steve566

I think that's what the competition at one point had considered doing.. they fired their foreign comic expert but then offered him a consulting position to come back and help with the foreign labels. They wanted to charge a premium for foreign comic slabbing with accurate labels (cover, all interior stories, etc) since they had to pay a consultant to create the label. Don't think it ever worked out and they have had issues with new foreign labels (not already in the database) ever since they fired that employee.

Honestly not too sure, I’ve never seen another to compare it to.. I’ll have to do some research and get back to you

And just to ruffle some feathers here’s a beautiful book I recently picked up on eBay. South African Luke Cage 1.. 🇿🇦 gotta love a comic printed during the apartheid that featured a black superhero on the cover.. these foreign historical oddities is why I love these books. Notice it doesn’t say 1st appearance🤷‍♂️

the CGC boards have historically been very harsh towards foreign comics... I just hope that CGC realizes that for each person that is critical of the new labels there are an equal or possibly more people that like them. I do think some kinks need to be worked out in the label selection but coming from someone that has a large foreign collection (98% raw and never getting slabbed) and US collection I think the labels make sense. I think as long as the foreign title/ publisher/ date is displayed somewhere on the front label it really shouldn't be that big of a deal and I don't understand the bitterness over it. I would love for them to accurately put somewhere on the label what is in the contents of each book but I understand that may be a long-term project. Whatever CGC decides to do with the labels I don't think it will really matter or effect the increased interest in foreign comics as of late. Foreign comics are skyrocketing in value year after year and i think CGC wants to get in on the action ($$) before the majority of the general collecting public is aware of these comics (same as pulps). I've been importing, selling, and collecting foreign books for the last 4-5 years and even I am astounded by how quickly prices are rising and how quickly foreign stock of books are depleted. I used to be able to log on to a foreign ebay site and buy keys all day long for a few dollars each. Now you are lucky to find any key books anywhere for sale and if they do come up they are going to cost 10x what they did just 2 years ago. At the end of the day I like the new labels but if they reverted back to the old labels I could care less, it doesn't add value to the book for me. The foreign comics can stand on their own with or with out the label changes.

Here's an example from Spain where they blew each panel up to fill half a page and added additional art to the panels. Pretty crazy and tedious stuff.

A lot of foreign issues show more cover art then what was shown on the American issues; the la prensas from Mexico are well know for this. Some older spanish foreign marvel books reformatted every panel inside the comic and even added to the panels at times to add art. Part of the fun of foreign books.

I mainly collect foreign editions of famous US keys but it doesn’t seem that’s what your talking about.. the Spider-man wedding issue that was printed in Mexico is definitely one of the most sought after and contains an original story that was never meant to cross the border north. this Greek magazine predates Matt Bakers Cinderella Love 25 and was an obvious inspiration for the cover.. I sold this one at auction this year for about $1500 on eBay.. as of now it’s the only known copy but guys in Greece are hunting for another I love the Indonesian adaptation of the Star Wars comics.. completely redrawn interiors and hard as hell to track down these may not be exactly what your looking for but still fun and highly sought after books.

Haha yea, i'm not sure the Indian publisher realized he was supposed to be a hero and not a villain

I have a few different keys from India but not sure if any are in the language your looking for.. most of the Indian comics were printed in many native languages including English, I have more examples but don’t have pics currently.. fun books for sure

I might post my most recent foreign slab arrival but I’m afraid it might make your head spin.. i believe CGC is grading a pretty decent amount of foreign books now and everyone I’ve seen is going to the new label for the most part.. the majority of people are happy with the change from what I’m hearing but to each their own.. for someone that collects as many different key comics from different countries it makes the census much easier to navigate.. but that’s my personal opinion; here’s a small taste of my submission

Matt Nelson just talked about it on tales from the flipside on youtube last night, they are continuing to label books the new way.. he said they wanted feedback from the community before making a formal announcement. He discussed grading foreigns (and a growing foreign database) and pulps as two big projects for the future that got pushed back due to the flood of submissions

A brother from another mother.. not sure if it gets me in the club but I love it either way

Yep the la prensas always show more of the art although I think a lot of it is original art that had been cropped out for the American edition.. I’m not sure why rawhide kids legs are different; very strange.. I’ve always wondered why my Los hombres x 1 has Jean grey telekinetic beam on it while the US Edition doesn’t (and several other foreign publishers have it also).. I know sometimes the foreign publishers recieved 1st draft art work that was later changed for the American Edition but still seen on foreigns.. most famous is the Hulk annual that retained Sterankos original untouched Hulk Face

the Mexican La Prensa's by all accounts are almost always the closest to the US release. It has been noted that some foreign books actually pre date the US comic if you go by the indica but it has been almost universally been thought in actuality the US comic will always predate by a minimum of a few months. It is thought that the some foreign publishers used the date they received the license or material to print that particular book in the indica rather than the date it hit the stands. As with many things in foreign comics there are probably very few people that know the answer with 100% certainty. If i was to guess on this particular comic i would think that the date on the label is the date on the indica whether it is an accurate publication date or not.

