Stan Lee's story (Buscema art) features Thor in his only appearance in Silver Surfer (1968). A Thor movie is slated to debut next summer.
I had Stan Lee sign Silver Surfer #4 at the Phoenix Comic Convention on Sunday, 5/30/10. Although I didn't tell "Stan-the-Man" what writing instrument to use, he was smart enough to pick a beautiful Silver Sharpie to make his mark. The color is perfect on the dark purple background and I'm sure this item will be treasured for years to come.
A CGC representative was there to take the signed book immediately into their possession. I got this "low distribution" book here in Phoenix where I've seen multiple copies of this specific issue for sale at different stores in the area. Fortunately, in 1971 I don't think Phoenix had the distribution problems some other areas of the country experienced which Overstreet prices as a "low distribution" book. The 'comicpriceguide' website disputes that this is a scarce issue which is interesting to ponder.
My copy is very clean and came back rated as an 8.5, probably because of the lettering on the spline where the word "The" in the book title 'The Silver Surfer' is slightly rubbed off. The cover also had some very minor dents from earlier handling too (before I got it). I thought it would rate a 9.0, but then again I've been surprised on some lower grade books I've submitted that rated much higher than I thought they would. Amazingly, I purchased this book for $75 from a dealer who had rated at 6.5 (Fine+)! 2010 Overstreet value is somewhere around $485 in this condition (no signature). And.. CGC gave me 303 points in my set registry versus 275 for another SS#4 book of the same grade, proving that signed books are more valuable (in terms of registry points at least)!!!
I've posted a picture which I had to stitch together because the encased book didn't fit on my scanner. CGC limits the file size to 75k which is a bummer. I'll try to take another picture with my digital camera soon.
