Posted in: Comics | Tagged:

Five Things You Just Have To See In San Diego by Mark Seifert

Published Mon, 19 Jul 2010 05:00:33 -0500

Last updated Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:26:59 -0500

One of my favorite San Diego week activities is to watch how the media is covering our industry during the moment of its biggest spectacle. While it's become pretty annoying to see cosplayers and movie stars used to represent the entirety of what's going on in comics, the ever-increasing number of mainstream-outlet geek culture journalists who follow me on twitter leave me hopeful that this is the year they'll start to get it. Or maybe next year.

Not that I have anything against cosplay (quite the opposite, really), but pictures of stormtroopers are the new BAM ZAP POW of mainstream media coverage, and since it's also way past cliche to note Comic Con's takeover by the film industry, let me just skip to this point: one of the things that makes a major con cool is a rare chance to see a large quantity of very old paper.

History is relevant to current comic readers in a way that's unique to our industry, because history = continuity. In theory. And when the theory gets tested, the uproar that results reminds us that our history is indeed very important to us (see: Wonder Woman costume controversy for a recent reminder).

One way to connect to that history is to see the material in its vintage form, see the original art that was used to create that form, and think about the creators who made them and the people who bought them off the newsstand.

Forget the million dollar+ price tags that a nice copy of Detective Comics 27 or Action Comics #1 can now bring, for a moment. Lots of old comics are worth money, and even more aren't worth all that much. But even if actually owning the vintage originals is not your thing, if you are truly serious about comics, here are 5 things that you really ought to see at San Diego:

5) Jerry Robinson's Comic Book Collection

(All Star Auctions, booth 4302-4306)

Jerry Robinson is one of the primary architects of the Batman mythos, and his contributions to Batman, Robin, the Joker, and countless other characters and concepts are enough to secure his place as one of the most important creators in the history of comic books. He has also become known for his incredible collection of vintage original comic book art, which he has generously loaned out for museum exhibits in recent years.

But until now, I didn't realize he also had a comic book collection. It's not all that unusual for a creator to have a reference or bookkeeping set of his work — collections from the likes of Stan Lee and classic Batman artist Dick Sprang have come to market in recent years, among others — but it is highly interesting to note that Robinson's collection contains multiple copies of many early comics.

Check out the picture — Three copies of Batman #1? Multiple copies of most other early issues — I'm very curious about how and why this collection was assembled. Did he acquire a number of comp copies to give out? Did he pick them up knowing they'd be worth something some day? Did he have more that he sold or gave away over the years?

I'm almost embarrassed to think of asking Robinson about such mundane matters, when he is, you know… one of the most important comic book creators ever. But one can't help but think of a million questions for someone who seems to sit at the nexus of comic creation, original art, and collecting as he does.

Jerry Robinson himself is a legend, and if you're going to SDCC I hope you'll tell him so. His collection of comic books is also well worth a look.

4) The Last of the Edgar Church Collection

(Mile High Comics, booth 5523-5529)

Bleeding Cool noted this event in a prior post, but it is worth expanding upon here from the historical aspect alone. Edgar Church was a Colorado artist born in 1888 who bought and saved comics and magazines for reference purposes. I've even heard he went to New York for awhile in the early 40's to attempt to break in to comics. The 18,000 gorgeous, unimaginably high-grade comics he stacked in his basement in the cool, dry Colorado climate were purchased from his family by Mile High Comics founder Chuck Rozanski in 1977, and in the 30+ years since then they have changed the face of vintage comics collecting, almost literally becoming the reference set of the Golden Age of comics (and indeed, many Church copies were photographed for one of the reference staples of the hobby — the Photojournal Guide to Comics).

Of course, it's a bit misleading to label this "the Last of the Edgar Church Collection", as although most of the collection has been dispersed far and wide among vintage collectors, those copies still exist and many are quite well preserved and cared for by a legion of collectors to this day. But these are the final issues that Rozanski held onto, and that in itself is interesting.

Though many collectors needle Rozanski for his penchant for showmanship, his $100 million estimate for the current value of all comics that came from the Church collection is probably in the ballpark. The CGC 9.0 copy of Red Raven #1 is the gem of what remains of this incredible hoard of books. Red Raven is an obscure book known as early Jack Kirby work, and the title became Human Torch from #2 on.

