This is the fifteenth in a series of articles by Art Cloos in which Scoop looks at comic collecting from the viewpoint of the dealer. Whether they are part-time dealers at shows or the biggest of the top players in the world of back issues, comic book dealers have been an integral part of comic fandom and its history, and this is an area we believe is in need of further exploration. This month Cloos interviews veteran dealer Brad Savage.

Brad Savage
Interviewed by Art Cloos

Brad Savage was born in Sharon, Connecticut on July 16, 1955. He has lived in the same town and same house, since 1955. His company name is Rainbow's End Comics and he has sold comic books and comic art, nonstop, since early 1969. He can be reached by phone at (845) 214-0506, by e-mail at Bmarkrabwin @aol.com or by mail at P.O. Box 423, Dover Plains NY 12522

Scoop: Brad, it’s great that after almost two years of trying to get together we finally got you in to Scoop for this interview.
Brad Savage (BS): I am sorry for the delay. My life has been something of a nightmare...

Scoop: We are glad you are here and sorry for your troubles. Generally we like to begin where and when it all started. When did you first discover comics?
BS: I bought my very first comic, I am 99% sure, in about 1959. it could have been a World's Finest or perhaps a Blackhawk comic. I wish I could tell you exactly.

Scoop: How old were you?
BS: I was around four years old in 1959. Perhaps even three and a few months.

Scoop: So you could not even read them at that time? Did it continue on from then?
BS: Yes, that’s right. My recollection is that I was able to start to read at about 5 1/2 or 6. Probably when Fantastic Four #1 came out I wasn’t able to read yet. But, I bought FF #3 off the newsstand, I vividly remember this and also Amazing Spider-Man #3. I did not see Amazing Fantasy #15 when it came out, but I might have bought Amazing Spider-Man #1. I definitely also bought Spidey #3 off the newsstand as Doc Ock was always my favorite Spider-Man villain. Even over the Green Goblin.

Scoop: So it was more Marvel for you in the early days?
BS: No, not just Marvel. I dearly love Superman and always have. George Reeves was definitely a major role model in the 1950s as you know, everything was great in the 1950s. I also love Batman and the whole “chiaroscuro” of the character. Also, the beginnings of Batman remind you of the whole opening of Citizen Kane and the 1926 film The Bat and also the 1930 film The Bat Whispers. I do lean toward liking Superman a bit more. I remember having a tear in the eye when Superman was first introduced to me in the 1950s. I liked many, many other comics as well (from the early collecting days). I am pretty sure you know that Forrest J Ackerman is also one of my huge influences, as I was probably the world’s #1 lover of Famous Monsters magazine.

Scoop: The Superman TV show introduced me to the world of superheroes.
BS: Yeah! Wasn’t it great? Heaven has a great place reserved for my hero, George Reeves. I also like Christopher Reeve, but he's not quite up there with George. George loved children, and was the greatest role model for boys and girls in the 1950s.

Scoop: Were you able to connect with other kids who loved the comics the way you did?
BS: I remember also being the only kid I knew who talked constantly about the Batman TV show being one of the coolest shows ever (though this is later, 1966) I loved Rowan and Martin's Laugh In, because no one had ever seen anything like that before. It seemed you weren’t cool if you liked the Batman show, but I loved it and didn’t care who knew it. I was a loner, but I said “ Screw them!” I was never a follower, I only tried to be a leader and a keeper of the flame of the great hobby, and yes, I had problems finding kids who loved comics as I did, Art. I wish I could say I had friends in the 1950s that were of a same mind as me, but there really weren’t any. Until I met my best friend, George Bell, in 1969.

Scoop: So, comics were sort of your friends in the early days?
BS: Yes, comics were really my friends. I loved everything I read.

