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Do you remember the first SA comic you bought at a store?
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It's funny how our memories can be selective as we get older...… but I still remember the first issue I bought (with my "own" money) of each of the Marvels that I followed..... FF 75, ASM 58, Avengers 56, DD 48, HULK 109, Sub-mariner 8, Thor 152, and Iron Man 8. For some reason, I didn't buy Captain America.... and I passed on Silver Surfer because it was too expensive ( 25 cents for only one comic...)…… any time I see one of those issues it takes me back to those days. GOD BLESS....

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)(thumbsu

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19 hours ago, vaillant said:

No, when David Anthony Kraft asked me to publish the interview in english, "Comics Interview" incorrectly reported that I interviewed him in San Diego in 1993 (not sure why), while it was in August 1991 at his Thousand Oaks home.
It has been an afternoon with a dreamlike quality. You have to consider I rarely travelled, at the time I had not even been in famous italian cities like Roma or Firenze, but when the opportunity to go to Los Angeles arose, I did not hesitate: I had this in mind, as I knew the address, and when I rang his front door bell, and when I realized that behind the front windows blind it was him that was approaching to open the door… well, I felt my legs trembling -- no kidding!
And he was *exactly* as I imagined him. What a great guy!

Wow, I feel genuinely moved by this story.  It made my day.  You're very lucky to have had that experience and I'm thankful that you shared the memory with us!

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The first SA books I can remember buying were X-Men #23, 24 and 28 from the first LCS visit I made as an 11 year old at the end of 1986. It was shortly after I bought my first comic book, UXM #211. The Mutant Massacre arc brought me into comics and I was an X-Men fan from the start. I bought the three lowest number issues that the store had at the time. 

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10 hours ago, Ameri said:

Congratulations on such a fabulous signature and a photo to cherish forever. Just curious Claudio, did you ask Jack to sign the cover or did he just naturally gravitate to the splash? Back in those days, it seems all the artists signed the splashes but never the covers. Stan too. I always wondered about that and if perhaps there was some kind of contractual thing that prevented them from signing covers.   

No, I would have not asked him to sign the cover, it never occurred to me before seeing CGC SS Books (which obviously have to be signed on the cover otherwise the signature wouldn’t be visible.

He probably asked if I had a preferred page, I did not and he signed the first one. :)

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6 hours ago, kimik said:

The first SA books I can remember buying were X-Men #23, 24 and 28 from the first LCS visit I made as an 11 year old at the end of 1986. It was shortly after I bought my first comic book, UXM #211. The Mutant Massacre arc brought me into comics and I was an X-Men fan from the start. I bought the three lowest number issues that the store had at the time. 

Mutant Massacre is a great story. And so is Fall of the Mutants. The decline came a few years later…

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1 hour ago, vaillant said:

No, I would have not asked him to sign the cover, it never occurred to me before seeing CGC SS Books (which obviously have to be signed on the cover otherwise the signature wouldn’t be visible.

He probably asked if I had a preferred page, I did not and he signed the first one. :)

Fascinating turn of events. Today it's preferred to have a comic book cover signed, but the standard in novels and hardback books was always for the author to open the cover and then sign inside and not outside. 

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12 minutes ago, Ameri said:

Fascinating turn of events. Today it's preferred to have a comic book cover signed, but the standard in novels and hardback books was always for the author to open the cover and then sign inside and not outside. 

Yeah but those books are not encased in a plastic box that prevents you from seeing the interior pages.  This is the main reason.

Here's a book I bought yesterday that has a signature AND a sketch inside the book -- sadly, I will never know what those look like!

1115692227_Groo(Pacific)8CGC9.8.thumb.jpg.5d013f4b4c66c00e2c55e92cdad075a3.jpg

Personally I think most signatures have an adverse effect on my ability to enjoy the cover art.  I'm surprised there aren't really many cases of signatures on the back cover, which would be the closest approximation of what you're talking about.  But it's very clear the market has spoken on this -- I have to assume that people who collect signatures prefer them on the front.

Edited by Sweet Lou 14
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5 hours ago, Ameri said:

Fascinating turn of events. Today it's preferred to have a comic book cover signed, but the standard in novels and hardback books was always for the author to open the cover and then sign inside and not outside. 

slabbing certainly has changed the location of signatures. I can understand the old school approach Kirby would have taken back in those days when signing a comic book on the interior. One could easily take the book out of the bag and open it up to view the signature. Plus, reading comics was still a very common thing as opposed to slabbing in today’s era. Quite a change.  

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4 hours ago, Primetime said:

slabbing certainly has changed the location of signatures. I can understand the old school approach Kirby would have taken back in those days when signing a comic book on the interior. One could easily take the book out of the bag and open it up to view the signature. Plus, reading comics was still a very common thing as opposed to slabbing in today’s era. Quite a change.  

