ANOTHER RAISE THE TITANIC COMIC STRIP

Most Cussler collectors know that during the late seventies, Clive’s book, Raise the Titanic! was adapted and serialized in the Sunday comic sections of 130 newspapers. With a combined circulation in excess of 42 million by the Universal Press Syndicate of Mission, Kansas, the strip was produced under the title "BEST SELLERS byline" and ran in nearly every major newspaper across the country. The panels were sketched by noted artist, Frank Bolle, a popular illustrator of the fifties, sixties and seventies, whose work complemented (among others) the Lone Ranger and Gene Autry books. The comic strip ran from August 15, 1977 until October 9, 1977. It varied between three- and six-panel comics. Overall, the panels are highly condensed, fun to read, and quite melodramatic as one would expect from such an endeavor. The strip is faithful to Clive’s original to the extent that this was possible in an unlikely and condensed medium. Inevitably, some liberties were taken with the adaptation. The well-drawn, black and white daily strip (color on Sunday) had a total of 192 individual panels and ran daily over the course of eight weeks. I bring this up because I recently obtained a 1976 Spanish edition entitled Rescaten El Titanic. I bought it from a seller in Argentina. Upon arrival I discovered the thin (cheaply produced) paperback to be only 128 pages which indicates it’s obviously a condensed version of Clive’s book. What’s interesting about this publication is that each page has one or more full-color illustrations–160 in total. Although they do not have the refinement of Bolle’s artwork, they are fairly similar. And, by all indications, this strip may very well predate the one done by Bolle. For me, one of the more interesting aspects of the strip is that one panel depicts the outside of the newspaper, the Rocky Mountain News (which is in Clive’s book). The name of the newspaper is prominently displayed on the building in English. Although the Rocky Mountain News no longer exists, it holds a special meaning to me. That’s where I was employed from 1974 until its closure in 2009. Being able to find this particular edition reminded me that, after twenty-five years of collecting Clive, there are still surprises waiting to be found.

CLIVE’S FIRST ARC

A few months ago I was able to obtain what I consider to be the first ARC (Advance Reading Copy or similar moniker) of a Cussler book. Since I don’t believe one was done for his first two books (The Mediterranean Caper and Iceberg), the first (Clive’s third published book) has always been Raise the Titanic!. If you want you can check out the post preceding this one for further explanation on that matter. Many collectors have a copy of this particular ARC of Raise the Titanic!. It has paper wrappers with a blue cover and the title and author are in off-white. Depending on condition, prices for this book range between fifty and three hundred dollars. In 2000, I saw a listing for a galley of Raise the Titanic! that preceded the more common ARC. Bound in orange paper wrappers, it has 290 hand-numbered pages and is specifically labeled as an “Unrevised Proofs.” In September, 2000, that particular one sold for $405. The condition was described as fine/unread and, unfortunately, had a book plate laid in with Clive’s signature. That was the first and only one I ever came across. This year a second one came up for auction. I ended up being the top bidder. The condition was Very Good at best. It cost me $511. I was able to get Clive to sign it and he included his “Get It Up!” inscription/drawing. Of the two or three books I need to “complete” my collection, this was one of them. It’s definitely a book for collectors to try and obtain. Now you have an idea of what to look for so you can find one on your own. Good luck.

ARC FOR THE MEDITERRANEAN CAPER

One of the more desirable Advance Reading Copies (ARCs) of Clive’s books is
the one for the upcoming 40th anniversary edition of The Mediterranean Caper.
Due this July as a Putnam hardcover, I can tell you that the ARC for this
edition is already out. For several reasons, I consider this ARC a “must
have” for any serious collector of Clive Cussler. One reason is that The
Mediterranean Caper was Clive’s first published book and I don’t believe
that an ARC was done for the Pyramid paperback version forty years ago. As a
result, having an ARC of Clive’s debut book in a collection can be a new
cornerstone. Plus, unlike other ARCs produced for Clive’s newly-released
books, there were only around 50 or so made for The Mediterranean Caper—an
exceedingly small print run for this type of edition. The ARC for the 40th
anniversary edition does include a “Foreword” penned by Clive, although a
preliminary cover of the book that I’ve seen indicates it as a
“Preface.” I understand that the Foreword will eventually be renamed to be
a “Preface.” Recently, I’ve noticed ARCs for both Zero Hour (due out in
June) and The Mayan Secrets (scheduled for a September release) are available
on the usual Internet auction sites, but I’ve yet to see one for The
Mediterranean Caper. This is probably due to the limited number produced. My
advice: If you see one, grab it.

