Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Retro Foreign

British Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of the Empire Strikes Back

In England, the three paperback versions of the original Star Wars movies all had different publishers.  Sphere Books published the Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of Star Wars.  Arrow Books published the Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of The Empire Strikes Back.  Finally, Piccolo Books published the Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of Return of the Jedi.

The Empire Strikes Back paperback published by Arrow Books contains the original Yoda drawings.

Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of The Empire Strikes Back - Arrow Books, England (1980)
Unlike the U.S. version which has the price on the front cover, the price of the paperback is in a square on the bottom back cover.  It has prices for the U.K. and Australia.  Notice it still says full-color instead of full-colour in the text at the top.  In addition to the pence price, many British Marvel comics are distinguished from their U.S. counterparts by the banner on the top that reads Marvel All-Colour Comics instead of Marvel Comics Group.

Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of The Empire Strikes Back - Arrow Books, England (1980)
back
Interestingly, it also says Not For Sale in Canada in the price box on the back cover.  This was an indication to Canadian distributors and bookstores that there is another version of the book available for them to sell.

Marvel Comics Illustrated Version of The Empire Strikes Back - Arrow Books, England (1980)
spine
The publisher is clearly shown on the spine.

2 comments:

  1. Hiya, I have a copy of this in average condition. Do you know what the demand is?

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  2. Based on what I have seen on eBay, when priced right, they do sell, so I think there are collectors who are aware of them. This is a rough guess, but I would say a copy in beat up condition will sell for $10 or less, a F to VF copy for $10 - 20 and a NM copy for $20 - 30.

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