Scoop: When did you discover comic fandom and the fact that there were other kids who loved the same things you did?
BS: OK, here is what I remember. I did not know for sure, but when I got Howard Rogofsky’s original for sale lists (I started sending for them in 1967) I said to myself, “Hey, there must be other guys and girls out there that really love comics! Here's a guy (Rogofsky) who apparently can make a living selling comics to other people. There must be other people out there that love them as I do.” That was in about 1966 or 1967. Of course, even before that I theorized there were people somewhere who loved 'em. Other of my comic book loves were Lost In Space, Rip Hunter, Time Master, Challengers Of The Unknown (but I missed the Jack Kirby run of them, darn it), and of course, Wally Wood’s THUNDER Agents.

Scoop: You were quite well rounded it seems in the types of comics you read back then.
BS: Yes, Art, there were many others, I haven’t even scratched the surface. Oh, and here is one I don’t mention to many people too often: I loved Tomahawk.

Scoop: I am a fan of Tomahawk, especially his run in Star Spangled Comics.
BS: I also read Sergeant Steel, Blue Beetle, Cave Carson, Hawkman, Brave and the Bold, Justice League Of America, I bought #2 and #3 off the newsstand. I missed #1 originally, I think. Yeah, wasn’t Tomahawk great? I had 40 Tomahawk comics as a child. At least. Maybe more than that and that was a lot then.

Scoop: I was busy building my runs of most of the DC and Marvel titles at this time myself.
BS: For Lost In Space, I had everything from #6 on off the newsstand. I was real excited when I bought a guy’s comic collection in 1972, and filled in #1-5 finally! Excitement? Yep, really exciting when you are a kid. I can still remember the exhilaration. It was so cool.

Scoop: So I have to ask, when did you go to your first comic con?
BS: It was the Phil Seuling July 4th Comic Art Convention of 1971.

Scoop: My first con was his 1974 show. It was like walking into a candy store for the first time.
BS: Yeah, definitely was the same way for me. I couldn’t believe there were so many people just like me.

Scoop: Do you remember what you came home with from that show? I remember it being a Detective Comics #108 with that great black cover.
BS: No, sad to say, it was so long ago, I don’t. I can though, tell you the first big book I bought. There was a really well known major dealer there, by the name of Tanner Miles, you probably know him. He had an Action Comics #2 there, and because I was so afraid I would never see one again, I gave him practically all the money I had brought with me (it was $725. I will never forget it) and I came home with an Action #2! That was very, very early, probably one of my first 20 or so shows. I was I guess what you would call a wealthy kid. My father gave me the money to spend. God bless my dad! I was shocked that Superman was not on the cover. “Why not?” I kept asking myself? Who is this Leo E. O'Mealia?

Scoop: Tanner Miles is a name I have not heard in a very long time now. And that is quite a book to get so early in your collecting career.
BS: Oh, I forgot to tell you. I became friendly with a guy named John who lived in New Milford (about 1974) only 18 miles away from where I lived and still live. He introduced me to the 34th copy of Alan Light’s The Buyer’s Guide to Comic Fandom (TBG). A big event in my life that I will always remember. I knew you probably knew Tanner Miles. I hope he is still alive. He was a helpful guy and very friendly to me.
[Editor’s note: Many readers will know – but others will not – that TBG became Comics Buyer’s Guide (CBG) later on.]

Scoop: I beat you there. I started with TBG #12.
BS: Wow, almost at the very beginning. Alan Light loved comics. So did his mom, Lavon.

Scoop: I was bummed out when he sold CBG. Still am, and it's not even published anymore, which I think is a huge loss to the hobby.
BS: Also, I always emulated Bruce Hamilton, besides Rogofsky, I always admired him. He was a great guy. They should have made a movie of his life, or some deserving homage. A real founding father!

Scoop: That first generation of collectors created the hobby we know today.
BS: Yes, they certainly did!

Scoop: How well did you know Bruce?
BS: Not really well, and I wish I had talked with him more. Sometimes it is hard to speak to a legend.

Scoop: I never met him and wish I did
BS: I respect him greatly for giving his entire life to the hobby, and increasing awareness of this great pastime. He is one of the Forrest J Ackermans of the comics biz. I loved his ads with the money falling out of his pockets! He was a founding father, when I began!

