Happy New Year from Matt, Steve, Arnie and Gary - The Windy City Story 1 1

[Timely]

2 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Well, I imagine it probably really depends if you are planning to come back from across the dark side of the street and back into the light. 

Do you really think Ford employees hate Honda employees?

There's a lot of hate and unfairness that I feel is really misplaced here. Like they think... how DARE there be competition! 

[unclezebo]

That was a great read. Thank you so much for posting it. Love reading personal stories like that.

[lou_fine]

1 hour ago, Timely said:

4 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Well, I imagine it probably really depends if you are planning to come back from across the dark side of the street and back into the light. 

Like they think... how DARE there be competition! 

I TOTALLY agree...........you guys should meet halfway out in the middle of the street and really  it out in a royal rumble for us to watch. 

[Moondog]

22 hours ago, porcupine48 said:

Ross still sets up locally once a month,I've seen him at shows since I was a real young fellow.I can only imagine what the 'bad cop' Cresthol was like to deal with*to keep it fun-I remember my first comic cons as a kid were called MapleCon here at Carlton U,Ottawa and I always looked forward to the out of town dealers.I still remember buying my TTA 48 from Harley  I also remember some guys that set up from Chicago,got my ASM 14 from them.Could that have been you?This would have been 88,89 or 90?To me at least it was a HUGE deal

Also,a nice thought there's still Windy City books in the wild and one may grace my collection with any luck!

I never made it to a con in Canada.  In fact, outside of Chicago and San Diego, I only did a handful of other shows.

[Moondog]

21 hours ago, Lukesaurus said:

I’m really glad the book is back on track . Does anyone have any extra info about a release date?

  Here's a link to an update on the pedigrees book: http://comicpedigrees.com/book.php

[Moondog]

21 hours ago, sacentaur said:

Let’s have fun with this post and not turn it personal.

Touche, my friend! 

[Moondog]

20 hours ago, lou_fine said:

+1

Yes, absolutely love reading riveting stories like these about how some of the very early pedigree collections were compiled by the original owners back in the day and then how they were eventually found by the dealers and subsequently brought to market.  Makes me feel like I was right there with them through the whole process.   

I am certainly glad to hear that the long awaited Pedigree Book is suposedly off the bench and back in play again.  Especially if they have "origin" stories like this one here which was the original intent of the Pedigree Book, and less focus on all of the CGC related stats which they seem to be drifting towards when the book got benched several years ago.  Never get of the "origin" stories behind these collections, and they definitely should not take precedence over dated stats which are most likely alrready out-of-date by the time the book is published.  

Totally agree with you.  When the book was announced I went back and interviewed Ben Stothart 3 times, taking notes on all the little things he said like when he walked up to the house for the first time commenting on the landscaping around the house.  I'll never forget how he looked when he walked into the shop that Saturday in September 1978.   I'm not sure I succeeded in conveying how nerve-wracking it was to have the entire collection in my home for nearly a year knowing I could have the rug pulled out from me at any time. 

I must have read Chuck's account of buying the Church books a dozen times putting myself in his shoes.  I was hoping to create that same impression with my story.

[Moondog]

19 hours ago, lou_fine said:

Very nice to know that there are a few small early runs in there as my initial thought was that the Windy City was made up entirely of #1 issues only.  

 

Gary;

Do you remember what kind of condition these early Famous Funnies and pre-hero DC books were in? 

Very timely as we were just talking about the early New Comics run in another thread on the GA boards here and sad to say, it looks like this is another collection that is missing the apparently super rare New Comics 2 from the collection itself.  I guess it's only a matter of time before a half decent copy comes along, but the current CGC census indicates that still only 5 unrestored Universal copies of this book have been slabbed after 20 long years, with the highest graded still being only a CGC 2.0 graded copy.       

 

I still have all my grading notes for the collection.  The pre-hero books may have been purchased second-hand somewhere because except for a few the grades were generally low:

Ace 1 FN - nice

Amazing Mystery Funnies 2 - G

Comics Magazine 1 VF with a slight dust shadow

Large Feature Tracy 1 VF with a slight dust shadow

Detective Picture Stories 1 FN, 5 VG

Detective Comics 1 FN, 3 FR, 12 VG,

Feature Book 1 Zane Gray FN

The Funnies 1 (1936) VF, 2 Poor

Famous Funnies 3, VG spine split at bottom, 4 VG spine split at bottom, 5 FR brittle

Feature Books 1-19 - all were brittle

Funny Picture Stories 1 FN, but heavy browning

King 1 VG

More Fun 9-14 all poor (soiled, stained and brittle) There was a second copy of 12 which was a VG

New Comics 1 G - cover had dust shadow, slightly brittle on edges of cover but interior brownish but not brittle, 3-6 all poor with completely split spines, 7 VG, 8 poor, 9 VG, 10 fair

Tip Top 1 FN, 4 VG, 5 G, 6 VF

Western Action Thrillers 1 VG

Western Picture Stories 1, VF, 2 G, 3 FR

 

 

 

 

[lou_fine]

2 minutes ago, Moondog said:

I still have all my grading notes for the collection.  The pre-hero books may have been purchased second-hand somewhere because except for a few the grades were generally low:

Ace 1 FN - nice

Amazing Mystery Funnies 2 - G

Comics Magazine 1 VF with a slight dust shadow

Large Feature Tracy 1 VF with a slight dust shadow

Detective Picture Stories 1 FN, 5 VG

Detective Comics 1 FN, 3 FR, 12 VG,

Feature Book 1 Zane Gray FN

The Funnies 1 (1936) VF, 2 Poor

Famous Funnies 3, VG spine split at bottom, 4 VG spine split at bottom, 5 FR brittle

Feature Books 1-19 - all were brittle

Funny Picture Stories 1 FN, but heavy browning

King 1 VG

More Fun 9-14 all poor (soiled, stained and brittle) There was a second copy of 12 which was a VG

New Comics 1 G - cover had dust shadow, slightly brittle on edges of cover but interior brownish but not brittle, 3-6 all poor with completely split spines, 7 VG, 8 poor, 9 VG, 10 fair

Tip Top 1 FN, 4 VG, 5 G, 6 VF

Western Action Thrillers 1 VG

Western Picture Stories 1, VF, 2 G, 3 FR

 

Wow, absolutely amazing that you kept all of your grading notes for this astonishing collection of yours even though you had sold it off decades ago. 

From the grades that you posted here, I guess it definitely confirms that these very early comic books are usually found only in relatively low beater grades.  

[porcupine48]

2 hours ago, Moondog said:

I never made it to a con in Canada.  In fact, outside of Chicago and San Diego, I only did a handful of other shows.

Ah,so it definitely wasn't your gang that had the coverless Superman one folk could line up to pore over(carefully).For the longest time I remembered it as Action,but talking to some other folks,it was Superman.I was a stars in my eyes,lightning struck preteen.Oh,memories 

Super duper nifty to read your graders notes,thanks for posting that!

[Pickie]

4 hours ago, Moondog said:

I must have read Chuck's account of buying the Church books a dozen times putting myself in his shoes.  I was hoping to create that same impression with my story.

Yes, you did. In fact, I think your writing is better. (But his was not for a book, but for a website blog, of course.) I admire both reports and I read everything I can find about such great stories! Thx