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You Crivs could be forgiven for thinking I've lost interest in collecting comics, given the amount of toys and other things I write about on this blog, but such is not the case. To prove it, here are several of my recent comicbook acquisitions, some newly released, others from last year (but which I've only just purchased). Above is a Facsimile Edition of All Star Comics #3 featuring the Justice Society Of America, so let's now take a look at the others one-by-one.
I still have my original copies of these two Spidey mags, but I just can't resist Marvel's and DC's facsimile issues. Hard for me to accept that these two comics were first released around 40 years ago, nearly two-thirds of my life away. Number 260 will be released soon, then I'll have facsimiles of a trilogy of The Amazing Spider-Man mags initially published in the '80s. Don't let them pass you by.
Below, an updated facsimile of House Of Secrets #92, featuring the first appearance of the Swamp Thing, but not the Alec Holland incarnation. No, he came later - what we have here is Alex Olsen's moss-encrusted mockery of a man. DC now place the unsightly bar code box on the back cover, which works better for mags that never had a bar code originally. Unfortunately, they still haven't spotted and corrected a clumsy lettering touch-up which renders a speech balloon confusing (see below after cover).
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| 'At me funeral' - eh? A shoddy touch-up of missing letters. Original on the right |
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| The ever-intrusive bar code on the 2019 facsimile |
Police Comics #1, below, contains the debuts of Plastic Man and Phantom Lady, and is a nice one to add to any self-respecting collection. DC are even getting better at reproducing the ads which originally appeared in these periodicals, some of which in previous facsimiles have been pretty ropey and not up to scratch.
JLA #1 gets the facsimile treatment (below), with the bar code once again being delegated to the back cover so as not to blight the front of the mag. Hey, I've even included it here so that you can see what I'm talking about. Doesn't look so bad on the back, does it? As with HOS #92, no doubt they'll start reprinting other previous facsimiles in this way and I'll have to buy again the ones I already have. I wish Marvel would start putting the bar code on the back of their facsimiles too.
Oops, almost forgot! Also snagged Neal Adams' last major work for Marvel, The Fantastic Four - Antithesis. Below is the collected softcover edition, same size as a regular comicbook, but I also got the larger Treasury Edition, the better to see Neal's artwork in greater detail. The covers are the same so I won't repeat the image.
Oops again - another recently acquired item I forgot to show you. Easy enough to remedy that little oversight, so here it is. Remember now, it's for your eyes only. (Yes, I know that's another Bond movie, but I was being clever.) This UK comic was later reprinted in DC's Showcase #43, though black characters were recoloured white and some dialogue was changed.
Thought you might like to see the cover (even though I don't own it), so that's it below. As stated in the previous paragraph, this issue was a US reprint of the one above.
17 comments:
I might be the only person who LIKES barcodes and thinks they look attractive. I remember buying imported US Marvel comics in the early '80s and being annoyed that the barcode was replaced with a Spidey face. I don't really understand why a barcode on the cover of a facsimile is such a big deal for you, Kid, because it's a FACSIMILE after all. You could just as easily object to the 2024 cover price because it's not the original cover price.
Ah, CJ, there is so much you fail to understand. First of all, I dislike the bar code on ALL comics, not just facsimiles. It obscures part of the art and compromises the aesthetic effect of a cover. However, in the case of a facsimile, it also compromises the original look of the cover, whereas a modern cover price in place of the original is a much more discreet alteration and is much easier to miss (or ignore) when drinking a cover in with mine eyes. Here endeth the lesson.
Hope you are keeping well mate.Love Neal Adams artwork,it's the best;Love FF, greatest run of continuous quality in comics history(steady...steady... but you get the gist....#36-67 and easily extended to#1-87! BUT Neal absolutely failed to draw the Thing which spoilt slightly,very slightly,his greatest ever comic...Avengers #93.Even as a child I knew there was something weird about his rendition. I will take your recomendation of course but is this book worth reading and more importantly did Neal figure out how to draw Ben Grimm?Stay well and keep posting.
Hope you're keeping well too, Triple F. (Sounds like the code name of a secret agent, doesn't it?) I thought the book was an okay read, nothing brilliant, and didn't think Neal's Thing (ooh, that sounds rude) was the best I've seen - wasn't keen on the face. I suppose this story's main draw is that it's The Fantastic Four and (I think) Neal's last major work, especially for Marvel anyway. There are certainly worse things you could spend your money on. I'll keep posting if you keep reading and commenting. Cheers.
Always a pleasure.Will hunt out the book and give you my opinion my friend.
Check eBay, Triple F, there are new ones on there at around £12, though some sellers are asking a lot more. I'll look forward to your 'review'.
Today is the 25th anniversary of my father's death so in Tesco this morning I bought a wedge of his favourite cheese, Edam, and a can of Irn Bru because it's famously Scottish.
That's a nice way of commemorating your father, CJ - having a slice of Edam cheese and raising a glass of Irn Bru to his memory. Cheers.
I never owned Origins Of Marvel Comics and Son Of Origins but I remember them being advertised in the Marvel UK weeklies in the mid-'70s. I suppose you'd prefer these reprints to have retained the original covers, Kid, or don't you mind?
Well, strictly speaking, they're not really reprints of the two books as they're more like 80-Page Giants or King-Size Specials, CJ. The contents are reprinted from the best sources available, whereas they were kind of ropey in the '70s volumes. Also, There's none of Stan's introductions to each story, so only the books titles have been used, though each mag's contents don't exactly match their '70s counterparts. In fact, they're actually called (going by the indicia and Ralph Macchio's intros) Marvel Tales - Origins of... etc., and Marvel Tales - Sons of... etc., which is a long way of saying no, I don't mind.
Oops, also meant to say, they're obviously called 'Origins' and 'Son Of' in an affectionate nod to the originals, they're really quite separate publications in their own right. There are also a few variant covers for them, but I got the main ones.
So were the original Origins/Son Of Origins hardback books? If so were they like UK hardback annuals or did they have dust covers?
They came in both hardback with dust-jackets and paperback editions, CJ, though it was mainly the paperback (or softcover as they seem to be called now) versions that were available in the UK.
I picked up that Police Comics facsimile at the weekend, Kid, and agree that DC are doing an improving job on ad reproduction. These facsimile issues seem to be a winner for DC, what with the continuing appearance of new issues. I presume that DC decided to reprint Plastic Man's appearance in Police Comics as some sort of tie-in with Eel O'Brien's appearance in the new Batman Caped Crusader series on Amazon.
I also like that Marvel is experimenting with publishing facsimiles of short runs of a title (eg Spider-Man #121 and #122).
A few of the ads in some DC comics have occasionally been as sharp as the Marvel ones, B, but there are still dodgy ones from time to time. The forthcoming (in fact, I think it's out now) Superman/Ali facsimile should be interesting, just to see how well the ads are reproduced. I don't know anything about the Amazon Batman series, but I daresay you're right about the reason why they decided to reprint Police Comics #1 - not that they always need a reason of course.
I thought you had bought All Star #3 and I was thinking wow comics pay a lot more than I thought.
I actually remember where I bought Origin of Marvel comics. It was a bookstore in London called the Paper Chase. I recall it was in a very nice part of town. I have no idea why we were there.
I ordered my first copy of the book through the ad on the back covers of the Marvel weeklies, PS. I got subsequent copies over the years from shops in Glasgow. I now only own two copies - a first printing acquired via Vault Auctions in 2002, and a fourth printing bought in the mid-to-late '70s in Glasgow, which I got Stan Lee to autograph in 1991.
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