|
|
Post by Deleted on May 31, 2023 18:25:18 GMT -5
See if you can spot the nugget. A high grade raw copy can fetch anywhere up to $300 and the copy pictured below was in the vicinity of 9.2 (conservative estimate).
The seller asked for $5 each for any book in the lot, or $50 for all 11. That's what you get when you deal with Mom & Dad brick & mortar shops who don't give a crap about guides and simply sell the comics cheap.
|
|
|
|
Post by Hoosier X on May 31, 2023 22:02:09 GMT -5
I ordered a bunch more comics from eBay, mostly a great many issues of The Brave and the Bold.
But also:
Superman #301 (with Solomon Grundy)
Batman #278
House of Mystery #321 (last issue)
Teen Titans #52
Superman Family #209
|
|
|
|
Post by tartanphantom on May 31, 2023 23:01:31 GMT -5
See if you can spot the nugget. A high grade raw copy can fetch anywhere up to $300 and the copy pictured below was in the vicinity of 9.2 (conservative estimate).
The seller asked for $5 each for any book in the lot, or $50 for all 11. That's what you get when you deal with Mom & Dad brick & mortar shops who don't give a crap about guides and simply sell the comics cheap.
Hansi.
I've got two copies, a 39-cent and 49-cent variant, but neither are better than 7.0 condition. It certainly has a cult following these days... ebay prices have gotten stupid on them. I don't know if uninformed people perceive it as a pro-National Socialist Party book (It's not), or what the deal is. It's simply a comic book adaptation of an actual book by same name; an autobiographic accounting of Maria Anne Hirschmann (I have a paperback copy of the book as well). It was originally published in 1968 under the title "I Changed Gods in 1968." Later versions of the book (not the comic) were more accurately re-titled "Hansi, the Girl who Left the Swastika."
Speaking of cult followings, I'm always on the lookout for Spire books in general, particularly the Archie books. Of those pictured in your haul, I'm missing the Andrae Crouch book and "In the Presence of Thine Enemies." Both are harder to find than Hansi, but not nearly as valuable, apparently since they don't have a picture of bastardized Hindu-Asian symbol on the cover.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2023 0:56:19 GMT -5
Although she's referred to as Hansi in the comic, Hansi is actually an anagram for her ministry, (Helping America to a New Spirit and Insight).
And I'm amazed ratty, beat-up copies on ebay have asking prices of $69-90 lol.
|
|
|
|
Post by Icctrombone on Jun 1, 2023 4:36:48 GMT -5
Although she's referred to as Hansi in the comic, Hansi is actually an anagram for her ministry, (Helping America to a New Spirit and Insight).
And I'm amazed ratty, beat-up copies on ebay have asking prices of $69-90 lol.
Rags, I don't know how you do it. |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2023 17:23:59 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2023 18:59:46 GMT -5
Speaking of cult followings, I'm always on the lookout for Spire books in general, particularly the Archie books.
I hear you with the Archie books, there are 19 of them under the Spire/Barbour banner. I was really lucky to find a NM 1974 Christmas with Archie in a nice small high grade lot that worked out at about $3 per book. This was only published once so it's hard to find.
They say it's the rarest but I'm having a tougher time getting high grade copies of Archie's Sports Scene and Archie's Circus.
I'll post a group pic of what I have when I assemble them....it's funny that you mentioned these Archies because it's one of my current pet projects as well.
|
|
|
|
Post by tartanphantom on Jun 2, 2023 23:22:56 GMT -5
Speaking of cult followings, I'm always on the lookout for Spire books in general, particularly the Archie books.
I hear you with the Archie books, there are 19 of them under the Spire/Barbour banner. I was really lucky to find a NM 1974 Christmas with Archie in a nice small high grade lot that worked out at about $3 per book. This was only published once so it's hard to find.
They say it's the rarest but I'm having a tougher time getting high grade copies of Archie's Sports Scene and Archie's Circus.
I'll post a group pic of what I have when I assemble them....it's funny that you mentioned these Archies because it's one of my current pet projects as well.
Archie's Rollercoaster is another tough one... it was one of the last printed by Spire, and I'm pretty sure that Barbour never reprinted it, so only one printing out there; at the very late 69-cent cover price.
And I've never seen Archie's Christmas in the wild... congrats on finding that.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2023 0:57:47 GMT -5
Archie's Rollercoaster is another tough one... it was one of the last printed by Spire, and I'm pretty sure that Barbour never reprinted it, so only one printing out there; at the very late 69-cent cover price.
And I've never seen Archie's Christmas in the wild... congrats on finding that.
Barbour did reprint Roller Coaster, this is the 79c variant and I have a 59c one as well so there are at least 2 Barbours of this book around. I might try to get price variants later (not that they seem to matter, they all guide for around the same).
|
|
|
|
Post by tartanphantom on Jun 3, 2023 8:56:09 GMT -5
Archie's Rollercoaster is another tough one... it was one of the last printed by Spire, and I'm pretty sure that Barbour never reprinted it, so only one printing out there; at the very late 69-cent cover price.
