Never Ever Let People Near Your Comicx Collection

I have to admit that until I started trying to catalogue (again) the old 1960s comics I had such as Odhams Fantastic and Terrific and, of course, my Alan Class collection I had no idea just how many comics had been...well, stolen by visitors I used to have when my apartment was an open door to comic people.

How bad are the losses?

Well, I now have only issues 11, 12, 13, 45, 60, 67, 76 and 77 from my Fantastics and I was given a large stack at the old Bath mart in the 1980s by David Johnson.

The Terrific comics I just stared at in shock. Only two left -issues 6 and 7.

That is pretty gutting but my own fault since I was so open to visitors.

It was when I came to my Alan Class box that I discovered there were only just over 50 books -and a big space in the box.

I only have

Amazing Stories of Suspense 98, 102, 117, 127, 153, 174, 186, 219, 221 and 233.

Out Of This World 4, 7 and 18!!!

Sinister Tales  54, 75, 100, 106, 108, 117, 144, 184, 208, 214 and 227.

Secrets Of The Unknown  104, 139, 194, 206, 229, 230 and 241

Uncanny Tales  30, 64, 66, 73, 116, 141, 152, 153, 169, 173, 179 and 183

Astounding Stories  8, 76, 81, 93, 94, 122, 130, 141, 144, 171 and 188

Creepy Worlds  133, 138, 141, 159, 165, 204, 205 and 239


If you are a member of my Yahoo Alan Class group and have seen the cover scans I uploaded there years ago when I started the group you will see that I am missing...a lot.

By the gaps between numbers it looks as though people just put their hands in, grabbed a bunch and that was it.

I can actually see now WHY collectors tend not to let others near their books -especially unattended. I'm not the first to have had a collection looted but let it serve as an example to you. 

Can I rebuild the collection?  Not likely since ebay sellers are pushing prices sky-high and well out of my range.

Just utterly winded.

Did You Buy A Copy Of The Amazing World Of Alan Class ?

Now those of you who have visited this site will know about the following paperback -a 24pp magazine looking at the work of Alan Class and my interview with him. Hey -I set up the first Alan Class tribute website and yahoo group on the net (and people are still stealing info from it).

Sadly, despite all the "likes" and responses this has sold lousily. I think 3 copies since it was published. The interview is available in The Hooper Interviews book but that's sold like...well, let's just say not many people seem interested in interviews with comic creators! 

I had wondered whether there was some way to expand the book -more illoes - a colour section was out as this would make the book about three times the cover price!  As it is, lulu.com, the print on demand company I use has become very snooty toward comics over the last few years. It wants to be seen as a wheeler dealer in first time authors. No, they DO NOT pay. Yes, you do all the work and they take a percentage as "middle men".

So, after a price hike a while back which hit the comic publishers, they have now decided "saddle stitching" (ie. -the staples used for smaller page count books) are obsolete to them.

No, seriously.

So, any book under 32 pages is "retired" by them. So you have to add pages to get "perfect bound" books. Over 30 of my books are affected so its a LOT of work on top of everything else.

Looks like the Class book will be retired until I can somehow up-date it.  So, if you have not bought a copy but want to you have a couple weeks. I cannot guarantee any updated version this year or even in 2014.

Well done lulu.com. Still killing the small publisher.

A4

Paperback

B&W

24 pages

Price: £5.00

Ships in 3–5 business days

Marvel, Timely, Atlas, Charlton, ACG, MLJ/Archie Dennis the Menace (US) -one man published them all. Alan Class. Who? Class is legendary for bringing black and white reprints of US comics to a country starved of the medium thanks to a certain war! From 1959-1989 Suspence, Sinister, Astounding and Uncanny gave us a comic fix for a few pennies. Learn more about the man and how Class Comics came about in the long awaited print version of Terry Hooper's exclusive interview!

COMING UP TO 30 YEARS OF COMIC PUBLISHING AND STILL GOING STRONG!

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/hoopercomicsuk