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What is this?

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Ok.

 

This is one for you Superman fans.

 

In the 32 Edition of Overstreet Comic Book Guide, on page 50 where the record sales are. There is a picture of Superman Comics ashcan copy.

 

Now when i looked for it in the guide it was not there.

 

What is the stroy behind this issue?

 

Thanks

 

Danny

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UV:

 

This is my first post here. I've enjoyed reading the various threads and am so envious of some of the books you guys own!

 

I've asked Bob Overstreet for years to list ashcans in the Guide. I get indications from him that lead me to believe that he may, but each year: nothing. Every year I send him a prices realized list of the ashcans that I'm aware change hands, but no regular listings yet.

 

Because of their rarity, I think a prices realized list would make the most sense, and I believe collectors would love to see these books in the guide. They are the rarest of all comics, and they look unusual. Just what we collectors love about the stuff we collect!

 

In the past 4 years I've sold the following books:

 

Superman: 36,100

Wonder Woman: 17,250

All-Star: 15,600

Mysterious Stranger: 2,360

House of Mystery: 2,360

Mystery Trail : 2,360

Superboy: 11,000

Strange Adventures: 2,500

World's Best: 21,000

Flash (DC)(9.6) 11,500

 

I feel this is important information that the collecting community needs to know.

 

Anyway, who knows, maybe this year!

 

And if you guys are interested, I'd be happy to relate information about the Windy City pedigree. It's too bad that this collection doesn't get the respect it deserves. It was truly an amazing find. The only "Big Books" not represented in the collection were Action 1 and Green Lantern 1.

 

Warm Regards.

 

--Gary Colabuono

 

 

 

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UV:

 

This is my first post here. I've enjoyed reading the various threads and am so envious of some of the books you guys own!

 

I've asked Bob Overstreet for years to list ashcans in the Guide. I get indications from him that lead me to believe that he may, but each year: nothing. Every year I send him a prices realized list of the ashcans that I'm aware change hands, but no regular listings yet.

 

Because of their rarity, I think a prices realized list would make the most sense, and I believe collectors would love to see these books in the guide. They are the rarest of all comics, and they look unusual. Just what we collectors love about the stuff we collect!

 

In the past 4 years I've sold the following books:

 

Superman: 36,100

Wonder Woman: 17,250

All-Star: 15,600

Mysterious Stranger: 2,360

House of Mystery: 2,360

Mystery Trail : 2,360

Superboy: 11,000

Strange Adventures: 2,500

World's Best: 21,000

Flash (DC)(9.6) 11,500

 

I feel this is important information that the collecting community needs to know.

 

Anyway, who knows, maybe this year!

 

And if you guys are interested, I'd be happy to relate information about the Windy City pedigree. It's too bad that this collection doesn't get the respect it deserves. It was truly an amazing find. The only "Big Books" not represented in the collection were Action 1 and Green Lantern 1.

 

Warm Regards.

 

--Gary Colabuono

 

 

 

RELATE, RELATE!!!

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And if you guys are interested, I'd be happy to relate information about the Windy City pedigree. It's too bad that this collection doesn't get the respect it deserves. It was truly an amazing find. The only "Big Books" not represented in the collection were Action 1 and Green Lantern 1.

 

Warm Regards.

 

--Gary Colabuono

 

Wow. Now Gary Colabuono has decided to join in the fun here. Tres cool!

 

Gary, let me be the first to welcome you and say thanks for the many years of expertise you've brought to the comic hobby. Your work rooting out DC ashcans is to be highly commended, not to mention all of the other great achievements you've contributed to our little obsessive amusement over the decades. I think any long term collector in the Chicago-land area would be hard-pressed not to crack a nostalgic smile upon hearing the name "Moondogs."

 

Let me also be one to request -- nay, beg -- that you relate any and all information on the Windy City pedigree to our humble group! I think Matt Nelson has to be getting sick of us constantly linking to his pedigree article everytime someone asks a related question!

 

Finally, let me personally thank you (a scant 10+ years late!) for the fantastic radio show you once did here in Chicago around 1993. I used to make it a point to get up early every Saturday morning to listen, and enjoyed every minute of it! (And even though he's now Marvel's editor-in-chief, I still can't take Joe Quesada seriously after having heard him and Jimmy Palmiotti goof around every week for you guys!)

 

Alan

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Here, I'm going to make Gary feel old.

 

Moondog's was my local comic shop when I was in high school. I remember the little tiny store on Busse Avenue in Mt. Prospect, before he moved across the street. Always a good time. Took the train from Barrington, went to the comic store, played pinball at Mother's and went back. Good times!

 

And I still have the Spider-Man 3 he sold me for $40 the night before the 1979 blizzard. Probably would grade out at a 9.2.

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Alan:

 

Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm looking forward to hanging out with everyone here. My dealing days are behind me except for the Chicago Con (can't bring myself to call it Wizard World) and some occasional eBaying. I've found that simply being a collector is so much less stressful...

