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Comic book collecting with a foreign variant focus
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Started by Define999,

4,886 posts in this topic

lscomics

lscomics

Posted
Posted
mexicocgc10.jpg

By liaton9000 at 2012-01-21

Nice! I saw a really rough looking copy on ebay before I started buying foreigns that I'm kicking myself for not having grabbed.

 

You mean this one?

small_Diabolico1.jpg

 

Sorry LCS... :foryou: I think this might grade out at 5.5 or 6.0? (shrug)

That's definitely NOT the one I saw. There was a piece missing from the lower left corner of the spine front & back. That's part of why I hesitated to buy it. At the time I didn't realize how tough it is to find some of these foreign books.

 

PS: I would sub that copy you have for SS so fast it would make your head spin. lol

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Chespirito

Chespirito

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I remember getting this and thinking how cool it was that his suit was red instead of yellow, and that all the wording was translated verbatim ...

Also how the price was one full peso in the Republic of Mexico or ".10 USD abroad"

 

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Define999

Define999

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I agree…. The red Daredevil is awesome! Great classic La Prensa cover! La Prensa’s in higher grade are tough to find LSC. I haven’t thought about SS submission for this book. I still am on the fence about SS-ing books.

 

How bout some more Greek info for this fine Saturday Morning?

 

I am not 100% sure but I think this is the Greek Hulk 181…..

 

Hulk18.jpg

 

 

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lscomics

lscomics

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I agree…. The red Daredevil is awesome! Great classic La Prensa cover! La Prensa’s in higher grade are tough to find LSC. I haven’t thought about SS submission for this book. I still am on the fence about SS-ing books.

 

How bout some more Greek info for this fine Saturday Morning?

 

I am not 100% sure but I think this is the Greek Hulk 181…..

 

Hulk18.jpg

 

hm Interesting but I'd like to know why the Hulk is eating that chain and why Wolverine only has three fingers and a thumb. lol
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Duffman_Comics

Duffman_Comics

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Foreign editions can be fascinating and I find them especially interesting when the covers are tweaked (and sometimes the story, as well) to reflect the local mores and/or political situation.

 

If anyone has original first-in-country publications of FF1 or ASM 1 or TOS39 I will pay competitively.

 

Also interested in other specific issues, partial list: FF 1, 2, 4, 15, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 26, 52 and annual 2; ASM 1, 9, 25, 54, 59, 68, 94, annual 5, spectacular spider-man 1 and 1 (if those exist; Sgt. Fury 1, 13, 18, 19, 64, 75; silver surfer 1, 10, 17, 18. Dr. Strange 169, Strange Tales 135, TOS 39, 45, Sub-Mariner 1, 39.

 

:shy:

 

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(1963 for sure)

 

Very cool. Don't suppose that is your undercopy?

 

Sorry, late in responding, but (at the moment) that's my only copy. I'll keep looking now that I know there's a demand, though. (thumbs u

 

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Andy J.-migration

Andy J.-migration

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Awesome article Define999. From my point of view, its intriguing to see the increased interest for these foreign editions among American collectors. Being a Norwegian, I've been collecting Norwegian books on/off since the late eighties. Much of what your article describe in regards to lack of proper storage and overall rarity, rings true.

 

Not only do you have the obvious low print runs in tiny countries like this, but theres been a general lack of "high grade" driven collecting. You always had the readers, the hoarders and the niche collectors - and the more common blend of all of these, but few if any would store their comics in bags and boards - even today theres some impressive high volume collections just sitting around without as much as a polybag in sight.

 

The influence from US based culture in regards to comicbook collecting have been more noticable the past few years however, with both an increased demand for high grade and escalating prices. One have to realize tho, that the scale of eager, broad area collectors in this country is probably only in the few hundreds.

 

The first prolific collectors with sizable collections surfaced during the late sixties, early seventies. Since the early eighties we've had price guides, and we had a pretty established community from the late seventies till the early ninties - the peak years for the Norwegian comicbook marked. Theres been a second wind the past 10 years as far as collecting is conserned, much thanks to online communities breathing new life, and the added avilability of books that follows through various online auctions.

 

As a result of books being stacked straight into boxes and shelves without added protection, much of the "high grade" material you can track down linger in the 9.0 - 9.2 area at best. Despite these odds tho, one can find some true gems - even entire runs that miraculously survied the above mentioned mentality since the fifties. To find a 9.8 graded book from the eighties is no easy task however; push it back to bronze age and your really talking scarsity in said quality. Thanks to the high quality prints tho, its possible to track down and collect high grade over here, but its pricy and require lots of patience.

