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Show Us Your Ducks!
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8,405 posts in this topic

11 hours ago, Badger said:

Sorry to open an old wound!

Assuming that the attribution is correct and this really is a Church copy, then the mystery of missing Church Barks ducks seems to have been solved.  At least one survived.  With the surfacing of the Veryzl Church Four Colors, it appears that more funny animal books survived than was usually thought, given Chuck's believing that most had been thrown away by the Church family before he got to them.

In his version, the only funny animal books to survive were a few that he found that -- he thinks -- Edgar had mistakenly mixed in with his other books.

Again, though, this assumes that the Church attribution on these books is accurate.  It also raises the possibility that more Church Barks ducks may be out there.  I assume that it wasn't the Verzyl family that consigned the FC 386 with Hake's.

@tth2 any thoughts?  I know you've discussed this in the past. 

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27 minutes ago, Sqeggs said:

Sorry to open an old wound!

Assuming that the attribution is correct and this really is a Church copy, then the mystery of missing Church Barks ducks seems to have been solved.  At least one survived.  With the surfacing of the Veryzl Church Four Colors, it appears that more funny animal books survived than was usually thought, given Chuck's believing that most had been thrown away by the Church family before he got to them.

In his version, the only funny animal books to survive were a few that he found that -- he thinks -- Edgar had mistakenly mixed in with his other books.

Again, though, this assumes that the Church attribution on these books is accurate.  It also raises the possibility that more Church Barks ducks may be out there.  I assume that it wasn't the Verzyl family that consigned the FC 386 with Hake's.

@tth2 any thoughts?  I know you've discussed this in the past. 

I also distinctly recall a few Church Looney Tunes themed Four Colors ( I cant forget them because I didn't go hard enough after them to at least snag one ) in an HA auction maybe two years back?  There was also recently a Church Bugs Bunny Christmas giant in a HA Sunday auction. So the funny animal books are out there 

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2 hours ago, Badger said:

This is interesting.  A Barks Four Color Mile High sold back in 2006.  Totally missed this.

https://www.hakes.com/Auction/ItemDetail/18032/FOUR-COLOR-159-AUGUST-1947-CGC-65-OFF-WHITE-PAGES-MILE-HIGH-COPY

Actually that's a Dallas Stephens book.  Those books are from a later collection that Chuck bought, not the Church collection.

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3 hours ago, sagii said:

I also distinctly recall a few Church Looney Tunes themed Four Colors ( I cant forget them because I didn't go hard enough after them to at least snag one ) in an HA auction maybe two years back?  There was also recently a Church Bugs Bunny Christmas giant in a HA Sunday auction. So the funny animal books are out there 

Yeah, there are definitely some around.  Possibly too many?  Here's Chuck's discussion:

I then asked them [the Church family] why the rest of that very copious room was completely empty. The heirs hemmed and hawed, and told me they didn't know. It didn't take me long to reach the conclusion, however, that the room had once been full, and that someone had emptied it. I had already seen the empty shelves in the main basement room from where the huge batch of reference files that I saw set out for the trash men (on my first visit) had been extracted, so those couldn't have been in the contents of that second room. My best guess is that whatever was in that second room was sent off to the dump before I made my first visit.

In the many discussions I've had with people about the contents of that second room, the general conclusion that we've reached is that the room contained Church's collection of humor comics. We've extrapolated this conclusion from the fact that there are some very unusual holes in the runs of super-hero comics that were in the walk-in closet from which I obtained the Golden Age. At the same time, there were a tantalizing samplings of humor comics, such as LOONEY TUNES #1, ANIMAL COMICS #1, and all the LITTLE LULU Four Color issues, mixed in with the super-hero comics. If Church was buying all the comics being printed, where were all the humor comics? Wouldn't it make sense that if Church was roughly sorting his super-hero/adventure comics into one room, while his humor books went into the second, that a few books would get put into the wrong closet? That would explain why a few of the super-hero books were missing from otherwise complete runs, and why a few humor books were mixed in with the super-heroes. Sadly, I think the most likely scenario is that all the humor comics were sent to the dump prior to my arrival. If that was the case, then the collection of Golden Age that everyone acknowledges as the best ever discovered in the history of the hobby, was actually half destroyed prior to my arrival.

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So, a couple of observations:  Note that Chuck makes no reference to duck books, even though Barks duck books were already widely collected and highly desirable.  He does specifically reference Little Lulu four colors. Also note that he refers to only "a few books" being put in the wrong closet, and, hence, having survived being thrown out by Edgar's heirs.

If the Barks duck books had been there, I think he would have mentioned it.  It's conceivable, of course, that if the only Barks duck book was FC 386, Chuck might not have mentioned it, even though that was clearly considered an important key, even then.

Have we already seen too many Four Colors and other humor (or funny animal) books on Heritage to be consistent with Chuck's reference to there being only a few of these books in the Church collection? 

