A superman mystery

[Mycroft]

Here is a page listed on ebay as "Superman / Action comics # 548 pg. 4 original comic book artwork. Alex Saviuk pencils, Pablo Marcos inks"

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120948897263

 

But ... this doesn't match any page published in Action Comics #548 (nor 547, 549, 550).

 

But ... the job number (S-5066 as far as I can tell) seems to match the one listed on comics.org for the content of Action Comics #548 and 549, and the "Superman Spec. III" title could be explained by the fact that it would have been first published in Europe in "Superman Album 3" (still according to comics.org).

 

http://www.comics.org/issue/37811/#220061

 

The seller seems honest, but doesn't have an explanation ...

 

Any toughts ?

 

I've decided against bidding but still, it bothers me ..

[ashrael]

That is a nice page, too bad it isn't too clear where it came from. Perhaps it is an unpublished (or foreign-published) backup story?

[Maccai3]

there seems to be some confusion on other issues too, look at the top of this...

and notice the alleged same artist signed this at the bottom, maybe it was at a latter date though

 

maybe its from this

 

looks like legit artwork though

[Mycroft]

Yes, there are two others pages from Action Comics #549 on comicartfans.

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=602852&GSub=93620

 

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryPiece.asp?Piece=334755&GSub=46560

 

Both with cut corners, the same job number and the same correction on the title.

 

And they are in the issue ...

 

But nothing from Action Comics #548.

 

 

[Maccai3]

maybe this page was an unprinted masterpiece.........or not

[malvin]

I don't know anything about the art, but I know I recognize that ebay ID. That seller is honest and very likely got the art directly from the artist.

 

Whether or not the page is published and what issue are things that happen after the artist draws the page and the seller not knowing about it doesn't surprise me.

 

Malvin

[Pete Marino]

Published or not, someone got a really nice Superman page cheap!

[Maccai3]

Published or not, someone got a really nice Superman page cheap!

 

exactly, i think it would have been worth a punt

[AtlasFan]

there seems to be some confusion on other issues too, look at the top of this...

and notice the alleged same artist signed this at the bottom, maybe it was at a latter date though

 

maybe its from this

 

looks like legit artwork though

 

Ask the artist Alex Saviuk - he is on Facebook - he should know!

[jick]

It's not from Superman Special 3. I checked.

 

Around that time, Saviuk also drew backup features in the Superman titles. Maybe it is from one of those backup features.

[Thefishguy]

I bought a page from Alex Saviuk himself at Heroes Con 2011. It was a nice page with Superman fighting The Parasite. Alex said it was published only in Europe. If I remember right, he said it was drawn in hopes to be published in one of DC's regular American published books but never was. So they sold it overseas. It has EHAPA written across the top, which is a European publisher.

[archivist]

Hi !

 

There is a story behind the story.

 

Action Comics #548 and #549 were originally created as a 46-pages story called "Escape From the Phantom Zone" (same title as Action #548). This story was not intended for the american market, but for the "oversea market" (I never find another name where the countries are specified, I only know that Germany, Austria, Switzerland and England were among the target countries).

 

The story was published in 1982, pencilled by Saviuk, inked by Colletta and colored by Tollin.

 

Somebody at DC decided to "re-print" these oversea stories in the U. S., which lead to the new, short living title "Superman Special". For reasons not known to me Julie Schwartz decided to print some of these stories also in the monthly titles "Superman" and "Action Comics".

 

So this story was cut in half, and therefore a new splash page was needed for the second half. Pablo Marcos inked the new splash page as well as three pages newly pencilled by Alex Saviuk at the start of #548 (Pages 4 to 6) which depicted Superman bringing an unstable synthetic diamond into space. It replaced the original pages 4 and 5 that showed the Man of Steel saving a NASA rocket.

 

Pages 17-20 were replaced with a three page sequence in Action #548 (pages 18-20) incorporating some of the same art.

 

I got this information from John Wells and Mark Waid.

 

Hope this clarifies the confusion,

 

archi

 

[Maccai3]

Hi !

 

There is a story behind the story.

 

Action Comics #548 and #549 were originally created as a 46-pages story called "Escape From the Phantom Zone" (same title as Action #548). This story was not intended for the american market, but for the "oversea market" (I never find another name where the countries are specified, I only know that Germany, Austria, Switzerland and England were among the target countries).

 

The story was published in 1982, pencilled by Saviuk, inked by Colletta and colored by Tollin.

 

Somebody at DC decided to "re-print" these oversea stories in the U. S., which lead to the new, short living title "Superman Special". For reasons not known to me Julie Schwartz decided to print some of these stories also in the monthly titles "Superman" and "Action Comics".

 

So this story was cut in half, and therefore a new splash page was needed for the second half. Pablo Marcos inked the new splash page as well as three pages newly pencilled by Alex Saviuk at the start of #548 (Pages 4 to 6) which depicted Superman bringing an unstable synthetic diamond into space. It replaced the original pages 4 and 5 that showed the Man of Steel saving a NASA rocket.

 

Pages 17-20 were replaced with a three page sequence in Action #548 (pages 18-20) incorporating some of the same art.

 

I got this information from John Wells and Mark Waid.

 

Hope this clarifies the confusion,

 

archi

 

take 3 geek points sir well done

[Mycroft]

Thanks !