Ask Redbeard Tales of a veteran comic book dealer 5 5

[Redbeard]

On 8/15/2018 at 11:51 AM, N e r V said:

“The CGC and other slab people who continue to dub this "San Francisco" copies merely continue to display their ignorance of how the collection became to be dubbed thusly.

Along with other Bay Area comics dealers I was coming down from the Bay Area to the LA area setting up at shows on a near monthly basis.

Then-novice LA dealer Ron Pussell (long before he moved to Nevada) was exclaiming "Frisco" copies - NOT San Francisco - at LA area shows like David T Alexander and Terry Stroud hosted Super Sundays then in the Hollywood area, or San Diego Comic-Con International shows.
Ron was then smitten with a "Mile High" collection acquisition bug.

This is akin to ALL of the Los Angeles basin area simply being known as LA to those from northern Calif.
The state of California is two different universes in all actuality.”

 

 

 

Only correction is that those Sunday shows were done by Bruce Schwartz. I think Bruce is still running that show. The show started at the women's club in Hollywood. From there it moved to the Hyatt on Sunset for quite awhile, from there it went to the downtown Hilton Hotel a few times and then moved to where I believe it is still held today, at the Shrine Hall near USC.

[Moondog]

On 8/14/2018 at 7:26 PM, Robot Man said:

I have very few left but here is an old picture of John Knight and the Robot Man with a "funny cigarette" in my mouth. Taken at SDCC in the late '70's. Oh, we were so cool back then. At least I had good taste in funny books even back then. What was that a $20. book?

Show this to Johnny and tell him to sign up here too. He would love it.

I sold John and Ron many golden age books over the years at the Chicago Con.  My favorite John Knight story is when I busted him on the first hand of a poker tournament at the Chicago Con about 15 years ago.  Not sure John was still a poker pro then, but his rep was well known.

[Redbeard]

On 8/14/2018 at 10:27 AM, batman_fan said:

I still have the Batman 100 I bought from him back when Wonder-con was in Oakland.  

Great! Good hearing from you again.

[sagii]

14 minutes ago, Redbeard said:

I like the cover, but I don't believe this is from the SF collection. The only letter I've ever seen on SF copies is the letter "G".

Thank you Sir. To my mind, mystery solved 

[Redbeard]

4 minutes ago, Moondog said:

I sold John and Ron many golden age books over the years at the Chicago Con.  My favorite John Knight story is when I busted him on the first hand of a poker tournament at the Chicago Con about 15 years ago.  Not sure John was still a poker pro then, but his rep was well known.

Johnny was a poker pro then and still is today. No one in a cash game takes bad beats as well as Johnny. He doesn't react to the bad beat. He just reaches behind him to his wallet, pulls it out and lays more money on the table. He doesn't even wince when the bad bet is shown. Now me is a different story, I have a temper on those bad beats. Many dealers hated dealing to me, including my wife before she retired. She knew when she put up one on the river. She pretty much knew by then where I was and what that card meant. In the heat of the moment it is tough to take a 10-1/2 to 1 beat in a 15-30 game let alone a 30-60 game with lots of bets and raises, but the 11th hand will be dealt. Johnny likes to play Omaha hi-lo now. 

[Redbeard]

On 8/14/2018 at 1:42 PM, Redbeard said:

Close,  but not quite accurate. What happened is someone came to my place in Tahoe selling their collection of books they had found. I paid good prices for the collection, but he also had a stack of coverless comics that he wanted to sell and we added those in at 50¢ each. Many days later I was going through the coverless copies checking them out. Many were missing more than just the cover. One these I picked up and started to thumb through because it had a Human Torch story. The book was missing the cover and the 1st two wraps. It was easily determined it was a Marvel Mystery, not a Human Torch issue. So, now my task was to try and determine the approximate issue number. Well, I could tell it was a fairly early issue, so I looked to see if it had a Vision story. Nope, no Vision story. I then noted it was not a Torch vs Sub-Mariner issue. Next, I noted that there was a Jungle Terror story. When I checked the Guide, it noted this story only appeared in Marvel Comics 1. Now I was saying to myself, wait a minute, wait a minute. With great excitement, I turned to the centerfold and started reading the Sub-Mariner story. Yep, it was the origin of the Sub-Mariner and I realized I held a copy of Marvel Comics 1. I bought this book ignorant of what it was with no malice intended. It was just blind luck.

Retelling this story makes me want to get up and go through my stacks of coverless books to see what is there. I remember seeing years ago a Lou Fine story on a coverless book.

[batman_fan]

49 minutes ago, Redbeard said:

Great! Good hearing from you again.

Truly wishing for a fast recovery for you and really appreciate you coming to the boards and sharing stories from days in the past.

[N e r V]

On 8/14/2018 at 5:26 PM, Robot Man said:

I have very few left but here is an old picture of John Knight and the Robot Man with a "funny cigarette" in my mouth. Taken at SDCC in the late '70's. Oh, we were so cool back then. At least I had good taste in funny books even back then. What was that a $20. book?

Show this to Johnny and tell him to sign up here too. He would love it.

Just noticed the Marvel Fanfare #1 in back. So photo is from 1982 at least. Cool photo.

[G.A.tor]

I bought some books from cbg ads through the years from Ron. First met at a sdcc many moons ago where I bought a nice stack of early detective comics. I think we ended up talking about various wines and riesling production more than Comics that day. 

[MrBedrock]

59 minutes ago, G.A.tor said:

I bought some books from cbg ads through the years from Ron. First met at a sdcc many moons ago where I bought a nice stack of early detective comics. I think we ended up talking about various wines and riesling production more than Comics that day. 

