While on the subject of rare Whitman issues the last catalog I got from
Bear Mountain Enterprises has a copy of WDC&S 480 in NM for $35. I doubt
they have it anymore, but it's still interesting to note. Can anyone
verify the contents of this book? and is it considered not as rare as US
179? I ask this because $35 seems paltry compared to the $510. paid for
a VG copy of the US book.
Rodney Bowcock
___________________________________________________________________
Get the Internet just the way you want it.
Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month!
Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj.
--------------------------------
End of Disney comics Digest V99 Issue #179
******************************************
Author
Topic: 199910
(147 messages)
Rodney W Bowcock Jr.
Disney comics Digest V99 #178
Message 91 -
1999-10-11 at 18:59:06
Don Rosa
U$ #179
Message 92 -
1999-10-11 at 20:55:45
Wait! Wait! I'm sorry I mentioned that eBay auction of U$ #179! At the
time, it was only up to about $85, a rather high price for something of the
rarity that I think that issue is, but still reasonable if someone really
wanted to complete a set with that useless and unattractive reprint issue.
But now I get the idea that people think that simply because something sold
on eBay for a certain price, that *that* should now be regarded as the
official "value" of the item! Someone here even suggested that if that copy
was worth $500, then a NM copy is worth 6 X $500 or $3000!!!
Don't you know that eBay is teeming with crackpots?! The prices that
things sell for on eBay are more often than not absurd! They are sometimes
far too low and sometimes far too high (as, obviously, in this case!). This
was an *auction*! Price guide prices are determined by a canvasing of
hundreds of transactions in the entire collector community... not by some
single nutball auction! There were two guys that wanted that comic (and
we're not sure if they were both legitimate bids) for $500. The next guy
was willing to pay less than half that... and the 4th bid was only $70. And
even the guy who finally paid $500 first bid only a $85 maximum before he
got caught in his frenzy and lost his reason.
Everyone relax and keep your seats. There are very few collectors in
America looking for that issue so this one zany sale is not a gauge of it's
market value. There *aren't* that many people trying to complete $crooge
collections straight through the Whitman junk-issues. And U$ 179 is only
scarce in America. I have discovered that the Europeans who have the issue
say they bought it off newsstands just like #178 & 180. And it seems to
have been commonly sold in packs in Canada. But for some reason the packs
that contained that issue and others (WDC&S 480, DD 222, DAISY & DONALD 47,
MM 208 and other Whitman comics) were not distributed in America...
probably because Whitman was realizing that selling comics in America was
losing too much money for them, so they exported everything for that one
month. U$ 179 is no more scarce even in America than those other Whitmans,
but there are more people searching for the U$ issue than the DAISY &
DONALD or some Warner Bros. issue. Why can't they find them? Not just
because they are scarce, but mainly because few dealers bother to buy or
sell such worthless comics as Whitmans.
So, yeah, U$ 179 is tough to find, but let's not go overboard here! Without
even looking very hard, I've found two copies and given one to a ML member
as a gift. And finding out that I might have found a crackpot on eBay who
would've paid me $500 for it makes no difference -- we don't take that sort
of advantage of fellow collectors, fer pete's sake!
time, it was only up to about $85, a rather high price for something of the
rarity that I think that issue is, but still reasonable if someone really
wanted to complete a set with that useless and unattractive reprint issue.
But now I get the idea that people think that simply because something sold
on eBay for a certain price, that *that* should now be regarded as the
official "value" of the item! Someone here even suggested that if that copy
was worth $500, then a NM copy is worth 6 X $500 or $3000!!!
Don't you know that eBay is teeming with crackpots?! The prices that
things sell for on eBay are more often than not absurd! They are sometimes
far too low and sometimes far too high (as, obviously, in this case!). This
was an *auction*! Price guide prices are determined by a canvasing of
hundreds of transactions in the entire collector community... not by some
single nutball auction! There were two guys that wanted that comic (and
we're not sure if they were both legitimate bids) for $500. The next guy
was willing to pay less than half that... and the 4th bid was only $70. And
even the guy who finally paid $500 first bid only a $85 maximum before he
got caught in his frenzy and lost his reason.
Everyone relax and keep your seats. There are very few collectors in
America looking for that issue so this one zany sale is not a gauge of it's
market value. There *aren't* that many people trying to complete $crooge
collections straight through the Whitman junk-issues. And U$ 179 is only
scarce in America. I have discovered that the Europeans who have the issue
say they bought it off newsstands just like #178 & 180. And it seems to
have been commonly sold in packs in Canada. But for some reason the packs
that contained that issue and others (WDC&S 480, DD 222, DAISY & DONALD 47,
MM 208 and other Whitman comics) were not distributed in America...
probably because Whitman was realizing that selling comics in America was
losing too much money for them, so they exported everything for that one
month. U$ 179 is no more scarce even in America than those other Whitmans,
but there are more people searching for the U$ issue than the DAISY &
DONALD or some Warner Bros. issue. Why can't they find them? Not just
because they are scarce, but mainly because few dealers bother to buy or
sell such worthless comics as Whitmans.
So, yeah, U$ 179 is tough to find, but let's not go overboard here! Without
even looking very hard, I've found two copies and given one to a ML member
as a gift. And finding out that I might have found a crackpot on eBay who
would've paid me $500 for it makes no difference -- we don't take that sort
of advantage of fellow collectors, fer pete's sake!
