International Comics Naming Conventions 1 1

[riegler]

I recently submitted a Germany copy of Die Spinne #1 which contains the first German reprint of Amazing Fantasy #15.  Imagine my HORROR when it came back from CGC with the title Amazing Spiderman #98.  There is nowhere on the book or the inside cover that it says Amazing Spiderman #98 and titling this comic as that will do NOTHING to enhance the value of such an important comic.  I understand that this is the cover of ASM #98, but the issue number should be significantly more important that the cover the publisher uses.  It's unfortunate that CGC isn't willing to do the reseach necessary to title this holder correctly.

Edited September 21, 2023 by riegler

[MattM CS]

Hello @riegler,

I am sorry for the confusion this has caused. CGC classifies and labels foreign editions by the title and issue number of their US counterpart, but also lists the foreign title and issue on the label as well which in this case would be ASM 98. The country of origin is listed as the edition, such as the “Norwegian edition”. The contents of each foreign edition are researched, with pertinent stories, appearances, or artists listed in the art and key comments on the label. While this book does include a reprint of AF 15 this is not used in the designation of the book itself per our International Edition process. You can read more about this HERE. Let us know if you have any other questions. 

[riegler]

On 9/22/2023 at 7:37 AM, MattM CS said:

Hello @riegler,

I am sorry for the confusion this has caused. CGC classifies and labels foreign editions by the title and issue number of their US counterpart, but also lists the foreign title and issue on the label as well which in this case would be ASM 98. The country of origin is listed as the edition, such as the “Norwegian edition”. The contents of each foreign edition are researched, with pertinent stories, appearances, or artists listed in the art and key comments on the label. While this book does include a reprint of AF 15 this is not used in the designation of the book itself per our International Edition process. You can read more about this HERE. Let us know if you have any other questions. 

I think it is a great disservice to international comic collectors to label older foreign editions based on the cover of the US counterpart.  At that time, the foreign publisher had total control over what cover they wanted to include on a particular edition, so if they wanted to include the cover of ASM #50 to the story of Spiderman #1, based on CGC's logic, it would be titled ASM #50. The proper way to title these comics is by the foreign name and edition in bold on top and in small print under that, include the US counterpart.  It's interesting that CGC does that with Disney, but not with any of the other publishers. I also realize that this is really only an issue with the older foreign comics, but it is extremely misleading to the comic collector that CGC is supposed to be focused on.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 9/22/2023 at 4:29 PM, riegler said:

I think it is a great disservice to international comic collectors to label older foreign editions based on the cover of the US counterpart. 

You're in good company on that one riegler, thank you.

There's a whole thread on the subject below if you're interested:

https://boards.cgccomics.com/topic/488611-a-discussion-about-how-cgc-label-non-us-publications-which-reprint-reproduce-original-us-comic-content/?do=findComment&comment=12543719

CGC clearly aren't going to budge on this strategy, but it's always worth reminding them that they don't own the hobby every once in a while.