Comic book collecting with a foreign variant focus 20 20

[Kromak]

On 3/29/2023 at 1:37 PM, andyborehol said:

So if I’m understanding correctly, those “Paquito” issues have one page of Action Comics #1 on the back cover, and CGC actually put most of them into the slabs backwards so that the AC1 page and the grade can be seen together? That doesn’t sit quite right with me…seems like yet another example of CGC breaking its own standards just to try to inflate market value.

Well, there was a discussion about it on foreign comic collector magazine Facebook group. If I remember well, this was a request made by the owner of the Paquito that was auctioned in the previous auction.

 

On 3/29/2023 at 8:51 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

A couple pence copies I got today....

Pristine condition. I am at the condition, given its a pence copy.

On 3/30/2023 at 10:49 AM, gadzukes said:

This is not mine.  I saw it on ebay and thought I'd post it because of it's sheer coolness.

Sold already? I couldn't find it. However. I found this:

 

 

[Yorick]

Recent arrivals.  So cheap I figured the seller was going to throw them away if they didn't sell....  I like the contents of the Colletta cover issue, but the other is boring.  Not the King's finest work.

[Beyonder123]

Found this in my collection while rebagging. Reprints AF 15 and Hulk #1.

[rakehell]

Picked up an interesting little thingy -

A recent French HB Spidey anthology.

Odd thing about the interior, they've done the covers as straight copies of the originals -

but the story pages are in French -

Still, for a quid, I ain't arguin'. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 4/24/2023 at 8:36 AM, rakehell said:

Picked up an interesting little thingy -

A recent French HB Spidey anthology.

Odd thing about the interior, they've done the covers as straight copies of the originals -

but the story pages are in French -

Still, for a quid, I ain't arguin'. 

Not too shabby for an Alan, Daphne! 

[rakehell]

On 4/24/2023 at 8:37 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Not too shabby for an Alan, Daphne! 

Looks even better in my hand than it did on the screen. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 4/24/2023 at 8:56 AM, rakehell said:

Looks even better in my hand than it did on the screen. 

You know what they say: "A book priced in le Francais is worth deux priced in les centimes". Something like that anyway 

[rakehell]

On 4/24/2023 at 10:05 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

"A book priced in le Francais is worth deux priced in les centimes".

Six Euros, quatre-vingt-dix-neuf cent(inmes), actually. 

[godzilla43]

Found couple UK He-Man magazine.

[gadzukes]

On 2/6/2023 at 4:03 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

This book falls under CGC's unilaterally agreed 'Foreign Editions' category....

https://www.cgccomics.com/international-comics/

...which says:

"This classification is assigned to international comics that feature a cover to which a US counterpart exists but is not a facsimile"

Your UK destined Three Ring Comics shares its cover with the US original Pep Comics #22 and is not a facsimile of it:

 

So it's a 'foreign edition' in CGC's book. Further into their webpage wording, it says that CGC "classifies and labels foreign editions by the title and issue number of their US counterpart"

In this case, the US cover counterpart is Pep #22. Super Comics is the Canadian (cover) reprint of Pep #22. Three Rings and Super Comics may share the British flag cover star suit (see below), but both derive from the US suited Pep original:

  = 
         Canadian Distribution                             UK Distribution                                               US Original

So two mistakes then, here - a poorly conceived, misleading, over engineered original labelling strategy and a subsequent operational failure to follow it. 

I love the actual comic though - that 9d sticker is divine 

I pleaded my case with CGC to have the label changed to PEP 22 and they agreed (as per their own Foreign Editions rules).  So I sent it back as a Mechanical Error a couple months ago and got it back today.  They DID change the title, but not to PEP 22, they changed it to "Three Ring Comics".  I am not displeased (cuz it has the right title now), but I'm still totally confused about how they name the Foreign editions.  I was actually looking forward to this one being PEP 22.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 4/26/2023 at 9:09 PM, gadzukes said:

I pleaded my case with CGC to have the label changed to PEP 22 and they agreed (as per their own Foreign Editions rules).  So I sent it back as a Mechanical Error a couple months ago and got it back today.  They DID change the title, but not to PEP 22, they changed it to "Three Ring Comics".  I am not displeased (cuz it has the right title now), but I'm still totally confused about how they name the Foreign editions.  I was actually looking forward to this one being PEP 22.

