Dan'el

Nothing crazy unique about this lot, although you don't often see them displayed with their 30-cent counterparts. I put the 30-cent variants in a separate post. I have a bunch of variants, error issues, and signed FF comics scanned front and back on my website if you want check out any other stuff: https://dekventures.com/FantasticFour/fantastic-four-v-1-variants-signed-reprints/

Nothing crazy unique about this lot, although you don't often see them displayed with their 25-cent counterparts. I put the 35-cent variants in a separate post. I have a bunch of variants, error issues, and signed FF comics scanned front and back on my website if you want check out any other stuff: https://dekventures.com/FantasticFour/fantastic-four-v-1-variants-signed-reprints/

As curiosities go, this is one. The first comic below has an apparent print error. The top right corner of the comic, just above the issue number, is printed in yellow for no known reason. In the normal comic, posted below that, the area is printed correctly in red. This is not a one-off. This FF issue is very common so there are a ton of them listed on eBay at any given time. I have checked a few times (looked at maybe 200 comics) and have seen this identical error on just three other issues. (Checked the other day and there was one misprint out of fifty-four on eBay.) So, this glitch shows up on every 50-75 comics. So, here is the deal. This print error is undocumented. Can’t find a hint about it anywhere. So, how does one go about researching and/or documenting an error? Anyone got a proverbial clue? I have a bunch of variants, error issues, and signed FF comics scanned front and back on my website if you want check out any others: https://dekventures.com/FantasticFour/fantastic-four-v-1-variants-signed-reprints/

I took a look at the "Acts of Vengeance" story back in the day but passed on that one. (According to one website that tracks such things, it involved 71 different issues.) Marvel had a number of broad "events" over the years that played out sort of scatter-shot across a lot of titles. My completely arbitrary rule (so I did not go broke) was that there had to be a core series of some kind and it had to involve the FF. "Atlantis Attacks" (and probably "Evolutionary War" as well) qualified because there was a set series. When you finished the story in one Marvel annual, it stated that the story was continued and told you which annual was next. I tried to stay away from series that had a kazillion tie-ins although I did get sucked into Secret Wars II. That was a nine-issue mini-series that had over 30 tie-ins. I did eventually track all of those down.

Nuts! I did not know about the Evolutionary War arc in 1988. I collect FF related stuff and they are in the mix for that series so may have to think about tracking that lot down.

You are right about the FF link. Actually, the models do not seem linked to comics at all. I should have pointed out that these are small. The images do not show the proportion well. Those pieces are 4 1/2 inches by 2 1/2 inches with the planes being around 3 inches in length. The models do not look like they were attached to the comics - just stuck in the centerfold I guess. I was just tickled to see they were still there when I got the books. I assumed they were long gone so that was a very nice bonus when I unpacked the lot.

This was a crazy Marvel gimmick. “Atlantis Attacks”, was a maxi-series that arced over fourteen different Marvel Comic annuals in 1989. In addition, there were three regular issues that had tie-in stories for a total of seventeen comics. Did Marvel actually believe that anyone would be dumb enough to collect all of those comics just to read that story? … Uhh … Oops! You can see the list and each comic scanned front and back at my nascent FF website: https://dekventures.com/FantasticFour/atlantis-attacks/

It would be cool to find a comic that used to be in the family back in the day. This comic has me befuddled. I have had the thing for 15 years but did not notice the miswrap until I started scanning my collection for a website I am building. Not sure where to go or who to ask to research it. Have completely struck out so far. I have since picked up a normal copy so I scanned the same pages and added them to this post to show what they are supposed to look like

“The Complete Fantastic Four” was a British (UK) weekly series that ran for thirty-seven issues (September, 1977 to June, 1978). It was a magazine-size comic with color covers and black and white interior pages, although the comic length was the standard 16-pages (8 wraps). The first two issues came with enclosed plastic models. I posted the the first two issues (front and back and the toy) below. I have the full series scanned on my just starting FF web site if you want to check out any other issues. https://dekventures.com/FantasticFour/fantastic-four-foreign-titles/

