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Have you guys seen the Phillippine variants?
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There are some wild variants out there but this is pretty wild! There are a group of marvel comics that were put out by a Philippine bookstore, Alemar bookstore in Manilla, Philippines. They are entirely in English and the only difference inside is the ads for Alemar bookstore but this cover is wild. Everybody has seen a blank upc before but how about that blank upper left!? And what about the upper right side, MN 101. That's not suppose to be there! This is only the third one I have ever seen. The other two were Shogun Warriors 1 and the other was a Marvel double feature. Are they rare? Yes. Are they in demand? No because nobody knows about them. I understand there are other titles that exist. This is the only one I have.

 

 

Microvariant001_zpsb82d80de.jpg

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There were also books done for National Bookstore and Goodwill Bookstore in the Philippines. The Filipino books are incredibly hard to find based on a few factors.

 

1) Print runs were not high.

 

2) The paper quality is lower than normal for Bronze Age books.

 

3) The climate conditions in the Philippines are not conducive to preserving paper products, staples either for that matter.

 

4) The majority of collectors there regarded (and still do) the Filipino versions as substandard and have no great interest in them so they were generally not cared for very well.

 

Here's pics of the National and Goodwill Bookstore editions that I've been able to get my hand on so far.

th_ActionComics411Philippines_zpsbac501b1.jpgth_Avengers96Philippines_zpscbb150d3.jpgth_Batman237Philippines_zpscbc8b61a.jpgth_GreenLantern88Philippines.jpgth_GreenLantern89Philippines_zpse891bde3.jpg

th_HouseofSecrets103Philippines_zpsbfb295e5.jpgth_Superman250Philippines.jpgth_WorldsFinest210Philippines.jpg

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Wow! :o So someone else is paying attention to these uh? (thumbs u

 

I am getting ready for a wedding that is going to busy me for the entire day so I will make this quick....

 

Tim is exactly right! The Filipino books are some of the rarest foreign variants in existence. Don't ask me how we know, but we think print runs couldn't have been more than maybe 4000 for National Bookstore, Good will bookstore we have no clue and now this? :o :o

 

THis bookstore we have never heard of before? And, a few of us have been discussing the complexity, the maddening rarity, and absolute coolness of these books for a very long time. :gossip:

 

Every point above that Tim talks about is a factor in how difficult these books lives were as far as surviving the ages....

 

I have to run......

 

We need to talk more about your book for sure..... :applause:

 

coversmall.jpg

 

backlarge.jpg

 

xmen98NB.jpg

 

Worldsfinest211NB.jpg

 

Tarzan207_NBfrontback.jpg

 

bats.jpg

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There are some wild variants out there but this is pretty wild! There are a group of marvel comics that were put out by a Philippine bookstore, Alemar bookstore in Manilla, Philippines. They are entirely in English and the only difference inside is the ads for Alemar bookstore but this cover is wild. Everybody has seen a blank upc before but how about that blank upper left!? And what about the upper right side, MN 101. That's not suppose to be there! This is only the third one I have ever seen. The other two were Shogun Warriors 1 and the other was a Marvel double feature. Are they rare? Yes. Are they in demand? No because nobody knows about them. I understand there are other titles that exist. This is the only one I have.

 

 

Microvariant001_zpsb82d80de.jpg

 

This sat in my eBay store for a while, glad it found a home. Now that I know their origin I need to go box digging to see if I have some more of these variants!

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There are some wild variants out there but this is pretty wild! There are a group of marvel comics that were put out by a Philippine bookstore, Alemar bookstore in Manilla, Philippines. They are entirely in English and the only difference inside is the ads for Alemar bookstore but this cover is wild. Everybody has seen a blank upc before but how about that blank upper left!? And what about the upper right side, MN 101. That's not suppose to be there! This is only the third one I have ever seen. The other two were Shogun Warriors 1 and the other was a Marvel double feature. Are they rare? Yes. Are they in demand? No because nobody knows about them. I understand there are other titles that exist. This is the only one I have.

 

 

Microvariant001_zpsb82d80de.jpg

 

This sat in my eBay store for a while, glad it found a home. Now that I know their origin I need to go box digging to see if I have some more of these variants!

If you find anything foreign with work by Adams or Wrightson let me know if you're looking to sell. That's the main focus of my collection. (thumbs u
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There is a gallery dedicated to these editions over at STLcomics which I put together... in fact if the posters on here don't mind I'd like to add these also. LMK if that is alright and enjoy.

 

http://stlcomics.com/cover_gallery/categories.php?cat_id=408

You're more than welcome to use any of my scans. (thumbs u

 

Just curious... Do you know who owns the Batman #241 that's on there and if they'd possibly be interested in selling it? :baiting:

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Thanks for letting me use your scans and as to the Bats 241-it looks to be a scan from Mile High Comics.

 

Yea, use any scans from my books as well.... :gossip:

 

I have been curious where Metarog got that SW#1 NB for awhile now! hm

 

Ya sure you do not remember where you got that scan Metarog? That Star Wars #1 is probably the rarest Star Wars #1 variant on the planet right now? Rarer than the 35 cent, rarer than the Greek Kabanas Hellas SW#1....

 

Here is an interesting blog on NB books..... don't bother bugging Gerry, I already contacted him about a source for these books... no dice... (shrug)

 

http://gerry.alanguilan.com/archives/3790

 

im going to do some more research on this new book store.... :headbang:

Edited by Define999
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When did the Philippino bookstores started publishing these, and how long were they in business?

Any reprints done on F4, Hulk 181, CTB 1, TOD 1, Marvel Spotlight 5?

Part of the problem is we don't know what all was printed. There's simply too little information out there on these books. This is something we've been digging into for almost three years and have come up pretty much empty handed.
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Only those comics collectors of that country would know, But no big deal since they can't beat the real thing, and besides the paper quality of the covers looks primitive like old magazine papers
We've talked to collectors there and even they don't seem to really have much information on them. There are/were some who embraced these books but at the time US editions were (and to a degree still are) what they want.

 

To those of us that collect foreign editions, well... books like this, regardless of condition are considered amongst the crown jewels of our collections. The level of scarcity alone is enough to drive you :screwy:. 2c

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