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Mike Washburn
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 22 November 2024
Location: Canada
Posts: 7
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| Posted: 23 November 2024 at 8:53pm | IP Logged | 1
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John, did you know about the Wolverine story 'At the Sign of the Lion' published in Marvel Comic #335 (UK) in 1979? It was written by Jo Duffy, penciled by Ken Landgraf, and inked by George Pérez. Given its fascinating history and your roots in the UK, I thought you might find it particularly interesting. https://gocollect.com/blog/x-men-133-vs-marvel-uk-335-which- is-wolverines-first-solo-story Cheers.
Edited by Mike Washburn on 23 November 2024 at 8:59pm
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005
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| Posted: 23 November 2024 at 8:59pm | IP Logged | 2
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Oops! I got a 404 error.
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Mike Washburn
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 22 November 2024
Location: Canada
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| Posted: 23 November 2024 at 9:01pm | IP Logged | 3
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Can you please try again? :)
There was something wrong with the hyperlink formatting when I added it. The link to the article has been updated.
Edited by Mike Washburn on 26 November 2024 at 3:06pm
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James Woodcock
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Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 7861
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| Posted: 24 November 2024 at 1:45am | IP Logged | 4
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I bought this comic @ release, & think I still have it somewhere.
It’s been getting quite a bit of attention recently as it seems people have
realised the story was published in this comic first (a bit like some of the
Star Wars stories inStar Wars Weekly).
@ the time, I didn’t realise this was the case, in fact, I didn’t realise until it
blew up this year.
It’s a fun little ditty.
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Mike Washburn
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Joined: 22 November 2024
Location: Canada
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| Posted: 24 November 2024 at 3:19am | IP Logged | 5
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Yeah, I played a role in connecting the dots, doing the research, and sharing information about this story, which had flown under the radar for 45 years.
In the UK, those lucky enough to get a copy of the book—which had very low sales—likely assumed it was just another reprinted story. Meanwhile, people in the US knew nothing about it, as it was never distributed there. However, the story was eventually reprinted in the US in 1980 as part of a Treasury Edition.
I spoke with Dez Skinn, the Marvel UK editor at the time, who shared an interesting anecdote. For Marvel Comic #335, original backup stories were included because the intended content was lost during delivery. Apparently, the motorcycle courier transporting the pages to the printer accidentally dropped them off the back of his bike.
Another noteworthy detail is that both Dez Skinn and Ken Landgraf (the penciler) mentioned this story was a 'tryout' for George Pérez, marking his first inking job. As I understand it, newer artists were typically assigned shorter stories to showcase their skills before being entrusted with larger projects. John would have more insight into this process.
This UK comic is highly collectible and very rare, particularly in high grades. They were printed with very low quality newsprint as you probably know.
If you have a copy, I’d recommend handling it with great care—you might be holding a very special book for many reasons! :)
Edited by Mike Washburn on 24 November 2024 at 2:19pm
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Jason Scott
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Joined: 06 August 2012
Location: Scotland
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| Posted: 24 November 2024 at 10:36am | IP Logged | 6
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Huh. How fascinating! This actually was the first story I ever read with Wolverine in it, back when I was a kid. I never realised it was such a big deal or so little known by other readers as this article makes out. (Wish I still had the original issue now.)
Though I liked the artwork, and Logans cowboy hat look, I wasn't particularly enamoured of the character after this, and it would be many many year laters that I would properly discover the 'New' X-men and read the classic JB issues.
As a kid who didn't really know any better, I probably had a bit of a resistance to the newer X-men, as the only ones I'd read at that time were the UK reprints of the early Stan Lee Jack Kirby issues.
But how startling it is to discover how unique this story was. (Though it now seems rather obvious in retrospect.) I somehow always assumed that everybody had read this back then as I had.
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Craig Earl
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 July 2019
Location: United Kingdom
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| Posted: 24 November 2024 at 12:15pm | IP Logged | 7
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Ah, memories.
Marvel UK were based in my hometown of Sevenoaks, Kent from 1976 to 1979, right across the road from the newsagent where my sister worked (who also used to buy the Spider-Man Weekly for me).
