Jon McClure, In the Limelite this week, is a noted writer on the subject of comics. By day he is a sales manager for a music publisher, but by night he uncovers some of the toughest mysteries in the history of the medium in the pages of publications such as Comic Book Marketplace. He also serves as an advisor to The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. In addition, he and his wife, Dyan Wilder-McClure, collect turn of the century Vienna Bronze miniatures, mostly of cats, and quality examples of primitive furniture, as well as any antiques “that just have the right feel” for their Oregon home, where they live with their son, Dan.

“I still have the first comic I ever got: Batman #181, cover dated June 1966, the first appearance of Poison Ivy, which my parents obviously bought for me, as I was only 2 years old at the time,” Jon McClure said with a laugh about his early start in the four color world.

“The first thing I ever collected in a serious way was comics. I've been collecting since 1973, when I ordered a Jack Hunt mail order catalog from a classified ad in the comics. I was nine years old and living in Wickenburg, Arizona at the time I began to take a serious interest. My first order included a Marvel Premiere #1 and some issues of Batman,” he said.

His early interest would lead to a thriving interest not only in comics, but also in the details behind them. This passion would lead McClure into areas of intense research of comics history, but it might not have happened as it did without an outsider's intervention.

“I was definitely the only collector in my family. Most family members either counseled me on how I was 'wasting my money' or 'wasting my time' on comics, or sometimes even tore them up for fear they would have a bad influence on me! I had barely finished reading a copy of Marvel Spotlight #5, cover dated August 1972, which I purchased on vacation to the Grand Canyon, when my Uncle Raymond Lee told my mom it wasn't suitable, and it got torn in half and thrown away before my eyes. Several years went by before I was able to replace it,” he said.

“A man named Richard Johnson, who came to stay for week from California to do some tile work for my parents, apparently noticed that we lived in the middle of nowhere and I had no one to play with. I had no friends except the rabbits, lizards, and other desert critters. He took pity on me and brought two comic books back from a visit in town, Tomb Of Dracula #13 and Ghostly Haunts #35. That simple act of kindness altered my life's course and resulted in the passionate interest I have held for comics for 28 years now,” he said.

He became “truly serious” about collecting comics when he received Jack Hunt's catalog. In short order he began developing his expertise in the field, voraciously reading any information he could get his hands on. This lead to the first of many opportunities to put his enthusiasm to good use.

“When I was in sixth grade in Wickenburg, I became the Goodwill Industries comic book expert for the next three years, helping them price and value the donated comics to get them more funds for their charity work. I was written up for it in the Arizona Republic by a reporter named Sam Lowe.”

After leaving Arizona, he attended high school and college and started his career in Durango, Colorado prior to moving to his present home in Oregon.

“The best deal I ever got in comics was from an old barn about ten miles out of Durango, in 1986. I paid what the lady was asking, $500, for what turned out to be the best 'original owner' old group of comics I've ever bought: high grade Batman #100-145, and near complete runs from #1 up of Justice League, Aquaman, Metal Men, and others, all glossy and beautiful, just like in your mind's eye,” he said. “And this was almost the one that got away, too. It took her a year to finally decide to sell them, and another six months to decide on a price. She wouldn't hear of anyone making an offer. It was an excruciating year and a half!”

Though his main focus is horror, he has mostly complete runs of Marvels from the early sixties through the 1980s, and complete runs of all of DC's Batman and Superman titles from the late fifties through the 1990s. His collection also includes complete runs of all 1960s-'80s Charlton horror and near complete runs of all Charlton romances of the same era, as well as significant selections of Gold Key and Dell, “with my favorite being Uncle Scrooge,” he said.

McClure said he also voraciously collects referenced books, indexes, fanzines, magazines, and even old dealer catalogs for use in his research. “You'd be surprised at some of the useful info in old catalogues.”

“I started writing about comics in 1997, although I had made notes to myself and compiled lists and reviews for my own use for years before that. I have bought and sold comics through the mail, on the Internet, over the phone, at shows, and by appointment for close to twenty years, but as time goes on I am returning to my collector roots, and dealing less and less. I do a lot more trading for stuff I need for my research,” he said.

“My goal when writing a research piece like 'The DC Numbering Mystery' or 'The Whitman Mystery,' both of which were for Comic Book Marketplace, is to know the answer! For years I have discussed with collectors how we might date the Whitmans, and listened to theories of what happened until finally I decided that no matter how painful and time consuming it might prove to be, it would be worth it to have the answers. And it always is,” he added.

He has been recognized by both the industry and fellow hobbyists for his efforts. In 1999 he was presented with the “Researcher of the Year” award by CBM at the American Association of Comicbook Collectors banquet at Comic-Con International: San Diego. That, in turn, led to wider exposure, again in the Arizona Republic.

That article, “Still A Comic Book Geek After All These Years,” was written by Sam Lowe, the same reporter who wrote about him when he was in sixth grade.

“The best experience I've had in comics is the discovery of new material. I have a stack of photocopies of unknown comics, some as far back as the Golden Age, in my desk, waiting for me to write the next variants article. The first three appeared in CBM #51, 55, and 66. I am proudest of my Whitman piece, which took over 400 hours of research, is 8,500 words long, and took eight months of great effort to complete. But it is so great to be able to date all of those comics, and understand what went wrong with Gold Key/Whitman,” he said.