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Jay Maybruck Interview from Comic Zone Radio
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68 posts in this topic

As I shared in the CGC case thread, I took the time to listen to the 4 part interview of Jay Maybruck with Vinny Zurzolo from 2008. Wow, what a listen! I am sure that a lot of you here in the Gold Forum listened to it when it was first aired, but I missed it. So, big thanks to jimbo_707 for pointing it out and providing a link to help find it. I had never heard of Jay, so all of this was new to me and thankfully, very, very interesting.

 

Vinny did a perfect job of interviewing and, Jay was the perfect guest. Loved the fact that Vinny would just throw out topics and people, and for the most part just let Jay talk. One thing he had going for him though, Jay was talkative, straight forward and did a super job of sharing his stories.

 

So after listening, I have a few questions that I hope some of you would be willing to shed some light on.

 

1. How was this interview received by dealers and comic book people at the time they aired? I would think there would be some mixed feelings as I imagine he may have been a polarizing figure from the past.

 

2. How did the sale of the Portfolios go?

 

3. Were there any big revelations that came out of this interview for any of you?

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1. By polarizing figure, I guess you mean an aggressive comics buyer wheeling and dealing every weekend across states? Like Harley does today traveling non-stop. Big difference now is advent of 3rd party grading and slabs, several competing online auction houses to help one sell choice comics faster at a good margin to the consignor, and eBay, CraigsList or kijiji ads to flush out long boxes of drek. :frustrated:

 

2. I just remember ads in Alan Light's TBG (pre-CBG for you youngsters) for the b/w Portfolios.

3. Just glad that Jay confirmed why DD #1 is common in hi-grade.

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I listened to it a few years ago and was up until the wee hours of the night without realizing how much time had past.

 

I was a middle schooler the first time I ran into Jay at a Creation Convention in 1978 or 1979. Sparkle City was still based out of the Dayton area and they were the WalMart of comic book dealers at that time(or at least it seemed like). They had more tables and more old comic books then the rest of the room combined. I always bought something from them even though there were also the most expensive dealers (usually). It was something to behold when I would show my other comic collecting friends that "I got this from Sparkle City!!" Aw the old days of driving to shows with my dad, brother, and my friends who collected, in the back of my folks old VW van. We would spend hours at a con and dig through back issue boxes with Jay getting most of our money.

 

 

I still run into old Sparkle City price stickers when a collection comes through the door at my shop from time to time. It brings back a lot of good childhood memories.

 

 

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1. By polarizing figure, I guess you mean an aggressive comics buyer wheeling and dealing every weekend across states? Like Harley does today traveling non-stop. Big difference now is advent of 3rd party grading and slabs, several competing online auction houses to help one sell choice comics faster at a good margin to the consignor, and eBay, CraigsList or kijiji ads to flush out long boxes of drek. :frustrated:

 

2. I just remember ads in Alan Light's TBG (pre-CBG for you youngsters) for the b/w Portfolios.

3. Just glad that Jay confirmed why DD #1 is common in hi-grade.

 

Thanks for sharing. As to the polarizing figure, I may be wrong. It seemed he knew he had done some wrongs, so I could imagine that there may have been some hard feelings from those that associated with him. However, I may be wrong in that assumption.

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I would agree that Jay Maybruck is a polarizing figure. Whenever I dealt with Sparkle City back in the day it was always with Joe V. because Jay just rubbed me the wrong way.

 

I don't care for either party, so I did not listen to the show. But I did speak with Joe V. (Jay's partner at Sparkle City) recently and even after everything that has transpired he was quite gracious in acknowledging Jay's contributions to the hobby.

 

Joe is truly one of the most trusted figures around, and I feel bad he had to put up with all the that Jay pulled.

 

Honestly, I have nothing but contempt for Jay and nothing but complete respect for Joe.

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I would agree that Jay Maybruck is a polarizing figure. Whenever I dealt with Sparkle City back in the day it was always with Joe V. because Jay just rubbed me the wrong way.

 

I don't care for either party, so I did not listen to the show. But I did speak with Joe V. (Jay's partner at Sparkle City) recently and even after everything that has transpired he was quite gracious in acknowledging Jay's contributions to the hobby.

 

Joe is truly one of the most trusted figures around, and I feel bad he had to put up with all the that Jay pulled.

 

Honestly, I have nothing but contempt for Jay and nothing but complete respect for Joe.

 

Jay was very effusive in his compliments of Joe and Steve Geppi. In fact he held them both up as tops in the comic business for ethics, honesty, graciousness, etc... One of the more interesting aspects of the sessions were his many comments sprinkled throughout where he knew that there were more than a few people that had no good reason to like him, both business wise and personally.

