Anyone ever hear of this Italian Superman Nembo Kid?

[ivegotneatstuff]

Has anyone out there ever seen or heard of this comic? Obviously a Italian version of Superman...This was published in 1955...but I have never heard of it until I found it in a collection I purchased..I think this is the first one ever CGC'd haha..anyway..thought it would be cool to see some other covers

 

[rjpb]

Strange book - you should post it in the GA section

[ivegotneatstuff]

is there any way to move a post? I never know where to post this stuff! haha

[comicwiz]

Has anyone out there ever seen or heard of this comic? Obviously a Italian version of Superman...This was published in 1955...but I have never heard of it until I found it in a collection I purchased..I think this is the first one ever CGC'd haha..anyway..thought it would be cool to see some other covers

 

IMHO, the topic is fine where it is as the category of International comics has been discussed in this section before.I don't want to lay claim that I know about Fumetti - which in the Italian iteration is comic books. There are a multitude of dealers on eBay.it that would be in a better postion to advise you on this particular character. I most recently discovered the fact that eBay.it search results don't appear on either US or Canada searches, and there is a thriving Fumetti market in Italy (not anywhere near the size of North America, but quite substantial).If I had to give you my best educated guess on this, this character may have been reinterpreted as a Superman look-alike because of copyright reasons. The strange thing about this example is that it appears to have been published in the U.S. for the Italian market. (National appears to have been a reiteration of DC at one time). I am no copyright expert, but in the case of the Superman character, and the lengths DC went to preserve their character rights during his introduction might provide some insight into this example.I might well have been the case that they wanted to introduce the Superman character in the European market without the expense of needing to register an International copyright for the character during uncertain times, and created this variation so as to not attract too much attention and potentially have someone else squat or register the rights for Italy/Europe. Remember, this was published during the period where SOTI was giving North American publishers undue stress about certain characters, and while DC might have been test marketing characters in other parts of the world, they might have done so with extreme caution as to not relinquish those rights because they didn't take appropriate steps to register the rights.I'm rationalizing this way of thinking because of the time period (1955), as you will see in the above link that in later publications, it appears another publisher (from Italy) got involved with taking care of publishing/distrubition for the Italian market. You might also notice that at a much later time, Superman and other DC characters were being used with no change of variation of character likeness or usage of character names. My estimation is that while this is might be of interest to a comic historian (especially of Fumetti comics), the afficionado and Fumetti purist might look at this as being a less attractive time period for collecting, and base their focus on the time period when these books were being publsihed by the Italian publisher (often referenced in listings as Editizione Mondadori). Hope this helps - and Happy New Year!

[s-man]

Just curious...is the right leg supposed to be white or is that a coloring error as the left leg is blue?

[rodan57]

If I had to give you my best educated guess on this, this character may have been reinterpreted as a Superman look-alike because of copyright reasons. The strange thing about this example is that it appears to have been published in the U.S. for the Italian market. (National appears to have been a reiteration of DC at one time). I am no copyright expert, but in the case of the Superman character, and the lengths DC went to preserve their character rights during his introduction might provide some insight into this example.

 

I might well have been the case that they wanted to introduce the Superman character in the European market without the expense of needing to register an International copyright for the character during uncertain times, and created this variation so as to not attract too much attention and potentially have someone else squat or register the rights for Italy/Europe. Remember, this was published during the period where SOTI was giving North American publishers undue stress about certain characters, and while DC might have been test marketing characters in other parts of the world, they might have done so with extreme caution as to not relinquish those rights because they didn't take appropriate steps to register the rights.

 

I'm rationalizing this way of thinking because of the time period (1955), as you will see in the above link that in later publications, it appears another publisher (from Italy) got involved with taking care of publishing/distrubition for the Italian market. You might also notice that at a much later time, Superman and other DC characters were being used with no change of variation of character likeness or usage of character names. My estimation is that while this is might be of interest to a comic historian (especially of Fumetti comics), the afficionado and Fumetti purist might look at this as being a less attractive time period for collecting, and base their focus on the time period when these books were being publsihed by the Italian publisher (often referenced in listings as Editizione Mondadori).

 

Good post. (thumbs u

[Ze-man]

Agreed, good stuff Joseph, I think I just got a little smarter.

[ivegotneatstuff]

um...wow! Thanks ! I feel like I've been re-educated haha. Cool post... I love learning these things.

[ivegotneatstuff]

It appears that this is intentional.. and what is the name of that character spilling the "cola?" or glue ... mxpelyt? or whatever his name was? Was this image taken from an actual Superman cover then just changed for the Italian version? I think the copyright comments ring true..and I have seen one issue like this on the italian site.. but I first assumed that some italian publisher just copied the Superman character and "stole" it...I didn't think this was National Publication approved...but obviously if it was published by them... it was

[comicwiz]

I had to rush out when I posted the response this morning - there was one other interesting footnote I wanted to raise. Showcase 4 is often cited as the book that ushered in the Silver Age, and is also connected with the return of the Superhero in comics. Interestingly, your copy predates Showcase 4, and while the character purposely was reinterpreted to not be a carbon-copy of the Superman character, the Superman character is suggested with the costume colours and likeness, albeit missing the S in the chest logo.

 

In an earlier example (issue #4 - 1954) it appears that the position of Supermans arm casts a shadow on his chest, making it difficult to get a clear view of the chest logo, but everything else fits the characters likeness - he even appears to fly:

 

 

I guess the thing I find most interesting is that the book above was published the same year as SOTI, and while it restricted the publication of Superhero comics and made publishers like DC wonder what would happen to their portfolio of characters and the rights that went along with them, they also appeared to try in their earnest to keep their characters in print in other parts of the world. I guess I find this most fascinating because we often look at the history of comics with a North American lens, not realizing that their are other perspectives which paint a different portrait with equally interesting insights from that time period.