Scoop: Do you know Howard well?
BS: Yes, quite well. I have spoken to him about six or seven times. Even sold him a Starlog #1 of all things and that was the only thing I ever sold him, I think. I finally met him in about 1977 at the Bill Morse Adventure Bound comic shop on Sixth avenue and 4th street in NYC. I met Robin Williams there, at about the same exact time. It was a great meeting place of cool, like-minded people. I met Joe Parente there, too. Man, did he have original art!

Scoop: Robin Williams is a comic fan?
BS: I believe so. He was making the movie Popeye at the time, and buying Popeye comics from good ol’ Bill Morse. It seems like he would be the type to love comics, but I am not sure how big a fan he is, if indeed he is.

Scoop: He might have just been doing research for the role?
BS: That’s possible. Bill Morse's shop was a fun place, man what a cool place. I met Dave Miley, Moses Figueroa, Fred Graves (later part owner of Dragons Den in Yonkers) and Dave Kaler. God bless poor Dave. His later life could not have been too happy, yet another early pioneer. Through Dave Kaler I met Ed Summer (owner of Supersnipe on 86th Street) then, the world's most prestigious comic book shop. Through him I met George Pérez and also Glen Hughes of the Village People. Dave Kaler regaled me with legendary tales of rooming with Bill Everett, of which he had been friends for years. And Dave was also a huge fan of Marilyn Monroe, as I most surely am. He taught me a lot about Marilyn.

Scoop: Wow, it seems that you were a big part of the NYC comic scene in the ‘70s and ‘80s. Can you give a bit more perspective on what it was like to be part of that scene?
BS: I only spoke maybe 25 words to Robin Williams, he was engaged in a deal with Bill Morse, and when Bill Morse is doing a deal, look out. I really liked Bill. He was a guy who was (then, certainly) a mover and a shaker. He knew all kinds of people in the entertainment industry and had customers like Clint Eastwood, Shirley McLaine, Robin Williams, Glen Hughes, Joey Belladonna and I think, John Cougar Mellencamp. There were also a lot of charlatans that hung out there, like in any venue or any endeavor. I never met George Lucas, who was an invisible partner with Ed Summer at Supersnipe. When I heard the man who made Star Wars was partners with Ed, well, that is pretty impressive, eh? Ed Summer was not good at public relations with his customers, though I got along with him as I try to with everybody.

Scoop: I have never heard about the Lucas-Supersnipe connection before…
BS: This you'll enjoy: one day in about 1976, my buddy, Jeff Greenbaum, another legendary figure, who worked on 53rd St. and Broadway, and who we called “The Wolfman,” asked me to deliver eight copies of Moebius’ brand new magazine Lone Sloane Delirious to Ed Summer at Supersnipe. He told me he would give me $8 to deliver them, and I was so poor at the time, I walked the 80 or so blocks to his shop and back (I hope both Jeff and Ed somehow read this!). These are things you don’t forget, and have a laugh about due to the absurdity of them decades later.

Scoop: Eighty blocks round trip for $8, you really needed the money it seems…
BS: Let me relate another tale. It is about 1979. I had just come out of the Rocky Horror Picture Show on 8th Street and Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas), it was about 2:30 in the morning. I was going to walk to this really decadent place (where I had been to only a couple of times to see how the other half lived). It was called Sandolino's near 4th and Sheridan Square. This was an interesting place, I even walked by Ursula Andress one night in there. Anyway, this one particular night, I leave Sandolino’s about three in the morning and walk over to 12th street and Broadway (between streets) it is now about 3:45 in the morning. I walked past three bodyguards who looked like they were going to kill me, and I saw Cher and Billy Idol hand in hand! You gotta love the Big Apple.

Scoop: When did you begin to sell comics?
BS: I started selling comics for a living in about March or April of 1969. My sales were $2,000 for the whole year as I remember.

Scoop: Where were you selling them?
BS: Basically, in school, and also in Goshen, Connecticut where my mom lived at the time.

Scoop: That was a good chunk of money in 1969.
BS: Yes. You could buy three or four Action #1s for $2,000 in 1969, if you could even find four copies then. Ha. They weren’t crazy about my selling and buying in school, but I didn’t sell many. I had a couple of people in my hometown who bought, too.