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I listened to it a few years ago and was up until the wee hours of the night without realizing how much time had past.

 

I was a middle schooler the first time I ran into Jay at a Creation Convention in 1978 or 1979. Sparkle City was still based out of the Dayton area and they were the WalMart of comic book dealers at that time(or at least it seemed like). They had more tables and more old comic books then the rest of the room combined. I always bought something from them even though there were also the most expensive dealers (usually). It was something to behold when I would show my other comic collecting friends that "I got this from Sparkle City!!" Aw the old days of driving to shows with my dad, brother, and my friends who collected, in the back of my folks old VW van. We would spend hours at a con and dig through back issue boxes with Jay getting most of our money.

 

 

I still run into old Sparkle City price stickers when a collection comes through the door at my shop from time to time. It brings back a lot of good childhood memories.

 

 

 

:cloud9:

 

This sounds so familiar. Such a fun time to be a collector. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

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3. Were there any big revelations that came out of this interview for any of you?

 

The story that Jay revealed about "retrieving" the Golden Age books from Gerber, while in Steve Geppi's possesion, seemed to be a little over the top until I asked Joe V. about it. It seemed to go down as Jay described!

 

The other revelation was I didn't realize how close Vinny and Brad Savage were. Best buds!

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I enjoyed all 4 parts!

 

Is Jay alive? He mentioned how Ill he was at the time.

 

 

Back working for Sparkle City, I think. Or at least he was a couple of years ago.

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I listened to it a few years ago and was up until the wee hours of the night without realizing how much time had past.

 

I was a middle schooler the first time I ran into Jay at a Creation Convention in 1978 or 1979. Sparkle City was still based out of the Dayton area and they were the WalMart of comic book dealers at that time(or at least it seemed like). They had more tables and more old comic books then the rest of the room combined. I always bought something from them even though there were also the most expensive dealers (usually). It was something to behold when I would show my other comic collecting friends that "I got this from Sparkle City!!" Aw the old days of driving to shows with my dad, brother, and my friends who collected, in the back of my folks old VW van. We would spend hours at a con and dig through back issue boxes with Jay getting most of our money.

 

 

I still run into old Sparkle City price stickers when a collection comes through the door at my shop from time to time. It brings back a lot of good childhood memories.

 

 

 

:cloud9:

 

This sounds so familiar. Such a fun time to be a collector. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

Yes. It seems like the late '70's were a great time to get into collecting. At least it was for me. Loved for the OSPG back then

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Back working for Sparkle City, I think. Or at least he was a couple of years ago.

 

Jay has no relationship with (nor does he endorse) the current incarnation of Sparkle City.

 

Ah, ok. I thought someone told me he was working there again.

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He's got a current facebook page.

 

I remember buying some Pookepsie file copies from him back in the day. He always had the best stuff in the room. His prices were always VERY agressive at the time. He was way ahead of his time in all fairness. I just couldn't see paying several multiples of guide then. I mostly bought from his TGB ads so I didn't deal much with him personally. Only once in person and he seemed OK but a little cocky.

 

I also enjoyed hearing the interview. The guy was a workhorse and was involved in some key buys. Sounds like he burned Geppi pretty bad and treated his partners pretty poorly. That's what a Ho and Blo habbit did to a lot of people. Very sad.

 

The one part he briefly mentioned he actually stole books from a client. He didn't elaborate much on it but that sounds beyond low.

 

Other than his cocky attitude and very high prices, I don't remember hearing that much bad stuff about him in the day.

 

Also made me listen to a few other interviews that were very interesting. I heard the David T Alexander one as well as Bedrock's. I will have to listen to some more because there is a lot of comic book history in these.

 

I really don't know Vinny personally but he seems very sincere in these. His love of the medium really comes out in these interviews.

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Any other good podcasts like this?

Agreed. Would like to know the same. Does anyone know any other dealer interviews on Comic Zone that would be a good listen?

Edited by 40sJohn
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Just finding these thanks for putting them out there...Already through the first 3...Gonna listen to the final chapter with the headphones once I get the children to bed. ? I really dig this kind of stuff for some reason and Vinny does a great job steering these interview. I actually didn't realize he did interviews. I've seen him been interviewed several times but never on the other end he's actually quite good. Even though I wasn't born until 83' I find the history whether it be artists, writers, publishers, dealers etc. simply fascinating (thumbs u

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Any other good podcasts like this?

Agreed. Would like to know the same. Does anyone know any other dealer interviews on Comic Zone that would be a good listen?

 

The board's own Bedrock is interviewed: http://www.comiczoneradio.com/search.php?kw=Bedrock&btnSearch=Search

 

That's awesome!! ...queueing it up!! (thumbs u

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