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Comic book collecting with a foreign variant focus
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4,872 posts in this topic

Incredible!

 

Props to boardies like you who have done the leg-work and research, and shared it instead of the ordinary and tiring knee-jerk mindset to keep this information to yourself for profit or gain.

 

To me, this is the major difference that will define our generation of collecting from the previous, and IMHO will make collecting comics a much more exciting experience from the viewpoint of daring to explore and learn the history of emerging collecting niches like the one described in your article.

 

If you ever decide to print this for dissemination, please PM me and include me on the list of people interested in having a copy.

 

Also, I do want to offer some input on the topic, but am not sure if you're asking for it now in this thread and/or if the article is still in a revision stage.

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Very nice and informative ! But it's "1st appearance of the Punisher" not "apearance" (thumbs u

 

Despite a few proofreading points, the content is outstanding and well-thought. It's great to see your passion for such a personal niche in the collecting community. I have picked up a few comics from outside the US, but never got into the re-published American works in different languages. It's really refreshing to see your perspective as a collector driven by this interest.

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Great read. The only thing I would suggest is drop the point size, increase the leading for better readability. Get a little more whitespace around your lines and it will be a nice visual look!

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Very interesting, I will have to read it.

Especially because it’s – as it’s often the case with you US collectors – written from your collecting perspective alone.

 

I am Italian, and I started to collect comics in original edition around 1988. Recently I have started collecting golden age and I have found how interesting is to compare the different countries comics' productions.

 

Besides this, I always prefer to buy an original edition, and I keep the italian one (which, for you, would be the english one) when I can’t read the original.

 

Considering foreign editions of american comic book characters becomes very interesting (I speak for Italy) when we try to locate early translations of golden age material. Super-rare publications, occasionally unauthorized, often re-traced or heavily handled, and so on…

But, above all, it’s the historical context which interests me… :)

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Incredible!

 

Props to boardies like you who have done the leg-work and research, and shared it instead of the ordinary and tiring knee-jerk mindset to keep this information to yourself for profit or gain.

 

To me, this is the major difference that will define our generation of collecting from the previous, and IMHO will make collecting comics a much more exciting experience from the viewpoint of daring to explore and learn the history of emerging collecting niches like the one described in your article.

 

If you ever decide to print this for dissemination, please PM me and include me on the list of people interested in having a copy.

 

Also, I do want to offer some input on the topic, but am not sure if you're asking for it now in this thread and/or if the article is still in a revision stage.

 

Wow, thanks for the feedback guys! Ok…. Lets discuss away! The article is basically finished mainly because I want to move ontu my next foreign variant article. That doesn’t mean it can’t evolve though…. Please, I would love to hear your imput!

 

I have two active “hunts” that have been going on concurrently… I am going to write another article about one of them. The trials and tribulations, the history of the variants I am finding and searching for… The interesting histories of the foreign publishers that printed them etc…. a journalistic type piece is what I am thinking?

 

And your right, I do mean to be altruistic with this…. I think I used that right? But get back to me in a year or two and we will see if further awareness has made my “hunts” more difficult. I might regret bringing more awareness to this little niche….

 

The last thing many of us(foreign variant collectors) want is to drive up prices…. This game isn’t monetary for most of us….. Many of these variants are difficult to find but expensive? Not really…. That might change once foreign sellers catch on…..

 

Hint hint…. We don’t want that…..

 

 

 

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Very nice and informative ! But it's "1st appearance of the Punisher" not "apearance" (thumbs u

 

Despite a few proofreading points, the content is outstanding and well-thought. It's great to see your passion for such a personal niche in the collecting community. I have picked up a few comics from outside the US, but never got into the re-published American works in different languages. It's really refreshing to see your perspective as a collector driven by this interest.

 

Thanks! (thumbs u

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Great read. The only thing I would suggest is drop the point size, increase the leading for better readability. Get a little more whitespace around your lines and it will be a nice visual look!

 

Your empecable eye for design is absolutely correct! Will change it on Monday when I have access to my Quark file Dr. (thumbs u

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Very interesting, I will have to read it.

Especially because it’s – as it’s often the case with you US collectors – written from your collecting perspective alone.

 

I am Italian, and I started to collect comics in original edition around 1988. Recently I have started collecting golden age and I have found how interesting is to compare the different countries comics' productions.

 

Besides this, I always prefer to buy an original edition, and I keep the italian one (which, for you, would be the english one) when I can’t read the original.

 

Considering foreign editions of american comic book characters becomes very interesting (I speak for Italy) when we try to locate early translations of golden age material. Super-rare publications, occasionally unauthorized, often re-traced or heavily handled, and so on…

But, above all, it’s the historical context which interests me… :)

 

Thanks for the comments! Of course I would love foreign collector imput as well!

