Cpt Kirk

For whatever it is worth, the DC Universe label on this printer's proof is not glued on. It was printed out with the rest of the cover.

yes, but it is only a single page, with a copy of the intended "Brain Transplant" back cover advertisement glued onto the back of what you see in the image above. I'm not sure what this is.

I'm not sure where I got this thing, but it seems to be a proof for a cover for the DC Universe variant of Superman 74. I just noticed the codes at the bottom, and wondering if this might lend some clue as to how these multi-pack variants were numbered. I wish someone at DC would have kept track of these things, then we would know exactly which DC Universe variants were printed but still not found. But I'm pretty sure those records don't exist. I also find it hard to believe that these were made approximately 25 years ago.

Be careful of that newsstand rabbit hole. It is a really long hole to chase down... lol. p.s. I think that the Death and Reign of Superman series had an insatiable demand at the time it came out (I recall the buzz quite well). So when newsstand issues ran short, I think someone (maybe the printing company) just go a hold of direct sales issues, slapped the sticker on, and got them out to the newsstands. There are several examples (Superman 74 2nd print, Superman 75, Superman 75 2nd print, Superman 75 4th print, Superman 80 are the ones myself and @onlyweaknesskryptonite found, plus the GL 46 2nd print found by Brock above).

I think the some of the toughest newsstand issues to find are ones that are still sealed in a poly bag. I have Batman 535, Adv of Superman 631, and Superman Man of Tomorrow 6 newsstands still sealed in poly bag. The Adv of SM 631 sealed direct and newsstand is shown below. Also shown below is the Batman 535 sealed newsstand poly and the deluxe newsstand to boot. To give some idea of the premium for these sealed poly newsstand issues, I would gladly pay $100 for the ones on my want list. I'm still looking for Action 726, Adv of Superman 539, Detective 702, or Superman Man of Steel 61. It is hard to imagine someone pulling these off a newsstand and just keeping them sealed in the poly. I feel very lucky to have found the three that are in my collection.

First of all, let me say that is really cool that you found a Green Lantern 2nd printing with newsstand sticker. To me, the sticker looks like the ones that were placed on some of the Death of Superman runs by the original printer. @RockMyAmadeus might have an interest in seeing this. Below is a thread he started about 2nd print newsstands.

I have seen copies of DC Universe, DC bullet, and/or Zero-Hour UPC variants for every single month from Nov 1993 thru Dec 1996 except Dec 1995. Examples from December 1995 include Adv of Superman 530, Batman 525, Detective 692, Action Comics 716, Superman Man of Steel 51, Justice League America 106, and Superman 107. If someone could produce an example of a December 1995, I would love to see it. It is odd to me that they would not produce any variants for that month.

Yes, I also found a pack like that many moons ago. It contained first print DCs and Marvels, as well as a bunch of DC Universe variants.

Thanks. It never occurred to me until recently that you might be able to find a rare variant just by googling the name of that variant and then chasing the lead. I've had to resort to this tactic as well as others as the number of variants that I'm missing starts to approach zero. I now believe that DC did not intentionally skip any issues when it came to placing the Mark Jeweler insert into its mainline titles during the time period that these jeweler inserts were produced (i.e. August 1972 thru mid-July 1986) unless the issue was a square-bound giant, 64-page Dollar Comic, 52-page giant comic, or contained some other insert such as "The Mask" advertisement. For example, in the run of JLA issues 100 thru 252, the only issue for which I have never seen the jeweler insert is JLA 161. In the run of Superman issues 255 thru 420, the only issues for which I have never seen the insert are Superman 361 and 413. I'm pretty sure that I will eventually find the insert in JLA 161, Superman 361 and 413 (it's just a matter of time). p.s. I have competed for some of these jeweler variants on ebay, with the final closing price going very high. I wish there was some way of connecting with other collectors of these jeweler variants but I've yet to find some way of reaching them other than word of mouth. I would love to compare notes to see if they found any of the 15 jeweler variants that I have never seen in the 5 titles I collect.

and I am now only missing 9 of the 677 known jeweler variants in the five titles I collect (namely, Batman, Detective, Superman, Action, and JLA). I recently found Superman 419 MJ variant by going into google and just typing "Superman 419 mark jewelers". Turns out a copy was recently sold on instagram for $1. I contacted the buyer and he said that he bought it on a whim and thus sent it to me for free. What a great guy!