I mentioned in another thread that I'm dubious about whether some of the raw mid-grade books that Heritage has been auctioning recently as Church copies really are.  Could it be that some (many?) of these Church Four Colors that Heritage has auctioned (with more to come) are not actually from the Church collection?

Not drawing any conclusions, just raising the issue. 

Edited by Sqeggs
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I always thought that the reason why the only funny animal type titles he haf were #1 issues was because Church would tell his supplier he did not want new titles after he saw the first issue.  I assume, or read somewhere, he didn't want Disney funny animal comics because they were not a useful reference for his art (I always presumed due to copyright restrictions).

Edited by sfcityduck
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19 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

I always thought that the reason why the only funny animal type titles he haf were #1 issues was because Church would tell his supplier he did not want new titles after he saw the first issue.  I assume, or read somewhere, he didn't want Disney funny animal comics because they were not a useful reference for his art (I always presumed due to copyright restrictions).

Haven't heard that story before.  The usual story is that he bought (or tried to buy) a copy of every comic published.  He missed some low distribution books, like issues of some St John romance titles.  

In the end, he didn't use comics as models for his commercial art, which is why the books are in such great shape.  Chuck found a lot of cut up magazines that Edgar was apparently using as cheat sheets for his art.  Apparently, Edgar just bought the comics and piled them up, never even opening them.  Clearly compulsive behavior of some type. 

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On 10/3/2018 at 12:13 PM, sfcityduck said:

I think I did Duck collecting a service with this book.  I could not get CGC to note it as a subscription variant.  BUT,  I got Heritage to properly note it as a subscription variant on their auction listing. 

Update: Heritage has modified the listing to as follows:

Quote

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #137 (Dell, 1952) CGC NM 9.4 White pages. A subscription copy in Near Mint is a remarkable find indeed! This has an address printed on the back and a different ad from the one that appeared on newsstand editions. Yet it has no subscription crease! Tied with one other copy (which only has off-white pages) for CGC's highest-grade for the issue, this is just the fourth certified copy that we have ever encountered, and is quite possibly the nicest copy of #137 in existence. Carl Barks provided the cover art, and a Donald Duck story and art for this impressive duck-filled issue. Huey, Dewey, and Louie appear. Overstreet 2018 NM- 9.2 value = $215. CGC census 10/18: 2 in 9.4, none higher.  

https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/walt-disney-s-comics-and-stories-137-dell-1952-cgc-nm-94-white-pages/p/7192-195002.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

They no longer call it a "variant," but they do call it a "subscription copy" and explain the difference from regular editions.  So still a step in the right direction I think.  This listing is better written than the last, so I really can't complain about the change.

 

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Pure nostalgia made me put down $10 for this one. I was 8 when this reprint appeared in Australia and it was one of the most loved comics in my collection. I love rebuying these issues when I find them in highish grade and not too expensive. :cloud9:

These books were 32 pages including the FC. So this 32 page story had a page cut - the one with the goofy guy with wings strapped on. I saw that for the first time when I bought the Barks library in the late 80s. I also recall being surprised at the colour of the original Dell edition!

G507.jpg.505872cdc5b5feca1747eccb2a929af9.jpg

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39 minutes ago, AJD said:

Pure nostalgia made me put down $10 for this one. I was 8 when this reprint appeared in Australia and it was one of the most loved comics in my collection. I love rebuying these issues when I find them in highish grade and not too expensive. :cloud9:

These books were 32 pages including the FC. So this 32 page story had a page cut - the one with the goofy guy with wings strapped on. I saw that for the first time when I bought the Barks library in the late 80s. I also recall being surprised at the colour of the original Dell edition!

G507.jpg.505872cdc5b5feca1747eccb2a929af9.jpg

May be a coincidence, but there was also a one-shot reprint of this issue in the U.S.  I also remember buying a copy as a kid. Regular cover stock, though. 

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8 minutes ago, Sqeggs said:

May be a coincidence, but there was also a one-shot reprint of this issue in the U.S.  I also remember buying a copy as a kid. Regular cover stock, though. 

There was a 1952 Australian reprint with the 'correct' orange cover. I'm not sure if the 1971 edition was taken from that or the US reprint, though that was 1965 and had a blue cover (Gold Key - guessing that's the one you mean).

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17 minutes ago, AJD said:

There was a 1952 Australian reprint with the 'correct' orange cover. I'm not sure if the 1971 edition was taken from that or the US reprint, though that was 1965 and had a blue cover (Gold Key - guessing that's the one you mean).

Yep, that’s the one. My first time reading that great story. 

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4 hours ago, Sqeggs said:

May be a coincidence, but there was also a one-shot reprint of this issue in the U.S.  I also remember buying a copy as a kid. Regular cover stock, though. 

As usual, Professor Sqeggs is correct.  I purchased a copy for $5 at Wizard Chicago to give a friend.

 

Best of Donald Duck # 1.jpg

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