Cpt Kirk

it is also interesting to look at the CGC census for some of these Mile Highs. Sometimes the Mile High will blow everything else away in terms of condition. In the case of my Action Comics 71 (a CGC 9.6), the next closest one is an 8.0 on the CGC census out of 25 copies graded.

Then you can't see the insert!

Awesome dude. I have found quite a few Mark Jeweler variants I needed by trolling ebay and looking for evidence of an insert in the photos or seeing the familiar "star" stamp on the front cover. Probably not a good use of my time, but what the heck.... to me it is like a fun Easter egg hunt.

The MyComicShop listing of Batman Mark Jewelers just assumes that every issue from 244 thru 396 has the insert... that is not the case. Plus they start at issue 243.

All issues of Batman from issue 243 thru 396 should have Mark Jewelers insert except giant issues (e.g., 254-262 and 300) and 353 and 387. I have almost all of them in hand except a few. p.s. 353 only contains the Masters of the Universe insert and 387 only contains the Mask Insert. For some reason, they decided not to do a Mark Jewelers insert on top of those issues.

Yes, there at least a few examples like this. The Superman 12 pack reprint originally came in the 3-packs that were sold in Kay-Bee toys, Costco, K-mart, etc. These packs were made around the height of the comic book boom in the early 1990s. My theory is that the printing company eventually got away from putting the bar code on these subsequent printings because it would show thru the plastic of the pack, and thus could be accidentally scanned by the clerk instead of using the real price tag. For example, in the case of the 3rd printings of Batman 414, 415, and 416, someone placed a DC bullet sticker over the bar code to keep it covered up. Examples that are similar to the Superman 12 pack reprint with bar code on cover above are 2nd printings of Batman 414, 415 and 416.

lol. Perhaps my count is confusing. Here's the summary: 1. 692 jewelers should exist in those 5 titles (Batman, TEC, Superman, Action and JLA) 2. I know at least 673 of the possible 692 jeweler variants in those 5 titles have been found or seen before. That leaves 19 that I have yet to find (see list above for those 19) 3. Of the 673 known jeweler variants, I have 660 in my collection (all but 11 of them are at least vgFN or better... most VF and above) 4. Of the 13 that I still don't have in my collection, a friend of mine has 5 of those in hand (and he won't sell no matter what I offer). 5. Thus, I'm missing 32 total jeweler variants of the 692 that should exist (less than 5 percent)

Well, I'm hoping my buddy eventually cracks and sells those 5 that I need. I'm thinking of offering him $500 for the set of 5. I will send you PM with my entire want list.

Following is an updated list of Mark Jeweler variants that “should” exist in the five titles I collect but I have not yet found. Out of 692 jeweler variants that should exist, I have found all but 19 of them (I and I am only missing 13 of the 673 known jeweler variants in those 5 titles that I collected). I friend of mine has 5 of those 13 that I still don't have in my collection, but he doesn't seem willing to sell them at any price. Jeweler variants that "should" exist but not yet found: Action 516, 524, 533, 579, 580, 581 Batman 245, 324, 326, 390 Detective 470, 548, 564 Superman 359, 361, 413 Justice League of America 107, 161, 195

Another year has gone by without another new discovery of one of the rare Adv of SM 443 mall variants. They are usually found with a 1 or 2 dollar price tag and once they are listed on ebay, they will almost assuredly get bought for more than $100. It makes me wonder if very many people are keeping an eye out for these.

Your analysis makes me wonder about all those 2nd printings that were produced for 3 packs. Most of them are indistinguishable from the 1st printing when only looking at the front cover (the back covers are usually different though). Examples include: Adv of Superman 463 and 467 Action 654 and 660 Superman (1987 series) 44, 51, and 52 Justice League America 36, 37 and 45 Justice League Europe 6, 10 Flash 40, 41, 44 Wonder Woman 47, 48 Superboy 1, 8 Batman 445, 446, 447 (I've yet to see the pack containing these by the way, it is the only one I have not found) Batman 467, 468, 469

A couple months ago, I found a FN- copy of Superman 50 2nd print news for $2 in Denver (and promptly sold it to a friend).

Having seen a bunch of these over the years, I concur with RMA. None of these are easy to find, especially in high grades. I've also found them in the packs, and those black covers tend to get dinged slightly even when they stayed in the packs for all those years.

I'm still looking for Superman 113 and 117 DCUs. To give an example of how rare they are, I would gladly pay $100 for each. Also looking for Adv of SM 530, Superman 95 and Superman MOS 49 DCUs, but I don't think those exist (might be an error from Jerome's original list... it was known to have a few errors). By the way, I recently came across these two gems. One is SM MOS 42 DCU and a stickered Detective 690 DCU. These are just spares, so if you are in need of them, feel free to shoot me a PM.

yes, for sure.

Shouldn't Alfred be reading a newsstand issue in order to make this posting relevant to the topic?

And here's an article that provides information and a list of the last DC newsstand articles, in case you missed it. The list is pretty accurate, and the article references back to a CGC thread I wrote that has the latest list. https://blog.comichron.com/2018/02/end-of-era-last-dc-newsstand-issues.html

I concur.

Thanks RMA. As always, you are a wealth of interesting information. p.s. I think if anyone ever claims to find a jeweler in a direct sales comic book, it will either be an error copy or someone added it to the direct sales issue. A close examination of the insert will probably show that the original staples do not line up exactly with the insert's original staple penetrations.

True, the weight and feel of the comic book. The slicker and thinner ads that occurred from issues dated Nov 77 thru July 86 are a little tougher to "feel" the difference and to see in the centerline when just looking from the top. I've made a pretty concerted effort over the last 10 years to find them all and I'm up to about 95% found for the DC titles I collect. One thing is for sure in DC comic books, I've found more than 1,000 jeweler inserts and I have never seen one occur in a "Direct Sales" issue..

Interesting information. thanks for weighing in. Having visited Barnes and Noble weekly for about 6 years, your explanation seems very plausible. I did notice that they tended to order more of the comic book titles that sold out, but it was very hit or miss.

The regular cover

Those jeweler inserts are a real trick to find, especially in DC comics. Once you get some experience, they are very easy to find, even without taking the comics out of the bag. If you want to learn more, just look for "DC Mark Jewelers Kirk" and you will see an article I wrote. And Awe4one wrote an in-depth article on the Marvel Jeweler variants.

You are right about that. If you send me a PM, I can send you a list of all variants for Batman, TEC, Superman and Action. Many of them are unknown to typical comic book databases.

Here's a couple tough Batman newsstand issues to find. The regular cover still sealed in poly and the deluxe cover. Both of these covers are easily found with the Direct Sales UPC. To pile on, there's also the DC Universe UPC variant of this comic book.