Cpt Kirk

p.s. I love the variants that weren't produced to be "rare". Great examples are these mall variants, 2nd prints from the 80's and 90's, and Mark Jeweler variants. I stopped collecting modern variants (unless the cover is really attractive or unique) because they are manufactured to be "rare". I question the value of something that is manufactured to be "rare" ... of course some of those items become quite valuable but I'm not sure they will hold value over time.

Well, my friend, if someone wants to try to compile a larger collection of Adv of Superman 443 Mall variants, they better bring their wallet and some patience. For example, when my friend Jerome Wenker retired from collecting, I flew to Minnesota to buy his three mall variants (he had the only known copy of the North Shore Square mall variant). I've had to offer bounties of $300 to $500 to convince people sell their copies to me. If we figure that each of the 15 mall variants would cost $300 each on average, then someone would have to pay out approximately $5K to get that many. I often ask myself why I would try to keep adding to this collection because I feel like they may be next to worthless one day (however, recent auctions of these variants keeps proving me wrong). For the record, I also collect all issues of Superman comic books going back to the Golden Age. I feel like my high-grade Superman 14, 17, 21 and 24 are much better investments. When it comes to chasing variants, I fully realize that it is not an investment. Instead for me it's all about the chase, pride of ownership, and the fun of comparing notes with fellow variant collectors.... I just question myself from time to time... lol. p.s. A new mall variant seems to surface about once per year. I wonder how many of these things were made. My guess is somewhere about 50 or more. I've only seen 18 so far after searching and offering bounties for them for more than 12 years.

I carefully checked my Batman 531's. The DCU version of the glow-in-the-dark edition does indeed have the glow-in-the-dark stuff on the cover, just like it's non-DCU counterpart. And the DCU variant of the Standard edition is not glow-in-the-dark

Yes, Superman 205 and 215 are examples of the rare case where one issue has two newsstand variants. Thanks for checking!

Here is Superman 214. Nothing too special about this, except the fact that Superman 213, 214 and 216 all contain a Mad Magazine subscription insert that does not appear in the Direct Sales editions. If someone could find a Superman 215 with this insert, I would love to hear about it. This same subscription insert occurs in other DC newsstand issues that are cover that have cover dates of April through July of 2005. The darn thing is loosely inserted so copies of newsstand issues are often missing the insert. Examples include Batman 637 & 638, Adv of Superman 637 & 638, Detective 803 thru 806 (all 4 issues), and Action Comics 824 & 825. If you have those newsstand issues and the subscription insert is missing, you have an incomplete copy p.s. If you are super bummed out that your copy is missing the insert, I have extra copies that I can send you!

Thanks to @hulk181man, the Mercer Mall variant joins 14 other of it's companions. For completeness, the direct sales, newsstand and Canadian versions are also included in these photos. I had offered the owners of Fiesta Mall and The Parks and Arlington $500 a piece for those mall variants, and I got no response. I will be very surprised if anyone can ever compile more of those mall variants than I have (and I imagine no one would even care to try). But I have a couple spare mall variants so if you ever find one and want to trade it plus earn a few hundred dollars, don't hesitate to contact me. By the way, these images get a little fuzzy when I post them to this CGC site. If anyone has a tip for making the photos sharper, please let me know.

Detective 675 has two DCU Universe versions (premium and regular). Action Comics 700 has two DC Universe versions (premium and regular) Detective 674 has two DC Universe versions (the covers are identical, but one version says "Collector's Pack First Printing" in the indicia, and the other version doesn't have that statement in the indicia). Superman Man of Steel 30 also has this same two variations.

Superman 98 DCU exists for sure. I just checked my database. It is not all that rare.

Thanks for the correction. I need to update my database!

Batman 515 and 535 both have a "deluxe" and "regular" (i.e., non-embossed) DCU variant. I believe Batman 535 and Superman Wedding Album only has the DCU variant in the regular format. I'm not sure about.the others. (Correction: the posting below correctly states that the Superman Wedding Album DCU exists in deluxe and non-deluxe formats)

Thanks. In my mind, what is the point of having these rare comic books if you can't share them with fellow collectors?!

well that throws my theory out the window... lol!

Well, with the Jeweler variant included, I have 4 copies.

LOL. I could not live with myself for not have the "original" jeweler variant. Regarding food for thought: we are pretty sure that the inserts were just placed into the comic book at the end or beginning of any particular print run. But no one has ever been able to say for sure what happened in the production. Like you said, perhaps they delayed the printing of the jeweler variants, so that technically they were "reprints" of the originals. However, we do have a strong clue with the production of Batman 302. Toward the end of the print run for the front cover, the printer was running out of ink and it created at first a single blue dot on the cover, and as more ink run out it created a double blue dot on the front cover (see attached photo, which shows the blue dots on the covers of Batman 302 that do not contain the jeweler insert). I've seen 5 Mark Jeweler variant of Batman 302, and all 5 had the double blue dot on the cover. That makes me think they produced the jeweler variants with covers and pages that were made at the end of the print run.