 

>>>Let me also be one to request -- nay, beg -- that you relate any and all information on the Windy City pedigree to our humble group! I think Matt Nelson has to be getting sick of us constantly linking to his pedigree article everytime someone asks a related question!<<<

 

After re-reading Matt's account of the Windy City buy, I have to tell you he did a great job of interviewing me. All the major factual info is there. There are some omissions, but that's probably due to my not relating them to him.

 

The owner's name was Ben Stothart. Ben lived in Arlington Heights, Illinois, which is located just west of Mt. Prospect, Illinois where I opened the first comics shop in suburban Chicago in 1978. Ben came in just before I was about to close with a manilla envelope under his arm. He asked me if I bought old comics...(if this word were a part of our lexicon in 1978, I would have replied, "duh!").

 

As Matt described the contents were unbelievable. I noticed immediately that the condition of the books was incredible. I had never owned or even held a Marvel # 1 or Superman # 1 (or any of these books for that matter) at that time in my dealing career. When I asked if he was prepared to sell, his response of, "when I have them all, I'll sell," haunted me for the next 8 years...

 

Whenever Ben made a score with Anna, he'd bring the books to the store in a brown paper grocery bag which held about 150 books. One Saturday, it was all 50's stuff: Brave and Bold # 1, Showcase # 1, Mystery in Space # 1, House of Secrets, House of Mystery, all the Atlas westerns, sf, war, and romance. Unbelievable.

 

Around 1980 Robert Cresthol and Gerry Ross got wind of the collection. Now, those fellows were a bit more "aggressive" in their buying style than I was. They flew down from Canada and really tried to get Ben to sell. But true to his word, Ben wouldn't budge. He always told me that I'd have the first chance. In fact, Ben stored the collection in my home for a year as I went through each book, page by page, and graded them. I suppose it helped that we lived less than 4 miles from each other.

 

Soon after Steve Fishler got involved. Now, at that time, Steve believed strongly that the collection shouldn't be broken up, that it was one of the most important finds in our country's pop culture. He had a buyer lined up to purchase the entire collection. But Ben wouldn't sell.

 

As a funny note, Steve and I were very cordial in those days (we still are today, but I rarely see him or do any business with him any more), and he came up with a nickname for Ben. After one phone conversation which centered around more frustration with him, Steve called him "Greedy Ben." From that moment on, he was never referred to in any way other than Greedy Ben.

 

Fast forward through 5 more years of agony to 1986. Ben was ready to sell! He was going to take the best offer from anyone who had the dough. I remember making an offer of $65,000 which was good, but he thought he could do better. I think Steve offered $75,000 and he was prepared to take it when I told him, I'll guarantee you $10,000 more, but I need to buy them in installments. That swung the deal. After all those years he trusted me enough that I'd come up with the dough when an installment was due.

 

Needless to say this had to be a cash deal. I'll never forget driving to his home and counting out $35,000 in one hundred dollar bills on his kitchen table.

 

More to come soon.

 

>>>Finally, let me personally thank you (a scant 10+ years late!) for the fantastic radio show you once did here in Chicago around 1993. I used to make it a point to get up early every Saturday morning to listen, and enjoyed every minute of it! (And even though he's now Marvel's editor-in-chief, I still can't take Joe Quesada seriously after having heard him and Jimmy Palmiotti goof around every week for you guys!)<<<

 

I was just listening to tapes of the Moondog's Pop Culture Radio Show just last week, Alan. God, that was so much fun to do! The lineup for the first show was truly amazing: Todd McFarlane, Neil Gaiman, Dave Sim, and a bunch of other creators all called in to wish me luck.

 

Each show was half comics and half pop culture (usually a TV or movie star interview). We interviewed Bob Hope, Steve Allen, and a host of other big-time stars. We had the first Gilligan's Island Reunion ever. My favorite moment is when I got to say to Audrey Meadows, "Baby, you're the greatest!". My favorite comics moment was having Vin Sullivan (the first Superman editor) and Mike Carlin (then the current Superman editor) on the phone together where they met for the first time. We had the 3 Jimmy Olsens on at once to: Jack Larsen, the Jimmy from the Superman movies, and the Jimmy from Lois and Clark. Fun stuff.

 

The P&Q Report was dangerous. Kim "Howard" Johnson was the host of the show. I was sort of a "color commentator". Anyway, Howard convinces his good friends Jimmy Palmiotti and Joe Quesada to do a weekly segment where they talked about whatever they wanted to. Well, these guys always wanted to talk about sex. Now, we had to keep it clean, so they would always try to sneak stuff in. I had my finger on the "dump" button the whole time...

 

I tried for over 6 months to get the show syndicated, but found no strong interest. It died a quiet death after 30+ shows...

 

Thanks for letting me ramble. Sorry for taking so much space...

 

--Gary

 

 

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Donut:

 

Thanks for the memories!

