Garystar

Who sells a £15k comic and can’t be bothered to turn down a corner fold?

Doctor Strange’s non appearance on cover may have been because Stan lacked confidence in the first story. Here he describes the story as a filler so perhaps Kirby had already done the cover before it was decided to include the strip in #110.
Extract of letter from Stan Lee to Jerry Bails printed in Comic Reader #16 February 1963 and reprinted in “Steve Ditko in his own words”

The record was available as part of the second Merry Marvel Marching Society membership kit (circa 1967 - 1969). The stationery kit was available by mail order from ads in Marvel comics (circa 1965 - 1967). 

On 5/17/2022 at 3:40 AM, toro said:

I want to know what was on the flip side.

The flip side is indeed blank;

On 4/26/2022 at 11:14 AM, themagicrobot said:

Interesting that UK romance pocket digests are finding their way to the US to be encapsulated and sold on...even UK Marvels although the label doesn't mention the UK.

Shouldn’t that be labelled Our Love Story #2?

On a sad note just read that James Bama, the artist on some of the Aurora  monster kit boxes died a couple of days ago. 

Although I never joined at the time I have subsequently collected WAM memorabilia;

IMO a poor relation to previous Marvel fan club memorabilia and certainly a million miles away from Marvelmania International. 

On 3/31/2022 at 7:03 PM, wormboy said:

Oh wow, I’ve never heard of or seen the Cap set. Do you know it exists? 

I’ve looked for one for sale but never found one, however can find references and images online. 
The set is also referenced in “Hot Wheels Accessories The Ultimate Guide” book so all looks genuine.

https://hotwheels.fandom.com/wiki/Captain_America_Stunt_Set

Got this one as well, only because I’m a big fan of the late great James Garner and The Rockford Files;

Not sure where the Hot Bird comes in, Rockford drove a Firebird.

On 3/20/2022 at 6:06 PM, Malacoda said:

I saw Rob announce it was more or less finished and about to go to press was on Lew Stringer's blog in 2007.  I bet some of you have been waiting even longer, haven't you? 

I remember writing to Rob with the original source of some romance and Monster strips back in the days of Comics International when he was first putting the book together - so I’ve been eagerly awaiting it since day 1. 

On 3/19/2022 at 3:31 PM, Malacoda said:

On another matter:  I assume there is not a list anywhere of all the Marvel comics that were reprinted by Marvel UK - exactly which US Marvels were reprinted in which issues of MWOM, SMCW etc? 

Know you of such a list?  Anyone? Anyone? 

I believe this is exactly what Rob Kirby’s “From Cents To Pence” intends to do - if it ever gets published;

https://a-distant-beacon.blogspot.com/?m=1

On 2/22/2022 at 6:43 PM, Aman619 said:

is either of these the UK variant?

There’s a UK variant on page three of this thread. @Get Marwood & Ihas  done lots of research on these font variations again see page 3.

On 2/22/2022 at 6:37 PM, themagicrobot said:

I always wanted one of those Hulk sweatshirts where he's pulling a rope on the front. Did I imagine this or on the back of the shirt you see him from behind. The rope is attached to a small toy duck on wheels. 

Here’s mine, been stuck in a cupboard for around 6 years since I bought it trying to figure out how I can display it. The image Albert showed had the sleeves cut off. 

To bring it round to UK comics, if you got a letter published in Smash comic you could have been lucky enough to receive the Hulk sweatshirt;

On 2/15/2022 at 7:46 PM, gadzukes said:

Looks like CGC got it right on this one. 

But they didn’t get it right did they? Surely it should either be Superboy Comics #6 - it’s actual title or Superboy #1 - the title it reprints?

On 2/11/2022 at 6:22 PM, pemart1966 said:

Thanks for clearing up the confusion...so was the silver set only available as a mail in premium?

Yes. The silver set was only available from Marvelmania International by mail. As they used the same moulds which showed 1967 there can be some confusion but silver was not for sale in stores and was not available until 1970.

On 2/11/2022 at 4:38 PM, Sweet Lou 14 said:

I just bought a copy thanks to this thread!

It’s the most expensive book I ever bought - I’ve spent many hundreds £/$ on memorabilia I was previously  blissfully unaware existed. 

On 2/11/2022 at 1:53 PM, pemart1966 said:

I'm confused.  Forbush man seems to be saying that the ad he posted was circa 1967...

The ad is from Marvelmania which didn’t start until 1969. If you sent off for the two sets you got the silver figures pictured in my post. They are cast from the 1967 moulds so are identical and still dated 1967 even tough they were released in 1970.

On 2/11/2022 at 12:39 AM, pemart1966 said:

My set did not come from the MMMS.  It came from a department store.  

That would be correct, none were issued by MMMS, all were sold in department stores bar the silver set which was sold by Marvelmania International via mail order, as the add shown in @Forbush-Manpost. 
perhaps the set you bought was grey rather than silver? They are quite similar, grey issued 1967, silver in 1970. 

On 1/24/2022 at 6:20 PM, themagicrobot said:

If he hadn't died young in a tragic accident, being as prolific as Kirby but also always doing his own inking too he would probably have been offered Spider-man or the FF or some others and Marvel would have looked quite different. 

Jack Kirby walked into Marvel Offices right after Joe Maneely’s death - I don’t think it’s documented whether Stan invited him or he saw an opportunity. If Joe hadn’t died Jack probably wouldn’t have joined Marvel and there probably wouldn’t have been a Fantastic Four or Spider-Man. 

On 1/2/2022 at 10:16 AM, themagicrobot said:

 

Was Toby’s a chain of shops? We had a Tobys book shop in Gloucester in 70s and 80s which sold new and second hand comics. Perhaps coincidence that this has been stamped Tobys or perhaps it passed through the shop in Gloucester?

Yes I have this book. It’s mostly a compilation of articles and sketches from early/mid 1960s fanzines relating to/by Ditko so whilst most is available elsewhere the task of getting the source material would be long and expensive. 

Worth the price? Not a substantial read for the money but invaluable for any Ditko fan (which I would guess a lot of us on these boards are) as like me there is probably very little you’ve ever seen or read elsewhere and interesting to read how Ditko was received by contemporary comic fans.