View Full Version : All Star Comics #58-74
I got lucky & found All Star Comics #58-74 for about 150.00 total today.
Why are these comics so rare? Is it due to a low print run?
dan bailey
10-12-2005, 04:04 PM
dunno, but i was taken aback last month to find out via ebay just how much they're going for.
i remember reading the first few issues when they came out & enjoying them well enough. a reprinting is warranted, surely.
dunno, but i was taken aback last month to find out via ebay just how much they're going for.
i remember reading the first few issues when they came out & enjoying them well enough. a reprinting is warranted, surely.
Well, All-Star Comics #58 is the first appearance of Power Girl & All-Star Comics #69 is the first appearance of the Huntress (Helena Wayne). Besides the entire run is a revamp of the JSA, with the original numbering, makes the books for a very good read. Paul Levitz, Gerry Conway, Wally Wood, Joe Staton, & Keith Giffen...
You could hardly go wrong with them around.
dan bailey
10-12-2005, 05:20 PM
the huntress i wouldn't know from a hole in the ground (except as presented in the latest jsa classified), but yeah, wally wood's power girl was quite memorable.
all the more reason for a 1-volume reprint, dammit.
Lone Ranger
10-13-2005, 09:26 AM
Not to sound too harsh - but that's sounds like way too much $$$ to me, unless we are talking NM 9.6 and above.
I picked up this run a few years back (had a few of the issues already), along with a DC Special #29 - for less than $1 a book. Granted, we are talking FN condition - but I just can't see how you ended up with an average cost of nearly $10 an issue.
Even if you paid $10 each for the two first appearance issues, the rest of the books should only be a couple of bucks each. They are widely available, anyone pitching these as rare is a snake oil salesman.
dan bailey
10-13-2005, 11:13 AM
i can't imagine paying more than $30 or so for the run (which is why the ebay auction i dipped my toe into a few weeks ago really opened my eyes when bidding on the first 4 or 5 issues & about half the others hit $40 with several hours to go ... where it ended up, i don't want to know) myself, th ough i'm (a) cheap & (b) poor.
even as i type, though, a "vf" copy of #58 is going for around $70 with 6 hours or so to go, so i guess i'm living in a fantasy world. wouldn't be the first time, alas.
Lone Ranger
10-13-2005, 11:21 AM
If that's the case - it looks like it's time for me to try to sell my copy.
If some sucker wants to pay that much for a very common comic from the 70s, he can have mine.
Corsair
10-13-2005, 12:10 PM
They are widely available, anyone pitching these as rare is a snake oil salesman.Y'know, with JSA Classified being a "hot" item at the moment I'd almost bet that Wizard has recently run an article on Power Girl citing this particular run of comics. Probably even made it a "comic babes" piece due to the added Huntress connection.
Just a hunch.
Not to sound too harsh - but that's sounds like way too much $$$ to me, unless we are talking NM 9.6 and above.
I picked up this run a few years back (had a few of the issues already), along with a DC Special #29 - for less than $1 a book. Granted, we are talking FN condition - but I just can't see how you ended up with an average cost of nearly $10 an issue.
Even if you paid $10 each for the two first appearance issues, the rest of the books should only be a couple of bucks each. They are widely available, anyone pitching these as rare is a snake oil salesman.
All-Star Comics #58-74 are very hard to find & rare. My local comic shop has everything from the 1930's-current, but he rarely had the All-Star Comics. He recently came across this batch of All Star Comics #58-74 a few weeks ago. Yes, all the books are in NM condition.
If all of these books are so plentiful, then why has it taken me years for find them? I gather a low print run. I had the same problem looking for (Uncanny) X-Men #66.
Jolly Mon
10-13-2005, 02:51 PM
Don't know about low print run. I found each and every issue on the newsstand back in the day, with no real effort (because my parents wouldn't expend any great effort on "funnybooks").
Lone Ranger
10-13-2005, 02:57 PM
All-Star Comics #58-74 are very hard to find & rare. My local comic shop has everything from the 1930's-current, but he rarely had the All-Star Comics. He recently came across this batch of All Star Comics #58-74 a few weeks ago. Yes, all the books are in NM condition.
If all of these books are so plentiful, then why has it taken me years for find them? I gather a low print run. I had the same problem looking for (Uncanny) X-Men #66.
