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Mask Comics actual pricing
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805 posts in this topic

46 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

Yes, looks like an absolute beauty in the Heritage archives here: :luhv:

Golden Age (1938-1955):Horror, Mask Comics #1 Mile High pedigree (Rural Home, 1945) CGC ApparentNM+ 9.6 Slight (A) White pages....

Definitely an astute buy on your part if you were the HA purchaser in 2011 since you would have managed to get it cheaper than what the book went for back in 2002 and 2003.  Especially since there's already 3 offers on the book, with the highest one just touching 5 figures now.  (thumbsu

 

That offer isn't even close to what the book is worth now.  Very wise buy!

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26 minutes ago, lou_fine said:

Of course not!  (thumbsu

Why go to all the time and tedious work to scrape off the color touch when it's so much faster and easier to simply tear off the offending front cover and turf it.  lol  :screwy:

I'm going to opt for controlled burns, Always Sunny style. 

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3 minutes ago, adamstrange said:

Mask is one of the best examples of LB Cole of designing a cover that would exploit its position on the newsstand to enhance the impact.  At the time that the Mask came out the other covers were printed with a light color palette.  Placed in the middle of these, the black becomes negative space out of from which peers the face of evil.  LB Cole wanted to punch a hole through the newsstand with covers like this.

To demonstrate the effect I created a grouping of Mask with some books from the mid-40s, though not the exact same month as the Mask.

Mask Newsstand.jpg

Love that most/all are Church copies. 

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5 minutes ago, october said:

Love that most/all are Church copies. 

There's your Church Mask 1 and three others but also one each from Frisco, Crowley, Vancouver as well as a couple peasants for luck.

Edited by adamstrange
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1 hour ago, adamstrange said:

Mask is one of the best examples of LB Cole of designing a cover that would exploit its position on the newsstand to enhance the impact.  At the time that the Mask came out the other covers were printed with a light color palette.  Placed in the middle of these, the black becomes negative space out of from which peers the face of evil.  LB Cole wanted to punch a hole through the newsstand with covers like this.

To demonstrate the effect I created a grouping of Mask with some books from the mid-40s, though not the exact same month as the Mask.

Mask Newsstand.jpg

All I see is that Krazy Komics 9! :luhv:

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9 hours ago, drbanner said:

Would be amazing to see, and likely the most valuable Cole book in existence. :cloud9:

Think Fishler might have it? I believe at one point he had several of the Church Suspense books.

Well, I am also quite sure that the Church copy of Suspense 8 should hit somewhere in the 5-figures.  (thumbsu

Being Mr Conservative as I am prone to be though, I am not quite sure if it would fetch more than the $37.5K that the CGC 9.8 graded copy of Blue Bolt 105 was able to get on CL last summer.  (shrug)

I guess you never know as I suppose it would also really depend on how high the Church Suspense 8 graded out at. hm

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14 hours ago, adamstrange said:

Mask is one of the best examples of LB Cole of designing a cover that would exploit its position on the newsstand to enhance the impact.  At the time that the Mask came out the other covers were printed with a light color palette.  Placed in the middle of these, the black becomes negative space out of from which peers the face of evil.  LB Cole wanted to punch a hole through the newsstand with covers like this.

To demonstrate the effect I created a grouping of Mask with some books from the mid-40s, though not the exact same month as the Mask.

Mask Newsstand.jpg

 

 

Cole was a brilliant designer and visual marketer.  I think that he could have been a very successful career in advertising or the magazine industry.

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11 minutes ago, *paull* said:

 

 

Cole was a brilliant designer and visual marketer.  I think that he could have been a very successful career in advertising or the magazine industry.

He did design cigar boxes!  :) 

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1 hour ago, *paull* said:

I'm thinking Hollywood or Madison Avenue! :)

Oh totally.  Other than what I already posted, there's this:

Quote

In 1936 Cole left his grandfather's cigar factory to join the art staff at the company that printed their cigar box labels. During his next three years with the Consolidated Lithographing Corporation at 1013 Grand Street in Brooklyn, Cole received a formative apprenticeship in the graphic design of advertising, labels and posters, in which the main criteria is visual impact.

Whatever training he got, it paid off!!! 

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16 hours ago, adamstrange said:

Mask is one of the best examples of LB Cole of designing a cover that would exploit its position on the newsstand to enhance the impact.  At the time that the Mask came out the other covers were printed with a light color palette.  Placed in the middle of these, the black becomes negative space out of from which peers the face of evil.  LB Cole wanted to punch a hole through the newsstand with covers like this.