Gerry Tank
Aku Ankka
Message 93 -
1999-10-12 at 08:53:12
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
------=_NextPart_000_0013_01BF143B.6584EF20
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
I have the following issues of Aku Ankka which I do not want to just =
discard. If there is anyone interested in them they may have them for =
cost of shipment. I prefer serious collectors rather than dealers. If =
there are Finnish speaking collectors in the United States it would be =
easier.
I have the following issues:
1995:9,12-15,18,21,23,26,29-44,46-48,50-52
1996:1-12,14-18
1999:1-5,19,20-27,29-38,52
I will list other foreign issues after I am relieved of the Aku Ankka.
(Email removed)
------=_NextPart_000_0013_01BF143B.6584EF20
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
I have the following issues of Aku Ankka which I do not want to just =
discard. If there is anyone interested in them they may have them for =
cost of shipment. I prefer serious collectors rather than dealers. If =
there are Finnish speaking collectors in the United States it would be =
easier.
I have the following issues:
1995:9,12-15,18,21,23,26,29-44,46-48,50-52
1996:1-12,14-18
1999:1-5,19,20-27,29-38,52
I will list other foreign issues after I am relieved of the Aku Ankka.
(Email removed)
Crystal Cumming
Disney comics Digest V99 #175
Message 94 -
1999-10-12 at 16:42:18
Please stop sending me emails. I no longer want to subscribed to your list.
thanks very much Crystal Cumming :)
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
thanks very much Crystal Cumming :)
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
Fluks, H.W.
New version of the Inducks database
Message 95 -
1999-10-12 at 18:22:53
We, the "Inducks Team", have just uploaded a new version of INDUCKS, the
Disney comics database. Lots of improvements and additions; actually too
many to mention here. Also, the number of people who cooperated is too high
to mention them all.
Anyway, THANKS to all contributors!
This version is certainly not the final version; there is still a lot of
work to do. For instance, we have just started with Norwegian, Australian,
Greek, Spanish, and Brazilian indexes. Also, the other countries' data is
not complete yet.
We have two main Inducks websites:
http://members.xoom.com/bolderbast/
and
http://stp.ling.uu.se/~starback/dcml/inducks/
Both sites provide several ways to get information out of the database.
There's also a possibility to get all Inducks files from a site, and use a
special Inducks browser to go through them off-line. See
http://home4.inet.tele.dk/bp (I'm not sure if the current browser version is
compatible yet with the latest files.)
You can always mail me for questions, remarks, additions, errors, etc. in
the Inducks!
--Harry.
Disney comics database. Lots of improvements and additions; actually too
many to mention here. Also, the number of people who cooperated is too high
to mention them all.
Anyway, THANKS to all contributors!
This version is certainly not the final version; there is still a lot of
work to do. For instance, we have just started with Norwegian, Australian,
Greek, Spanish, and Brazilian indexes. Also, the other countries' data is
not complete yet.
We have two main Inducks websites:
http://members.xoom.com/bolderbast/
and
http://stp.ling.uu.se/~starback/dcml/inducks/
Both sites provide several ways to get information out of the database.
There's also a possibility to get all Inducks files from a site, and use a
special Inducks browser to go through them off-line. See
http://home4.inet.tele.dk/bp (I'm not sure if the current browser version is
compatible yet with the latest files.)
You can always mail me for questions, remarks, additions, errors, etc. in
the Inducks!
--Harry.
Fluks, H.W.
Stripdagen, The Netherlands
Message 96 -
1999-10-12 at 18:59:17
Last weekend, the Dutch equivalent of San Diego (or Lucca, or Angoul=C3=A8=
me,
etc.), the "Stripdagen", was held in Den Bosch. It used to be in Breda, =
but
there was no room this year, so they moved it to a complex that was way t=
oo
big for such an event! The other attractions in the building complex made
the Stripdagen look very small! (In fact it was not small; Carsten Laqua
estimated that it was bigger than Lucca, at least.)
The event lasted two days, but I only went there on Saturday.
Some points of interest (probably not - but I'll write them anyway):
- Several Dutch mailing list members met each other (hi Angela, Arthur,
Duco, Roy, Sven). It was nice to see Sven in real life.
- Dutch chief editor Thom Roep complimented me with the very useful Induc=
ks
database. The Dutch editors are using it a lot, e.g. to find out whether =
a
story has been reprinted before. I already noticed that they had printed =
a
lot of old D-coded stories lately...
I hereby pass Roep's praises to everyone who contributed!
- Dutch Disney comics writer Frank Jonker celebrated 10 years of writing
stories. He started writing for Disney in 1989 by winning a "scenario
contest". For the same "Stripdagen" event.
- Some other Dutch writers and artists were present, like Mau & Bas Heyma=
ns,
Sander Gulien, Daan Jippes, Kirsten de Graaff, Michel Nadorp, Jaap
Stavenuiter. The first thing Mau said to me was "is Fran=C3=A7ois not wit=
h you
this time?" 8-) [Remind me to invite you next year, Fran=C3=A7ois!]
- I managed to get rid of ~250 Dutch weeklies, and with the money I bough=
t
one album from 1973. 8-)
- I won't come to Lucca this year: too few free days left...
