Show Us Your Ducks! 15 15

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

25 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

I would have if I had been detailed enough to read the description.  Instead, I saw "bound volume," thought that is sort of neat, and missed the notation about the Barks inscription.  If only I had known ...!

That volume deserved some hype!

Ha Ha! Always read the descriptions. I was hoping it would fly enough under the radar to have picked it up for a grand or so. No such luck but apparently it was flying under the radar somewhat based on your miss of the information.

[the blob]

5 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

Two reasons:

(1) WDC&S of this period do not have subscription mailing stickers, they have a printed (dot matrix?) address in a special rectangular white space left on the back cover (and later the front for a short while) for that purpose.

(2) WDC&S of this period often not only have the white space for the address on the back cover which is not present in regular copies, but also different back cover art.

They are true variant printings.  Here's what Heritage has to say about a subscription variant of issue 137:

That copy of 137, by the way, sold for 14x the guide value for a 9.2.

Here's a back cover showing the printed address on a subscription variant of WDC&S 97:

 

OK, I thought you were talking about ones with stickers, which I have seen in the 50s (I think they're stickers) and remember them being on the front. These were not printed with dot matrix, I don't think dot matrix even existed then. Not sure how they were printed. Yeah, I guess I have never seen it actually printed on there, just mailing labels. And yeah, a high grade copy ought to be a rarity, this thing was stuck in the mail with no protection practically, did these have a brown paper slip or something?

So what kind is this?:

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by the blob

[the blob]

And what is this one:

Edited December 10, 2020 by the blob

[the blob]

Is this one a variant also?:

[the blob]

This one?:

 

[the blob]

(The last three are all WDCS 97s)

I'm trying to figure out this variant thing. Now I'm finding out there are Dell variants with different back cover art, and I've known about some price variants for a while.

So really it's not a rarity thing as these subscription copies are very common, it's the rarity of getting them in decent shape because they were tossed in the mail.

[the blob]

Maybe I'm wrong and I haven't seen stickers, I've just seen these kind.

[Pickie]

4 hours ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

Ha Ha! Always read the descriptions. I was hoping it would fly enough under the radar to have picked it up for a grand or so. No such luck but apparently it was flying under the radar somewhat based on your miss of the information.

Same here. I went in with $845 ($1.014 with BP) and was high bidder for one day or so before live bidding. Was shocked about final hammer, too. 

7 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

I think that volume went cheap!  Back in 1960, Willits was the first person to learn Barks' name and address.  That volume is an incredibly significant bit of comic history documenting, in Barks' own hand, the moment when the "good duck artist" was discovered by the nascent comic fandom then coalescing, and, most importantly, how much it meant to him!  That volume, my friends, is a foundational historical document regarding the birth of comic fandom and the ground zero for the then anonymous Carl Barks' becoming one of Disney's biggest legends.  

Too cheap?  No ... a steal.  Wish it were mine.

I saw that connection, too. It's just not that close. The letter from which Willits learned Barks' name dates November 1957 (see HA archives). Inscription by Barks in bound volume dates June 1960. Absolutely awesome, nonetheless. 

Interesting to note that this same item went for $956 at HA on Nov. 23, 2013. The item description back then did not mention the OO's name (Willits) and did not include a pic of the spine:

https://comics.ha.com/itm/golden-age-1938-1955-/dell-giant-comics-christmas-parade-and-vacation-parade-bound-volume-signed-by-carl-barks-dell-1949-51-/a/7084-93416.s?ic4=ListView-Thumbnail-071515 

Must have been a nice surprise for the knowlegdable buyer. 

[sfcityduck]

8 hours ago, Pickie said:

 

I saw that connection, too. It's just not that close. The letter from which Willits learned Barks' name dates November 1957 (see HA archives). Inscription by Barks in bound volume dates June 1960. Absolutely awesome, nonetheless. 

 

The first time fans (Wiillits, Spicer bros) ever met with Barks and started sharing his identity was in 1960.  

[sfcityduck]

9 hours ago, the blob said:

Maybe I'm wrong and I haven't seen stickers, I've just seen these kind.

Early 50s are not stickers, Those 97s are all printed variants.

[sfcityduck]

9 hours ago, the blob said:

(The last three are all WDCS 97s)

I'm trying to figure out this variant thing. Now I'm finding out there are Dell variants with different back cover art, and I've known about some price variants for a while.

So really it's not a rarity thing as these subscription copies are very common, it's the rarity of getting them in decent shape because they were tossed in the mail.

