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The Official PEDIGREE BOOK thread! Updates and comments here
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419 posts in this topic

15 hours ago, Timely said:

Here's a pic of the 4 of us pedigree boys [Steve Ritter, Mark Haspel, West Stephan (me) & Matt Nelson] back when we were collaborating on the pedigree book.

 

Come on, man, you guys have nothing else going on in your lives.  Put a finish to the book.  :wink:

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3 hours ago, Cat-Man_America said:

I suspect a lot of us will rise from pre-code horror graves to get this the day it's finally published.  :insane:

I just looked at the first page here, they started in 2003. Maybe there is another secret collaborator? If so, I suspect his name is George R.R. Martin;)

Seriously though, it was a great idea I had really looked forward to reading it  and I wish I could see more than there was on the initial website, but it doesn't seem likely after 16 years. I think I said something like this about 10 years ago.

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2 hours ago, skypinkblu said:

I just looked at the first page here, they started in 2003. Maybe there is another secret collaborator? If so, I suspect his name is George R.R. Martin;)

:roflmao:

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2 hours ago, skypinkblu said:

I just looked at the first page here, they started in 2003. Maybe there is another secret collaborator? If so, I suspect his name is George R.R. Martin;)

Seriously though, it was a great idea I had really looked forward to reading it  and I wish I could see more than there was on the initial website, but it doesn't seem likely after 16 years. I think I said something like this about 10 years ago.

The other collaborator is/was Arnie Sawyer who was doing page layouts and design as well as (I think) coordinating the actual publishing. I doubt anyone is working on it now.

Edited by MrBedrock
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2 hours ago, skypinkblu said:

I just looked at the first page here, they started in 2003. Maybe there is another secret collaborator? If so, I suspect his name is George R.R. Martin;)

Seriously though, it was a great idea I had really looked forward to reading it  and I wish I could see more than there was on the initial website, but it doesn't seem likely after 16 years. I think I said something like this about 10 years ago.

Have unicorns been confirmed for the book?

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7 hours ago, drbanner said:

Anyone got a link for ordering the book? Can't wait to look through it! :headbang:

Makes me wonder whatever happen to all of those early hopeful purchasers who had sent in their $50 or whatever it was as an advance deposit for the book?  hm

I was actually considering it, but looking backwards now, glad I did not.  :bigsmile:

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14 hours ago, MrBedrock said:

The other collaborator is/was Arnie Sawyer who was doing page layouts and design as well as (I think) coordinating the actual publishing. I doubt anyone is working on it now.

I think Arnie would be happy to finish up the logistics of actual production.  He just needs some content to actually apply his skills to.

Edited by tth2
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On 6/1/2019 at 10:01 AM, MrBedrock said:

The other collaborator is/was Arnie Sawyer who was doing page layouts and design as well as (I think) coordinating the actual publishing. I doubt anyone is working on it now.

I guess it's too much to hope that someone else with the requisite knowledge and insight into the hobby might step in to save this project.  For instance, who here wouldn't buy an Overstreet or a Bedrock City Pedigree book? 

While I applaud the work done by Matt, Steve and others, a good data base doesn't have the same public gravitas as an actual book.   

Edited by Cat-Man_America
further serious consideration
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4 minutes ago, namisgr said:

All those authors, making all that time and effort.  It did lead to this page of output: https://www.cgccomics.com/resources/pedigree/

:grin:

And they can't even be bothered to make that right.  So many peds on that list getting slabbed with labels that aren't "pedigrees" anymore.

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The folks at CGC are too busy grading, slabbing, and shipping to worry about details for the hobby.  

We did get a website, which is a useful resource for information and has a decent database of scans: http://comicpedigrees.com/index.php

 

Edited by namisgr
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Well sure, but it is their business to grade, slab, ship, rinse and repeat, and not to be caretaker for the collecting hobby.  And it's hobbyists that have ceded so many of the caretakers' ideals and policies to third party grading.

The gallery of scans from the website that Steve and Matt put together is a really nice feature, but even there many of the comics have subsequently been cracked, pressed, and resubmitted, so that the certification numbers are no longer valid and some of the comics no longer look quite the way they're shown to.

