40Yrs is now 50Yrs! 1 1

[PopKulture]

10 hours ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

Mitch, here is a story you will like. Going back about 25 years I attended a great 40th birthday party for a co-worker in Pasadena. It was at his Dad's house in Pasadena and his Dad was a retired pharmacist. My co-worker had gone down to Cherokee as a kid back in the seventies with his Dad to pick up some Superman books and I had given him some mylars. As I recall his Dad had some collectibles on display which were discussing and the conversation turned to comics. I remember him then saying something like, "I still remember working at the drugstore when Action 1 came out; it really caught our eye because it was really different and special." And no he didn't have one but I just thought it was so cool he remembered and your note above is so similar!

I love stories like that!

I had a similar experience in my late teens. I worked with an older guy who was a master decorator while meandering my way though community college. We did all sorts of custom finishes and jobs other painters and paperhangers wouldn't touch with a ten-foot extension pole (see what I did there?). Anyway, he told me how he remembered being a proud eleven-year-old in upstate New York walking around for more than a week with Action Comics number one in his back pocket! And he got it. He knew how special it was even then. He could describe the cover pretty darn accurately, too, and this was long before the internet or the explosion in fandom so I'm sure he hadn't seen the cover image for decades. Sadly, he didn't keep his books, or maybe his mom threw them out when he joined the navy, like so many others. Anyway, it was great to hear the story, as I'd remind him often about it just to get him talking comics.

He could also recall some of the B-list characters from Flash Comics like Johnny Thunder and Cliff Cornwall(?), and he knew all the intros and radio spots for shows like The Shadow and Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy!

Damn, those were fun days! 

Edited October 12, 2018 by PopKulture

[Yellow Kid]

_{I'm even older than Robot Man, and often think about how lucky I was to grow up with the hobby and know some of the great collectors in Southern California.} 

_{Congratulations, Frank,} the first 50 are the hardest!

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

11 hours ago, Yellow Kid said:

_{I'm even older than Robot Man, and often think about how lucky I was to grow up with the hobby and know some of the great collectors in Southern California.} 

_{Congratulations, Frank,} the first 50 are the hardest!

Thanks Rich, it would be great if I could make another fifty years of enjoying comics!!

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

TOP TEN FAVORITES - Part 1

I realized the first book would be easy. In 1973 I convinced my Mom to drive us up to the Phil Seuling Comic-Con. This wasn't a done deal by any means despite lots of cajoling and asking. As a matter of fact I didn't think we were going and I was actually serving a mass as an altar boy that morning. I had ridden over on my bike and when I came out my older brother was there and let me know we were going to go up to New York for the show. Boy was I ecstatic! My brother was two years older than me and a big train nut and he wanted to go to so he could check out train stations and sites of tracks in the big city. Train nuts, go figure!

So my Mom drove us up to the H*ll Hole known as the Port Authority, and I was too young to notice the low-life denizens of that grand portal. I'm sure my Mom did though. From there we must have walked to the show at the old Commodore Hotel; which was a down on its luck grand old dame of a hotel that was in its prime back during the depression era. Well, it might as well have been heaven for me as I walked in and spread out in a grand vista were boxes of vintage comics, Big Little Books and all manners of goodies. 

I think I had a budget of at most $5; but it might have been less. Anyway I looked all over and in a back room off the main room I ran into two small-time dealers from Pennsylvania; the Sassaman brothers. Their name may be familiar from SDCC as Gary Sassaman was on the programming committee for a number of years and also produced the fanzine Innocent Bystander. The reason I was at their table was they had the first early fifties Walt Disney Comics and Stories I had ever seen and only for $1. each. I bought two of them.

To this day WDCS #`127 is one of my favorite books with a fantastic cover that still makes me laugh. I still have that book and here it is below. I may have some nicer books but this is one of my favorites and kicked off a collecting quest for this run that I am still working on today.

