• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Unpopular Golden Age Opinions Thread!
9 9

634 posts in this topic

I hate restoration on comics, or anything for that matter, it erases the history of the object and it's all for money or wanting some perfect comic to feel better about themselves having it in better condition than someone else.

 

That's pretty harsh - most of the collectors I know (including myself) simply like to have presentable copies and take pride in owning their GA books (regardless of condition, some are very scarce).

 

There's something magical about finding GA books in nice shape, paper time machines if you will. A high-grade GA book (e.g., a pedigree) tells its own story.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hate restoration on comics, or anything for that matter, it erases the history of the object and it's all for money or wanting some perfect comic to feel better about themselves having it in better condition than someone else.

 

That's pretty harsh - most of the collectors I know (including myself) simply like to have presentable copies and take pride in owning their GA books (regardless of condition, some are very scarce).

 

There's something magical about finding GA books in nice shape, paper time machines if you will. A high-grade GA book (e.g., a pedigree) tells its own story.

 

 

Sometimes the restoration is part of the history of the comic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I hate restoration on comics, or anything for that matter, it erases the history of the object and it's all for money or wanting some perfect comic to feel better about themselves having it in better condition than someone else.

 

 

Or it can be OCD rather than hierarchical, with the former being my prime motivation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll admit that I sometimes use one or more small pieces of cellophane tape to seal cover tears and and also to prevent loss of a piece of the cover, but in reader grade, I don't think it depreciates value all that much.

 

And frankly, so what if it does, it's my comic. :wink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll admit that I sometimes use one or more small pieces of cellophane tape to seal cover tears and and also to prevent loss of a piece of the cover, but in reader grade, I don't think it depreciates value all that much.

 

And frankly, so what if it does, it's my comic. :wink:

 

Archival tape's not expensive. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You owe it all to romance.

 

The end of WW2 put a serious hurt on the comics industry. Like death spiral hurt. Superheros were down for the count. Simon & Kirby went for a hail Mary and wonders of wonders! created a whole new comic genre, romance, that stole the last gasp female market from the pulps and also brought in the other half of the teenage population for a tremendous bridge loan to keep the lights on and the workers paid. It also fixed young girls' minds on their new career path, marriage/homemaker/motherhood, which conveniently included creating the next important market of readers.

 

When these readers were ready, romance was there again to do the heavy lifting. Romita's tenure for seven years? at DC doing romance, romance and nothing but romance prepared him to take the nerdy character with a problem we could all identify with, add some reasonable not too over the top superhero type stuff, but most important, draw the outstanding soft porn stunning good girl/bad girl Gwen/MJ for horny teenage boys that really took Marvel to a new level.

 

You owe it all to romance.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's interesting. I didn't know that Romita spent so long at DC, only being familiar with his early work for Atlas / Marvel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You owe it all to romance.

 

 

Some maybe, but not all. Don't forget, the western genre was strong post war, and how about crime comics? Lev Gleason's CDNP boasted 5, then 6 million readers on their covers (most likely however, they were counting several different readers for each book sold).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think restored books clearly have a place in our hobby. There are books out there that I could never own, but at a typical discount of up to 50% or more on moderate or extensive makes it a bit more attainable.

Up to 50%? I think you mean at least 50%. (You did say "or more.") I routinely see restored books sell for much less than half of what an unrestored copy would sell for. Offhand I'd say a discount of 70%-90% is the norm, although there might not be as big of a difference with very low grade books.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think restored books clearly have a place in our hobby. There are books out there that I could never own, but at a typical discount of up to 50% or more on moderate or extensive makes it a bit more attainable.

Up to 50%? I think you mean at least 50%. I routinely see restored books sell for much less than half of what an unrestored xopy would sell for.

 

....it depends on the book and the type of resto. Common books and scarce books shouldn't even be in the same conversation in regards to the effect of restoration on pricing. It's much more complex than many would like it to be. The problem is that some people allow their feelings about restoration to taint their analysis of the situation. So many see what they want to see and disregard the rest..... as a famous balladeer once chimed. The times they are a changin'............. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think restored books clearly have a place in our hobby. There are books out there that I could never own, but at a typical discount of up to 50% or more on moderate or extensive makes it a bit more attainable.

Up to 50%? I think you mean at least 50%. I routinely see restored books sell for much less than half of what an unrestored xopy would sell for.

 

....it depends on the book and the type of resto. Common books and scarce books shouldn't even be in the same conversation in regards to the effect of restoration on pricing. It's much more complex than many would like it to be. The problem is that some people allow their feelings about restoration to taint their analysis of the situation. So many see what they want to see and disregard the rest..... as a famous balladeer once chimed. The times they are a changin'............. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

 

 

For moderate to extensive resto, at least a 50% discount would be conservative (except perhaps for those books that are tagged as "moderate" but seem more like "slight"), and certainly for heavily restored books where someone has taken a beater and recreated a "high grade" copy, a 90% discount sometimes doesn't seem like enough.

 

On the flipside, 2.0 books with very minor resto often sell at no discount to an unrestored copy.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Bump for this dusty thread. Some great discussions in here!

Here's an opinion: I like the better Zoot and Jo-Jo GGA covers more than the Phantom Lady ones. 2c The most classic PL covers are WAY too over-the-top for me, while the tamer ones are somehow not exciting enough.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Point Five said:

Bump for this dusty thread. Some great discussions in here!

Here's an opinion: I like the better Zoot and Jo-Jo GGA covers more than the Phantom Lady ones. 2c The most classic PL covers are WAY too over-the-top for me, while the tamer ones are somehow not exciting enough.

 

:whatthe:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On ‎7‎/‎22‎/‎2016 at 0:12 PM, rjpb said:

My heresies:

 

With the exception of a few cool covers, generally near the end of runs, Centaurs are boring looking books to me, and considering them as proto-Timelys is a real stretch

Glad someone else said it... could this company not afford to pay for background art on their covers? So many solid color mattes.   Masked Marvel #2 in particular really bothers me...5 characters on the cover, 3 male 2 female...all 5 faces look identical.

Cool thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, szavisca said:

Glad someone else said it... could this company not afford to pay for background art on their covers? So many solid color mattes.   Masked Marvel #2 in particular really bothers me...5 characters on the cover, 3 male 2 female...all 5 faces look identical.

Cool thread.

I agree.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Point Five said:

Bump for this dusty thread. Some great discussions in here!

Here's an opinion: I like the better Zoot and Jo-Jo GGA covers more than the Phantom Lady ones. 2c The most classic PL covers are WAY too over-the-top for me, while the tamer ones are somehow not exciting enough.

 

lol Interesting. Truth is though, there are NO really good Zoot and Jo-Jo GGA covers and the most popular PL covers ain't convincing either (but there are one or two outstanding PL covers among the so-called "tamer" ones). lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Ricksneatstuff said:

Oh man. All this Jo-Jo and Zoot disparaging is giving me anxiety.  :flamed:

I guess that is why it is unpopular opinion. 

Why is golden age Superman's body often so wide and bulky that it makes his head look disproportionately small? Not impressed by many of those. 

Uh, maybe because he's from Krypton. :baiting:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Ricksneatstuff said:

Why is golden age Superman's body often so wide and bulky that it makes his head look disproportionately small? Not impressed by many of those. 

I know what you mean. I think though it starts to get into questions of not just style but artistic shorthand--how to exaggerate features and convey 'powerful guy' with just a few quick lines.

But if it's realism you want, I could certainly see a case that the best of the Fawcett hero covers are better than the best of the Superman ones. A run of Raboy Superman covers really would have been something to see.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
9 9