Comic book collecting with a foreign variant focus 20 20

[vaillant]

Yes, but the term "America" has been generally used for decades (and I think it’s not correct) to indicate mostly the United States, but also South America and Canada are America, right?

 

I thought they were printed at the same time in the USA, anyway.

 

Yes, that's very incorrect - Canada, the United States and the various countries in South America are very distinct and don't always like being associated like that. Yes, we're linked by continent name (North and South America) but I, as a Canadian, am NOT American and don't subscribe to lots of American politics and values.

 

It's not the biggest deal to blur the lines, but I hope that makes sense.

 

That is correct, but it’s the term which is used incorrectly. When I say "America" I don’t think of the United States, but of America as a whole, because that is the meaning of the word. And of course I do not make any kind of associations between Canada and the United States when I say "America". I just do not accept when words are not used in the correct way: I know it’s usual to use the adjective "american" to address US culture, and I myself often made this mistake in the past, but this does not change the fact that it’s not correct.

 

As far as the price variants are concerned, I thought they were printed by Marvel itself at the very same moment of the US ones, hence my comment.

[vaillant]

Just when everyone was thinking "Alright, two big batches of books in a week's time. That crazy guy in Indiana that collects these foreign books will be done posting stuff for a while."

 

Wow Tim, a Hulk from the Philippines?

 

This is a nice italian Hulk magazine, as it features the artwork from the original book (which was a picture frame) on the full cover. Art by the great Earl Norem…

 

[lscomics]

Just when everyone was thinking "Alright, two big batches of books in a week's time. That crazy guy in Indiana that collects these foreign books will be done posting stuff for a while."

 

Wow Tim, a Hulk from the Philippines?

 

This is a nice italian Hulk magazine, as it features the artwork from the original book (which was a picture frame) on the full cover. Art by the great Earl Norem…

 

The real kicker about this one is that Matt acquired it with a batch of Filipino books from a contact of his and it's, quite honestly, the one Hulk book that I'd choose to have out of the entire run because of the Wrightson cover.

[vaillant]

It‘s also a Man-Thing story…

[BlowUpTheMoon]

Can I get a little help identifying this book?

 

[vaillant]

In which sense? Content?

 

It‘s an issue of the italian Thor, this issue contains the following material adapted in italian:

 

# 79 - (23/04/1974)

 

THOR - Non più Dio del Tuono - 19 p

Thor - No more the Thunder God

(Thor, 179 - Marvel, 1966 - 1/1 - 08/1970)

S.Lee - J.Kirby - V.Colletta & John Verpoorten

 

Thor Box (Rubrica della Posta) - 01 p

 

Copertina tratta da Creatures on the Loose_[1971], 16 di G.Kane - 01 p

 

GULLIVAR JONES - Guerriero di Marte - 10 p

Gullivar Jones - Warrior of Mars

(Creatures on the Loose, 16 - Marvel, 1971 - 1/3 - 03/1972)

R.Thomas - G.Kane - B.Everett

 

GULLIVAR JONES - Il Fiume dei Morti - 10 p

Gullivar Jones - River of the Dead

(Creatures on the Loose, 17 - Marvel, 1971 - 1/3 - 05/1972)

R.Thomas - G.Kane - S.Grainger

 

CAVALIERE NERO - senza titolo - 06 p

Black Knight - The Vikings

(Black Knight, 2 - Marvel, 1955 - 1/4 - 07/1955)

? - J.Maneely - J.Maneely

 

 

See here for more details on the series: http://atomik67.altervista.org/COMICS-EDITORI/CORNO/THOR-DOCUMENTI/Thor_Crono7.htm

[BlowUpTheMoon]

Thanks!

[vaillant]

You can navigate that old site to see the content of most Corno series (Corno was the publisher of italian Marvels up to 1983-84). (thumbs u

[Define999]

Ok guys.... 2 new punnys from Mexico!

 

 

 

These books were digest sized.... here is the limited 1 in a mylar for size reference....

 

 

 

I like the lack of a price issue box in the upper left.... really allows the amazing painted art to pop without the cluttered look of the American version. I kinda like the red title too, adds to the "circle of blood" design story. This book is def rough but I was thrilled to find it on EBAY at all. These 2 books were the first that I have ever seen of them on EBAY or Mercado. I knew these Mexican VID versions were rare but it wasn't until recently that I found out more information. Apparently according to Mexican collectors I know over there there was some controversy with these books. I guess there was a issue of violence and weather or not these books should have a 18 and older warning? I am not exactly sure how this affected the print run but according to my sources the early issues of VIDS punny publication had very small print runs.

