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Infinite Marvel Picture Frame books
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Started by Guardian Comics,

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MasterChief

MasterChief

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Great books, MC.

 

Did you happen to snag any of the other hard-to-find 25¢ picture frame books like My Love #14 or Special Marvel Edition #4? I've never even seen a high grade copy of those books.

Unfortunately, no.

 

I had two cracks at the Rosa collection when it premiered at the SD Comic-Con.

 

The first day I pulled a variety of early Bronze Age Marvel Horror books. After the show, I went back to the hotel and got acquainted with my new find. I was so smitten by the books that the next day my focus was on buying more. I must have pulled a two-foot stack of early Marvel bronze the following day. Unfortunately, my desire wrote a check my wallet couldn't cash, and I had to leave half the stack on the convention floor, having busted my comic-buying budget.

 

Whether or not ML#14 or MSE#4 was in that stack left behind, I just don't remember. That said, I have seen some of the other books that have since come to market... and I kick myself each and every time for not breaking the bank by buying them all. :(

 

Here's a couple more 52-page square bound picture-frame Rosa's. Not the highest quality, but mighty fine specimens nonetheless...

 

 

Fear-5_rosa-copy2.jpg

 

CTB-11_rosa-copy2.jpg

 

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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Did you happen to snag any of the other hard-to-find 25¢ picture frame books like My Love #14 or Special Marvel Edition #4? I've never even seen a high grade copy of those books.

 

If MSE 4 is the one with Odin holding Thor, then I have a few HG copies, but forget about ML 14 - that book almost doesn't exist in HG.

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greggy

greggy

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The Don Rosa collection didn't have any Marvel Romance titles, as he said that he didn't collect those and pretty well all the humour titles.

 

It included 3 romance books but they were DC books that were part of other runs (DC 100 page super spectacular 5, Super DC Giant 17 and 21)

 

I was the first person in after Steve Wyatt let Jason Ewert have exclusive access until 4 PM on the Preview night.

 

However, my focus was not on the picture frame issues at that time.

 

If I had to do it again, I would have concentrated on the Westerns and reprint titles.

 

I was there when I saw another forum member take out the Wyatt Earp :frustrated:

 

The X-men 79 that graded a 9.4 came from a small batch that Wyatt held back and didn't show Ewert. I bought it when it was offered to me. Yes, I forgot to send mrhighgrade the certificate until after it got graded.

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Ghost Town

Ghost Town

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Did you happen to snag any of the other hard-to-find 25¢ picture frame books like My Love #14 or Special Marvel Edition #4? I've never even seen a high grade copy of those books.

 

If MSE 4 is the one with Odin holding Thor, then I have a few HG copies, but forget about ML 14 - that book almost doesn't exist in HG.

Yep, that's the one. Only one copy has ever been graded by CGC, a 9.2.

 

Strangely, there are 5 My Love #14s in the census. One 9.4, two 9.2s and two 8.5s. That surprised me.

 

SpecialMarvelEdition_04.jpg

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Ghost Town

Ghost Town

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By the way, Gemma has been particularly awesome lately and just added a complete set of Picture Frame Marvels to the registry. 388 books!

 

Some of the slots for the more obscure titles like Wyatt Earp and Ringo Kid aren't working yet, but you'll get the idea anyway. I'm very curious to see what collections are out there.

 

Picture Frame Marvels Registry

 

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joeypost

joeypost

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Did you happen to snag any of the other hard-to-find 25¢ picture frame books like My Love #14 or Special Marvel Edition #4? I've never even seen a high grade copy of those books.

 

If MSE 4 is the one with Odin holding Thor, then I have a few HG copies, but forget about ML 14 - that book almost doesn't exist in HG.

Yep, that's the one. Only one copy has ever been graded by CGC, a 9.2.

 

Strangely, there are 5 My Love #14s in the census. One 9.4, two 9.2s and two 8.5s. That surprised me.

 

SpecialMarvelEdition_04.jpg

 

I think I have a NM-/NM copy of this sitting in the house. Need to dig it up. I purchased it 2 years ago from Midway Comics at the WW Chicago show.

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MasterChief

MasterChief

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The Don Rosa collection didn't have any Marvel Romance titles, as he said that he didn't collect those and pretty well all the humour titles.

