vaillant

I know it’s tough… the normal Direct one (with the ad) is my OO copy and super-minty White, while the foiled one is a bit yellowing and I like it less. The Pacheco run is the last great classic run bordering into the Modern age, IMO – I am re-browsing it and it just blows away most of the following attempts. Even if one is preconceived about Moderns and computer coloring (often the coloring is not so good) it just SO goes at the core of how the FFs are meant to be, that you can’t help loving it.

Maybe because any (possibly) stupid batch idea crossing the mind of a writer does not necessarily become an instantly canonized narrative innovation? Especially when retroactive continuity starts bordering the ridiculous… and I can’t even start to count for how long this has been happening.

I just love Stevie's #5… I am sorting out my collection and I am undecided which one I should keep between the two versions of v3 #35 (#464), the first issue in the Carlos Pacheco run – I want to keep just one. The foil-variant has a sturdier cover paper stock, and the image is larger (since the cover is not folded with the ad), but I like better the normal colors of the basic version. Which one would you keep?

That’s a very nice #37, Tom! The miswrap is almost nonexistent. I still miss it, whenever I will pick it I will let you know how it is! (thumbs u

I am waiting for mine to be graded then, the great decision: to sacrifice it towards the goal of a FF #1. But I will miss Wolverine's first… oops, second apperance.

Andy, you’re a mercenary! No unfaithful lovers of the Hulk or Wolverine allowerd here… At this point I would take G.A.tor on his word and get rid of the remaining four: you clearly do not belong in this august society.

Interesting… What I was just wondering was whether the stories were alternated with the original ones, or if there was just a period of locally produced stories. Given La Prensa was pretty faithful in presenting the original material in spanish (original covers et al.) I found curious to know about this production.

Wow! – I would give a leg to have that FF #5… Well, actually one of my dinner table legs, as much as I love it I care about my legs…

These things are always great and interesting, as they show how history is always more complex than what it seems when one thinks it has a "clear cut" grasp on the facts. In southern Italy, for example, when the nazist racial laws were applied, a lot of hebrew people not only were not prosecuted but they also held leading positions they occupied previously. Italy was really a country esperiencing a quite unique situation during fascism and under the war, but well… aside from the fact I am Italian I believe this happened a lot of times before as well.

You shouldn’t have sold the earlier ones… Seriously, I have been thinking to sell my Fantastic Four page to purchase a #1 but in the end I think I will sell a number of books and try to get a lower grade #1: a copy with a mutilated back cover would be ideal! As much as I love FF they are very common in that I can complete the collection within a week if I had the money. I still have Most of the run as my copies were several deep in many cases. I am thinking about putting together a pence copy run for fun a bit more challenging in higher grades. Well, it’s not a matter of money to me… or better, it’s a matter of money up to the point I would never spend over a certain amount – but as long a Lee/Kirby FF book has entered my collection, it doesn’t move!

I thought most of these were just different for the covers – how did it happen they produced local stories, if they were already publishing the originals, and how did they concile the "fantastic" event in these stories (i.e. Peter marrying Gwen) with the original stories they were publishing. In Italy we have had Spider-Man stories, but they were either for children (a-la Spidey Super Stories, so to speak) or were out of continuity (the 2000s stories published on Il Giornalino under Marvel license, and realized by italian authors). Some 2007 information here: http://www.ubcfumetti.com/preview/?14366 Some art by Olivares:

As I said, I am not purchasing comics for Lent, but I will definitely put on some "fishnets" after Easter.

Interesting. I wonder if this ever happened with American comics? The overspray and the return ink look somewhat different. First, with the overspray the copy could still be mint, while the return copies usually show at least some minor wear. But above all, the return ink could be pretty invasive, so many italian collectors developed a stigma towards it. Not me, unless it is not so extensive I do not care much. Here’s an example where the ink is a bit invasive:

Yes, it’s not just for the sake of having a page – I don’t care exaggerately about owning original art – but it’s for what it represents. Not that I would buy a FNVF copy of #1 anyway, for me a GD copy would be more than enough, as I feel uncomfortable to have a single book with much value.

It seems Spider-Gwen inserts itself in the vein of a humorous/lighthearted comic, a sort of crossroads between a What If, Byrne’s She-Hulk and with less self-consideration (and gratuitious smartass "irony") than most modern books. Not bad, but far away from what I expect a Marvel comic to be, especially considered it’s a What If – like they have done a thousand times in the last ten years. :shrug:

You shouldn’t have sold the earlier ones… Seriously, I have been thinking to sell my Fantastic Four page to purchase a #1 but in the end I think I will sell a number of books and try to get a lower grade #1: a copy with a mutilated back cover would be ideal!

Damn, that's a nice one. Well, if that is Dale Keown, I’d say it’s hardly recognizable.

Stan Lee created Gwen Stacey 50 years ago. That Gwen Stacey is dead. We have established in this thread ad nauseum that this is a "new" character that was created by Latour and Rodriguez that has nothing to do with Peter Parker's dead girlfriend. Stan Lee did not write, edit, illustrate, colour, or have anything to do with this book. So again, why have him sign it ? -J. I say the same thing about all the GOTG books I see on eBay signed by him. He has nothing to do with the series or the characters. There are people who are going to have Stan sign anything because they think that it will at hundreds of $$$ of value to the book. I'd rather have him sign something that he was involved in or an important Spider-Man book. As for Spider-Gwen books, I will not have him sign any of him. That's my I believe the simple reason is that Stan Lee is unavoidably (and obviously) identified with the Marvel age, and people continue to identify him with Marvel now, even if we are past the Marvel age. One can argue on when it ended, but there is no doubt that it has ended, and what Marvel is doing now often has little to do with what the Marvel age was about – Stan does not seem to care much about this, and he endorses everything, and just signs when asked to, I guess. What’s Peter Porker doing in it?

Federico, with all thye due respect I think you didn’t understand anything of what I was saying. First, what I have been stating is just an observation on our current market, second the majority of italian collectors really aren’t interested in having comics graded and slabbed: they would just expect a more reliable and consistent grading criteria from sellers. When we talk of a local collecting market (not the USA) we should consider all comics, from all ages, not just italian editions of american comic books. Aside from this, I can assure you I will deslab immediately my Fantastic Four #1 if I manage to get one.

#35… Here’s mine, just scanned.

My vote was "10x" – I don’t believe books from the sixties, with their print runs, have been conserved in limited quantities. Also, your collecting market started pretty early, and in the early 1970s Spidey and the FFs were still big sellers, so no less than that, IMO.

Now he has a #64.

As a vote? Well, if they have a 1-10 scale, votes are another matter, they should give 1 as well as 10.

How would you recognize a 9.9 from a 10, BTW? 10 is an ideal grade, earthly perfection does not exist, let alone on a delicate paper item as a comic book. My guess is once you rule out any physical imperfections you start inspecting the richness of the color and paper brightness. Honestly, you can’t have a "perfect" object – there will be always some flaws, even invisible to the eye. My point is that 10 is an ideal grade, as much as a table without dust settled on it, or a controlled scientific environment: not "perfect" regardless. I am more than happy with a NM/NM+, otherwise it’s more a worry than the happiness of having a great copy "as new", which of course I like.

How would you recognize a 9.9 from a 10, BTW? 10 is an ideal grade, earthly perfection does not exist, let alone on a delicate paper item as a comic book.