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Post by G on Sept 1, 2007 8:47:27 GMT -5
If you didnt already know, I have become a big Charlton fan. Yeah, those pieces of crap. I love em. Must be the underdog mentality in me. I know for years and years and years I never paid a bit of attention to them. In fact, when they existed while I was collecting in the 80s I never bought 1 Charlton comic off the racks, brand new. I never took a chance on them. And being the early 80s, that would have been good reason.
Charltons have the absolute worst paper quality of any comic company I have ever seen. Therefore any books in FN or higher are kind of on the rare side. I generally will buy any in those conditions or higher. Some I will settle for in VG. I have only a few that I would consider VF - NM. Those are truly rare.
The fact they were so unloved and hated by the collecting community got me thinking. I started noticing that when I go to conventions or LCS's, hardly anyone has more than a few. About the most I ever see it like 2 boxes at some shows. But it is rare to find a dealer with more than that.
So low quality, low love, long history, rare in high grade, cheap prices....I decided to start buying them. And I must admit, I love getting these now. The bigger my Charlton collection gets the prouder I am of it. I dont have a lot yet. I have about 2 boxes of them. But, I keep working on it when I can. And I have a few gems to boot.
Call me sick, but I consider them part of comic history like it or not. Therefore I want as many as I can get while they remain cheap for years and years to come.
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Post by Brother J on Sept 9, 2007 18:46:36 GMT -5
I like Charltons, too! They put out a lot of crap, but some real good stuff, too. Especially a lot of early Byrne work. Doomsday +1 is a set I hope to put together someday.
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Post by leonmallett on Sept 13, 2007 5:56:04 GMT -5
Cheap prices? I wish, well at lleast for the action Heroes books. Prices have been putting me off thus far. But not indefinitely.
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Post by G on Sept 13, 2007 7:42:02 GMT -5
Cheap prices? I wish, well at lleast for the action Heroes books. Prices have been putting me off thus far. But not indefinitely. You know, for the 1st time, I was seeing high prices for some run of the mill Charltons at the Charlotte convention. I scoffed at it. Im talking books from say 1982-85 (their worst period) in say....FN...which are normally found in junk dumpster boxes, I was seeing $5 - $15 pricetags and in some cases more. And if it was some 1970's Charltons in "decent" shape (Fine-ish)...those were running in the $20 - $30 area. Normally I would find these easily for $1 - $5. At the same show, I found some awesome!!! 1960's Charltons from a guy who seemed rather strange and had low to high end books laying out on the tables without boards, just in bags in $5, $10, $20 piles. I found these beauties in the $5 piles.   So, there are still a lot of people old school on Charltons. But, for the 1st time that I can remember, they are starting to fetch higher prices. And, I actually think...for good reason. I want to get my collection good and stocked in case it ever does get to be too high in price. (which may never happen). I just think Charltons have been ignored as part of the history of comics for way too long and eventually there has to be some collector purist out there looking for them. Snagging nice copies is dang hard. When I see em, I snap them up! Its one collection I totally love more and more the bigger the collection gets.  |
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Post by leonmallett on Sept 14, 2007 2:40:17 GMT -5
Cool! The problem over here (UK) is the mart/con situation is poorer, back issues are less well provisioned in shops, thus specialists in back issues (mail oder) make a killing.
