Cpt Kirk

On 5/26/2024 at 9:55 PM, Warlord said:

Welcome! I'm glad you've joined in and are checking out this thread!

Batman #457 is from 1990, and in 1990 the Batman logo basically just denotes a Direct Edition (vs a newsstand).  As such, it doesn't fall within the scope of the Batman logos being discussed in this thread.  For the variants under discussion, there should be a Direct Edition, newsstand, and the multi-pack and/or reprint variant which has the Batman logo.

Here's what comics.org shows for the different versions of Batman #457 vs what you'll see for BA#16 or BA #19, to help illustrate the difference.

 

 

 

I realize this is not germane to this thread, but the rest of the story on the Batman 457 is that the 457 Direct first printing and the 457 Newsstand first printing each have a variant.   Both of them exist with the number "457" in the indicia, and the number "000" in the indicia.  The "000" was an error.  The error is common in the direct edition, but pretty hard to find in the newsstand edition.   And the newsstand variant of the 457 2nd printing is super hard to find, so it sells for big bucks.  You can see all 6 variants on this youtube video (and there are several threads on this website about them).   When I made this video 10 years ago, the newsstand variant of the 2nd printing was only recently found.   Now they are fairly easy to find because the prices caused them all to come out of the closet, so to speak.

On 5/6/2024 at 8:01 PM, pens666 said:

Yes Cpt Kirk, it is a Canadian price variant, which is rare in itself, was just curious if this error might make it more valuable.  It is going out to CGC next week, I am going to place a note on it to ensure they make note of the error.. (looking back at this thread, it appears that manufacturing errors are given blue labels now...I would not grade it if I'm going to get the green label...)

yes, I'm sure the error will make it more valuable.  I myself would gladly pay $100 for it unslabbed just to give you some idea of value.  Others might pay more.  With variants, you never know what price you might get (anywhere from zero interest to hundreds of dollars)

On 5/6/2024 at 6:56 PM, ADAMANTIUM said:

 

 

Thanks!   I missed the part where he said inside back cover was blank.   My friend just weighed in and said that his Canadian variant of BM 399 has normal inside front cover and normal inside back cover. 

On 5/6/2024 at 2:26 PM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

@Cpt Kirk another variant for you to find. 

On 5/6/2024 at 1:53 PM, Shazbot said:

There’s a whole bunch of Dell titles from May of ‘54 that had some of their interior covers run blank like this, where others of the same titles had adds printed. I have a Little Lulu from that “batch” that looks like that, I don’t hold out much hope that it affects the value very much. Your book may be more unique with this particular defect than mine though.

I'm thinking the Batman is a manufacturing error.   But what also strikes me is that it looks like a Canadian Price Variant, given the $1.00 price tag on the front cover.  Is the inside back cover also blank?

On 5/5/2024 at 8:12 PM, Brandon Shepherd said:

Oh man! 705 and 706 are very nostalgic for me. I’ve been after 705 in 9.8 for years. I was so excited to have 705 as a kid because even then, as a 13 year old in 1995, I thought Superman’s mullet looked really *^%#*#^ stupid. A cover of Superman with a better haircut was one of the better parts of 1994 to me. So 705 is a tough one for a DCU? I almost wish I didn’t know that.

Love this thread.

yes, 705 is hard to find, especially in high grade

On 5/5/2024 at 9:42 AM, Brandon Shepherd said:

 

Why do I do this to myself?

I also wonder if this is a good price or not.

Voice inside my head, “please stop!”

Seems like a good idea to buy it if you really want 9.8's.    As stated earlier in these threads, I think the monkey fighters who put these comic books in the packs were as high as a kite, and then the kids who got those packs from Toys R Us probably just threw them in the closet with their baseball cards.   So probably not a lot of them survived to become 9.8's.   

On 5/4/2024 at 6:33 PM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

That lot was for one specific buyer. (I messaged with the seller. He had several of these.) 

I was really hoping to get one, but like you I saw all of these including his past sales after the fact. 

This isn't the 1st time that I have seen some that were previously thought rare show up in batches.

IMO there were some packs that didn't sell as well and were liquidated in lots which have led to several sitting in lots buried in backstock/collections. 

Really wish I would find some of those stacks.

For sure.   We need to see stacks of the 2-packs contained Batman 513, Detective 693, Funeral for a Friend, Action 706, Adventures of Superman 523, etc!

On 4/27/2024 at 8:15 PM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

This just arrived courtesy of @Cpt Kirk unfortunately it has been opened and is missing some of the books. I definitely appreciate you sending me the package!

This sealed pack has been on my want list for a while now. I am still looking if any one has one ! 

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I think I bought that pack almost 10 years ago for approximately 10 bucks.   I just figured it was fairly common so I took some of the DCU's out and sent them to some friends who needed them.  

On 4/7/2024 at 8:10 PM, FanBoyOfMarve'nDC said:

Seeing a post like this makes me really want to post up pics of my tougher DCU's....

In any event, I know how much time you put into scouring for DCU's, given how much time I've put into them over since I really upped my game on looking for DCU's.