Exactly.  What is very rare are nice copies of subscription variants.

[Stingrayiii]

Not a comic, but still pretty cool.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Der-FUEHRERS-FACE-SPLAT-DONALD-DUCK-THROWS-A-TOMATO-AT-HITLER-RARE/274603532151?hash=item3fefa55f77:g:n7YAAOSwuihfuRAO

"Different Image from listing. "

[Pickie]

15 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

The first time fans (Wiillits, Spicer bros) ever met with Barks and started sharing his identity was in 1960.  

Thank you, I suspected that it was documented somewhere. Can you advise in which fanzine or antology the first time meeting was reported first, please? 

[sfcityduck]

25 minutes ago, Pickie said:

Thank you, I suspected that it was documented somewhere. Can you advise in which fanzine or antology the first time meeting was reported first, please? 

No idea who/when told the story first, but it has been told repeatedly.

check this out:

https://www.cbarks.dk/thefanletter.htm

 

Edited December 11, 2020 by sfcityduck

[dikran]

9 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

No idea who/when told the story first, but it has been told repeatedly.

check this out:

https://www.cbarks.dk/thefanletter.htm

 

Oh wow! thank you for that!

[Pickie]

11 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

No idea who/when told the story first, but it has been told repeatedly.

check this out:

https://www.cbarks.dk/thefanletter.htm

 

Thank you! When I scroll the net, the first meeting seems always to be referenced with July 25, 1961. So the notation of the date (with different pencil, for that matter) in the bound volume as of "June 1960" remains a mystery.

[sfcityduck]

3 hours ago, Pickie said:

Thank you! When I scroll the net, the first meeting seems always to be referenced with July 25, 1961. So the notation of the date (with different pencil, for that matter) in the bound volume as of "June 1960" remains a mystery.

The Willits letter to Barks is dated May 25, 1960.  Barks' responded on June 2, 1960, by inviting Willits to come visit.  Willits did visit.  The notation on the Bound volume presented by Barks to Willits makes clear that Willits visited Barks later in June 1960 (which makes perfect sense since Barks sent the invitation on June 2, 1960, and I would not expect Willits to have sat on the invite).  So I don't see the mystery.  

Memories can be inaccurate, which is why I tend to trust the dates on documents more.

Edited December 11, 2020 by sfcityduck

[sfcityduck]

I think this narrative pretty much makes clear the full timeline:

Quote

 

So how did Carl Barks get discovered? Actually it was two devoted fans who were finally able to uncover the secret: Malcolm Willits and John Spicer.

Ever since he was a child in the 1940s, Willits had been a fan of Barks. However, while he could recognize the work of the distinctive artist, like every other child in the world, he had no clue as to the name of his favorite comic book storyteller. He read Barks stories in Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories, the Firestone giveaways and the larger Disney comic book specials. He started his collection in 1945.

Willits wrote a letter in 1950 to the publisher about Barks, but never received a reply. In 1957, Willits found himself in the Army and assigned to a post in Minneapolis where he was editing the new Army Corps newspaper. From 1950 to 1955 with two other friends, Willits had published an impressive amateur photo offset science fiction fanzine called “Destiny”.

“One issue featured a lengthy article on cartoon animation, devoting a good deal of space to Walt Disney and his efforts. Using this issue as ‘bait,’ even though our magazine had folded, I wrote the Disney studio informing them I’d like to do an article for ‘Destiny’ on their Donald Duck comic book artist,” Willits remembered.

The military letterhead must have impressed someone at the Disney Studio, and they replied with the name and address of the “Good Artist.” Unfortunately, because of increasing responsibilities, Willits was unable to make use of the information at that time.

In 1959, as a high school teacher in Washington, Willits was in contact with another fan of Disney comic books and Carl Barks named John Spicer. The comic fandom community was very small in those days, and they exchanged a few letters once they discovered their mutual interest in Disney comic books, something out-of-the-ordinary for the usual comic book fans who were more fascinated with just superheroes.

Sometime in 1959, Spicer and his brother Bill tried to find out who the “good artist” was by writing to both the Disney Studio and also the Western Publishing editorial office in Los Angeles responsible for the DELL comic books featuring Disney stories. They received the standard answer that it was company policy not to give out the names and addresses of freelancers. The Spicer brothers had collections of Barks comic books.

