"Why Collect Foreign Comics?" panel debut from HotKey Comics at MC3 Sunday May 21st 4 4

[Lazyboy]

On 5/26/2023 at 12:58 AM, valiantman said:

There's a huge difference to collectors between:

"We didn't know if they would sell very well in another market, but we printed a few at the same time."

and

"We knew it was a good seller, so we got it reprinted for other countries a few months (or years) later."

Neither of these are a thing, at least not in general.

Publishers knew the markets they were part of (as much as they could, anyway) and worked with distributors who knew the markets.

Other publishers licensed content and/or properties for use in their areas. The original publishers just took the licensing money.

[valiantman]

On 5/26/2023 at 1:17 PM, Lazyboy said:

Neither of these are a thing, at least not in general.

Publishers knew the markets they were part of (as much as they could, anyway) and worked with distributors who knew the markets.

Other publishers licensed content and/or properties for use in their areas. The original publishers just took the licensing money.

I don't think you're right about that. Licensed content implies that the characters were already established.

The earliest Marvel books (1960s) which were printed in the U.S., but priced to be sold in the U.K. were an experiment which occurred at the same time as the already occurring U.S. experiment in finding new/popular characters to sell.

Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962 pence cover price) is an extraordinary item, because there was no indication this new "Spider-Man" would even be a hit in the U.S., much less in the U.K., but the U.K. edition was printed on the same machines at the same time in the U.S.

That U.K. edition (1962) beats any and all Amazing Fantasy #15 reprints which occurred in the U.S. or anywhere else after Spider-Man became the best selling Marvel character and title.

No, I don't have an Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962 U.K. pence), but I believe it's truly fascinating, while every other Amazing Fantasy #15 printed in 1963 or later, foreign or domestic, is just a novelty reprint.

[valiantman]

I know it's not a perfect metaphor, but I have really focused my collecting thoughts on which items (comics or otherwise) are a "self-made success" (like a millionaire who was born in poverty) and which are "riding on other's success" (like a millionaire born to into billionaire family).

Amazing Fantasy #15 is a "self-made success", as well as Action #1, Detective #27, because those books were originally sold just to put something out there and see if it could succeed.

Spider-Man, Superman, and Batman had no success of their own before their debuts. They are truly "self-made successes".

Amazing Spider-Man #1 "rides on the success of Amazing Fantasy #15", but it also represents its own "self-made success" for proving that Spider-Man could carry his own title. 

The further you get from those origins, the more you're seeing the Spider-Man items that are "riding on other's success".

Looking at collectibles this way has helped me refocus my interests because the 500th appearance of a major character is not special, no matter how shiny or rare the cover art might be. It's riding on the 499 appearances that came before it, and the merchandise that sold as toys, t-shirts, posters, movies, and everything else for decades before it showed up. That's not "self-made" at all. Even if it's a popular book, it's a millionaire born into a billionaire family.

[Lazyboy]

On 5/26/2023 at 2:06 PM, valiantman said:

I don't think you're right about that. Licensed content implies that the characters were already established.

The earliest Marvel books (1960s) which were printed in the U.S., but priced to be sold in the U.K. were an experiment which occurred at the same time as the already occurring U.S. experiment in finding new/popular characters to sell.

Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962 pence cover price) is an extraordinary item, because there was no indication this new "Spider-Man" would even be a hit in the U.S., much less in the U.K., but the U.K. edition was printed on the same machines at the same time in the U.S.

That U.K. edition (1962) beats any and all Amazing Fantasy #15 reprints which occurred in the U.S. or anywhere else after Spider-Man became the best selling Marvel character and title.

No, I don't have an Amazing Fantasy #15 (1962 U.K. pence), but I believe it's truly fascinating, while every other Amazing Fantasy #15 printed in 1963 or later, foreign or domestic, is just a novelty reprint.

Pence copies of AF 15 are from Marvel, working with U.K. distributors to sell them over there. The market across the pond was no more a mystery to Marvel than the domestic market ("We didn't know if they would sell very well in another market, but we printed a few at the same time."), especially for new characters like Spider-Man.

I get your general point that nobody cares if AF 15 didn't get printed in Rand McNally until last year, 60 years after the original, because it's still just a reprint ("We knew it was a good seller, so we got it reprinted for other countries a few months (or years) later."), but Marvel doesn't publish for them or have distribution there.

[valiantman]

On 5/26/2023 at 2:32 PM, Lazyboy said:

I get your general point that nobody cares if AF 15 didn't get printed in Rand McNally until last year, 60 years after the original, because it's still just a reprint

Mmmmm, hamburger.

[steve566]

On 5/26/2023 at 8:26 AM, Lazyboy said:

No, they aren't.