F for respect, as the kids say

We would love to see those photos!   Just call in sick one day and make it happen 

On 4/8/2024 at 6:53 PM, Gatsby77 said:

Oh wow - I remember that storyline (having bought it off the shelf) - and had no idea they did a 2nd printing.

I thought about it lately because sometime in the last month I saw an auction house had an original art page for sale from # 445-447 - and it really irked me that they misidentified the antagonist as the KGBeast. Rather, it was his protege - the NYKDemon.

Haven't read the books in 30+ years but they stuck with me - that whole run from 400-500 was truly amazing.

Agreed.   And because of the over printing in the 1990's, most of that run can be bought for next to nothing.

On 3/19/2024 at 10:41 AM, Adam H1 said:

 

Calling on the CGC community for assistance on this one.

In seeing the Mark Jeweler inserts gaining more and more steam over the years in the comic book world, I have just submitted a ticket/question internally to CGC if they would or have ever noted a Mark Jewelers incorrectly placed upside down in a book. Virtually no information online, and wanted to see if anyone out there has come across one. And what is needed to petition CGC to start noting in reflecting this on their labels. Understanding the extreme rarity of this…would think it would be greatly beneficial to both CGC and the customer to have it.

yes, I have seen them inserted incorrectly in the past.   When that happens, it is usually a fluke because other I have also found the same comic book with the insert installed correctly.

On 3/19/2024 at 7:02 PM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

@Cpt Kirk

Ok.  Here we go:

1. I wonder who put those kids up to posing in their Mask "jammies" and what those kids are doing now?   

2. If a comic book received the Mask mini comic book, then every single issue of that comic book (both direct and newsstand) contained the insert.  In other words, if the insert is missing then it was removed from the comic book and the comic book is not complete.  Examples include Batman 397, Superman 421, Justice League of America 254, and Green Lantern 204.   

 3.  If a comic book received the Mask mini comic book, then they never attempted to add a Mark Jeweler advertising insert on top of it or instead of it (they probably didn't want to interrupt the flow of the Mask comic book with a jeweler insert, or something like that)

by the way, who in the H-E double hockey sticks orders something like that in 1986 and then never opens the mailer?

On 3/10/2024 at 11:19 PM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

As a set 1-4 usually sells anywhere from about $40 on the low end raw and a higher CGC graded set 9.2-9.6 sells for around $400-$500. This set still in mailers you could probably ask closer to the $400 mark or higher and let someone negotiate down. 

As if they actually all grade out 9.6 to 9.8 they could potentially be more valuable.  (This is not likely, but not impossible.  ) 

Personally the mailers still sealed are a lot cooler. 

What are your thoughts @Cpt Kirk ?

Well, if you really want to be nutty like me, here's what you do:

1.  Keep the mailers sealed.

2.  Buy near mint unsealed copies of the books that are contained within the mailers. 

Then you have one of each.  And you can show your like-minded friends (all 2 of them) the comic book in the sealed mailer, and then show them the unsealed comic book as well.

On 3/5/2024 at 6:08 PM, Jesse-Lee said:

Death in the Family was all my friends and I could talk about when it came out. I was 11, and I remember begging my parents to let me call the 900 number (that didn't go well for me... ). I agree that it's really cool they did the alternate release - I grabbed a copy of each of the open order covers.

Oh yeah.... I remember calling the 900 number and voting to kill him off!   lol.

On 8/11/2023 at 8:25 AM, oldbsturgeon said:

phase 2 is now complete: with 428 purchased, I have 404-713 done. I started this mid April so it has happened fairly fast.

The next part will be getting the missing books from 300-399, which is currently sitting at 73 books to do that.

My plan was to have that done by the end of the year, though it may be longer than that.

 

 

a little geezing here.... I remember the excitement in my LCS when this series came out originally.   So I was super happy to see the alternate ending recently published.  It was fun to read.

On 2/22/2024 at 8:36 PM, Cpt Kirk said:

It is authentic.   The key is that little "88" code in the lower right hand side of the insert.   Almost all inserts that appeared in issues with cover dates of Nov 1975 have that code on the blue matted paper stock.

p.s.  If you could find another jeweler variant of that Witching Hour #60 (good luck on that), you might even see that same stapling defect on another copy.   A good example is the jeweler variant of Justice League of America 122.   The jeweler insert of that comic book has the cover stapled onto the comic book after the insert was already stapled into the centerfold (go figure how that would happen).   I've seen 3 copies that all had the double set of staples on them. 

In other words, I believe all jeweler variants of JLA 122 have 4 staples in them.  If one didn't know better, they would guess that someone just stapled an insert into the comic book to make it look like a jeweler variant.  

On 2/22/2024 at 11:19 AM, icp004 said:

Interested in opinions on whether this issue is a genuine MJ insert or owner added.  The bottom staple has one prong sheered off.  Not sure how this would happen unless it was bent open and broke when being bent back closed.  Also the insert is a matted card stock and not glossy print like the other MJ inserts I own. Thanks!

