Have you guys seen the Phillippine variants? 5 5

[rjrjr]

And more National Bookstore Philippines (PAPI) comics:

 

http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/StoryArc.aspx?id=6f9d98d6-942f-463e-b990-6fcb9c5bfcd9

 

From what I gather, National Book Store is the largest book store in the Philippines. These comics are reprints, (apparently it says so in the indicia), not variants.

 

Here is another thread about them:

 

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/archive/index.php/t-187443.html

 

Should we change the title of this thead to read "Have you guys seen the Philippine reprints?" to be accurate?

 

Edited September 21, 2013 by rjrjr

[rjrjr]

 

And there are 2 of these PAPI comics for sale right now on E-Bay:

 

Action Comics 411

Weird War Tales 26

[lscomics]

These comics are reprints, (apparently it says so in the indicia), not variants.

Whether they're referred to as reprints or variants is semantic. The point is that they're incredibly difficult to find.

[lscomics]

Regardless of how you classify them, until you've actually tried to track these books down you'll never understand. Just finding information about what was and wasn't printed is like pulling teeth. That information along with, I suspect, the majority of the print runs on these books has been lost to the sands of time.

 

There are four guys on the boards that have been actively trying to find copies of pretty much any of them and have for the most part come up empty handed. I'm not talking about a search that started recently either, it's been ongoing for at least two years.

 

I have no doubt in my mind that there are some of these that simply no longer exist.

[OveraboundingMint]

Regardless of how you classify them, until you've actually tried to track these books down you'll never understand. Just finding information about what was and wasn't printed is like pulling teeth. That information along with, I suspect, the majority of the print runs on these books has been lost to the sands of time.

 

There are four guys on the boards that have been actively trying to find copies of pretty much any of them and have for the most part come up empty handed. I'm not talking about a search that started recently either, it's been ongoing for at least two years.

 

I have no doubt in my mind that there are some of these that simply no longer exist.

 

 

You can say that again, pal. Me I'm still looking for that very limitedly still impossible to find now CTB 1 pence variant. Those very few that might exist are unlikely to be let go by their owners because of their incalculable worth. Possibly 100 times that of the prevalently common cent copy, So I can very well understand your passionate thoughts and desire to obtain these editions, its not like the USA where there's the long running culture and foresight to collect and preserve comics from newstands as investment, matter of fact, even newspaper comics strips from the 1930s are well preserved by readers in the US, but not so in other parts of the world

[lscomics]

Regardless of how you classify them, until you've actually tried to track these books down you'll never understand. Just finding information about what was and wasn't printed is like pulling teeth. That information along with, I suspect, the majority of the print runs on these books has been lost to the sands of time.

 

There are four guys on the boards that have been actively trying to find copies of pretty much any of them and have for the most part come up empty handed. I'm not talking about a search that started recently either, it's been ongoing for at least two years.

 

I have no doubt in my mind that there are some of these that simply no longer exist.

 

 

You can say that again, pal. Me I'm still looking for that very limitedly still impossible to find now CTB 1 pence variant. Those very few that might exist are unlikely to be let go by their owners because of their incalculable worth. Possibly 100 times that of the prevalently common cent copy, So I can very well understand your passionate thoughts and desire to obtain these editions, its not like the USA where there's the long running culture and foresight to collect and preserve comics from newstands as investment, matter of fact, even newspaper comics strips from the 1930s are well preserved by readers in the US, but not so in other parts of the world

Did a pic or scan of the Conan Pence ever surface? I know I looked into it a bit and never found one. If it does exist I'd like to at least see verification of it. I'd like to have one even more of course but that kind of goes without saying.

[vaillant]

In this case, reprints or "variants" makes little difference as they are subsequent english editions for a foreign market.

 

In this sense, they are halway between a proper foreign edition (translated in another language and usually published by a foreign publisher) and a reprint, or "local variant", like the UK pence copies.

 

"Ugly" as they seem, they are fascinating…

[Define999]

Wasn't there a Star Wars #1 from the Phillipines? If I recall the cover looked almost identical to the US version, but the box that reads "Enter: Luke Skywalker! Will He Save the Galaxy-- Or Destroy It?" was a different color. (I'm thinking yellow, but it has been a few years since I've seen the picture of this comic.) I thought at the time there was mention of these issues being printed for the US servicemen.