And I've never seen Archie's Christmas in the wild... congrats on finding that.
Barbour did reprint Roller Coaster, this is the 79c variant and I have a 59c one as well so there are at least 2 Barbours of this book around. I might try to get price variants later (not that they seem to matter, they all guide for around the same).
Oh, great! Thanks for the info!
I'm also not a price variant stickler on these books, because, as you say, it seems to make little difference.
However, I do like finding both the Spire and the Barbour variants when they exist, because the covers are occasionally different or re-colored, plus the obvious corner logo differences between the two. For example:
I follow the same collecting principle for my collection of Chick Tracts, but the variant possibilities there are very wide, especially the language variants.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2023 19:03:16 GMT -5
Today's mail call, a small Lonestar order. I got a notice they had gotten a copy of The Books of Zomxatxia #2 in, and I jumped on it before it disappeared. I got the other issue form our own Crimebuster as part of the Great Dollar Bin Challenge a year or so back and been looking for the other issue since Now I have it.  To round out the order I grabbed the following... Another issue of Mike Hoffman's Lost worlds of Fantasy & SF (#2). The series ran for only 9 issues, and this is only the second I have managed to get  Four Color #1134 featuring the Real McCoys-the attraction here-Alex Toth on interior art  the last two aren't classics, they are modern variants, but by artists I dig and they were inexpensive (less than cover), and both are form the recent Conan the Barbarian series form Marvel- The first is a Cary Nord variant for #16-Nord's version of Conan from his Dark Horse run may be my favorite comic depiction of the character, so I was happy to grab this when I saw it existed and was available...  the second is a Peach Momoko variant for Conan the Barbarian #25-she is a relative newcomer but I just adore her work, so when I saw she did a Conan variant, I snagged it. Now if I can just find an affordable copy of the Alex Toth variant for Conan #25...)  -M |
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2023 20:33:17 GMT -5
Oh, great! Thanks for the info!
I'm also not a price variant stickler on these books, because, as you say, it seems to make little difference.
However, I do like finding both the Spire and the Barbour variants when they exist, because the covers are occasionally different or re-colored, plus the obvious corner logo differences between the two.
Something I do very rarely...I had to settle for a "placeholder" copy of this Archie Sports Scene until I can get one without that price-sticker. Which I blame SPIRE for because they printed this book without a cover price so many of the Christian bookstores besmirched the cover with price-tags. Without the tag it's a pretty nice copy....pray I don't do the hair-dryer 'tag removal' procedure on it and try to peel it off.
|
|
|
|
Post by jason on Jun 4, 2023 22:59:17 GMT -5
Since this may be the only time I can discuss Spire variant covers, why are there two versions of the Tom Landry comic cover? One has the Cowboys versus the Packers, the second one has the Cowboys versus the Denver Broncos (though they just recolored them, also the logo of the cover and the price is higher).
|
|
|
|
Post by tartanphantom on Jun 4, 2023 23:13:12 GMT -5
Since this may be the only time I can discuss Spire variant covers, why are there two versions of the Tom Landry comic cover? One has the Cowboys versus the Packers, the second one has the Cowboys versus the Denver Broncos (though they just recolored them, also the logo of the cover and the price is higher).
Yes, that is one of the more glaring variants, with a complete re-design of not only the uniforms, but also the comic masthead. The original has not only the Packers, but another team in the lower illustrations, which appear to be either San Francisco, or Washington in their yellow-helmet period. There are two price variants of this version, at 35 cents and 39 cents.
My most logical assumption is that because it a later variant, coming out in the mid-late 1970's, the 49-cent cover was changed to a more contemporary design to reflect Dallas' recent victory over the Broncos in Super Bowl XII, which was played in January, 1978. Since all covers feature the Lombardi trophy, I can only assume that the Packers were depicted on the first cover rendition due to their back-to-back championship matchups with the Cowboys in 1966 and 1967 (before it was called the Super Bowl).
In the variant cover, opposing team uniforms have been changed to Denver in all of the cover scenes. However, why they did the total masthead re-design is beyond me. At first, I thought it might be due to possible NFL logo trademark issues, but the original masthead didn't contain any logos to begin with, and the variant masthead looks even more like the standard NFL shield logo than anything on the original cover.
And I'll be happy to discuss Spire/Barbour books any time you wish. I collect a lot of niche comics, and Spire is one of them. There's very little info out there on these, and it's up to collectors to do a lot of their own research.
|
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2023 23:28:12 GMT -5
"The first was after they defeated Miami in a Super Bowl ... the second was a revised version later in the '70s to have their game against the Denver Broncos as the featured game ... their 2nd Super Bowl win."
|
|
