Comic Book Collecting

[John Pertwee]

I don't buy much anymore. The only new titles I buy are the Universal Monsters comics. Creature just ended and Frank starts in a few weeks. I still haven't read them yet. Dracula turned me off art wise. I'll try it again eventually.

[horrorhunter]

EC Horror Comics of the 1950s (Nostalgia Press, 1971)









I was looking through my copy of this great book today and thought to post about it. This is a huge book (14 1/4" x 10", weighs nearly 4 lbs.) which reprints several classic EC stories and features about the artists. Later we got the excellent EC reprint volumes by Russ Cochran but in the '70s this was the best EC representation available short of the original EC issues. This book has become a collectible in its own right with low grade copies bringing around $100 and VG copies around $200. You seldom ever see them better than VG. My copy has edge wear to the book and DJ and is probably in VG. I have fond memories of seeing ads for this in monster mags back in the day. A real joy to read.

https://eccomics.fandom.com/wiki/The_EC_Horror_Library_Of_The_1950%27s

[Rex fury]

I have a very badly beaten copy of this too. Oddly enough, my Sister In Law gave it to me after she had it for many years. I bought the boxed sets and several other reprint editions over the years, but I've never purchased an actual EC comic- weird!
Currently purchasing and rereading all the Swamp Thing comics. I've owned both the comics and the graphic novels before, but I caught the bug to have the originals again after rewatching the Swamp Thing show from the CW.
RF

[horrorhunter]

I have a very badly beaten copy of this too. Oddly enough, my Sister In Law gave it to me after she had it for many years. I bought the boxed sets and several other reprint editions over the years, but I've never purchased an actual EC comic- weird!
Currently purchasing and rereading all the Swamp Thing comics. I've owned both the comics and the graphic novels before, but I caught the bug to have the originals again after rewatching the Swamp Thing show from the CW.
RF

I never could afford to get into the original EC comics heavily. I have a few original issues but most of my EC collection is reprints like the paperbacks from the '60s and the comics from the '90s. I bought the slipcased hardback collections of Tales from the Crypt, Vault of Horror, and Haunt of Fear by Cochran back in the '90s and those are really nice. All of this EC stuff has gotten so expensive with the original issues selling for hundreds of dollars in mid grade. It's tough to get into them now so I'll just enjoy what I have. Fun to read the classic stories and enjoy the art by titans like Frazetta, Ingels, Davis, Wood, Williamson, etc.

I identify more with '60s/'70s comics and artists because those are the ones I grew up with. Wrightson is my favorite and you can see how his early work was influenced by Graham Ingels and Frank Frazetta. Hard to beat the first 10 issues of Swamp Thing with the classic Wrightson art, and of course the House of Secrets 92 story that started it all with the awesome Wrightson cover with "Weezie" Jones modeling for the girl. When I started collecting in the mid '70s I scoured all of the used bookstores, flea markets, and yard sales in my area trying to find Swamp Thing 3-10. I bought the first two issues on a visit to Bob Overstreet's house. Turned out my parents knew his father. Weird.

[Rex fury]

I agree that Bernie Wrightson was an awesome artist! My daughter is taking a course called Gods and Monsters from her school. They're assigned to read the original, Mary Shelly,  Frankenstein. I introduced her to Wrightson's edition (from Marvel) and she was blown away. She couldn't believe all the line work Wrightson put into his illustrations. I'm sending her my copy of the book to use for her class.
Turns out I do have a few EC originals.; a run of Piracy that I'd forgotten about. My all time favorite cover featuring a Hard Hat diver comes from that run!
RF

[horrorhunter]

Grabbed a few more old Sad Sack comics from an eBay seller for cheap.



These are all from the mid/late 1950s. Some of them are Golden Age since the Silver Age is generally considered to have started in 1956 with Showcase #4. They range in grade from FR (1.0) to VG (4.0) and ended up being around $3 an issue. This lot even has the first issues of long running titles Sad Sack and the Sarge and Sad Sack's Funny Friends. These aren't for everyone but if you grew up in the '60s enjoying Sad Sack comics like I did then it's pretty cool to get issues from before you were born. The ads alone are worth the price.

I think they went so low because the seller didn't show the back covers and the description wasn't great. Most collectors think that there's a good chance low grade lots like this will contain incomplete copies or copies with brittle pages or water damage/rusty staples, so they avoid them. But these turned out okay with just normal wear. Great reading copies.

