lscomics

I like Susy.... (thumbs u

Exactly. (thumbs u

Oh boy their fascinating.... and rare as all get out....

 

My personal belief is their is wiggle room in the whole variant/reprint debate..... in respect to foreigns at least. Classifications evolve and ideas change. 99% percent of collectors might consider the classification correct? Im in the 1% that feels semantics or not the debate over variant/reprint can still be argued either way as far as foreigns.....

 

Not to stray away from the discussion but… as far as proper foreign editions are concerned, why would you call them "variants"?

 

The use of words reflect an understanding, I don’t know what do you mean by "semantics", but I always try to use the words in the most accurate way, even if some ambiguity is always inherent – but in this case "variant" does not mean anything: "variant" to what?

Got these in the mail yesterday.

This one was a freebie from the seller. Great Jay Scott Pike cover.

This was the one I was really after. Neal Adams foreign romance!

And look at this...

The same seller had this so I figured I should take it off his hands.

And I had forgotten I had a CGC copy of the US edition.

Regardless of how you classify them, until you've actually tried to track these books down you'll never understand. Just finding information about what was and wasn't printed is like pulling teeth. That information along with, I suspect, the majority of the print runs on these books has been lost to the sands of time.

 

There are four guys on the boards that have been actively trying to find copies of pretty much any of them and have for the most part come up empty handed. I'm not talking about a search that started recently either, it's been ongoing for at least two years.

 

I have no doubt in my mind that there are some of these that simply no longer exist.

 

 

You can say that again, pal. Me I'm still looking for that very limitedly still impossible to find now CTB 1 pence variant. Those very few that might exist are unlikely to be let go by their owners because of their incalculable worth. Possibly 100 times that of the prevalently common cent copy, So I can very well understand your passionate thoughts and desire to obtain these editions, its not like the USA where there's the long running culture and foresight to collect and preserve comics from newstands as investment, matter of fact, even newspaper comics strips from the 1930s are well preserved by readers in the US, but not so in other parts of the world

Nice!

Regardless of how you classify them, until you've actually tried to track these books down you'll never understand. Just finding information about what was and wasn't printed is like pulling teeth. That information along with, I suspect, the majority of the print runs on these books has been lost to the sands of time.

There are four guys on the boards that have been actively trying to find copies of pretty much any of them and have for the most part come up empty handed. I'm not talking about a search that started recently either, it's been ongoing for at least two years.

I have no doubt in my mind that there are some of these that simply no longer exist.

These comics are reprints, (apparently it says so in the indicia), not variants.

I have hit a dead end with Phillipine editions, long ago, long long ago...

When did the Philippino bookstores started publishing these, and how long were they in business?

Any reprints done on F4, Hulk 181, CTB 1, TOD 1, Marvel Spotlight 5?

 

ummmm this is a toughie.... we think we have confirmation no 181 exists.... the TOD 1 we have thought might, we also think a bats 227, spidey 129, maybe even some DC..... like hos 92 or ASW 10? But we don't really have set parameters as far as dates.... nothing is concrete. Some collectors have confirmed the non-existence of the 181 which we trust for the most part.

 

The problem is there are no databases, there are no threads upon threads of info on these books on the Filipino comic boards, there are no contacts over there even that can give us more than bits and pieces of info....

 

It really is crazy how little info there is out there about these books. We have cold emailed LCS's looking for info, we have contacted the few sellers over there that sell on Ebay looking for more info or more books, we have even tried to get people that might be travelling to the Philippines to hunt for us? A contact of mine even put an ad in the paper requesting info and money for anything? Books, info, sources..... he did find me some books, but this was over a couple months almost a year.

 

Some books and little little little trickles of info...

 

Just the other day I contacted National Bookstore customer service to see if they could put me in contact with their records dept. or anyone that could possibly shed light on their publishing and licensing in the seventies? Run around and blew me off... im pushing harder but geeze....

 

The other thing is... many of these books could be sitting in longboxes anywhere in the world being passed over because they look so similar to their American counterparts in many ways.