Finally, the two brothers collaborated on a neatly typed letter stating that one of them was a high school art teacher who was planning a class that would include a discussion of comic art, specifically Disney comic art. In particular, the “teacher” wanted to write to the artist who had been doing the Disney Duck stories for the last 15 years to ask about the technical side of writing and drawing comics.

A woman at editorial in Disney wrote back with the name and address of Carl Barks. John Spicer wrote a letter to Barks on April 11, 1960. Since it was the first real fan letter Barks had received, he was suspicious about it. Finally, Barks wrote back.

“After eying your letter with dark suspicion for several weeks, I have decided to answer it on the assumption that it could be a genuine fan letter. You see, I have a friend in Oceanside who just loves to play practical jokes and writing phony letters to his chosen victims is one of his jokes…My friend writes gags for the daily and Sunday ‘Dennis the Menace’ newspaper feature. His name is Bob Harmon, and if the name of John Spicer happened to fit one of the Dennis artists at Carmen Valley, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised. But, as I stated above, I’m going to write this letter on the assumption that John Spicer is a genuine, on-the-level young man with a better than average discerning eye for differences in art and writing styles. Ninety-nine readers out of a 100 think Walt Disney writes and draws all those movies and comic books between stints with his hammer and saw building Disneyland. It is a pleasure for us ghost writers and artists to meet an occasional sophisticated person who knows that he doesn’t.”

Barks proceeded to answer several specific questions about his life and stories. At the end, he wrote, “Well, it was nice getting a fan letter. The front office tells me they get many letters, but over the past 17 years, they have shown me only three. Two of which were ‘pan’ letters that left me cringing for weeks. I suppose it’s just as well I don’t get much mail. Writing and drawing these comics is a full time job seven days a week. I would have little time to answer…..I hope the stories you have read in the duck and Scrooge books have helped to give you a broader understanding of life, as well as entertainment. But I’ve tried to keep off the shop-worn cops and robbers kick that depraves so much of television and other mediums these days. If more of my readers grow up to sit in the Senate chamber than to sit in the gas chamber, I’ll have been richly rewarded for trying to turn out a good product.”

Almost immediately, John Spicer wrote another letter asking if he could arrange a visit. Arrangements were made to visit Barks in late August/early September 1960. John and Bill Spicer as well as Ron Leonard visited Barks’ San Jacinto home on a day when it was nearly 110 degrees.

“After staying several hours, talking with Carl about comics and painting, Carl gave each of us a signed original but cutting up both halves of a four-tier page into four strips—a page he said was the first version of something he had redrawn at either the editor’s request or something Carl himself was unsatisfied with and decided to re-do,” Bill Spicer said.

When John Spicer informed Willits of his success getting a reply from Carl Barks, it encouraged Willits to write to Barks himself on May 25, 1960. Once again, Barks couldn’t believe that he had fans and had no idea the widespread adulation of his work. (Barks later gave the original copies of these first two fan letters to the Disney Archives.)

“I have spent 17 years in the dark, wondering what the readers of my stuff really wanted,” wrote Barks to Willits. “It would be an enlightening experience to talk to one. In the event you phone, my wife will answer the call, my hearing aids which are okay for ordinary conversation are shuttery for telephonic jazz.”

In early June 1960, Willits was the first Disney fan to visit Barks and his wife, Gare. The Barks visited Willits in July 1961 when Willits went back to college at the University of Washington.

“Barks chose to acknowledge his two newfound fans with the June 1961 issue of Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories in a story titled Stranger Than Fiction. I had already informed him of my abiding interest in science fiction, and of how my parents refused to allow it in the house when I was young, and how much I wished he’d do more stories with this theme [of science fiction],” Willits recalled.

“In this story, Donald is enraged to find his nephews reading a science fiction book and proceeds to throw it in the trash. The book in question is Ten Seconds to Mars by Spicer Willits. Naturally, the kids have the last laugh as what Donald considers to be science fiction turns out to be fact. As with many of Carl’s stories, a moral is involved, but even if it wasn’t, John and I were delighted in being immortalized, however briefly, in one of his works,” Willits said with a smile.

 

https://www.mouseplanet.com/9969/How_Disney_Fans_Found_Carl_Barks#:~:text=In early June 1960%2C Willits,at the University of Washington.

 

Edited December 11, 2020 by sfcityduck

[dikran]

I do believe this is the best thread on the Boards... 

[AJD]

Far from the highest grade duck book I own, but this one got me to 96/100 of the first century. I'm down to 1, 2, 3 and 5. Easy peasy.