Son of My 50 Year Junk Obsession 16 16

[Robot Man]

Yeah, the lack of preparation by some of the dealers was abysmal. They should have known better after last year. Harley had barely enough to fill up a table and he had two. Terry brought some stuff this time but often has a hard time gauging what to bring I think it Was he just didn’t want to bother. Jamie Graham left real early grumbling about poor sales. I mean one rack of way over priced stuff and a few sad boxes of picked over DCs at 20% off? I bought a couple of books I really shouldn’t have because I love the guy. Lots of dealers like Bedrock, Dale, Storms and others brought their full SDCC stock want were VERY happy with their sales. Where were you Bob? I came by several times and you were never there. I will enjoy the book I got from your booth!

When are the dealers going to get it? The place was packed with serious buyers and fists full of cash that no longer go to a dying comic buying/selling  SDCC. This is a great opportunity to boost your SDCC sales in a big way. 

And Steve, you watch too many movies. Hollyweird has been sketch for a LONG time. I rarely go there anymore except to see bands play. I took the freeway to the event and left. Doesn’t bother me other than it’s a little sad. Lots of homeless which is true of a lot of areas in SOCA. Bad sign of the times...

 

[Sqeggs]

On 7/10/2019 at 12:00 PM, Robot Man said:

Comic and magazine racks as much as we love them were murder on books. But they were never intended to be kept and coveted. Clothes pins also make me shudder. The passage of time and abuse they often received once purchased are other factors. For these reasons, it makes us all so happy to find nice copies of these wonderful publications. 

I can remember hanging around with my mother at the pharmacy reading comics from the spinner racks. When she was ready to leave, I'd just stuff the book back in. Other kids would do the same. 9.8s were pretty scarce!

[sagii]

Great report and super pics as always from a RM show experience.

Always feels like I'm right there 

[BakerFanOne]

21 hours ago, Robot Man said:

Well, a nice Dodger win, a few beers and a good nights sleep and I'm back. Kinda have the post Torpedo blues but a little pile to console me.

Arrived at the Hollywood Palladium right on time. Had to of course go to the Rose Bowl flea market very early first then made the short trip to Hollyweird. Turned on to Sunset and saw the old Aquarius Theatre. A 1960's land mark in the area. Great to see it still there and well taken care of. Parked in the back and walked right up to the front of the line. Was fun to go to the Palladium. Cool art deco building and still very viable. Last time I was there, my band opened for X and the Blasters. Good times.

Bumped right into boardies. Some I knew and some I just met yesterday. Pardon me if I mispell your names. I met 50 years selling comics, Ghastly54 and Dreamtoreal1 in line as well as all the local flipper kids armed with their cell phones, GPA and their strong desire to make a few bucks at the show. Had a good natured discussion with a couple guys about, political issues, the intended ICE raids and some poor homeless guy sleeping along the fence in 80 degree heat.

In we went right at 10:00. I was impressed with the venue for a comic show. The room was full, well lit and room to roam the isles. I went looking for my top tier dealers and hit them first. I picked up a few cool Atlas war books from Dale Roberts and a small pile of ECs from Mr. Bedrock. Sadly, Brain Peets from A-1 and Steve Ritter from Worldwide couldn't make it. Metro also missed, but I rarely buy anything from them anyway. Many big SDCC were there most with their full SDCC loads. A few like Terry, Graham Crackers and Harley brought small skeleton loads and probably didn't do too well. They soon realized their mistake. There were a ton of guys I heard talking that wern't going to SDCC who had big money to burn and they missed out. Lots of smaller dealers due to the low table prices and guys I've never seen around here.

In the room saw more boardies and cool dealers I just never get to see. SaCentaur, Hap Hazzard, Mr. Bedrock, GA-Tor, Nerdy Girl. As well as a lot of my local old guy EC crowd guys. Probably a lot more boardies that were under the radar or I didn't know. Half of a show is buying books but the better half is being in a room with friends, making new ones and talking funny books.

Market report... High, very high sticker prices across the board. Shocking in fact. I saw a book that I recently bought on the boards for $40. There were 3 copies in the room ranging from $150-$300. No biggie, an IW Phantom Lady reprint. I saw a cool Fawcett on a wall that I was after. Guides for maybe $150 but worth double that and I was willing to pay. His price? $1,200! Was hard to look at the wall books because I knew that they would be in the stratosphere so I didn't ask on very many. What is hot? Leonard B Cole!!! A few people have driven these way up past what they should be. PCH, Baker, classic covers. Even Archies and EC horror despite being in good supply in all grades. What is cool? GA mainstream superheroes. Especially DC. They were all over the place. All ttiles (except More Funs...). They just wern't selling. I got two lower to mid grade ones VERY cheap when I strong armed a few guys by waving hundred dollar bills and walking away only to have them chase me down the isle.

