There were a lot of comic shops in the 90's

jdandns · 07-24-2015, 02:40 PM

...and that is when I got these, pretty much all of them between 1993 and 1997, by which time most of the shops had sadly gone out of business.

I was mostly interested in 1970's Marvels (and Dc, to a lesser degree), with a focus on first issues. I'd usually top at a $4 or $5 per book, but once in a while, I'd pay a little more. I wouldn't even usually take them out of the bags to look at condition. As long as they looked "Fine" or better, that was good enough. Looking at them now, some weren't that good, but some were better. In those days, you did have the chance at some high grade raw gems as Ebay and the grading services were just getting going.

I have a long white full of Marvel, but these shown were the most notable, most the hero stuff that's in better shape. This is sort of the miscellanea as I do have Spider-Man and the like, as well. I was also getting Western, War, Humor, and Horror, but those are for another day.

I intend to sell most of these (likely on Ebay), although I have sentimental attachment to some of them, so a few are keepers. I know I need to get some of them graded, but I've never done that before. The Marvel Feature #1 (Defenders) is really sharp, as are the Thor 180 and 181. Those two aren't keys (although they do have Neal Adams art) but the 180 in particular looks like it could be on the new issues rack today, 45 years later, and has to be in the high 9's, for sure. And to my delight, the Iron Fist 14 looks a lot better than I remember...

Pictures to follow...

jdandns · 07-24-2015, 02:57 PM

jdandns · 07-24-2015, 03:04 PM

More added above...

Cujobyte · 07-24-2015, 03:10 PM

Awesome stuff!

DigsUT · 07-24-2015, 03:12 PM

Some very nice books you have there. I am partial to the Ms. Marvel #1 myself

pjray55 · 07-24-2015, 03:41 PM

agreed, some really nice books and many of them are becoming more desirable by the day!

jdandns · 07-24-2015, 04:01 PM

Thank you all, it has been a joy owning these. I've had them all for 20 years or longer, so longer than the original owner is most cases. I've taken the same care of them I would've any book I've ever bought new since I got them, so they are just as I found them back when. It really was a crapshoot however what was done to them, up until they came into possession of the stores I bought them from (none were ever bought online, all shown are from shops).

I have a very nice run of Silver X-Men that the owner took very good care of, BUT wrote her name on the top of the first page, usually in ink, with a number showing which overall number the book was in her collection. Even so, they're still beauties, I got them for a song, and I never would have been able to afford the same books without her name in them. She must've been an MMMS member, or FOOM certainly. Based on the numbering, she bought every title it seems, and, as I said, took care of them.

Then there's the "Bill the Kid", uh, pedigree. Did anyone ever run into a book from this large collection, two of which I have shown in the pictures, unfortunately. It is a fascinating case. This guy took overall very good care of his books, but would do a few strange things to certain skin types and hair colors within the interior with pencil or colored pencil in every single book, in addition to writing his name, BILL THE KID, on every cover, and although in pencil, with fairly deep impressions. A very strange fellow, I would not have wanted to have met this person in person, but I'm glad to have these books. Again, I wouldn't have been able to buy better ones in the 1990's anyway, so I'm glad for what I got. Anyone else have a "Bill The Kid" issue? He had a huge collection of Silver and Bronze Marvels, at the minimum.

Spidervacc · 07-24-2015, 04:32 PM

Sure were alot of comic shops in90s. I used to work in Manhattan..used to be a bunch.and more where i lived.by 2000's most were gone. Shame. Great books by the way.

pjray55 · 07-24-2015, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdandns

Then there's the "Bill the Kid", uh, pedigree. Did anyone ever run into a book from this large collection, two of which I have shown in the pictures, unfortunately. It is a fascinating case. This guy took overall very good care of his books, but would do a few strange things to certain skin types and hair colors within the interior with pencil or colored pencil in every single book, in addition to writing his name, BILL THE KID, on every cover, and although in pencil, with fairly deep impressions. A very strange fellow, I would not have wanted to have met this person in person, but I'm glad to have these books. Again, I wouldn't have been able to buy better ones in the 1990's anyway, so I'm glad for what I got. Anyone else have a "Bill The Kid" issue? He had a huge collection of Silver and Bronze Marvels, at the minimum.

Which of the 2 issues were his, I didn't spot the writing on the covers at first glance?