 

The earliest instance of the "Superman" title that I could find in the same series appears to have taken place in 1966, and 500+ issues later:

 

 

Oddly, the publisher didn't appear to be as apprehensive about using other DC characters in their original form - the example below is from 1961

 

 

And the following from 1962 (issue 250) actually shows Superman (likeness), Batman and Robin. The last image is from 1964 (issue 448), and pre-dates the Superman examples by 100 issues. One explanation why the publishers were likely more liberal with Batman, Robin and the Joker (I even noticed Flash in another issue) - and one that is consistent with the points raised earlier regarding copyright - is that the other characters did not have nearly the same issues surrounding them as did DC's Superman vis-a-vis Fawcett's Captain Marvel:

 

 

[rjpb]

Were these books fumetti (photo comics) or were they Italian reprints of Superman stories with a name change? They look more like the later.

[ivegotneatstuff]

Cool post..thanks! We should try to find every cover of this series..

[CycloneComics]

Any one interested in this one

 

[ivegotneatstuff]

Cool haha love the red Batman costume!

[ivegotneatstuff]

Does anyone know where the image of mxyztplk in my very first post...on the cover....what issue of superman or action or whatever...this image was taken from? I dont think it is from a cover of Action or Superman...but its probably from some internal panel...

[ivegotneatstuff]

Hmm - In Italy someone has it on ebay.it for 399 Euros... (Nembo Kid #1)

 

http://cgi.ebay.it/NEMBO-KID-N-1-ORIGINALE-DEL-1954-DA-MAGAZZINO-S2_W0QQitemZ130269493708QQcmdZViewItemQQptZFumetti_Occidentali?hash=item130269493708&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A3%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318

 

 

[John_John-migration]

First italian apparence of Superman was on 1939, on the comics paper Audace. He was called there Ciclone( Cyclon) and Batman , on the same paper was called Ala d'acciaio ( Steel wing). With II WWW all american comics dont are printed in Italy: only italian authors ( Drawing and/or story) are allowed. ( Flash Gordon, Jim of Jungle, Tim Tyler's Luck, for named someone of the most popular in Italy are sospended...) and there are fake caracters ( same dress, different colors...or some things more, like a cape, or a different mask... which are all done in Italy). Several years later, in 1954, from Mondadori , come this new comic book: Nembo Kid ( Nembo is cloud)... is Superman without S on chest...no special raison for do it...after 528 numbers, on #529 the comics are renamed Superman Nembo Kid and from #574 Superman. On this comic book all the DC caracters are showed: Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Atom, Batman, Martian Hunter, Flash... Is a really nice comics, not rare but uneasy at once... there are also reprinted copies recently who look exactly like the old ones...

i 'm sorry for my bad english.

BTW for more information about Italian comics books i suggest this link:

www.VintageComics.com ( forum)

 

www. CollezionismoFumetti.com

http://www.lfb.it/fff/index.htm

Are write in italian only

[Buzzetta]

I just bookmarked this thread...

 

Pretty interesting...

[vaillant]

I know this is from years ago but…

 

I most recently discovered the fact that eBay.it search results don't appear on either US or Canada searches, and there is a thriving Fumetti market in Italy (not anywhere near the size of North America, but quite substantial).

 

I don’t know how to compare Italy to the USA (given the USA extension) but our market has been thriving since the mid-1930s, which is also about the time when an italian school of italian authors quickly started to grow and emerge.

Superman had a brief editiorial history here around 1939, then some material was published after the war, from 1947 onwards. I can go better into detail if needed.

 

If I had to give you my best educated guess on this, this character may have been reinterpreted as a Superman look-alike because of copyright reasons. The strange thing about this example is that it appears to have been published in the U.S. for the Italian market. (National appears to have been a reiteration of DC at one time). I am no copyright expert, but in the case of the Superman character, and the lengths DC went to preserve their character rights during his introduction might provide some insight into this example.

 

No, that is simply the leading Superman publication started by Mondadori in May 1954. Fully authorized, "Nembo Kid" is simply the name by which Superman went since 1954 to some point in the 1960s where they reverted it back to Superman.

As in many other cases, there were very likely no specific reasons, just a desire to find an appealing name in Italian.

Albi del Falco was a pocket size bi-weekly title, and pretty much successful. Nothing to do with USA and let alone the SOTI.

 

I'm rationalizing this way of thinking because of the time period (1955), as you will see in the above link that in later publications, it appears another publisher (from Italy) got involved with taking care of publishing/distrubition for the Italian market.

You might also notice that at a much later time, Superman and other DC characters were being used with no change of variation of character likeness or usage of character names. My estimation is that while this is might be of interest to a comic historian (especially of Fumetti comics), the afficionado and Fumetti purist might look at this as being a less attractive time period for collecting, and base their focus on the time period when these books were being publsihed by the Italian publisher (often referenced in listings as Editizione Mondadori).

 

Other publishers simply stepped in when Mondadori was no longer publishing Batman and Superman (mostly Williams and Cenisio in the 1970s), but nothing so complicated.

Also, the Albi del Falco are inversely a lot more valuable (especially the earlier ones in grade) than these late publications.

[vaillant]

Ah, and if John John is that John John (from Vintage Comics), benvenuto!

 

If so, we should already be three members registered here.