 

So lets look at pics from the inside compared to American scans of zecks artwork.

 

 

When I first checked it out I thought the coloring looked a little different... I was thinking the smaller format size would do harm to the artwork, but I was pleasantly surprised it still seemd pretty good. Notice how the prison distance seems altered in the panel. Also notice how Franks head is not overlapping the middle panel? Why is this? Because I think the publisher altered individual panels to make them fit better the smaller size while sacrificing some art to better fit other art.

 

 

Altered text so as to fit in as much of the cool punny image as possible...

 

 

 

Ahhhh I figured out later while flipping thru the book why the coloring seemed off. The Mexican foreign uses more yellow in its coloring. Pretty much where the American is blue the Mexican is yellow. This difference in color makes the Zeck art in the Mexican feel more tension filled or something. Could color theory here be causing this? Blue just feels more relaxed or something? I don't know but its neat.... anyways.... my Punny sets gained some peeps!

[mangbus]

I have not had a chance to contribute to this thread until now.

 

Batman Sonderheft 38 - German printing of Batman 375

Top left corner has a nice ding!

 

[Define999]

I have not had a chance to contribute to this thread until now.

 

Batman Sonderheft 38 - German printing of Batman 375

Top left corner has a nice ding!

 

 

Welcome aboard the foreign train! Is this one of your first foreign books?

 

That corner crunch isn't to bad... (thumbs u

 

 

[mangbus]

I have not had a chance to contribute to this thread until now.

 

Batman Sonderheft 38 - German printing of Batman 375

Top left corner has a nice ding!

 

 

Welcome aboard the foreign train! Is this one of your first foreign books?

 

That corner crunch isn't to bad... (thumbs u

 

 

I have a few coming from Marmat that are awaiting pickup at the post office.

[Define999]

Marmat is a amazing contact to have! If I may get on my soapbox a bit...

 

Contacts are extremely important in the foreign game... One might think, "oh why do I need contacts? I can navigate the foreign auction sites no problem." But, often times being able to access and know what you are looking for still will not produce results. Many foreigners will not ship outside of their country or outside greater Europe. Sometimes.... as an example I will use Mercadolivre of Brazil, you simply are not allowed to bid or buy without much headache. Its like being a kid in a candy store.... with no ability to buy its heart wrenching.

 

Probably one of the most frustrating aspects of these books is this difficulty sometimes in the buying venues. I predict some American collectors will be turned off by this. The times they are a changing though.... and it seems as time goes on it does get easier and easier to acquire books from the foreign Ebay/auction sites.

 

The other side of this coin is flippers buying low and selling for double or triple to US buyers. This is one way to acquire foreigns without having to navigate the other side of the digital pond. Europeancomixforyou has been doing this for years and probably making a healthy profit. This takes some of the fun of the hunt out of it but its still a viable option for those without sufficient contacts overseas.

 

Europeancomix web store....

 

http://www.ebay.com/sch/europeancomix4you/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=

 

The other biggie is this... One of the first things to do when beginning a concerted effort to seek foreign books out is to re-examine your ideals concerning grade. Think of many countries grading standard's to be similar to ours in the 70's. Nose bleed mint books very often just simply do not exist and if by some miracle they do they are usually locked deep within locals collections. Many of the foreign bronze and earlier books didn't see bags and boards until the late 80s and even 90s. So... they had a long long time to go from the 9's to the 8's and 7's in grade if that makes any sense.....

 

You probably already have figured this out.... but for any of the lurkers out there this is just a little advice....

 

And congrats on your new foreign books!!!!!!!!

Edited October 22, 2013 by Define999

[vaillant]

The other biggie is this... One of the first things to do when beginning a concerted effort to seek foreign books out is to re-examine your ideals concerning grade. Think of many countries grading standard's to be similar to ours in the 70's.

 

No, that’s not accurate: as far as Italy goes, think of it as mostly unexistent between Very Fine and Mint.

 

In the 1970s you had grading, while most collectors did not even look at it here.

[Define999]

The other biggie is this... One of the first things to do when beginning a concerted effort to seek foreign books out is to re-examine your ideals concerning grade. Think of many countries grading standard's to be similar to ours in the 70's.

 

No, that’s not accurate: as far as Italy goes, think of it as mostly unexistent between Very Fine and Mint.

 

In the 1970s you had grading, while most collectors did not even look at it here.

