Comic book collecting with a foreign variant focus 20 20

[Barbarian]

That is the problem with italian comic market, conditions is not a major issue, this was true until few years ago. Still in the late 90's, very few collectors used bags, even fewer used boards, and in many LSC comics were not even bagged. And the worst of all, it was common practice to sell FN comics as CONDIZIONI DA EDICOLA the italian way to say NM.

Now you can buy VF-NM copies if you look carefully and take your time, but NM+-MT copies, this is a totally different ballpack....even better.... a totally different sport.

 

My words exactly in what regards the Portuguese market... plus something else I don´t know if its common elsewhere, specially Silver and Bronze age material.

 

Many of the books we were imported from Brazil, and the distributor in Portugal had a contract with the newsstands so that they could return the ones they did not sell.

 

So the smart way that the distributor found to separate old stock returned from the newsstands from new material coming in was to cut one of the corners from the returned books.

 

So the ones not sold, that would have a better chance to be in better condition ended up with a whole corner cut off.

 

Here´s a good example I own. And this is an example of a "good" cut.

Sometimes they cut out a huge chunk of the book

 

 

 

[lscomics]

Here's some I've acquired from the UK and Australia. I've got a bunch more from Central & South America and Europe that I haven't had a chance to scan yet but will post them when I do.

 

UK

Out of this World #17 reprints Amazing Fantasy #15. For the record I am NOT the ebay seller with the Creepy Worlds #32 listed for $49,999.

 

Australia

 

I don't know how scarce most of the foreign editions I have are but I'm definitely enjoying collecting more than I have in a long time.

[Chespirito]

Those UK covers are amazing

[Define999]

That is the problem with italian comic market, conditions is not a major issue, this was true until few years ago. Still in the late 90's, very few collectors used bags, even fewer used boards, and in many LSC comics were not even bagged. And the worst of all, it was common practice to sell FN comics as CONDIZIONI DA EDICOLA the italian way to say NM.

Now you can buy VF-NM copies if you look carefully and take your time, but NM+-MT copies, this is a totally different ballpack....even better.... a totally different sport.

 

My words exactly in what regards the Portuguese market... plus something else I don´t know if its common elsewhere, specially Silver and Bronze age material.

 

Many of the books we were imported from Brazil, and the distributor in Portugal had a contract with the newsstands so that they could return the ones they did not sell.

 

So the smart way that the distributor found to separate old stock returned from the newsstands from new material coming in was to cut one of the corners from the returned books.

 

So the ones not sold, that would have a better chance to be in better condition ended up with a whole corner cut off.

 

Here´s a good example I own. And this is an example of a "good" cut.

Sometimes they cut out a huge chunk of the book

 

 

 

What a freakin drag!

 

For the most part I am seeing corroboration about the fact that foreign books just don’t exist in high grades by American standards! By the early 70’s my assumtion is that tons of American books were hoarded and kept in good condition by bags, boards or just careful stacking in dry dark environments. I actually think even with the high quality production of some foreigns like the Italians maybe even books in true CGC quality near mint could be hard to find…. at least what Americans would consider ”hard to find”! Not having it available pretty much instantly! Without a bag and board I would think corner blunting/scuffing would be pretty common even on otherwise great looking books….. All you need is a couple of bad corners and some minor scuffing and a otherwise 9.2 could turn into a VF+ pretty easily….

 

I purchased a Italian Spidey 300 variant and I was stoked! I was giddy about the fact that I might have a CGC worthy book to beat my buddy’s Chesperito’s Italian 300. When I scanned the book and posted it here in the grading forum I started to have doubts…

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=50&Number=5400086&Searchpage=4&Main=246756&Words=Define999&topic=0&Search=true#Post5400086

 

The Brazilian Ebal books like Barbarian has shown above were considered the best quality manufactured books in all of South America. Horrible disfiguring acts like what he shows above are just one part of the equation. The lack of bag and boards in South America really hurt these Latin books. A look at Brazils climate stats shows it’s a tough place for paper to live!

http://www.brcactaceae.org/climate.html

Needless to say white pages on EBAL books are probably a pipe dream? Hopefully some eccentric Brazilian collectors hoarded EBALS.

 

There is one I have heard of…. A little bird once told me a story about a crazy Brazilian collector that was a hoarder of all things Spiderman!

 

Who knows though…. If anyone could find high grade Brazilian books my money is on Barbarian!

 

Edited April 17, 2012 by Define999

[Define999]

Here's some I've acquired from the UK and Australia. I've got a bunch more from Central & South America and Europe that I haven't had a chance to scan yet but will post them when I do.

