Saturday, May 25, 2013

WOW! A WAREHOUSE HORDE OF MONSTER MAGS


This sounds like it could have been remants from the seemingly never-ending inventory that Joseph and Peter Koch were selling from back in the 1970s. Advertising in nearly every issue of the then very prosperous and now defunct Comic Book Buyer's Guide, they offered lots of comics and monster magazines at very reasonable prices.

The lot was up for auction back in 2003 with a minimum bid of $1,000 and a buyer's premium of $3,379. It did not sell and I do not have any information on its final disposition. One could have literally go into the monster 'zine selling business for a few thousand bucks with this rare opportunity.

Here is the description of the lot:

"Did you ever want to luck into the chance to buy a warehouse find of 1960's monster magazines and comics? Are you tired of hearing of all those lucky stiffs who did get that chance while you were left out in the cold, either a dollar short or a day late? Well, here's what may be your last chance! Offered is an assortment of different titles spanning the years 1963 to 1971, with the vast majority from the late 60's. Included are over 5,500 copies of various classic Warren Publications (50 different issues), Gothic Castle's Castle of Frankenstein issues (four different issues), or Wally Wood and Steve Ditko's privately published Heroes, Inc. Presents Cannon! Heroes, Inc. Presents Cannon: Wally Wood and Steve Ditko's privately published "adult" color comic, designed for distribution through military base PX's, as its non-code-approved status rendered it undistributable through normal channels. (It has been reported that a CGC 9.8 of this book recently sold on eBay for over $80.00!) Included are seven 300-count cases-probably 2,100 copies! (We cut the binding wires on the only worn looking example of the original Ronald's printing cases, and discovered that the majority of the case's contents remained minimally Very Fine to Near-Mint in condition, with some yellowing to the pages of the outermost copies. The case was one copy short of 300. We think it's a safe bet that the remaining six cases' contents are at least this good.)

Warren Publications (numbers in parens. is quantity of copies of that issue, followed by average condition of the issue's sampling): Blazing Combat #'s 3 (5, FR/GD) and 4 (11, GD-); Creepy #'s 4 (5, F/VF), 6 (2, F/VF), 7 (25, F/VF), 12 (24, F/VF), 24 (23, F/VF), 25 (62, F/VF), 26 (66, VG/F), 27 (60, VF/NM), 28 (29, GD) and the 1969 Yearbook (8, GD/VG); Eerie #'s 4 (3, FN-), 5 (50, VF/NM), 7 (12, VG/F), 14 (45, FN-), 15 (26, VG/F), 19 (13, VG/F) and the 1971 Annual (7, VG); Famous Films Series ("fumetti" styled comics of horror films-photos with word balloons)-The Mole People (18, GD-), Horror of Party Beach (293, FN) and Castle of Frankenstein/Horror of Dracula (Christopher Lee throughout! 430 copies, FN); Famous Monsters of Filmland #'s 33 (2, VG+), 34 (1, VG), 36 (34, VG), 39 (1, FN), 41 (1, VG), 42 (1, VF), 49 (5, VF), 50 (31, VF/NM), 53 (11, VF/NM), 55 (5, F/VF), 57 (1, FN-), 58 (1, VG), 59 (2, VG/F), 60 (2, VG/F), 61 (2, VF), 62 (2, VF), 64 (6, VF/NM), 65 (5, FN-) and 1969 Fear Book (9, FN-); Monster World #'s 1 (2, FN-), 2 (1, VG+), 5 (398, FN-), 6 (306, FN), 8 (284, F/VF), 9 (1, F/VF) and 10 (Batman feature-15, VG/F); Screen Thrills Illustrated #'s 7 (Captain America Serial-203, GD) and 8 (The Spider Serial-442, VF/NM). Gothic Castle Publications: Castle of Frankenstein #'s 14 (Star Trek Cover-15, GD-), 15 (194, Fr/GD), 16 (129, GD-), and 17 (98, GD/VG).

Tremendous breakout value here, with the opening bid being less than ten-cents per book! Please note: Due to the size and/or weight of this lot, the cost of shipping will be substantial (19 shipping boxes, approximately 70 lbs. each)."

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