COMIC DETAILS
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Comic Description:
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Conan the Barbarian 18 Universal
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Grade:
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9.8
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Page Quality:
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WHITE
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Pedigree:
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Suscha News
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Certification #:
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1027531015
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Owner:
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Rune
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SET DETAILS
Owner's Description
Once upon a time I owned the twin sister of this book, but then a nice Englishman made me an offer that no sane man would refuse. So I lost the book, and sadly minds like my own tend to focus more on the losses than the gains. Then sitting lonely in the darkness, suddenly I experienced what many alcoholics may refer to as a moment of clarity - I looked in the mirror and said: “Man, you look bad – you gotta go see the doctor!”. And so I did, and I could think of no better medicine than this book. Hopefully Doctor Joe will accept my deepest thanks for his kind help in acquiring this utterly amazing book, which of course is dedicated to him.
I am probably the third owner of this book, previous owners being the collector behind the Suscha News pedigree collection and Doctor Joe.
Here is an excerpt from the story behind the Suscha News pedigree collection:
"I didn’t start out as a “comic collector.” Born in 1949 and growing up in Sheboygan, Wis., in the 1950s and ’60s, I was the kind of fastidious child who always used the kickstand on his bike and dusted off his model cars and planes every Thursday afternoon without fail. Because I treated my few possessions well – and had no brothers or sisters to help destroy them – I tended to accumulate things, including comic books.
[…]
In 1978, I moved to Tucson, Arizona, and two years later was in a new home with a special feature – a large, fireproof, walk-in vault big enough to accommodate the comic book collection, which by now took up a 6-foot-wide by 5-foot-long by 6-foot-high stack. Property crimes, particularly home burglaries, are a major problem in southern Arizona, and the vault seemed a necessity to protect my comics, guns, cameras and other valuables. The arid conditions of Arizona were a godsend for storing comics.
It was now the early ‘80s. My wife at the time often tried to pressure me to sell the collection. In those days before blockbuster movie franchises based on comic books and the Internet, the books were worth a tiny fraction of what they bring today. Had I caved in and sold then, I literally would have realized just enough money to buy a used pickup truck, which would have gone to the scrap yard years ago.
[...]
Two years later, we moved to the woods of North Idaho, far from the desert of southern Arizona. The climate here is relatively dry and crime is very low, but I missed my big secure vault. The comics were kept on industrial shelving in a large room in the lower level of the house, where I kept humidity in the mid-40 percent range with a dehumidifier. The collection was “hidden in plain sight” by turning the contents labels of each box toward the wall, and placing fake “Professor Owl Remedial Reading Workbook – Grade 5” labels on the visible side. I figured no burglar would be interested in stealing a half-ton of identical teaching aids.
When I reached 60 years old, I seriously began to consider selling the collection. I didn’t want to end up the guy with the most comic books in the graveyard".
Read the full story here: http://www.cgccomics.com/news/viewarticle.aspx?IDArticle=1809&Suscha-News-Collection?
This book is also quite special, since it was the second Conan the Barbarian book to be drawn by the famous artist Gil Kane (he also drew #17 and the cover of issues 12, 17-18 and 23), who had been interested in Conan for nearly a decade. According to Wikipedia (Marts 2012):
"Sometime in the late 1960s, Kane temporarily acquired the publishing rights to Robert E. Howard's pulp magazine barbarian, Conan, with the intent of reviving the character in a magazine format, à la Savage. However, he was unable to gain financing for the project, and the rights reverted to the Howard estate. When Marvel Comics licensed the character in 1970, writer Roy Thomas initially considered having either Kane or John Buscema draw the comic book, and Kane actively campaigned for the assignment, but editor Lee considered Kane too valuable as the company's premiere cover artist to allow him to devote large amounts of time to a commercially uncertain project. Kane would later provide art for the Conan comic book, which by then was one of Marvel's hits."
Current status of the 5 Conan the Barbarian #18 CGC 9.8 books (July 2017):
1027532001, WP, Suscha News pedigree
1027531015, WP, Suscha News pedigree
1206666002, WP
0056208017, OW-W
1107048015, OW-W
(WP = White Pages and OW-W = Off-White to White Pages.)
Three of these 5 books had pure white pages. Furthermore 2 books with pure WP had perfect orientation and near-perfect centering, although 005620017 with both perfect orientation and centering would win in this category. You can see the 5 books here:
http://s1270.photobucket.com/user/runesr2/library/Issue18
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