 

Some of the most amazing comics moved in that little shop (and the bigger one when we moved across the tracks). I'm very pleased to hear that you still have that Spidey 3.

 

As an aside, I'm the director of marketing for Incredible Technologies. We manufacture Golden Tee Golf, the most popular coin-operated video game in the country. The guy who managed Mothers also works for us. You may remember him: "Big Steve".

 

Mothers is gone. They moved the building a few blocks and preserved it as a landmark. It houses an ice cream shop today. The building with the original Moondog's has been renovated and my shop has become a militaria collector's store.

 

--Gary

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Gary,

 

Thanks a lot for sharing the story!

 

I am sure many of us would love to hear details about some of the key books in

the Windy City collection - we've had long discussions about which pedigrees

had the best Superman 1, Detective 1, Marvel 1, ... This kind of insider info is

really hard to come by for most of us.

 

Last year, I compiled a list of all the pedigree #1s that have been offered by

major auction houses since 1990. Compared to more than 20 Denver #1s, 15

Larsons, and more than a hundred Church keys, I only found a handful from

the Windy City collection:

 

Captain America #1 VF+

Mystery Men #1 FN+

Pep #1 VF/NM

Plastic Man #1 NM-

Speed #1 VF+

Tomahawk #1 VF+

 

----

 

Btw., thanks again for selling me a good chunk of your amazing Mickey Mouse

Magazines off eBay a few years ago. It was not least your books that got me

really interested in these; I now have around 50 different issues in VF or better.

 

 

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Soon after Steve Fishler got involved. Now, at that time, Steve believed strongly that the collection shouldn't be broken up, that it was one of the most important finds in our country's pop culture. He had a buyer lined up to purchase the entire collection.

 

I think Steve is only a year older than me, and if this is around 1981 that means 13 year old Steve Fishler had a buyer ready to buy the entire Windy City collection?

Pretty cool. Or was he going to try and act as a middleman and flip it to Jay?

 

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More to come soon.

 

893applaud-thumb.gif Thanks, Gary! That was some fascinating info on the Windy City Pedigree! Please, do share anything else you can remember! The only questions I have with regard to it are why no Action #1 and why is there such a wide variety of page quality? (I also hope you'll go into detail about the 1000 issues found after the sister's death. Perhaps in part two? grin.gif)

 

Also, thanks for the all reminiscing about The Moondog's Pop Culture Radio Show! I had forgotten about most of the guests you cited, but upon reading your post a lot of the memories came flooding back! I definitely remember the Gilligan's Island reunion .... I also remember you guys interviewing the late Julie Schwartz, who had so many anecdotes that either you or Howard remarked that someone should package them into a book! Like I said in an earlier post, I really enjoyed the show and missed it when it went off the air.

 

I'm curious as to how the show came about, though. I know you used to be a guest on WGN (or was it WLS?) because my dad would always listen to that station and let me know everytime "that Moondoggie Guy" was being interviewed! But I'm not clear how that would have led to your own show ...? confused-smiley-013.gif

 

Thanks again, and keep the posts coming!

Alan

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Last year, I compiled a list of all the pedigree #1s that have been offered by

major auction houses since 1990. Compared to more than 20 Denver #1s, 15

Larsons, and more than a hundred Church keys, I only found a handful from

the Windy City collection:

 

While not a "key" per se, I own the Windy City Aces High #1. CGC graded it VF/NM with white pages.

 

Alan

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Soon after Steve Fishler got involved. Now, at that time, Steve believed strongly that the collection shouldn't be broken up, that it was one of the most important finds in our country's pop culture. He had a buyer lined up to purchase the entire collection.

 

I think Steve is only a year older than me, and if this is around 1981 that means 13 year old Steve Fishler had a buyer ready to buy the entire Windy City collection?

Pretty cool. Or was he going to try and act as a middleman and flip it to Jay?

 

He must be older, since he founded Metropolis Collectibles in 1984. Link

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I think Steve is only a year older than me, and if this is around 1981 that means 13 year old Steve Fishler had a buyer ready to buy the entire Windy City collection?

Pretty cool. Or was he going to try and act as a middleman and flip it to Jay?

 

He must be older, since he founded Metropolis Collectibles in 1984. Link

 

No, I believe Steve was quite young when he founded Metro. When I was in NY back in 1995, Steve told me that he was 27 then and getting burned out from all of the wheeling and dealing in comics. This would make him around 13 or 14 years old in 1981 which lines up with the first story.

 

As Steve told me, he started dealing in comics when he was only 7 years old. Within a few years, he had already acquired all of the SA and GA keys through his wheeling and dealing. From there he moved onto college (marketing I believe?) while still maintaining his comics business on the side. I guess you can consider him to be sort of a child prodigy in the world of BIG comics dealing. No wonder he was getting tired of all this by his late 20's since he had already been doing it for 20 years.

 

Actually, quite a nice guy once you get to know him a little and appreciate his sense of humour. thumbsup2.gif

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