--Harry.
http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/bolderbast/mezelf.jpg
me,
etc.), the "Stripdagen", was held in Den Bosch. It used to be in Breda, =
but
there was no room this year, so they moved it to a complex that was way t=
oo
big for such an event! The other attractions in the building complex made
the Stripdagen look very small! (In fact it was not small; Carsten Laqua
estimated that it was bigger than Lucca, at least.)
The event lasted two days, but I only went there on Saturday.
Some points of interest (probably not - but I'll write them anyway):
- Several Dutch mailing list members met each other (hi Angela, Arthur,
Duco, Roy, Sven). It was nice to see Sven in real life.
- Dutch chief editor Thom Roep complimented me with the very useful Induc=
ks
database. The Dutch editors are using it a lot, e.g. to find out whether =
a
story has been reprinted before. I already noticed that they had printed =
a
lot of old D-coded stories lately...
I hereby pass Roep's praises to everyone who contributed!
- Dutch Disney comics writer Frank Jonker celebrated 10 years of writing
stories. He started writing for Disney in 1989 by winning a "scenario
contest". For the same "Stripdagen" event.
- Some other Dutch writers and artists were present, like Mau & Bas Heyma=
ns,
Sander Gulien, Daan Jippes, Kirsten de Graaff, Michel Nadorp, Jaap
Stavenuiter. The first thing Mau said to me was "is Fran=C3=A7ois not wit=
h you
this time?" 8-) [Remind me to invite you next year, Fran=C3=A7ois!]
- I managed to get rid of ~250 Dutch weeklies, and with the money I bough=
t
one album from 1973. 8-)
- I won't come to Lucca this year: too few free days left...
--Harry.
http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/bolderbast/mezelf.jpg
Francesco Spreafico
New version of the Inducks database
Message 97 -
1999-10-12 at 19:43:36
Harry:
> There's also a possibility to get all Inducks files from a site, and use a
> special Inducks browser to go through them off-line. See
> http://home4.inet.tele.dk/bp (I'm not sure if the current browser version
is
> compatible yet with the latest files.)
It is not.
It works, but if you try to see reprints when you look at the details of a
story you get an "Unresolved" message.
Sprea
> There's also a possibility to get all Inducks files from a site, and use a
> special Inducks browser to go through them off-line. See
> http://home4.inet.tele.dk/bp (I'm not sure if the current browser version
is
> compatible yet with the latest files.)
It is not.
It works, but if you try to see reprints when you look at the details of a
story you get an "Unresolved" message.
Sprea
Ugo Dell'Arciprete
Sects, hounds and rhymes
Message 98 -
1999-10-13 at 02:32:22
Many thanks for your quick and valuable answers.
As far as sects are concerned, I guess the right hint is Francesco's
>I AO 55039-1 (02-10-1955)
>Topolino e la setta di settembre
/>?/Perego/
>31/avventura gialla, matto/Topolino; Pippo, Basettoni
>
>No other "setta"... might it be this? (AO sta per Albo d'oro) I guess i=
>t has
>never been reprinted.
The plot of "Topolino e i malefici sette" seems too different from what I
recalled. Too bad it was never reprinted : is there anybody having kept a
copy and willing to post a scan of the first page?
Concerning the hound, I surely recall it's with ducks, not mice, so once
again Francesco is right
>466 [W US 29-04]
>UNCLE SCROOGE 29, 3-5/1960, 36 pp., C
>Uncle Scrooge "Hound of the Whiskervilles"
>7 tavole e 3/4 (11 luglio 1959)
>Il clan di Zio Paperone
>TL 243; AR 609; Anaf 39A; ZP 11 ("Il cane dei Whiskervilles"); ZP 70 ("=
>Il clan di Zio Paperone")
I'll try to find a copy. I would also enjoy reading the Mickey story "The
hound of Basketville", now that you told me it exists, but it seems it never
came out in Italy, is it?
What about rhymes, are you wondering? Well, my first (failed) posting on the
list was a few months ago, when there was again a flame about a couple of
guys that had tried to cheat Carl Barks. I tried to send him this
encouragement
Neverending lousy sharks
try to byte at Unca Barks.
Throw them back with a big snarl,
don't surrender, Unca Carl!
Hope he will read it and have fun :-)
Ugo
--------------------------------
End of Disney comics Digest V99 Issue #180
******************************************
As far as sects are concerned, I guess the right hint is Francesco's
>I AO 55039-1 (02-10-1955)
>Topolino e la setta di settembre
/>?/Perego/
>31/avventura gialla, matto/Topolino; Pippo, Basettoni
>
>No other "setta"... might it be this? (AO sta per Albo d'oro) I guess i=
>t has
>never been reprinted.
The plot of "Topolino e i malefici sette" seems too different from what I
recalled. Too bad it was never reprinted : is there anybody having kept a
copy and willing to post a scan of the first page?
Concerning the hound, I surely recall it's with ducks, not mice, so once
again Francesco is right
>466 [W US 29-04]
>UNCLE SCROOGE 29, 3-5/1960, 36 pp., C
>Uncle Scrooge "Hound of the Whiskervilles"
>7 tavole e 3/4 (11 luglio 1959)
>Il clan di Zio Paperone
>TL 243; AR 609; Anaf 39A; ZP 11 ("Il cane dei Whiskervilles"); ZP 70 ("=
>Il clan di Zio Paperone")
I'll try to find a copy. I would also enjoy reading the Mickey story "The
hound of Basketville", now that you told me it exists, but it seems it never
came out in Italy, is it?
