I have to be thankful for these posts, they allow me to spend a couple of hours every week enjoying music I don’t usually have enough time for. I put my headphones on and dive down the rabbit holes. It’s always instrumentals, as lyrics demand my attention, and I like the jams more than anything else. This week I had to type while moving around because James Brown’s Popcorn album lead the way. Sometimes it’s Zappa’s 60s solos, sometimes Miles, sometimes soundtracks to film noir or post noir cop movies. Late 30s and early 40s swing compilations are good too as are those heavy acid jams of circa 1970. For a while, I got into Serbian folk music but had to stop because I ended up drinking and starting to cry after only a few songs! I do have to expand my repertoire though and try to add a few things post 1975! I think I’m going to start noting what was filling my ears every week.
We finally got a batch of books up on the vintage section of bigbcomics.com this weekend, it was about two weeks late and about 50% light as far as the numbers of books I wanted up. I tried passing along some of the suggestions a few of you left in the comments field a few posts back but the guys are trying methods they are more comfortable with. Going forward I see getting this warehouse full of books listed to the site as the number one priority, I have to figure this out.
Ontario remains in lockdown until at least May 20th and as a retail shop we are starting to feel it, the crew is working hard to get to all the curbside pickups and the deliveries, the mail-order retail part of our shop is doing well on Shopify as well so we’re fighting, clawing and scratching to stay in the game. It might be a losing battle if not for the back issues, our online sales through ICE and our auctions on eBay are doing great but it does piss me off having to use these gains to pay the hydro bills, bills should be taken care of by healthy foot traffic through the shop. Soon Walt, soon.
Speaking of eBay we had another amazing week with more record-setting results. The one I’d like to highlight is Shazam #28. We got $305 for this CGC 6.0 copy setting a new recorded high for the issue in this grade. Shazam #28 is actually a very hot book with all grades showing green arrows as excitement builds to the Rock playing the Black Adam in the upcoming film. I still say DCs are the buys right now, stick with the keys and stick with strong covers, they are bargains relative to the Marvels. Advantage Buyer.
I bought all those Shazams back in the early 70s, hoping they would have the cleverness and quality of the 40s issues. They didn’t and I dumped them all.
Look at what they’re going for now!
Let that be a lesson to you Klaus- never EVER sell anything ! Ever !!!
You are right Live Frog, the hoarders have won the race!
I predict that Shazam #28 will be worth more than the original first appearance of Black Adam in Marvel Family #1 from 1945. Why ? Because Shazam #28 is not rare & more accessible to the masses. Lots of copies out there for the hungry hordes ! Lots of potential sales ! How many of you have seen an original Marvel Family #1 comic ??? I believe that we are going to see a mass of Shazam# 28 show up slabbed over the next year or so in all grades & selling for silly prices to hungry investors until the movie hype blows over. How many Marvel Family #1 from 1945 are going to show up in this time frame? One? Two copies ??? If you are a hungry investor, what are you going to put your money into- a stupid golden age comic from 1945 that is already expensive & has no meaning to anyone born after 1985, or a Shazam #28 from 1977 that has room to grow? Think about it folks…. what would you rather own…a Detective Comics #140 [ first Riddler ] or a Batman #171 [ second Riddler- not rare & more accessible ]- what can you afford to own ??? Hooh Hah Hooh Hah ??? Potrzebie !!! Let me know will ya???
I don’t think I’ve ever even seen a picture of Marvel Family #1. I have a few of the later Captain Marvel Whiz issues but nothing major.
Live Frog: Hooh Hah Hooh Hah? Potzrebie? Big fan of early Mad, are we?
I just looked up MF1 on eBay just now and there’s one in CGC2.0 going for over $7,500. USD. By that reckoning, what would a 9+ go for?
Klaus: Yes, love the early Mad’s !! Love Kurtzman in general, except for Little Annie Fanny which I could never warm up to…
Now is not the time to be buying a Marvel Family #1. In fact, I don’t know when is a good time to be buying a Marvel Family #1 !!! If you really want to play the ‘Black Adam’ game, Shazam #28 is your meat. It still has room to grow, but make sure that you are not the donkey who pays $5000 for a CGC 9.8 copy, only to find the market for this book flat-lining soon after your purchase as interest in the character subsides…
And of course, make sure you READ your Shazam #28 as I am sure it is a literary & artistic TREASURE !!!