Canadian, Australian, Canadian price variants are not foreign editions.. that’s what I’m saying in my post, not sure you agree or disagree with that statement 

[Lazyboy]

On 5/26/2023 at 4:22 PM, steve566 said:

Canadian, Australian, Canadian price variants are not foreign editions.. that’s what I’m saying in my post, not sure you agree or disagree with that statement 

No, you said they're price variants (and just did it again), which they are not.

But you are correct that Canadian Newsstands and such aren't foreign licensed reprints.

Edited May 26, 2023 by Lazyboy

[Lazyboy]

On 5/26/2023 at 2:46 PM, valiantman said:

Mmmmm, hamburger.

In Rand McNally, hamburgers say "Mmmmm, valiantman!"

[valiantman]

On 5/26/2023 at 5:53 PM, Lazyboy said:

On 5/26/2023 at 2:46 PM, valiantman said:

Mmmmm, hamburger.

In Rand McNally, hamburgers say "Mmmmm, valiantman!"

D'oh!

[Jayman]

Sometimes the only reason needed to collect a foreign comic is a cool cover!

[Jayman]

On 5/27/2023 at 10:20 AM, Jayman said:

Sometimes the only reason needed to collect a foreign comic is a cool cover!

What’s even cooler is I finally transcribed the title “cava o teutumulo”. It’s Portuguese for “Dig your Grave”! 

[Mijael.Levy]

Some foreign artists are great 

[JTLarsen]

On 5/26/2023 at 6:02 AM, GermanFan said:

Some are cheap. But many are escalating pricewise. For instance the UK Locker Planet Comics from the 50s, or the Arnold ECs Hof 1 and TftC 1. 

Marvelman!

[Jayman]

[HotKey]

Those are definitely some beautiful examples of foreign artists just killing it on covers!

I just got invited to present this panel again at Capital City Comic Con here in Michigan the weekend of June 30th, so I'm always looking for ways to improve on the panel.

There's been some good points made in this thread for sure. I expect the next panel to be about 80% similar with about 20% different info.

Any constructive suggestions or input on changes to the next panel are always welcome. Just remember my main goal with this panel is to remove as much of the mystery and confusion around foreign comics as possible for people considering starting to collect them.

[musicmeta]

This is all great information on these foreign comics.  I never really paid attention to foreign and did think about all foreign comics were reprints.  Man, you learn something everyday in the comic book world. 

[valiantman]

On 5/29/2023 at 6:59 AM, musicmeta said:

This is all great information on these foreign comics.  I never really paid attention to foreign and did think about all foreign comics were reprints.  Man, you learn something everyday in the comic book world. 

Exactly, it blew my mind when I realized Marvel printed all copies of Amazing Fantasy #15 in the United States at the same time, shipped a relative few to the U.K. with a "9d" on the cover instead of "12 ¢", and THEN finding out collectors/dealers shunned/discounted the 9d copies for decades.  That's like if you discovered filet mignon was cheaper than hamburger at restaurants in London. 

Edited May 29, 2023 by valiantman

[musicmeta]

On 5/29/2023 at 12:01 PM, valiantman said:

Exactly, it blew my mind when I realized Marvel printed all copies of Amazing Fantasy #15 in the United States at the same time, shipped a relative few to the U.K. with a "9d" on the cover instead of "12 ¢", and THEN finding out collectors/dealers shunned/discounted the 9d copies for decades.  That's like if you discovered filet mignon was cheaper than hamburger at restaurants in London. 

I can just see myself If I was that old back then... "Uh Oh, this has this 9d on the front cover...don't want this junk in my collection"....  My early retirement out the window...LOL!

[valiantman]

On 5/29/2023 at 4:43 PM, musicmeta said:

On 5/29/2023 at 12:01 PM, valiantman said:

Exactly, it blew my mind when I realized Marvel printed all copies of Amazing Fantasy #15 in the United States at the same time, shipped a relative few to the U.K. with a "9d" on the cover instead of "12 ¢", and THEN finding out collectors/dealers shunned/discounted the 9d copies for decades.  That's like if you discovered filet mignon was cheaper than hamburger at restaurants in London. 

I can just see myself If I was that old back then... "Uh Oh, this has this 9d on the front cover...don't want this junk in my collection"....  My early retirement out the window...LOL!

This one says "9d" and that one says "12¢", so I think I should only have to pay 75% of the full price for the 9d copy. 

[comicwiz]

On 5/29/2023 at 8:12 PM, THE_BEYONDER said:

So you see labeling CPVs as Canadian Editions is incorrect?

I see them as a price variant. Beyond McClure's research, there are OA covers showing a price box in cropped out margins. There were printing plates made for each variation. Whatever the market conditions that necessitated it, these prove these variations existed within the scope of the printing period, apart from the evidence we see with the single priced newsstand in Canada.

Canadian editions are more appropriate in describing what Superior or Bell Features did reprinting GA books.

Edited May 30, 2023 by comicwiz