Comic Book Collecting

[horrorhunter]

A Savage Tales #1 eBay listing that just ended:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SAVAGE-TALES-1-6-0-1971-1ST-APPEARANCE-OF-MAN-THING-/303782036166?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&nma=true&si=ukEZmjEG65byrAISQlk25gnSMJ8%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc



This copy is in the FN range and sold for $332 at auction with 18 bids. This is a high demand book these days featuring the first appearance of Marvel's Man-Thing. It seems to sell for a little less than similar keys probably because it's a magazine sized book instead of a regular comic book size. Some current collectors seem to shun monster magazines and limit themselves to regular comic books, which somewhat lessens demand for the magazine sized issues.

I really appreciate the magazines and regard them as highly as regular comic books. I've probably put more expense and effort into my monster mags in the last 20 years than my regular comic book runs. My copy of Savage Tales #1 is in similar grade to this one and I paid $25 for it at a small comic con around 20 years ago. Another example of the way prices have soared on certain books in the last few years.

When I started collecting in 1975 I remember Savage Tales #1 being a pretty big book, not so much for the Man-Thing 1st appearance as for the early Conan (who was the hot character back then). It would be years before I finally scored my copy and I was very glad to finally get one. Not long ago I read an interview with Roy Thomas who mentioned how Savage Tales #1 bundles were literally cluttering up the Marvel offices and several had been put out in the hallway and were getting stepped on. Many of the Bullpen members were urged to take a bundle or two home with them just to get them out of the way. Worthless doormats to expensive highly sought after collectibles- the crazy world of the comic book marketplace. 

[Rex fury]

Savage Tales 1 is indeed an experience to read! As you mentioned, Manthing made his first appearance there and Conan's The Frost Giants Daughter is also a treat. I like the black and white version presented here better than the reprint in Conan 16. There's a couple other stories in the magazine ( one by John Romita) that to my knowledge have never been reprinted. It's a fun book, but I'm happy I got my copy for 19 bucks back in the day!
RF

[Mike Scott]

Many of the Bullpen members were urged to take a bundle or two home with them just to get them out of the way.

So why aren't there a crap load of them around?

[horrorhunter]

So why aren't there a crap load of them around?

I believe there were distribution problems due in part to the "Mature" rating on the cover. Monster magazine distribution in 1971 was pretty haphazard anyway, and since Marvel hadn't done many of them prior to this the print run on Savage Tales #1 was probably fairly low. It wasn't even an ongoing series at first, the 2nd issue came out much later, so it was like a 1-shot to test the market. Add in the fact that most of the ones returned to the Marvel offices were probably treated like trash, and that it's been 49 years, so you end up with not that many still around compared to later Marvel mags like Monsters Unleashed! or the common Warren issues.

When I started collecting in 1975 Savage Tales #1 was expensive and hard to find at cons, and I never saw a copy at a flea market or used book store. It would be years before I even saw a copy in person.

[Hepcat]

While I resisted actually buying any more comics late in 1963 and early in 1964, I continued to peruse them on newsstands.

I couldn't resist buying Green Lantern 28. When I discovered the stack of comics my mother and sister had concealed from me inside the couch a few weeks later, I was back to collecting DC superhero comics big time!

While actively buying whatever DC superhero comics I could find on the stands from mid-1963 until the latter months of 1964, I was also trading for whatever back issues of Justice League of America, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Atom and Wonder Woman I could find. Since I regarded Superman and Batman as commonplace heroes, for trade I was using titles such as Adventure Comics, Superboy, Action Comics, Detective Comics and World's Finest Comics where Superman or Batman were the cover features.

I was quite successful in hunting down and trading for back issues of the Justice League of America including a copy of Brave and the Bold 28 (the intro issue) which unlike my other comics had a badly crumpled cover:


(Not mine.)


Unlike most other kids I was determined to keep my comics in nice condition and would shout at any of my buddies not to fold the covers back when reading them because it wrecks them! Other Justice League of America issues for which I remember trading were these:




(Not mine.)




















I remember issues #4, 10, 11 and 12 being among the very first Justice League issues for which I traded. Issues #8 and 14 which had been pivotal in turning me into a DC superhero fan in the summer of 1962 were also among the ones I acquired through trade.

[horrorhunter]

While actively buying whatever DC superhero comics I could find on the stands from mid-1963 until the latter months of 1964, I was also trading for whatever back issues of Justice League of America, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Atom and Wonder Woman I could find. Since I regarded Superman and Batman as commonplace heroes, for trade I was using titles such as Adventure Comics, Superboy, Action Comics, Detective Comics and World's Finest Comics where Superman or Batman were the cover features.

