An Interesting Look at Overstreet's First Comic Book Price Guide 2 2

[lou_fine]

2 hours ago, bronze johnny said:

The Guide has had some incredible covers over the years. Curious as to a favorite cover any of you might have?

Unfortunately, it has also had some rather horrible looking covers in comparison during the recent past few years. 

The only one that I really liked from the past few years was the Sgt. Rock Limited HC Edition by Russ Heath a couple of years ago.  

[mlansdown]

2 hours ago, telerites said:

This is mine

This was my first one as well.  I unwrapped it at Christmas and showed it to Gramma, and let's just say that the cover had a strong Gramma-disapproval factor.  

[telerites]

41 minutes ago, N e r V said:

That was a big one for LB Cole. Prior to this guide LB Cole flew mostly under the radar until Overstreet helped introduce him to the collecting market with his own guide.

In 1981 I had been aware of LB Cole for some time thanks to having seen a lot of it with other collections but the big news for me in 1981 was that I could now get art commissions from him. Great issue even today to own. 

He was one of the kindest man I have ever met.  That one meeting has firmly stuck in my mind and not only for his art but his character, I have been a fan ever since.

[ThothAmon]

Happy to see it’s a hardcover!

 

[BitterOldMan]

1977 Barks Porky Pig cover, where I was listed as a contributor.

I also received straight As for the entire 1977-78.  

[lou_fine]

On 6/10/2019 at 10:13 AM, buttock said:

On 6/9/2019 at 5:37 PM, KirbyJack said:

19 was my first, and same scenario; read it so much I had to replace it. I read my 20 a couple of times, too.

Mine was 15, and it ended up in about 20 pieces just like this.  My favorite thing to do was to imagine that I could have one book from each page, and then figure out which one to choose.  

Yes, I guess in the early days when we didn't know any better, we all went the cheap route and just coughed up for the softcover version only.  

Now that I am a bit older and hopefully also a bit wiser and willing to spend the extra 10 bucks or so, it's always the hardcover for me nowadays.  

[KirbyJack]

I have NOT learned anything, and am still cheap.

[lou_fine]

16 minutes ago, KirbyJack said:

I have NOT learned anything, and am still cheap.

Now, that's a nice looking and impressive display that would keep even Bob Overstreet happy.    

Although I am sure he would have been a lot happier if you had also gone after all of the variant cover editions.  

It looks like you might be missing the first couple editions there.  I imagine you probably have no interest in chasing after them now.  

[KirbyJack]

I’m currently watching a 4 on eBay. If I got that, it would leave 2 and 1. I’d be content with just the second print “1” to cover both 1970 and 71. A 46 is en route!

Not actively pursuing those, but I’m keeping my eyes open!

Edited June 12, 2019 by KirbyJack

[lou_fine]

1 minute ago, KirbyJack said:

I’m currently watching a 4 on eBay. If I got that, it would leave 2 and 1. I’d be content with just the second print “1” to cover both 1970 and 71. A 46 is en route!

Best of luck on acquiring a copy of the 1st and 2nd editions at a reasonable price.  

As for the 46th edition, I hope you are getting the HC limited edition with the nice Sgt. Rock cover.  

[KirbyJack]

1 minute ago, lou_fine said:

Best of luck on acquiring a copy of the 1st and 2nd editions at a reasonable price.  

As for the 46th edition, I hope you are getting the HC limited edition with the nice Sgt. Rock cover.  

I didn’t buy one initially because my LCS didn’t have the Heath cover. But I have all softcovers, and I just wanted to plug the hole.

[Black Bat]

19 hours ago, N e r V said:

I think this is the correct ACBC ad from the 1976 guide I remember.

 

A group of us neighborhood kids used to ride our SchwInn Stingrays 10miles from Burbank to Studio City on Saturday’s to shop at ACBC. It was all about Marvel superhero’s then, if only...

loved that place!!!

it was so smoggy back then that our lungs ached after the ride. 

Edited June 13, 2019 by Black Bat

[adamstrange]

22 hours ago, Robot Man said:

Or even better, someone posts an old newsstand photo with a kid standing in front of it. How many of you have ever fantasied you were that kid with only one dime? Which one would you buy? I’m sure all of us faced that delimma more than once in real life as a kid...