I totally get that. When I first started seeing those jeweler inserts, I thought to myself "Darn... now I need to go get another copy of that same comic book so it won't have that annoying advertisement in the centerfold". LOL. p.s. I mentioned in my post above that I wish I would have gone higher on my bid for that vgFN JLA 107 with jeweler insert that sold for approximately $100. If I would have gone higher and won that auction, I would now be able to say I have every single jeweler variant in the title of JLA. Lesson learned... if you are a completionist, you better bid high when a jeweler variant shows up that you don't have, regardless of condition. It might be another 5 or 10 years before you see another one.

If you liked this thread, you also might be interested in the following thread that describes the Overseas Edition of Superman 28:

Correction.... Masteraddams has a restored Special Edition of Action Comics 81 for sale for $1500 on ebay.

I bought this Superman comic book in the early 1990's at a convention in Denver for $175 (really glad I did that). I recall a dealer friend of mine later seeing it and exclaiming "You could make one of your mortgage payments with that comic book!" I would say the grade of this comic book is in the neighborhood of 6.0 to 8.0. I love the single staple they used at the height of WWII in order to save on metal. I have many of the other Superman keys (e.g., 14, 17, and 24). It seems like you can always find one of those comic books, whereas this Superman 21 almost never comes up for sale in this condition (I see two for sale on ebay but in low grade).

Awesome. That's one of my favorite Superman covers.

Thank you. Well I most recently bought the Detective 97 from Masteraddams on ebay. And recently bought the Detective 97 regular edition from ICE collectibles in Ontario. Both were 7.0's, so they were pricey. I bought the Superman Special edition and regular edition on ebay in 2016. If I recall correctly, the Superman Special Edition was about $700 and the regular edition was CGC 5.0 white pages for $377. I'm glad I bought them back then, as it seems like the price of golden age got crazy a couple years ago (recognizing it softened a little bit at the end of last year). I also got the Action 80 special edition many moons ago. I still don't have the Superman 34, Action 81 and Action 84 special editions. I don't recall seeing copies of any of those for sale in the last few years.

This posting gives more details on those Special Edition comics that were made during WWII as teaching aids for Navy sailors. I consider these to be some of the earliest DC "variants".

This posting gives more details on those Special Edition comics that were made during WWII as teaching aids for Navy sailors. I consider these to be some of the earliest DC "variants".

Following is the Special Edition of Superman 33 alongside the regular edition of Superman 33. The regular version of Superman 33 is shown on the top of each image.

I occurred to me that very few people get to see the inside of these Special Edition comic books that were used to help develop reading skills for sailors during WWII. So I captured the following images showing the Special Edition of Detective Comics 97 along with the regular edition of Detective Comics 97. The next post in this thread will show the same thing for Superman 33 Special Edition and regular edition. In my mind, the six Special Edition Comics (along with the two known Overseas Editions of Superman #27 and #28) are among the first "variants" that DC produced. p.s. Many copies of the Special Edition of Detective Comics 97 were miscut. I'm pleased that my copy was had cuts that were about as "square" as any I've seen. p.p.s. There is a digital version of Detective 97 that can be seen on those websites that let you read old comic books for free. However, that digital version is missing images of the inside front cover and inside back cover. So if you are wondering what those look like, the answer is shown below. I think it is self explanatory, but the regular version of Detective Comics 97 is shown on the top of each image.

Great question. Here's my thoughts after 12 years of chasing MJ's in the DC titles of Batman, Detective, Superman, Action and Justice League of America: 1. Prices are all over the map. Sometimes the jeweler variant adds no value (but does seem to make a comic book more "sellable") but if two or more nutcases like me really want the comic book, prices could go for 20 times more than guide (the most memorable for me was a vgFN JLA 107 that I lost in a bid for approximately $100... still wishing I went higher on that auction... a regular JLA 107 in vgFN would be lucky to sell for $5). 2. All jeweler variants were sold in military PX's or other similar venues, so they were sold like other newsstand issues (i.e., on comic or magazine racks). So the higher graded jewelers (especially 9.2 and above) seem to sell well at reasonable prices. They are only very rarely seen in 9.8. 3. It seems like the premium for a jeweler variant gets magnified with key issues (Batman 251 with the Joker cover seems like a good example).