In the beginning…
by Liaton-9000
adies and gentlemen, I would like to formally introduce myself. My name is Liam Sturgess, otherwise known as Liaton9000 (or Liaton-9000) across
a variety of social platforms. I am a Canada-based
collector. I have been active on YouTube as a video
blogger since 2007, and I actively produce original
music and videos as my main claim to fame. I was
introduced to comics through the form of Archie Digests when I was around nine years old, and after a
short hiatus, I expanded my field of interest to include such mainstream comics as Marvel and DC,
never limiting what I would take a glance at in a
local comic shop or online browsing. However, I had
decided to focus mostly on key issues such as first
appearances, classic covers, etc. In 2010, I discovered the company known as CGC and I quickly
began to integrate myself into the community (after
a rough start, seeing as I was three years under the
required age to participate).
L
Soon after joining, I noticed one collector in particular would occasionally post his newest acquisitions,
most of which were the key issues I liked to admire
and collect. However, these were different – they
were not the classic American editions that I was familiar with. The books being posted were translated
into different languages (most of which I didn’t recognize), with altered covers and a plethora of unique
qualities to each one. The
first batch of these books that
I was exposed to were foreign editions of Marvel Super
Heroes Secret Wars #8, the
origin of the black SpiderMan costume which would
eventually become Venom.
Among the books was an
Italian edition, French, Dutch,
Danish, Mexican, Brazilian,
Spanish and even a
Swedish. It was a sight to
Australia
see.
Avengers #1
I was inspired by this post
and ones like it (all by Hector
at the time), so I did a quick
eBay search for “foreign editions” and I purchased my
first ever foreign key book:
the Editions Heritage issue of
Amazing Spider-Man #238,
the first appearance of the
Hobgoblin.
Thrilled by this newfound
niche of collecting, I sent the
Greece
user a message introducing
X-men #94
myself and asking for advice
on how to begin such a collecting venture. The user
replied, introducing himself as Hector, going by the
name Chespirito. I will let Hector tell his own story if
he so chooses, but he welcomed me with open
arms and told me everything I could possibly need
to know about the foreign comics world. Little did I
know that between he and I, we were only still just
scratching the surface…
Flashback several years: I found myself in a local
Xmen #266 key based type set
Brazil
Page 8
French
Italy
Netherlands
Spain