Recently purchased these for £100 as a gamble (just a box of comics). Did I do ok? 2 2

[SinocTheHodgeheg]

Opinions would be nice, I've no idea what I'm doing apart from basic research. Some are not in the best condition but did I lose money? Pretty sure that here's some golden age, silver age and some pulp. Also a load of British mini ones.

[october]

0.0% chance you will lose money, unless you decide to set them on fire. Great pickup. 

Can we see a closer shot of the Active Comics? Second row down in the first pic, fourth comic in?

[october]

Most of the comics would fall into the sub-$25 range, but you have some rarities in there. Long Distance Wife doesn't appear on GCD (comics.org), and could bring nice money just based on rarity/weirdness. The Active 29 I mentioned, if complete, is worth more than what you paid for the entire lot.

Edited July 22, 2020 by october

[SinocTheHodgeheg]

15 minutes ago, october said:

Most of the comics would fall into the sub-$25 range, but you have some rarities in there. Long Distance Wife doesn't appear on GCD (comics.org), and could bring nice money just based on rarity/weirdness. The Active 29 I mentioned, if complete, is worth more than what you paid for the entire lot.

As requested, and thank you for the reply. I'm a totally amateur at this but I'm glad even a beginner could show some instinct ability! I'm just not sure what to do with them now.

[october]

5 minutes ago, SinocTheHodgeheg said:

I'm just not sure what to do with them now.

If you are looking to sell them, I am sure you could find buyers here for some of them. The problem is pricing. Most of these are British or Canadian and it will be hard/impossible to find completed sales on a lot of these. Several are very scarce, but are not particularly desirable. Something like that Detective Comic could bring $25 or $250 depending on who is paying attention.

[SinocTheHodgeheg]

1 minute ago, october said:

If you are looking to sell them, I am sure you could find buyers here for some of them. The problem is pricing. Most of these are British or Canadian and it will be hard/impossible to find completed sales on a lot of these. Several are very scarce, but are not particularly desirable. Something like that Detective Comic could bring $25 or $250 depending on who is paying attention.

Scare and not particularly desirable, sounds like me ha. I might stick them on eBay in a week or so, just to see what happens!

[Beige]

The 6 mens pulps will double your money. At least.

The rest is profit baby,profit.

 

[SinocTheHodgeheg]

Thanks for the heads up. I had no idea pulp magazines existed in the 1960s before I got these!

[Qalyar]

Quick comments on a few of these. Overall, I agree with the the folks who got to this thread before me. The only way you're losing money on this buy is if you light it on fire or otherwise mistreat these books. Great catch.

• Active Comics was a Bell publication, one of the Canadian White publishers. You have issues 29 and 30 (the latter titled on cover as New Active Comics). Technically, these last two issues are reprints of US material rather than newly published Canadian content, but they're still collected as part of the Canadian Whites, and 29 in particular is a really hard book to find. Despite the cover being detached at the lower staple, yours is actually in fairly decent condition for the title, a lot of these are straight-up beat.
• Crackajack Funnies 10 is a decent enough book, although the spine roll and ugly tear on yours are going to keep it down in the $20-25 range, I think, assuming no other problems. It's too bad that's not Crackajack Funnies 9, which is the first comic appearance of Red Ryder and a pretty solid minor key book even in trashy grades. Not that you aren't winning on this buy anyway!
• Your Jeep Comics 2 is quite scarce and rather odd. Only the UK edition has the cover character in blue; he is colored rather like a big flying baby in the US version. I have no idea how to assign a market value to this one. Guessing at condition, the US edition would probably be a $50ish book. British editions that vary only by price are often less desirable, but this is an actual variant cover in the true sense, and zero copies of it have been slabbed by CGC. Too bad about the top right corner, though.
• I have absolutely no idea what that Jet Comics even is. The text on the cover is a little too small for me to read in that pic, but it looks like it may have been some sort of promotional give-away? At the very least, you'll want to investigate that one further.
• Red Hot Comics 3 is another Canadian White by Bell, and this one isn't a reprint book, although ironically Red Hot is probably a less less, well, red hot than Active.
• Three Aces Comics 54 is another book to look at closely for condition. It's hard to tell the grade on these from the overview pics, but a CGC 5.0 copy sold last year for $240.
• World Famous Creatures 1 is a historically important horror magazine, debuting not long after Famous Monsters of Filmland. The UK edition, which yours is, only lasted for this one issue, and is not common. Unfortunately, in low grades, it's probably only a ~$30 book (although I imagine it would sell faster than a lot of stuff in that price range). Make sure the back cover is intact; at least the US editions were published with a cut-out monster mask on the back cover and, predictably, many copies have a big hole in the back cover as a result.

