Rest In Peace, John Verzyl 6 6

[Moondog]

Nothing was more fun than having John hold court in your booth.  He'd pop over to say hi and we would start chatting.  After a few minutes there would be 4 or 5 people who stopped by to listen in.  Then a few more.  And John loved it.  He could expound on any topic: Pedigrees, Timelys, DCs  - you name it.  And people were drawn to him because his love for comics would just explode from him.  He was the real deal.  He was genuine.  And he'll be missed.

[sacentaur]

I don't know the exact details, but John did get into the hobby full bore at a young age.

He had a true entrepreneur's spirit, and when combined with such unbridled passion for the hobby, he was definitely ahead of the curve.

No doubt there was some exaggeration, but he was a master at his craft.

[Bumble Kitty]

I first met John and his wife back when they had a store in Covina, California.  They eventually moved to the Alhambra location. 

He was a fixture at the SDCC and I loved going to his booth to look at the many cover scans of Gold and Silver age books.  I could not afford 99% of them, but John was always respectful and friendly to me, and he treated me as if I spent a ton of money with him.

I will miss him. 

[G.A.tor]

In addition to being saddened, I’m honestly a little pissed off, but I will share one little story about our buddy John ...

It’s a story about John and his con snacks, and the mans kindness. Many years ago when John and little John came to megacon, I let John use my booth to conduct a little business. Little John was tired and decided to take a nap under our table (as Borock noted, kind of a little John tradition in his early days). That’s where we stored the cookies and such. Unbeknownst to me, little John had found my stash of cookies and decided he was hungry. I remember later that afternoon needing a snack, and not realizing all the cookies were gone, making a comment about them being all gone and I “needed” my snacks to get me through the day. The next day John had a box of snacks he carried around to all the dealers, offering some pick me Ups. And every con since then, con goers and dealers often heard John say “ come by the booth and get some snacks”...

[comicwiz]

Just heard about his passing, very sad to hear this.

[Microbia]

Never got to meet the legend but won't forget his handwritten stickie thanking my past support that would sometimes accompany the C H auction mailing.

[PUNYHUMAN]

Even though I never met John. I knew who he was in the hobby. Always heard good things about him. A truly passionate collector.May you rest in peace. My condolences to his family .

[Timely]

I met John when I was only 17 years old.  He quickly took me under his wing & helped me amass a nice collection at an early age. I used to help him set up at the Shrine show in LA & also in San Diego (that worked out well for both of us as I got to learn from John for free & he got free labor out of me!). Driving from LA to SD with him, he made the trip seem like it only lasted 5 minutes as he always had something to tell me. He has told me so many stories & given me so much information over the past 3 decades I could fill a book. He was larger than life!  He loved a good joke & really loved pulling "harmless" pranks! He was always in either business mode or fun mode. He really took pride in his children & would always tell me about their most recent accomplishments.

 

I really don't know what else to say right now.  John only posted on these boards one time when our good friend Joe Smejkal passed away a few years ago. I can't believe I'm posting about his passing now.

 

West

Edited March 12, 2018 by Timely

[Flex Mentallo]

2 hours ago, Timely said:

I met John when I was only 17 years old.  He quickly took me under his wing & helped me amass a nice collection at an early age. I used to help him set up at the Shrine show in LA & also in San Diego (that worked out well for both of us as I got to learn from John for free & he got free labor out of me!). Driving from LA to SD with him, he made the trip seem like it only lasted 5 minutes as he always had something to tell me. He has told me so many stories & given me so much information over the past 3 decades I could fill a book. He was larger than life!  He loved a good joke & really loved pulling "harmless" pranks! He was always in either business mode or fun mode. He really took pride in his children & would always tell me about their most recent accomplishments.

 

I really don't know what else to say right now.  John only posted on these boards one time when our good friend Joe Smejkal passed away a few years ago. I can't believe I'm posting about his passing now.

 

West

Wonderful post, West! More like a eulogy. I'd love to hear more about these harmless pranks!

[Timely]

12 minutes ago, Flex Mentallo said:

Wonderful post, West! More like a eulogy. I'd love to hear more about these harmless pranks!

One time when we went to Disney, we found an employee of the park who was slowly walking through the area. So John & I came up to her and walked around her very closely in small circles for about 5 minutes.  At 1st she did not know we were doing this, but after about a minute & 20 circles around her, she caught on & laughed about it.

 

Another time John, Nan, Rose & I went to an arcade. Inside there was an air hockey machine. So John started playing against his daughter Rose. He slammed one home and then yelled out loudly, "Eat plastic b itch!"  We all cracked up!

Edited March 12, 2018 by Timely

[originalisbest]

11 hours ago, Moondog said:

Nothing was more fun than having John hold court in your booth.  He'd pop over to say hi and we would start chatting.  After a few minutes there would be 4 or 5 people who stopped by to listen in.  Then a few more.  And John loved it.  He could expound on any topic: Pedigrees, Timelys, DCs  - you name it.  And people were drawn to him because his love for comics would just explode from him.  He was the real deal.  He was genuine.  And he'll be missed.