Was he able to get a word in?

[comicartcom]

On 8/16/2018 at 12:50 PM, MrBedrock said:

I think that is Rich Halegua pictured talking to Ron. They used to set up next to each other. Rich is still active and sets up at OAF Con every year, mostly with movie paper.

yes indeed Rick, This is back when I was just as skinny as Mr Bedrock and I'm positive I still have that shirt, stored away with old clothes.

when was it taken. it is definitely somewhere 1980-1982 I think. I believe it may actually be in NY as there was a hotel that had a mezzanine that I think perfectly fits that angle. Maybe it was the Taft.

however it's also possible that it is a Wondercon or some other California location because of one clue. I'm doing something with one of my own boxes and if you look, when I would fly to a convention, I would take a long box, put a box lid on the bottom of the box as well as the top (of course) and tape around the box to make sure the books wouldn't get messed up. That box is clearly one of my travelers and I have no doubt that I am still living in NYC at the time this pic is taken. But it's definitely in that time period for sure.

[comicartcom]

On 8/15/2018 at 9:24 PM, N e r V said:

When you have time what year and where was this taken?

 

looking at the pic again. It can't be NYC and here is why.

it's obvious I had flown somewhere and am having a half table of Ron's 2-table setup and that SOB wouldn't let me have any of the board. The magazine box is Ron's and I am to the left of that and I have boxes behind me on the floor and have set various pulps & comics at odd angles on the boxes to get some extra displayand that is a stack of pulps of mine with the #137 on top.

so California, 1981-82. Could a Creation in LA or Bruce Schwartz show. I don't think Wondercon existed in 1982 yet, did it?

Edited August 18, 2018 by comicartcom

[comicartcom]

On 8/16/2018 at 6:29 PM, jimjum12 said:

Halegula  has all kind of cool stuff ….. I got a black leather jacket from him that belonged to Simon Bisley, it has a hand painted Joker on the back  GOD BLESS....

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)

 

Hey Jimbo, I hope your better half is having fun riding the back of your motorcylce showing this off to passing motorists..

 

On 8/16/2018 at 1:32 PM, telerites said:

Since, Mr. B mentioned Rich's OAFCON setups with hi mostly movie poster display which I always enjoy seeing and visiting with Rich.  He has a movie poster auction site which I bid in often.  Not sure if it is okay to post the link but if someone wants me to edit, let me know - http://www.mpb.auction

Didn't he also have quite a bit of vintage OA?

thanks for the plug buddy. See you there in just a few weeks.

yeah Art used to be my main drag, but as you know I'm all about movie posters now. Still have some. Too bad airline weight limits what I can bring. I'd like to show my Vic Torry and His Flying Saucer complete book to show friends.. but the freaking weight issue (yeah folks, I already have 200lbs of other stuff.....)

 

Edited August 18, 2018 by comicartcom

[G.A.tor]

6 hours ago, MrBedrock said:

Was he able to get a word in?

You just wait mister!

[N e r V]

2 hours ago, comicartcom said:

looking at the pic again. It can't be NYC and here is why.

it's obvious I had flown somewhere and am having a half table of Ron's 2-table setup and that SOB wouldn't let me have any of the board. The magazine box is Ron's and I am to the left of that and I have boxes behind me on the floor and have set various pulps & comics at odd angles on the boxes to get some extra displayand that is a stack of pulps of mine with the #137 on top.

so California, 1981-82. Could a Creation in LA or Bruce Schwartz show. I don't think Wondercon existed in 1982 yet, did it?

No. First Wondercon was 1987. Definitely not a SDCC show either?

[blazingbob]

3 hours ago, comicartcom said:

looking at the pic again. It can't be NYC and here is why.

it's obvious I had flown somewhere and am having a half table of Ron's 2-table setup and that SOB wouldn't let me have any of the board. The magazine box is Ron's and I am to the left of that and I have boxes behind me on the floor and have set various pulps & comics at odd angles on the boxes to get some extra displayand that is a stack of pulps of mine with the #137 on top.

so California, 1981-82. Could a Creation in LA or Bruce Schwartz show. I don't think Wondercon existed in 1982 yet, did it?

Looks like a early version of a wombat wall display.  Much better then the particle board ones I remember seeing at the Phil Sueling 70's shows.

 

[HouseofComics.Com]

At the Oakland convention center, there is a level of rooms where you could take a picture from that angle. I know that place was used for a few comic shows before Wondercon started, so maybe a Creation Con is a good guess.

[comicartcom]

15 hours ago, HouseofComics.Com said:

At the Oakland convention center, there is a level of rooms where you could take a picture from that angle. I know that place was used for a few comic shows before Wondercon started, so maybe a Creation Con is a good guess.

that's a possibility. Most likely I was headed to Lake Tahoe with Ron & Johnny upon the return

Edited August 19, 2018 by comicartcom

[blazingbob]

So Ron,  what was the walk up to the table book that you saw too many of or turned down that would just bring "You did what" responses today?

[RockMyAmadeus]

On 8/17/2018 at 5:32 PM, Redbeard said:

Only correction is that those Sunday shows were done by Bruce Schwartz. I think Bruce is still running that show. The show started at the women's club in Hollywood. From there it moved to the Hyatt on Sunset for quite awhile, from there it went to the downtown Hilton Hotel a few times and then moved to where I believe it is still held today, at the Shrine Hall near USC.

Hi Redbeard! Glad to have you here! 

Bruce's show has moved to a place a little closer to downtown (but not much closer) called "The Reef." 

Hasn't been at the Shrine since...I want to say 2015? Maybe 2016? I miss the old venue.