Action Comics #1 - Ashcan edition

Okay first off many of you may be asking, what the hell is an Ashcan? Back in Golden Age of Comics, companies would have to create a faux comic in order to get the name of the title licensed with the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). The publisher would create the title logo and place it on a piece of cover art, so they would own the trademark rights to the logo. This cover would be affixed to an existing comic book interior or just random pages. This was accepted as an authentic comic and the title rights were secured. There were a couple of these ashcans created for each title, afterwards they were usually thrown away. 

The Action Comics #1 Ashcan was created in 1938 to garner the rights to the title Action Comics.  Superman does not appear on the cover. if you recall from our   Stories of Action Comics #1, Superman was a last minute throw in.
 The Ashcan cover was a gruesome monster done by artist Craig Flessel. It was rare for Ashcans to use or initial cover art, usually recycled images were used. It is believed that only 3 Action Comics Ashcan copies exist, one is in the permanent archives of DC comics, while the other two are in the hands of private collectors. One recently sold for about $20,000.

Even just seeing an ashcan is a rarity, some come up for sale on occasion but that is rare. Keep on the look out for one as you never know where you might find a copy.

You can purchase a copy of the cover, along with Siegel and Shusters Slam Bradley art for only $35, check it out HERE

Good Luck on Your Hunt.
#jointhehunt

The Lost Boys and Batman #14

One of my all-time favorite movies has always been The Lost Boys.
What more could you ask or in a movie, Vampires, Vampire Hunters and Comic Book collectors.
You see Sam from Lost Boys wasn't only a vampire hunter he was also a comic book hunter.
What was he hunting, welllll!

Here is the lines from the movie to help you figure it out

Actually looking for Batman #14.
That's a very serious book, man. only 5 in existence
Four actually.  I'm always looking out for the other three.

We all know there are more then 4 copies of Batman #14 in existence, imagine what the cost would be if there were only 3.
The picture above is of one I came across at Wizard World Philadelphia. Didn't have the cash to buy it, as that is tied up with the Frog brothers. Owe them or a job they did.

Keep your eye out for the other two. And watch the Lost Boys.

Good Luck on Your Hunt.
#jointhehunt

Comic Book Hunter and Gatherer Added to AllTop

Wednesday Whacked Comic Cover - Green Lantern #30

This week our Wednesday Whacked comic cover comes from one of DC's monthly themed variant covers. Each month DC selects a central theme for various titles within their New 52 line. Back in April of this year the theme was Mad magazine.
All the covers in April featured the heros reimagined as Mad character Alfred E. Newman. These covers have become highly sought after regardless of how Whacky they are.

Chose the Green Lantern cover as it was by far the Whackist. You can see why just by looking at it.
Well done DC, well done.

So get on out if bed and when you go buy your new issues this week look for te Mad magazine variants.

Good Luck on your Hunt!
#jointhehunt

Action Comics #1 - McClure File Copy Superman Man of Tomorrow

Before Action Comics #1 contained e first appearance of Superman his creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster pitched the character in a couple of different ways, first as a bald supervillian bent on world domination and second as The Superman a daily comic strip which was submitted to McClure news syndicate. 30 days worth of stripes were created. Back before comics became popular the money for artists and writers was in daily newspaper strips. McClure syndicate liked the strip so they used it to help sell Superman to virus papers across the country. This was all done before Action Comics #1 changed the world.

The story of this strips becomes even more historically importsnt whenyou realize that these strips were actually cut and used by DC to create Action Comics #1. Most collectors are not aware that in fact the story of Superman as told in Action Comics #1 was intended to be a daily newspaper strip.

So what is the MCClure file copy?  Well McClure syndicate created a book that they used to sell Superman to the various newspapers across the USA. All 30 Superman strips or a months worth of publication are contained within this book.

Salesmen would carry this book and show it to the newspaper men thus selling Superman before the comic strip went live, which was scheduled for January 16, 1939.

