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Frederic9494

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    1st Smurfs 1958 (yes 1958) Spirou 1071/1072 Club

    in Silver Age Comic Books

    Posted · Edited by Frederic9494

    One collector asked me : Are the French versions considered to be the original while the Belgian versions are considered to be a variant or reprint copy which would tend to make them less valuable than the French versions?

    Spirou is a Belgium magazine published by Editions Dupuis in Charleroi, Belgium. (this Belgium company was bought in 2004 by a French media company)

    Publication started in April 1938 in Belgium in French language.

    It was followed in October 1938 by publication in Belgium of "Robbedoes" which is the Dutch translated version of Spirou magazine for the Flemish part of Belgium.

    Starting from 1946, Spirou was also published in France (in French language) using a different cover price and sometimes slightly different content.

    By 1958, the main differences with Spirou 1071 & 1072 is the Spirou value stamp present on the lower left of the back cover of the Belgium edition, along with some adds and written educational articles.

    So short answer: the Belgium edition of Spirou is the original, but to me the French version is pretty equivalent. That being said finding high grade copies of Belgium Edition is much more difficult since a lot of copies have rusted staples (climate is more humid in Belgium vs most of France) and have value stamp cut out from the back cover (there is no value stamp on the French edition)

    Robbedoes magazine on the other hand is a Dutch translation of the original Smurfs, Spirou and other comic book stories from the famous "School of Marcinelle" comic book studio behind Spirou magazine, which were written in French language. In that sense, it is less original...

    Here are some pictures comparing Spirou 1071 Belgium edition (on the right) and French Edition (on the left):

    image.thumb.png.16b6cb986c6f20562c8950e61e85742a.png

    image.thumb.png.8fffa59d82ffc24310a325bd4a31cf96.png

    1st Smurfs 1958 (yes 1958) Spirou 1071/1072 Club

    in Silver Age Comic Books

    Posted

    44 minutes ago, Ryan. said:

    There was an interesting market curve on these two books over the past few years, based on my observations. Once it became more known that these were the first Smurfs appearances there was somewhat of a frenzy for them, with 1071 & 1072 seemingly going hand in hand pricewise. Prices escalated quickly. 

    Then copies were suddenly being made available left and right and it didn't take long for collectors to realize that these books were not all that rare so prices started dropping. 

    Now collectors are realizing that they can be a bit more selective when choosing copies to buy, with 1071 taking the clear lead as the more desired book. 

    Total print run for Spirou in 1958 was less than 200,000 per issue (including Belgian + French editions), which is much smaller than the leading titles at DC Comics or Marvel Comics in early 60s that ranged 500,000-750,000 per issue. 

    In addition, European don't collect much the original magazines as they are more interested in the bound editions so a lot of those magazines were not well preserved. As I have said in my previous post, high grade copies are hard to find - just look at the census!

    1st Smurfs 1958 (yes 1958) Spirou 1071/1072 Club

    in Silver Age Comic Books

    Posted · Edited by Frederic9494

    7 hours ago, lou_fine said:

    With memories of watching the Smurfs TV show from way back in the day, I was seriously thinking of acquiring copies of these first appearance issues when they first appeared in the comic book marketplace several years ago.  :luhv:

    Now I am glad that I didn't want to fork over that kind of dough as the prices on them have seemingly dropped as more and more copies of these books have surfaced, slabbed, and sold into the marketplace over the years.  No more evident than this highest graded copy of the Belgian Edition which sold on CL tonight for only $825:

    50079820092000002096453002.jpg

    Compared to past sales of lower graded copies which have sold for more than this, looks like a downward trend when compared to the CGC 9.0 graded copy which CC was able to sell for $1,550 in one of their Event Auctions a couple of years ago.  hm

    The crazy prices of a few years ago (close to $1000 for 6.0 copies...) are long gone but I do think that those books will appreciate over time. Especially in 8.5 and above as it is very (very) difficult to find high grade copies, especially with Spirou 1071 and its dark blue cover. I have seen too many copies that have significant rust problems (hey it's France & Belgium where climate is often pretty damp!!!), coffee stains, subscription marks and on a lot of Belgium copies, the value stamp has been cut from the back cover. 

    Also, the downward trend I have seen are essentially for Spirou 1072, which is the Smurfs 2nd appearance. Market is correcting vs 1071 (1st appearance) which had to be expected at some point.

    That being said, you got it at a great price! (thumbsu

    The French have "unmasked" Batman & Robin!!! Le Justicier

    in Golden Age Comic Books

    Posted

    French being my first language, I checked on the Wikipedia page devoted to Les Grandes Aventures and it appears that le Justicier was drawn by a French artist named René Brantonne.

    He apparently copied Batman straight from the source when he "created" le Justicier. He did the same with another character, l'Homme d'acier (The Man of Steel) who was a mix between Superman and Agent X-9...