vaillant

And it was specifically for those which "threadcrapped" against Mystery Boxes in general, so it’s just a matter of reading in detail. Can’t see why you should bring up Jason for some other people's behavior.

One of my favorite italian authors of the 1920s-1960s (died in 1973), it doesn’t get more positive than his work…

Ryan, put me down for either a small cash donation or a gifted comic… and please LMK when the thread is opened. (thumbs u

unless he is copying Billy Cloke books, I'd pick the one in the middle And not just because of that. I vote the middle one as well. (thumbs u

Is this enough positive? It’s the only wartime issue of Walt Disney Comics & Stories that I have, but you gotta admit it’s delightful…

Right, I forgot about that. Most of my collecting of original books (Silver and Bronze) started in these years… you can figure how happy I was with the exchange rate… When I started (around 1986), before the import began more seriously, some of the few dealers offering import comics were selling a dollar for about 2500/3000 Lire, which would mean offering a dollar for 2-2.50 Euro right now… go figure.

Ah, I see, so you meant soldiers stationed in Italy were occasionally travelling to Germany bases just to shop. But maybe this happened in coincidence with holidays, i.e. when they had relatives or people visiting them? I think a trip to Germany would have costed some money regardless, so what they may have saved on the goods would have been not much… but of course it depends on what they were buying. Aside from the bases (of which I never thought previously), in Italy the import market for american comics re-bloomed (since the late 1960s) for some time when our local publisher (Editoriale Corno) went bankrupt and we stopped having italian editions. Exchange rates were high, but around the mid 1980s up to the early 1990s, many people started to pick the books in original edition, although most of them dropped them later on to follow the italian editions (or just because they were getting bad, as Marvel goes… ).

As always, your experience (and perspective) are very interesting… What do you mean by «it was very much a normal occurrence for families stationed in Italy (Naples, Gaeta, Sigonella) to periodically drive to Ramstein and other U.S. bases in Germany to go their comparatively Mall-like shopping circumstances on base»? Sorry, but my english has some glitch here… And yes, definitely you would not have had clerks from Napoli agreeable to perform such a tedious task like stamping comics one-by-one!

Huh? I mean that you did not know Roy was in Canada. Roy is a board celebrity…

BTW, we do not have estate sales in Italy, they must be really cool, and they feel a lot like "classic americana"…

The most surprising thing of this thread wasn’t the ASM #1 (I can just imagine how thrilled you are!), but the fact Chris did not know Roy!

Many thanks for the explanation. I see it makes sense. The few MJ inserts I have do not have the star stamps, and I think I have a pair of books with the star stamp, but without the insert. So, the stamp basically reveals it was sold in these S&S Bookstores located within the bases?

So you are saying the books with the star stamp are not necessarily MJ books? So which are precisely the whereabouts of the star stamps?

Hi Mills, I am in Italy and I think it’s even worse here. At least it seems in Germany you have a producer of standard sized backing boards… I still have to figure out the best way to purchase Mylite2 bags to spend the less possible amount in postage. From the UK is still a bit pricey…

I’d love to see your #67! (thumbs u

Please note also the perfect centering on these! Now I just have to decide between these two… I know the second copy is a lot better, and super-white cover, but the first one has better color, more gloss, and better printed interiors (good coverage of the Black ink plate). #65 is driving me mad as at the current prices I surely can’t afford another nice copy. The second one is a deslabbed CGC 9.0.

Yes, I was very happy to find such a white covered copy. I haven’t been able to find one as much white for #67. So far, one of my two keepers is this one, which is my favorite as it has better printed interiors and a pretty white cover. The stress around the top staple probably brings it down to a FN+, but I don’t care – I favor it over other higher grade copies I have had.

This. I don't think the shop near me even sells long boxes. Also, I started making my own short boxes out of poplar and oak. I router cut grooves along the insides so I can slide a partition board to keep the books standing up nice and tight. I'll try to snap a pic for anyone interested in doing something similar. Great, I’d love to see them as well. Well, I tend to use small boxes myself too, but in some cases (when you want to keep runs together) the long boxes are more practical.

As long as the box is not full, I keep the books piled up at the bottom of the box, in a pair of rows if needed. As there is enough comics, I just make a pile to half-fill the box and keep it laying flat, while the other ones which are already in order are kept vertically. It works, and comics do not get damaged, but you have got to have enough to pile for the last step (when the box is "almost full").

And while I am at it… my keeper #64. It has been tough to find a nice white cover as I wanted, but I finally made it.

Beautiful (a pity for the missing corner) – #66 is hard to find in grade, I still have to find my "perfect" copy (but close). Here’s my current copy. Would be really sweet but has a very small water drop stain in the black area above (not noticeable in the scan).

Of course it’s undeniable we may be more affectioned to the first place where we have read the stories. Not having read the FF #13 in italian when I was a kid (I bought that copy later on), I am not particularly affectioned to that edition, and I prefer the original. A good number of early FF stories… I have read them in Fantastici Quattro Gigante ("Giant Fantastic Four"), an magazine sized reprint which presented the FF and Strange Tales Torch/Thing stories in chronological order. There were 2-3 episodes per issue, but coincidentally, I see issue #6 uses the cover of #13 (I do not own it, but would love to collect that series, and I will get rid of the normal edition):

While we are at it… (thumbs u

I missed this… Whaaat? OK, Daredevil has never been among my top reads, but if I have to choose a few issues which come to my mind, you have to read #47, #56-57 and definitely the Roger McKenzie pre-Miller run (so you’ll see how good it was and possibly closer to your acquired "Millertaste" ).

I see, I just wished to tell you those existed. (thumbs u I seem to get all three are different books, or maybe the italian ones just mimic the Another Rainbow one? I never saw a landscape one in the AR Library…