The strips contain the first origin of Superman. Action #1 had limited space so that origin was reduced to a few panels thus cutting it short. The book which is very rare, only a few in existence also contains Shusters cover art that would be used in Action Comics #7

These book sells for about $60,000 in mint condition when they actually come up for sale, which is rare.
There is currently one up for auction on eBay, check it out HERE, your chance to own a piece of history.

Please let us know how you like the "Stories of Action Comics #1"

Good luck on your hunt.

Comic Shop Review - All-In-One Collectibles, Randolph,NJ

Most comic book and collectibles shops are all very similar, they carry the same basic things; comics, toys, gaming stuff and supplies. Each comic has these items to varying degrees. Every so often we visit a comic shop that carries the usual stuff but also has a specialization that makes it stand out above the rest. All-In-One collectibles is the kind of shop that stands out because of its focus on one type of item. I would consider All-In-One as the headquarters of Heroclix figures. They have more of these little figures then any store we have ever visited. At least four full cases filled with them and they are divided into the different lines.

Full case of Heroclix figures

We seldom mention how much we like this line of collectibles, used primarily for gaming these little figures also have high collectible value. Some if them are very rare but the best thing about them is the multitude of characters offered, both from DC and Marvel comics. There are all the main characters, almost all lower level characters and impressively many not so common characters from comics and moves. If you haven't check these out yet visit Heroclix online.

Now lets look at All-In-One collectibles in terms of huntability.

Comics - Has a very small selection of new comics, store must do mainly list pulls. No area for back issues except for one small box of recent issues.

Toys - Plenty of new and old toys spread throughout the store, recent lines all the wall back to Toy Biz Marvel line. These Toy Biz figures are becoming increasingly hard to find, it is impressive when you see them in a shop.

Other stuff - plenty of gaming items, an entire area of sports cards and memorabilia (autographed, etc.), plus the whole home of the heroclix thing. Seeing all the other stuff made us understand how All-In-One got its name. Really a one stop shop for collectibles.

Comic Shop Grade = B

Although they lack a big comic inventory the amount of different collectibles they sell on top of the fact that tey might have the worlds largest Heroclix collection make it worth a visit, bring your sports collecting friends with you.

As you can tell we like stores that are the best at at least one thing, All-In-One is the best at what they set out to be the best at.

Good Luck on Your Hunt!
#jointhehunt

Amazing Fantasy #15 - White Mountain Copy

In a recent post we looked at the most important Silver Age comic, Amazing Fantasy #15 which contains the first appearance of Spider-Man. Much like Action Comics #1 Amazing Fantasy #15 also has some significant copies that have been newsworthy based on either their grade or their pedigree. The most well known of these is the White Mountain copy which is a CGC NM 9.4 The comic is a gem all around, the highest known grade of Amazing Fantasy in existence.
This mint copy of Amazing Fantasy #15 sold at auction for $227,000.

About the White Mountain Collection
Unlike the Action Comics #1 we have looked at in prior posts, the White Mountain collection is not as well known. This is primarily because the White Mountain collection of comic books, originating out of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, is made up of Silver Age comics. many believe It is the greatest Silver Age collections to appear and it includes many diverse publishers and titles, The collection contains approximately 5,000 books, which spanned the years 1948 into the early 1970’s. The collection contains most of the DC science fiction books. Back at this time in comic book history, which started with the reintroduction of the Flash in Showcase #4, science fiction became the driving force in many titles, as shown by the new origin of the Flash (to be detailed in a later post).
The fantastic quality of these comic books, are the result of the comics being kept in metal storage and were never read by the owner. Like the Amazing Fantasy #15 the Comics Guaranty Corporation (CGC) has graded many of the key Silver Age issues contained within the collection as the highest grade known for that particular comic.

Not sure if the pricing on this is affordable to most hunters but just seeing one of these would be an accomplishment to a skilled hunter, so as always, keep your hunting eyes ready.

Good luck hunting one of these down, I you do find one or own one, send us a photo.

Good Luck on your Hunt!
#jointhehunt