Rip67vdub · 07-24-2015, 05:22 PM

I agree. There were about ten within a 15 mile radius from my old place back then. Now, there's about six.

jdandns · 07-24-2015, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjray55

Which of the 2 issues were his, I didn't spot the writing on the covers at first glance?

Hero for Hire 1 and 2, unfortunately, although given his methodology on these, I got off pretty easy with them, compared to other issues from his hoard. Besides the name of front (erased by the time I got them, but the impressions still visible in the logo on #1), this is what is seen in his books:

Any white hair is colored in, lightly and fairly neatly, with regular pencil.
Any blond hair is colored in with green colored pencil.
And weirdest of all:
Any female skin of white ladies is colored in with red colored pencil. It is only female skin, and other light skinned women, but if so much as an arm of a woman not otherwise in panel appears in the panel, it gets the treatment.

The upside on Hero For Hire #1, is that there aren't any white ladies or blonde hair in it, and very little white hair, so the main issue is the remnant of his calling card on the cover, BILL THE KID, usually spread one word at a time in different letters within the logo, as on this one.

The last thing is that in the "Bullpen Bulletins", the titles of many issues are underlined in regular pencil, not r creepy like the other stuff, more likely just a checklist, but still a little odd given how well otherwise the comics were taken care of. Some of these that I saw (and I have a few more besides these) would surely have been in Very Fine or better, without the strangeness added to them by the owner, who definitely had issues with his issues.

jdandns · 01-09-2017, 01:11 AM

I wasn't as big on DC's, generally speaking, plus they didn't make a whole lot of #1s, compared to Marvel, anyway.

Spider-Fan · 01-09-2017, 07:29 AM

Wow great collection.

"The Mighty Isis" and "Debbi's Dates" certainly are interesting titles in modern times.

digitalbc · 01-09-2017, 09:47 AM

I love all this 70's stuff. If you are ever looking at moving any of it, please let me know.

jdandns · 01-09-2017, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spider-Fan

Wow great collection.

"The Mighty Isis" and "Debbi's Dates" certainly are interesting titles in modern times.

Yeah, somehow I don't see a big-budget adaptation of the "Mighty Isis" in Warner Brothers' future. Beyond that, as a purely practical matter, I'm not sure it's a good idea for her to be shooting her power beams at a villain standing directly on the wing of a passenger airplane...

jdandns · 01-25-2017, 12:49 AM

Here's some pre-pre-Vertigo DC stuff.

digitalbc · 01-25-2017, 09:17 AM

Lots of great stuff and HA Pow Wow Smith!

jdandns · 04-05-2017, 01:23 AM

Marvel "Vertigo", haha...

Not a #1, but an pre-Conan The Barbarian tryout story with art by Barry Windsor Smith:

First issue of title (renamed after "Tower of Shadows" #9), 1st full appearance of King Kull.

First Scarecrow

Classic Steranko story:

(There exists a rejected cover by Steranko himself for this issue, better than this one above, which itself isn't bad.
I have all of Steranko's Marvel work and a nice wall display of all his Marvel covers in my comic room.

jdandns · 04-05-2017, 01:44 AM

Of course you know, this means war!

jdandns · 04-05-2017, 01:50 AM

Marvel's Casper rip-off?

Marvel's Little Archies rip-off?

Marvel's Dennis the Menace rip-off?

(signed by Rascally Roy at Comic-Con about 20 years ago...)

Another all-time Steranko super-classic is found in this unlikely issue:

Slap leather, pardner!

1st issue of this title since the 1950's:

jdandns · 04-05-2017, 01:54 AM

Man, did I love these lousy cartoons when I was a kid!

IndySportsCards · 04-05-2017, 08:00 AM

Now those are my kind of books! I have most of those already, but I love old Hanna Barbara books!!! - If you're selling any of those, PM me.

IndyKMB · 04-05-2017, 08:33 AM

Beauties!!
I was born in '72 so I share your appreciation for those classic cartoons.
Thanks for sharing these covers!

Madadd · 04-05-2017, 09:12 AM

I loved those old Hanna-Barbera cartoons! You need Hong Kong Phooey. Nothing was cooler when I was a kid than a Kung Fu skilled Crime fighting dog janitor voiced by Scatman Crothers.

Automatic7 · 04-05-2017, 10:40 AM

Pretty cool. Like looking at my own collection.
I just bought some of those marvel horror books this week. Great covers.
The first issue of our love cover looks like Peter and Mary Jane.

