cover. If it's glossy it's fake. If not, it is almost certainly real (though the front cover should be glossy). Cerebus being grey screen throughout the book is the next measure of authenticity. If the character is washed out or black throughout the pages it is almost certainly fake. The quality of the color on the cover (is it red or orange?) is not a good measure because of the possibility of colour fading over time if stored incorrectly. As Dan says, the close-up of the soldier on the front cover is an old tell, as is the $1. However, neither are good measures of authenticity in and of themselves. Some people have also mused about the quality of the staples as being a tell, but I do not see this as a good measure at all. If the accumulation of tells all suggest that it is real, then it is almost certainly so. The copy Dan received is authentic and the seller messed up. Dan is a honest guy. I know other people who would have quietly kept the item and would not have notified the seller of their mistake. The difficulty with all of this is that it is really easy to tell the difference if you are holding one in your hand. It is much more difficult to tell the difference if you are looking at pictures on eBay. The burden of correct information belongs to both the buyer and seller. I have handled many Dave Sim autographs over the years and attended his last official signing in Halifax, NS in 2010 at Strange Adventures. My wife and I have several Sim autographs in our collections from different eras. His signature is not easy to fake and it stays relatively consistent over time. At the event in Halifax, Sim signed some fake and authentic copies of Cerebus # 1. He was easily able to spot the difference and educate owners. He has been inscribing originals and fakes since the fakes came to market with his determination of authenticity. My wife's authentic Cerebus # 1 has such an inscription.
  9. Hey, I think I know a few of these types. They can't be trusted as comic collectors. They tend to be too interested in "culture" and "context" and stuff like that.
  10. I remember when we finally had a chance to look at this one at the LAC and were a bit confused by the "blank" cover. The generic name and cover indeed make this one hard to search for and the small print run makes this essentially impossible to find. Given Geary's significance in the Canadian UG movement, I consider this to be one of his most desirable comics due to its rarity. Other than the one at the LAC (which is # 41/50), the one you have and the two that Kennedy owned, I have not come across another one. Even the Saskatchewan public library system does not have one in its pamphlet collection (and Geary is well represented). I wonder how many of these have actually survived. Geary and his students certainly are not hoarding extra copies.
  11. Andromeda Vol. 1, # 1 Published by: Media Five Publications Limited, London, Ontario, Canada; Contributors: Dean Motter and Bill Paul (editor); Date: 1974; Price: 50 cents CAD; Page Count: 28 pages Size: Tabloid Newspaper Kennedy #: n/a; Print information: 12,000 Media Five started as a large, newspaper fanzine on London, Ontario, Canada. There were at least six issues of the fanzine published (with issue 6/7 being released together as a double-sized publication). Of the major Canadian fanzines from the early 1970s, which included "Melting Pot" and "Le Beaver," only Media Five eventually released its own comic book. Andromeda Vol. 1, # 1 features a full length comic by Dean Motter, who would later create one of the seminal new-wave characters of the 1980s, Mister X. This early work falls somewhere in between the Underground movement of the early 1970s and the science fiction heavy stylings of comics that were coming out of Ontario at the time. Motter would continue to use the name Andromeda for the more well-known Canadian science fiction anthology comic that was published by Silver Snail in the late-1970s. Despite having a stated print run of 12,000 copies, Andromeda Vol. 1, # 1 is quite scarce. It is noted in John Bell's (1986) Canuck Comics, but we long thought it was a typo or misinformation. After quite a bit of searching, I was able to procure one last year. Another batch subsequently appeared earlier this year and there are still some available on eBay: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/R-0204-Andromeda-Dean-Motters-Epic-Poem-Media-5-Pub-1974-Collectors-No-1/382478351340?hash=item590d7c7bec:g:Ca0AAOSwStdbEGXE I think the reason why this comic is so scarce has to do with the way it was printed. All of Media Five's publications were printed in this tabloid newspaper format and the few examples of Media Five items that I have encountered tend to be tattered and/or brittle. It is likely that, despite the large print run, few copies are still extant.
  12. Here is another obscure giveaway that I have been trying to learn more about for some time. Bobby Cooper was published in French and English versions in 1966 for Cooper-Weeks, the well-known hockey equipment company that is now just called Cooper. I have no idea who the creative team behind this comic is, but it does not appear to be Ganes or Comic Book World. I'd love to own one of these.
  13. Here is a comic that surfaced on eBay recently that I did not already have on my list: L'il Astro Westley and His Grocery Cart. It is from 1966 and was published for Westfair Foods in Winnipeg. What I find interesting about the cover is just how similar it is to L'il Easy Saver # 1. I do not think that this is a McCarron/Edmiston book, but the similarities have piqued my curiosity. The comic had already sold before I learned about it, so if one of our fellow boardies purchased it, it would be wonderful to know more about it.
  14. Thank you so much for posting these images. There are a few covers that I had not seen prior to you bringing this stuff to my attention a few days ago. There are still many gaps in our knowledge of giveaways from this era, but every time someone posts their comics our collective knowledge grows.
  15. Great thread, Dan! Keep them coming. Here's my first contribution. Heroes and Rubber Cop # 4, 2nd Printing Published by: Sensational Comics Group Contributors: Craig Bernhardt and Dave Darrigo Date: April, 1969 Price: $0.25 CAD Page Count: 38 Size: 8.5 x 11 Kennedy #: not listed Print information: two printings, 300 copies total Based out of Islington, Ontario, Canada, Sensational Comics Group was a fan publisher active in 1969 that published five issues of "Heroes and Rubber Cop" (also called H.A.R.C.) and one issue of a comic called "Sensational Display." The first four issues of the comic were mimeographed at the business owned by Dave Darrigo's father, with the final issue of Heroes and Rubber Cop and the only issue of Sensational Display being printed in Marshalltown, Iowa. Bernhardt and Darrigo provided their own separate comics ("The Heroes" and "The Rubber Cop" respectively) from which the series derives its name. Bernhardt acted as the president and editor of Sensational Comics Group. He also created another comic called "The Leopard," which appears in some issues of H.A.R.C. Early issues of H.A.R.C. had print runs of between 20 and 40 copies only. This seems to change with issue # 4 with the second printing. Despite being extremely amateurish, this series is an early example of the burgeoning homegrown UG and fanzine culture that emerged in Canada circa 1968 and features some of the first original Canadian hero comics published since the end of the WECA period. Few examples seem to have survived and most of the images online come from the one I own. In fact, the John Bell collection at Library and Archives Canada doesn't have a single issue in its collection. Darrigo would go on to become extremely important in the Canadian comic scene. By the late-1970s, he was the first manager of Dragon Lady Nostalgia in Toronto and was the editor of the monthly newsletter "Dragon Lady Dispatch" which would feature work by young artists such as Ty Templeton and Chester Brown (who would become stars of Canadian comics in their own right). During the 1980s he published "Wordsmith" with Rick Taylor through Deni Loubert's Renegade Press. By the 1990s he had returned to publishing with his own short-lived label, Special Studio. Darrigo was one of the founders of the Joe Shuster Awards and was inducted into the Canadian Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2010. As a legend in the Canadian comics industry, this amateur publication is where he got his start.