Someone else will have to help you with those Classics Illustrated. That series is a nightmare of weirdness to determine printings on, and I have made it my life's goal never to deal with them if I don't have to. There are undoubtedly some experts around here. No clue if any of these titles are ones worth the trouble.

On 7/22/2020 at 9:35 AM, october said:

 Long Distance Wife doesn't appear on GCD (comics.org), and could bring nice money just based on rarity/weirdness.

Long Distance Wife is actually one of the 10 issues of Streamline Pictorial Romance, published by the British paperback publisher (and cheapo repackager of US comics) Streamline. This series reprinted stories from various Fox publications, mostly My Love Life and My Secret Story. I'm not sure which "number" this one is (and not all of them were even officially assigned numbers in the indicia, so they're sort of one-offs, but also not really). GCD only has a handful of images for them. This is 100% going to be an example of "not everything scarce has enough market to be worth money", I'm afraid, unless you get lucky and find someone who actually collects the (lots of) obscure romance stuff Streamline produced in the 50s.

[Deadpoolica]

Good buy  

[eccomic]

Active 29 is a neat book... My Copy 

[eccomic]

Active Comics # 30 also from my collection. Check out the back cover. 

[SinocTheHodgeheg]

13 hours ago, Qalyar said:

Quick comments on a few of these. Overall, I agree with the the folks who got to this thread before me. The only way you're losing money on this buy is if you light it on fire or otherwise mistreat these books. Great catch.

• Active Comics was a Bell publication, one of the Canadian White publishers. You have issues 29 and 30 (the latter titled on cover as New Active Comics). Technically, these last two issues are reprints of US material rather than newly published Canadian content, but they're still collected as part of the Canadian Whites, and 29 in particular is a really hard book to find. Despite the cover being detached at the lower staple, yours is actually in fairly decent condition for the title, a lot of these are straight-up beat.
• Crackajack Funnies 10 is a decent enough book, although the spine roll and ugly tear on yours are going to keep it down in the $20-25 range, I think, assuming no other problems. It's too bad that's not Crackajack Funnies 9, which is the first comic appearance of Red Ryder and a pretty solid minor key book even in trashy grades. Not that you aren't winning on this buy anyway!
• Your Jeep Comics 2 is quite scarce and rather odd. Only the UK edition has the cover character in blue; he is colored rather like a big flying baby in the US version. I have no idea how to assign a market value to this one. Guessing at condition, the US edition would probably be a $50ish book. British editions that vary only by price are often less desirable, but this is an actual variant cover in the true sense, and zero copies of it have been slabbed by CGC. Too bad about the top right corner, though.
• I have absolutely no idea what that Jet Comics even is. The text on the cover is a little too small for me to read in that pic, but it looks like it may have been some sort of promotional give-away? At the very least, you'll want to investigate that one further.
• Red Hot Comics 3 is another Canadian White by Bell, and this one isn't a reprint book, although ironically Red Hot is probably a less less, well, red hot than Active.
• Three Aces Comics 54 is another book to look at closely for condition. It's hard to tell the grade on these from the overview pics, but a CGC 5.0 copy sold last year for $240.
• World Famous Creatures 1 is a historically important horror magazine, debuting not long after Famous Monsters of Filmland. The UK edition, which yours is, only lasted for this one issue, and is not common. Unfortunately, in low grades, it's probably only a ~$30 book (although I imagine it would sell faster than a lot of stuff in that price range). Make sure the back cover is intact; at least the US editions were published with a cut-out monster mask on the back cover and, predictably, many copies have a big hole in the back cover as a result.

Someone else will have to help you with those Classics Illustrated. That series is a nightmare of weirdness to determine printings on, and I have made it my life's goal never to deal with them if I don't have to. There are undoubtedly some experts around here. No clue if any of these titles are ones worth the trouble.