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Post by Brother J on Sept 30, 2007 17:58:25 GMT -5
I had a find today that would have probably made you drool, gowaltrip. I went to a comic shop that I had never been to before. First thing that caught my eye was they had a crapload of comics in boxes, and ALL of them were 25 cents. I made out like a bandit, got over 100 great books. Of interest to this thread would be the huge stack of Charltons I picked up. I have still to give them a closer look, but just a cursory glance at them they all look relatively high grade. The only ones that are obviously beat are the older books (Army War Heroes). Here's everything I picked up, 25 cents each:
Army War Heroes #12, 24, 30, 32, 35
Attack # 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 40, 44
Battlefield Action #64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 79, 80, 81, 85
Doomsday + 1 #5, 6
Fightin' Marines #150, 151
Not bad, huh? ;D
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Post by G on Sept 30, 2007 21:20:26 GMT -5
No...thats an awesome find. I wish it was me that would have found them. I will admit to finding a lot of my Charltons in bargain bins. But, this happens less and less. And usually when I did find them, it was always only like 2 or 3 issues. Now, I hardly ever find them there and when I do it is usually a rag. Im telling you, if any of those books are FN condition or above, you just got one hell of a deal and Im jealous like a mofo.  Way to go! |
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Post by G on Nov 14, 2007 22:04:36 GMT -5
I decided to do something I have mixed thoughts about. There are checklists that cfs made over on his board that I found to be very valuable. A favorite of mine was his Charlton list. I had never seen one put together. And since I am a Charlton fan, it was nice to actually have a list I could use for reference. Since he shut down his board (practically) I didnt have a reason to stop by and see the list any more. And, it seems as though our discussion over a month ago about the direction of my board left him peeved at me and left my board in huff. Certainly I didnt mean for that to happen. Ive know cfs awhile and had a lot of ups and a few downs with him. I didnt think he would stop showing up. But..he did. I certainly would extend to him the fact that he is welcome back at my board at any time. Anyway, his list is so cool that I feel it shouldnt go to waste. I feel it is better served sharing it. And even though his board looks barren and nothing happening, with some digging you will find some interesting things there. For those who know him all agree that he has a vast knowledge on comics that few possess. So, I would recommend looking around his board (you have to figure out the secret of looking around) and you'll see he has a lot to offer. I always felt his board shut down was just a phase, but apparently its not. But, I would invite you to go there and even join his board and drop a few posts there and maybe with a spark of hope or something, maybe one day he will continue his fine board. Anyway, without further delay. Here is a great Charlton checklist should you be a fan like myself: covergallery.sinfree.net/Charlton/Charlton_index.html |
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Post by cfs on Nov 17, 2007 13:15:50 GMT -5
G,
I'm not peeved. I just have other things which I'd rather be doing. I don't want to be a staple member to any board. I told BrotherJ a week or so prior to those posts that I was thinking about dropping out of the conversations to let you see what you could do without me. There are quite a few people online who dislike me. I don't care, but I don't want that to deter other people from posting.
In my last posts you were saying what you wanted the boards to be. The goals came across as too idealistic to me and I don't feel like getting into belabored debate about what makes a symbiotic system work. I have opinions and they are not changed easily. If you pursue options that I think (my opinion!) are shortsighted, then I don't have much else to say. If someone says they are thirsty and I point them to water, I'm not going to force them to drink. That's a choice they have to make.
I made a few points that you have to have a focus. I forget your answer, but I still don't see a focus. I listen to an alternative station on the radio because I know they are more likely to play a song I like. If there was a station alternating between Jazz, Hip Hop, Death Metal, and Romantic Love songs.... I'd probably not listen to it. I'm never in the mood to listen to ALL those genre at once. Some I really don't ever want to listen to. I'm not into sports, so when I come here and only see Hockey or Nascar posts, it adds a negative appeal for me. It's just not what I'd ever go to a board to read. I'm not really wanting to be immersed in comics like I was, so I'm exhausted (hence tired & bored) if I'm reading comics related posts.
I don't sit surfing on the computer at break as much anymore. I go out and chat with coworkers. I'm online less.
You disagreed on every suggestion I gave you to pull in members. I'm not here to change your mind. It's your board. You can watch it succeed or fail without me telling you what to do. I see it a a learning process. I know things that work.
There are probably billions of web pages out there. Google only scratches the surface. Without search engine hits and web site referrals, a web page is like a spec of sand in the Sahara. If someone finds that one spec in the Sahara... now you are asking them to come back on their own. Return visits are not an accident! You can't rely on goodwill, friendship, or luck to coax people back. They have other sources for that in their live.
Just about every successful messageboard site is based on news information or money. If you don't have those as a motivator, people are less likely to come back. Sad, but true.
I may make some more cover links on the Charlton page. I was burnt out from it and comics in general. I also felt the page's comprehensive nature makes it stand on it's own. I've not been making that many links to it. I made a few, but not as much as I did for other pages.
Updated almost all the alt image links on my continuity site. That's kinda invisible to everyone except search engines.
It's pretty sad that whenever I look up comic info I'm interested in, I get directed back to my own web pages. It kinda defeats the purpose of me searching.
I was asked to write an article for a future defiantcomics.com site. I told the webmaster I'd rather not. I didn't refuse, I just said I'd rather not.
cfs
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Post by cfs on Nov 17, 2007 13:22:31 GMT -5
Back on topic. Sometimes I do ebay searches for the Charlton Adult Humor titles. I'd like to own those.
cfs
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