Question about Gerber PhotoJournals of comics

[Super Villains INC>]

I was thinking about getting a couple of these recently, but I seem to remember reading or hearing somewhere that they had missing comics inside them, with empty white areas where the comics would go. I then remember hearing that they would somehow update them to fill in the blank spaces, or there would be stickers or something you could stick over the spot as the updates became available (or I could be delirious and imagined all this, LOL)

anyone know anything about this? and also does anyone have them/like them/hate them/etc.....


thanks

[Cei-U!]

I have all four volumes and wouldn't part with them at any price. Yes, there are a handful of covers missing (I never ordered the peel-and-press additions and don't know if they're still available), as well as some other mistakes and omissions, but they really are a great investment.

Cei-U!
I summon my highest recommendation!

[Super Villains INC>]

I have all four volumes and wouldn't part with them at any price. Yes, there are a handful of covers missing (I never ordered the peel-and-press additions and don't know if they're still available), as well as some other mistakes and omissions, but they really are a great investment.

Cei-U!
I summon my highest recommendation!

thanks for the quick response! Nice to hear the high recommendation, these books have always been on my want list, but for some reason I never got around to trying to get them. Then forgot about them until this week, saw some for sale at my LCS, and got the fever again.....glad to hear it's only a handful of covers missing, I was thinking there was probably a lot of covers missing.

thanks again!

[Kan-Man]

I have a follow up question - what are these? I've never heard of them.

[METAROG]

thanks for the quick response! Nice to hear the high recommendation, these books have always been on my want list, but for some reason I never got around to trying to get them. Then forgot about them until this week, saw some for sale at my LCS, and got the fever again.....glad to hear it's only a handful of covers missing, I was thinking there was probably a lot of covers missing.

thanks again!

There are a lot of covers missing but they are mostly of Romance, Funny Animal, Westerns, Teen and some Crime issues. However, with few exceptions every Superhero, Sci-Fi, War and Pre-Code title is complete. The White Spaces were mostly filled by the sticker sets in CBM and some white-spaces are of non-existent comics. This is a great resource that no comic book fan should be without.

[Cei-U!]

I have a follow up question - what are these? I've never heard of them.

The Photo-Journal Guide to Comic Books is a four-volume set of hardcovers that feature cover reproductions of thousands of comics. Vol. 1-2 cover the Golden, Atomic and early Silver Age output of pretty much every major American publishing house of the 30s, 40s and 50s. Vol. 3-4 are slimmer and cover Marvel Comics from the early '60s up. The books also include tables of comparitive rarity and value that are woefully out of date but the covers are the real show.

Cei-U!
I can see 'em on their shelf even as I type this!

[InfoBroker]

The books are a wonderful collections of comic covers, the most massive assemblage ever printed.

The production values on the first two volumes are exceptional, clear printing, from high conditioned comics, again probably the best assembled.

The two Marvel volumes take a bit of hit, compromising on both compared to the Golden Age set, which I always found curious, considering the Marvel Comics of the 60s and onward are in plentiful supply.

I have all four books, acquired from eBay over the past couple of years. As a comical books fan then are wonderful historical references (although I never used them as much as Red Oak for solving the Classic Covers Puzzles), as an artist they are fun, diverse influence and inspiration sources, and as a general reflections of the time they were produced, they add extra insight, providing interesting footnotes.

Highly Recommended (even the compromised Marvel volumes)

- jb the (coverless comics need not apply) ib -

[Super Villains INC>]

There are a lot of covers missing but they are mostly of Romance, Funny Animal, Westerns, Teen and some Crime issues. However, with few exceptions every Superhero, Sci-Fi, War and Pre-Code title is complete. The White Spaces were mostly filled by the sticker sets in CBM and some white-spaces are of non-existent comics. This is a great resource that no comic book fan should be without.


interesting info. I never knew CBM was the scource of these missing stickers. I am sure the stickers are long gone by now though, or i guess you have to try to hunt down the CBM issue (s)? how many times did CBM do this? thanks again for everyones info.

[Kirk G]

I had never heard of any stickers. I avoided the high price tag of these slick hardcover books when they came out....$75.00 each!
However, when Bud Plant offered them at a bargin low price of $44 each, I snapped up two Marvel editions and then Bud Plant corrected their price to $55 each.

I don't know if they still have them or not, but I'd go check them out first!

I never saw any blank white sections.

[METAROG]

interesting info. I never knew CBM was the scource of these missing stickers. I am sure the stickers are long gone by now though, or i guess you have to try to hunt down the CBM issue (s)? how many times did CBM do this? thanks again for everyones info.

There were 7 sets of stickers in CBM... here are the issues and sets:

Set 1 - CBM Special Edition 2
Set 2 - CBM #74
Set 3 - CBM #75
Sets 4 & 5 - CBM Special Edition 3
Sets 6 & 7 - CBM Special Edition 4

I have all the above issues and all the stickers are the exact size of the space they should occupy in the Photo-Journal. It was a pretty neat project for CBM to undertake.

[Cei-U!]

I never saw any blank white sections.

There aren't any in the Marvel volumes. There are, however, several missing or incomplete series. The 5-issue run of Black Goliath, for example, is MIA, the Westerns and teen humor titles are woefully underrepresented and, except for a 1 page sampler, none of the magazines are covered. Even so, I still find them invaluable as reference.

Cei-U!
I summon the flawed treasure!

[Super Villains INC>]

There were 7 sets of stickers in CBM... here are the issues and sets:

Set 1 - CBM Special Edition 2
Set 2 - CBM #74
Set 3 - CBM #75
Sets 4 & 5 - CBM Special Edition 3
Sets 6 & 7 - CBM Special Edition 4

I have all the above issues and all the stickers are the exact size of the space they should occupy in the Photo-Journal. It was a pretty neat project for CBM to undertake.

thanks for posting this! This board is great....like they say, "if you have a question, ask the experts....." again, thanks to all who responded. Now i am going to get the books, no question!

[TheHistorian]

The two Marvel volumes take a bit of hit, compromising on both compared to the Golden Age set, which I always found curious, considering the Marvel Comics of the 60s and onward are in plentiful supply.

The theory I recall floating around at the time was that the Marvel books could have been sourced easily from just a couple collections - it took much less effort to be "done" so why keep searching and searching for a slighter nicer copy to photograph? Just a theory though.