 

 

Edited October 13, 2018 by 50YrsCollctngCmcs

[Mmehdy]

14 hours ago, Yellow Kid said:

_{I'm even older than Robot Man, and often think about how lucky I was to grow up with the hobby and know some of the great collectors in Southern California.} 

_{Congratulations, Frank,} the first 50 are the hardest!

agreed

[sagii]

Thanks for taking the request, and great story! Floored that you still have the book, eager to see the rest of the Top Ten unfold over the days.

(and that section of NY has cleaned up a lot since then, i'll have you know  )

[Tri-Color Brian]

Wow, you guys are a bunch of geezers...I'm only 39, and will be next year too...and the year after that...

But I started collecting in 1962.  I don't know how that is possible...

Edited October 13, 2018 by Tri-ColorBrian

[comicjack]

Just now, Tri-ColorBrian said:

Wow, you guys are a bunch of geezers...I'm only 39, and will be next year too...and the year after that...

You and my wife 

[Tri-Color Brian]

Just now, comicjack said:

You and my wife 

I edited my statement a little...

[Tri-Color Brian]

On 10/11/2018 at 9:47 AM, Robot Man said:

I grew up in Pasadena. I remember haunting the old used book stores like the Book Nook and others looking for comics. There I met the legendary Superman collector, Gary Coddington who invited me over to his house and let me read his Action #1. I have many fond memories of Cherokee Books too. There is where I paid $2. for a MAD #9. I had never paid more than cover price for a comic. I call that the turning point from reader to collector. Glad I'm a geezer and grew up when I did. 

I gave Gary my Action #6 to sell for me in 1980.  It had been stagnant in the guide for several years at about $300 for a VG copy.  I asked him to get me $300.  It took him about 6 months, but he finally sold it.  Now I wish I hadn't done that...  I was sorry to hear of his passing...he was a nice guy...

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

2 hours ago, sagii said:

Thanks for taking the request, and great story! Floored that you still have the book, eager to see the rest of the Top Ten unfold over the days.

(and that section of NY has cleaned up a lot since then, i'll have you know  )

Pretty much every thing I'll post will have a story or memory to go with it. That's what makes this such a fun hobby for me!

[Tri-Color Brian]

4 hours ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

Pretty much every thing I'll post will have a story or memory to go with it. That's what makes this such a fun hobby for me!

Well, hurry up...(we ain't gettin' any younger, ya know)...or I'm gonna change my name to 56YrsCollctngCmcs...

[PUNYHUMAN]

Congrats!  I'm a old timer myself when it comes to comics. I was born in 1957.   The 1st comic I distinctly remember having was Batman #143 in a pile that my older cousin gave me. Couldn't read yet , but I loved that monster on the cover. Bought that book again many years later as the original comic got lost in the sands of time. Around 1963 , I bought Fantastic Four # 16 off the newsstand at a place called Johnny's Market. It was a local grocery store in my neighborhood. In 1964 started buying Famous Monsters starting with the yearbook. In 1965 started buying comics again DC then Marvel. I was slowly getting hooked, Came across older back issues at school flea markets. Picked up a collection off a older kid that didn't want them, around 1969. Spiderman # 5 was his oldest issue. Collected Heavy Metal magazine around 1976 into the 1980's. My younger brother who no longer collects told me about a comic store he went to. I went the next visit . This was in 1987. It was like walking into a time machine. this store had great back issues,  Golden and Silver. Started going to conventions also. Mail order through the CBG. Been collecting since nonstop.  Love this hobby. 

[Robot Man]

I remember that Batman. I bought it off the stands. A yellow cover with some monster ripping down telephone lines or something. I liked Batman and the DC war titles then. I remember my first Marvel. Spiderman #3. Turned me into a Marvel zombie from that point on. I remember visiting my grand parents in the summer around that time. My grandpa was cool. He drove a 1962 Lincoln. We would go out for lunch and go to the cigar store where he would let me get almost everything on the newstand. I remember getting this MAD magazine one trip. This issue was the one that turned me into a true collector. Never seen one but once I did, I had to try to find them all. It all mushroomed from that. My grandpa was a great guy. I have a picture of him from the late teens sitting on his square tank Harley. I guess he also spawned my love for motorcycles. He also bought me the first Led Zeppelin album later on. Man, he hated that record!  Good times...