DDM - I am sure they are beginning to cost a great deal because of high demand related to some hyped event, but there is no way these are rare. A quick eBay search shows that 5 copies of #58 are currently available. I'll bet dozens of copies appear in the CGC census, and that certainly underestimates the number of copies as only a true slabbing fanatic would slab a mid-70s book.
Nothing published after 1960 by a major publisher is rare. There are plenty of these copies out there - I don't know why your dealer had such a tough time tracking them down. I'll bet Doug Sulipa has a dozen copies of each book.
Although, if prices are really this high - I'll be dumping my books (probably 75% of the run) on eBay in the near future. The only one I really love is #70.
Try finding a #57 - now, that's a book that can be called rare.
Slam_Bradley
10-13-2005, 03:43 PM
Nothing published after 1960 by a major publisher is rare. There are plenty of these copies out there - I don't know why your dealer had such a tough time tracking them down. I'll bet Doug Sulipa has a dozen copies of each book.
You mean all those listings for early 1990's comics that say "RARE" aren't true. Who can you trust, I ask?
You mean all those listings for early 1990's comics that say "RARE" aren't true. Who can you trust, I ask?
Actually, certain books from the 90s are hard to find because of low print runs and/or skittish ordering so it becomes almost dealer-specific. Some dealers never ordered a book, or only ordered a few and sold out. Others have several they'd love to get rid of. The internet may have levelled this out though.
I looked up those All-Stars on Mile High and yeah, you can't get any of them in better than good condition for under $10. Surprise to me.
MDG
I also bought Adventure Comics #461-462 in the same batch because the story is about the death of the Earth-2 Batman.
gentlesatirist
10-13-2005, 07:39 PM
...a whole bunch of different issues here. And I'll only address them because the comics that we're talking about provided some of my earliest and best memories of comics. The Mike Grell cover to #58 alone is seared onto my brain stem.
1 - The only issue that might have had a low print run was 74, as a result of the DC Implosion of 78. I'm guessing sales weren't that great, since the accountants who got hold of the DC books at that time had no sentimental feelings toward any characters at all. Especially ones who didn't have proven track records in licensing.
At the same time, sales had to be high enough to keep the book going on a bimonthly basis for almost 3 years. Plenty of DC books went from debut to cancellation in less than 10 issues during the 1976-78 period, while All-Star lasted 17 issues.
2 - The availability of almost every comic printed since 1960 (I'd maybe argue 1970) at any time for less than 10 bucks or even 5 bucks. Have to agree here. At Mid-Ohio Con in Columbus OH in 2002 and 2003, there was a dealer with boxes and boxes of stuff from this era for a buck each. As the aging fanboys would pick one box bare, he'd reach back and toss out another one. Earlier this year at a small show here in NE Ohio, I saw the same thing on a smaller scale.
3 - 90s comics are rare because of lower print runs. Chuck Rozanski at Mile High has this same opinion. I respect Chuck, but have a hard time buying into it since first off, there are a lot fewer people who want these comics, with the exception of the "big event" titles. And the # of people who want them sadly isn't likely to increase as years go by.
At the same time, most people who bought them off the racks have them bagged and boarded and stored away, so there might not be that many of them out in circulation. But that's still no reason to pay 6 bucks for a comic that's only a year or two old.
Between the Grell cover, the Ernie Chua covers, and the Wood/Giffen/Staton interiors, I was entranced by this whole series as a kid.
- FE
Wickliffe OH
matewan1990
10-14-2005, 06:17 AM
All-Star Comics #58-74 are very hard to find & rare. My local comic shop has everything from the 1930's-current, but he rarely had the All-Star Comics. He recently came across this batch of All Star Comics #58-74 a few weeks ago. Yes, all the books are in NM condition.
If all of these books are so plentiful, then why has it taken me years for find them? I gather a low print run. I had the same problem looking for (Uncanny) X-Men #66.
No, these definitely are NOT rare nor very hard to find. I found them on a recent vacation still pretty cheap for only a few dollars each.
I bought my set of VF/NMs for about $10.
The reason these books are going for so much is that the Infinite Crisis deal has everything with lead-ins to that series going for big bucks. Take JLA 166-168, which, for years, has been in quarter bins. Now, these are some of the most important comics of the Bronze Age and prices are increasing daily.