To demonstrate the effect I created a grouping of Mask with some books from the mid-40s, though not the exact same month as the Mask.

Mask Newsstand.jpg

The fact that it is primarily black makes this work well. Would be the same if it were primarily white. Or if it were a solid black or white with very little image or type. Most people think more is better but some times less is more. Reminds me of the classic early 1960's newspaper ad for the VW Beetle. A white page with a small picture of the car in the center and the words "Think small" Imagine turning that page in a newspaper full of type and pictures. Just jumped out at you. Brilliant marketing!

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2 hours ago, Robot Man said:
18 hours ago, adamstrange said:

Mask is one of the best examples of LB Cole of designing a cover that would exploit its position on the newsstand to enhance the impact.  At the time that the Mask came out the other covers were printed with a light color palette.  Placed in the middle of these, the black becomes negative space out of from which peers the face of evil.  LB Cole wanted to punch a hole through the newsstand with covers like this.

To demonstrate the effect I created a grouping of Mask with some books from the mid-40s, though not the exact same month as the Mask.

Mask Newsstand.jpg

The fact that it is primarily black makes this work well.

+1

This brightly colored montage with the all-black Mask 1 right dead center most definitely makes it stand out.  (thumbsu

The only time I saw a better presentation of this book was during the Diamond Int'l Galleries grand opening way back in the mid-90's.  I clearly remembered this Church copy of Mask 1 being very prominently displayed side by side with the all-black Church Suspense 8 on the top shelf of the mahogany armoire in Geppi's library.  An absolutely unbelievable sight to view them through the glass window of the armoire as the two of them just looked like the perfect comic book pairing.  :cloud9:

It's too bad they didn't have readily available cell phones in those days, let alone cell phone cameras.  

Edited by lou_fine
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On 4/27/2019 at 3:02 PM, lou_fine said:

From your post, it would appear that you are the only boardie here who has answered my question (albeit indirectly) from the other week as to Cole's most valuable book, whether it be Mask 1, Blue Bolt 105, Suspense 8, or what have you.  (thumbsu

Although you are probably correct in your assessment here, it would appear that you might run into some pretty stiff competition with your selection here.  Especially considering that CL had auctioned off a BB 105 for something like $37,500 last summer and there are a total of only 25 graded copies of this book out there.  And although there is a total of 48 universal graded copies of Suspense 8 out there, it should be pointed out that there appears to be no "high grade" copies to date as the highest graded copy is only a CGC 7.5 (either universal or restored) to this current point in time.  hm

(thumbsu

I believe the BB #105 that went for $37,500 on Comiclink was a Cgc 9.8

Although this most likely will never be the case but if a Cgc 9.8 Mask #1 were to ever come to market it would without a doubt be a six figure book and I`m guessing the first digit most likely wouldn`t start with a 1. I am a huge fan of lots of L.B.Cole`s comics but Mask #1 is definitely at the top of the tier for me! 

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On 5/6/2019 at 6:44 PM, lou_fine said:

Yes, looks like an absolute beauty in the Heritage archives here: :luhv:

Golden Age (1938-1955):Horror, Mask Comics #1 Mile High pedigree (Rural Home, 1945) CGC ApparentNM+ 9.6 Slight (A) White pages....

Definitely an astute buy on your part if you were the HA purchaser in 2011 since you would have managed to get it cheaper than what the book went for back in 2002 and 2003.  Especially since there's already 3 offers on the book, with the highest one just touching 5 figures now.  (thumbsu

I know this is sacrilege, but I could think of a half dozen or so Cole books I like better than Mask 1... that is, until I saw this copy. 

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3 minutes ago, thewritestuff said:

I know this is sacrilege, but I could think of a half dozen or so Cole books I like better than Mask 1

Me too hm

:whatthe::whatthe:

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17 hours ago, thewritestuff said:

I know this is sacrilege, but I could think of a half dozen or so Cole books I like better than Mask 1

+1  Don't get me wrong, Cole can design a great cover but he uses floating faces a lot...a lazy device. I can think of other Cole books I like better than Mask 1.

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5 hours ago, GomerPyleUSMC said:

+1  Don't get me wrong, Cole can design a great cover but he uses floating faces a lot...a lazy device. I can think of other Cole books I like better than Mask 1.

  •  

 

He did do a bunch of covers with floating heads (Mask 2, Suspense 10, etc.), but I don't think that applies to Mask 1.  

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6 minutes ago, *paull* said:

 

He did do a bunch of covers with floating heads (Mask 2, Suspense 10, etc.), but I don't think that applies to Mask 1.  

From a composition point of view, Mask 1 is a variation on a face close up.

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