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

TOP TEN FAVORITES - Part 2

In the late Spring or Summer of 1972 a major shift in my comics interest occurred as I branched out from Disneys and Dennis the Menace into the DC Universe. Many people talk about being Marvel Zombies but I was a DC Zombie!! This was an obsession that most 11 or 12-year-old boys can understand. I was suddenly scraping together every quarter I could find to buy DC's line up of heroes. It all started with Superman 254 and snowballed from there. I shared my enthusiasm with my Dad who then started telling me about all the comics he had as a kid but how they had all been tossed away over the years. These comics opened a whole new world to me and there was some great artists working for DC at the time; Swan, Kirby, Kubert, Adams to name a few. But the current comics were only the beginning, more wonders awaited!!

While anyone can buy a complete Archive collection on Amazon today; the wilderness of the early seventies had few such options. Comic stores did not exist and finding back issues in suburbia was at best a very hit and miss proposition and would likely be issues within the last five to ten years. So it was really fantastic when DC starting issuing their 100 page Spectacular books with reprints from the Golden Age. Here one could find classic tales of not only Superman but some fairly obscure heroes from both DC and Quality. These books were like a history lesson for the rabid comics fan and I devoured each and every one. The back cover included covers of some of the original editions.

While the below example is not the earliest example of a DC 100 pager I bought off the stands it is the best and earliest example I still have and is from 1973 a year after I started buying the DC line. You'll note the tape repair at the bottom of the cover which meant I had already read somewhere that tape repairs were OK!!

 

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

5 hours ago, Robot Man said:

I remember that Batman. I bought it off the stands. A yellow cover with some monster ripping down telephone lines or something. I liked Batman and the DC war titles then. I remember my first Marvel. Spiderman #3. Turned me into a Marvel zombie from that point on. I remember visiting my grand parents in the summer around that time. My grandpa was cool. He drove a 1962 Lincoln. We would go out for lunch and go to the cigar store where he would let me get almost everything on the newstand. I remember getting this MAD magazine one trip. This issue was the one that turned me into a true collector. Never seen one but once I did, I had to try to find them all. It all mushroomed from that. My grandpa was a great guy. I have a picture of him from the late teens sitting on his square tank Harley. I guess he also spawned my love for motorcycles. He also bought me the first Led Zeppelin album later on. Man, he hated that record!  Good times...

Such a great era for MAD! I'll have a story about this era later.

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

TOP TEN FAVORITES - Part 3

So after becoming a DC zombie and buying all their books I would have become cognizant of all the various ads for back issue dealers and would no doubt have seen mentions of fanzines or conventions in the letters page or the ads. A quick look at the ad page in the Superman 254 I posted shows ads for well know dealers Howard Rogofsky, Robert Bell and the Passaic Book Center. Also of note is an ad for Comic-Con in San Diego featuring Jack Kirby and Robert Bloch! This is literally a 1" by 2" column ad! So somewhere along the way I must have seen an ad for the Overstreet Guide because I ordered one and it arrived in the mail and then my comic world began to explode!!

 

 

I must have ordered this in the Fall of 1972 or early 1973 because I remember I would come home from school and as the light faded outside I would slowly read each and every page absorbing the name of every book published along with the publisher name and the dates published. New worlds opened up with the amazing data on what was then called Color Comics (later renamed Four Color Comics), EC comics information, a dizzying array of Disney publications, the early Timely line and Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel really caught my Dad's eye as he read lots and lots of Captain Marvel in the 1940's.

