Action Comics # 1 Famous First Edition vs. Archive Edition and others 2 2

[archivist]

On 5/17/2024 at 7:22 PM, Happyfarm said:

I've never heard that story. Where have you heard that?

 

 

I haven't written down where I got this information from. I think I either read it in one of those court documents where they tried to find out what was done in which way (the famous re-pasting of the panels) or I read it in one of the forewords of the Archives Editions.

So imagine my surprise when I saw that the original art for the color cover of Action #1 still exists:

https://boards.cgccomics.com/topic/483747-my-nominees-for-the-coolest-single-copies-in-the-hobby/?do=findComment&comment=11621798

Unbelievable, isn't it ?

 

[archivist]

On 5/18/2024 at 4:37 AM, BLUECHIPCOLLECTIBLES said:

Except for for the first three panels which were repurposed for the newspaper strip and still exist

 

They really do ?

 

Do you have a picture of them ?

 

[BLUECHIPCOLLECTIBLES]

On 5/15/2024 at 7:24 AM, archivist said:

From which publication are these two pages of original art ?

Action 1 and Superman 1 Famous First Editions in the 70s

[BLUECHIPCOLLECTIBLES]

On 5/18/2024 at 8:45 AM, archivist said:

 

They really do ?

 

Do you have a picture of them ?

 

No but would not be surprised if they're Googlable.  Sold via Sotheby's or Christie's

[jimbo_7071]

On 5/12/2024 at 6:55 PM, BLUECHIPCOLLECTIBLES said:

The Famous First Editions were created by redrawing the original art and then making stats and doing color guides, et. .  Basically, producing it from scratch lke they would any comic, using the production tech of the time.

Interesting. I haven't been able to get my hands on any Famous First Editions. The word on the street is that most of them have been trimmed and sold as originals.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 19 by jimbo_7071

[archivist]

On 5/18/2024 at 8:30 PM, BLUECHIPCOLLECTIBLES said:

No but would not be surprised if they're Googlable.  Sold via Sotheby's or Christie's

 

Sotheby's once sold these two panels:

 

Did you mean them ?

[archivist]

On 5/19/2024 at 2:26 AM, jimbo_7071 said:

Interesting. I haven't been able to get my hands on any Famous First Editions. The word on the street is that most have them have been trimmed and sold as originals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, not really a joke since it happened very often.

 

If you ever want to buy a copy of any "Famous First Edition", make sure that the original cover is still with the book (the wrap after the cover). I have copies where the 2nd wrap is missing because I didn't think to check this - the things one has to keep in mind when buying books ...

 

What I would like to see is one of those hardcover editions from Lyle Stuart, Inc., just to find out how they differ from the DC copy. And naturally, if the Famous First Edition F-5 HC (Batman #1) does exist ...

 

[Happyfarm]

On 5/19/2024 at 12:54 PM, archivist said:

What I would like to see is one of those hardcover editions from Lyle Stuart, Inc., just to find out how they differ from the DC copy. And naturally, if the Famous First Edition F-5 HC (Batman #1) does exist ...

 

I have some of the Lyle Stuart hardcovers. I compared my Action Comics # 1 hardcover with the softcover and they seem to be completely identical apart from the cover. I ended up keeping the hardcover, though, and selling my softcover. The ones I have from Lyle Stuart are Action Comics # 1, Whiz Comics # 2, Sensation Comics # 1 and Wonder Woman # 1.

Speaking of missing inner covers I've noticed that some of the later editions seem to not have a full page reprint of the original cover. Perhaps in order to prevent people from trying to sell them as the original?

Edited May 19 by Happyfarm

[BLUECHIPCOLLECTIBLES]

On 5/19/2024 at 3:44 AM, archivist said:

 

Sotheby's once sold these two panels:

 

Did you mean them ?

That's what I recalled except I got the number of panels wrong

 

[BLUECHIPCOLLECTIBLES]

On 5/19/2024 at 3:54 AM, archivist said:

 

Well, not really a joke since it happened very often.

 

If you ever want to buy a copy of any "Famous First Edition", make sure that the original cover is still with the book (the wrap after the cover). I have copies where the 2nd wrap is missing because I didn't think to check this - the things one has to keep in mind when buying books ...

 

What I would like to see is one of those hardcover editions from Lyle Stuart, Inc., just to find out how they differ from the DC copy. And naturally, if the Famous First Edition F-5 HC (Batman #1) does exist ...

 

If you wanna see somebody trying to sell the FFE reprints as originals, just look on ebay and it won't be long before one appears.

[woowoo]

On 5/18/2024 at 5:26 PM, jimbo_7071 said:

Interesting. I haven't been able to get my hands on any Famous First Editions. The word on the street is that most of them have been trimmed and sold as originals.

 

 

 

 

 

@jimbo_7071They been left in the rain than brought in to dry and age.

[aardvark88]

On 5/20/2024 at 7:04 PM, woowoo said:

@jimbo_7071They been left in the rain than brought in to dry and age.

To age the FFE pages, would u follow up by drying the treasury in one's oven while baking muffins on the weekend?

