Define999

uuummmmm interesting.... makes sense.

Why not revive a once thought dead thread? Especially considering its about some of the rarest Bronze age comics I can think of? Recent acquisition.... National Bookstore!!!! In amazing condition for a bookstore book.... so happy to find this one....

This is Supercomix Spiderman #4 1978(Spiderman 122). I have said this before but I think it is worth repeating. South African Supercomix really have to be in our estimation some of the rarest bronze age comics in the world. According to our sources, most kids in SA preferred the American originals to the local output. This bias didn't bode well for these books. Not easy to find in any condition, when you come across any Supercomix they are like a jewel. On top of that posters were included, so finding one intact is even rarer. This book still has the poster of Peter Falk along with the prize winners on the reverse sides attached to the spine. Another interesting aspect I noticed. The publisher kept Bugle editor Robbie Robertson black. Would have been pretty easy to change his skin tone but press didn't. It doesn't seem like any apartheid racial censorship happened in this instance. This is a wonderful aspect to supercomix comic books. Also, on prize winner pages all races our represented wether black, white or any race. All SA kids read these books and joined the many competitions for watches, radios etc. Press appears to be on the right side of history in South Africa and it's a joy to own a few of these books in my collection.

Cool find. Here is my blog about that comic (and the other 2 comics in the series): http://swcomiccollector.blogspot.com/2015/04/retro-foreign-indonesian-star-wars-part_6.html Indonesia has a plethora of unique Star Wars comics. Quite informative! Need to find more of these! Yes, yes you do... the lovingly reproduced panels on the interior are very very cool! Jan Mindaraga was talented. The interiors contain issue 2 of course but who cares? I don't, any Star Wars ephemera collector worth his salt is gonna one day want some of these Indo bootlegs for thier collections. An example compare and contrast of the last page..... And yes, could very well be rarer than the 35 center... but who knows. Ron might have a better idea on rarity. One thing for sure.... considering a large grouping of collectors in Indonesia probably are not bagging/boarding or properly taking care of these books.... Who knows how many get destroyed from attrition on a yearly basis?

Just a few Silver age Mexican Prensa Marvels....

Thanks for sharing!!!!

There are indeed! Love the set... more to find, ontu the hunt!!!!!! Of the others my guess is the Brazilian EBAL is gonna be the toughest... hit me up on PM and ill see if I can help ya?

You should check out the Original Art forum Welcome back That's the reason I came back. Hey we still need to have lunch my friend!

Damn Liam, great scores my friend!!!!!!! Right now im just tickled pink with this one!

Ok my friend I can see in the FF 67... but the 57? I think he did wonderful with this one.... but thier all just opinions of course....

Thanks guys!!!!!!

My guess is this amazing artist has been discussed here before.... but for those that do not know his work this post might be insightful? Who is Rafael López Espí? Well, he is a self taught Spanish artist famous for his painted re-imaginings of Marvel covers in the late sixties thru to the early 80s. Espí was clearly inspired by the Marvel original art but his work always displayed an artistic freedom that in my opinion makes them very special indeed. Espí started working for Vertice, a Spanish publisher in 1968. Now for the average kid in Spain, Vertice was their window into the Marvel world. As one Spanish writer says… "the USA comic books were as hard to find as a needle in a haystack". They didn't grow up with our covers! They grew up with Espí's creations, and as such many of these fans from Spain call themselves the "Generación Vértice". Vertice also like many foreign publishers at the time messed with continuity, story plot, and other things a modern publisher wouldn't dare do today. Some stories were even cut short and new artwork created to force an end to a story where as the American plot might extend out a few more issues. at least this is my understanding of researched translated articles about these editorial decisions. As far as why the publisher chose to have covers re-illustrated? Im not really sure? In all my research I can never find a reason the publisher did this? You would think it would be cheaper just to re-use the original cover art? But who cares, in hindsight I thank the comic gods they chose to re-illustrate! Espí's work is amazing. Another thing is for certain though….. in the foreign world the Vertice books are well sought out for their amazingly well crafted covers. And as a foreign hunter you have to compete with the local Spaniards for copies. Good conditioned books do not last long on Spanish EBay trust me on this. The 2 Vertice key book scans in this side by side are mine, and I consider them jewels of my foreign collection. The nicest copies I have ever seen for sale of these issues so I hope you enjoy the Spanish masters work! Cool link to a documentary about this work but if you dont speak Spanish of course its hard to follow. Wish someone would do a subtitle version in English.

Well, better late than never:) What I like about direct editions are those little artwork that Mcfarlane did inside the UPC box. You don't get to see those in the regular newstand edition. I agree, I tend to lean towards the Direct editions but I very simply love any 300. My foreign 300 set grew this christmas holiday by 3 books. Recently acquired the Finnish, Dutch and French copies.

Thanks Kav! Id say we are too....

Define999, congratulations on another terrific issue of FCC. I love the Star Wars limelight (naturally) but also enjoyed the rest of the issue, most notably the article about Novaro Swamp Thing issues. Thanks Ron!

Congrats on a great book! Welcome to the asylum...

Nice! And not as easy to acquire as some might think. The smaller novaro format sizes are tough like the Aguilla.

Truth....

I'm going to end up collecting these Spectacular 64 foreign editions too eventually. Yea, it's a fun copper set to build!

Well, we have sorta moved on from calling them "Variants"... to buzzwordy and gets the old school panties all bunched up.... We have since moved on to calling them foreign editions.... It is a better classification anyway. My bad Gotta keep the old school panties from being bunched No bad at all..... in the beginning(like when I wrote the original article) thats what we called them... everything evolves...

My recent pick ups..... Gotta thank my good friend Claudio for these.... beauts!!!!

Well, we have sorta moved on from calling them "Variants"... to buzzwordy and gets the old school panties all bunched up.... We have since moved on to calling them foreign editions.... It is a better classification anyway.

Hey I know you!

Welcome to the asylum. Show us some pics of your treasure finds! This is what I have pictures of so far. UK and Brazil ( A Teia Do Aranha 51 )not pictured Nice set! I think DTA collectible has spanish version or maybe had. I havent looked in some months. It isnt easy to find on site as I think it was labeled wrong. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Amazing-Spider-Man-194-First-Black-Cat-1983-Mexican-Edition-/331694604316?hash=item4d3a8a001c:g:iE4AAOSwT5tWMi0S That is labeled correctly. Mexico/Mexican When you search for Amazing Spider-Man #194 on Feebay, this book doesn't even pop up. Guess I needed to type in Mexican. Edit: Is that foxing on the back cover? He fixed the label. DTA respects the foreign the market as you can tell from his inventory. I bought from them a few times. So did you purchase? I hope you got it and i didnt let cat out of the bag for another stalker... no Pun No I didn't buy it. The back cover has foxing or stains. I didn't have enough time to ask seller about them. That stinks.... Just remember often while collecting foreign comics one must reign in a bit the condition standards we are used to when collecting American books. You don't have to, but sometimes if standards are to high buying opportunities can be very scarce.... especially when building a set one needs to be open to any thing that can possibly add bricks to your set wall. Just an opinion of course..... you are well on your way my friend! Let me help a bit as well so you know what all is available for this issue! All known foreigns for this issue....

That's beautiful! I have yet to land a copy but aim to soon. There's a few foreign editions of this issue floating around. We think there might be an Arabic edition as well.....