Here's what I know about this stuff (and I will check with the king of promos, Jerome Wenker) to see what he says. 1. Zero hour: It looks to me like there were actually 3 ashcans made, according to the databases I have in my possession. There's a Zero Hour Ashcan, 1994 SDCC version, and Gold version. It looks like all three exist. Perhaps the guy at RecalledComics.com might know more about it. I can also ask the king of DC promos (Jerome Wenker) what he remembers. 2. Batman/Grendel -- According to my data, 3 ashcans exist. Here's all I got: Ascan Red, Ashcan Silver (25 copies printed), and Ashcan Gold. Again, Jerome or RecalledComics might know something. 3. Kingdom Come -- According to my data, it was made in 1996. Figures are facing forward in preview. I can ask Jerome. The other thought is that @RockMyAmadeus might know something. It seems like he also has everything imaginable.

Yes, definitely. One of the Grandfathers of variant collecting (Mark Weiss) began writing about these early pack reprints approximately 15 years ago. Mark is the founder and operator of a charity that puts new comic books into the hands of kids in hospitals (see https://www.comicbooksforkids.org/ ). He was one of the first to report that a Walgreens pack contained Batman 357, DCCP 55, and WF 289. I reached out to Mark to see if he has the Walgreens pack and I will let you know what he tells me. I believe you all are correct when you state those Walgreens packs are rare (I've been looking for them for years and I don't think I've seen one but I've seen lots of those packs that came out in Toys-R-Us and Kay-Bee Toys. By the way, here's some no-month comics to add to the list not previously mentioned on this page: Batman 352, Batman 356, B&B 192, World's Finest 283, 284, and Green Lantern 159. I have the pack that contains the Batman 401 thru 403 "no month" issues. I don't think that pack is too hard to find. But the Batman 401-403 issues came significantly later than the "early" no-month issues you discussed above, so I believe the Batman 401-403 pack is different than the 'ghost' Walgreens pack. The Batman 401-403 pack is a Toys-R-Us pack and following are some photos so you can see it up close: Updated List: Early no-month issues: Batman #352, 353, 356, 357 Blackhawk #252 Brave and the Bold #192, 196 DCCP #51, 54, 55 Detective #519 Green Lantern #159 Superman #377, 379 World’s Finest #283, 284, 288, 289 Later no-month issues: Batman #401, 402, 403 Wonder Woman #1, 2, 3

We have seen very few previously undiscovered DCU variants pop up in the last two years. So this Superman MOS 39 is a rare discovery indeed. Now the DCU Variant of SM MOS 39 is on my want list, and to give some idea of value I would gladly pay $200 to get a copy. If anyone else finds one, please don't hesitate to contact me. Even though it is rare, it shows that some new ones could still show up. A few examples of DCU variants that could exist but have not yet been seen are as follows: Batman 513, 525, 528, 536, 537, Detective 692, 693, Adv of Superman 523, 530,533, 534, 541, and Action Comics 711, 716, 717, 719, 721, 727, 728, Superman MOS 49, 51, 54, 55, 56, 61, 62, 63 and Superman (1987 series) 95, 107, 110, 111, 112.

Warlord -- You continue to amaze me with your collecting accomplishments. Congrats on these recent finds! Here's a another goal for you.... obtain every single of Warlord comic books that contain the Mark Jewelers insert. That one might take you 10 years too... lol.

The 15 jeweler variants I've never seen before are Batman 245, 324, 326, 390, JLA 161, Detective 470, 548, 564, Superman 359, 413, Action Comics 516, 524, 533, 579, 581. If anyone ever finds those issues with jeweler insert, I would sure love to hear about it. I'm pretty sure the TEC 564 and the Action 581 do not exist, because I believe they were printed after the last run of jeweler inserts. I believe that the issues that were released during the last week of that month (such as TEC 564 and Action 581) were not printed with jeweler inserts.