We share the opinion that Superman and Batman were somewhat bland and uninteresting in the mid '60s. Batman was in that campy phase, and his Neal Adams days hadn't quite arrived, and the Superman titles featured some of the silliest stories in the history of comic books. That's the problem with a character who can do everything and overpowers all opposition. You have to resort to goofy plots just so something...anything, happens.

I liked a lot of DC titles when I was a kid, and still do, more-so than ever. But it was the other genre DC books I was most interested in, like Mystery (Horror), and War (especially War That Time Forgot stories in Star Spangled War Stories, and Haunted Tank stories in G. I. Combat). I also liked a lot of the offbeat heroes like Metal Men, Tomahawk, and Adam Strange in Strange Adventures, and of course the supernatural heroes like the Spectre, Phantom Stranger, and later Swamp Thing, but those were really just another spin on Horror with continuing characters instead of the more common anthology books. But, the DC mainstream superheroes just didn't appeal to me in general. I was, and still am, a Marvel guy when it comes to superheroes. Not a Marvel Zombie by any means, because my comic book/monster mag likes are many and varied. I'm also a big Charlton fan, as well as many Dell/Gold Key titles (Turok!), Tower (T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents), and monster mags in general, Warren, Skywald, Curtis (Marvel), Eerie Pubs, Stanley, and the short-lived Atlas-Seaboard titles.

[Hepcat]

I liked a lot of DC titles when I was a kid, and still do, more-so than ever. But it was the other genre DC books I was most interested in, like Mystery (Horror), and War (especially War That Time Forgot stories in Star Spangled War Stories, and Haunted Tank stories in G. I. Combat). I also liked a lot of the offbeat heroes like Metal Men, Tomahawk, and Adam Strange in Strange Adventures, and of course the supernatural heroes like the Spectre, Phantom Stranger, and later Swamp Thing, but those were really just another spin on Horror with continuing characters instead of the more common anthology books.

After getting a paper route in March of 1964 from which I earned the princely sum of $2.74 per week I started to buy all the DC titles I found on newsstands with the exception of Sugar and Spike, the romance and the war (though I bought Capt. Storm).

But, the DC mainstream superheroes just didn't appeal to me in general. I was, and still am, a Marvel guy when it comes to superheroes.

I enjoyed the Marvel comics I chanced to read, e.g. Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, X-Men, but the DC comics were a higher priority and I only had so much money for all my competing interests, i.e. comics, cards, model kits, so I didn't actually buy any Marvel comics as a kid.

[Rex fury]

Hey Hepcat, why Captain Storm? Just curious as I discovered Captain Storm later in life and really enjoyed the title. Other than Weird War I never really bought many DC war titles. Captain Storm led me to Star Spangled War Stories and the Unknown Soldier .
RF

[Hepcat]

The reason I bought Capt. Storm was that issue #1 hit newsstands in March 1964. I could therefore be in on the title from the ground floor unlike for DC's long-running Big Five war titles. Here are scans of the earliest Capt. Storm comics from my present day collection:















These days my tastes/priorities have changed and the DC war stories I like the best are those illustrated by either Joe Kubert (e.g. Sgt. Rock in Our Army at War and the Haunted Tank in G.I. Combat) or else Russ Heath.



Incidentally, I think Irving Novick's artwork on the above covers is simply lousy. But Novick was doing some good artwork for Batman by mid-1968 and I really liked his artwork in The Flash when he took over as the regular artist with issue #200 in 1970.

[Hepcat]

I had more limited success in tracking down and trading for older issues of The Flash in 1963-64. I did manage to acquire these earlier issues though:


(Not mine.)



Northland copy








I also very clearly remember the wonder I felt looking at this ad for Flash 128 but I never succeeded in tracking down a copy as a kid:





Here though is a scan of my present day copy:

[horrorhunter]

I enjoyed the Marvel comics I chanced to read, e.g. Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, X-Men, but the DC comics were a higher priority and I only had so much money for all my competing interests, i.e. comics, cards, model kits, so I didn't actually buy any Marvel comics as a kid.

Our ages are a bit apart so I didn't start buying comics until 1963 at the age of 4. Being that young I just bought different comics here and there according to how the cover grabbed me. I was a big dinosaur fan early on which explains my infatuation with Turok and the War That Time Forgot issues of Star Spangled War Stories. If I had been older I might have leaned toward the more established DC Superheroes as you did. However, I'm pretty sure I would have still been a Marvel fan as well.

Not only were the early Marvels really fun with the interesting characters and art by Kirby and Ditko, but the way Stan Lee tied everything together in the early Marvel Universe with hero crossovers and, more importantly, hero vs. hero fights, made Marvel comics very entertaining. I think the most important thing Stan did to make Marvel popular was to make the readers feel like part of the Marvel family. He made sure the Marvel Bullpen members got proper credit on the splash page, and his Stan Lee's Soapbox is legendary for engaging the readership. When you wrote a letter to a DC comic you addressed the "Editor", but when you wrote to a Marvel comic you addressed "Smilin'"Stan, or "Rascally" Roy, or some other dude you got to know like a distant friend. That was probably Stan's biggest contribution, because most of the actual creating was by the artists (the Marvel Method of storytelling), especially Kirby. Stan was a good writer, but not great, I always thought Roy Thomas was the best writer Marvel had in the early days. Stan could sure hold it all together, though, and captain the ship.