Boh… I would not define it "old school" simply because for obvious reasons to encase graded books the signature should be on the outside.
The change happened as far as graded books go, and if one plans to keep them encased. But that is quite an "artificial" change. I’m not saying one should not find them enjoyable to some degree – personally I would never ask anyone to sign on a cover, be it a comic, a book, a magazine or watever else: it simply defaces the artwork.

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7 hours ago, vaillant said:

Boh… I would not define it "old school" simply because for obvious reasons to encase graded books the signature should be on the outside.
The change happened as far as graded books go, and if one plans to keep them encased. But that is quite an "artificial" change. I’m not saying one should not find them enjoyable to some degree – personally I would never ask anyone to sign on a cover, be it a comic, a book, a magazine or watever else: it simply defaces the artwork.

I agree.  If you give a writer a book (say a hard copy book with a nice color cover sleeve, or even a paper-back), the writer will never sign the cover; the writer signs the inside front cover or a blank page thereafter.  It is innocuous but highly personal to the person receiving the signature from the author.  

It's pretty clear that the same practice persisted in the late 60s, 70s and into the 80s at conventions with creators signing above the indicia (I have a few comics signed by Tim Truman circa 1985, all on the bottom of the first page).  The advent of slabbing changed all of that.  What bothers me most of signing on the fc is the use of thick sharpie pens that bleed through to the inside of the fc.  A nice fine pen against a light-colored background is sufficient.

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On 11/26/2018 at 3:57 PM, vaillant said:

At this point… since I don’t recall if I posted this, except privately in conversations with some boardies. I bought that #8 a few days before.
Picture taken on August 18, 1991 (a few days before Jack’s 78th birthday, IIRC).
So you know at last:
1) How I look(ed) like
2) I am not making things up. lol

 

Is your 1991 interview with King Kirby published or otherwise available?

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2 hours ago, zosocane said:

Is your 1991 interview with King Kirby published or otherwise available?

Yes, in a 1993 issue of Comics Interview, right now I don’t recall the issue but it has a cover picture of Kirby with another guy (a writer?) – I can check if you want but if you Google Kirby and Claudio Piccinini you should find the details.

But again, a re-transcription would probably produce a more faithful result – hope they’ll manage to do so.

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My older brother was already buying comic books when I was a little kid (mostly Superman related titles). If it wasn't for him, I probably would have never noticed them, but when I was about 5 years old, I found myself nosing around in his collection (my brother was 12 at the time). There were a few titles that caught my eye, most notably the Metal Men. He had issues #13, 14 and 18. When I saw issue # 20 at my local Hook's Drug store, I had my mother buy it for me. That was the first comic book I could call my own. I collected the Metal Men from that point on until the series was cancelled with issue #41. Along the way I discovered other titles and fervently collected comic books until I was 15 in 1975. Oddly, about the time my brother stopped buying was when I started buying in the 1966-67 time frame.

metal men #20.jpg

Edited by Jaylam
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17 hours ago, vaillant said:

Yes, in a 1993 issue of Comics Interview, right now I don’t recall the issue but it has a cover picture of Kirby with another guy (a writer?) – I can check if you want but if you Google Kirby and Claudio Piccinini you should find the details.

But again, a re-transcription would probably produce a more faithful result – hope they’ll manage to do so.

Comics Interview #121, 1993.  But i don't see the interview reproduced online.  :baiting:

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1 hour ago, zosocane said:

Comics Interview #121, 1993.  But i don't see the interview reproduced online.  :baiting:

Ah, no – sorry! Then there is no online version available. Unfortunately I no longer have a transcription on file (done in 1991).
Let’s hope Rand Hoppe will do it then!

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22 hours ago, zosocane said:

I agree.  If you give a writer a book (say a hard copy book with a nice color cover sleeve, or even a paper-back), the writer will never sign the cover; the writer signs the inside front cover or a blank page thereafter.  It is innocuous but highly personal to the person receiving the signature from the author.  

It's pretty clear that the same practice persisted in the late 60s, 70s and into the 80s at conventions with creators signing above the indicia (I have a few comics signed by Tim Truman circa 1985, all on the bottom of the first page).  The advent of slabbing changed all of that.  What bothers me most of signing on the fc is the use of thick sharpie pens that bleed through to the inside of the fc.  A nice fine pen against a light-colored background is sufficient.

First time I ever got creator autographs was back in either late 80's or early 90's.   

Marshall Rogers signed some Silver Surfers for me.  He signed on the front page with a standard ballpoint pen.

Ron Frenz signed my ASM252.  He signed on the cover with a gold sharpie.

Slabbing certainly has made cover signing the "thing".  

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