Only chance for any kind of a deal was box diving. Wade through the stuff that is totaly dead and there is stuff buried. Dealers forget about that book that has become burning hot recently and most people are seduced by the pretty wall books. I also asked guys that had SA to modern if they had any GA and some were able to fish them out from under their tables. Got 3 cool midgrade Suzies for $10. from one guy. Another guy had pretty pricey stuff including LB Coles in the $150-$400 in his boxes but I pulled out a nice Target Cole cover he had marked $30. He gasped but took my $30. when I handed it to him.

It is getting harder and harder for me to buy books at a show. Yes, I'm old school and have most of it already, but the even the obscure odd stuff is being snatched up or marked up past what I want to pay for it. I think as I said in my WonderCon report, dealers just can't get collections any more and can't afford to buy and sell amoungst them selves to come up with good material. When they do, they don't know what to sell it for because the GA market is on fire and so volital. A lot of pretty books went home yesterday to appear at SDCC and will probably go home with them after that show.

Lucky for me, I love to dig and explore boxes. I find a lot of cool stuff that way. My expectations aren't that high and I am willing to "settle" grade wise if I find something I want. I can always upgrade and did so yesterday on a few books. I am also open to most all genres. Lots of cool stuff and very affordable if you do that. But damn, I brought a LOT of cash and wanted to overpay if I had to to come home with at least one killer book. Just didn't happen...

John threw a great show. Good venue, $10. a stellar array of nationwide dealers and the customers were out in force. Nice mix of comics and original art. Even free donuts! Small tight old school show with something for every one. One day, is just perfect. I ran him down and thanked him. He said he would be back next year. Can't wait.

And for those of you going to SDCC, have fun. It's an experience that just can't be missed. But for strictly comic buyers, Torpedo fits the bill to a T!

Robot Man - I am always impressed with your observations and insights.  I could not agree more with your comments on this year’s show.  There were many really nice wall books, but the pricing was sometimes orders of magnitudes off of fair market value/GPA.  I suspect many dealers have no idea how to price Baker, LB Cole, Good Girl and PCH so they just mark them sky high hoping someone is desperate enough to pull the trigger.   Like you, I had some luck digging through dealer’s boxes and there were some nice Atlas war finds and decent Quality, Fiction House, Harvey and EC books.  I will definitely return next year!

 

 

 

[Mmehdy]

great report robo...thanks

[Robot Man]

6 hours ago, BakerFanOne said:

Robot Man - I am always impressed with your observations and insights.  I could not agree more with your comments on this year’s show.  There were many really nice wall books, but the pricing was sometimes orders of magnitudes off of fair market value/GPA.  I suspect many dealers have no idea how to price Baker, LB Cole, Good Girl and PCH so they just mark them sky high hoping someone is desperate enough to pull the trigger.   Like you, I had some luck digging through dealer’s boxes and there were some nice Atlas war finds and decent Quality, Fiction House, Harvey and EC books.  I will definitely return next year!

 

 

 

The prices wern’t just high, they were over the moon. I looked at the pretty wall books. There were a few I would have wanted but just not donating a kidney for. After several inquiries, I decided to turn lemons into lemonaid and started digging all the GA box stock. Didn’t get a ton of books but enough either fairly priced to down right bargains. I really wanted a big book or two and came loaded with more cash than I usually would but just didn’t see anything so I went the other way and came home happy. 

You mentioned Quality. Did you see the guy in the back with the huge Quality collection? He is a boardie from the Pacific Northwest. Can’t remember his name. Cool guy. I recently really cleaned out my Quality collection so wasn’t on the hunt except for just a few he didn’t have. 

One book really stood out to me. A guy in the last row had a Jumbo #8. One of those huge size issues. Was the Worlds Fair issue. Never seen one in person. Just to pricey for what it was to me. He also had 2 copies of #31. Tough issue. One was basically coverless with a real bad detached, and pretty much re-created front cover. He wanted $500... He also had a CGC 5.0 copy that had a very heavily faded cover. Not, poor printing but heavily faded. Like it had been on a comic book wall with bright lighting on it for a long time. How CGC could give that s 5.0 is way beyond me. I didn’t even ask the price on it. I don’t mind lower grade for the right price, but both of these were beyond fugly...