 

It included 3 romance books but they were DC books that were part of other runs (DC 100 page super spectacular 5, Super DC Giant 17 and 21)

 

I was the first person in after Steve Wyatt let Jason Ewert have exclusive access until 4 PM on the Preview night.

 

However, my focus was not on the picture frame issues at that time.

 

If I had to do it again, I would have concentrated on the Westerns and reprint titles.

 

I was there when I saw another forum member take out the Wyatt Earp :frustrated:

 

The X-men 79 that graded a 9.4 came from a small batch that Wyatt held back and didn't show Ewert. I bought it when it was offered to me. Yes, I forgot to send mrhighgrade the certificate until after it got graded.

Interesting stuff, Greg.

Guess I lucked out that show and beat you sharks to some of the Rosa picture-frames that day. lol

 

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MasterChief

MasterChief

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By the way, Gemma has been particularly awesome lately and just added a complete set of Picture Frame Marvels to the registry. 388 books!

 

Some of the slots for the more obscure titles like Wyatt Earp and Ringo Kid aren't working yet, but you'll get the idea anyway. I'm very curious to see what collections are out there.

 

Picture Frame Marvels Registry

That's pretty cool, GT.

 

As an interesting side project, I'm currently mapping all the books to the corresponding months that they were issued, to include cover artists, in spreadsheet format. Interesting visual from a production perspective as one can see where the monthlies, bi-monthlies, quarterlies, annuals, and specials fell out over the course of the production timeline.

 

I did note that Gemma's list may be missing some titles/books that may be candidates for picture-frame consideration. JC mentioned as much a few posts back when he posted a list. These books were produced during the timeframe but have certain layout nuances that don't conform to the ridged picture-frame design. A couple examples include Fear #5 and Cat #1.

 

 

Cat-1_9-4.jpg

 

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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Yep, that's the one. Only one copy has ever been graded by CGC, a 9.2.

 

Strangely, there are 5 My Love #14s in the census. One 9.4, two 9.2s and two 8.5s. That surprised me.

 

I'd bet those are Pedigrees and slabbed for resale due to its well-known scarcity and value. On the other hand, MSE 4 doesn't have close to the same notoriety and I had no idea it was *perceived* as so scarce in HG - I bet that this conversation has spurred a few copies CGC's way.

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joe_collector

joe_collector

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A couple examples include Fear #5 and Cat #1.

 

I firmly believe Cat 1 was intended as a picture frame book, but the lower lettering was never colored in (for whatever reason) and the art flowed to the bottom of the page.

 

But Fear 5? That has no relationship to a PF style and was never talked about in any thread I've seen - are you sure you have the issue number right?

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Ghost Town

Ghost Town

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Yep, that's the one. Only one copy has ever been graded by CGC, a 9.2.

 

Here's a neat ad you might like:

Very cool. It's interesting to see how they re-purposed the original cover from Thor #127. I think most of the reprint PF books had completely new covers, but this works well.

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MasterChief

MasterChief

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I firmly believe Cat 1 was intended as a picture frame book, but the lower lettering was never colored in (for whatever reason) and the art flowed to the bottom of the page.

 

But Fear 5? That has no relationship to a PF style and was never talked about in any thread I've seen - are you sure you have the issue number right?

Yeah, I also agree. Cat #1 fits the design concept and should be given due consideration as a picture frame. I guess Big John Verpoorten, Marvel's production manager at the time, was asleep in the Bullpen during that one. lol

 

As far as Fear #5 goes... Yep, I think consideration should be given to this book, too. It was issued in the first month of picture-frame production and the artwork layout is not indicative of Marvel's full-bleed cover design of the preceding period.

 

I believe this is one of those "tweeners". It certainly doesn't fit the ridged picture-frame design but the artistic concept and relationship is somewhat apparent. The cover is oddly indicative of MS#2, which was produced three months later.

 

Perhaps being a quarterly publication, Fear #5's cover may have been one of the first initial picture-frame layout produced, and then the picture-frame design evolved from that point. Dunno for sure, just a thought.

 

In any event, if you slightly modify the layout of Fear #5 by incorporating a left-hand margin, then place the story title under the frame, and finally alter the production stats, the book starts to take on a more apparent picture-frame appearance.

 

 

picture-frame_study.jpg

 

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