Cpt Kirk

It is probably not practical, but I guess Lifesugggs could send DC a note and let them know he will send DC the amount of money they are due for each comic book that he decides to keep or sell.

Exactly. I think there has been some documentation to confirm what you just said. He was meticulous about making sure the best copies were set aside for him.

and socialist too!

Good observation on your part and you are correct... Overstreet is in error. The last time Overstreet correctly listed Batman #216 as the first mention of "Pennyworth" was the 21st issue of The Price Guide. Starting with the 22nd issue and all issues after that, it has been incorrectly listed as #214. So it has been wrong in Overstreet now for approximately 27 years. I love the Overstreet Price Guide and it is a wealth of accurate information. However, it has errors and whenever I've sent an email to point out the error, the message was received and no corrections were made. I recommend you take some consolation with the following. Neither Batman 214 or Batman 216 is really a key issue in my mind. But 214 is an awesome story about a lady who wants to lure Batman into marriage. So just enjoy the story, the advertisements, and DC's letter explaining the huge price hike from 12 cents to 15 cents. You just bought a great comic book! And I'm sure you can go find a great copy of 216 right now, before the word gets out that it is actually the "Pennyworth" issue... LOL. Now I am looking forward to seeing if the next Overstreet Price Guide still has the same error. Shown below is a scan from issue #21 of the price guide showing issue 216 as being the "Pennyworth" issue:

amazing. thanks for sharing!

Here's the photo of the sticker that came on a newsstand copy of Detective 806 from a friend in Venezuela. I have at least 5 other newsstand issues from the same era with the exact same sticker on them. The countries listed on the sticker are Columbia, Venezuela, and a few other countries in that vicinity.

Amazing. I thought all the early Detectives stayed together. How did you get this one, if you don't mind saying?

I noticed that since about the year 2000 (very roughly) a lot of copies ended up in Venezuela with a distribution sticker on top of them. When my friend was gathering up newsstand issues for me from that era, every single one of them (there were about 10 of them) had the sticker on there. I will post a photo of that distribution sticker as soon as I can.

Comichron is a good source for data on this. He even had a connection to the company who distributed the newsstand copies. For whatever it is worth, Barnes and Noble has distribution and sales data. A clerk at my local store once showed me that they had the data of the number of newsstand copies received at their store for any given issue, as well as the number that actually sold. The clerk was also able to access data for other stores. I saw actual data on the Barnes and Noble computer that showed a lot of newsstand issues were never sold. This correlates well to my own observations of the newsstand rack... I visited the local Barnes and Noble almost weekly from 2012 until they stopped selling newsstand issues in 2017. During those years, I would see several issues of newsstand comics that would continue to stay on the rack week after week, getting more bent and worn until they were finally removed from the racks. The person who worked on the newsstand rack knew which ones needed to be removed each week. The only newsstand issues that seemed to sell well were the Batman's. Anyway, I'm sure someone at the HQ of Barnes and Noble (which had to be the biggest seller of newsstand issues from 2012 to 2017) would be able to compile all the distribution and sales data from all their stores for at least the last 10 years or so. So we need someone to get in contact with that person at B&N HQ to get that data while it still exists.

Thanks Rock. Coming from you, that means a lot... and makes the effort feel very worthwhile. I'm always happy to share that data with anyone who wants it. Of course, I must pay homage to Jerome... I've met him in person, seen his collection, and I can say for sure that he put in way more effort than I will ever be able to muster.

Rock -- I think you hit the nail on the head with your post above. This I can say after tracking down approximately 2,500 newsstand issues in the titles I collect.

I am a prime example of an obsessive/compulsive collector (LOL). For me, it was more of an academic pursuit. In other words, I wanted to know if they really did create a newsstand issue for every single corresponding direct sales issue (from the time they started making direct sales). And for the major titles in DC comics the answer was yes up until they stopped making newsstand issues after issues that were cover dated Oct 2017. For for second printings, the number that went to newsstand format was few and far between. It is also interesting that some of the newsstand bar codes were produced with errors in them, and the publisher (or someone else) used stickers to fix those errors. And trust me when I say that I was not collecting those newsstand issues with the hopes of speculative gain or investment in mind. I would be very surprised if anyone were ever willing to pay me more than $3 per newsstand issue on average for the whole runs of Batman, Superman, Detective, and Action newsstand issues, whereas the purchase/postage/travel costs/etc to find them all is probably in the $5 or more range per comic book. Some could be found laying around the cheap boxes for one buck, whereas others required going to friends in Venezuela or Germany to find them (or occasionally breaking down and paying dealers as much as $50 per issue... I hate to admit it). .

I never intend to sell those two. And I wanted to see and smell the pages. They say there's nothing quite like the Mile High look, smell and feel.... and I think they are right about that.

I must agree that if someone were buying newsstand issues with the hopes that they would appreciate it, it would be a very risky proposition. After having spent about 10 years finding all the newsstand issues in the title of Batman, Detective, Superman and Action Comics, I can say for sure that some newsstand issues are really hard to find; but I don't think a person can count on there being a huge demand for them in the future.

It seems like a lot of newsstand issues show up in 2nd and Charles stores, especially the less popular titles. p.s. I've had to go so far as to get newsstand issues from friends in Venezuela and Germany to collect all the newsstand issues in the titles of Batman, Detective, Superman and Action Comics. It is one thing to find them all, but another even harder thing to get them all in high grade. I've done that except that I need to upgrade my newsstand copy of Adv of Superman 553 and Detective 813. Plus I'm still missing the newsstand edition of Superman New 52 #8. If anyone ever finds any of those 3 newsstand issues, feel free to contact me as I would pay a premium for them.

Beautiful.

Regarding this one and all the others you posted, Mr Bedrock, all I can say is....

Thanks dude. It was always one of my favorite covers, so I jumped on the chance to get the Church copy when it came up.

Here's the only two I have. Both CGC'd but I broke them out since I never plan to sell. The Action 71 was a 9.6 and the TEC 155 was a 9.2.

The first one is front cover of Superman 14 and the second one is the Superman Work Book. Also shown is the Church copy of Action 71 (same one shown in Gerber's photo journal guide to comics)

It's OK. You are among friends here. We can help you through this!