Edited by namisgr
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On 6/1/2019 at 6:34 AM, namisgr said:

Come on, man, you guys have nothing else going on in your lives.  Put a finish to the book.  :wink:

I think you may have hit on to something.

Here's the solution:

1) Matt - please retire from CGC

2) West - please retire from CBCS

3) Steve - please sell your Worldwide business

4) Mark - please STOP counting your millions!

Once these are all achieved, book is on its way! Yippee!

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Comicpedigrees.com Announces Book Update

Quote

Comicpedigrees.com Announces Book Update 

Stephen Ritter, Matt Nelson, and Arnie Sawyer have presented a newly designed chapter for an upcoming book on pedigree comics. The new chapter covers the Okajima pedigree, assembled by a young Japanese-American girl from California who was interned by the U.S. government during World War II. She was able to save her comic books through that period and continued collecting until the mid-1950s.

The collection was sold in 1995 and broken into three groups during an estate sale. One of those groups was brought to the market by Alan Barr, who researched the collection’s backstory. Through unique markings on the front and back covers, many copies have been identified since their initial disbursement. The collection is known for having high page quality and containing a large number of jungle and good girl comics.

The pedigree book has been a long-term project for Ritter, Nelson, and Sawyer, which covers all 59 pedigrees recognized by CGC. The full-color book will explore each pedigree’s back story and sale, dissecting the contents, grade, page quality, and markings for each.

“I’m very excited that we have worked out a new scope and focus for the book, which has been long in the coming,” Ritter said. “The new chapter layout is eye-popping, and will hopefully excite those who have been patiently waiting for the book.”

The Okajima chapter can be viewed on comicpedigrees.com, a website devoted to pedigreed comic collections that allows users to upload scans of their own pedigree books. The website’s database contains nearly 28,000 scans from all of the recognized collections in the hobby, including over 4,000 pictures from the Edgar Church/Mile High pedigree, what is often considered the most remarkable collection ever discovered.

CGC recently announced a new label for pedigrees, which bolsters the project and possibly the pedigree market overall.

“Now that these amazing collections will be acknowledged with a CGC pedigree label, the impetus is bigger than ever to get the book done,” Nelson said. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but our vision of the book has sharpened, and we are ready to move forward.”

 

http://comicpedigrees.com/book.php

Quote

THE PEDIGREE BOOK TIMELINE

After publishing an article on comic book pedigrees in CBM #32, Matt Nelson felt that an entire book covering all pedigreed collections would be a valuable information source for the hobby. The project began in 2004 with an accumulation of research material, original lists, and backstories for each collection.

In 2006 Matt partnered with Stephen Ritter, who had also considered writing a book on comic pedigrees. At this point the scope of the book expanded to include in-depth analysis of CGC grades and sales reports based on GPA and Overstreet data. It was decided the book would be broken into two volumes, the first covering Golden and Atomic Age pedigrees, and the second Silver and Bronze Age pedigrees.

Shortly thereafter, Arnie Sawyer, who runs a graphic design business in Manhattan and is known for his layouts of the popular Skybox Marvel trading cards and numerous comic company logos, joined the team. As one of the top collectors of vintage comic books in the world, Arnie's knowledge of pedigrees, combined with his talent in graphic design, elevated the project to a new professional level.

In March 2008, Stephen retired from the Air Force and partnered with Matt to form Worldwide Comics. After Matt sold his other company, Classics Incorporated, to CGC and moved to Florida in 2013, he divested his interests in Worldwide, which also moved to San Antonio, Texas. Work on the book was suspended for the next five years.

In 2018 Matt, Stephen and Arnie met to discuss the future of the book, re-evaluating its scope, assessing new layout designs, and ultimately deciding on only one volume that would cover every pedigreed collection recognized by CGC. The new format and design can be viewed in the PDF below, which displays the chapter on the Okajima pedigree collection.

Work on the book has resumed, but its completion will take a considerable amount of time and effort. Matt, Stephen and Arnie appreciate everyone's patience, and encourage anyone who has access to stories, pictures or data pertaining to any pedigree collection to contact them. Progress will be posted periodically on the official CGC form thread found here.

Below is a new sample featuring the Okajima chapter of the book. Click on the images to download the full PDF file.

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