What about rhymes, are you wondering? Well, my first (failed) posting on the
list was a few months ago, when there was again a flame about a couple of
guys that had tried to cheat Carl Barks. I tried to send him this
encouragement
Neverending lousy sharks
try to byte at Unca Barks.
Throw them back with a big snarl,
don't surrender, Unca Carl!
Hope he will read it and have fun :-)
Ugo
--------------------------------
End of Disney comics Digest V99 Issue #180
******************************************
Ole Reichstein Nielsen
U$ #179 ("Without even looking very hard...")
Message 99 -
1999-10-13 at 07:25:26
Don Rosa wrote:
>Someone here even suggested that if that copy
>was worth $500, then a NM copy is worth 6 X $500 or $3000!!!
>Don't you know that eBay is teeming with crackpots?! The prices that
>things sell for on eBay are more often than not absurd! They are sometimes
>far too low and sometimes far too high (as, obviously, in this case!). This
>was an *auction*! Price guide prices are determined by a canvasing of
>hundreds of transactions in the entire collector community... not by some
>single nutball auction!
The "someone" was me, and so far I'm the only cracpot I know of on eBay. :-D
Sure enough the prices on comics are highly varying: my recent acquisition of
a box of more than a hundred nicely bagged'n'boarded new "Silver Surfer" books
for a mere thirty-odd dollars is proof enough for me.
Usually my main interest is the low-end Disney market though, and my experience
is that there are no freebees to get there: just about any lot of a size worth
bidding for goes at $1-2 per book. That's for the worthless Whitmans and Gold
Keys and with a steadily increasing curve back towards golden age books.
I take it that there are enough of you guys out there too to prevent me from
getting anything without a serious counterbid. Maybe the chances are better
when you try for the sellers who can't spell: "WLAT DISNI'S WON SHOT No. 9". ;-)
Just pointing out that the general recess in comic collecting doesn't seem
to have hit nearly as hard on Disneys as some other once-popular publishers.
The problem with ol' number 179 is that it's not possible to set a guide
price by the usual rules. There simply are so few copies of the book and
they so rarely change hands that every trade is a statistic of it's own.
A nice original Barks one shot from the late 40es goes for maybe a hundred
dollars or two - or in that range anyway. And they were printed in the hundreds
of thousands! So it's a long time ago and a lot are lost, but there should
still be plenty to go around for those who collect these first editions.
So why are they so expensive? You know the reasons, so I'll just recap
briefly: Barks, first edition, established price guide value. A safe bet.
And then there's this odd otherwise worthless Whitman comic with the
probably worst of many known reprints of a Barks story. Its only real
claim to fame is that it's so darn hard to find, if you get the idea
to look for it. And until a few years ago nobody did.
Then someone (and that someone wasn't me) started looking into things
and found out that the book was virtually impossible to find in America.
Looking further he discovered that it was no harder to find in Europe
than other Whitmans. Mind you, that American comic books aren't exactly
common in Europe. At one point a guy from Gladstone informed me that their
overseas distribution was neglible compared to the domestic market.
I can't see why the lousy Whitmans would have had better sales in the
few dedicated comic shops in Europe that sells American Disney books,
so all in all I'd estimate the total of any regular Disney book sold in
Europe, Whitman or Gladstone, to be a few percent of the total print run.
I have been unable to find any of the statements of circulation that
occasionally appear in the books for the Whitmans at the time, but
at a very, very high guess a typical 1980 U$ would have been printed
in 50,000 copies. Leaving those maybe 1,000 for Europe. What happend
to the rest is anybody's guess: weren't they printed or just rolled
straight to the incinerators as is practice for uncirculated copies?
Anyway, that was just to punch a few holes in Don's often repeated
theory that something can be rare only in America. A theory that has
been updated ever so slightly every time he has brought the subject
up on the list. His latest version went like this, straight from the
dcomics archives, June 1999:
>Now, there is still a part of this puzzle that none of us understands...
>and that is WHY are a few Whitman-Disneys virtually impossible to find...
>those being UNCLE $CROOGE #179, WDC&S #480, DONALD DUCK #222, and one other
>that I won't mention (since I don't have it yet and I don't want to tip you
>off until I get one!). We think that these issues were distributed only in
>Europe and perhaps Canada. There may be other Whitman non-Disneys just as
>rare, if anyone cares. When someone has an U$ #179 on eBay, it sells for
>nearly $200. It is the rarest American comic in the last 30 years, maybe
>more. (Yes, it is *truly* rare... not like the "Platinum Edition"-and-so-
>forth super-hero comics of recent vintage... those sell for a lot not because
>they are rare, but because the young buyers are so easilly bamboozled.)
Not a investment collector myself I have still witnessed how Bruce Hamilton
raised the bucks for publishing our beloved Gladstone comics by adding a
little twist to the idea of selling. Instead of trying to sell as many
copies of a book, or porcelain trash, or whatever, his marketing policy
was trying to sell as *few* as possible! That's right - strange as it may
sound that is indeed the way one gets the attention of a certain market
segment. Simply because the item is in limited supply one can get away
with raising the price tenfold or more. Because the collectors will only
buy if the item is scarce and expensive enough. "Then wrap it in gold foil",
indeed. Don probably remembers with dread the month when he was signing and
drawing away for the limited edition of "Life of $crooge". :-)
I don't know what the street price is for that book now, but I suspect it
has been climbing steadily ever since the last copy was mailed, and will do
so for years to come.
