FANTAZIA 1991 And More 1 1

[aardvark88]

On 4/30/2019 at 2:22 PM, RICK STARR said:

They offered me discounts on some of their other books, after I complained about the trimmed books I received. I returned the JLA 1 and did get a refund.

I believe a well-known CA comic dealer wound up with the JLA #1 apparent nm 'file copy.' I purchased it from said dealer at SDCC for under the Dupcak mail order listed price of $900. I had buyer's remorse when I took it back to the SDCC hotel to inspect it closer (trimmed) but did not return the key to the SDCC dealer, as it was still the best copy I could find at that con.

[maraxusofkeld]

I have always wondered, where did he get some many copies of all these keys to start out with? 

[misterrmystery]

Luckily I lived close enough in the early 90's to go to his store in Hartsdale. I had bought a few high grade, low value books which turned out okay. I saw a NM/M Green Lantern 1 in his CBG ad. It was $1000 which was still a good deal at the time.when I opened it, it was loaded with color touch, bleeding through on interior spine. I immediately jumped in the car and went to the store. I showed him the color touch. He was very obnoxious, saying he drove a Mazarati and would sell the book again with no problem. I had put it on a credit card so he refunded my money after an argument. I never dealt with him again. Years later I met a guy who owned a comic store. He told me in confidence that he worked at Fantasia as a teenager and did the trimming on the books at Dupchek's direction. Later I heard he went to jail for forging signatures on sports memorabilia. His store closed and never reopened. He ripped off people worldwide and is a big reason why grading companies started.

[Crowzilla]

But...

Thank you Danny for exposing Ewert.

 

[DanCooper]

2 hours ago, maraxusofkeld said:

I have always wondered, where did he get some many copies of all these keys to start out with? 

Here's an interesting story I heard, back in the day, on how he acquired the Larson copy of All-American #16.

In 1986, Danny placed one of his Fantazia ads in the Comics Buyer's Guide. On the same page in the CBG as Danny's ad, Joe Tricarichi out of Cleveland, Ohio also had an ad selling books. In his ad, Joe was selling the Larson All-American #16, as well as other Larsons.

Now, Krause (publisher of the CBG) would send a tear sheet of the actual ad page to an advertiser before the CBG was sent to the public. Since Danny's ad was on the page as Joe's ad, he saw Joe's ad for the All-American 16 and bought it (probably before anyone else could see the ad in the CBG and buy it)

I located the actual CBG ad from April 1986 and a Fantazia wanted/buy ad is indeed on the same page as Joe's Larsons ad! (see below)

It is well known in the hobby that the Larson All-American 16 was missing a coupon in the centerfold. Joe actually notes this in his ad and also notes he has a coverless All-American 16 as well! (no details on what the deal would be to include the coverless copy)

Here is Joe's CBG ad, that was on the same page as Danny's ad, and, as they say, the rest is history!

 

Edited May 8, 2019 by DanCooper

[RICK STARR]

1 hour ago, DanCooper said:

Here's an interesting story I heard, back in the day, on how he acquired the Larson copy of All-American #16.

In 1986, Danny placed one of his Fantazia ads in the Comics Buyer's Guide. On the same page in the CBG as Danny's ad, Joe Tricarichi out of Cleveland, Ohio also had an ad selling books. In his ad, Joe was selling the Larson All-American #16, as well as other Larsons.

Now, Krause (publisher of the CBG) would send a tear sheet of the actual ad page to an advertiser before the CBG was sent to the public. Since Danny's ad was on the page as Joe's ad, he saw Joe's ad for the All-American 16 and bought it (probably before anyone else could see the ad in the CBG and buy it)

I located the actual CBG ad from April 1986 and a Fantazia wanted/buy ad is indeed on the same page as Joe's Larsons ad! (see below)

It is well known in the hobby that the Larson All-American 16 was missing a coupon in the centerfold. Joe actually notes this in his ad and also notes he has a coverless All-American 16 as well! (no details on what the deal would be to include the coverless copy)

Here is Joe's CBG ad, that was on the same page as Danny's ad, and, as they say, the rest is history!

 

Thanks for that interesting story. I am sure there are many, many more interactions that took place with this guy. Would love to hear more, if anybody has them.

[RICK STARR]

Well, in going through my box of old catalogs, I also came across these interesting tibbits from the past. Matt Schiffman put out these catalogs back in 1998 which were not only for selling/price lists for books, but gave some insights to the state of our hobby. Also, Matt wrote his report in the old monthly Comic Market Place originally published by Gary Carter and later by Diamond. Check out some of his articles.

A cool Schomberg cover on the first issue. Do not know the source of the art.

 

 

I had one of these lights. Picked it up second hand at a con, but lost it some years later.

 

 

First quarterly catalog

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

[MrBedrock]

2 hours ago, DanCooper said:

 

 

[Bird]

56 minutes ago, RICK STARR said:

Well, in going through my box of old catalogs, I also came across these interesting tibbits from the past. Matt Schiffman put out these catalogs back in 1998 which were not only for selling/price lists for books, but gave some insights to the state of our hobby. Also, Matt wrote his report in the old monthly Comic Market Place originally published by Gary Carter and later by Diamond. Check out some of his articles.

