exist in many places. Foreign collectors chose whichever language version of a specific comic they wanted and many did
choose the American original if it was avialable.
Now I am not saying all foreign collectors have a bias against
their indigenous version. Many foreign websites do exist celebrating the local published comics along with the American licensed material. I do think however that a portion of foreign
collectors in many countries prefer the American original over
the indigenous licensed version.
What results from this bias can be twofold: a lack of foreign
variant books on the market for sale, whether it be from a foreign seller’s perspective that there isn’t a desire for these
books, or simply that these foreign books didn’t survive at all.
How ironic that things have seemed to come full circle. How
ironic that American collectors are now seeking out these foreign variants when many within the countries of their origin
cared much less about them.
The novel payoff will be huge however for those that do
choose to tackle the “hunt” for these foreign variants. A whole
new world and mindset will bring fresh perspective to some collectors who tire of the traditional focus on American comic
books only.
I know for me personally the difficulty of finding new books and
keys for my collection has become enormously expensive. The
joy of building a unique and quality collection containing great
books from foreign countries has re-energized my collecting
soul. And this new love affair with foreign variants hasn’t broken
the bank either.
Good luck foreign variant collectors! For if there is one thing
you need in great volumes in the foreign variant game, its luck!
Dr Strange 169
The end result?
The end result of foreign variant awareness in America will be
an increased demand for foreign material. I believe this demand
will be particularly strong amongst the foreign variant keys. It
seems that during the last couple of years here in the states the
collecting focus has started to skew toward being key based instead of the traditional run based focus.
This issue can be debated but there is no denying that certain
key books will always be in demand and books that fall before
or after in the run will never attain the status of the “keys.” It is
not a logical stretch then to assume the foreign variant collecting niche will closely follow this key based
New Mutants 1
focus.
The real challenge for many new collectors will be the purchasing venue. In many
countries ebay isn’t the be all end all it is
here in the states. There are localized
auction sites that many foreign collectors
use to sell foreign books. The language
barrier will be difficult, and the tangled
web of foreign comic book forums, auction
sites, and foreign comic book vendors will
be an adventure for any North American
collector to travel through.
American
Dutch
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Spanish
Italian
American
Mexican
French Canadian
With the upcoming rurmored Dr. Strange movie on the horizon foreign
Strange issues should be in high demand. Strange 169 is whats
considered the first Dr. Strange in his own self titled issue! A type of
1st issue by Marvel that isn’t labeled as such because of a post
office registering issue.
New Mutants 87
Written by Define999, I can be contacted
at [email protected]
American
Brazilian
Spanish
Swedish
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