07-24-2015, 02:57 PM	#2
jdandns Member Join Date: May 2015 Location: Southern California Posts: 23,285	Last edited by jdandns; 10-01-2017 at 02:37 PM. Reason: Switched photos from Photobucket to Imgur.

07-24-2015, 03:04 PM	#3
jdandns Member Join Date: May 2015 Location: Southern California Posts: 23,285	More added above... Last edited by jdandns; 04-27-2017 at 01:49 AM.

07-24-2015, 04:32 PM	#8
Spidervacc Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 94	Sure were alot of comic shops in90s. I used to work in Manhattan..used to be a bunch.and more where i lived.by 2000's most were gone. Shame. Great books by the way. Last edited by Spidervacc; 07-24-2015 at 07:14 PM.

07-24-2015, 05:22 PM	#10
Rip67vdub Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Dub Nation Posts: 7,531	I agree. There were about ten within a 15 mile radius from my old place back then. Now, there's about six. __________________ My Weekly Pickups --> http://tinyurl.com/p8lcgvd Hot Book Alert! --> http://tinyurl.com/o8ax956 Hot TV Alert! --> http://tinyurl.com/jsx5bk8

01-09-2017, 01:11 AM	#12
jdandns Member Join Date: May 2015 Location: Southern California Posts: 23,285	I wasn't as big on DC's, generally speaking, plus they didn't make a whole lot of #1s, compared to Marvel, anyway. __________________ Would it spoil it for everyone else? Last edited by jdandns; 04-14-2018 at 07:27 PM.

07-24-2015, 02:40 PM	#1
jdandns Member Join Date: May 2015 Location: Southern California Posts: 23,285	There were a lot of comic shops in the 90's ...and that is when I got these, pretty much all of them between 1993 and 1997, by which time most of the shops had sadly gone out of business. I was mostly interested in 1970's Marvels (and Dc, to a lesser degree), with a focus on first issues. I'd usually top at a $4 or $5 per book, but once in a while, I'd pay a little more. I wouldn't even usually take them out of the bags to look at condition. As long as they looked "Fine" or better, that was good enough. Looking at them now, some weren't that good, but some were better. In those days, you did have the chance at some high grade raw gems as Ebay and the grading services were just getting going. I have a long white full of Marvel, but these shown were the most notable, most the hero stuff that's in better shape. This is sort of the miscellanea as I do have Spider-Man and the like, as well. I was also getting Western, War, Humor, and Horror, but those are for another day. I intend to sell most of these (likely on Ebay), although I have sentimental attachment to some of them, so a few are keepers. I know I need to get some of them graded, but I've never done that before. The Marvel Feature #1 (Defenders) is really sharp, as are the Thor 180 and 181. Those two aren't keys (although they do have Neal Adams art) but the 180 in particular looks like it could be on the new issues rack today, 45 years later, and has to be in the high 9's, for sure. And to my delight, the Iron Fist 14 looks a lot better than I remember... Pictures to follow...

07-24-2015, 03:10 PM	#4
Cujobyte Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: New Mexico Posts: 6,651 Cujobyte29	Awesome stuff!

07-24-2015, 03:12 PM	#5
DigsUT Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Pflugerville, TX Posts: 4,552 djdigsut	Some very nice books you have there. I am partial to the Ms. Marvel #1 myself

07-24-2015, 03:41 PM	#6
pjray55 Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Connecticut Posts: 2,021 pjr55ct	agreed, some really nice books and many of them are becoming more desirable by the day!

07-24-2015, 04:01 PM	#7
jdandns Member Join Date: May 2015 Location: Southern California Posts: 23,285	Thank you all, it has been a joy owning these. I've had them all for 20 years or longer, so longer than the original owner is most cases. I've taken the same care of them I would've any book I've ever bought new since I got them, so they are just as I found them back when. It really was a crapshoot however what was done to them, up until they came into possession of the stores I bought them from (none were ever bought online, all shown are from shops). I have a very nice run of Silver X-Men that the owner took very good care of, BUT wrote her name on the top of the first page, usually in ink, with a number showing which overall number the book was in her collection. Even so, they're still beauties, I got them for a song, and I never would have been able to afford the same books without her name in them. She must've been an MMMS member, or FOOM certainly. Based on the numbering, she bought every title it seems, and, as I said, took care of them. Then there's the "Bill the Kid", uh, pedigree. Did anyone ever run into a book from this large collection, two of which I have shown in the pictures, unfortunately. It is a fascinating case. This guy took overall very good care of his books, but would do a few strange things to certain skin types and hair colors within the interior with pencil or colored pencil in every single book, in addition to writing his name, BILL THE KID, on every cover, and although in pencil, with fairly deep impressions. A very strange fellow, I would not have wanted to have met this person in person, but I'm glad to have these books. Again, I wouldn't have been able to buy better ones in the 1990's anyway, so I'm glad for what I got. Anyone else have a "Bill The Kid" issue? He had a huge collection of Silver and Bronze Marvels, at the minimum.