A cool Schomberg cover on the first issue. Do not know the source of the art.

 

I enjoyed reading those, thanks!

[MB1952]

14 minutes ago, MrBedrock said:

 

vf/nm on the ad...

[RICK STARR]

4 hours ago, MrBedrock said:

 

Ooof, graded VF/NM with no price.  Nice one Richard.

Edited May 9, 2019 by RICK STARR

[Crowzilla]

3 hours ago, RICK STARR said:

Ooof, graded VF/NM by Duppy with no price.  Nice one Richard.

Tricarichi (the guy who brought the Larson collection to market)

[RICK STARR]

35 minutes ago, Crowzilla said:

Tricarichi (the guy who brought the Larson collection to market)

Spoiler

 

Oops, yeah my bad.

[lou_fine]

On 5/7/2019 at 8:29 PM, Aman619 said:

This worked like a charm until a customer he cheated turned out to be the DAs son!   oops.

This actually reminds me of the time that I was contacted by a congressional aide to Congressman Lane Evans out of Illinois.  Not sure how he got my number, but I assumed it must have come from Maggie Thompson as this was not too long after Danny boy lost his advertising privileges with CBG.

Sounds as though the aide must have been a collector and had been ripped off by Danny and was gathering evidence to proceed with a case against him.  Something to do with mail fraud across state lines which is apparently a federal crime down in the U.S.  I assumed the aide must have gotten his money back from Danny because I never heard back from him with respect to providing more evidence for the case. 

Probably shouldn't have done it, but I did kind of indirectly mentioned the case to him and twisted the knife around a little bit when he was trying to get his book back from me.  

[lou_fine]

13 hours ago, misterrmystery said:

He was very obnoxious, saying he drove a Mazarati and would sell the book again with no problem.

Now, that's classic Danny boy right there as he always came up with these wild and wacky stories to divert attention away from why he couldn't talked to you at the time or he was simply too busy to make it down to the post office to send you back your money.  

A Mazarati was it, because he told me that he had his Ferrari parked right outside and had to go chase some guys away who were trying to break into it and would have to get back to me later.  Although his stories were always of the rather lame brained and unbelievable type, you simply couldn't help but to laughed at how crazy some of them were.  Another one of his classics was that he was right in between 2 of his model girlfriends and couldn't talk anymore because they both needed him right then and there.   

Somehow, I got the distinct feeling that Danny didn't find it quite so funny when the shoe was on the other foot later on.  

Edited May 9, 2019 by lou_fine

[lou_fine]

14 hours ago, Crowzilla said:

But...

Thank you Danny for exposing Ewert.

 

+1

Totally agree with you on this point.  

Yes, that was a definite eye opener here when Danny and then Masterchief lay down those before and after scans for all of us to see here.  

How ironic that it would be a macro-trimmer like Danny to expose a micro-trimmer like Ewert.  

[pemart1966]

On 5/1/2019 at 8:18 AM, DanCooper said:

If he devoted as much time and energy to playing the game legit, he probably could have been one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, dealers in the hobby today (think Metro big)

He had extensive knowledge of what was hot in the market, paid handsomely and competitively for material and did get key books consistently, as evidenced by the CBG and Overstreet ads. He wasted so much on trying to trick the system. Didn't have to.

You're absolutely right. He could have been a MAJOR player.  Instead he was just a playa.

People that do business like this in any walk of life absolutely baffle me.  They can't seem to see that these types of deceptive actions are NOT sustainable.  They're gonna get caught and flushed out sooner or later.  

Edited May 9, 2019 by pemart1966

[telerites]

18 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

Instead he was just a playa.

I wouldn't call him a playa - a dirtbag, scumbag and other names that wouldn't pass the board censor.  From his deceit to the way he treated people and self-perceived worth, he's just a plain individual_without_enough_empathy.

[lhcomics]

Back around 1987 I traded Danny a New Comics 1 that would have graded VF for a Bat 1 in FA/G. At that time New Comics 1 was nowhere to be found and Bat 1 was everywhere. When I got the Bat 1 it was really a piece of restored garbage that could be called poor. 

When I contacted Danny to return the Bat 1 and get my comic back he was good with the return. Later that day I get a call from Steve Fishler offering me $1800 for the New Comics 1 so I accepted. I guess they worked deals together at that time. 

[DanCooper]

1 hour ago, lhcomics said:

Back around 1987 I traded Danny a New Comics 1 that would have graded VF for a Bat 1 in FA/G. At that time New Comics 1 was nowhere to be found and Bat 1 was everywhere. When I got the Bat 1 it was really a piece of restored garbage that could be called poor.  

  This post reminds of a story Jon Berk told on his adventures with Danny on a New Fun 1.

Here's Jon's post from an early CGC thread:

"True Story (My 1 which has a married back cover....I bought it twenty plus years ago. Never had seen a New Fun....got it from Danny Dupchak of Fantazia (spelling)(for those who do not know an absolutely unscrupulous dealer). When i got it i called him- "Danny, shouldn't this book have a back cover?" (The front was perfectly attached)) Danny: "Geez,I don't know."

Eventually, truth came to the surface and I paid $300 instead of $500. Ah the days of the Wild West of comic dealing......."

Edited May 9, 2019 by DanCooper