Cpt Kirk

Great job!

Notice that some of the backs of the last 9 boards still say $2.25 value. I wonder if that is because they stuffed those packs with older comics that were excess stock.

This website contains images of all the card sheets that I didn't have in my collection shown above except for Board #9. So you can refer to website below for images of Boards 7, 11, and 14 (which are not shown above). I will probably break out Board #9 out of it's pack in the next few weeks if someone doesn't post an image of it before I get around to that. https://www.cosmicteams.com/jla/img/cards/great_heroes/intro3.htm

I'm guessing you have Board #12 shown on Jeff Allendar's web page. If you turn the pack upside down and whack it a few times on a hard surface, the comics will slide down and you will see the bottom two cards (namely Green Lantern/Green Arrow 76 and Aqualad). And here's the rest of the story: After looking at 63 different boards with sealed and unsealed packs, I've concluded that there's a lot of randomness in how these were put together. The card groupings on the sheet and the appearance of the front of the sheet are always the same. However, the same sheet of cards can have different UPC numbers or appearances on the back side. Go figure. I found two more card sheets (namely board #7 and #9 on Jeff Allendar's page) by analyzing the packs, but I'm not going to unseal the packs to reveal the sheets. I still have yet to find 2 of the packs named on Jeff Allendar's page (specifically board #11 and board #14)

Aha... now I get the difference of the 1987 vs 1989, And no worries my friend. I still have one of those Batman 423's in an opened pack if you really want one. I am quite frankly astounded at the prices of those 423's. I probably have at least 3 spares.

Jeff Allender claims 6 different cards were produced in 1987 and 9 more different cards were produced in 1989. Link's to Jeff's checklists are as follows. http://www.nslists.com/dccombk1.htm http://www.nslists.com/dccombk2.htm The first 6 cards shown above were produced in 1987 according to Jeff's checklists. The next 5 cards shown above were produced in 1989 according to Jeff's checklists. Note that the only obvious difference between the 4th card shown above and the last card above is the UPC code. They both have a green background at the top of the card with an orange starburst. All the cards have "DC Comics Inc 1987" printed on the front of the cards, so I don't know how Jeff concluded that the second set was released in 1989 (but I have no reason to doubt his claim either). Many of the cards have different UPC cards, so maybe those will lend a clue for identifying the different types of cards without opening the packs.

After posting a previously undiscovered DC comics 3-pack, I was asked some questions about those trading card sheets that came with the packs. @archivist found Jeff Allender's website which contains a checklist of all known 15 sheets. I have 13 of those 15 sheets in opened packs, so I thought I would post them for anyone who wants to see them. With about 40 other unopened packs in hand, I suspect I could find others but I'm not ready to open up those packs just yet. If I don't have a spare of any given pack, I keep it sealed (the goal is to have all the known packs still sealed). If anyone can produce images of Board 14, please do so (the board number refers to the numbering system in Jeff Allender's website). I have an unopened pack with Board 7 (which I will open as soon and post images as soon as a spare pack arrives from ebay) and I am missing Board 14. An image of the front of Board 14 can be found on the 4th board down on the following link (Board 14 has Power Girl, Superman 76, JLA 1 and others on it): https://www.cosmicteams.com/jla/img/cards/great_heroes/intro3.htm And here are links to Jeff Allender's listing of the following sheets. http://www.nslists.com/dccombk1.htm http://www.nslists.com/dccombk2.htm Board #1 Board #2 Board #3 Board #4 Board #5 Board #6 Board #7 Board #8 Board #9 Board #10 Board #11 Board #12 Board #13 Board #14 (I don't have this one... refer to link above for image of the front) Board #15

I was looking at my spare variants this weekend and realized I have a spare Washington Park AND Georgetown Park mall variant of Adv of Superman 443. If you anyone ever finds a mall variant that is not listed above or finds one of the three that I don't have (namely, Fiesta, Parks at Arlington, and Westgate), I would gladly trade one of my spares plus at least one hundred bucks to obtain one that I don't have. Bounty is more if the mall variant you find is in high grade.

update: I've only got a couple TEC 643's left and one beat-up TEC 638. Feel free to reach out if you want them.

I am surprised that no one on the boards has requested a set of these. I have a couple of friends who wanted them, and I gladly sent them a set. I have one set left that I would sell for $10 per comic book. If someone wants them, please let me know by this Sunday night. Otherwise I will list them on feebay.

I hear you brother. In completing my run of newsstands for Batman, Detective, Superman/Adv of Superman, Action Comics, and Justice League of America, I had to resort to buying at least 100 of the approximately 1,800 newsstands from Mile High. I usually only bought them when the price was reasonable (I believe the highest prices I paid were in the neighborhood of $60 each), and it was very convenient to get them from one place. I probably still have all the receipts, and it would be interesting to compare the prices I paid 10 years ago to the prices that they charge today. Most of mine are 9.0 to 9.8 (only only very rarely 9.8 due to the nature of the beast). I do recall competing on ebay for some Batman newsstands in high grade 10 years ago and I think the highest price I had to pay was about $70 with stiff competition. Glad I did it back then.

Most of the indicias on the DC Universe and other variants from that same time frame are the same as their direct sales and newsstand counterparts. There are a few comics books where they are different, and there's some discussion on that buried further back on this thread.

yes, I have a bunch of those trading card sheets, and I would be glad to help you out with that. I just sent you a PM.