01-09-2017, 07:29 AM	#13
Spider-Fan Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 10,481	Wow great collection. "The Mighty Isis" and "Debbi's Dates" certainly are interesting titles in modern times.

01-09-2017, 09:47 AM	#14
digitalbc Member Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,253 hakukaji	I love all this 70's stuff. If you are ever looking at moving any of it, please let me know.

01-25-2017, 12:49 AM	#16
jdandns Member Join Date: May 2015 Location: Southern California Posts: 23,285	Here's some pre-pre-Vertigo DC stuff. __________________ Would it spoil it for everyone else? Last edited by jdandns; 04-14-2018 at 07:33 PM.

01-25-2017, 09:17 AM	#17
digitalbc Member Join Date: Sep 2015 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 1,253 hakukaji	Lots of great stuff and HA Pow Wow Smith!

04-05-2017, 01:23 AM	#18
jdandns Member Join Date: May 2015 Location: Southern California Posts: 23,285	Marvel "Vertigo", haha... Not a #1, but an pre-Conan The Barbarian tryout story with art by Barry Windsor Smith: First issue of title (renamed after "Tower of Shadows" #9), 1st full appearance of King Kull. First Scarecrow Classic Steranko story: (There exists a rejected cover by Steranko himself for this issue, better than this one above, which itself isn't bad. I have all of Steranko's Marvel work and a nice wall display of all his Marvel covers in my comic room. __________________ Would it spoil it for everyone else? Last edited by jdandns; 06-25-2025 at 03:30 AM.

04-05-2017, 01:44 AM	#19
jdandns Member Join Date: May 2015 Location: Southern California Posts: 23,285	Of course you know, this means war! __________________ Would it spoil it for everyone else? Last edited by jdandns; 04-14-2018 at 07:35 PM.

04-05-2017, 01:50 AM	#20
jdandns Member Join Date: May 2015 Location: Southern California Posts: 23,285	Marvel's Casper rip-off? Marvel's Little Archies rip-off? Marvel's Dennis the Menace rip-off? (signed by Rascally Roy at Comic-Con about 20 years ago...) Another all-time Steranko super-classic is found in this unlikely issue: Slap leather, pardner! 1st issue of this title since the 1950's: __________________ Would it spoil it for everyone else? Last edited by jdandns; 04-14-2018 at 07:58 PM.

04-05-2017, 01:54 AM	#21
jdandns Member Join Date: May 2015 Location: Southern California Posts: 23,285	Man, did I love these lousy cartoons when I was a kid! __________________ Would it spoil it for everyone else? Last edited by jdandns; 04-14-2018 at 08:01 PM.

04-05-2017, 08:00 AM	#22
IndySportsCards Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: EO 13848 Posts: 41,991 braco0 IndySportsCards	Now those are my kind of books! I have most of those already, but I love old Hanna Barbara books!!! - If you're selling any of those, PM me. __________________ Most people would rather be in the majority, than be right.

04-05-2017, 08:33 AM	#23
IndyKMB Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Indianapolis Metro Posts: 3,650	Beauties!! I was born in '72 so I share your appreciation for those classic cartoons. Thanks for sharing these covers!

04-05-2017, 09:12 AM	#24
Madadd Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: New Orleans Posts: 169	I loved those old Hanna-Barbera cartoons! You need Hong Kong Phooey. Nothing was cooler when I was a kid than a Kung Fu skilled Crime fighting dog janitor voiced by Scatman Crothers.

04-05-2017, 10:40 AM	#25
Automatic7 Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Michigan Posts: 194	Pretty cool. Like looking at my own collection. I just bought some of those marvel horror books this week. Great covers. The first issue of our love cover looks like Peter and Mary Jane.