Long Distance Wife is actually one of the 10 issues of Streamline Pictorial Romance, published by the British paperback publisher (and cheapo repackager of US comics) Streamline. This series reprinted stories from various Fox publications, mostly My Love Life and My Secret Story. I'm not sure which "number" this one is (and not all of them were even officially assigned numbers in the indicia, so they're sort of one-offs, but also not really). GCD only has a handful of images for them. This is 100% going to be an example of "not everything scarce has enough market to be worth money", I'm afraid, unless you get lucky and find someone who actually collects the (lots of) obscure romance stuff Streamline produced in the 50s.

Thanks for the info! I've included more photos of the Three aces comic #54 and turns out the world famous creatures has the mask still!

[eccomic]

Recent sale on Ebay of similar book.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/FORCE-COMICS-NN-SUB-MARINER-27-CGC-6-0-FN-BLONDE-PHANTOM-TIMELY-MARVEL-1948-/402325856125?_trksid=p2047675.m43663.l10137&nordt=true&rt=nc&orig_cvip=true

CGC certified 6.0 UNIVERSAL hammered at $108.00 USD

 

 

[Turnando]

On 7/22/2020 at 8:53 AM, SinocTheHodgeheg said:

I'm just not sure what to do with them now.

Flip through them, read the cool ones.  Then bag and board them and enjoy them for a while.  Keep the ones you end up really liking, sell the others for a big profit. You have an instant collection of really cool comics.

Edited August 1, 2020 by Turnando

[Get Marwood & I]

On 7/23/2020 at 11:24 PM, Qalyar said:

Long Distance Wife is actually one of the 10 issues of Streamline Pictorial Romance, published by the British paperback publisher (and cheapo repackager of US comics) Streamline. This series reprinted stories from various Fox publications, mostly My Love Life and My Secret Story. I'm not sure which "number" this one is (and not all of them were even officially assigned numbers in the indicia, so they're sort of one-offs, but also not really). GCD only has a handful of images for them. This is 100% going to be an example of "not everything scarce has enough market to be worth money", I'm afraid, unless you get lucky and find someone who actually collects the (lots of) obscure romance stuff Streamline produced in the 50s.

Hello Qalyar 

In typing that, I've only just realised that you're Qalyar, and not the 'Qaylar' that I've been saying in my head every time I've seen your board name for the last two years. 

I was Googleating 'Streamline' and came across your post. What more can you tell me about the Streamline Pictorial Romance books I wonder? Did you get the 10 issue range from the GCD, or is there a list of them somewhere hidden away on the interweb?

[thehumantorch]

Didn't realize this thread was 2 years old but I like it.  Nice to see a small collection of obscure books pop up and nice to see some Canadian Whites

[MattTheDuck]

Given some of the posts I've read on here, the idea of "Long Distance Wife" probably has a lot of value.  Not sure about the comic.

[Qalyar]

On 3/27/2022 at 11:37 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Hello Qalyar 

In typing that, I've only just realised that you're Qalyar, and not the 'Qaylar' that I've been saying in my head every time I've seen your board name for the last two years. 

I was Googleating 'Streamline' and came across your post. What more can you tell me about the Streamline Pictorial Romance books I wonder? Did you get the 10 issue range from the GCD, or is there a list of them somewhere hidden away on the interweb?

My name does have very tricksy letters!

So, I admit, I took GCD's count of 10 books on faith for that response two years back, and I really probably shouldn't have. GCD came to the conclusion that there are 10 books because they have information about books numbered 6 (My Fabulous Past) and 7 (They Called Me a Flirt), and therefore assumed the existence of books numbered 1 through 5 -- in addition to the three issues they're aware of without issue numbers at all. That's a terrible assumption, and I should have known better. Streamline viewed numbers more like suggestions than an orderly progression of integers that increased steadily from book to book.

