Foreign Comic Collector issue#3 | Page 9

A group shot of some of Liaton-9000 huge foreign collection Countries or regions represented here: Spain, Italy, Greece, Mexico, UK, Germany, Hungary, French Canada, Norway. comic shop called Tramps Books in Saskatoon, SK. I was browsing through the lines of comic boxes and I came across one of the books that I was searching for: Secret Wars #8. I purchased it and went on my merry way. Back to 2010: I showed Hector my copy of Secret Wars #8 and noted the strange font that was used for the price marking. Instead of the usual 75-cent price, it had a $1.00 price mark. After a few clicks on Google, we established that I had in my possession an uncommon Canadian Price Variant. Hector wasn’t aware of its existence before this, and he promptly offered a very generous trade. I walked out of that deal with a low grade copy of Amazing Spider-Man #129 (the original US edition), a Mexican Secret Wars #8, and Italian editions of Amazing Spider-Man #129 and Amazing Spider-Man #252. I was now in possession of four foreign editions, and I was on top of the world. And thus, the two of us began a long partnership in the hunt for foreign comics. We began comparing notes on a regular basis, always referring to each other when we had a question or concern, as well as letting each other know when a comic came up for sale that the other may be interested in. My initial focus was quite narrow, limited mainly to the main Spider-Man valuables: issues #129, 238, 252, 298, 300 (for the most part, these were the issues that Hector collected, and I was heavily influenced by that). However, once I started actively researching the series from which these books came, I discovered that there was an entire world of reprints that I hadn’t yet tapped – to my wonderment, there was a Polish Uncanny X-Men #282 (1st Bishop), a Dutch Amazing Spider-Man #289 (Ned Leeds revealed to be the Hobgoblin), and the Black Cat’s first appearance (ASM #194) was reprinted across just under a dozen countries. The possibilities had achieved the status of limitless. Spain Hulk #181 Brazil Spiderman #129 If you would like to contact Liaton9000 email him at [email protected] Page 9