NEW BOX SET

Last month I came across something quite interesting at a local Barnes Noble. Occasionally when I visit I’ll scan the shelves of Cussler books in the fiction section. Rarely do I find anything of interest and mainly do so to make certain I haven’t missed any new paperback releases. On this particular visit I noticed a “box set” of Cussler paperbacks. It contained The Mediterranean Caper, Iceberg and Raise the Titanic!, Clive’s first three published novels. They were the newer released Pocket Books editions which can currently be found (individually) nearly anywhere. But the fact that they were part of a box set was exciting—at least to me. I love Cussler sets like these and wish more were available. From what I can determine, the UK does an admirable job of producing box sets, mixing old and new titles while incorporating several of the different series. Of those I have a few of them. After discovering this one at Barnes Noble I went home and researched it online. Evidently, it came out a month earlier on October 23. The bookstore’s retail price was $29.95 (the actual combined cost of the three paperbacks). Amazon listed it at a discounted price. Although I’d have to pay for shipping, the one at Amazon would still be a few dollars less than Barnes Noble. Still, I decided to go back and purchase that one at the store. It was in perfect condition with the shrinkwrap completely intact. I didn’t want to take a chance that the box would get banged up or crushed during shipping. In addition, it was the only one at that Barnes Noble. I did visit another store and found a set at that one as well. It was not with Clive’s books but rather with box sets of other popular authors and was the only one at that store. From what I can tell, it seems to be a bit rare and is, I believe, worth having in a collection.

WHY NO U.S. ARC OF VIXEN 03?

During the 25 years I’ve been collecting Clive’s works, I’ve often wondered why I never came across a U.S. ARC (Advance Reading Copy) of his 1978 book, Vixen 03. I always thought that a bit strange. I pretty much have (or know of) every ARC for every other Clive book. The obvious exceptions are The Mediterranean Caper (Pyramid Books) and Iceberg (Dodd Mead & Co). For years now I’ve come to the conclusion that none were produced for either book. To be honest, I thought the same for the U.S. edition of Vixen 03. There is an ARC for the U.K. edition (published by London: Hodder and Stoughton), but I never saw or heard of one for the U.S. edition. I now think I know why. Recently, I obtained a U.S. first edition of Vixen 03 with an accompanying press release and publisher’s letter. The two-page news release discusses the book’s plot and lists its upcoming release date (October 23, 1978). The release also includes the schedule (and cities) for Clive’s book tour for the book. With this was also a letter from the Associate Director of Publicity (Viking Penguin) indicating the possibility of setting up an interview with Clive. I tend to think the three items (book, press release and letter) have been together since 1978. So with the evidence at hand, I believe that the hardcover book was the ARC, sent to reviewers and editors alike, along with the press release and letter. I know that in lieu of printing a separate ARC, some publishers did sent out copies of the first hardcover to reviews and editors. Although an isolated case—at least for Clive’s work—I’m convinced that’s what happened with the U.S. ARC of Vixen 03. For now, that’s the theory I’m sticking with—unless I discover something else.

ULTRA-RARE CUSSLER COLLECTIBLE

Recently I received an ARC (Advance Reading Copy) of THE TOMBS, the latest book in the Fargo series written by new co-writer, Thomas Perry. Unlike the standard ARCs of Clive’s books with a full-color cover that will eventually grace the hardcover edition, this one had a plain white cover. In addition, its size is not quite the same as the standard one. Unsure exactly what it was, I soon learned that this plain cover ARC was done in a very limited run for the trade publications only. Evidently, the regular ones were held up for some cover art tweaking. And get this, only eight of these plain white cover ones were made. So with only eight in existence, that pretty much makes it about the rarest edition in my collection. While I have a few things in which only a handful may exist now, none of them began with such a low number. At this stage of the game I didn’t think there would be that much rare stuff coming out. It’s nice to see that those kinds of things are still around.

THE SHIPKILLER

Recently I obtained an ARC of the re-release (thirty-fifth anniversary) of The Shipkiller, Justin Scott’s classic story of revenge and love set on the oceans of the world, from the South Atlantic to the oil-slicked reaches of the Persian Gulf. I remember reading the paperback on a trip to Florida I took in 1980. Since then I’ve always known of the book and was pleasantly surprised (back in 2008) when I found out that Justin would be Clive’s co-writer on the Isaac Bell series. When I received the ARC for this new book, I was delighted to see that a Preface has been added to this new edition penned by Clive himself. If you’re like me, you’ll collect (or at least want to know about) books that Clive contributed to via a Foreword, Introduction or Preface like this one. While I’m also interested in books written by Clive’s co-writers, this one is particularly appealing because it’s by one and includes Clive’s Preface—it’s got it all! The new book will be released this coming Father’s Day in hardcover by Pegasus Crime (W.W.Norton & Co.). Pick it up and enjoy!