Recently, we here at Scoop had the opportunity to talk with a truly
interesting collector who began his collection with comics, but eventually that
collection morphed into something monstrous. Sean Linkenback is not only a
collector of monster movie posters and Godzilla memorabilia, but is also the
author of An Unauthorized Guide to Godzilla Collectibles, a book that is
considered by many to be the most comprehensive book on the subject ever to be
published.
In addition to some amazing finds, in both comics and
Godzilla collectibles, Linkenback has built for himself one of the most
complete collections of Godzilla memorabilia in the world. Today,
Linkenback resides in Atlanta, Georgia and continues to look for the
hard-to-find piece that he need for his collection.
Now, for your
reading pleasure, we invite you to get to know Sean Linkenback, a monster of a
collector.
Scoop: When did you begin to collect comic
books? What was the first comic book you remember buying?
Sean
Linkenback (SL): The first comic I remember buying was actually a Marvel
Tales reprint of Spider-Man and Electro. But the comic that really cemented
me as a fan and collector came soon after that - Amazing
Spider-Man #166. I was a big dinosaur fan as a kid, so seeing Spidey
fight the Lizard and Stegron was almost like a heavenly experience. So from that
point on, I bought every [issue of] Amazing Spider-Man that came
out.
Scoop: What were the circumstances of and how long
from the time you first bought a comic book until you considered yourself a
collector?
SL: Well not long after I started collecting
Spider-Man, Marvel came out with a Godzilla comic and I started
collecting that also until the sad day I missed a copy at the local 7-11 and my
dad had the idea to look in the yellow pages and see if there were any used book
stores with comics. We ended up going to Starship Enterprises, and I bought an
Amazing Spider-Man #45 for $2.50 and a Silver Surfer #14 for the
same price. Until that point, I had no idea that older comics could actually be
worth more than cover price and I knew I was hooked.
Scoop:
How did your collecting develop as you grew older?
SL: I
always considered the business [of comic dealing] to be a strictly adult thing
until I met John Chruscinski and his partner, Robert Prince, who had just
started Tropic Comics. Here were two guys only a few years older than me and
they were already established dealers and running their own shows. It really
opened my eyes to new possibilities and I learned a lot being around them and
later working with them, especially from John who really took me under his wing
and taught me a lot.
Scoop: You discovered the "Paycopy"
of Marvel Comics #1 and a number of other Golden Age comics. How did that
come about?
SL: It was certainly an accident. I had been
wholesaling comics to some card dealers when one called me up about some old
comics he had come across. He started describing what sounded like a Marvel
Comics #1 to me and I had him fax me a scan of it. When I saw the writing on
the cover I called him right back and had him start reading some of the
notations to me and I knew this was going to be something big. He was in NY and
had mentioned another dealer was coming over that weekend to see the books, so I
called Rob Rogovin, told him he had to drop everything and go get the collection
right then. The rest is history.
[Editor's Note: Robert Rogovin is
the owner of Four Color Comics in Scarsdale, NY]
Scoop: Do
you have any other stories of major comics or other discoveries you made over
the years?
SL: Nothing truly major like some of the original owner
collections of comics that have surfaced over the years, but I did buy one in
the late-'90s from a guy who had quit collecting in the early-'80s and had some
great stuff that he had stored away: a near complete run of Captain
America including a #1 and #2 that were both VF unrestored, a Wonder
Woman #1 in 9.0 that is still the highest CGC-graded copy, a Human
Torch #1 CGC 8.0, a Target #7 that's second highest on the census and
a bunch of other really nice books. One of my favorite finds ever though was in
2002, the discovery of three mint in the box Plamodel remote control Japanese
monster model kits made by Marusan in the '60s. I actually found these in
Cyprus, of all places, and one of the kits is only the third boxed example known
and together they would easily bring $50,000 today.
Scoop:
While you have been a serious comic book collector, you have since moved on
to collect movie posters and Godzilla collectibles. What grabbed your attention
about those collectibles? Did you have other collecting interests, too?
SL: The movie posters actually came about because of the Godzilla
collectibles. I had loved Godzilla since I was a kid, and about 17 years ago, my
partner gave me a Godzilla poster as a present. At that point it was like
a light bulb had gone off and I was off to the races.
When I was young I
did [collect] coins as it was something my father was into, so we kind of
collected together. I did the odd Rock n' Roll pieces for awhile, and I do
collect Sheryl Crow stuff - probably not very manly to say, but I think she's a
great artist.
[But with the other stuff], again, it goes back to
childhood. To me Godzilla was always the coolest monster around, so when I got a
Godzilla poster as a present much later, it was kind of like "Hey, this
is cool I remember this from when I was a kid." So I decided to get some more of
the posters for the movies I liked when I was young, then someone gave me a toy
to put on my computer and go with the posters and it really took
off.
Scoop: After you got into collecting the Godzilla
stuff more prominently, do you have any specific comics that you sold, maybe to
supplement your other collections, which you wish you had kept?