Others to watch: JLA 165 with the death of Sindella, Zatanna's mother, and JLA 220 with the death of Larry Lance, Black Canary's father. Both are referenced in Identity Crisis.
There's gold in them thar Bronze Age books!
2 - The availability of almost every comic printed since 1960 (I'd maybe argue 1970) at any time for less than 10 bucks or even 5 bucks. Have to agree here. At Mid-Ohio Con in Columbus OH in 2002 and 2003, there was a dealer with boxes and boxes of stuff from this era for a buck each. As the aging fanboys would pick one box bare, he'd reach back and toss out another one. Earlier this year at a small show here in NE Ohio, I saw the same thing on a smaller scale.
One of my friends is trying to get me to go with him to Mid-Ohio this year--it's been 6 or 7 years since the last time. If I go, I hope this guy's there.
You (or more likely a dealer) could justify a $10 price tag on a book based on service/convenience. Does someone want a book enough--and immediate enough--that it's worth an extra 7 or 8 bucks to be able to order the exact book you want from your desk instead of going from store to con to store, shuffling through unsorted long boxes (like as not, kneeling on the floor under the dealer's table with some guy who hasn't showered peering over your shoulder ready to grab any book you pass up) on the off chance that you may find the book you're looking for.
Of course, that's part of the comic collecting experience. Used to be, anyway.
MDG
gentlesatirist
10-14-2005, 11:02 AM
...I think this run of All-Star also solidified my preference for DC over Marvel. I'd already seen these characters in a JLA crossover or two, but reading All-Star really set up DC's sense of history and passage of time that for some reason was appealing to me as a bookwormish, popcult-addicted 5-7-year-old.
As for Mid-Ohio Con, I think the dollar guy was with Bargain Bin, a dealer based in Zanesville OH. I'm gonna try and make it this year and hope he's there again.
The only "smelly guy in the next longbox" situation I ever had was at the small show in my new hometown of Wickliffe OH. Unless the guy had just completed his shift at a salvage yard, his appearance and odor was damn near inexcusable.
- FE
Paradox
10-16-2005, 12:39 AM
RARE? AHAHAHAHA! Yeah, that's why I was pulling them out of the quarter boxes at cons a few years ago (replacing my long lost water soaked issues).
People are just trying to cop cash off of a percieved "Power Girl -mania".
gentlesatirist
10-17-2005, 06:49 AM
...everything's always available list, let me add that I recently snagged a trio of ebay lots that prove this point:
- a 3-issue lot of Secret Hearts romance comics for about $2 each.
- a 9-issue lot of early 80s Teen Titans (between issues 15-40) for about 55 cents each.
- all 6 issues of the swell Best of Brave & Bold reprint series for about 75 cents each.
All of above totals include postage costs, so my actual winning bids for the comics would have been around half that amount.
- FE
Wickliffe OH
T GUy
10-17-2005, 07:05 AM
As another entry in the... everything's always available list, let me add that I recently snagged a trio of ebay lots that prove this point:
- a 3-issue lot of Secret Hearts romance comics for about $2 each.
Yeeee - hah!
Congratulations.
And: NTS: scour ebaY for Secret Hearts, etc.
What condition were these beauties in?
gentlesatirist
10-17-2005, 08:20 AM
...but were listed at G-VG. Even in that condition, I thought it was a good deal.
(Condition means almost nothing to me at this stage of the collecting game. As long as they've got covers and are readable, I'm OK.)
I think another factor that's going to increase the amount of these 60s-80s books being available is older collectors deciding to sell off their collections, and not finding as many takers as they had hoped for.
- FE
gentlesatirist
10-17-2005, 01:32 PM
...it's interesting to note that although she appears (by my count) on the cover of 12 of these 17 issues, by #65, the prudes at DC already had altered her costume (at least on cover art) to eliminate the "cleavage circle" that Wally Wood had incorporated into the original design.
- FE
Wickliffe OH
gentlesatirist
10-18-2005, 07:42 AM
...patting myself on the back - and to add to the availability question - the ebay seller combined shipping on my 9-issue lot of early 80s Teen Titans and 7-issue lot of the original Who's Who from 1985. That lowered my per-issue cost to about 40 cents each.
- FE
Wickliffe OH
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