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I started collecting comic books in early 1966 as a result of a train trip back east the previous summer where I discovered DC comics during the train station stops. When I came back from that trip, I found out that 2 brothers who were closes friends, were also fans of DC comics. One of them even told me not to buy Marvel comics because they weren’t any good! But that’s a story for another time. So every Tuesday and Thursday I would ride my bike up to the neighborhood liquor store and purchase most of the DC titles. I say most because I quickly discovered there were a few titles that just didn’t appeal to me such as Challengers Of The Unknown, Metal Men, Metamorpho, Black Hawk, all the army titles, Tomahawk, and Doom Patrol. There was a big swap meet (Roadium Drive-In in Gardena for you So Cal people) near me on Saturday and Sunday. Along with one of the brothers, we quickly discovered if you got the swap meet early, you could buy comic books that you didn’t have for a nickel a piece (and Playboys for a quarter!! LOL!)!! Sometimes the pickings weren’t so good but other times there were so many comic books that I had to pay for them, and make 2 or 3 trips back to the swap meet that day to get them all. In the summer of 1966, there was a lady and her husband sitting at a long table there who had old comics. What was different about her old comics were she wasn’t selling them for a nickel a piece. They started at a quarter and went up from there. She even had some that were $10 and $15 EACH!!!! So I asked her why were her comic books were so expensive when I could buy old comics for a nickel a piece at the swap meet? She told me that her comic books were for comic book collectors who were looking for specific issues and were willing to pay more to get them. I thought about it for a couple of minutes and it made sense to me. Before I knew it, I had spent $10 with her for some specific issues I was looking for. She gave me her phone number and told me to call her if there were other comic books I needed. Her name was Nancy Scotto and she was the mother of Nick Scotto, a legendary Sothern California comic book dealer. It didn’t take too long for me to start spending almost all of my paper route money with her. In fact the following year I purchased my very first Golden Age comic book from her-Superman #9 for $15. One of the comics I purchased from her was Justice League #21 which featured the return of the “legendary stars of the Justice Society Of America”!!! Of course, I had no idea who the Justice Society was or what comic book they had appeared in but the characters absolutely fascinated me especially Dr. Fate and later the Sandman. I started subscribing to RBCC and soon learned that the title of the comic book that the Justice Society had appeared in was called All Star Comics. I called Nancy Scotto and asked her if she had any All Star Comics but sadly she didn’t. But she did tell me that I might try some of the stores in Hollywood that sold vintage comic books. There were three of them-Cherokee Books, Collectors Book Store, and Bond Street Books. During Christmas vacation of 1967, my dad drove me and my 2 friends up to Hollywood to spend the day and spend our money on comic books. December was usually a good month for me as not only did I sometimes get some gift money from my parents at Christmas but my newspaper subscribers gave me extra money for tips at Christmas so instead of my normal monthly amount of $35, I would end up with an extra $20-$25. It was on that day at Bond Street Books that I purchased my first 2 copies of All Star Comics-#17 and #21. They were both not in great condition but at least it gave me the chance to experience what kids in the 1940’s had a chance to read. During the 1970’s, I acquired an All Star Comics #26. But for other reasons and there were many, I was more focused on other comic books (EC’s) and vintage toy collecting. I didn’t really think about All Star Comics again until I went to a comic con at the Disneyland Hotel in 1984. It was there that a dealer had a beautiful copy of All Star Comics #7 and alongside it was Batman #8. Both of them had these bright red covers. Unfortunately for me, they were both out of my price range at $200 each. But that day I said to myself, I will own those 2 comic books someday (and I do!). Fast forward to the late 90’s and early 2000’s and DC had begun releasing their Archive Editions. Now for the first time, I would have the opportunity to read all of the All Star Comics!! As much as I enjoyed reading all the All Star Comics for the first time, I found the forwords by Roy Thomas and Dr. Jerry Bails so insightful and absolutely fascinating! I wanted to have a complete collection of All Star Comics!!! It became a priority and I wanted them all to be nice CGC copies and not just some raw low-grade beaters. As Roy Thomas and Dr. Jerry Bails did, I considered All Star Comics to be a top-tier title of the Golden Age. However, it appears nowadays that the title does not have the following it once did in the 60’s-80’s and thus luckily for me, except for several issues, many of them can be acquired for between $600-$2,000. For me that was a good thing. Some issues especially #40-#46 are just very hard to find. Around 2008 I had a nice promotion from work and with a larger income began to really go after All Star Comics. One of the worst things I did though in 2008 was to let an All Star Comics #8 in 6.0 slip out of my hands for around $9,700 by stopping my bidding at $8,500 on a Comic Link auction. It was a very costly mistake! I had no idea what was going to happen to that book and did not see what was coming!!! In September 2014, my Dad died which was a sad time. However, my Dad did set up a trust for me and my siblings and with the added monthly income I was able to further add to my All Star Comics collection. In 2016, I discovered the CGC Boards and through it I have added many books and met a lot of great people. Towards the end of 2018 I was closing in to finishing off the run. I was down to #3, #4,#5, #8 and several issues in the #40’s. I had decided that I didn’t want any book below a 4.0 in the collection. Nor did I want any restored books. But it also suddenly occurred to me even with the extra income I was getting, there was no way I was ever going to own a #3 or #8 in decent grades unless I either sold off my Spiderman collection and large portions of other books in my collection. Maybe I should just give up on All Star Comics I thought to myself? I became depressed thinking about it. But something that was unexpected happened in January of 2019. My sister who was the trustee of my Dad’s estate called all of us together and asked us how we would feel if we sold off Dad’s 9 unit apartment building? We all decided it would be the best for all of us to sell it (so HAPPY we did it now in light of the COVID-19 and the issues of people not being able to pay their rents). Two months later, the apartment sold in less than 30 days. I expected to get a sizeable sum of money immediately only to find out from our attorney that I would not get it until October of 2019 when the end of the trust would occur. Later that year, I did finally get a nice #3 and #8 that both arrived on November 1, 2019. More on those two books later. By January of 2020 I had finished the run but it was not the way I wanted it. I wanted every single book to be in CGC’s latest holders so at the Costa Mesa show, I submitted around 25 All Star Comics to be put into new holders. If you’re still reading this, get ready in the next few days and weeks as I go through each issue individually. I am currently #3 on the CGC Registry, I am the only person with the complete run of all 57 issues. Overall, the collection grades at close to a 6.5. About 17% of the books have white pages and one book is Crippen-D pedigree. There are around 6 books I would like to upgrade eventually but only if I can get what I have into them or close to it so they will all most likely remain in the collection.