[Hepcat]

...but the way Stan Lee tied everything together in the early Marvel Universe with hero crossovers and, more importantly, hero vs. hero fights, made Marvel comics very entertaining. I think the most important thing Stan did to make Marvel popular was to make the readers feel like part of the Marvel family. He made sure the Marvel Bullpen members got proper credit on the splash page, and his Stan Lee's Soapbox is legendary for engaging the readership. When you wrote a letter to a DC comic you addressed the "Editor", but when you wrote to a Marvel comic you addressed "Smilin'"Stan, or "Rascally" Roy, or some other dude you got to know like a distant friend. That was probably Stan's biggest contribution....

Absolutely! Those particular innovations by Stan Lee were the key elements in Marvel's success in capturing the hearts of young comic readers in the sixties.

[Hepcat]

I agree in general with this, but not specifically to exclude Marvel. I grew up reading Marvel comics in the mid '60s and have very fond memories of enjoying Fantastic Four, Amazing Spider-Man, Thor, and Avengers issues from that period. One of the earliest comics I remember buying was Fantastic Four #35. I read that copy until it was literally in FAIR condition, even though the cover was still holding on. I enjoyed many other books back then too... Turok, Star Spangled War Stories (War That Time Forgot), Tomahawk, Metal Men, etc., but I liked Marvel Superhero books much better than DC. I have a few DC Superhero comics in my collection, mostly for Adams art (and a little Wrightson), but for me Marvel blew DC away when it came to Superheroes. Later on, in the early Bronze Age, the Marvel Monster titles hit and I loved those issues (still do), as well as many of the Marvel Superhero titles. So, no way I'm going to exclude Marvel from my collection. I'm just glad I picked up most of the ones I really want back when they were cheap.

These days I'd have to pass on some of the Marvel keys and settle for reprints, but I would still go after the run fillers if I didn't have them. To me the run fillers are undervalued while the keys are overvalued. My Werewolf By Night #32 is in VF/NM (9.0) condition, and my Tomb Of Dracula #10 is in FN  (6.5) condition.

I don't remember you ever mentioning liking the pre-hero Atlas/Marvel comics, e.g. Strange Tales, Amazing Adventures, Strange Worlds, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish on which artists such as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Joe Sinnott worked.

[horrorhunter]

I don't remember you ever mentioning liking the pre-hero Atlas/Marvel comics, e.g. Strange Tales, Amazing Adventures, Strange Worlds, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish on which artists such as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Joe Sinnott worked.

I like the pre-hero Atlas/Marvels very much. I just don't have many of them. Prices on those books have gotten ridiculous in the last few years in much the same way as Pre-Code Horror comics. If I were wealthy I'd have them all (well...I'm not sure even being wealthy would make that possible now, but I'd have as many as I could comfortably afford). With my limited resources these days I focus on my favorite titles from the Silver and Bronze Ages, mostly Horror, and mostly in mid grade up to VF copies. High grade copies are way overpriced currently IMO. I'm just glad I bought what issues I did back when they were affordable. I couldn't touch some of the books in my collection now if I didn't already have them. Now I just peck away at finishing runs from the '60s and '70s mostly. Prices in the comic book market have gotten ridiculous in general, and stratospheric on many older keys...especially Marvels. I enjoy the MCU, but damn, it sure boosted back issue prices on certain books out of the average collector's price range.

I do have most of the Marvel reprint titles from the early-mid '70s that reprinted the older material by Kirby and Ditko, like Where Monsters Dwell, Where Creatures Roam, Monsters On The Prowl, Creatures On The Loose, Beware, Tomb Of Darkness, etc. But, even those reprint issues have been getting expensive in the last few years. The window for getting older books at affordable prices keeps getting smaller every year. If this keeps up it will hard to afford most anything from the '70s and earlier within the next 10-20 years. And, the older books are pretty much all I care about anymore. I don't collect any comics from the last 20 years, and not much from the '80s/'90s. I want the stuff I grew up with and bought when I first started collecting. New comics have no value to me unless it's something I could resell to make a profit on. And, those limited variant covers are the biggest con in the marketplace. Anyone who is investing real money in that stuff is screwing up. They might make a few bucks on a quick flip, but as a long term investment those overpriced limited cover variants will tank big time. That's my opinion anyway.

[marsattacks666]

I just picked up a copy of Chamber of Chills # 8