[archivist]

On 5/19/2024 at 7:39 PM, Happyfarm said:

I have some of the Lyle Stuart hardcovers. I compared my Action Comics # 1 hardcover with the softcover and they seem to be completely identical apart from the cover. I ended up keeping the hardcover, though, and selling my softcover. The ones I have from Lyle Stuart are Action Comics # 1, Whiz Comics # 2, Sensation Comics # 1 and Wonder Woman # 1.

Speaking of missing inner covers I've noticed that some of the later editions seem to not have a full page reprint of the original cover. Perhaps in order to prevent people from trying to sell them as the original?

If you ever decide to part with your hardcovers I would be happy if you send me a note.

[archivist]

On 5/19/2024 at 11:57 PM, BLUECHIPCOLLECTIBLES said:

That's what I recalled except I got the number of panels wrong

 

Thanks for clarification !

[Happyfarm]

On 5/21/2024 at 8:20 PM, archivist said:

If you ever decide to part with your hardcovers I would be happy if you send me a note.

I was lucky to find them here in Denmark where I live and only paid what would be the equivalent of around $ 60 for four of them. Honestly, I didn't think any of these were sold here back in the day but they still have price stickers on them documenting that somehow a few hardcover copies made it all the way over here in the 70's, even though back then not many American comics were sold here. Furthermore, there's a reduced price in pencil on the first page inside with further reductions in price so apparently Danish readers were rather reluctant to buy them. I assume they were sold in an ordinary book store originally. 

Edited May 22 by Happyfarm

[Ameri]

On 5/13/2024 at 9:51 AM, Happyfarm said:

I bought the first Marvel Masterwork edition of Marvel Comics # 1 but sold it many years ago due to the poor reproduction. Sadly, I've never seen an edition that faithfully reproduces the look of the original.

Here's various reprints compared to the original.  

[Happyfarm]

On 5/26/2024 at 12:57 PM, Ameri said:

Here's various reprints compared to the original.  

Thank you. I prefer the original by far.

[Darwination]

If I can't have the original, I personally prefer the look of scans or prints of scans to most "archives" or "reprints." And some companies have gotten much better at this. Theakstonization, etc. just does not do it for me. Line work often gets reduced or enlarged in the process.  New colors might be done by the lowest on the company totem pole and might not be at all faithful to the originals.  It's been mentioned here that some of the remastering likely has to do with qualifying new copyrights.  Even when working from scans, colors like yellow that pick up a bunch of grunge or age towards magenta can be tricky to work with.  That said, there's people out there clamoring for reprint style renderings of books that haven't been done yet, so who am I to judge -

[Happyfarm]

On 5/26/2024 at 10:19 PM, Darwination said:

If I can't have the original, I personally prefer the look of scans or prints of scans to most "archives" or "reprints." And some companies have gotten much better at this. Theakstonization, etc. just does not do it for me. Line work often gets reduced or enlarged in the process.  New colors might be done by the lowest on the company totem pole and might not be at all faithful to the originals.  It's been mentioned here that some of the remastering likely has to do with qualifying new copyrights.  Even when working from scans, colors like yellow that pick up a bunch of grunge or age towards magenta can be tricky to work with.  That said, there's people out there clamoring for reprint style renderings of books that haven't been done yet, so who am I to judge -

I very much agree with your sentiments.

[sfcityduck]

On 5/26/2024 at 1:19 PM, Darwination said:

If I can't have the original, I personally prefer the look of scans or prints of scans to most "archives" or "reprints." And some companies have gotten much better at this. Theakstonization, etc. just does not do it for me. Line work often gets reduced or enlarged in the process.  New colors might be done by the lowest on the company totem pole and might not be at all faithful to the originals.  It's been mentioned here that some of the remastering likely has to do with qualifying new copyrights.  Even when working from scans, colors like yellow that pick up a bunch of grunge or age towards magenta can be tricky to work with.  That said, there's people out there clamoring for reprint style renderings of books that haven't been done yet, so who am I to judge -

The hallmarks of a great archive are mat paper and more muted colors than we see on a lot of efforts. For example, look at the mat paper section of the Shazam Archives vol. 1 wherein they reprint the Flash ashcan on cream mat paper. It's a thing of beauty. The Barks library is superior to almost all Archives because they print it on mat paper and use flat, somewhat more muted, color to simulate reading on newsprint. The Nelvana and Jonny Canuck archives have both beautiful color and B&W reproduction on mat paper. 

Yet, many archives are printed on overly slick and white paper with garish coloring ala the Marvel Masterworks. Or archives where they use modern coloring techniques which look unnatural for material that was printed using flat color. 

There are some examples of high quality scans, but most scanned material is total over yellow dreck (looking at you PS Artbooks). 

The strips have made out much better with LOAC's Terry and Fantagraphics' Prince Valiant and Peanuts setting the standards.

Plenty of other very worthwhile reprint material. 

We are in the Golden Age of classic reprints.

My big next up is the Sky Masters of the Space Force Complete Sundays coming out via Zoop.