OK, how about a test? You got a shiny Mercury dime... What do you pick and how long does it take you?

 

Wonderworld 7.  Not a hard a question to answer.

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

On 6/11/2019 at 9:02 PM, KirbyJack said:

Tec 33 for me, please.

+ 1

[circumstances]

20 hours ago, BitterOldMan said:

1977 Barks Porky Pig cover, where I was listed as a contributor.

I also received straight As for the entire 1977-78.  

This is cool.

I haven't thought about Hugh O'Kennon for years. I bought so many books from him over the years.

 

[N e r V]

22 hours ago, BitterOldMan said:

1977 Barks Porky Pig cover, where I was listed as a contributor.

I also received straight As for the entire 1977-78.  

I got listed a few times as a contributor too probably in the 1980’s or 1990’s (not sure). I also have my previous company listed in Overstreet from 1989 until 2002. I think the cover was the Snow White one in 1989 when I started my business. Sure was a lot cheaper in 1989 to advertise in Overstreet  or pickup tables to sell at SDCC in 1989. I had Eric Shanower (who I believe was drawing that Oz series of graphic novels at the time) do a swipe of Dave Stevens Aliens Worlds #2 cover (Aurora) for my company logo.  I still have  the original art somewhere (hopefully).  

So, so different back then. A completely different set of dealers doing business from today.

Edited June 13, 2019 by N e r V

[Robot Man]

I was an early contributor along with Redbeard and Bob Nastasi of SOTI and censorship books. I discontinued contributing when I noticed that he wasn't including my data in the guide. 

[Robot Man]

17 hours ago, Black Bat said:

A group of us neighborhood kids used to ride our SchwInn Stingrays 10miles from Burbank to Studio City on Saturday’s to shop at ACBC. It was all about Marvel superhero’s then, if only...

loved that place!!!

it was so smoggy back then that our lungs ached after the ride. 

Yeah, other than the smog, good times! I was a little older than you probably and could drive from Pasadena to the Valley. I was pretty good friends with David T, Terry Stroud, Carl Macek and the gang at ACBC. They would let me into the back room where I saw piles and piles of un-processed GA and SA collections on the tables and the floor. They were buying stuff that walked into the store faster than they could process and sell it. I remember I got a few nice Timelys out of a few piles of maybe 200 of them that walked in the store one day. I was always learning and discovering so much stuff due to the massive amounts of books in there. They were then, as they are now a bit pricey, but they had the goods that nobody else had. 

They had quite the parties in the off hours. They were the "rock stars" of the comic biz in LA. Lots of girls and "intoxicants". Good times. Here are a couple of old photos. The first one is I believe, David Belmont. Just look at the stacks of SA next to him. I can't remember the name of the other guy in the 2nd photo. Look at him eating over a pile of un-bagged EC's. 

[adamstrange]

24 minutes ago, Robot Man said:

The first one is I believe, David Belmont.

I met him at the monthly LA Con that was held often at the Shriner auditorium.  Later, I visited his shop just off the UCLA campus with ridiculously narrow parking spots.  He told me he sold a trunk of Friscos to pay for his house.

[Robot Man]

5 minutes ago, adamstrange said:

I met him at the monthly LA Con that was held often at the Shriner auditorium.  Later, I visited his shop just off the UCLA campus with ridiculously narrow parking spots.  He told me he sold a trunk of Friscos to pay for his house.

That was Carl Macek. Maybe I was wrong on the photo ID. It was a LONG time ago. So, maybe the first photo is Carl and the second is David Belmont. Yeah, Carl had a cool shop for a while by UCLA after he broke away from Terry and David. The three of them had very large holdings of the San Francisco books. I bought several Timelys from Terry that sadly, I no longer own. I remember them bringing them down from the Bay Area and seeing piles of them. Beerbaum has stated, that he only sold a few at a time to many people. I suspect that is partly true because when I visited his shop he would only let only buy 3 or 4 at a time. I suspect though, if you had the cash like these guys did or Redbeard, you were obviously able to get quite a few at one time. 

And yeah, the old Shrine shows were epic. So much great stuff came out of there in the day. Now, it's mostly washed up movie stars, new comics and porn...