More and more everyday... as people get priced out of American comics they are looking for collecting alternatives. I agree with you that the vast majority of foreign comics will never be slabbed.. the appeal of most of these comics is the variations on the covers and with in the stories.. by slabbing you are limiting yourself from exploring the interiors. I think CGC realizes this and is appealing to the set builders that’s are collecting just the key covers. The new labeling system makes the census 100% easier to search for foreign comics. If I’m looking for all of the Foreign Asm 300’s all you to is type and Spiderman 300 and every foreign published version of 300 pops up with the American version.. no more searching forever for each individually titled 300 comic. the new system is def not perfect and open to some “grey area”. I would love if they would go more into detail about what’s inside each foreign comic but I understand it would be a massive undertaking.

not one of these would receive the new style label stating Hulk 181 since none use the original cover.. it may say partial or full 181 on the label but I doubt it. CGC doesn't seem keen on doing any of research on each individual story in foreign books. Just as a side note the French Candian Hulk 181 is a interior panel from 181 and the guy on the cover fighting hulk is a recolored Wendigo. I imagine the Italian book would read Amazing Spiderman 152 italian edition and the the french la bombe would read Incredible Hulk 179 french edition. From my understanding this is purely a cover based labeling system. I don't believe the redrawn La Masa's would get the new labels. I believe they are doing this to appeal to foreign comic set builders; I don't know anything about the registry so I cant comment on that. For example of these Dracula books I believe all would get new style label except for the Spanish red cover since its a redraw, the Uk and Swedish because its a different cover with similar elements, and the Brazilian Mumia since its a totally different cover Just a guess from my experience thus far

Gotta love the Greek books!; I'm fairly certain this would just get the old style label since it doesn't correspond to a US cover. It is actually part of an interior panel from a hulk comic that I cant recall at the moment.

As far as I know the UK MWOM 198 is still labeled as such.. I sent in a creepy worlds 32 (Uk fantastic four 1) and it retained the old style label.. I actually just sent my MWOM 198 in with my La Masa’s for grading so we will see how the labels come back this time around.

I’m not sure where the uncertainty lies it’s printed right there on the label the Mexican comic was printed by Novaro in 10/67. This comic is most likely going to cost $300-500 so hopefully the buyer realizes that the are buying a foreign edition and not the American comic.. i mean one look at the comic should tell you your not buying an American comic no matter how uneducated the buyer is. Correct in your opinion.. you keep using the term reprint which in my opinion is incorrect and CGC seems to agree No clue that would be a question for someone that works at CGC... and finally like I’ve already stated from the beginning I had no clue my books would be labeled like this and honestly it wasn’t that big of a deal to me... hundred of more book have been labeled this way after mine. The new label doesn’t bother me and I prefer it to the old label and I made sure to express that to Matt Nelson. I don’t quite understand your one man mission to discredit these new labels. Do you own any foreign comics?.. could you tell me the difference between a La Masa 4, La Masa 40 and a mighty world of marvel 198? The difference between Die spinne 3, homem aranha 1, and el sorprendente hombre arana 1; what makes el sorprendente hombre arana 128 so special? These are question any basic foreign collector could answer but sounds greek to someone not involved in the niche.. if you don’t collect these books and don’t know the history behind these fascinating “reprints” then no offense but why should CGC listen to your opinion?

The date of publication is on the slab. It tells you the foreign publisher and the month and year that it was published in that country. I understand your concern about buying a current asm 129 that was just a $3 reprint but if the label says "russian edition / 2019" I would hope majority of collectors would take the time to read what the label says and realize that it is a recent print. A few years ago I saw complaints about someone buying foreigns with the old style label because even then they didn't take the time to read the publication date smack dab in the center of the label. There are a few unscrupulous American ebay sellers that sell the German reprints for inflated prices and people buy them thinking they are silver age comics even though the label says 2010. Number 1 rule as a newbie when buying foreigns is check the publication date. I believe the plan is to combine the census so it is more accurate. This 3.5 you posted is the old style label (probably slabbed a few years ago) and the 4.0 is the new label (my book slabbed last year). Honestly I would have been happy with either label and no one in the foreign comic collecting community had any input in this decision. There has been no "noise" in the community to pressure CGC to change the labels. This was a decision made solely by them. This was my 1st ever submission to CGC and I had no idea my books would be the "guinea pig" for the new style labels.. as I said earlier in the post there are many foreign comic collectors that dislike the labels just as much as you do.

There is a Macc version from 1974 that would be worth thosands in 9.6, a red cover novedades from the 80's that may be worth $500+ in 9.6 and then a modern reprint by panini probably that is worth maybe $100... so which one are you looking at.. tough crowd in here regarding foreign books but many people love them and don't consider them "just a reprint" especially the older books printed very close to US versions

Weird thing is with UK books they keep the original title.. so if you do submit it shouldn’t say Hulk 181. The inconsistency is definitely strange.. another thing we have found out is that magazine sized comics will still have the old style label (Title from other country) ... so the change has only effected comic sized books. I'm actually submitting my Mighty world of marvel 198 and both Spanish La Masa’s soon so we shall see how it pans out

Very cool, think I saw your post over on the foreign comic thread... good luck with the grades and hope they get the labels right