 

It is authentic.   The key is that little "88" code in the lower right hand side of the insert.   Almost all inserts that appeared in issues with cover dates of Nov 1975 have that code on the blue matted paper stock.

On 2/5/2024 at 8:19 PM, L.E. Gill said:

This stickered variant is fascinating to me because up until now we have only seen this particular DCU issue released as part of the slightly harder November 20 pack (brick).  I have multiple confirmed examples of 20 packs which have substituted a Newsstand barcode when a DCU printed version was not available (as opposed to a stickered version) but never a 20 pack with a stickered version.  This does lend credence to the possibility that a 2 pack containing Superboy #9 DCU may exist and I would love to see a sealed example, stickered or not.  I'd also love to see a 20 pack with an obvious stickered edition included.  Please share your 2 pack and 20 pack pics.

I've updated the DC Collector's Set 2 pack Image Gallery with a handful of new sets and a few date corrections I've discovered between November and now.  Nothing particularly groundbreaking just a couple of 2 packs, mostly of the non-DCU/ 2nd print variety,  You can view it here,

 

I too have never seen a stickered DCU variant in a 20 pack.   I have seen them in 2-packs.  Furthermore, I found a Superman 104 stickered DCU in the Superman Greatest Foes pack.

On 2/3/2024 at 9:05 PM, Jesse-Lee said:

If I have to have it stuck in my head, so do all of you:

 

Great find.   And I'm glad I don't recognize that song, and there's no way I'm going to hit the "play" button.  That's the last thing I need going thru my head on a Monday... 

On 1/29/2024 at 12:56 AM, Stooby said:

Thanks for the link - much appreciated.  Mine has a color cover and includes a comic reprint.  @Cpt Kirk I welcome any feedback you can offer.  Thx.

First of all, that's a really awesome collector's item you have there.  I hate to say it, but I remember 1988 very well.  There was a lot of excitement associated with the "new" Superman that was released in 1988.   

I have no idea what the value of that press kit would be other than to say I would gladly pay $200 for it.  If someone with a Worthpoint account could report the final sales price of the ebay auction, I would love to hear about it.

On 1/21/2024 at 11:52 AM, Brock said:

 

If I split hairs, though, your question was actually "Was there ever a DC comic book prior to the New 52 that had more variants than Adventures of Superman 443?" Many of the variants that expand these three lists come AFTER the New 52.

By that standard, Killing Joke probably still comes ahead, with 20 variations on the list that @masterlogan2000 shared, plus possibly a stickered variant or two. Of course, we still don't know for sure how many mall variants there are.

Thanks for pointing that out.   Here is something to consider about those Adv of SM mall variants.   They are so extremely rare (many of the ones I have are the only known copy).  We know of 18 mall variants but I bet there may many, many more of them that were made but have not yet been found (and perhaps some of them will never be found.... I think they only made about 200 copies for each mall).

On 1/21/2024 at 12:31 PM, Iconic1s said:

Don’t forget the Dollar Comic 

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But aren’t these reprints, rather than true variants?

Nice job getting that Dollar Comic in 9.8.   Yes, I count that comic book as a variant, but I can imagine that we could have an entire thread on what constitutes a variant vs a reprint.

On 1/21/2024 at 11:29 AM, masterlogan2000 said:

I think you have two major contenders here if you go outside of the core, mainstream DC titles.  Batman Adventures 12 and Batman: Killing Joke.

 

Batman:  Killing Joke

If you count one-shots / prestige editions, Batman:  Killing Joke has a ton of printings, each with different cover variations.  @aszumilo put together a really nice compilation of covers and info last year here on the boards.

 

The GCD also lists some info at the following link:
https://www.comics.org/issue/43808/

I'm convinced that this book has other slight variations (newsstands, stickered copies, promos, etc) that just aren't documented.  Also, this is a comic that will continue to get printed

 

Batman Adventures #12

Undoubtedly, Batman Adventures #12 is the "winner" though... Fan Expo alone released a blind bag with 12 variants.  I don't know if that this for this upcoming year, or if those were the blind bags from two years ago.
https://fanexpohq.com/dallasfanfestival/premium-vip-perks-batman-blind-bag/

That is on top of the other Fan Expo versions of this book that have been released over the years.  MCS has a bunch listed, but I don't feel it's fully comprehensive.
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=58042879

Let's not forget the variants from other conventions like NYCC and Megacon (and possibly C2E2), which may come in both virgin and trade dress.

I think there are also a couple foil versions floating around and possibly some store variants.

It's worth noting that the indicia on some of these books states that these are later printings.  I've seen CGC denoted that in the past.  For instance, the Jonboy Meyers variant of this book is listed in the indicia and on the CGC label as "Fourth printing".

I fully expect this book to kill millions of additional trees going forward.  If people keep buying them, variants will continue to get pumped out year after year.

 

Awesome.  That's exactly the feedback I was looking for. 

p.s.  The number of modern variants is crazy.   If we didn't count variants that have been produced after the variant explosion that occurred with the New 52, then I think the Adventures of Superman mall variants would be the clear winner for most variants of a DC Comic book.