Show Us Your Ducks! 15 15

[dikran]

Ok I think that about sums it up. Feel free to add as needed! 

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

Gold Keys back east were readily available at our local newsstands at least through the mid seventies. There were scores of Dells and Gold Keys available at garage sales, flea markets and church sales so it was clear they had been heavily distributed. These were real newsstands selling nothing but papers, magazines, cigars, cigarettes, candy those sort of sundries. My small town had two of them one in the center of town and one by the bus station; the bus station one was a bit sketchy though. We befriended the proprietor in the town center and he let us get our comics every week before he put them in the spinner racks. I was buying the whole DC line and my brother most Marvels so we were a good weekly revenue source for him. Those newsstands weren't unique to our town as they existed in all the small towns around the county. 7/11's also always had spinner racks too but the selection was not as complete.

Distribution on Gold Keys stopped by the late seventies to the newsstands after a period of sporadic appearance. They then suddenly appeared in the discount stores in bagged sets. Strange times. The last few I bought individually came from a comic store in Manhattan called the Batcave in the late seventies and early eighties; I don't know how they got them but they did.

Those newstands are all gone now; there was nothing like walking into one of them and seeing racks and shelves of magazines and papers. I bought all my Treasuries off the shelves in those stores as well as the early issues of Heavy Metal. The Warren magazines were there too; I used to love buying the Spirit and one December I walked up town as a storm was blowing in and bought a Christmas edition of the Spirit. The cover featured the Spirit in a snow storm and when I walked out of the store to walk home it was like I was in the strip as the snow had started to come down!

There's a tangible nature to all of this that digital delivery will never emulate or match! Give me my newsprint!! And yes, I still take a daily paper and will do so until they stop delivering.

[DavideD]

12 hours ago, dikran1 said:

That book so rarely shows up for sale☹️

It looks a bit rare, but it appears from time to time. I got my copy a few years ago:

 

 

[DavideD]

9 hours ago, dikran1 said:

Ok I think that about sums it up. Feel free to add as needed! 

I think you should add the first comic book dedicated to DD:

 

 

[dikran]

1 hour ago, DavideD said:

I think you should add the first comic book dedicated to DD:

 

 

I wanted to, just didn’t know where it fit. It’s not technically a comic book, more of a storybook with pictures. 
 

[DavideD]

4 minutes ago, dikran1 said:

I wanted to, just didn’t know where it fit. It’s not technically a comic book, more of a storybook with pictures. 
 

Well, if you're listing "key list of Duck books", then you cannot miss it. If you go only for comic books, then skip it  

[Robot Man]

13 hours ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

Gold Keys back east were readily available at our local newsstands at least through the mid seventies. There were scores of Dells and Gold Keys available at garage sales, flea markets and church sales so it was clear they had been heavily distributed. These were real newsstands selling nothing but papers, magazines, cigars, cigarettes, candy those sort of sundries. My small town had two of them one in the center of town and one by the bus station; the bus station one was a bit sketchy though. We befriended the proprietor in the town center and he let us get our comics every week before he put them in the spinner racks. I was buying the whole DC line and my brother most Marvels so we were a good weekly revenue source for him. Those newsstands weren't unique to our town as they existed in all the small towns around the county. 7/11's also always had spinner racks too but the selection was not as complete.

Distribution on Gold Keys stopped by the late seventies to the newsstands after a period of sporadic appearance. They then suddenly appeared in the discount stores in bagged sets. Strange times. The last few I bought individually came from a comic store in Manhattan called the Batcave in the late seventies and early eighties; I don't know how they got them but they did.

Those newstands are all gone now; there was nothing like walking into one of them and seeing racks and shelves of magazines and papers. I bought all my Treasuries off the shelves in those stores as well as the early issues of Heavy Metal. The Warren magazines were there too; I used to love buying the Spirit and one December I walked up town as a storm was blowing in and bought a Christmas edition of the Spirit. The cover featured the Spirit in a snow storm and when I walked out of the store to walk home it was like I was in the strip as the snow had started to come down!

There's a tangible nature to all of this that digital delivery will never emulate or match! Give me my newsprint!! And yes, I still take a daily paper and will do so until they stop delivering.

I have always been a “networker”. I learned early, the way to get comics was to let everyone know I wanted them. I posted cards on the local grocery store bulletin board, I hit garage sales, I put cheap ads in the local newspaper and even walked the neighborhoods with my little red wagon ringing doorbells asking if people had any and wanted to sell them. More times than you could believe, people would just give them to me. When I could drive, I hit flea markets and old used book stores. 

As a kid, I got friendly with the local drugstore owner. I kept missing issues so I made a deal with him. I would show up on the day before comics came out and open the bundles and stock his shelves for the private of getting first pick. If I didn’t have enough money, he would hold some so I could buy them later. All the other kids couldn’t figure out why I rarely missed an issue and I never told them. 

I still network. I let everyone know I collect comics. I have relationships with a lot of flea market dealers and estate sale owners. They let me know when they get them or know if any. Pays to be a pest and be willing to pay up a little. 

I too, like to read a real newspaper. The feel and smell, turning pages and reading printed words. I really hope they never go away. 

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

8 hours ago, Robot Man said:

I have always been a “networker”. I learned early, the way to get comics was to let everyone know I wanted them. I posted cards on the local grocery store bulletin board, I hit garage sales, I put cheap ads in the local newspaper and even walked the neighborhoods with my little red wagon ringing doorbells asking if people had any and wanted to sell them. More times than you could believe, people would just give them to me. When I could drive, I hit flea markets and old used book stores. 