 

 

 

No end to such pursuits if you want to hunt down international reprints. I have also come across very nice foreign language reprint editions of LSH and even Neal Adams GL/GA , think it might have been from Hong Kong/China or Malaysia. I just flipped thru it and never bought any, though on hindsight memory, the pages were of more durable type. Judging from these boards, I think the Adams Batman versions would be very much sought after by collectors here.

Yours has staples??

Yes, definitely do not look at Tim’s collection if you are faint at heart…

Just got this , published December 1964 by la Prensa , no missing pages but no staples that means , cover and pages detached ...

 

 

Hi vaillant

Actually, no.

There is no market in Portugal. At least that i'm aware, no.

I know that this is a rare book and it's difficult to understand in Portugal how much is worth.

Do you have an italian variant like this one?

 

Yes, but I do not use the term "variant", as I have already explained several times, as these are – foremostly – foreign editions of a US originated comic series.

They can be seen as "variants" but it is a misleading term.

 

I will scan and post the italian #2 if you like, but I have to dig it out. It came out around 1970. This is a scan of the #6 which I have at hand:

 

 

foreign editions of a US originated comic series .

Sorry i didn't read your explanation about the difference

yes, i would love to see your italian scan of ASM #2 of your foreign editions of a US originated comic series

lscomics Foreign Editions

Is that the Marvel Spotlight that Matt got from you?

 

No, I have to check but I think it’s another duplicate. If I already have it (I am keeping these italian Devils for now) this one will be for sale.

Is that the Marvel Spotlight that Matt got from you?

Only those comics collectors of that country would know, But no big deal since they can't beat the real thing, and besides the paper quality of the covers looks primitive like old magazine papers

To those of us that collect foreign editions, well... books like this, regardless of condition are considered amongst the crown jewels of our collections. The level of scarcity alone is enough to drive you .

When did the Philippino bookstores started publishing these, and how long were they in business?

Any reprints done on F4, Hulk 181, CTB 1, TOD 1, Marvel Spotlight 5?

let me know what you need, for me to research

hi everyone.

i can help with the portuguese variant (european and brazillian).

Let me know what your're looking for and what is your min. and max. budget.

 

Elisa

 

I might just take you up that next month....WTTBs

Thanks for letting me use your scans and as to the Bats 241-it looks to be a scan from Mile High Comics.

There is a gallery dedicated to these editions over at STLcomics which I put together... in fact if the posters on here don't mind I'd like to add these also. LMK if that is alright and enjoy.

 

http://stlcomics.com/cover_gallery/categories.php?cat_id=408

Just curious... Do you know who owns the Batman #241 that's on there and if they'd possibly be interested in selling it?

There are some wild variants out there but this is pretty wild! There are a group of marvel comics that were put out by a Philippine bookstore, Alemar bookstore in Manilla, Philippines. They are entirely in English and the only difference inside is the ads for Alemar bookstore but this cover is wild. Everybody has seen a blank upc before but how about that blank upper left!? And what about the upper right side, MN 101. That's not suppose to be there! This is only the third one I have ever seen. The other two were Shogun Warriors 1 and the other was a Marvel double feature. Are they rare? Yes. Are they in demand? No because nobody knows about them. I understand there are other titles that exist. This is the only one I have.

 

 

 

This sat in my eBay store for a while, glad it found a home. Now that I know their origin I need to go box digging to see if I have some more of these variants!

This one just came in today.

 

I’m really sorry I already sold my italian #4 as it was in awesome condition. But I hope to find some other of interest to you…

This one just came in today.

The run so far...

There were also books done for National Bookstore and Goodwill Bookstore in the Philippines. The Filipino books are incredibly hard to find based on a few factors.

1) Print runs were not high.

2) The paper quality is lower than normal for Bronze Age books.

3) The climate conditions in the Philippines are not conducive to preserving paper products, staples either for that matter.

4) The majority of collectors there regarded (and still do) the Filipino versions as substandard and have no great interest in them so they were generally not cared for very well.

Here's pics of the National and Goodwill Bookstore editions that I've been able to get my hand on so far.