First Lady of Comics’ First Cover
It’s been awhile but I have a few items coming in the next month or so that I know about, so the activity should be picking up at VI soon! This time I took it back to 1940 to add to my permanent collection! When I made this purchase I tweeted that I made my first purchase of a restored comic. This is generally not something to celebrate or be proud of, as the comic industry is one of hobbies that views (in terms of affecting pricing) restoration negatively. Beyond that. I’ve always had a firm no resto policy; a sort of artificial way of eliminating potential purchases. This purchase was kind of a perfect storm. I knew I’d never find another copy that presented as well for anywhere near the price, it fell into one of my collecting focuses, and I love adding affordable Golden Age gems when I can.
First Superman – from Kansas (City) to Metropolis
When a high grade copy of the first appearance of Zatara pops up, it’s big news in the entire comic book world.
Over at the CGC board, a poster let the community know that ComicConnect would be putting up for sale a copy of Action Comics #1. Not only that, it’s graded by CGC, is a Pedigree – The Kansas City copy – and is a damn 8.0 with off-white pages–a stunner. There’s a quality discussion over there about the potential figure we may be looking at. I’m not seeing anybody estimate below a half-million, and most seem to suggest between that and the hobby’s first 7-figure book, though personally I think that high-end may be optimistic. While this is probably the best copy of Action #1 we are going to see hit the market, I’m just not sold that 7-figures is attainable in this hobby from a copy that isn’t the best known in existence (though this is a damn fine subject to test that thought).
Cover Grab – Action Comics #206
By far the best online resource for comic collectors or comic enthusiasts (in terms of back issues, and just general knowledge of comics) is the CGC boards. It doesn’t matter if you agree or participate in graded comics or not, the community there is an outstanding source of information on this hobby. I’ve spent hours going through older threads just reading about comics history (a lot of which is first hand) that you simply don’t get anywhere else. Part of that community is a – in my experience – a terrific forum marketplace, one that’s self-policed and has within in it some of the best dealers and well regarded collectors in the biz, both buying and selling. I haven’t bought a ton from there, but its certainly over a dozen times and I’ve never had a problem. However, for every book I have bought, there are literally hundred that I get exposed to, many of which end up on my want list, or at the very least give me some sort of odd happiness in seeing (you have to be a comic fan to get that–I call it the cover grab)–something even more welcome when its a run that I thought I had a comprehensive mental gallery of.
