Marvel Value Stamps 9-24
Return with me now to the ongoing autopsy of my Marvel Value Stamp book.
You don’t think that’s scary, kids?
Count Floyd thinks it’s scary!
All right, pull the sheet off the body, already!
Ugh, the carnage. I didn’t even manage to fill half of these pages. I suppose that is cause for celebration — it means their are fewer Bronze Age cadavers clogging up my longboxes — but it also points to the general futility of this whole enterprise.
(Pause for an existential moment where I ponder the general futility of everything.)
(Deep breath.)
(OK, good to go.)
These pages give us all the barbarians, monsters, and reprinted soldier books that characterized 1970s Marvel. Deathlok would have been a brand-spanking-new character when this book was printed — kind of amazing they got him into the collection. I always liked Deathlok (to be fair, I remembered the book being better than it is), and it seems kind of appropriate to remember him this Halloween. I identified with Deahtlok, maybe because his half-face reminded me of my half-full Marvel Value Stampbook.
Let’s look at the price tag for this particular collection:
- #13 Doctor Strange: Avengers #127- $23
- #16 Shang-Chi: Incredible Hulk #179 – $15 (1st Len Wein)
- #20 Brother Voodoo: Defenders #17 – $14
- #21 Kull: Fantastic Four #151- $15 (1st app of Mahkizmo Nuclear man)
- #23 Sgt. Fury: Doctor Strange #1 – $64 (yes, I cut up a #1)
- #24 Falcon: Conan #42 – $8
That brings the running total to replace my defaced Marvel Value Stamp-era books to … $243. Yay.
Marvel Value Stamps. Striking when you are most vulnerable!
Marvel Value Stamp info sourced through the Marvel Value Stamps Index. Thanks to Billy King for Marvel Value Stamp horror scenes Photoshop wizardry and indexing back order prices!
TOMORROW: The Walking Dead!
Posted on October 10, 2019, in Halloween Month and tagged Marvel Value Stamp. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
dangvozden
Paul O'Connor
Kris (not Chris)
markginocchio
miloapama
Dean Compton
Moya
ryanmcswain
Longbox Graveyard 
I’m loving your custom images on these posts Paul! The Phantom of the Opera image from last post made me literally laugh out loud.
I expect there is no hard data available that tells us whether this horrible marketing strategy actually resulted in any meaningful sales bump?
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I saw that a full-volume study of Marvel Value Stamps is coming from Roy Thomas sometime next year, so maybe that will give us numbers … but I doubt it. I’m not sure Marvel had the strongest grip on their metrics in those pre-Direct Market days.
And yes, aren’t Billy King’s horror stills a scream? When I was hatching the idea of a Halloween month revival for the blog, I knew I wanted some special custom image work to tie everything together, and that Marvel Value Stamp Book gag series sprung up out of some lunch or another. We have several more images locked and loaded for the rest of the series and I think each one to follow is better than the last.
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BTW Who is Count Floyd?
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WHO IS COUNT FLOYD???
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Count Floyd was a continuing character on the SCTV sketch comedy series. He was the host of Monster Chiller Horror Theater, and the continuing gag was that he was always trying to prop up the lamest movies as being something terrifying. Look him up on YouTube! Great show.
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I remember SCTV had a comedy special called “Really Weird Tales.” Kind of a Twilight Zone parody I guess.
What I remember most, besides how hilarious John Candy was, was this theme song which sounded like Bobby Darin or Frank Sinatra sang it.
“Man o man, these are really weird tales…”
“Weird tales are back in town….!”
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