Now that I had the guide I was on a quest to prove to people that these comics were worth something and the guide proved it! I even did a speech in eighth grade where I explained how one would use the guide to find and price old comics! I showed the prices to my Dad who kind of harrumphed but it would prove to be important as the years progressed as I needed his help with procuring treasures in the years to come.

The value of old comics proved to be an ongoing joke between my Dad and me over the last forty-five years related to a flea market incident. We used to go the Englishtown flea market every Saturday and I would go out back in search of treasures. One day to my surprise a vendor had piles of old DC comics priced at $1 each. I mainly recall Superman books in the 20's and 30's and still remember some classic covers in those piles (Superman popping up in China, Superman in the barber chair, Superman's foot hurt by Lois' biscuit.) I shouted at my Dad, "We need to buy these!" His response remains something I have reminded him of ever since, "$1! Why those things should only cost ten cents!" We left bookless!!

[50YrsCollctngCmcs]

If anyone is interested here is the ad for the 1972 San Diego Comic Con I mentioned above that appeared in the Superman book.

[sagii]

1 hour ago, 50YrsCollctngCmcs said:

TOP TEN FAVORITES - Part 2

In the late Spring or Summer of 1972 a major shift in my comics interest occurred as I branched out from Disneys and Dennis the Menace into the DC Universe. Many people talk about being Marvel Zombies but I was a DC Zombie!! This was an obsession that most 11 or 12-year-old boys can understand. I was suddenly scraping together every quarter I could find to buy DC's line up of heroes. It all started with Superman 254 and snowballed from there. I shared my enthusiasm with my Dad who then started telling me about all the comics he had as a kid but how they had all been tossed away over the years. These comics opened a whole new world to me and there was some great artists working for DC at the time; Swan, Kirby, Kubert, Adams to name a few. But the current comics were only the beginning, more wonders awaited!!

While anyone can buy a complete Archive collection on Amazon today; the wilderness of the early seventies had few such options. Comic stores did not exist and finding back issues in suburbia was at best a very hit and miss proposition and would likely be issues within the last five to ten years. So it was really fantastic when DC starting issuing their 100 page Spectacular books with reprints from the Golden Age. Here one could find classic tales of not only Superman but some fairly obscure heroes from both DC and Quality. These books were like a history lesson for the rabid comics fan and I devoured each and every one. The back cover included covers of some of the original editions.

While the below example is not the earliest example of a DC 100 pager I bought off the stands it is the best and earliest example I still have and is from 1973 a year after I started buying the DC line. You'll note the tape repair at the bottom of the cover which meant I had already read somewhere that tape repairs were OK!!

 

 

Surprises here, but should be expected: A lot of us came up on the Bronze Age even if we are exclusively Gold collectors now. These are the books where the 'actual' nostalgia for us is. I too was a DC zombie (even though the first comic purchased for me by an Aunt i was spending the Summer with was a Marvel comic, an issue of 'The Champions'). My ask for purchases and allowances went to Justice League, Wonder Woman, Shazam, Batman, Superman all of whom were pop culture staples outside of comics (cartoons, live action tv shows) so that's what i 'knew'.

I'll never forget the look i got one day at around age 11 or 12 when a lot of the guys bought their comics to school to trade at lunch and i pulled out my books. One kid looked at them, then at me and asked "You read DC?!? Laughter ensued and my books went back in the bag, no trades obviously. 

Even after that i still collected and primarily favored DC over Marvel though, but it wouldn't be until a little title called 'The New Teen Titans' came along it was safe to admit it in my travels.

But boy oh boy when i discovered X-Men!!!

@50YrsCollctngCmcs keep em coming

Edited October 13, 2018 by sagii

[AJD]

Great thread Frank. I'm really enjoying the reminiscences.

The first book I can remember buying (or, more accurately, my mum buying it for me when we visited my grandparents in Melbourne) was an Australian Uncle Scrooge with a reprint of 'The Paul Bunyan Machine'. Probably not my first ever comic, but certainly the first I recall devouring from cover to cover many times over. I must buy one of those one day!