vaillant

Actually you warned me about the first Absorbing Man (one of my faves) so we still have that to look forward to. Oooh, right. Stories are both bad… I am a big fan of the Absorbing Man, even more than the Gargoyle, and was so disappointed to read the introductory story. Well, at least it has been painless to sell them. BTW, another origin story I really find so-so is ASM #12: as good as the Goblin is as a villain, the origin story leaves me unimpressed. I have #13, 'though, which is very cool (Mysterio).

I had alerted you that the first Grey Gargoyle (one of my favorite villains) story was bad! I sold my copy, and this speaks a lot about it…

The envelope is particularly sweet! It would be great to have it, but all this early Cap material is outside my comfortable price range.

I hate them. From my short time here, it feels that the community has become softer/kinder/gentler on noobs. Now if someone says anything "negative" to a noob, the "everyone gets a medal crowd" comes out in defense of them. Also, where ARE the mods these days? I guess you don't follow the news...they are all down in Rio competing in the Olympic Games... "Surprising joy"? Give me a break!

They still can be found for relatively cheap prices, especially if not in great condition, as they had quite large print runs, but they are very cool. I still have mine from when I was a kid – I was born in 1969 but my dad subscribed me to the "Club di Topolino" when I was 2-3 years old, and they were still issuing these 1960s pins.

I love this issue cover…

Some 1960s italian "Mickey Mouse club" pins. The number of stars indicates the rank of the member:

Hmm… I don’t think so. Classic syndicated characters appeared here since 1934, but most comic book characters (especially super-heroes) did not make it to Italy prior to 1945-46. Most of the (few) earlier pins done here feature either Disney or italian characters. The other stuff is recent, mostly from the 1980s onward, and not much interesting, IMO.

It’s not that the Spirou issues are undervalued, it’s just that the collecting market and logic for France and Belgium (and Europe in general) is sometimes pretty different than the one in the USA. While first apperances are important, many collecting markets in Europe put more slant on the scarcity of books, or on complete runs. France and Belgium put the emphasis on the first hardcover editions of the stories, which for the older material almost never coincide with the proper first appearance, which usually happened in a magazine. So, the sought-after collectible is the hardcover edition of the Joan and Pirlouit story "La Flûte à six schtroumpfs", where the Smurfs appear for the first time. The first edition of the hardcover is very sought after, and not common. The normal Spirou issues are generally treated as the surrounding ones, not valued much more, even with the increasing interest following the american collecting logic, for which they usually sell quickly when listed. How much is practically nothing and how difficult are these to acquire? Smurfs comics have been a lifelong love of mine. One of my first comics was King Smurf and I currently follow the Smurfs Anthology comics. Is there really no market for it or people just don't know about it? It's not easy to find. I can't seem to find one on the interweb. But I'd think if you describe it well enough smurf collectors would find it and pay for it. Frankly, I'd buy it. I only have two copies of the first Smurfs and I have been looking for low priced decent conditions for a couple of years. There are several problems. Most of these copies are found in Europe Most of the end times for these auctions end at around 6-10pm during whatever time zone the European nation is located in I missed another auction that ended at 3am.

In a while, I will relist my lot of Spirou books from 1958/59, including the first two apperances of the Smurfs (#1072, fist cover, pictured below), in the GA/SA/BA section. Thanks for looking!

Wow!

You can avoid listings by seller setting your search preferences, or – as said – put an operator (minus) before the word and add "-photocopy", but nonetheless it is annoying as these are not bound volume reprints, and should not be there because they just cause confusion (as the "DVDs" did… ).

Just a logical side trip to collecting comic books my friend! But SO historically cool as well! In Italy, as you can guess, during wartime we might have had just paper inserts or "extras". Pins were expensive, so you might find pins related to comics but were sold as standalone items.

Some of this material is SO fascinating, Robot, loving it!

As an update, for these which might be interested: here’s a whole list of the earlier Centaur (and others, even DC) comics published in Italy starting in 1945, in that small forma (Sardo and Steve knows how it is): http://vintagecomics.forumcommunity.net/?t=55977241 A friend of mine collected more or less all the issues (they generally mirror a french edition of the same period). There are a few other Centaur editions in larger format, but they are not many, and even scarcer than these. An edition of that Amazing Man should exist, too. EDIT: You can find more info on these earlier editions here: http://www.glamazonia.it/old/articoli/archeo/robinson.htm (Article is in Italian, these are very scarce so unless one have them, little information is known).

considering you just described my last three purchases... yep!

And if I title it "Nothing you’d want to CGC here" – would you drop by?

This is great info, Claudio. There is an issue of Marvel Age almost entirely devoted to him, when he passed away, I believe. He was a great letterer.

In my opinon, JiM #93 is cool. Mr. Hyde is an important character, however I understand you as – as much as I love the Absorbing Man – I had to sell the origin story. While I love FF#20, as "corny" the Molecule Man might sound. At least he was a menacing character, back then.

Lee and Kirby's FFs: great formative readings.

The Radioactive Man story is good, not so much the first story of the Absorbing Man. There is also the first story of Mr. Hyde and Hercules in the Annual. Probably in these Kirby contributed more to the plot, but it’s just an hypothesis.

It’s not a typeface ('font' has become a common term, but it’s inaccurate, as it addresses a specific weight or variation of a type family) – rather it’s skillful handlettering, and it’s due to Sol Brodsky (most of the early Marvel logos were his work), which was part of the original "Marvel bullpen", as Stan would have later put it.

I believe, in reply to thehumantorch, that the early stories need more to be evaluated on a single issue basis. Not because they aren’t a continued narration (they are) but because the art was often "rushed up" for the strict deadlines and probably low pay. Some issues are really well accomplished, my favor goes to these inked by Chic Stone, and #5 – the first by Sinnott, of course. As far as JiM goes, they are not even comparable: it seems to me it was the title where they put the lesser effort, and the average of the stories continue to be mediocre for quite a number of issues, IMO.

A FF fan shouldn't be without a #36! ::

Great to hear, I would have gladly gave you mine at a good price otherwise.