SL:
The Kansas City copy of Flash #1 immediately jumps to mind as does
the 9.0 Wonder Woman #1. If I had known the Wonder Woman would
still be top census years later, I certainly wouldn't have sold
it.
Scoop: What are the "holy grails" of Godzilla
collectibles?
SL: Anything having to do with the first movie of
course. The Japanese one-sheet for the first movie from 1954 has auctioned as
high as $20,000 before. And even though toys weren't made of Godzilla until the
'60s, there are a few remote control model kits made by Marusan in the late '60s
that can command prices of $10 - $20,000 each if mint in the box. Interestingly
enough Godzilla himself from that line is on the low end of that pricing scale,
it's the enemy monsters that are rarer and can bring the really eye-popping
dollars.
Scoop: What are you favorite Godzilla items and
how large is your collection?
SL: As far as paper/poster items
it's pretty extensive. I have a complete US poster collection from lobby cards
up through one-sheets and it's fairly complete on the Japanese paper also. I
have a complete collection of one-sheets and am nearly complete on Japanese
lobby cards.
Scoop: You authored the book An
Unauthorized Guide to Godzilla Collectibles. How did this come about and
when did you decide to make the leap from collector/dealer to
author?
SL: When I got started collecting the posters and toys I
was truly surprised by the dearth of reference materials available. Unlike for
comics, where we have The Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide to
light our way, there was absolutely nothing available in America and next to
nothing even in Japan. So I started making trips to Japan to meet and learn from
the top collectors/dealers over there and just did as much research as I could
to uncover information when people couldn't answer my
questions.
Scoop: What was the general response you
received from people when they found out you were going to publish the
book?
SL: It was generally very positive. A lot of Godzilla
collectors were excited to finally have a chance to have real information
(especially in English) at their disposal. A few dealers were naturally
suspicious that prices would be either too high or too low but I tried to take a
very even-handed approach and pricing was secondary in my mind to the idea of
producing a lasting reference guide. And, it's the most complete reference work
put together on the subject and even in Japan they love it.
Scoop: Wow, that's got to be gratifying to know that your
work is more comprehensive than in the country of the character's
origin.
SL: [Yeah,] I actually had a storeowner in Osaka that
wanted me to do a signing there. I'm very thankful that people still enjoy it
and find it useful.
Scoop: What piqued your interested in
movie posters and what are your favorites?
SL: The posters started
as an extension of my love for Godzilla and originally Godzilla posters
were all I was going to collect. But as that collection got closer to being
finished I found myself buying different posters from other monster movies I
enjoyed and ultimately it led me to the Universal monsters. Universal horror
posters now are my main objective but I still keep an eye on "classic cinema"
― Casablanca, Gone
with the Wind and titles like that. What really interested me in posters was
not only can they be beautiful pieces of art in and of themselves; vintage movie
posters really are the scarcest hobby to get into. Of your other "big" hobbies,
posters are really the only ones that were never available to the general
public. You couldn't buy them at your local convenience store, couldn't order
them from catalogs, or anything else. You really had to know someone at the
theater or get lucky to acquire one. I grew up seeing images of posters in
Famous Monsters but quickly realized when I first started I had no idea of how
to build my own collection. Even now, I still haven't seen all eight lobby cards
for the Invisible Man yet. So it still retains that 'thrill of the hunt'
feeling that first got me so involved in comics.
Scoop:
What advice do you have for people interested in movie
posters?
SL: The same advice they probably always hear - educate
yourself, buy what you love, buy it in the best condition you can possibly
afford, and in the long run you can't go wrong. Fortunately the internet has
opened up a world of resources and availability that just didn't exist when I
first started. It's much easier to learn and not be taken advantage of nowadays.
I truly think posters have the best potential of any of the mainstream hobbies.
Not everyone read comics as a kid, or like baseball or was interested in coins,
but everyone has a favorite movie and movie moment.
Scoop:
Do you have any posters you are currently looking for?
SL:
There are two things at the top of my want list: a Japanese lobby card from
Rodan (1956) and the B-style half-sheet from The Black Cat (1934)
with [Boris] Karloff and [Bela] Lugosi.
Scoop: What is the
rarest poster you have had or do own?
SL: I have been fortunate
enough to own two copies of the insert poster from The Wolf Man (1941),
Lon Chaney Jr.'s first starring role. It is by far the best poster on the film
and only six copies are known to exist. And my Dracula one-sheet from the
1947 release is considered to be the best Dracula poster ever made and
there are probably less than a dozen known copies of it.
But my two
sentimental favorites would be my original Japanese posters on Godzilla
and Rodan. Those were my first two monster favorites and started the
whole thing.
Scoop: Many people collect for various
reasons. Why do you collect and where do you see the majority of collectors'
interest lying?
SL: While you can't help but be aware of prices as
the dollars you sink into your hobby grow larger, my love for collecting has
more to do with nostalgia and the enjoyment I get from waking up and having
Dracula looking over me hanging on the wall. And I think it's the same for most
collectors, profit is a great motivation but it's a real love of your hobby that
drives you to collect.