I'm sorry to see this happen to you Gad - I know you were hoping for the book to follow the strategy, and be labelled as Pep #22, but it has come back labelled literally. I'm not surprised by this outcome though, as the policy itself is so confusing that even CGC staff clearly struggle with it. Any policy that requires the agent to stop and think carefully each and every time time, and which likely compels them to refer to a set of counter-intuitive parameters, is doomed to fail. And it has failed here once again as it fails to follow CGC's own self appointed rules. Maybe the 'slight revision' element has something to do with it, who knows. And who should care anymore, frankly, if CGC can neither explain nor adopt their own policies consistently - in this case, even after detailed discussion? 

I recently tried one more time to get the architect of the 'internationals' strategy to see sense and he gave me the brush off saying I was flogging a dead horse. The position as I see it is this: CGC's position is obtuse, and there's clearly nothing any of us can do about it. So I certainly don't care to comment anymore. 

I still love the book though, and still find the 9d sticker divine. Enjoy your book Gad. 

[rakehell]

On 4/26/2023 at 9:09 PM, gadzukes said:

I pleaded my case with CGC to have the label changed to PEP 22 and they agreed (as per their own Foreign Editions rules).  So I sent it back as a Mechanical Error a couple months ago and got it back today.  They DID change the title, but not to PEP 22, they changed it to "Three Ring Comics".  I am not displeased (cuz it has the right title now), but I'm still totally confused about how they name the Foreign editions.  I was actually looking forward to this one being PEP 22.

Great book! 

Shame about the label. 

[rakehell]

On 4/26/2023 at 10:31 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

I recently tried one more time to get the architect of the 'internationals' strategy to see sense and he gave me the brush off saying I was flogging a dead horse. The position as I see it is this: CGC's position is obtuse, and there's clearly nothing any of us can do about it. So I certainly don't care to comment anymore. 

Snap.

I was working up an analogy about trimming jigsaw pieces to make them fit certain holes, but I lost interest halfway through. This ridiculous guff is why I will never submit any non-US comic to CGC. 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 4/27/2023 at 9:15 AM, rakehell said:

Snap.

I was working up an analogy about trimming jigsaw pieces to make them fit certain holes, but I lost interest halfway through. This ridiculous guff is why I will never submit any non-US comic to CGC. 

The irony here is that the label is largely right because they got their policy application wrong. If they'd got their policy application right, the label would be wrong, albeit potentially helpful to Gad from a resale perspective. It's quite funny really. 

[rakehell]

On 4/27/2023 at 10:04 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

The irony here is that the label is largely right because they got their policy application wrong. If they'd got their policy application right, the label would be wrong, albeit potentially helpful to Gad from a resale perspective.

They're in the crotch of a self-inflicted dilemma, or something. 

On 4/27/2023 at 10:04 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

It's quite funny really.

It is, in a tragic, depressing sort of way. 

[gadzukes]

On 4/27/2023 at 5:04 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

The irony here is that the label is largely right because they got their policy application wrong. If they'd got their policy application right, the label would be wrong, albeit potentially helpful to Gad from a resale perspective. It's quite funny really. 

Words matter.  In this case the wrong words "PEP 22" would have probably netted me a nice payday (I was planning to sell the comic if it came back with the "PEP 22" title).  As it is...... I'm still happy it's titled correctly now.  And I'm sure I'll make money when I sell it, just not "PEP 22'' money.

Edited April 28, 2023 by gadzukes

[GermanFan]

German ASM 50, from 1968

 

[aszumilo]

Posted these in another thread

Norway                                                   Turkey

  

[Get Marwood & I]

OK, it was either this or Amazing Fantasy #15 

I love the discreet #4

And as you can see, this is rare 'missing orange in the R's hole' variant! 

Think about it....

[Yorick]

On 6/25/2023 at 6:47 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

R's hole' variant

That should be a club.  I'll have to find another R's Hole copy so I can join.  However, I am an upstanding member of the Pen 15 club....