Ugly American # 29: More powerful than a loco in-law?

My home base in icy Minnesota is becoming something of a comic book hotbed. A couple years back Gary Dahlberg’s untimely death brought us the Twin City Pedigree, one of the most pristine Silver Age collections on the planet. Dahlberg had a gig at a book store, so he got first crack at the comics before they even hit the shelves. He was cherry-picking mint books before anybody knew what an Overstreet Guide was.

Someday my collection of certified trade paperbacks is going to raise some eyebrows as well, but that’s a few years down the road. I’m just letting you know now, though…it’s coming.

But in the now, we’ve got David Gonzalez. He likes to buy houses on the cheap, fix them up and flip them. So he buys a little fixer-upper in Elbow Lake, MN for $10,100 and starts knocking walls out. That’s where he finds a copy of Action Comics # 1.

These days, you’re probably going to insulate your walls with a little Owens-Corning pink stuff that will make everything but your insides itch for three solid weeks. In 1938? You stuff the walls with comic books. Crazy, huh?

But it gets crazier. The book is in remarkably good condition, all things considered. It’s been sitting inside a wall for about 70 years, for crying out loud. Vincent Zurzolo of Comic Connect is convinced it was a solid 3.0 before Gonzalez made the tragic error of showing it to his in-laws. After a violent game of “keep away”, the back cover rips and becomes detached at the bottom staple. So when it finally gets to CGC, it comes back a 1.5 grade. Zurzollo is calling it a “$75,000” rip. I think he might be too conservative on that estimate. I think if I’m David Gonzalez, I’m spending most of my comic book proceeds on hiring a contract killer. But that’s just me.

Right now the Gonzalez copy of Action # 1 is up for auction at Comic-Connect, bidding closes on June 11. As I type this, the current bid is $137,000. Gonzalez says that he’s only slated to receive 50% of the proceeds, which sounds fairly absurd to me.

I can see why he might go that route – Comic Connect is an extension of Metropolis Collectibles, a reputable firm with a history of achieving record-breaking sales on that specific book. In order to get top value for the comic it really needs to be certified, and it helps to have somebody with connections to line up a serious buyer. A book like that attracts a certain number of crazies, also potential fraud.

It’s one thing to send in your copy of Amazing Spider-Man # 300 to CGC, (membership fee + about $20 will get that done) and quite another to submit the premier Golden Age comic. I doubt that David Gonzalez was even aware of CGC prior to discovering his copy of Action # 1, so it’s tough for him to know what to do. The problem is that there are “fair market value” price limits on submitting books, and CGC is going to want 3% of that fair market value to grade it.

Even at the extremely conservative estimate of $100,000 raw, that still means it’s going to take $3,000 to get that thing graded. Now, if Gonzalez had enough liquid assets to buy a house for profit, I’m betting he had enough on hand to grade it himself. But he’s still out of his wheelhouse, so I can understand wanting to farm all of that nonsense out to a pro.

If I found that book inside my wall, I wouldn’t have had enough in my couch cushions to get it graded myself. Actually, I think my house was built in about 1980, so when I get around to smashing all my walls in with a four pound sledge, I’m likely to find some ratty copies of the Micronauts, which doesn’t sound quite as exciting. But if we’ve learned anything from David Gonzalez, it’s that houses are just really big, really fun piñatas. You kinda have to just take a literal whack at the superstructure and see what kind of prizes are inside.

Were I Mr. Gonzalez, I think I would have written an email to Buddy Saunders over at Lone Star Comics. Standard commission on those auctions is 10%. You may not get a record result, but then again, maybe you do. The Lone Star folks have some reach as well, and you don’t really need much of a hard sell to get people interested in the first appearance of Superman, do you? Especially not one with such a spicy provenance - who wouldn’t want to own the copy of Action # 1 featuring rips from an insane aunt-in-law? That’s not just history, that’s a conversation piece.

Yeah, I’d hit up Saunders and offer him 15% commission instead of the usual 10% if he fronted the grading fee. I don’t see him saying “no” to that arrangement. Having a copy of Action # 1 is a pretty good draw for your monthly auction. And from my end, a 15% commission sounds a little better than a 50% one. I guess it’s all gravy, though, considering Gonzalez got the whole house for 10K and is going to make at least 5X that on the insulation alone. Only in Minnesota!

Thor # 344

While we're talking market stuff, I thought I’d mention The Mighty Thor # 344. Folks who follow this stuff are claiming that Malekith is the Big Bad of the new Thor movie. Of course, you know how that turned out for Iron Man 3! So, we’re taking all of this with a grain of salt for now.

Another caveat – chasing down movie villains isn’t always as much fun as you might think. I remember when the first Ghost Rider movie came out, there was intense interest in Daredevil # 270 featuring the first appearance of Blackheart. Well, that lasted about five minutes. Today that copy of Daredevil is suitable mainly for lining your hamster cage.

What I’m saying is, if you can find a copy of Thor # 344 in your LCS for a couple of bucks, you might want to grab it and strike while the iron is slightly tepid. In NM shape, I think it’s reasonable to expect that comic to fetch around $15. I would do that as soon as humanly possible, because I don’t believe that window lasts very long. So do it. Worst case scenario, you have a Thor comic by the legendary Walter Simonson, and that’s never something to complain about.

If you do have something to complain about, you can do so by commenting below.