 

Another pestilence that have made it even more impossible to track high grade the later years would be the inclusion of hard plastic toys wrapped tight with almost every publication, making them look like they went through the grinder as they come off the rack. This horrific exersice (from a high grade collectors perspective anyway) is a futile attempt by the publishers to increase sales in a dying marked.

 

Price range and change is another interesting topic when it comes to the Norwegian marked. As an illustration, online auctions boosted the value of any high grade Norwegian 1968 ASM edition from 90$ average to a 400$ average just the past five years or so. Compared to our neighbouring country Sweden, and I would guess much of Europe infact, we had a very agressive increase in pricing on high grade issues.

 

Another very noticable development as far as pricing goes would be the increased value and appreciation of scarsity, despite otherwise appeal of a book. Romance books from the seventies indexed a few years ago to a price range of about 90$ in "near mint condition" have landed 850$ or more a piece, much because of the realization of how rare they are, thanks to the disinterest from collectors when they were readily aviable on the marked.

 

Its pretty odd how a quality magasine sized print run, which ran 11 issues during 1972 (with nothing indicating extremely low sales or low prints), can all but disappear. Said run now only exist from zero to three or four known copies per issue. The novelty of collecting such runs have become much more appreciated the past few years, and the price range indicates it harshly.

 

"Donald Duck" is the most popular and beloved run we've had over here. With its first publication in 1948 it peaked in the eighties printwise - and its still going strong after nearly 3000 issues. The first issue is also highly priced, despite not being all that impossible to track down for the right price. Record sales have reached above 17.000$ for books in the 7-8.x range. "The Katzenjammer Kids" is the longest running title, with a yearly publication since 1911 (the first edition widely recoginzed as the first Norwegian comicbook print, only known to exist in two copies and also the highest priced book by a fat margine).

 

American prints avilable through specialized shops and online trading have certainly eaten a fair share of our marked today. Alot of younger readers prefer the original American editions over the Norwegian ones, particulary TPB's. Personally I prefer the original for reading material (unless we're talking ducks, which just seems odd to me in any other form). From a collectors standpoint, I try to focus primarily on Norwegian books, but every so often some other foreign variant sneaks in there, most often American editions. My main goal is to put together an exclusive Norwegian collection of CGC certified high grade (or rare) books however.

 

Having submitted some 60 books thus far, my experience have been mostly good as far as CGC's work on these editions goes. I cant expect them to know all the standard Norwegian print defects that shouldnt pull a particular book down as much gradewise for a particular issue or run, these are things I can live with. I did hope that they would elaborate the publishers on the labels however. Simply putting "DC comics" or "Marvel comics" on the label removes some of the identity of the particular edition (I tried to submit detailed information in regards to our publishers, but this was disregarded unfortunately).

 

I have yet to submit books with posters, stickers and such, but I would hope these things are included on the labels when I do - naturally theres a completely different value tire and desirability involved there. Communicating this to CGC should be doable I suppose.

 

Forgive my ramblings tho, I just wanted to pitch in and outline another slice of comic culture on this side of the ocean as represented by a tiny country. Its great to see that theres an increased interest for these reprints / editions / originals (the definition can be argued I guess). Major props to the threadstarter, highly inspiering to read your research and the following discussion.

 

I attach one of my favourite editions of a wellknown book. This 1968 print is a fairly scarse one albeit far from the truly difficult things one can track. A quick comparison with the original will certainly yield some amuing visual differences beyond just the colouring scheme.

 

I'll also include a 9.8 supes print from 1978 just for the heck of it. I was pretty ecstatic about this one. To think it survived all those years w/o as much as a polybag to protect it (before I got my hands on it some two years ago) is perplexing. I suppose one would have to collect foreign editions for a while to realize the big deal about a random bronze age 9.8 tho :cloud9:

 

(PS Liaton, belive it or not, I havnt forgotten about those issues I promised to send you. Life completely sidetracked me however - I've even wrapped them and everything, just never got around to shipping it. I'll redeem that before disappearing again :gossip: )

 

 

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Edited by Andy J.
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Chespirito

Chespirito

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I have bought those eaxct books for someone on the boards before...a while back...they are awesome...Of course FF4 is my fav....always

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