 

Okay, just did a search on the internet and found it:

 

http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/Issue.aspx?id=f11cadb0-ee45-4ab8-bd1f-e73ec42fd775

 

Very similar to the Micronauts issue. The box is different, just not yellow as I had thought. Instead, some of the words are highlighted in black in that box. The "National Bookstore Philippines (PAPI) Edition".

 

Trust me I know this book..... I have bugged metarog before to find out who might own it? This is the rarest Star Wars #1 in the world in my opinion....

[Define999]

In this case, reprints or "variants" makes little difference as they are subsequent english editions for a foreign market.

 

In this sense, they are halway between a proper foreign edition (translated in another language and usually published by a foreign publisher) and a reprint, or "local variant", like the UK pence copies.

 

"Ugly" as they seem, they are fascinating…

 

Oh boy their fascinating.... and rare as all get out....

 

My personal belief is their is wiggle room in the whole variant/reprint debate..... in respect to foreigns at least. Classifications evolve and ideas change. 99% percent of collectors might consider the classification correct? Im in the 1% that feels semantics or not the debate over variant/reprint can still be argued either way as far as foreigns.....

[Define999]

Here is some more info on these editions.

 

(full size)

 

Action 441 -The cover has a circle for price but it is blank.

The back cover ad lists an ad for what seems to be

Philipino & English editions of Classics Illustrated Juniors.

Numbers are 301 - 364 but they do not seem to be in the

same order as the CI juniors.

 

BM South East Asia #32 Feb 61 (the copy I had was coverless).

 

Detective South East Asia 29 Jan 61 (Cover "The Raven & the Wasp")

 

Superman South East Asia 20 Jan 1960 (also coverless)

 

The above 4 issues are ones I am sending to a friend.

 

- - -

 

The following ones I still have if anyone is interested.

 

(full size)

 

Korak 40. Price 20c. Indicia reprints the DC indicia with

reprint info below. Has the house ad shown above.

 

Tarzan 228. Price circle has "Sale P1.75" as overprint

 

Unexpected 174. No price on front cover; has UPC box and

Comic Code authority stamp. Indicia reprints the DC indicia with

reprint info below.

 

(miniature about 7.5" high)

 

Adventure 22. Indicia is Adventure 266 July 1961. Black & white guts.

This one has a "Sworn Statement" for the "Republic of the Philippines"

It says that the number of copies "sent to paid subscribers 48,721" and

"Sent to others than paid subscribers 635" for a total print run of

49,356. This is for the last issue in March 1961.

 

Based on the "Statement" given above here, I suspect these may not

have been sold as returnable (as in the US) so stores would order

the number of copies they thought they could sell. That way, almost all

sales could be counted as "subscription copies" and the non-subscription

copies would be the ones going to the chain of stores that were

responsible for publishing these American reprints. There seems to

be no indication as to printer/publisher for this item. There are local

ads but they just give a phone number. The back cover ad is for

the Manilla Chronicle.

 

Hope you find this info useful.

 

Awesome, thanks for the info! Clarify something for me though.... the book with the indicia is a south east asia edition correct. The SEAE books were produced for all of south east asia, not just the Philippines. That print run makes sense for South East Asia.... though its still pretty small for the heyday of comic runs.

 

I almost guarantee that the book store versions were not anywhere near these print runs? At least that's my guest...

[Define999]

And more National Bookstore Philippines (PAPI) comics:

 

http://www.comiccollectorlive.com/LiveData/StoryArc.aspx?id=6f9d98d6-942f-463e-b990-6fcb9c5bfcd9

 

From what I gather, National Book Store is the largest book store in the Philippines. These comics are reprints, (apparently it says so in the indicia), not variants.

 

Here is another thread about them:

 

http://forums.comicbookresources.com/archive/index.php/t-187443.html

 

Should we change the title of this thead to read "Have you guys seen the Philippine reprints?" to be accurate?

 

Thanks for the info! (thumbs u We have seen this thread before though unfortunately... Like LSComics said we have been scouring the web for the past couple of years soaking up any info on these books we can. We have talked to Gerry A. about them.... Some of us have even taken to cold-contacting Fillipino's thru myspace if they have any indication they are into comics at all and old enough.

 

If someone can find any new threads, or info we havent already found through internet sleuthing I promise I will send you a Greek FF book!

 

If anyone can produce a contact, or a source, or information that we haven't found already? Significant of course.... I will send you a Greek Fantastic Four book! Promise....

