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Comics Modern Age

X-Men & Captain Universe and custom comics13232

COLLECTOR dielinfinite private msg quote post Address this user
So I just won a copy of X-Men and Captain Universe mail-in promo for a steal! I had wanted the book for ages since I am a huge fan of the Hildebrandts’ art. However after winning the book I learned a few interesting facts about the book that makes me appreciate it even more.

So I already knew that the book was a mail-in exclusive but hadn’t looked much more i to it. It turns out the mail-order was a little more involved. Each copy is numbered and manufactured with the recipient’s name on the cover and accompanied by a matching trading card.

Additionally Captain Universe appears on the cover as either male or female depending on the recipient. Probably even more so then than today, comic fans then were mostly male resulting in the female version being much rarer than the male cover. I’ve only found one copy of the female version on ebay but the $300 the seller is asking is too rich for my blood!

According to wikipedia, the comic itself has minor changes like skin and hair color, key names, phrases, etc were also customized depending on the purchaser’s mail order form.







Individual numbering isn’t unknown but I can’t think of other books custom manufactured like this. Can anyone think of other examples where each book is made unique, as opposed to modified after the fact?
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Moderator Jesse_O private msg quote post Address this user
@dielinfinite that's pretty dang cool!!!
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You do know that the new guy brings the donuts, right? DWeeB1967 private msg quote post Address this user
Quote:
Originally Posted by dielinfinite
Can anyone think of other examples where each book is made unique, as opposed to modified after the fact

The only one I can think of is the Superman Bradham book. It's not quite the same situation as "X-Men and Captain Universe" since, for the Bradham book, each copy was the same, featuring a kid and his family in the story versus having a different person in each copy of the book on the X-Men book.

https://www.comics.org/issue/1111049/
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COLLECTOR dielinfinite private msg quote post Address this user
I got my book in today. Condition was worse than I expected but for what I paid and the relative scarcity of the book, I am fine keeping it, though I’ll probably try to get another copy signed and graded.

Still it’s cool to be able to flip through the book. The most obvious customization is the use of the purchaser’s name throughout. The inside front cover has a letter from Stan Lee and the inside back cover had a letter from Professor Xavier, both addressed to the purchaser. The purchaser is usually referred to by their full name but also by just their first on occasion. I would have to compare to another copy to identify more changes but the hero does mention promising to call someone and I’m pretty sure that individual’s name is customizable as well.

I REALLY want to see the female version of the book because Captain Universe obviously has a big role in the story and I would love to compare the appearance in both books.

One thing that kind of rubbed my the wrong way is that the purchaser is addressed directly in a couple of advertisements in the book. Considering these are targeted to young children, this is a little too much for me.

Still, I think this is a really cool book and even in this condition I am tempted to get it graded just for the novelty of the book. I’m really curious how many copies of this book were actually printed. The next cheapest copy I can find is about $90 and they go up quite a bit from there
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