 

I actually ran this by some foreign collectors to make sure the tone of the article wasn't negative in thier view. Much of what is written is generalizations that I have gleaned from being in this game for a little while..... I do have a intersting hypothetical question for you though.... hm

 

Let's say you are told you have a gift coming.... You as a Italian collector are sat down and put in front of you are two comics.....one is a Spiderman 129 in cgc 9.6 the other is the Italian equivilant the L' uomo ragno 149/1976 in cgc 9.6

 

You can only have one? Which one do you take? hm

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Being a Portuguese, in my perspective, I really vouch for the Bias towards US comic material in Portugal, especially with the younger generations.

 

Older Generations, not so much due to the language barrier. English is widely spoken, but much more on the newer generations.

 

For example, a young Portuguese collector, being presented with a choice of a original US comic or its local counterpart, most likely, will pick the US material.

 

Interestingly enough, on the younger Portuguese generations I perceive a shift from comics towards TPB´s and Hardcover books due to monetary constraints and storage ease.

 

On the other hand , the middle age+ Portuguese collector, setting aside the language barrier, will be looking for the local material, the one that transports him/her to their youth memories, so the original US comic will carry less interest. (Unless, of course it’s a collector with the means, language skills and comic education to go after the older US original comics + the prospective investement side it also brings to the table).

 

Being on this side of the pond also means that comic collectors also collect a lot of material that is created outside the US

 

For example looking at the current top seller list of comics in one of the biggest LCS Chains, the top list reads are Asterix, Lucky Luke and other Goscinny Morris Works. Other artists like André Franquin, or Italians like Hugo Pratt (Corto Maltese). This said, it´s also cheaper to buy US material on ebay and the likes that on a Portuguese LCS, (Import tax + VAT) so this list might not really reflect the real top reading comics.

 

Its interesting to see the appeal from US collectors towards the foreign variants and reading through your article, I can see why this happens.

 

Its incredible to see the complexity that this medium carries and the differences foreign editors bring to the table with the subtle (and sometimes not so much) adaptations to their own cultural realities and technical printing setup.

 

Really interesting read. Great Job :applause:

 

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Being a Portuguese, in my perspective, I really vouch for the Bias towards US comic material in Portugal, especially with the younger generations.

 

Older Generations, not so much due to the language barrier. English is widely spoken, but much more on the newer generations.

 

For example, a young Portuguese collector, being presented with a choice of a original US comic or its local counterpart, most likely, will pick the US material.

 

Interestingly enough, on the younger Portuguese generations I perceive a shift from comics towards TPB´s and Hardcover books due to monetary constraints and storage ease.

 

On the other hand , the middle age+ Portuguese collector, setting aside the language barrier, will be looking for the local material, the one that transports him/her to their youth memories, so the original US comic will carry less interest. (Unless, of course it’s a collector with the means, language skills and comic education to go after the older US original comics + the prospective investement side it also brings to the table).

 

Being on this side of the pond also means that comic collectors also collect a lot of material that is created outside the US

 

For example looking at the current top seller list of comics in one of the biggest LCS Chains, the top list reads are Asterix, Lucky Luke and other Goscinny Morris Works. Other artists like André Franquin, or Italians like Hugo Pratt (Corto Maltese). This said, it´s also cheaper to buy US material on ebay and the likes that on a Portuguese LCS, (Import tax + VAT) so this list might not really reflect the real top reading comics.

 

Its interesting to see the appeal from US collectors towards the foreign variants and reading through your article, I can see why this happens.

 

Its incredible to see the complexity that this medium carries and the differences foreign editors bring to the table with the subtle (and sometimes not so much) adaptations to their own cultural realities and technical printing setup.

 

Really interesting read. Great Job :applause:

 

Thanks Barbarian! I also think that the reading tendency here in the states seems to be heading towards the TPB similar to Portugal. I find the differing views of the foreign "collector" versus the foreign "reader" to be fascinating. Great stuff! Man you are right the layers of depth this hobby has is mind blowing! :applause:

 

Is there a large market for back issue's in Portugal? Can you just walk into a local LCS and pick up Portuguese back issues? Or is it mostly new material?

 

Edited by Define999
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Let's say you are told you have a gift coming.... You as a Italian collector are sat down and put in front of you are two comics.....one is a Spiderman 129 in cgc 9.6 the other is the Italian equivilant the L' uomo ragno 149/1976 in cgc 9.6

 

You can only have one? Which one do you take? hm

 

Being an italian collector myself, I would pick the US edition every day of the week. Here's a true story about the reason of this choice, I am looking since 10+ years for the first italian appearance of Superman, the comic in question is Albi dell'Audacia 19 from 1939 and I didn't see one single copy , arguably is even rarer than Action 1, probably 10-20 copies still existing. However, the value for this comic is around $200, can you belive that?

On a side note, Superman was renamed Ciclone :facepalm:

 

I'd like to share a couple of toughts.

In Italy publishers use to collect 2 or more US comics in every issue so many times we miss a lot of nice covers; for example Incredible Hulk was published with the Fantastic Four in the title Fantastici Quattro, and from the Hulk run by McFarlane they published only the cover of 340 on Fantastici Quattro 56

Also, forget about getting 9.8 copies for comics from the 90's and before, consider yourself lucky to find 9.4 at best, because italian collectors were not picky at all about conditions and bags and boards were virtually non existant until recent years

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