rakehell

Quality work, deffo. This is the period where I'm sure old Jack was drawing simultaneously on four boards with a pen in each hand, his shoes & socks off, so he can draw with his feet and a really long straw going to a ten gallon bucket of coffee. So much comic book goodness. Still can't take my eyes off the price point, though. Something about that 9d makes me want it on a t-shirt.

I knew it was supposed to be there, Francine, but I was still excited to see it. Now you're just trying to make me jealous. Such a nice copy, too.

Got veeerrrry lucky with these - The 92 is currently in the press, hoping to lose some of that spine roll. I'll have to start looking for a nicer copy of 96 to go with these. My current copy is a bit of a dog.

Recent additions to my collection - Not great copies, but they were cheap. Plus, the 96 has the Thorpe & Porter UK indicia -

Lie-sester.

Slightly off-topic. Again. Just got this in the post - Thought some of you might find the stamp interesting. Thinking of starting a separate thread for oddball international stamps. Mostly because of this one - Were these distributed to these far-flung locales as part of Western's international distribution program in the 60's, or did they go out later, maybe as remainders?

Just got these Bronze Age Brazilian beauties, all the way from...Italy. Cos that makes perfect sense. Digest sized as well, but great colours inside -

They do indeed. And a bunch more between 1978 & 1981. See here for the whole enchilada - Another fun-filled Marwood production.

There was a Hulk Pocket Book as well - In my experience, Young Romance are the hardest to find - I don't have either of these, btw. Images from GCD.

Each day brings fresh wonder.

Nope. Speaking as an infrequent additional (auxiliary?) Yank contributor to this thread, I used to love the Spidey segments in Electric Company. Also notable as an early screen appearance for Morgan Freeman as Vincent the Vegetable Vampire. Classic.

Well now, I knew about this - It's been on my watch list for ages. Can't touch it for less than about £50 now. This one was a bit of a surprise, I have to admit - Not something I was on the lookout for. It is now. There is actually a sideline debate to this concerning the first edition of the novel-sized comic adaptation - Something about Yoda and a late artwork change. These are all tighter gaps than Tank Girl or Captain Britain, however. 2 years & 8 months and 1 year & 4 months, respectively.

All this talk of reprints has got me thinking about something. First Tank Girl? Which makes this a reprint - Or is it the first US appearance of Tank Girl? And what about this guy? I agree with Marwood, Shelby. Don't get too hung up on the idea of what's a reprint & what isn't. I have none of the above comics, but they're all on my want list.

Is that a point for me?

Some of us didn't need any help!

You're right, of course, Velma. My problem (at least my problem that's relevant here) is an inability to broaden my context to include anyone else who may be listening. I know, when I say Pence Price Variant, exactly to what I'm referring. I just fall down on inclusivity, or something. I dunno, maybe. Love your mutated Venn Diagram, btw. Don't get me started, my fellow post-Brexit vagabond. Plus, also...Whitman!

Sorry, Joe, but I wasn't quoting you to begin with. I was replying to one of Hotkey's earlier posts. I agree with you agreeing with me. Plus I agree with your further observations. My personal preference is "Pence Price Variant"

Another observation (nit-pick). I think you're distinctly light there, Shelby mate. If you just figure American collectors who are starting to pay big money for foreign first-appearances and such, then, maybe, yeah. But I'm speaking as an American living abroad and I can tell you that collectors of Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age Brazilian, Mexican, British, Australian, French, Belgian, Swedish, Norwegian, etc, etc, etc foreign editions number in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. The Brazilian collecting scene has been going strong arguably as long as the American scene. The French and Belgians are nuts about comics, to the extent that there is a Tintin museum in Brussels - https://www.museeherge.be/en and an Asterix theme park outside Paris - https://www.parcasterix.fr/en The Italians, as any Friend of Ol' Marvel should know, have been turning out fumetti since the early 1900s. The British market for home grown Golden Age comics is thriving. Many rare books routinely change hands for hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands of pounds. And check out this thread from last week - Comics everywhere, including in a busy shop devoted to the sale of something other than bloody Funko Pops. Comic collecting has always been an international thing. It's just gaining a bit of extra attention lately.

I have an observation to insert here. It's a small point, but, in my opinion, critical to the argument. Your hypothetical above would only qualify the (theoretical) American printed Panini books as price variants IF all of the books had the same US cents indicia. My often overlooked and really quite nit-pickey point is that the UKPPVs all have a US cents indicia. I think it's the same story for Canadian and Australian PPVs, but I'm not as familiar with them as I am with the pencies. This fact, to my mind, is the definitive proof that they are variants and not foreign editions. Here are two random examples that I happened to have within arm's reach this morning - Brides in Love 24 from Charlton, published May, 1961. Distributed in the UK by L. Miller with a UK cover price of six pence (6d). The indicia, however, shows that it was part of the same run as the US cents run, because nobody ever bothered to change the internal price from 10c. Here's my beat-to-hell Marvel Team-Up 87, from November, 1979. Again, the indicia shows a sale price of 40c, but the cover says 12p. Hence, a price variant. The price varies from indicia to cover. Another example - These three books all have the same 30c indica. How is the 12p variant any different to the 35c variant? This argument is, I think, too complex to focus on any single factor like, say printing location. At some point (doubtless someone on here knows more about this than I do) Marvel moved all of their printing to Canada. That alone doesn't make Canadian printed Marvel books foreign editions. Discuss.

Nice. Which auction?

I've heard that too, but I'm skeptical. I doubt they'd be able to maintain that as a full-time procedure. I'm sure it happened a fair amount of the time, but I bet it also didn't happen an equal amount of the time.

It's ok. I've been to my safe place & I'm calm again. I've watched the rest & I have to say I appreciate your enthusiasm & I agree with almost everything else in your discussion. Also, I'm grateful for the attention you're giving to this particular warren-ful of rabbit holes. Well done, sir. From a personal perspective, I find comics with original foreign content at least as interesting as foreign editions of Marvel/DC/Charlton/etc. You never know what kind of weirdness you'll find. As an example, have a look at the Brazilian Golden Age Conan stories. There's an entry on here about them somewhere... Again, good discussion, though the volume was a bit patchy.

Ok. Less than two minutes in and I'm already getting worked up. UK pence price variants are NOT foreign editions, specifically because they were part of the original US print run AND they have a US cents indicia. The inside pages of these books are exactly the same as the regular cents books because they were all part of the same run. They were not printed separately for UK distribution. A small portion was skimmed from the run to go inside the variant covers, which were also part of the original print run, but with a single alteration. The only difference is the price point on the cover (and only on the cover). Sorry. I'll calm down in a minute. I think I need a cookie or something. Looking forward to the other 47 minutes!

US comics seem to turn up everywhere, but I would have snapped up the Chicos & Leyendas Infantiles & Al Ripper. I always find the home-grown stuff more interesting. Nice to see a busy shop.

They're in the crotch of a self-inflicted dilemma, or something. It is, in a tragic, depressing sort of way.