I know I'm repeating common knowledge to most, but that's how the collector's
market works, for those of you who hadn't noticed.
Now, Don, can you please explain how you can both proclaim it so extremely
rare and yet only 'worth' a $75, $100, or $150? If so it must be a case of
bad marketing, which you at least have done a lot to remedy.
For those who want to join the bonanza, let me tell that as far as I can gather
the other ultra-rare Whitmans are from the same month, and should be possible
to figure by looking into the new, improved INDUCKS database <plug-plug>.
This database isn't exactly limited in quantity: download as many times as
you like. It's unfortunately also free. BUT... it's available for a limited
time only! Get it now! (Before the next, updated version is ready...:-)
http://members.xoom.com/bolderbast/
and
http://stp.ling.uu.se/~starback/dcml/inducks/
oLe
_U
>Someone here even suggested that if that copy
>was worth $500, then a NM copy is worth 6 X $500 or $3000!!!
>Don't you know that eBay is teeming with crackpots?! The prices that
>things sell for on eBay are more often than not absurd! They are sometimes
>far too low and sometimes far too high (as, obviously, in this case!). This
>was an *auction*! Price guide prices are determined by a canvasing of
>hundreds of transactions in the entire collector community... not by some
>single nutball auction!
The "someone" was me, and so far I'm the only cracpot I know of on eBay. :-D
Sure enough the prices on comics are highly varying: my recent acquisition of
a box of more than a hundred nicely bagged'n'boarded new "Silver Surfer" books
for a mere thirty-odd dollars is proof enough for me.
Usually my main interest is the low-end Disney market though, and my experience
is that there are no freebees to get there: just about any lot of a size worth
bidding for goes at $1-2 per book. That's for the worthless Whitmans and Gold
Keys and with a steadily increasing curve back towards golden age books.
I take it that there are enough of you guys out there too to prevent me from
getting anything without a serious counterbid. Maybe the chances are better
when you try for the sellers who can't spell: "WLAT DISNI'S WON SHOT No. 9". ;-)
Just pointing out that the general recess in comic collecting doesn't seem
to have hit nearly as hard on Disneys as some other once-popular publishers.
The problem with ol' number 179 is that it's not possible to set a guide
price by the usual rules. There simply are so few copies of the book and
they so rarely change hands that every trade is a statistic of it's own.
A nice original Barks one shot from the late 40es goes for maybe a hundred
dollars or two - or in that range anyway. And they were printed in the hundreds
of thousands! So it's a long time ago and a lot are lost, but there should
still be plenty to go around for those who collect these first editions.
So why are they so expensive? You know the reasons, so I'll just recap
briefly: Barks, first edition, established price guide value. A safe bet.
And then there's this odd otherwise worthless Whitman comic with the
probably worst of many known reprints of a Barks story. Its only real
claim to fame is that it's so darn hard to find, if you get the idea
to look for it. And until a few years ago nobody did.
Then someone (and that someone wasn't me) started looking into things
and found out that the book was virtually impossible to find in America.
Looking further he discovered that it was no harder to find in Europe
than other Whitmans. Mind you, that American comic books aren't exactly
common in Europe. At one point a guy from Gladstone informed me that their
overseas distribution was neglible compared to the domestic market.
I can't see why the lousy Whitmans would have had better sales in the
few dedicated comic shops in Europe that sells American Disney books,
so all in all I'd estimate the total of any regular Disney book sold in
Europe, Whitman or Gladstone, to be a few percent of the total print run.
I have been unable to find any of the statements of circulation that
occasionally appear in the books for the Whitmans at the time, but
at a very, very high guess a typical 1980 U$ would have been printed
in 50,000 copies. Leaving those maybe 1,000 for Europe. What happend
to the rest is anybody's guess: weren't they printed or just rolled
straight to the incinerators as is practice for uncirculated copies?
Anyway, that was just to punch a few holes in Don's often repeated
theory that something can be rare only in America. A theory that has
been updated ever so slightly every time he has brought the subject
up on the list. His latest version went like this, straight from the
dcomics archives, June 1999:
>Now, there is still a part of this puzzle that none of us understands...
>and that is WHY are a few Whitman-Disneys virtually impossible to find...
>those being UNCLE $CROOGE #179, WDC&S #480, DONALD DUCK #222, and one other
>that I won't mention (since I don't have it yet and I don't want to tip you
>off until I get one!). We think that these issues were distributed only in
>Europe and perhaps Canada. There may be other Whitman non-Disneys just as
>rare, if anyone cares. When someone has an U$ #179 on eBay, it sells for
>nearly $200. It is the rarest American comic in the last 30 years, maybe
>more. (Yes, it is *truly* rare... not like the "Platinum Edition"-and-so-
>forth super-hero comics of recent vintage... those sell for a lot not because
>they are rare, but because the young buyers are so easilly bamboozled.)
