Doohickamabob
Everything posted by Doohickamabob
Where are the Mad Magazine collectors?
Doohickamabob replied to Doohickamabob's topic in Comic Magazines
What a score! I have never seen that "Loco" magazine before. Love it. Must have been a relatively clean "hoarder house."
Captain America #1 cover just showed up on eBay auction
Doohickamabob posted a topic in Golden Age Comic Books
I was just scanning eBay and saw this auction: Captain America #1 -- cover only Looks like it will be a fun one to watch! (I am in no way affiliated with this auction.) Within the first hour of its listing, it already leapt up from a $200 starting bid to more than $1,220. Any predictions where it will end?
Removing odor from stinky comics?
Doohickamabob posted a topic in Comics General
A while back I purchased some comics that are very smelly. I think they must have been stored in a box full of mothballs. It never concerned me too much because I really wanted the comics. But now I'm thinking that I'd much rather have them in a non-stench form. My question is: How do you minimize the odor of old comics, or comics that have picked up odor due to problematic storage methods? I've stored them with microchamber paper (and swapped it out), and it doesn't appear to have done much. I have also removed them from their mylar sleeves and left them out near open windows and let the breeze wash over them, for several hours at a time. That was only somewhat helpful. I've heard that storing comics inside a thick newspaper can be helpful, with the newspaper fibers absorbing the odors. Does that work well? What else can be done? If this question has been answered elsewhere on the forum, please point me to the link. Thank you!
Marilyn Monroe for the win! (Teen-Age Diary Secrets #6 auction)
Anybody watch this auction on eBay, for a nice-looking (though spine-rolled) copy of Teen-Age Diary Secrets #6? I saw this earlier in the week and thought to myself, "That's an attractive woman and an appealing cover -- I might try to bid on this later." Then yesterday I noticed the bids had skyrocketed to $140, which is astounding for a romance comic. So I looked it up on Overstreet and "aha," it's a St. John comic with some Matt Baker art -- 2 or 3 pages' worth. That must be the reason for the price, I thought. There are some really competitive collectors of Baker art, and those St. John romance comics can be very rare. Then, this morning I looked at the auction.... The price ballooned to $2,355! Turns out there was a bidding war between two people....but why? Let's look a little closer at that woman's face.... Why does she look so familiar... Hmmm, it's a 1949 comic... A certain 23-year-old actress took a break in her stagnant movie career to return to modeling in 1949... A woman originally known as Norma Jeane Mortenson... Yep, it's Marilyn Monroe! Cool! So I checked Overstreet again, and it has no reference to this having Marilyn Monroe on the cover. There is not a single sale of this comic in the Heritage Archives. The Grand Comics Database doesn't mention it being Monroe. There aren't any copies at MileHigh or any other sellers I checked. There's not a single copy of this in the CGC census, though it is a Gerber 5. I ran a few searches on the CGC message forums and as far as I can tell, nobody here has ever mentioned a Marilyn Monroe cover of Teen-Age Diary Secrets. Yet in a Google search there is a 2011 Vanity Fair article that does refer to Marilyn Monroe appearing on the cover of this comic, so apparently it's really her. Plus if you look at the photo of her from the same time period (see below), the hair, sweater and (ahem) torpedo bra are a match. I can only imagine the reaction of the seller, who started the auction at $2.99 and whose previous auctions are primarily for "Vintage Feed Sacks" (!). The brief auction text states, "I found these comic books while cleaning my parents attic." It sounds plausible that this is really the story behind these comics, and this seller was sitting on what appears to be one of the rarest and potentially most valuable of all the St. John romance comics (okay, with the exception of that one with the Baker cover that says "She will do anything to hold ").
Doohickamabob posted a topic in Comic Magazines
Just a cursory glance at the subjects makes it seem there aren't many Mad Magazine collectors in here. Either that or I'm looking in the wrong forum. Do the Mad fanatics have a different site or section where they congregate? I'm a longtime Mad collector going back to my humble 7-year-old self. A few years ago I fetched all my mags out of my dad's garage and decided to "complete the run before I sell it all, because then it will be worth more!" Since then I've learned that a Mad collection is hardly a ticket to mega-wealth, although trying to finish it can be a ticket to the poorhouse. (I've run into other sellers online who had the same delusion I did.) Still, collecting Mads offers quite an array of challenges and areas to choose from: -- The first 23 comics -- Magazine issues #24 through about #100 -- The early More Trash, Worst From, and Follies special issues (complete with bonus inserts) -- The paperback books (especially first-printing Signets) -- The early merchandise: Cufflinks, Alfred Bust, Straitjacket, other -- The myriad foreign issues, esp. the ones from the 1960s -- The hundreds of specials from the 1990s -- The yearly calendars -- The vinyl records -- "The Ridiculously Expensive Mad" book with inserts, etc. -- Branching out to satire copycat comics/mags, like Cracked, Nuts, Crazy, Eh!, Get Lost -- Following Harvey Kurtzman's post-Mad career with Trump, Humbug, Help!, Annie Fanny -- Original artwork -- Printed materials from before Mad existed that show an Alfred E. Neuman likeness -- Board games, card game, Spy vs. Spy game -- Ecch-cetera... If other Mad freaks are out there, maybe this would be a good place to share collecting stories, post some photos, and other fershlugginer potrzebie idiocy.