3) Brave & Bold #34 Original Cover art by Joe Kubert

(Mitch Itkowitz / Graphic Collectibles booth 500-504)

This is the cover of the first appearance of the Silver Age Hawkman by legendary artist Joe Kubert. Although there are certainly more important characters out there, and Marvel art is generally where the action is among Silver Age original art collectors these days, it's not every day you see key original art by such an important artist come up for sale. This cover has not been on the market for 40 years, and in the rarefied air of the high-end original comic art world — which has more unspoken rules of conduct than Major League Baseball — that definitely counts for something.

I'm not really a DC collector on either the original art or Silver Age comic side of the equation, but thinking about my lust for this piece reminds me of sitting in museums for hours on end and writing about what I observed of the subtleties of Gauguin or Renoir paintings for art history classes. Although wonderful in print, seeing the stroke of the brush and the texture of the paper in person should tell you something about comics that you can't learn from any book or website. This is truly an iconic piece of work from comics history.

2) Double Action Comics #2

(Metropolis Comics booth 5516-5517)

About 7-10 copies of this 1940 DC Comics publication are known, and its existence is one of the biggest mysteries in the collecting hobby today. Most experts agree that this is not an ashcan (which originally meant a hand-assembled or otherwise very low run publication typically used to secure trademark on a title), and there is just enough anecdotal information out there about the general provenance of some of the known copies to conclude that it was probably distributed to the public in some manner, possibly as an extremely limited test distribution of some sort — perhaps even sold from a single location to gauge buyer reaction.

Adding to the mystery is the fact that there is no Double Action #1. Experienced collectors now dispute the notation in the Overstreet Price Guide that Double Action Comics #1 exists in ashcan form, and there is no logical title change (see Red Raven #1 -> Human Torch #2) to account for this orphaned issue either.

Although the cover and contents are all reprints from other titles (the interiors of the book are black and white versions of content pulled from various other DC publications of the time, and the cover art is from Adventure Comics #37), the mystery surrounding this book and the familiar form of the Action logo in the title make it highly desirable to golden age DC collectors. This particular copy is a coverless copy married to an unbound cover from the files of longtime DC production manager Sol Harrison, but to me that only adds to its mystique.

1) Journey Into Mystery #83 Original Page by Jack Kirby, inked by Joe Sinnott

(Heritage Auction Gallery, booth 900-906)

There are countless thousands of vintage comics available at SDCC, and stacks upons stacks of original comic book art by great artists from the 1930's to the modern day. But if I had to choose the single thing that I'd like to see above any other piece, this would be it.

Journey into Mystery #83 is the first appearance of Thor. Jack Kirby is arguably more important to the direction of comics than any other individual. This page shows Thor testing the powers and limits of his enchanted hammer, Mjolnir, for the very first time.

This is one of those ultra-rare and iconic are you kidding me? pieces that makes my jaw drop with the simple knowledge that it still exists. Lots of high-end art collectors prefer covers or splash pages, but to me, It just doesn't get any better than a historically important sequence like this.

Honorable Mention) Detective Comics #27 cgc 7.5

(Heritage Auction Gallery, booth 900-906)

With an Action Comics #1 8.0 going for $1.5 million and a Detective Comics #27 8.0 hammering at $1.1 million earlier in the year, this Heritage auction of a nicely-presenting Detective Comics #27 (first appearance of Batman, of course) cgc 7.5 is sure to be one of the most-watched sales of the volatile summer season. Bidding is already up to $400k in the very early going, and the book is likely to achieve mid to high 6-figures at least.

If you ever wanted to see what several hundred thousand dollars worth of comic book that you can hold in one hand looks like up close, stop by the Heritage booth this San Diego and feel the power.

All this is just what I think. There will be lots and lots of extremely cool classic comics and original art at these and other booths. And the beauty of San Diego is that there will also be all kinds of juicy reports and rumors coming out of it. What super-early Marvel Kirby or Ditko cover surfaced to be shopped around among the high rollers? What Edgar Church Key emerged from a longtime collection with a $1 million+ price tag? Let us know from the contact page and perhaps we'll do a follow up report.

But again — the big numbers make for interesting gossip but they aren't the important thing. The important thing is the history all these things represent and the creators who made them, and if you like comics and are going to San Diego, you should check some of this stuff out.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!