Was a fun show none the less. So many boardies there that I didn’t know. Would have liked to meet a few more of you guys. 

[BakerFanOne]

14 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

The prices wern’t just high, they were over the moon. I looked at the pretty wall books. There were a few I would have wanted but just not donating a kidney for. After several inquiries, I decided to turn lemons into lemonaid and started digging all the GA box stock. Didn’t get a ton of books but enough either fairly priced to down right bargains. I really wanted a big book or two and came loaded with more cash than I usually would but just didn’t see anything so I went the other way and came home happy. 

You mentioned Quality. Did you see the guy in the back with the huge Quality collection? He is a boardie from the Pacific Northwest. Can’t remember his name. Cool guy. I recently really cleaned out my Quality collection so wasn’t on the hunt except for just a few he didn’t have. 

One book really stood out to me. A guy in the last row had a Jumbo #8. One of those huge size issues. Was the Worlds Fair issue. Never seen one in person. Just to pricey for what it was to me. He also had 2 copies of #31. Tough issue. One was basically coverless with a real bad detached, and pretty much re-created front cover. He wanted $500... He also had a CGC 5.0 copy that had a very heavily faded cover. Not, poor printing but heavily faded. Like it had been on a comic book wall with bright lighting on it for a long time. How CGC could give that s 5.0 is way beyond me. I didn’t even ask the price on it. I don’t mind lower grade for the right price, but both of these were beyond fugly...

Was a fun show none the less. So many boardies there that I didn’t know. Would have liked to meet a few more of you guys. 

Yes - I picked up the two Dollmans from the guy with all the Qualitys pictured below as well as a Saint from another dealer.  

[Black Bat]

I work near the corner of Hollywood and Vine and I find the raw street vibe refreshing (not the homelessness though which is far worse in other parts of LA). Most of Hollywood’s old school character history and hustle has been “cleaned up”, with entire blocks leveled to build hotels and big blocky condos with the usual chain stores on the ground level, except for the half mile or so between Highland and Vine.  Hollywood is  still a fun area though, even some of the new stuff is cool. On lunch breaks I often take a seat on a bus stop and soak it all in. Savor it while you can!

[Robot Man]

53 minutes ago, BakerFanOne said:

Yes - I picked up the two Dollmans from the guy with all the Qualitys pictured below as well as a Saint from another dealer.  

Great grabs! I picked up this one. I had the other two. In retrospect, I really should have grabbed that narcotics/bondage cover anyway. Those Dollmans were bargains at $30-$40 each. I remember commenting to some body what a deal they were as I slid them back in the box. Glad you were smarter than me!

[Robot Man]

31 minutes ago, Black Bat said:

I work near the corner of Hollywood and Vine and I find the raw street vibe refreshing (not the homelessness though which is far worse in other parts of LA). Most of Hollywood’s old school character history and hustle has been “cleaned up”, with entire blocks leveled to build hotels and big blocky condos with the usual chain stores on the ground level, except for the half mile or so between Highland and Vine.  Hollywood is  still a fun area though, even some of the new stuff is cool. On lunch breaks I often take a seat on a bus stop and soak it all in. Savor it while you can!

I’m with you Bat. There is a lot of history in the Hollywood area. Lots of landmarks and history. I used to play in a band years ago. Played at the Palladium, Aquarius, Whiskey and others. Very colorful and weird. When. I was a kid, my dad took me to Cherokee, Collector’s and Bond Street book stores. GA all over the place. Before I could drive,  I also used to take a bus from Pasadena to the 5th Street skid row area. Lots of thrift stores, used book stores and army surplus stores. I love the local “color” but I wouldn’t want to live there.

They also cleaned up “Old Town” Pasadena and downtown Long Beach as well. Too bad in a way. Were fun areas for book and junk hunting.

A lot of folks from out of town and those that live in the safety of the suburbs are scared. They have a totally different impression of what it is. Not like the movies for sure. 

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

4 hours ago, Robot Man said:

The prices wern’t just high, they were over the moon. I looked at the pretty wall books. There were a few I would have wanted but just not donating a kidney for. After several inquiries, I decided to turn lemons into lemonaid and started digging all the GA box stock. Didn’t get a ton of books but enough either fairly priced to down right bargains. I really wanted a big book or two and came loaded with more cash than I usually would but just didn’t see anything so I went the other way and came home happy. 

