DC FamousFirst Editions

[artie]

I am not certain if a thread on this topic exists. At any any rate, I was wondering how many of you out there remember collecting the Famous First
Editions back in the early-mid 70's. I had several. My two favorite ones were Batman #1 and Flash Comics #1. I recall being disappointed somewhat
as I read Flash Comics. A few of the stories were "to be continued" in the next issue. Those Golden Age stories were certainly great.

[codystarbuck]

I am not certain if a thread on this topic exists. At any any rate, I was wondering how many of you out there remember collecting the Famous First
Editions back in the early-mid 70's. I had several. My two favorite ones were Batman #1 and Flash Comics #1. I recall being disappointed somewhat
as I read Flash Comics. A few of the stories were "to be continued" in the next issue. Those Golden Age stories were certainly great.

I didn't have any at the time, though I always wanted to read them. The 40s heroes fascinated me and I wanted to see those characters. I had other Treasury and Limited Collector Editions; but not those, then. In later years, I bought them, when I could find them. In the early 90s, I was serving in the Navy, in South Carolina. i used to drive up to Charlotte, NC to shop at the Heroes Aren't Hard to Find store, for back issues. One weekend, when I did this, I was told about a warehouse sale they were having, at their old location (which served as a warehouse for excess stock). It was just a couple of blocks away, so I went over. They had a massive stack of those things and I think i bought just about every Famous First Edition, a big chunk of the Limited Collectors and All_New Collectors Editions, and a big chunk of Marvel Treasury Editions. I eventually got rid of them (along with the rest of my collection) though I have scans of them. The real joy was seeing and reading the stories in that large format. I always wished there had been something like that for some of the Spirit stories. The closest was the Christmas Spririt, which reprinted those in a similar size. Kitchen Sink's other books were smaller and/or black & white (the P'Gell collection might have been color).

What always killed me was the notices in the Overstreet Guide about them and people trying to pass them off as Golden Age comics. the size should have been a pretty good clue. Anyone who though the kids of the 40s got comics in that size, for a dime, probably deserved to be rooked. You have to be greedy to be that stupid.

Of the Famous First Editions, I'd have to say the Wonder Woman ones were my favorite, with Whiz Comics a close second. Those stories were so different and really held up well. Flash Comics was good for the Hawkman story, as I didn't care a whole lot for the art on the Flash, itself.

I preferred the Limited Collector's Editions, as those were themed and filled with tons of great stories, especially the Captain Marvel ones and the first Secret origin of Super-Villains. There you had terrific origin stories for Joker, Luthor, Captain Cold, and Sivanna, as well as an awesome pin-up of various supervillains (heavy emphasis on the Flash, Captain Marvel and Batman). It was the Legion of Doom before there was a Legion of Doom. I also liked the Tarzan ones, with Kubert's art in giant size and the Batman ones, which usually had really good mixes of stories.