Well, Live Frog, I have both a Shazam #28 (which up until now I thought might be a $5 book at best) and Marvel Family #1, in fn-. I’ll keep my MF #1, thank you, and happily move on my Shazam #28. Glad to take the money and buy more Golden Age comics with real value and scarcity.
Thanks for the scoop Walter. Always happy to sell into an inflated market something that means little to me.
Yeah, Klaus, I didn’t think much of them either, aside from the Schaffenberger artwork. Lame stories written down for 8 year olds is my recollection. Didn’t know I owned one until I checked the ol’ want list. Cover is ok, I suppose….
Awwww Bud, you bought your MF#1 for $10.00 back in 1972- that was a different world ! You can’t compare to some shmoe today trying to flog a CGC2.0 MF#1 for $7500 USD !!! I was buying all kinds of great golden age stuff back in the 1980’s for pocket change too, books that I could never hope to own in today’s market! Us old timers are lucky as we were able to scoop up all kinds of great stuff back then for nothing. If I end up finding a Shazam #28 in my basement, it probably would have cost me .60 cents at the local used book store- I will gladly flog it for hundreds & pick up a low grade GA Captain America or something !!! Hooh Hah !!!
I’m with you, Live Frog. Thoughj my Marvel Family #1 probably ran me $150-250.
In the seventies I thought comics had gottenj too expensive. True story. And I went into vintage illustrated books. Pogany, Rackham, Dulac etc. Only in the eighties and nineties did my income increase and I realized I could start scoring cool Golden /Age for under $100, or not too much over that. And I came late to Fawcett—had to collection Fiction House and Quality first, then expanded to the other companies.
I still have my Blackhawk run from the sixties…wow, what a great investment. Can I pick’em? Would that I was scoring Timelys or Batman back them. But I did keep my Frazettas and Williamson and other artists from then.
$150.00 to $250.00 sounds like a fair price for MF#1. $150.00 to $250.00 was certainly within my comfort zone back in the 1980’s & I was able to buy all kinds of classic GA books back then within that spread, such as Wonderworld #3 & Marvel Mystery #63 in solid unrestored mid-grade. If I told you what I actually paid for my Marvel Mystery #63 [ Fine condition ] back around 1986, you would probably burst into tears ! $150.00 to $250.00 still remains in my comfort zone right now, but there is not much core GA stuff that you can buy in that price spread any more, & I am relegated to competing on ebay against other lunatics for nice copies of Ace, Tip Top or Sparkler Comics that fall within that range !!!
Be careful with those illustrated vintage books, Bud- they can be more intoxicating than alcohol & more addictive than heroin !!! I know people who have lost their minds collecting old books & have turned their living spaces into warehouses of pungent old hardcovers that would make most libraries blush !!! Bibliomania is far more dangerous than comic book collecting & most book collectors understand that their books will never rise in value, they are simply buying these objects out of a profound & deep requirement to own these things ! I have a deep love of old books, illustrated or not, & have a basement full of them. When Heritage ran their weekly rare book auctions, I was a regular bidder & won something every week ! When they stopped these weekly auctions., they probably did me a favour, but I am proud to say that I have a basement full of old, classic, vintage hardcovers that smell FAR better than any copy of Shazam # 28 can hope to smell !!!
You mention Frazetta & Williamson- both these guys loved & respected the artists who worked on the classic illustrated vintage books that you hold so dear. Both were inspired by the work of artists such as Joseph Clements Coll & put that influence into their work. Mark Schultz continues to imbue his current work with the influence of these brilliant classic artists ! Most classic comic book artists were influenced by the work of artists that are largely forgotten now, except to colllectors such as yourself. Pray, tell me- what are the influences that inspired Jim Lee or Rob Liefeld !!! I would love to know…..
There is nothing wrong with a run of 1960’s DC Blackhawks, Bud. If they continue to give you pleasure, then you did the right thing to chase them down,. Timelys are heavily over-rated & most do not hold a candle against Quality, Lev Gleason or Fiction House books. Read the damn things & judge for yourself. Timely is all smoke & mirrors, Quality & Gleason absolutely rule the Golden Age ! Enjoy your stuff & do not worry yourself about investment potential that has been ‘lost’.
Excelsior !- LF
If Meli is reading, Bud, he is probably drooling about those Blackhawks!