Wow..... that sounds purely coincidental. I only discovered these variants on Sept 2, 2021, which is the date that 3-pack arrived at my house. It sounds like someone else figured out the variant on the Detective 643 at about the same. Which is even more astounding that two separate guys would discover the same variant after we've been searching and documenting these variants for more than 15 years now.

If you don't have the 2nd prints and want a copy, send me a PM and let me know. I'm willing to part with them for about the same amount as what I paid for them. First come, first serve. I'm more interested in helping friends on CGC than making money, because those same friends have found really hard-to-find stuff for my collection.

Continue to explore strange new comic shops. To seek out new discoveries and new variants. To boldly go where no man has gone before!

After careful research and collaboration with others such as Mark Weiss, David Loesch, Jerome Wenker, @Warlord, @mysterio, @onlyweaknesskryptonite, @RockMyAmadeus, @archivist, and other gurus, I really thought we had found all of the unmarked reprints of Batman and Detective Comics that were produced during the hey-day of reprints from the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. And then… bam! Three more reprint variants have come out of the woodwork. I recently found reprints of Detective Comics 637, 638 and 643 that I’ve never seen listed before in anyone’s database. I found them when I accidentally stumbled across a 3-pack containing Detective 637/638/643 on ebay, and then bought it simply because I had never seen that pack before. I thought for sure it would contain first printings. When I got the pack in hand, I pried open the edge of the shrink wrap to confirm that those comics had the same back cover as the first printings. I was surprised to see that they did not. So in the name of variant science, I opened the pack. Lo and behold, each issue had the KEMCO “Shift Happens” ad on the back cover, just like other Batman and Detective 2nd printings from that same time frame. On closer inspection, I found an obvious difference on the cover of Detective 643 that we should have noticed a long time ago. The first print only has the names “Milligan and Aparo” in the UPC box on the front cover, whereas the 2nd printing corrected that error and included all 3 names of the creators in that UPC box, namely “Milligan, Aparo, and Badger”. On closer inspection, you will also see some differences in the indicia (some of the 1st printings were made in the USA, whereas all the 2nd printings were made in Canada). I have some spares of these newly found variants and I am willing to send them to my friends on CGC for about the same amount as what I paid for them. If you want any of them, please let me know. First come, first serve. Here's a comparison of TEC 643 (1st print on left; 2nd print on right) followed by their back covers (2nd print is the "Shift Happens" ad. Note the difference in the UPC boxes. Comparison of TEC 637 front and back covers (no noticeable difference on front covers; 2nd print is the "Shift Happens" ad). Comparison of TEC 638 front and back covers (no noticeable difference on front covers; 2nd print is the "Shift Happens" ad). And finally, here's photos of the pack that these came from:

p.s. That Superman Man of Tomorrow #5 DCU logo variant is also not common.

Congrats! And I know that feeling. I pulled a Spring Hill Mall variant out of the bins at 2nd and Charles after running all over Chicagoland looking for variants several years ago. I was questioning myself for spending all that time and gas money going from shop to shop, and then this mall variant pops up. I just bowed my head in relief and then I was on cloud nine.

Superman 289. Here's another example of two different versions of the jeweler variant appearing in the same comic book. This makes sense to, as both of these jeweler inserts could be found in different DC issues that had the same cover date. The only noticeable difference is the "888" vs the "777" code on the corner of the jeweler insert itself.

This really makes me feel good. I'm not the only totally insane guy out there in my pursuit of perfection.

@MrBedrock you rule. I am simply amazed at your collection of Mile High's, and I appreciate you for sharing those images with the rest of us.

Wow... And I owned the Action 76 for about 15 years. I sold it so I could buy a 21-foot Yamaha jet boat, which was a great trade. But I always loved that Action 71 and have held onto it for more than 20 years now.

p.s. I remember that roughly ten years ago Mile High comics was about the only on-line store that distinguished between newsstand and direct sales copies in their on-line inventory. I'm amazed how many issues of comic books with cover dates after the year 2000 have not ever been listed on there website. I wonder if that is an indication of how rare they are, or instead just a statement that Mile High doesn't buy many back issues from the modern age.

Several years ago, I asked an employee at Mile High how they gathered the most recent newsstand issues from the last few years that they were made. The person told me that they had a couple customers who would buy them off the newsstand, and then bring them to Mile High for trade value. That made sense. I could not imagine someone from Mile High Comics going to Barnes & Noble stores in the Denver area weekly to pick them up (from about 2008 and onward, Barnes & Noble was one of the few sources for newsstand issues... I had to make a trip there about every other week to get the ones I collected.... frankly, I was glad when they stopped making newsstand issues as it was starting to get to be a pain in the neck for this nutty variant collector). I've since managed to find every single "newsstand" issue in the titles of Batman, Detective, Action, and Superman/Adv of Superman in VF or better (most in the 9.0 to 9.8 range). I cannot say it was easy. And when I say "newsstand" I'm just talking about all the newsstand issues from the time DC started producing direct sales issues on cover dates of October 1980 and later. If anyone ever wants to see an image of a newsstand issue from those titles that they haven't been able to find, I would be glad to post it.