 

UK

Out of this World #17 reprints Amazing Fantasy #15. For the record I am NOT the ebay seller with the Creepy Worlds #32 listed for $49,999.

 

Australia

 

I don't know how scarce most of the foreign editions I have are but I'm definitely enjoying collecting more than I have in a long time.

 

These are cool! Very cool! I especially like that 1st Iron man! (thumbs u

[Barbarian]

The Brazilian Ebal books like Barbarian has shown above were considered the best quality manufactured books in all of South America.

Fixed (thumbs u

 

 

But only on these special edition runs, "Especial em cores", not the other ones.

 

They used paper on the covers that is even thicker that modern covers today. Add also the fact that the cover was then plastified with an extra layer.

 

You can really feel the difference in texture. Thats why these are still shinny even without bag and boards. Plus these were printed in colour in better quality paper than the usual runs in Black and white.

 

They even made some stunning looking TPB´s, each collecting 5 issues of these Special Runs

 

 

Unfortunatelly this was not the norm with the remaining 95% of the other Ebal editions in Silver and Bronze age where the quality of the books really dropped.

 

Needless to say white pages on EBAL books are probably a pipe dream?

 

 

Sometimes I get lucky in finding some really good ones. Never NM though Finding an Ebal in NM its like finding a CGC 10.0 of any book!

 

Here´s a nice one I got last week.

 

 

[TrippyMcSkippy-migration]

Here is my favorite foreign book...

 

[lscomics]

Here's some more of mine. I was lazy about scanning them and didn't remove them from the bags. The ones with the green boxed off areas have been prepped for Signature Series, they just haven't been subbed yet. I need to find a job before I can start sending them off. I do have a 20 book submission of Adams stuff (mostly foreigns) at CGC right now that were sent before I became unemployed.

 

[Define999]

The Brazilian Ebal books like Barbarian has shown above were considered the best quality manufactured books in all of South America.

Fixed (thumbs u

 

 

But only on these special edition runs, "Especial em cores", not the other ones.

 

They used paper on the covers that is even thicker that modern covers today. Add also the fact that the cover was then plastified with an extra layer.

 

You can really feel the difference in texture. Thats why these are still shinny even without bag and boards. Plus these were printed in colour in better quality paper than the usual runs in Black and white.

 

They even made some stunning looking TPB´s, each collecting 5 issues of these Special Runs

 

 

Unfortunatelly this was not the norm with the remaining 95% of the other Ebal editions in Silver and Bronze age where the quality of the books really dropped.

 

 

Needless to say white pages on EBAL books are probably a pipe dream?

 

 

Sometimes I get lucky in finding some really good ones. Never NM though Finding an Ebal in NM its like finding a CGC 10.0 of any book!

 

Here´s a nice one I got last week.

 

 

 

Damn, I didnt know that about the Especial Em cores! Really cool…. Nice page quality there too!

 

I researched the Ebal publisher a while back and I guess the owner Adolfo Aizen was kind of a eccentric. He was totally committed to the medium of comics though and would not compromise quality one iota. Those TPB’s look nice…. A real awesome publisher!

 

One thing for sure Barbarian is that even with the other 98% lesser quality Ebals that arn’t especials… I have seen some and I still think they are better quality than the Mexican Novaro’s and Columbian EPUCAL’s. They might even be better quality than the Mexican La Prensa’s? They def stand up there with DC’s American books. I was real impressed with my Ebal Brazilian 227 when I got it.

 

And you brought something up I hadn’t thought about… your right about the fact that I am sure many many Ebal’s made it to Portugal and escaped the tough tropical environments of Brazil. There just might be some bone white paged, near mint Ebal’s in Portugal just waiting for you to discover? A foreign pedigree maybe… I have always wondered how CGC might handle something like this. There shouldn’t be a rule that a pedigree has to be American should there?

 

This threads getting good guys...

 

 

Edited April 18, 2012 by Define999

[Define999]

Here is my favorite foreign book...

 

 

Nice grade on that bad boy! Is this the first time Ditkos AF15 cover art made it ontu a Italian book? Kinda interesting the yellow..... has some nice contrast to it...

[Define999]

Here's some more of mine. I was lazy about scanning them and didn't remove them from the bags. The ones with the green boxed off areas have been prepped for Signature Series, they just haven't been subbed yet. I need to find a job before I can start sending them off. I do have a 20 book submission of Adams stuff (mostly foreigns) at CGC right now that were sent before I became unemployed.

 

 

Holy spoon dude..... you found the 1st swamp thing Mexican Novaro!

 

Never have I seen it for sale.... and I search all the Mercado Libre countries sites regualry for this book? Its pretty rare.... nice set of Bats too! You have for sure cought the foreign bug..... now I am warning you its gonna make you real sick the further down the rabbit hole you go!