Not a investment collector myself I have still witnessed how Bruce Hamilton
raised the bucks for publishing our beloved Gladstone comics by adding a
little twist to the idea of selling. Instead of trying to sell as many
copies of a book, or porcelain trash, or whatever, his marketing policy
was trying to sell as *few* as possible! That's right - strange as it may
sound that is indeed the way one gets the attention of a certain market
segment. Simply because the item is in limited supply one can get away
with raising the price tenfold or more. Because the collectors will only
buy if the item is scarce and expensive enough. "Then wrap it in gold foil",
indeed. Don probably remembers with dread the month when he was signing and
drawing away for the limited edition of "Life of $crooge". :-)
I don't know what the street price is for that book now, but I suspect it
has been climbing steadily ever since the last copy was mailed, and will do
so for years to come.
I know I'm repeating common knowledge to most, but that's how the collector's
market works, for those of you who hadn't noticed.
Now, Don, can you please explain how you can both proclaim it so extremely
rare and yet only 'worth' a $75, $100, or $150? If so it must be a case of
bad marketing, which you at least have done a lot to remedy.
For those who want to join the bonanza, let me tell that as far as I can gather
the other ultra-rare Whitmans are from the same month, and should be possible
to figure by looking into the new, improved INDUCKS database <plug-plug>.
This database isn't exactly limited in quantity: download as many times as
you like. It's unfortunately also free. BUT... it's available for a limited
time only! Get it now! (Before the next, updated version is ready...:-)
http://members.xoom.com/bolderbast/
and
http://stp.ling.uu.se/~starback/dcml/inducks/
oLe
_U
Arthur Faria Jr.
Magica's sorcery shop
Message 100 -
1999-10-13 at 08:19:48
[David]
> Magica De Spell's sorcery shop (a medium-size shack full of magic
> doodads, not a castle) is on the side of Mount Vesuvius in Italy,
according
> to countless stories. No guesswork necessary.
[Paolo]
>I confirm it is on Vesuvio, but I'm also sure it isn't a sorcery
>shop, she doesn't allow tourists around her house, neither
>postman...
I think Magica's house *was* a sorcery
shop of some kind, at least in Barks stories. Quoting Michael
Naiman about a sign outside her house:
>Spells cast
>Hexes hexed
>Evil eyes refueled
>Black cats for rent
Are these activities technically shop business or are they just
"witch business"?
And can you cite some stories where Magica has expelled postmen
from her property? (the only stories where it always occurs
are Brazilian Hard Haid Moe's... ;-)
-- Arthur Faria.
> Magica De Spell's sorcery shop (a medium-size shack full of magic
> doodads, not a castle) is on the side of Mount Vesuvius in Italy,
according
> to countless stories. No guesswork necessary.
[Paolo]
>I confirm it is on Vesuvio, but I'm also sure it isn't a sorcery
>shop, she doesn't allow tourists around her house, neither
>postman...
I think Magica's house *was* a sorcery
shop of some kind, at least in Barks stories. Quoting Michael
Naiman about a sign outside her house:
>Spells cast
>Hexes hexed
>Evil eyes refueled
>Black cats for rent
Are these activities technically shop business or are they just
"witch business"?
And can you cite some stories where Magica has expelled postmen
from her property? (the only stories where it always occurs
are Brazilian Hard Haid Moe's... ;-)
-- Arthur Faria.
Botto Armando
Hound of Basketville
Message 101 -
1999-10-13 at 11:23:57
Ugo:
<<I would also enjoy reading the Mickey story "The hound of Basketville",
now that you told me it exists, but it seems it never came out in Italy, is
it?>>
The brand new Inducks version reports an Italian reprint, in the May 1966
"Almanacco Topolino":
AT 113f Il Segugio di Basketville - interpreti: Sherlock Topolino e Dottor
Pippo
No other known reprints, I'm afraid... maybe a candidate for the "Almanacco
Topolino Nuova Serie" ? The story can't be worse than the Bad Wolf one (by
Glenn Schmitz...) they reprinted in # 3 ;-)
Ciao,
Armando
(who safely stored a copy of the DCML Digest # 179... twenty years from now,
it could be worth some money ;-))
<<I would also enjoy reading the Mickey story "The hound of Basketville",
now that you told me it exists, but it seems it never came out in Italy, is
it?>>
The brand new Inducks version reports an Italian reprint, in the May 1966
"Almanacco Topolino":
AT 113f Il Segugio di Basketville - interpreti: Sherlock Topolino e Dottor
Pippo
No other known reprints, I'm afraid... maybe a candidate for the "Almanacco
Topolino Nuova Serie" ? The story can't be worse than the Bad Wolf one (by
Glenn Schmitz...) they reprinted in # 3 ;-)
Ciao,
Armando
(who safely stored a copy of the DCML Digest # 179... twenty years from now,
it could be worth some money ;-))
Dr. Archontis Pantsios
Finding a high enough price!
Message 102 -
1999-10-13 at 14:54:11
KRITON:
>So *prove* me wrong and make me an offer I can't refuse!!! :-)
>(I'll tell you when to stop stapling pages with zeroes on your check.)
Maybe I won't even have to do that!
How about if I followed this action: hire Black Pete to kidnap you and take
you to a remote place, where he'd pose the following dilemma to you: hand me
over that comic book or I'll show you how my revolver works on your body.
Would *that* be a high enough "price"?! :-))))))
Cheers,
Archontis
>So *prove* me wrong and make me an offer I can't refuse!!! :-)
>(I'll tell you when to stop stapling pages with zeroes on your check.)