You mentioned Quality. Did you see the guy in the back with the huge Quality collection? He is a boardie from the Pacific Northwest. Can’t remember his name. Cool guy. I recently really cleaned out my Quality collection so wasn’t on the hunt except for just a few he didn’t have. 

One book really stood out to me. A guy in the last row had a Jumbo #8. One of those huge size issues. Was the Worlds Fair issue. Never seen one in person. Just to pricey for what it was to me. He also had 2 copies of #31. Tough issue. One was basically coverless with a real bad detached, and pretty much re-created front cover. He wanted $500... He also had a CGC 5.0 copy that had a very heavily faded cover. Not, poor printing but heavily faded. Like it had been on a comic book wall with bright lighting on it for a long time. How CGC could give that s 5.0 is way beyond me. I didn’t even ask the price on it. I don’t mind lower grade for the right price, but both of these were beyond fugly...

Was a fun show none the less. So many boardies there that I didn’t know. Would have liked to meet a few more of you guys. 

That Jumbo 8 was a cool book and you never see the oversized Jumbos making it even cooler. The Jumbo 31 with the half cover was an interesting anomaly as the lower half was an amateur remake. Cool but not $500 cool.

The boxes were the way to go at this show and there was a great deal of it interesting material buried in those Golden Age boxes. There was a dealer from my home state of New Jersey who had the most random box I’d ever seen. He had no idea what was in it and it was totally disorganized. I pulled out four copies of Donald Duck Terror on the River; Four Color 108 from that box! He had no idea they were in there in that quantity! I used to think that book was somewhat scarce!

Great show all around and reminded me a lot of the monthly New York shows Seuling used to put on back in ‘75 and ‘76. Just a fun Sunday looking at comics.

i scored a sweet Two Fisted tales from Dale Roberts; I’ve been looking for a nice issue at the right price to read for some time. Dale often has great books at great prices in his boxes.

I’m always on the hunt for nice Dells sand this show was a little light in nice copies. Not too surprising as they aren’t the big draw for folks.

i was surprised at how much original art was being sold; that stuff is way pricey and I don’t know the market but someone must be buying for them to be there in force.

This show is on my must attend list now! Perfect half year bookend to Yorba Linda,

[sacentaur]

The seller with the Quality books (deep runs of Blackhawk, Modern, and Dollman) is Jeff Itkin, “cmcfan” here on the boards.

I took a close look at that Jumbo 8, it had a lot of problems but for a 1.5 didn’t look half bad. The PQ was heavily browning (as expected), and I just couldn’t pull the trigger.

Also looked at the two Jumbo 31’s, from the same seller as the Jumbo 8. Amazing to see not one but two copies of that book at the same table!

[sacentaur]

Oh, did you see the raw “Paul” copy of Flash 86 that Sal D. had, what a book!

[Robot Man]

12 hours ago, sacentaur said:

The seller with the Quality books (deep runs of Blackhawk, Modern, and Dollman) is Jeff Itkin, “cmcfan” here on the boards.

I took a close look at that Jumbo 8, it had a lot of problems but for a 1.5 didn’t look half bad. The PQ was heavily browning (as expected), and I just couldn’t pull the trigger.

Also looked at the two Jumbo 31’s, from the same seller as the Jumbo 8. Amazing to see not one but two copies of that book at the same table!

That was one and a half Jumbo 31s... they were both just way to fugly even for me. And the prices! But, yes, tough to find at all. 

[Robot Man]

12 hours ago, sacentaur said:

Oh, did you see the raw “Paul” copy of Flash 86 that Sal D. had, what a book!

Yeah, saw it. Very nice. I like his bound volume of Looney Tunes #1-12 even more. Just beautiful and very unique. 

[Robot Man]

This ain't comics, toys or junk but I've been rocking this morning a bit and thought I'd post this for the cool kids. Damn this kid knows his way around a Gretsch guitar! Ain't it sweet?

Hey it's my thread isn't it? 

 

Edited July 17, 2019 by Robot Man

[sacentaur]

He is one cool dude... 

[porcupine48]

Thought you might like this Bob,a very early young Brian.I only learned of this group when reading the artist credits on an obscure no wave Marty Thau comp record.

 

[sacentaur]

1979, the same year that the Stray Cats were formed.

They’ll be playing in Long Island on 8/2/19, celebrating their 40th anniversary.

Good stuff. 

[porcupine48]

It's certainly different sounding to what the Stray Cats were to become.There's a 1996 release of some 78/79 recordings called Distortions if you wanted to hear more.