 

Actually how bout a Thanos Greek book appearance? Find me something we don't already know and I will send you a Greek Thanos book foreign.....

[jerome34]

The "Adventure" is a South East Asia book. This is indicated only on the

page listing the publication data. The first page has the DC indicia which

appears to be totally unchanged from the DC edition.

 

AS a SEAE edition, the fact that most sales are subscriptions seems

reasonable. The non-subscriptions could be for stores (mostly

in the Philippines<?>) . So my comments above can safely be ignored.

[Define999]

The "Adventure" is a South East Asia book. This is indicated only on the

page listing the publication data. The first page has the DC indicia which

appears to be totally unchanged from the DC edition.

 

AS a SEAE edition, the fact that most sales are subscriptions seems

reasonable. The non-subscriptions could be for stores (mostly

in the Philippines<?>) . So my comments above can safely be ignored.

 

No, I will not disregard anything you said.... We appreciate the help in anyway shape or form with these books Jerome...

 

Lets keep researching.... as a group we can find out more than we can as lone wolves. I hope this thread can be a place we can share this info?

[vaillant]

Oh boy their fascinating.... and rare as all get out....

 

My personal belief is their is wiggle room in the whole variant/reprint debate..... in respect to foreigns at least. Classifications evolve and ideas change. 99% percent of collectors might consider the classification correct? Im in the 1% that feels semantics or not the debate over variant/reprint can still be argued either way as far as foreigns.....

 

Not to stray away from the discussion but… as far as proper foreign editions are concerned, why would you call them "variants"?

 

The use of words reflect an understanding, I don’t know what do you mean by "semantics", but I always try to use the words in the most accurate way, even if some ambiguity is always inherent – but in this case "variant" does not mean anything: "variant" to what?

[vaillant]

P.S. I am not talking of the Philippines books, as these, as much as they are reprints, can be considered a "variant", meaning they represent a publishing format variation, but still in english, for a foreign market. So, alternate english editions but still subsequent, foreign, editions.

[lscomics]

Oh boy their fascinating.... and rare as all get out....

 

My personal belief is their is wiggle room in the whole variant/reprint debate..... in respect to foreigns at least. Classifications evolve and ideas change. 99% percent of collectors might consider the classification correct? Im in the 1% that feels semantics or not the debate over variant/reprint can still be argued either way as far as foreigns.....

 

Not to stray away from the discussion but… as far as proper foreign editions are concerned, why would you call them "variants"?

 

The use of words reflect an understanding, I don’t know what do you mean by "semantics", but I always try to use the words in the most accurate way, even if some ambiguity is always inherent – but in this case "variant" does not mean anything: "variant" to what?

I think the use of variant is fine in this case. These are essentially, in terms of content, the same books as the originals with slight differences and of course the language being translated. Variant as used in this case is in reference to the fact that they're the same books but with certain variations for a foreign market.

[vaillant]

In this case you mean in the case of the Philippine editions?

 

That is because, for example, with italian editions you have a pretty different beast: the average Fantastic Four issue I read as a kid contained either a Fantastic Four or Marvel Two-in-One story, plus one or two additional backup features from other titles, as different as – say – Spider-Woman or Killraven.

 

That is how I learned to love these characters, which would have not been possible if I was an american kid buying just a single title.

[lscomics]

Exactly. (thumbs u

[OveraboundingMint]

Hate to disagree much as I understand where you are coming from, but to most people, the common accepted understanding of variant is always to mean a book that is produced at the same time and from the same publisher, with different cover or geographical pricing. But in the case of these later date Philippines reprints , given that the contents and language are exact to each issue, these reprinted edns could thus well be considered and even classified as an odd form of variant edns, but more importantly, the acceptance of these as such must be collectively agreed among collectors., which I think not everyone will see eye to eye on this

[lscomics]

Hate to disagree much as I understand where you are coming from, but to most people, the common accepted understanding of variant is always to mean a book that is produced at the same time and from the same publisher, with different cover or geographical pricing. But in the case of these later date Philippines reprints , given that the contents and language are exact to each issue, these reprinted edns could thus well be considered and even classified as an odd form of variant edns, but more importantly, the acceptance of these as such must be collectively agreed among collectors., which I think not everyone will see eye to eye on this

In most cases the covers have subtle differences such as no price, different numbering etc. and the ads are usually house ads for the bookstore they were printed for are the thing that would IMO classify them as variants. Either way it doesn't matter what you call them, they're about as scarce as hens teeth.