That said, I'm not entirely without my own information about these books; sadly, I do not currently own any of them myself. Regardless, I can confirm the existence of the following Streamline Pictorial Romance books:

• He Knew My Secret
• Honeymoon Without Love
• I Dared Not Love
• I Lied for Love *
• I Lived in Fear
• Long Distance Wife
• My Fabulous Past
• They Called Me a Flirt

* Strictly speaking, I Lied For Love is advertised as a "68 Page Bumper Pictorial Romance", but both GCD and I consider that to be variant branding for a larger-than-usual book in the same "series". Frankly, to what extent this should be considered a series at all is debatable, as the various issues reprint utterly unrelated content from (so far as I know) various late 1940s Fox romance comics.

Additionally, there is one more title that I believe to be a Streamline Pictorial Romance. I have never seen a copy of The Frightened Bride, but a copy was part of the Anne Renier collection, which she donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Based on my library searches, I believe that copy to be held in the museum's Blythe House Archive (with reference number 862.AA.0679). I am not certain whether arrangements can be made to examine it or have the cover imaged or whatnot. I am very, very far from London, so I'll leave that to others.

Under the assumption that The Frightened Bride really is a Streamline Pictorial Romance, that brings our count to nine books, so the GCD's ten-book estimation is at least not very wrong, although how they got to that number is certainly sloppily ahistorical. In any case, If there's anyone in the world who has a more comprehensive list of these, it might be Michael Carroll, who has been on a years-long effort to catalog British comic publications. I know he keeps a very well-researched database, but it is not currently public. It might be worth reaching out to him to see if he's recorded any that I have not.

Also, good luck to anyone trying to assemble a set of these. They're likely to be just a few dollars when they come up for sale, but having them come up for sale? Yeah, that's the tricky part.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 3/27/2022 at 7:15 PM, Qalyar said:

My name does have very tricksy letters!

So, I admit, I took GCD's count of 10 books on faith for that response two years back, and I really probably shouldn't have. GCD came to the conclusion that there are 10 books because they have information about books numbered 6 (My Fabulous Past) and 7 (They Called Me a Flirt), and therefore assumed the existence of books numbered 1 through 5 -- in addition to the three issues they're aware of without issue numbers at all. That's a terrible assumption, and I should have known better. Streamline viewed numbers more like suggestions than an orderly progression of integers that increased steadily from book to book.

That said, I'm not entirely without my own information about these books; sadly, I do not currently own any of them myself. Regardless, I can confirm the existence of the following Streamline Pictorial Romance books:

• He Knew My Secret
• Honeymoon Without Love
• I Dared Not Love
• I Lied for Love *
• I Lived in Fear
• Long Distance Wife
• My Fabulous Past
• They Called Me a Flirt

* Strictly speaking, I Lied For Love is advertised as a "68 Page Bumper Pictorial Romance", but both GCD and I consider that to be variant branding for a larger-than-usual book in the same "series". Frankly, to what extent this should be considered a series at all is debatable, as the various issues reprint utterly unrelated content from (so far as I know) various late 1940s Fox romance comics.

Additionally, there is one more title that I believe to be a Streamline Pictorial Romance. I have never seen a copy of The Frightened Bride, but a copy was part of the Anne Renier collection, which she donated to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Based on my library searches, I believe that copy to be held in the museum's Blythe House Archive (with reference number 862.AA.0679). I am not certain whether arrangements can be made to examine it or have the cover imaged or whatnot. I am very, very far from London, so I'll leave that to others.

Under the assumption that The Frightened Bride really is a Streamline Pictorial Romance, that brings our count to nine books, so the GCD's ten-book estimation is at least not very wrong, although how they got to that number is certainly sloppily ahistorical. In any case, If there's anyone in the world who has a more comprehensive list of these, it might be Michael Carroll, who has been on a years-long effort to catalog British comic publications. I know he keeps a very well-researched database, but it is not currently public. It might be worth reaching out to him to see if he's recorded any that I have not.

Also, good luck to anyone trying to assemble a set of these. They're likely to be just a few dollars when they come up for sale, but having them come up for sale? Yeah, that's the tricky part.

Thank you for that excellent response Qalyar!

I've been gathering a copy here and there, and plan to put a journal entry together at some point.

Here's The Frightened Bride, along with several other new ones which I will scan and post in the journal entry. I'll see if I can contact Michael Carroll too. It would be nice to document them more fully than the current GCD record. It's clear there are a good few more than ten 

Here's another that I do have scanned, also not on the list: