n2wdw Posted February 18, 2018 Author Share Posted February 18, 2018 Al Fagaly Two of my favorite humor GGA artists are Bob Montana and Al Fagaly. Probably Montana edges out Fagaly, but it's close. I know I have more Fagaly's in my collection because he's less expensive than Montana. Here are a few I've gotten lately. Wilbur 6 and 8 are classics! Ricksneatstuff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 2 hours ago, n2wdw said: Al Fagaly Two of my favorite humor GGA artists are Bob Montana and Al Fagaly. Probably Montana edges out Fagaly, but it's close. I know I have more Fagaly's in my collection because he's less expensive than Montana. Here are a few I've gotten lately. Wilbur 6 and 8 are classics! Cool books Mike. In the past year or so, I've been picking up Wilburs. Fairly affordable compared to Archies and every bit as cool! n2wdw 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post n2wdw Posted February 19, 2018 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 19, 2018 Finally Won a Matt Baker! This is my first new Baker addition of 2018. Finally! Before this, I think I lost on over a dozen auctions. This one's not the best copy, but it's well presenting (IMHO), and it's a comic that's not often offered for sale. kelholt, comicjack, Point Five and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacentaur Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 I think TLP 7 is a tough book, so congrat's - I had bookmarked the auction, but forgot to bid (glad you won it!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buttock Posted February 19, 2018 Share Posted February 19, 2018 On 2/12/2018 at 6:24 PM, n2wdw said: GGA Political Cartoon from 1967 Here's a political cartoon by LD Warren from 1967. It's about social security, a contrast between increased coverage (the grandma with a dress down to her ankles) versus higher taxes (pretty girl with the mini-skirt). I've looked at his cartoon a million times, and I have to admit I can't figure out which side the cartoon is trying to advocate. I guess I would need to understand the debate that was going on at the time to provide context, but I just don't have the energy for that (especially given all that is going on in our political world today). But, whatever the debate, I like the cartoon. Enough so that I've searched for more works by LD Warren but I haven't found much. Taxing the young to pay for coverage for the elderly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted February 19, 2018 Author Share Posted February 19, 2018 On 2/12/2018 at 8:24 PM, n2wdw said: GGA Political Cartoon from 1967 Here's a political cartoon by LD Warren from 1967. It's about social security, a contrast between increased coverage (the grandma with a dress down to her ankles) versus higher taxes (pretty girl with the mini-skirt). I've looked at his cartoon a million times, and I have to admit I can't figure out which side the cartoon is trying to advocate. I guess I would need to understand the debate that was going on at the time to provide context, but I just don't have the energy for that (especially given all that is going on in our political world today). But, whatever the debate, I like the cartoon. Enough so that I've searched for more works by LD Warren but I haven't found much. 2 hours ago, buttock said: Taxing the young to pay for coverage for the elderly. I think that's right, but I'm still trying to interpret the caption: "Relax, dearie. On you it looks good!" I guess the mini-skirt is a metaphor for taxes. So on the young girl, the skirt/taxes look good, but it would not look so good on the grandmom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted February 19, 2018 Author Share Posted February 19, 2018 3 hours ago, sacentaur said: I think TLP 7 is a tough book, so congrat's - I had bookmarked the auction, but forgot to bid (glad you won it!). Thanks. Yeah, I can't remember the last time I saw TLP7 up for sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted February 19, 2018 Author Share Posted February 19, 2018 (edited) Organizing My Collection - Bags Since I'm off today (President's Day), I decided to catch up on organizing my recent purchases. This was helped by a shipment of collecting supplies from E. Gerber. I buy all my bags and boards direct from E. Gerber (much cheaper that way). For mylar, I always use their 4 mil thick Archives. For boards, I use their full-backs (42 mil thick acid free). With this shipment, I replenished my supply of magazine mylars and boards, sheet music mylars and reader's digest sized mylars. I use these to store magazines, photos, prints, fanzines and other odd-sized collectibles. By far I use the GA/SA size mylar the most -- most silver and gold go into this size. For some larger gold though, I have to use gold or super gold size mylar. I store all my Bakers in gold size mylar. I'm anal and I like all the bags to be the same size. Modern and Bronze goes into standard, except for comics that go into my spinner racks. Standard mylar bags are too big for the racks, so for those comics I use current size. Here are a couple pictures of my bags and boards all lined up and organized. Now I just need to buy more comics to use them! Edited February 19, 2018 by n2wdw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorick Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 On 2/18/2018 at 6:29 PM, n2wdw said: Finally Won a Matt Baker! This is my first new Baker addition of 2018. Finally! Before this, I think I lost on over a dozen auctions. This one's not the best