Maybe I won't even have to do that!
How about if I followed this action: hire Black Pete to kidnap you and take
you to a remote place, where he'd pose the following dilemma to you: hand me
over that comic book or I'll show you how my revolver works on your body.
Would *that* be a high enough "price"?! :-))))))
Cheers,
Archontis
Francesco Spreafico
Sects, hounds and rhymes
Message 103 -
1999-10-13 at 15:45:46
Ugo:
> As far as sects are concerned, I guess the right hint is Francesco's
> Concerning the hound, I surely recall it's with ducks, not mice, so once
> again Francesco is right
Well well, incredible! Two out of two!! :)))
> The plot of "Topolino e i malefici sette" seems too different from what I
> recalled. Too bad it was never reprinted : is there anybody having kept a
> copy and willing to post a scan of the first page?
But it was reprinted!! On "I Classici" #160, that's where I have it.
Unfortunately I don't have any scanners :(
> I'll try to find a copy. I would also enjoy reading the Mickey story "The
> hound of Basketville", now that you told me it exists, but it seems it
never
> came out in Italy, is it?
It IS :)))
AT 113 (Almanacco Topolino, maggio 1966)
W WDC 300-01 Il Segugio di Basketville - interpreti: Sherlock Topolino e
Dottor Pippo
I don't see any recent reprints, I have to say.. may be there's none :(
> What about rhymes, are you wondering? Well, my first (failed) posting on
the
> list was a few months ago, when there was again a flame about a couple of
> guys that had tried to cheat Carl Barks. I tried to send him this
> encouragement
Maybe the post failed because you used the "reply-to" function of you're
mailer, that does not send the mail here in the list but actuallt answers to
the sender of the single mail (provided you're not a digests-subscriber,
that is)
Sprea
> As far as sects are concerned, I guess the right hint is Francesco's
> Concerning the hound, I surely recall it's with ducks, not mice, so once
> again Francesco is right
Well well, incredible! Two out of two!! :)))
> The plot of "Topolino e i malefici sette" seems too different from what I
> recalled. Too bad it was never reprinted : is there anybody having kept a
> copy and willing to post a scan of the first page?
But it was reprinted!! On "I Classici" #160, that's where I have it.
Unfortunately I don't have any scanners :(
> I'll try to find a copy. I would also enjoy reading the Mickey story "The
> hound of Basketville", now that you told me it exists, but it seems it
never
> came out in Italy, is it?
It IS :)))
AT 113 (Almanacco Topolino, maggio 1966)
W WDC 300-01 Il Segugio di Basketville - interpreti: Sherlock Topolino e
Dottor Pippo
I don't see any recent reprints, I have to say.. may be there's none :(
> What about rhymes, are you wondering? Well, my first (failed) posting on
the
> list was a few months ago, when there was again a flame about a couple of
> guys that had tried to cheat Carl Barks. I tried to send him this
> encouragement
Maybe the post failed because you used the "reply-to" function of you're
mailer, that does not send the mail here in the list but actuallt answers to
the sender of the single mail (provided you're not a digests-subscriber,
that is)
Sprea
Dr. Archontis Pantsios
Praises for "Topolino" libretto
Message 104 -
1999-10-13 at 16:01:47
Fellow Quackeroos:
I saw my first actual copy of "Topolino" libretto only a year ago, when I
started out searching for stories by Massimo De Vita. Since then, I managed
to get my hands on ~60 back issues of the Italian weekly, and finally,
starting last August I decided to enroll in a subscription to the historic
"little book". After having received 8 subscription issues, I felt the need
to write a few words on this little "jewel".
I must say that so far I'm impressed and I hope that this high quality keeps
up and is not just a (welcome!) aberration. Since #2279 I've been treated to
trully wonderful stories. Let me mention but a few:
(a) "Il Segreto della Settima Meteora" by Pezzin and M. De Vita, where Sir
Top de Tops visits the valley of Meteora in Greece. The background art is
faithfully realistic, and those that have been to Meteora (a valley where
monasteries are perched on top of rock formations that are not easily
accessible--even a James Bond movie has been filmed there) will feel like
they are transported there. Greek signs are used for shops and the like,
strengthening my suspicion that M. De Vita was probably on site when drawing
this one! (He's known to be a globe-trotter!)
(b) "L' Ombra del Drago", by Farraci and Mottura, casting Mickey and Black
Pete in rather unusual roles in the far Orient of a few centuries ago. The
two turn out to actually become friends!
(c) "Il terzo Nilo", by Corteggiani and Cavazzano, that send the Ducks after
a third Nile, also known as the Golden Nile in the heart of Africa!
(d) "Il dribbling del tombino", on a suggestion by Ronaldo, the famous
soccer-player. The story is a nostalgic look at everybody's "wonder years",
that made me at least, think of more innocent times when one of the most
important things in life was playing soccer at a corner vacant lot against
the other neighborhoods of my village!
These are a few examples of stories printed in Topolino in the last couple
of months. I have to say that I enjoy most of what appears therein, and I
hope that this high quality signifies a "rebirth" of "Topolino" libretto!
Cheers,
Archontis
I saw my first actual copy of "Topolino" libretto only a year ago, when I
started out searching for stories by Massimo De Vita. Since then, I managed
to get my hands on ~60 back issues of the Italian weekly, and finally,
starting last August I decided to enroll in a subscription to the historic
"little book". After having received 8 subscription issues, I felt the need
to write a few words on this little "jewel".