 

Sorry to hear about your job situation...

Edited April 18, 2012 by Define999

[porky]

Great article.

 

I'm a Signature Series collector myself, I just got into foreign variants in the last year or so. The reason being, I want to build a collection of comics that no one else can duplicate. There are so many collections out there that contain books like Hulk 181, Spidey 121 & 122 / 12 etc. even SS copies. I've taken it a step further by narrowing my focus to mainly SS foreign editions. I won't be able to get them all done due to cash flow but here's a few I've got so far.

 

 

Sorry about the large pics, I don't currently have those two uploaded to photobucket.

 

I've got a bunch more raw foreign stuff that I'll post pics of when I get a chance.

 

nice books. i've been thinking of doing the same thing. got some UK x-men that i'm thinking of getting stan to sign.

[lscomics]

Here's some more of mine. I was lazy about scanning them and didn't remove them from the bags. The ones with the green boxed off areas have been prepped for Signature Series, they just haven't been subbed yet. I need to find a job before I can start sending them off. I do have a 20 book submission of Adams stuff (mostly foreigns) at CGC right now that were sent before I became unemployed.

 

 

Holy spoon dude..... you found the 1st swamp thing Mexican Novaro!

 

Never have I seen it for sale.... and I search all the Mercado Libre countries sites regualry for this book? Its pretty rare.... nice set of Bats too! You have for sure cought the foreign bug..... now I am warning you its gonna make you real sick the further down the rabbit hole you go!

 

Sorry to hear about your job situation...

If you like these just wait until that batch comes back from CGC. There's even better stuff there. (thumbs u

[Chespirito]

Those Mexican Swamp Thing books are sweeeeet!

[Chespirito]

Here is one of my favs...

 

 

Collects H180-1, With a Hulk 181 pose sketch by Trimpe

[vaillant]

Nice grade on that bad boy! Is this the first time Ditkos AF15 cover art made it ontu a Italian book?

Yes, l’Uomo Ragno #18 is the first (and only) use of the cover artwork of AF #15. L’Uomo Ragno #1 featured a collage with Romita artwork. Spidey has those little "sparklings" around his head, and if no one knows, might think it’s his Spider-sense tingling, while it’s taken from the inside pages of the "non-Comics Code" drug-themed issues.

 

The true question, however (at least for completists italian collectors) is: does it have stickers? You have to break the CGC case to find out, or at least they should state so. Issues with stickers and/or posters usually go for prices about 8x the same ones without stickers.

Edited April 18, 2012 by vaillant

[Chespirito]

Nice grade on that bad boy! Is this the first time Ditkos AF15 cover art made it ontu a Italian book?

Yes, l’Uomo Ragno #18 is the first (and only) use of the cover artwork of AF #15. L’Uomo Ragno #1 featured a collage with Romita artwork. Spidey has those little "sparklings" around his head, and if no one knows, might think it’s his Spider-sense tingling, while it’s taken from the inside pages of the "non-Comics Code" drug-themed issues.

 

The true question, however (at least for completists italian collectors) is: does it have stickers? You have to break the CGC case to find out, or at least they should state so. Issues with stickers and/or posters usually go for prices about 8x the same ones without stickers.

 

Mine had the stickies... It's wasn't noted though..I don't think

[vaillant]

Generally speaking, stickers and/or posters make a big price difference.

Price difference can be huge if in high grade and/or still polybagged (later issues with posters were polybagged, very rare to find in this condition).

An example: http://www.ebay.it/itm/UOMO-RAGNO-N-17-CORNO-CON-ADESIVI-EDICOLA-RARISSIMO-/320887742514?pt=Fumetti_Occidentali&hash=item4ab6666032

 

Which is a way out ridicolously high price (in low to mid grade should go for 80-120 Euros), but it’s just to give an idea. CGC should take this into account, even if our local italian editions are mostly a curiosity for the average US collector.

Without the stickers, it’s about 20-40 Euros (depending on the grade).

Edited April 18, 2012 by vaillant

[Chespirito]

That dude is smokin crack

[vaillant]

That dude is smokin crack

 

That‘s why he’s not selling it. And there's even worse, but they occasionally find the perfectionist willing to pay high sums.

Look for example at this: http://www.ebay.it/itm/CAPITAN-AMERICA-N-27-CON-ADESIVO-E-POSTER-BLISTERATO-/260876206638?pt=Fumetti_Occidentali&hash=item3cbd6f022e

(a very tough issue to find – as most of those polybagged with posters/stickers, it has had 7 offerings, but it's still there).