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1st Smurfs 1958 (yes 1958) Spirou 1071/1072 Club
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303 posts in this topic

 

Since not much interest in the general section and it’s from the silver age, gonna post it here

There’s a nice set on the current comiclink auction(not my book).  I’ve been collecting the smurfs 1982 marvel set.  Cool covers on that set and they are cheap but that set came out 25 years after their 1st appearance.  Surprising I had one well known dealer on this boards not know what Spirou 1071/1072 were(not a bad thing but more indicative of the lack of a market for it). Do most dealers know about them? Maybe since there isn’t much demand at cons therefore it’s irrelevant all these years?  Also since it’s not from the USA it’s unlikely to be in any original owner collection.  I’ve seen the character Peewit since my cousins collected the spirou issues back in the late 70s.  Problem is that most of the sellers of Spirou are from France/Belgium.  I’ve located English speaking sellers though :)

 

 

171A81C0-B9B4-47E3-AB6E-8E1AC26234DD.jpeg

 

Edited by Spiderturtle
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14 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

I'd think that unless you're from Europe or lived there at the time you're likely to have little or no interest in the Smurfs - 2c  As well, it's in french...

Very true.  My cousins grew up in Vietnam and they were able to get a hold of the Spirou issues in the 70s.    He was  excited when a local library sold the Spirou issues for dirt cheap.  The USA doesn’t have the European influence compared to the rest of the world.  One example is that the German group Modern talking is big in Asia while most U.S. people don’t even know who they are.  

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7 hours ago, pemart1966 said:

I'd think that unless you're from Europe or lived there at the time you're likely to have little or no interest in the Smurfs - 2c  As well, it's in french...

I’m not a European and I love the Smurfs.  Did you not watch the cartoons?  They are awesome.  But maybe I have misunderstood what you were trying to say.

In any event, I love the Smurfs! :whee:

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8 hours ago, MusterMark said:

I’m not a European and I love the Smurfs.  Did you not watch the cartoons?  They are awesome.  But maybe I have misunderstood what you were trying to say.

In any event, I love the Smurfs! :whee:

I was an adult when this first first came to light in North America ergo I would have no reason/interest to watch.  You did not mis-understand.  I didn't grow up with then and thus have no interest in them.  I suspect that it's the same for most North Americans on these boards.

Edited by pemart1966
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6 minutes ago, pemart1966 said:

I was an adult when this first first came to light in North America ergo I would have no reason/interest to watch.  You did not mis-understand.  I didn't grow up with then and thus have no interest in them.  I suspect that it's the same for most North Americans on these boards.

Then I must be one of the very lucky few.  :blush:

Btw, I watched all the cartoons after I became an adult.

Edited by MusterMark
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1 hour ago, MusterMark said:
1 hour ago, pemart1966 said:

I was an adult when this first first came to light in North America ergo I would have no reason/interest to watch.  You did not mis-understand.  I didn't grow up with then and thus have no interest in them.  I suspect that it's the same for most North Americans on these boards.

Then I must be one of the very lucky few.  :blush:

Btw, I watched all the cartoons after I became an adult.

My sisters watched them avidly. A few years ago I paid strong money for what were, at the time, top census copies of the pair..... alas, circumstances forced me to sell. Every time I see copies listed in the sales forum they seem to sell. GOD BLESS....

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)(thumbsu

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7 hours ago, MusterMark said:

Then I must be one of the very lucky few.  :blush:

Btw, I watched all the cartoons after I became an adult.

I was a kid when they were on tv in the 80s.  I watched them while eating a bowl of cereal every Saturday.  Most kids I knew back then watched them.  

Edited by Spiderturtle
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4 hours ago, jimjum12 said:

My sisters watched them avidly. A few years ago I paid strong money for what were, at the time, top census copies of the pair..... alas, circumstances forced me to sell. Every time I see copies listed in the sales forum they seem to sell. GOD BLESS....

-jimbo(a friend of jesus)(thumbsu

Agreed.  I loved them and still do... first through my kid sister and now my kids enjoy them.   I even had som figurines I collected of them in the early 80's.  I remember those books you had Jim.  They were beautiful.  

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I believe the attention gathered among american collectors is heavily due to the early sales here on the boards, which increased the interest on the single #1071-1072 books.
At the time in France and Belgium the two issues were just part of the 1958 year runs, and sold for a few Euros (nice copies up to 10-15 Euro max.), because the french-speaking collectors consider the first hardbound edition to be the "official" first edition. These are very expensive.

So we might say this is an interesting case showing how – in a globalized context – the american market can heavily influence foreign comic markets.
A similar thing has happened with the italian edition of ASM #300, but that’s a different matter as in this case it’s a simple foreign edition.