I must say that so far I'm impressed and I hope that this high quality keeps
up and is not just a (welcome!) aberration. Since #2279 I've been treated to
trully wonderful stories. Let me mention but a few:
(a) "Il Segreto della Settima Meteora" by Pezzin and M. De Vita, where Sir
Top de Tops visits the valley of Meteora in Greece. The background art is
faithfully realistic, and those that have been to Meteora (a valley where
monasteries are perched on top of rock formations that are not easily
accessible--even a James Bond movie has been filmed there) will feel like
they are transported there. Greek signs are used for shops and the like,
strengthening my suspicion that M. De Vita was probably on site when drawing
this one! (He's known to be a globe-trotter!)
(b) "L' Ombra del Drago", by Farraci and Mottura, casting Mickey and Black
Pete in rather unusual roles in the far Orient of a few centuries ago. The
two turn out to actually become friends!
(c) "Il terzo Nilo", by Corteggiani and Cavazzano, that send the Ducks after
a third Nile, also known as the Golden Nile in the heart of Africa!
(d) "Il dribbling del tombino", on a suggestion by Ronaldo, the famous
soccer-player. The story is a nostalgic look at everybody's "wonder years",
that made me at least, think of more innocent times when one of the most
important things in life was playing soccer at a corner vacant lot against
the other neighborhoods of my village!
These are a few examples of stories printed in Topolino in the last couple
of months. I have to say that I enjoy most of what appears therein, and I
hope that this high quality signifies a "rebirth" of "Topolino" libretto!
Cheers,
Archontis
Frank M. DiCapua
Don Rosa Appearance
Message 105 -
1999-10-13 at 18:06:36
All:
I just tracked down this info, and I don't think
its been posted to the ML yet: Don Rosa will be appearing=20
at an East Coast Comic Convention next week. Its at the Radisson
in Boston, and is being sponsored by the same people as last years.
A number of us from the list attended, and we had a great time.
Here is all of the info I have:
OCTOBER 24, BOSTON
BOSTON COMIC BOOK AND TOY SPECTACULAR=20
Radisson Hotel, 200 Stuart St. $5 admission,=20
children under 10 and fans in FULL=20
COSTUME FREE, 10am-4pm, early preview 9am-$10. Don't miss NEW ENGLA=
ND'S
LARGEST COMIC BOOK AND TOY SHOW plus Magic: The Gathering, non-spor=
ts cards,
Manga, Anime, original artwork, Star Wars, Star Trek, action figure=
s, Pok=E9mon, CDs and
videos. SPECIAL GUESTS: Howard Porter-"JLA" and Don Rosa "Donald Du=
ck"/ "Uncle
Scrooge", plus many more guests. TOP DEALERS INCLUDE: Web-Head Ente=
rprises, Jim
Payette, Monkeyhouse Music, Books and Video, Superworld, Stand Up C=
omics, Card and
Comic Co., Signed Edition, Quantum Comics, Jim Denko, Lilly Mae, DJ=
's Comics, Reverend TV,
Sarge's Comics, Conrad Eschenberg, Comically Speaking, Steve O'Day,=
Odyssey Comics,
Harry Martin, Comic Connection, Dan DiBiasio, Temptations Comic Orc=
hard, Bill Mahoney,
Rubber Chicken and Steve Russo. $100 in "SHOW MONEY" raffled HOURLY=
! Contact
Primate Promotions @ 978-388-5550, email: (Email removed)
Frank
I just tracked down this info, and I don't think
its been posted to the ML yet: Don Rosa will be appearing=20
at an East Coast Comic Convention next week. Its at the Radisson
in Boston, and is being sponsored by the same people as last years.
A number of us from the list attended, and we had a great time.
Here is all of the info I have:
OCTOBER 24, BOSTON
BOSTON COMIC BOOK AND TOY SPECTACULAR=20
Radisson Hotel, 200 Stuart St. $5 admission,=20
children under 10 and fans in FULL=20
COSTUME FREE, 10am-4pm, early preview 9am-$10. Don't miss NEW ENGLA=
ND'S
LARGEST COMIC BOOK AND TOY SHOW plus Magic: The Gathering, non-spor=
ts cards,
Manga, Anime, original artwork, Star Wars, Star Trek, action figure=
s, Pok=E9mon, CDs and
videos. SPECIAL GUESTS: Howard Porter-"JLA" and Don Rosa "Donald Du=
ck"/ "Uncle
Scrooge", plus many more guests. TOP DEALERS INCLUDE: Web-Head Ente=
rprises, Jim
Payette, Monkeyhouse Music, Books and Video, Superworld, Stand Up C=
omics, Card and
Comic Co., Signed Edition, Quantum Comics, Jim Denko, Lilly Mae, DJ=
's Comics, Reverend TV,
Sarge's Comics, Conrad Eschenberg, Comically Speaking, Steve O'Day,=
Odyssey Comics,
Harry Martin, Comic Connection, Dan DiBiasio, Temptations Comic Orc=
hard, Bill Mahoney,
Rubber Chicken and Steve Russo. $100 in "SHOW MONEY" raffled HOURLY=
! Contact
Primate Promotions @ 978-388-5550, email: (Email removed)
Frank