Fun fact: Neil Tennant (of Pet Shop Boys fame) was the Editor for Marvel UK for a few years in the 1970's.
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James Woodcock
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Joined: 21 September 2007
Location: United Kingdom
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| Posted: 24 November 2024 at 6:15pm | IP Logged | 8
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Marvel UK has such a rich history & connections to so many other things.
It was such a fun period
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Colin Ian Campbell
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Joined: 24 April 2015
Location: England
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| Posted: 24 November 2024 at 6:58pm | IP Logged | 9
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It may be over-hyping things to describe Marvel Comic #335 as very rare. I think the Overstreet price guide defined very rare as ten or fewer copies believed to exist in any condition.
If the story was a trial, it may have been considered a failure, as according to GCD, Ken Landgraf's only other work for Marvel seems to have been two short fillers in Crazy and uncredited pencilling on an issue of Marvel Classics Comics. George Perez's inking work for Marvel in those days seems to consist of a handful of covers and illoes he pencilled himself. I never liked Perez's inking as much as his pencilling, but I agree that this story looks nicer than anything else by Landgraf that I've seen.
Of less interest to speculators, the Angel story by Scott Edelman, Brent Anderson and Bob McLeod in #335 and the Vision story by Tom DeFalco, John Fuller and Bruce Patterson in #336 both preceded their American publication. Edelman seems to have written quite a few fillers like this, including the Destroyer/Thanos story in Logan's Run #6.
Edited by Colin Ian Campbell on 24 November 2024 at 8:06pm
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Mike Washburn
Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 22 November 2024
Location: Canada
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| Posted: 24 November 2024 at 10:22pm | IP Logged | 10
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@Colin: If your definition of "very rare" is 10 copies or fewer, then this book doesn’t quite meet that threshold. That said, since it started gaining attention (about a month ago), people have been searching their lofts and basements, and no more than 8 copies have surfaced on eBay. Before that, there may have been another 6–8 copies, but honestly, it’s tough to say for sure.
This book had very limited distribution back in 1979, and many UK comic vendors I’ve spoken to either haven’t seen it in years or have never come across it at all. I spent days searching for copies—scouring UK comic Facebook groups, UK comic stores, and other platforms—but for a long time, I kept hitting dead ends. From my experience, it’s clear that this book is anything but common.
In North America, the challenge is even greater. Good luck finding a copy—there are virtually none available. When I first started digging, CGC had zero copies on the census. Now, there’s one listed, which I suspect they added as a placeholder for future uptake.
I’m making a conscious effort to avoid driving any kind of investment speculation; my main goal is simply to preserve any remaining copies that might still be out there.
I know this isn’t a title that John worked on, but as a fellow collector, I was actually planning to offer him one of the few copies I’ve been able to secure for his personal collection.
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Vinny Valenti
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Joined: 17 April 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 8157
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| Posted: 25 November 2024 at 4:40am | IP Logged | 11
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"However, the story was eventually reprinted in the US in 1980 as part of a Treasury Edition."
---
It was also reprinted in colo(u)r in THE INCREDIBLE HULK AND WOLVERINE #1, which reprinted HULK #180 and 181, with JB drawing an original cover, to boot. (I bought it when it first came outand found it amusing that it released the same month as MAN OF STEEL #1)
It was a fun filler story - if anyone can each enjoy a good scrap, it's both Wolverine and Hercules!
Interesting that this is first ever inking job by Perez. He really brought out the best in other artists, so it was nice to see him do so right from the very beginning.
Edited by Vinny Valenti on 25 November 2024 at 5:01am
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James Woodcock
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Location: United Kingdom
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| Posted: 25 November 2024 at 6:43am | IP Logged | 12
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What I find the most weird about this story, is that I remembered it from the
first time I read it. Well maybe not the first time as such, but from the first
period of reading it.
So much of this is etched in my memory, even though I’ve not read it in
decades (probably). The joke @ the end was rather cute, & the story as a
whole reads like a stand up comedian’s tale.
Methinks I may go look for this over the Christmas holidays.
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