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4 minutes ago, vaillant said:

I believe the attention gathered among american collectors is heavily due to the early sales here on the boards, which increased the interest on the single #1071-1072 books.
At the time in France and Belgium the two issues were just part of the 1958 year runs, and sold for a few Euros (nice copies up to 10-15 Euro max.), because the french-speaking collectors consider the first hardbound edition to be the "official" first edition. These are very expensive.

So we might say this is an interesting case showing how – in a globalized context – the american market can heavily influence foreign comic markets.
A similar thing has happened with the italian edition of ASM #300, but that’s a different matter as in this case it’s a simple foreign edition.

I have learned a lot from chromium, marmat, vaillant,  readymade breakup in regards to spirou 1071/1072.  Readymade breakup is the only American board member.   Comicconnect and comiclink do not promote the book in depth(see past and current auction).  Probably because USA collectors are not aware of them.

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3 minutes ago, Spiderturtle said:

I have learned a lot from chromium, marmat, vaillant,  readymade breakup in regards to spirou 1071/1072.  Readymade breakup is the only American board member.   Comicconnect and comiclink do not promote the book in depth(see past and current auction).  Probably because USA collectors are not aware of them.

Yes, I believe the collectors which grew interested in it were mostly participants here. Then board member Beige – which IIRC is from Australia – decided to slab a set, and I believe it’s the one which then was bought by Jim. This gathered further interest, but even with the current interest do not make the mistake to consider the Spirou issues "scarce" by any means: the magazine in 1958 already had a huge print run, and the best thing if one wants the magazines instead of the hardbound first print would be to get a run of the issues with the full Johan and Pirlouit story.

A good alternative for collectors looking for the magazine is the publisher-issued hardbound collection (they used to do that each year). Here’s one from eBay.fr in very nice shape:
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/SPIROU-ALBUM-RELIURE-N-69-1958-SANS-Supplement-Noel-ETAT-SUP-BE/163392860044?hash=item260af92f8c:g:b-AAAOSwKXdafaDO:rk:2:pf:0
This contains all of the 1958 issues, but not the complete story (which ends in 1959).
To have the full story one would need the 1959 run as well, which is this one:
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/Album-Du-Journal-Spirou-70/273564617931?hash=item3fb1b8cccb:g:5ysAAOSw5tNb3Yhh:rk:4:pf:0

But the french collectors aim for the first hardcover of “La Flûte à six schtroumpfs” as the “must have” book. The hardcover came out in 1960.
This is an early edition, no copies of the 1960 first edition are available on eBay.fr right now:
https://www.ebay.fr/itm/JOHAN-ET-PIRLOUIT-n-9-1961-EDITION-RARE-LA-FLUTE-A-SIX-SCHTROUMPFS-TBE/323556329607?hash=item4b5575c887:g:QDgAAOSwwmlZhtBX:rk:1:pf:0

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Correction: Actually one would need the publisher's reliures #66, 67, 68, 69 and 70 to have the full story.
The story ran with just a few pages for each issue, so it took about 40 issues to be completed. Since the reliures just collect ten issues each, you see it’s quite an undertaking!

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1 minute ago, Ryan. said:

I've offered copies of Spirou 1071 & 1072, including slabbed copies, for sale here on the boards and received only tepid interest. 

It probably depends on the moment… I believe there are just a limited number of collectors interested in them.

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9 hours ago, pemart1966 said:

I was an adult when this first first came to light in North America ergo I would have no reason/interest to watch.  You did not mis-understand.  I didn't grow up with then and thus have no interest in them.  I suspect that it's the same for most North Americans on these boards.

There is also to say that the TV cartoons were a "simplified" product aimed at children of a young age. I did not like them as a kid, while I used to love the comics.
The comic is very sophisticate, the humour and satire are for all ages and as with all the great french-belgian productions they are neither aimed at "children" or "adults": they’re just very good stuff. ;)

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Vaillant and Chromium have given great perspective on the international view/market/habits in regards to the smurfs.  Question for any dealer that wants to answer this question: Spirou 1071/1072 could have been had for a cheap price not too long ago but talking to different collectors here on the boards it's not readily available at cons.  What was the reason behind it?  Even if there was little interest in it, why not spend cheap on it and mark it up whatever percentage you want.  Little risk with possibility of a nice reward.  have an inventory that has wide range of selection.  As a little kid even before the smurfs became popular on tv, I knew about the Spirou series b/c my cousins were a big fan of Peewit of the Spirou series.  For me, I learned about Spirou 1071 through these boards.  The smurfs from marvel 1980s was the book that was readily available on  ebay and other sites.  cool cover and everything but that came out 25 years after Spirou 1071

Edited by Spiderturtle
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I’ve edited the title to spirou 1071/1072 to include club since there’s a bunch of clubs here-major and minor keys.  So if anyone wants to post a pic of their book, this would be a great place.  

Edited by Spiderturtle
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