copy, but it's well presenting (IMHO), and it's a comic that's not often offered for sale. A less than desirable cover wrapping a GREAT interior!! Some VERY heavy material there (drunk driving, thoughts of suicide, under-age hook-ups...). And you get some variety with Estrada art as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 (edited) Non-Canonical Gwen Stacy As I've mentioned before, my favorite comic growing up was, and still is, Spider-man. I was in middle school during Peter's romance with Gwen Stacy. At the time I was delivering newspapers on my bike to make money for comics. I remember reading issue 121 like it was yesterday. I finished my paper route and went to the drug store for my weekly fix of comics. I bought 121, and I was slowly riding on my bike as I read the comic. I wasn't really riding, I was kinda sitting on the bike and moving it with my feet on the ground. When I got to the part when Gwen died, I was so shocked I fell off the bike. To this day I still haven't completely recovered from the emotional trauma. A couple weeks ago I discovered non-canonical stories of Gwen. From Mexico! It turns out, in that universe, Gwen never died. From what I understand, there's no #121 in the Mexican series. Instead, Gwen lived and married Peter. The non-canonical Gwen comics were published beginning around 1972 with El Sorprendente #128. I don't have a copy of this yet; this is a boardie's copy. As clear from this comic (at least clear to me), if you're a fan of Gwen Stacy, and GGA, then the El Sorprendente comics are must haves. Gwen in the short wedding dress and white high heels is hotter than anything published in the US! Peter is one lucky wall crawler! I've managed to buy a few issues. As with many comics, the cover art is better than the interior. But, the covers alone justify the price to Gwen/GGA collectors (and prices can be high). Here's an example, #173. This may be the only upskirt cover of Gwen ever published! (Those Mexicans were baaaaaaad.) Here's another example, #163. Hello, headlights! Also, Gwen without a headband. How non-canonical can you get?! I have not yet been able to compile a complete list of the non-canonical Gwen issues of El Sorprendente. Scattered issues between #128 to #181 I think, but I'm not certain. If anyone has more information, please PM me! I've also not yet been able to translate the stories. I took 4 years of Spanish in high school so I can get the gist of what's going on (and there are, of course, pictures to help too), but I'll need a couple hours with Google translate to really understand what's going on. I'll post more when I know more. Edited February 21, 2018 by n2wdw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted February 21, 2018 Author Share Posted February 21, 2018 Non-Canonical Gwen Stacy - More Covers Here are the covers for a few more non-canonical Gwens. It's difficult to tell if the girl on #168 is Gwen. But I think it is Gwen. She appears in the issue, and there is no other character in the issue who looks like her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted February 25, 2018 Author Share Posted February 25, 2018 Modifying 1 Shelf Results In A Lot More Space I store my Lady Mechanika collection on the top shelf of Wall 3. The shelf is 12 inches deep. Here are some pictures, along with a map of my comic room. As you can see, I'm close to running out of room on that shelf (mostly because of the SS books I got from Joe Benitez at the New York comic con). So this weekend my project was to put in a bigger shelf. Now the shelf is 20 inches deep (67% more space). This next picture gives an idea of the new shelf. The old shelf ended just before the 2x4 brace. Now the new shelf extends a few inches past the brace. Here's the new shelf after I've put the Lady Mechanika's back on. You can see I now have a lot more space for expansion of the LM collection. In fact, there's so much room now that I'm displaying some statues in front of the comics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
telerites Posted February 25, 2018 Share Posted February 25, 2018 All so very cool - enjoy this thread - thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robot Man Posted February 26, 2018 Share Posted February 26, 2018 I hope your wife never goes down there Mike... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted March 1, 2018 Author Share Posted March 1, 2018 On 2/25/2018 at 7:11 PM, Robot Man said: I hope your wife never goes down there Mike... My GGA collection doesn't bother her. She knows it's just comics. It's a lot better than me playing golf or gambling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted March 2, 2018 Author Share Posted March 2, 2018 Will Matt Baker Comics Maintain Their High Prices? The prices on comics with Bakers covers are, IMHO, getting into silly land. I remember last year, when BakerFan was offering higher grade Bakers on eBay. There was a spike in prices then. After, things seemed to cool down for a few months. Now though, prices are higher than ever. My question is, is this a short term bubble that will eventually burst, or will Bakers maintain their prices long term? Let's keep in mind that there is no historical significance with Matt Baker, other than he was a black artist with a talent for drawing pretty girls in risque situations. His comics don't have the advantage of the first appearance of a major character or a significant character/story turning point to help prop up his prices. It's always useful to look at history. So I've been trying to identify