Scoop: When did you do your first show?
BS: Oh, probably the 1974 Phil Seuling July 4th Con, at the Commodore Hotel.

Scoop: We were both at that show.
BS: It was definitely a Phil Seuling show. Then Gary Berman and Alan Malin started their first show which I know I attended, the first Creation Con!

Scoop: They lived less then 10 minutes from my parents’ house and I knew them casually. Fandom was just expanding and was growing at such a fast pace at that time...
BS: That’s for sure.

Scoop: So you became a full time comics dealer. Did that mean you stopped collecting comics or did you continue to add to your collection?
BS: No. I have always collected comics. Always! I have actually stopped buying any new comics, but Silver Age and Golden Age I will always be interested in.

Scoop: There was never a time when you stepped away from comics to do other things as has happened with so many people in the hobby?
BS: Not really, except for maybe a very brief stint when I lived in Vermont (May 1976-January 1978), but I was buying and selling up there, too. I held a job, but was laid off because I wasn’t fast enough.

Scoop: How did your family react to all this stuff?
BS: My mom is filled with love. She is very, very proud of me, and very supportive. I just wish they had more interest. I think my father kind of realized I could actually make a living out of selling comics. This would not be the road he would have chosen for me though, but I had the greatest parents on earth. My father was a World War II hero. My father was the most revered man in all of Dover Plains, not everyone loved him, but they all respected him. He was a sergeant in W.W.II. He won the Bronze Star medal in the Philippines in 1944.

Scoop: That is so good to hear, not everyone in the comic world has been so lucky to have parents like you had.
BS: Yes. They were very loving and supportive. I am very lucky.

Scoop: My dad was in W.W.II as well. He nearly died in a Jeep accident falling down a cliff when the driver lost control. When did you begin to sell comic art?
BS: Selling comic art? Probably about 1981. When I started collecting? About 1976. I didn’t know what it was two years earlier!

Scoop: What was the attraction to it?
BS: I was mesmerized by the idea there is only one page of each that exists.

Scoop: You know that is what every art person I have asked has given as an answer…
BS: I'll bet!

Scoop: Has the hobby changed since the early days in your opinion?
BS: In terms of art collecting the prices have gone insane, truly insane. But then again, with art, if there is only one in existence, not at all like a comic book, you can take it from there. Also, sad to say, many people use owning original art for bragging rights (I am guilty of this too, I must admit ) because it seems it is now rather cutthroat. I preferred it in the early days when you had honest guys like Russ Cochran spreading the hobby. Some people think it is all about money. That is sad. It is, rather, a talisman derived from someone you truly love and admire that makes the hobby so great. It's all about love.

Scoop: Does that apply only to art or comics too?
BS: It certainly applies to both.

Scoop: Is it possible for someone new to break into either the comic art or comic dealer world today?
BS: Yes, they can. I am fairly sure though it is much harder now then when I was a kid, in the beginning. I lost money on a lot of comics when I first started, but every time I lost, I learned and said “I won’t do that again,” and got smarter with each deal. I think I remember spending about five years losing money and learning. Also, when I was a kid, five thousand dollars was a ton of money. You need quite a bit of capital now if you are to make a real splash in the industry. Today $100,000 buys you only about five or six wonderful pieces of art or really high end comics. It’s tough now.

Scoop: Where do you see the hobby 10 years from now? I mean both comic and art.
BS: Man, its scary. Sometimes, though I have been doing this for decades, even I don’t know. I must say that personally I hope I am fondly remembered when I am gone, and that people say “He really loved this hobby.” That would make me much more happy than someone saying “Boy, he had tons of great stuff, didn’t he?” I love comics dearly, and I can only hope people revere comic book literature and comic art for the truly great medium that it is. It is, after all, all about love. If you don’t love this hobby, it is just a job. I count my blessings I have had two wonderful parents who have adjusted to my selling “funny books.” Ha!

Scoop: Brad, it has been so much fun doing this interview we thank you very much for taking your time to be with us today and sharing your passion about our wonderful hobby
BS: Glad I could be of help, my friend!