I believe that it does not exist. I've seen every 16 and 20-pack brick from Nov 1992 thru Nov 1994 (one exists for each month). Starting in Dec 1994, there are quite a few titles for which we have never seen a DCU symbol on the cover. Thus, it seems to add credence that there was no pack in Dec 1994. Examples of Dec 1994 issues with no known DCU symbol are Batman 513, Superman 95, Justice League 94, Superman Man of Steel 39. After Nov 1994, I think some of the DCU reprints are hard to find because they were only produced for two-packs.

LOL. I love it

whoops... I did not mean to mislead you. My 10.0 was a regular Action Comics (not a jeweler). But I do have a lot of 9.6 jewelers. Not sure I've ever seen a 9.8 jeweler until this JLA 230 came along. Totally unrelated, but one of my favorite CGC posts was something called "Show Us Your 10's". Of course there were lots of 10.0's shown, but someone also showed a photo of Bo Derek in that thread.

This past week I found a Justice League of America 230 in NM condition. I'm pretty sure it would rate a 9.8. I have lot of CGC 9.6s and 9.8s, and one 10.0, so I'm pretty sure that my guess of 9.8 is close. It seems incredible to me that a jeweler variant could get printed in the US, make its way overseas, sit on the rack at the military PX, and then make its way back to the US in 9.8 condition. How does that happen?

Very interesting. And yes, some of the jeweler variants seem to be nearly worthless, as I have seen them get listed on ebay for a couple bucks, and get no bids. And others are surprisingly in demand. I mentioned it earlier in this thread, but a couple months ago I lost out on the bidding for a JLA 107 jeweler variant in vg+ (normally a $1 comic book without the insert). I think I lost out somewhere around $90 against just one other bidder. Crazy. p.s. One of the reasons I posted extensive information on these variants was simply because I could not find anything out there about them. The other reason was in hopes that people would seek me out if they had some to sell. That has worked for me to some extent.

The 11 jeweler variants know to exist that I still don't have are: Batman 247 & 288, Detective 454, Superman 255, 258, 261, 292 and 419, and JLA 100, 107, and 207.

Roger that. For whatever it is worth, the jeweler variants that I still have not yet found are Batman 245, 324, 326 & 390, Detective 470, 548 & 564, Superman 359 & 413, Action 516, 524, 533, 579 & 581, and JLA 161. The earlier ones like Batman 245, TEC 470 and JLA 161 surprise me that they have never surfaced yet... I'm very confident that those must exist because all other issues from those time frames have been found.

LOL. The rest of the story is that there at 11 jeweler variants that I know exist, but still don't have in my collection. I know a guy who has 4 of the 11 that I'm looking for, but he can't seem to part with those yet. Since I collect variants, there are several issues where I have 3 or 4 of the same comic book, all with slightly different variations. Example: Batman 394 in direct sales format, newsstand format, Mark Jeweler format, and reader survey variant.

I continue to hunt for these Mark Jeweler variants in the titles of Batman, Detective, Superman, Action and JLA on ebay. I just ask the seller if the comic book contains the insert, and I also give the seller my jeweler want list. After combing through more than 100 stores and asking more than 900 sellers on ebay, I now have found 677 of the possible 692 jeweler variants for those five titles (which means there are still 15 out there that I have not yet found). I'm starting to think that I might eventually find all 692 jeweler variants within the next several years, or come darn close. In the last few months, I found a few (namely JLA 195 and Action 580) that I thought might not have ever received the insert. I created a graph (see below) that shows how many of the jeweler variants I've been able to find since I started looking for them 8 years ago. The straight horizontal line at the top of the graph represents the total theoretically possible 692 jeweler variants for Batman, Detective, Superman, Action and JLA titles. The "x" axis is the number of years I've been trying to find these. You can see the curve approaches 692 jeweler variants as the years go by (I'm currently sitting at 8 years), but then the curve starts to flatten out toward the end if we use regression analysis. So will the curve ever reach all the way up to 692?... only time will tell. (you can probably tell that I'm an engineer)