Entertainment - AP Comic Books Donated to French Museum
Fri Dec 31, 9:37 AM ET
Entertainment - AP
By KATE BRUMBACK, Associated Press Writer
PARIS - Spiderman, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk and Daredevil have bounded across the Atlantic in a single leap — a giant donation of almost 300,000 vintage comic books to a French museum.
Jean-Pierre Mercier, who manages the collection for France's National Center for Comic Books and Images, said he was "flabbergasted" when he learned in March that Marvel Enterprises wanted to donate the huge quantity of comic books dating back as far as the 1950s.
The gift, from one of the top U.S. comic publishers, was made through Gifts in Kind, a U.S. charity that distributes donated items.
"Marvel specifically requested that they go overseas to a cultural institution where they would benefit numerous children and numerous people," said charity volunteer Margaret Mallon-Pujol. She said the French comic book museum was the ideal candidate.
The museum, in the western city of Angouleme, didn't know what a superhuman task it was in for.
Mercier said Mallon-Pujol first offered 800,000 to 1 million comic books, but he declined the offer. Such a gift would overwhelm his museum. Instead, the museum selected only what it believed to be the earliest books, including some published under Marvel's early names: Timely Comics and Atlas Comics. In June, about 275,000 books arrived in 1,800 boxes. Among them were hundreds of copies of the same editions.
Most date from the early 1950s to the late 1970s. Mercier believes the collection represents nearly 80 percent of comic books produced by Marvel during that span.
The comics are being sorted into five identical collections, two for the center and others for France's National Library and a museum in Amadora, Portugal, said Catherine Bourgouin, spokeswoman of the Angouleme museum. The destination of the fifth collection has not yet been determined.
The Angouleme museum hasn't decided how it will display its colorful treasure — although an exhibit on the glory years of Spiderman, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four and other superheroes is expected.
For customs purposes, the collection's value was estimated at US$300,000 (euro225,000), but experts say the real value is difficult to ascertain. A mint-condition, first-edition "Spiderman" from 1963, for example, would be valued today at US$32,500 (euro24,095), said Frederic Solti, manager of the Gael comic book shop in Paris.
Susan Corrigan, president of the Gifts in Kind charity in Alexandria, Virginia, said Marvel is one of the top donors to the organization and has given millions of comics to young people in the United States and overseas.
"They just thought this would be an effective thing to donate worldwide," she said.
The agreement with Gifts in Kind allows the museum to destroy duplicate copies, but it cannot barter, trade, sell or give any away.
"We have received e-mails, phone calls and letters from fans and specialists who protest and complain about this decision, but there is no way for us to deal with that in any other way," Mercier said.
An initial sorting, numbering and stamping of the books should be completed in 2005.
The museum is still waiting for Marvel to send about 8,000 books — the oldest, rarest ones — which the publisher is scanning into its digital archives.
Some of the most valuable include love-story comics — designed to appeal to girls — from the 1950s and earliest issues of the Fantastic Four, Spiderman and Captain America, among others.
Marvel is also home to Captain Marvel, the X-Men, the Avengers, and other superheroes.
The French museum was created in 1990 and its collection has consisted mostly of French and Belgian comics. It organizes a four-day international comic book festival each January.
The festival this year is Jan. 27-30 and includes shows on comic books figures, young comic book artists, and the origins and future of comics.
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Collecting every Doctor Strange
I didn't really follow their bankruptcy, but does this mean that some of their creditors received less than the amounts they were owed, and now they are donating thousands of dollars worth of comics to a French museum?
Lovely.
Before you explain bankruptcy law and try to remind me it's children, what really sticks in my craw.... IS THAT IT'S FRANCE!!!!!!!!
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(Arthur): Do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to take a bath. (Hobson): I'll alert the media. (Arthur): Do you want to run my bath for me? (Hobson): It's what I live for.
were i a marvel shareholder or creditor, i would be outraged (well, perhaps they're using this as a huge tax write-off?) if this was a lot of good stuff
on the other hand, we could be talking about 1 copy each of some vintage titles and 299,900 copies of [#@$%!!!] overstock from the 1990's. hence, this is how they got a $300K value for 300K books - this can't be multiples of high grade key issues from the 50s/early 60s
i suppose i'd rather not have marvel dumping all this junk on the u.s. market at once
if the comic book museum is going to give most of this overstock away (what are they going to do with 1,000 copies of new warriors #3?) and encourage comic readers/collectors in europe, i don't have a problem. it's a good piece of marketing for marvel and will help stave off the crash of comicdom.
seriously, if 100K more collectors in europe get interested in comics we'll actually be able to sell some of those mid-grade bronze age comics we all have a few extra boxes of
Is there a comic museum in the U.S.?
FYI, and I suppose some people here know this, but comics are taken fairly seriously as an art form over there with moebius and all that. dunno about their respect for the super hero genre though.
Registered: 06/24/03
Posts: 511
Loc: Virginia Beach, VA
"The agreement with Gifts in Kind allows the museum to destroy duplicate copies, but it cannot barter, trade, sell or give any away."
That's the part that really gets me. Think of all the amazing books that may potentially be destroyed. It's sad...
_________________________ "There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die"
"Think of all the amazing books that may potentially be destroyed. It's sad..."
Why would they destroy anything "amazing"? If they have 10 ASM #1s, I assure you, they won't be shredding them.
If they're destorying anything it'll be overprinted 90's dreck that is worth more as recycled paper than it is as a comic.... but seriously, they should be allowed to give them away to kids, that's just wrong.
Of course, they could just have a reading library for the worthless stuff and the comics will fall apart on their own soon enough. That's the best way to get rid of them, slowly but surely.
Why marvel isn't shipping comics to poor public schools in the U.S. is beyond me. that would encourage reading and maybe create some future customers.
#635397 - 01/02/0508:46 AMRe: Marvel donates 300,000 comics to French museum
[Re: the blob]
chromiumchromium Chromium deleted by Wertham Custom title deleted by Wertham
TOTAL NEWBIE
Registered: 07/27/02
Posts: 9674
Loc: Kingdom of Belgium
I don't think giving schoolkids 90's dreck to read will encourage them to go out and buy comics themselves...If anything this would drive away potential customers...
_________________________ Nuff Said Comics blog updated July 18th 2010http://www.chromium.be
#635398 - 01/03/0512:25 PMRe: Marvel donates 300,000 comics to French museum
[Re: wdb23]
SharkeySharkey
FACT if I stop posting, trillions and trillions of transistors would be out of work.
Registered: 08/11/04
Posts: 4478
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Dear Marvel
I have a comic book "museum" in the guest bedroom of our house. Please send me a copy of each book you (Marvel/Atlas/Timely) published from 1950 to 1990.
Thanks! "The Curator"
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