 

Ok sorry, at least as far as Italy is concerned its even worse! Basiclly if you are a grade snob you will have a very small.. small.. small.. foreign collection! nah but really what I meant is right now its 70's-like over in Europe. As in most collectors over there have a very general view of grade. unread condition could be anywhere from a vf to a nm. Would that be accurate as far as Italy Cluadio? Are their Italian dealers using terms like NM over there? Whats the terminology? My understanding is each country has their own terminology and its somewhat similar to used, good, and unread or something like that.

 

Thanks Claudio! (thumbs u

[Eerie Publication]

The other biggie is this... One of the first things to do when beginning a concerted effort to seek foreign books out is to re-examine your ideals concerning grade. Think of many countries grading standard's to be similar to ours in the 70's.

 

No, that’s not accurate: as far as Italy goes, think of it as mostly unexistent between Very Fine and Mint.

 

In the 1970s you had grading, while most collectors did not even look at it here.

 

Ok sorry, at least as far as Italy is concerned its even worse! Basiclly if you are a grade snob you will have a very small.. small.. small.. foreign collection! nah but really what I meant is right now its 70's-like over in Europe. As in most collectors over there have a very general view of grade. unread condition could be anywhere from a vf to a nm. Would that be accurate as far as Italy Cluadio? Are their Italian dealers using terms like NM over there? Whats the terminology? My understanding is each country has their own terminology and its somewhat similar to used, good, and unread or something like that.

 

Thanks Claudio! (thumbs u

 

I'm collecting EH comics only in VF+ or better. very hard to find but I have a few

 

[vaillant]

As in most collectors over there have a very general view of grade. unread condition could be anywhere from a vf to a nm. Would that be accurate as far as Italy Cluadio? Are their Italian dealers using terms like NM over there? Whats the terminology? My understanding is each country has their own terminology and its somewhat similar to used, good, and unread or something like that.

Yes, "general view of grade" is appropriate. The main difference is that, in the USA if you want a truly high grade book (expensiveness aside) you can buy it, while here in Italy it’s a hunt.

This of course has its advantages, but an equal number of disadvantages.

 

Also, being the majority of our Golden Age-equivalent production journal or tabloid sized, the collections in high grade are extremely rare.

I collect the years 1937-1947 of a title which represented the very first italian title publishing 100% italian comics, and it’s a gamble to find decent copies, especially of 1943, 1944 and 1945. Italy, towards the end of the war, was quite a mess, so certain single issues were lergely destroyed due to certain circumstances.

 

This is the Christmas issue of 1940 – 1940 is not one of the extremely tough year runs but this specific issue (and the following one) had a full crib scene to be cut out of paper, and thus you can imagine: whose kid would not have cut it out?

 

[vaillant]

As far as the terminology goes, there are generically a lot less "grade" terms.

More or less:

 

– Magazzino (this should stand for "Mint", but it’s debated)

– Edicola (literally "Newsstand", means the comic is in high grade, VF to NM);

– Ottimo (the equivalent of F);

– Buono (a rough equivalent of GVG to VG);

– Discreto (more or less a G);

– Mediocre (in the FR to FRG range).

 

Terms may vary a little, but you get the picture.

 

I thing germans have developed a way better numeric system for grading comics.

[Chespirito]

For those that have not seen a Foreign Comic Book blank...RedHead Batgirl by Mike Lilly...from Germany:

 

 

[solarcadet]

As in most collectors over there have a very general view of grade. unread condition could be anywhere from a vf to a nm. Would that be accurate as far as Italy Cluadio? Are their Italian dealers using terms like NM over there? Whats the terminology? My understanding is each country has their own terminology and its somewhat similar to used, good, and unread or something like that.

Yes, "general view of grade" is appropriate. The main difference is that, in the USA if you want a truly high grade book (expensiveness aside) you can buy it, while here in Italy it’s a hunt.

This of course has its advantages, but an equal number of disadvantages.

 

Also, being the majority of our Golden Age-equivalent production journal or tabloid sized, the collections in high grade are extremely rare.

I collect the years 1937-1947 of a title which represented the very first italian title publishing 100% italian comics, and it’s a gamble to find decent copies, especially of 1943, 1944 and 1945. Italy, towards the end of the war, was quite a mess, so certain single issues were lergely destroyed due to certain circumstances.

 

This is the Christmas issue of 1940 – 1940 is not one of the extremely tough year runs but this specific issue (and the following one) had a full crib scene to be cut out of paper, and thus you can imagine: whose kid would not have cut it out?

 

 

those colors are BRILLIANT for being 1940 holy cow...

 

or..i mean.....vacca sacra!!!!