comparable GGA artists. LB Cole, Decarlo, Biro, Montana ... etc. But while some of their comics go for high prices, they are not hot like Baker. The example of these artists would argue that Baker is hot now but he'll eventually cool off. Consider Frazetta. I'd argue that Frazetta has and continues to be highly desirable. But Frazetta only has a few GGA covers. So I don't think he's a good comparable. Also, there's not the frenzy around Frazetta as it is for Baker, so again his case would argue that Baker is hot now but he'll eventually cool off. I think a good comparison to Baker is Schomburg. Both have GGA covers in high quantity. Both have classic covers. Schomburg's prices are high for some comics, but reasonable (and even cheap) for others. Is this where Baker will eventually end up? High for his classics, reasonable for his others? Sometimes I wonder what the contribution of this board is to Baker's popularity. In the recent past, we've had 3 Baker threads on the 1st page of GA, and the Baker Romance thread is always on the 1st page and extremely active. With comics like Baker, with such low quantity, how many active collectors does it take to drive up prices? 5? 10? On the other hand, I suspect many of the people on the Baker Romance thread already have many Bakers. So they are not driving up the price of many of the comics being sold -- that's due to other collectors. If new collectors continue to get on the Baker band wagon, will prices stay high? The good thing about the high prices is more (and different) Bakers are being offered now than in the last 2-3 years. But my high bids are being exceeded regularly by 50% -- and that's with me bidding more now than ever before. So anyway, thanks for reading. This is not a rant. It's more like, a "are you seeing what I'm seeing" post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan. Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 Baker is likewise in a bubble phase, to the extent that his covers are extremely trendy right now. Prices have gone completely bananas over the last few months. Last year I had a slabbed universal Cinderella Love 27 in lower grade (1.5 or thereabouts, can't remember exactly) and I couldn't give the thing away. I sold it for about $100. A CL27 just sold on ebay with a missing centerfold for over $400. This is frenzy territory, likely propped up by a few buyers with deep pockets. You mentioned Frazetta. His Thunda 1 was one of the hottest books around a couple decades ago. While it has seen a recent bump with the hotness of GGA covers across the market it is still nowhere close to the value it once achieved. I love Baker's work and still own his books so I'm happy to see the prices being realized but there's no way this is sustainable. It's too much too quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n2wdw Posted March 2, 2018 Author Share Posted March 2, 2018 I also think the past year on the market has played a factor. If you’re feeling rich it’s easier to pay more on comics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricksneatstuff Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 (edited) As someone who has sold more Bakers than most this last year (easily 150+ Bakers in 2017) and who has so few left that I have no motivation for propping up the Baker market I can say that some of the recent prices are quite high, especially for lower grade books. That being said I think St John Baker books in 5.0 or better are not at all common and the amount of interest has risen to the point where the key Baker covers in nearly any grade and the mid grade and up books have a growing and strong interest with almost no supply. Whether enough collector base will develop to sustain it after the current one has met their needs is yet to be seen. I can tell you that there are certain key books (Cinderella Love 25, GCE 12, and several Teenage Romances and TLPs, etc) That I get asked for 3-5X a week. I wish they were out there but they seem fairly locked down. Edited March 2, 2018 by Ricksneatstuff jimjum12 and 1950's war comics 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sacentaur Posted March 2, 2018 Share Posted March 2, 2018 The Baker market is absolutely fascinating to me - once you think prices can't get any higher, they do! One thing that makes me think that current prices will have some degree of sustainability is the sheer mastery of Baker - his work is generally so alluring and technically beautiful, it really stands out. This coming from a long-term GA collector who, for nearly four decades, gave no credence at all to "romance" comics till a Baker-epiphany occurred at the start of 2016. Since then, I've managed to acquire 130 reasonably priced Baker books and have passed on at least that many. Greedy sellers may sometimes get an exorbitant asking price, but often I see books sit (mainly talking lower grades here). Overlooked by the majority and underpriced by the Guide, Bakers are catching up and have surpassed (from what I gather) just about everyone's expectations on pricing levels. I'm genuinely curious how future Guides will adjust. Using myself as an example, I can definitely attest to the power of the boards (for constantly fueling the Baker-fire) so I believe that is at least a factor for some others too. Are buyers obtaining Bakers at FMV for investment purposes? Maybe. I believe that many others are like me, we just love his work (and are willing to pay for it!) so much. goldust40, comicnoir and Ricksneatstuff 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