[Mike Scott]

. . since the Silver Age is generally considered to have started in 1956 with Showcase #4.

So, what's featured in Showcase #4?

[horrorhunter]

So, what's featured in Showcase #4?

First new Flash (Barry Allen). It began the new age of comic book superheroes commonly called the Silver Age. The heroes were largely on hiatus since the Golden Age heroes fell out of favor after WW2 and other genres took over in the '50s, especially Horror and Crime.

[Mike Scott]

Ah! The Flish!

[horrorhunter]

Creepy #55 (also the 1973 Annual) was a great issue that I bought OTR in the Summer of 1973.



I saw an eBay listing for the double-sided poster included in that issue which brought back fond memories of enjoying that issue.





That issue also featured a board game called the Creepy Crawley Castle Game.

My original coverless copy of Creepy #55 went by the wayside of time but I still have my double-sided poster in a poster frame hanging among some other monster stuff. I also have my original Creepy Crawley Castle Game from that OTR copy. My poster has tack holes but still looks pretty good, and my game held up well because I stapled the "board" and pieces to cardboard just after breaking it out. My cousins and I played the game several times and had some good monster fun with it. I even made a crude box for it with Eerie Pubsish illos on the outside. After watching the YT video, I remembered that we used a six-sided die for movement instead of the spinner. We also used some house rules that made the game fun. The games were fast and brutal but still fun. Of course, the best part of playing was the great artwork on the board and pieces. It's a great game considering it was free!

I bought a VF copy of 55 when I finished my Creepy run some 20 years ago. Warren included other games with some of their other issues around that time including "Capture" and others going across different Warren titles. I have them in my collection because I also finished the Eerie and Vampirella runs, but they aren't busted out and the VFish copies in my collection aren't getting mangled without a bloody fight. It would be fun, though, to buy low-grade complete copies of the game issues and cannibalize them for the games (though it would be a lot of trouble and still some expense).

I believe then-editor Bill Dubay was responsible for the games inclusions as well as the free poster and perhaps the lush color stories as well. "The Dube" was great, and really helped Warren Publishing excel in the early '70s. He was Jim Warren's right hand in those days and was instrumental in putting Warren on top in the monster mag scene. The early '70s was a real high point for Warren's product and rivalled the beginning of Creepy and Eerie with Archie Goodwin at the helm. Warren ruled monster mags until the early '80s and finally had to tap out. All Warren fans are thankful for the Warren Warehouse which made back issues plentiful and affordable right up to the present. Warren mags were consistently the highest quality monster mags for some 2 1/2 decades.

[horrorhunter]

[Rex fury]

Nice  post on the Wrightson book. Was Bernie still part of " The Studio" in 74? That group of young artists really defined the late 60's early 70's comic scene.
I laughed when the YouTube commentator mentioned the Four dollar price written on the first page of the book. Writing your asking price in pencil on the first page was a common practice for those of us selling at conventions during those years.Can you imagine anyone doing that today?
RF

[horrorhunter]

Was Bernie still part of " The Studio" in 74? That group of young artists really defined the late 60's early 70's comic scene.

The Studio was formed in 1975 and lasted until 1979.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Studio_(commune)

[Rex fury]

Wow, was it that late ? For some reason I was thinking they started out earlier sharing space. Anyway, what a collection of excellent talent.
RF

[horrorhunter]

I still watch comic book auctions on YT mainly just to see what books come up and what they sell for. Of course, the number of viewers for most of these auctions is scant next to a big online auction site so it mostly ends up being books selling for much less than FMV. The sellers claim they do it to avoid auction fees but if you consistently sell books for 50-80% of FMV to avoid a sellers' fee of less than 15% you're getting screwed. I think they mostly do it just for the social interaction and to get to "play dealer". They actually end up selling at a loss just to get to pretend to be a comic dealer. Kind of sad really, but if they enjoy that... Anyway, it free to watch, and somewhat enjoyable.

Another observation, this time regarding professional grading companies. It's a bit hard to believe that so many people still keep feeding money into "grading" (slabbing) a comic. They all gripe about the inconsistent grading, poor service, damaged books, high fees, etc., and yet they keep throwing money at this. Some even play the "crack and resubmit" game trying to get a higher grade by pressing and cleaning a book and paying these conmen again, over and over in some cases, to reslab the same book. Masochism? Could be.