Very sad to hear of this. I just wanted to quote Gary above as it certainly summarizes John well for me. Going to miss seeing him at shows. Hopeful that a man blessed with so many dear friends will be a source of comfort and support for his family.

[twmjr1]

Sad, prayers for his family.  I  only talked to him once, many years ago.  Didn't he have all of the Mile High Timely books at one point?

[DanCooper]

28 minutes ago, Flex Mentallo said:

John only posted on these boards one time when our good friend Joe Smejkal passed away a few years ago. I can't believe I'm posting about his passing now.

 

West

Thank you West for that reminder. John was truly a "Collector's Collector"

Here is John's lone CGC post honoring fellow collector Joe Smejkal:

On 11/18/2014 at 12:34 AM, Redskull,fan-migration said:

This is my first post. I felt compelled to write because this week Joe Smejkal a great collector and friend of mine for more than 30 years passed away. We've talked comics and stuff for countless hours and we've gone to dinner many times. He was a great and knowledgeable collector that had a passion for mile high/Edgar Church books. His favorite characters were the Green Lantern and the Flash from the golden age. In the 1980's and 1990's he put together nice mile high /Edgar church runs on flash and Green lantern. He also put together the National run and a nice run of Adventures. He liked Sandman , Hour Man,Manhunter and Starman. Sometimes we talked on the phone for 4-5 hours at a time about comics. He also loved war comics . His main passion was the Church books. He loved perfect looking books with white pages and incredible gloss. He had great taste. Joe told me that he was in the military and he loved the veterans association. He told me he spent many many hours helping out there. I would go to dinner with Joe at least once a year when he went to San Diego comic con and almost every time he came to Dallas. Joe always carried with him a giant magnifying glass. His eye sight wasn't the best and he would check for resto and try to get a better look at the books with his gigundo magnifying glass. There were no grading companies back then so you had to rely on your eyes and trustworthy dealers.Joe would always whip out his trusty tool at dinner because a lot of times it was a little dark to read the menu. One night in particular After he figured out what he wanted to eat, he closed the dark brown menu cover which only had the name of the restaurant on it and began examining the corners of the menu. I asked him if he was grading the menu and he quickly answered,no I am checking it over for color touch. I busted out laughing as did everyone else at the table. I will really miss Joe.It's hard to believe he's gone.

Best John Verzyl

Comic Heaven

[jhm]

So sad. I got some of my favorite books from John. Such a straight shooter and really nice guy. He always had a fun story to tell. RIP my friend.

[Bronty]

So sad to hear this!   RIP Jon

[lou_fine]

16 hours ago, woowoo said:

16 hours ago, rjpb said:

The only way one was amassing thousands of Gold and Silver Age books by the time you were 14, even in the early 70s, was if Dad was buying you everything you wanted.

Ya that's true but start collecting when you turn 4 ?

Didn't Fishler also started when he was just a young tad by flipping collectible comic books to his elementary school teacher?

I believe it was said that he had already acquired all of the SA and possibly even the GA keys by the time he was a teenager.

[eccomic]

 I met John some years ago at Wizard World Chicago and have had many chats with him. He was a very kind person and will be missed. 

[sfcityduck]

Met John at SDCC.  He thought we'd met before.  I corrected his misapprehension. We then had a nice discussion and his enthusiasm was clear to see.  He was the kind of dealer you like to see - positive and someone who spreads enthusiasm.  Others have conveyed that really well here.  Reading the stories on this thread makes me hope that someone interviewed John sometime about his collecting/dealing experiences.  For me, the next saddest thing after the pain and loss caused to his family and friends by his passing, is the loss of stories that remain untold or unremembered by others. 

[Robot Man]

On Saturday, after I read this tragic news, I emailed Ron "Redbeard" Pussell and John Knight since they are not board members. They were both, as we were, shocked and saddened. I've known these cool gentlemen for longer than I can remember. Redbeard knew John well and told me a couple of fun stories about deals over the Mile High books. Seems that John was quite "persistant" in working Ron for a deal. Would have like to see that interaction. I've asked Ron and John to come on here several times. They have a lot of great stories but both have declined because of the busy lives they lead. Too bad for us... 

[Sqeggs]

46 minutes ago, sfcityduck said:

Met John at SDCC.  He thought we'd met before.  I corrected his misapprehension. We then had a nice discussion and his enthusiasm was clear to see.  He was the kind of dealer you like to see - positive and someone who spreads enthusiasm.  Others have conveyed that really well here.  Reading the stories on this thread makes me hope that someone interviewed John sometime about his collecting/dealing experiences.  For me, the next saddest thing after the pain and loss caused to his family and friends by his passing, is the loss of stories that remain untold or unremembered by others. 

Unfortunately, I don't think Vincent Z ever interviewed him for Comic Zone.