Comic book collecting with a foreign variant focus 20 20

[gadzukes]

A few comics I just picked up.

The Gato Negro is the US "Haunted Thrills 1"

The 1st Fantastico is "Weird Fantasy 21" which usually has a Frazetta cover

The 2nd Fantastico I have NO idea what the US version is but I love that cover.

[Kromak]

On 2/21/2023 at 7:48 PM, gadzukes said:

The 2nd Fantastico I have NO idea what the US version is but I love that cover.

So do I. Any chances it might be original art cover?

[gadzukes]

On 2/25/2023 at 2:25 PM, Kromak said:

So do I. Any chances it might be original art cover?

Many of the Fantastico covers are copies of US comics, but I've sure never seen a US comic with this cover, so I'm thinking they might have gone thru a phase where they were doing original art covers.

[Kromak]

I was looking close in some items of my collection and found something interesting:

These Super X, 26 to 28, fifth series, not only contains the Hulk stories depicted in the covers, but also:

Submariner n°1 and Fantastic Four n°3 stories, a few pages in each number

 

I also received this one here not too long ago...

***EDITED***: I just read that the Aquaman comic series was released taking advantage of the success that the animated series was having

Edited March 3, 2023 by Kromak

[Happyfarm]

Danish Superman # 14 from 1951 with Batman and Røde Pil (Red Arrow). Super rare. This book includes "Prankster's Second Childhood", one of the infamous stories Fredric Wertham emphasized as especially damaging to kids in 'The Seduction of the Innocent' (1954) because of a panel where one of the Prankster's goons shoots a police officer in the face (with what looks like a harmless water pistol).

The Danish Superman comics from 1950-52 are undoubtedly the most difficult Danish superhero comics to find. These early issues are extremely fragile, printed on thin paper with the cover being printed on the same stock as the inside pages. They were printed with red as the only color except for some splash pages (which is why Green Arrow ended up being called Røde Pil/Red Arrow in Danish). They also include the earliest appearances of Batman, Superboy and Green Arrow in Denmark.

These issues also had very unique, locally drawn covers, which for the most part were only published in Denmark, though the theory is that they were most likely produced at the publisher's headquarters in Sweden, although this has never been finally documented. Notice how the cover drawing is swiped from a panel inside.

 

Edited March 10, 2023 by Happyfarm

[Happyfarm]

And here are some Danish Raketserier published in 1958 when superheroes were virtually non-existant in Denmark (the Superman title had folded in 1954, and there would be no other superhero titles in Denmark until the mid-60's). As you can see the publisher resized and reformatted the panels inside to fit the smaller, oblong format, often even redrawing parts of the panels. The locally designed covers were also based on redrawn versions swiped from panels inside.

Edited March 11, 2023 by Happyfarm

[Happyfarm]

And my complete collection of Danish Superman 1950-54. The series folded in 1954 due to a moral uproar similar to what happened in the US after Wertham published The Seduction of the Innocent. 

In the first couple of issues Batman was called Læderlappen, which makes absolutely no sense in Danish since it means 'The Leather Patch'. It was probably simply copied from the Swedish issues where the word 'Läderlappen' at least also means 'bat'.

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by Happyfarm

[Kromak]

On 3/4/2023 at 1:37 PM, Happyfarm said:

And my complete collection of Danish Superman 1950-54. The series folded in 1954 due to a moral uproar similar to what happened in the US after Wertham published The Seduction of the Innocent. 

In the first couple of issues Batman was called Læderlappen, which makes absolutely no sense in Danish since it means 'The Leather Patch'. It was probably simply copied from the Swedish issues where the word 'Läderlappen' at least also means 'bat'.

Great collection. I wonder if number 6 (from 1951?) , was inspired by US Superman 47?

 

Upgrades:

 

 

Disney Especial may well be Disney's most successful new title released from the 70's anywhere in the world

 

By the way, while last times has showed some difficult moments for the US comic book collecting market, Brazil's has showed some really strong results, especially for the US Uncle Scrooge title. In a few weeks some ultra scarce 50's Mickey will go on auction and I think this trend will persist.

Edited March 7, 2023 by Kromak

[Yorick]

On 3/4/2023 at 8:37 AM, Happyfarm said:

complete collection of Danish Superman 1950-54

What an amazing collection of Superman books!!!  Huge congratulations!

[Happyfarm]

Thank you. It took me many years to complete it. I still need to upgrade my # 1, though, but it's just such an impossible book to find.

[Happyfarm]

On 3/7/2023 at 5:20 PM, Kromak said:

Great collection. I wonder if number 6 (from 1951?) , was inspired by US Superman 47?

 

Upgrades:

 

 

Disney Especial may well be Disney's most successful new title released from the 70's anywhere in the world

 

By the way, while last times has showed some difficult moments for the US comic book collecting market, Brazil's has showed some really strong results, especially for the US Uncle Scrooge title. In a few weeks some ultra scarce 50's Mickey will go on auction and I think this trend will persist.

There's also this US cover, which looks a bit similar.

[Happyfarm]

Here's an example of why Green Arrow ended up being called Red Arrow (Røde Pil) in Danish.

[Happyfarm]

But when Danish Superman went full color in 1953-54 he was once again Green Arrow (Grønne Pil).

[Happyfarm]

And then after hibernating for four years he returned in Raketserier in 1958 and once again had to accept being misnomed Red Arrow. ;)

 

[Happyfarm]

By the way, in my eyes MR. Sprang's art looks absolutely stunning printed in b/w in these Raketserier... despite the panels being reformatted. The story "A White Feather for Batman!", originally printed in World's Finest # 49 in late 1950, was reformatted and spread out over numerous issues of Raketserier.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Happyfarm

[Happyfarm]

Oh well... apparently Sprang's first name is so controversial that it's automatically changed to MR.

[Yorick]

On 3/8/2023 at 12:31 AM, Happyfarm said:

stunning printed in b/w in these Raketserier

I believe I have a 1958 Nr 33.  It's sealed in a plastic tomb, but I thought the cover was very interesting.

Something happened to some of the photos you posted and are no longer visible.  I guess I should have saved them when I had the chance!!!

[Happyfarm]

As far as I can see the photos are still visible? Did you get your # 33 at Heritage last fall? https://comics.ha.com/itm/silver-age-1956-1969-/raket-serier-33-danish-edition-forlaget-interpresse-1958-cgc-fn-55-off-white-to-white-pages/a/40210-83306.s?ic4=GalleryView-ShortDescription-071515

If you're ever interested in other issues I have some extra copies for sale. Many of the Superman covers are quite cool.

Edited March 13, 2023 by Happyfarm

[Yorick]

On 3/8/2023 at 11:40 AM, Happyfarm said:

Did you get your # 33 at Heritage last fall?

I believe I picked it up from Heritage, but not that specific one.  Mine is only a 5.0  .

Bare leg Superman hula-hooping while matadoring a nuclear particle???  Gotta have that!!

[Happyfarm]

On 3/9/2023 at 3:31 AM, Yorick said:

I believe I picked it up from Heritage, but not that specific one.  Mine is only a 5.0  .

Bare leg Superman hula-hooping while matadoring a nuclear particle???  Gotta have that!!

Yeah, it's a weirdly cool cover. This copy is in a bit of a rough shape so if you're interested you can have it for $ 30. I also have other Raketserier with Superman.