Adventure Comics #44

[themegoguy]

Just saw this thread and all I can say is MAN! In the late 80's/early 90's I went through the same thing you did, and became the scourge of the quarter bins seeking candidates for restoration to experiment on. You could even find some GA for a buck or so that were junk, and you know that often the junkier the better for practice! Impressive, most impressive. Do you have a studio or area setup? I had a drawing table (titlable) and a bench with a dry mount press, airbrush, sordid tools and adhesives, pastes, japan papers, inks and paints etc.

 

It is an amazing way to learn about restoration and, in your case, make it work for you. I've said it on the boards a dozen times and is great to see you saying it too: (I just don't want others to read this and turn around and try to restore their expensive books without a proper warning). But I think you agree more folks should be encouraged to pick up some junk and give it a whirl.

 

A question for you: since the LRC is a recreation, do you anticipate adding some lines to simulat the diagional lines in the pants? Also, on the inside of the LRC, was there any text or did you luck out with all white?

 

Regardless, a beautiful bit of work!

 

Hey POV, Couldn't agree with you more that more people should give it a try, especially if your an artsy person! You hit it right on the head that not only can it be a fun hobby, but very educational. You learn what to look for and can appreciate when its done well. As for a work area, I have a large glass desk with all of the fun stuff: dry mount press, tacking iron, paints, paintbrushes, methyl cellulose, japanese paper, etc. including two large pieces of tempered glass to work on and keep works in progress between. One of these days I'll take a few pics.

 

As for the book, I didn't attempt to recreate the text on the inside of the cover (there wouldn't have been much), but matched it to the color of the paper and left it at that. I could have, but because its a recreated corner I wasn't too worried about it. I wasn't sure how CGC would treat this, so I might have to if it affects the grade? The green color of the pants and the yellow background color appear much brighter and lighter in the scan than when holding the book in my hands. Its matched pretty close. I am really hoping for a 7.0-7.5 and will find out on Wednesday or Thursday. Although they are more lenient on golden age books, they aren't when they're restored.

[JohnBull]

I recieved the book last friday from eBay seller jalva75 and spent the last week restoring it myself, putting in roughly 10-12 hours. I've been doing restoration work for a little over a year and have practiced on MANY books (destroying MANY low grade readers) and experimenting with different techniques and professional archival materials. I couldn't have been happier with how the book turned out. I estimated that it would have cost anywhere from $500-$900 (depending on the restorer) to have the book done, but it only cost me $425 for the book plus maybe $40 in materials, for a grand total of $465 and turnaround time of a week (overstreet unrestored 8.0 is I believe $4700). I consider restoration a hobby of mine, but not one to be taken lightly. I've spent A LOT of time practicing and many mistakes to get to the point I am now and there is still a lot to learn and room for improvement! (I just don't want others to read this and turn around and try to restore their expensive books without a proper warning). I only plan to do work like this on my own personal books for my own collection, although professional restoration would be a dream job! Thanks again for the input!

 

I remember seeing the book on ebay many times. I think the guy had to relist on a number of occassions. Whan I saw your original scan, I'd never have pegged that that was the copy.

 

I think you're only mistake was posting the book here for a grade. I don't suppose for one minute that you've done this to sell, but...

 

If you now did submit this to CGC, I'm sure it would get an Amateur designation on the resto. You've put such a flag on the book that it would have to get remembered. That's a great shame as Amateur resto has to be the absolute kiss of death in the valley of the label hunter.

 

Looking at the scan a priori (and judging by other responses here), your work is pretty darn good. I don't know whether or not you could have got this by CGC with a Pro designation, but it would have been interesting to see. A Pro label would probably double or quadruple the value of the book.

 

Whatever, if your intention was to draw attention to your abilities and tout for trade, I suspect you'd get customers. If you priced your work accordingly, I'm sure you'd get takers. Personally, I think restoration is a good thing. In an ideal world it would be nice to only own unrestored books, but when you're looking at comics that are 65+ years old, you have to be realistic. In a hundred years time, without some kind of work, most of these books will be dust or near to it. With full disclosure, all you're doing is helping comics catch up with the serious art world, where restoration is accepted and welcomed.

 

A great job. Congratulations.