As a kid, I got friendly with the local drugstore owner. I kept missing issues so I made a deal with him. I would show up on the day before comics came out and open the bundles and stock his shelves for the private of getting first pick. If I didn’t have enough money, he would hold some so I could buy them later. All the other kids couldn’t figure out why I rarely missed an issue and I never told them. 

I still network. I let everyone know I collect comics. I have relationships with a lot of flea market dealers and estate sale owners. They let me know when they get them or know if any. Pays to be a pest and be willing to pay up a little. 

I too, like to read a real newspaper. The feel and smell, turning pages and reading printed words. I really hope they never go away. 

My older brother and I used to wander around our small town ringing doorbells looking for comics and old train memorabilia. We never had luck with the comics but my brother managed to score some amazing railroad items. I actually still remember our most interesting find. There was an old rug factory down the street from us; it had actually been very famous in its day as they had made the rug for the Radio City Music Hall lobby and were famed nation wide for a particular type of rug. But by the time we were running around they had picked up and moved south to save on labor costs. There was a train spur that used to supply the factory with a freight office inside the building. They weren't too busy anymore as only one freight rolled in a day and it wasn't very long. One day we went in the office and asked the old freight agent if he had any old railroad material to give us. He rifled around some ancient desks and handed us piles of late 1800's timetables, Official Guides, paper receipts and all kinds of stuff. We were in hog heaven!

My brother was always the train guy and he's a pack rat so somewhere in his house he still has what was the start of his junk pile. Nothing beats this kind of thrill and it sure turned us both into flea market rats on the look for the next great score!

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

On 9/1/2020 at 6:51 PM, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

Gold Keys back east were readily available at our local newsstands at least through the mid seventies. There were scores of Dells and Gold Keys available at garage sales, flea markets and church sales so it was clear they had been heavily distributed. These were real newsstands selling nothing but papers, magazines, cigars, cigarettes, candy those sort of sundries. My small town had two of them one in the center of town and one by the bus station; the bus station one was a bit sketchy though. We befriended the proprietor in the town center and he let us get our comics every week before he put them in the spinner racks. I was buying the whole DC line and my brother most Marvels so we were a good weekly revenue source for him. Those newsstands weren't unique to our town as they existed in all the small towns around the county. 7/11's also always had spinner racks too but the selection was not as complete.

Distribution on Gold Keys stopped by the late seventies to the newsstands after a period of sporadic appearance. They then suddenly appeared in the discount stores in bagged sets. Strange times. The last few I bought individually came from a comic store in Manhattan called the Batcave in the late seventies and early eighties; I don't know how they got them but they did.

Those newstands are all gone now; there was nothing like walking into one of them and seeing racks and shelves of magazines and papers. I bought all my Treasuries off the shelves in those stores as well as the early issues of Heavy Metal. The Warren magazines were there too; I used to love buying the Spirit and one December I walked up town as a storm was blowing in and bought a Christmas edition of the Spirit. The cover featured the Spirit in a snow storm and when I walked out of the store to walk home it was like I was in the strip as the snow had started to come down!

There's a tangible nature to all of this that digital delivery will never emulate or match! Give me my newsprint!! And yes, I still take a daily paper and will do so until they stop delivering.

I just found where someone posted a picture of the downtown newstand on FB that I mentioned above. Through those doors I walked with many a great comic from 1971 through about 1978!

[Badger]

Got this in.  A rarity for Heritage, the colors on this book are actually better in hand.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2020 by Badger

[Robot Man]

16 hours ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

I just found where someone posted a picture of the downtown newstand on FB that I mentioned above. Through those doors I walked with many a great comic from 1971 through about 1978!

My grandpa bought me many comics as well as my first copy of MAD magazine at his smoke shop when he went in to buy cigars. 

[Badger]

Also picked this up. Kinda looks like a bugs bunny cover, a wise man told me.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2020 by Badger

[dikran]

1 hour ago, Badger said:

Also picked this up. Kinda looks like a bugs bunny cover, a wise man told me.

 

 

That's a nice looking 4.0!

[Badger]

9 minutes ago, dikran1 said:

That's a nice looking 4.0!

Thank you. Back cover is just as nice so I'm thinking its gotta be water damage or something on the interior. Might get the notes.

[dikran]

13 minutes ago, Badger said:

Thank you. Back cover is just as nice so I'm thinking its gotta be water damage or something on the interior. Might get the notes.

Unless a detached cover can only go up to max 4.0? Cuz I've seen 7.0s look a lot worse than that...

[Badger]

Could be although they almost always note that on the label.

[dikran]

16 minutes ago, Badger said:

Could be although they almost always note that on the label.

They did.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

Beautiful 4.0! That's a great way to get a nice book at a good price.

 

[Badger]

 

19 hours ago, Badger said:

Could be although they almost always note that on the label.

 

19 hours ago, dikran1 said:

They did.

You know, its interesting. I did not notice the "cover detached" notation until I looked up the certification number. I did not notice it even when you pointed it out to me. The book just captured my attention so thoroughly that I skipped the notation. Doesn't matter ultimately because I would have still bought the book at the price I paid so I'm happy. Still, this is one reason why I am happy CGC still uses the purple label of death. Tough to overlook that purple color.

Edited September 5, 2020 by Badger

[dikran]

To add to the list of keys, first Pluto (it’s his 90th birthday) comic and first Carl Barks comic work. Large Feature 7 from 1942