Is there any advantage to sending an otherwise lower value comic to CGC just to verify a very obscure printing error? The comic is a lower grade issue of Strange Tales V-1 #113. The issue is that the comic wraps were assembled in the wrong order at the printer/bindery. In this case, the Torch story was inserted last, instead of first. Since the Torch story takes up one-half of the book, it is actually readable so most people would not pick up on the error. I noticed the book started with an ad page so at first just thought it was missing pages. I have not been able to locate another copy with this error, find anyone else who has heard of it, or find any reference to it. It could be that just a handful got out the door before they caught it or there could be a bunch of them out there and people just don’t realize it is miswrapped. Question is, would CGC verification be of any significant value in this case, or is this one of those situations where it is so obscure that it is just an interesting curiosity? I posted the first and last pages of the error book along with the same pages from a normal issue below. I have scanned all of the pages along with a normal comic on my very early stages FF website if you want to see the rest of it. https://dekventures.com/FantasticFour/strange-tales-v1-113-rare-misprint/

Ever wonder how many Bronze-age comic books were cut-up and sacrificed to fill these stamp books? Thousands, no doubt. Series A was the famous Hulk killer since all of the Wolverine intro issues #180 (Cyclops stamp), #181 (Shanna stamp), and #182 (Golem stamp) were on the hit list. According to the resource listed at bottom, the Shanna stamp in this book came from Astonishing Tales #23 and not Incredible Hulk #181 (The Cheetah's back right leg was drawn in for that issue but not the Hulk issue). Since I did not personally complete these books, I have decided to take the high road and pretend that the Cyclops stamp and the Golem stamp were also cut out of non-Hulk comics. I believe each stamp could be found in more than one title. I also have some sort of poster associated with this promotion but I have not dug that one out yet. Might post that when I find it. I tossed in a few images here but I do have each page of a blank Series A, completed Series A, and completed Series B scanned on my very early stages FF website (below). I also tossed in a link to a pretty comprehensive resource on the stamp books if you want to dig deeper (below below). https://dekventures.com/FantasticFour/fantastic-four-non-comic-items/ http://www.mvstamps.com/index.htm

That was a different world for sure. Back then it was not unusual for kids to walk into a local store by themselves and buy some candy or gum or a comic book. Rare to see that now (for good reason, sadly) but, even if they did, the candy and gum might still be within a child’s budget but new comics have mostly moved out of pocket change range.

Issue #110 of Strange Tales featured the first appearance of Doctor Strange tucked into a little story in the back of the comic. Issue #111 was his second appearance and #115 told us his origin story but it was not until Issue #117 that he actually got a mention on the cover. I have the entire Torch series in Strange Tales (#101 - #134, plus Annual #2) scanned front and back on my website: https://dekventures.com/FantasticFour/fantastic-four-cross-over-misc-titles/

This comic is tied with Amazing Spider-Man #1 (that one also featured the Fantastic Four) as the first ever Marvel cross-over. Wonder how many times the Thing and Hulk have butted heads over the years? I imagine someone out there has tried to document it. I will settle for many. Eventually, I will have all FF V1 comics scanned front and back on my website. What I have so far can be found here: https://dekventures.com/FantasticFour/fantastic-four-v-1-regular-issues

This Spider-Man / Fantastic Four cross-over is tied with Fantastic Four #12 (Hulk / Fantastic Four) for the honor of being the first ever Marvel cross-over. This comic looks decent but has a carefully hidden flaw. Someone very carefully removed the last ad page. (That, or someone originally ripped the thing out and someone later worked really hard to hide it.) Fella that sold it to me did not bother to mention it but did not seem all that surprised when I pointed it out to him. Oh, well. Probably the only way I could afford one. Story is complete, that is what really counts. All of the Amazing Spider-Man / Fantastic Four cross-overs I have are scanned front and back on my website. Certainly not all of them but a few early issues, including Annual #1: https://dekventures.com/FantasticFour/amazing-spider-man/