Cpt Kirk

Your list looks good to me. Don't forget about MOS #20 2nd print (DC Universe variant). That might be one of the hardest of all the subsequent printings to find. There's also a MOS #19 and 20 first print with reader surveys, if you want something that's really hard to find.

I found something this weekend that makes me think that some issues of DC Comics might not ever be found to contain a jeweler insert, even though one would think that their should be a jeweler variant of that issue. What I found was an small run (6 comic books) of Mark Jeweler variants of Justice League of America at Emerald City Comics in Largo FL. Some of the issues had the characteristic "star" stamp on them (and thus contained the jeweler insert) but the JLA 195 had the "star" stamp and no insert. JLA 195 is not a square bound or giant sized issue and there are several other titles from that month containing the insert, so you would think that this JLA 195 would be found with an insert. But no one has ever seen JLA 195 with the insert. Recall that jeweler inserts were produced for comic books that were sent to military AAFES stores (i.e. PX's), sot that Mark Jewelers could target their military customers. The star stamp on this JLA 195 (which was placed on some of the issues by the AAFES stores that sold them) is almost always a sure sign of the insert. So it makes me think that the printer forgot to put inserts in some, if not all, of the JLA 195's. I've found about 95% of all jeweler variants among the issues of Batman, Detective, Superman, Action and JLA that should contain the insert. Now I'm thinking that some of those missing Mark Jeweler variants might never be found. This is way too OCD, but I've graphed the number that I've discovered over the years, and I think I could eventually determine an asymptotic line to determine that actual number of Mark Jeweler variants that would exist for those five titles. Below is a photo showing the star stamp on the JLA 195 that I found. I double checked the staples and they are very tight with no signs of tampering, which make me think that no one removed the Jeweler insert.

I found a spare Superman 418 with the Waldenbooks survey inside. If anyone wants it, please let me know. I've seen a lot of these Superman 418 newsstand issues, and this is only the second one I've seen with the survey still inside.

good to know. I hate to say it, but I did go down the rabbit hole on the upper right number (the one that shows month or issue number) on all newsstand issues of Action, Detective, Batman, and Superman after finding out about the error on Action 759 newsstand. Did not see a lot of discrepancies except for the known ones. I hate to say it, but I have 3 different versions of stickers on Action 759. These stickers have to be one of the dumbest rabbit holes ever, but what the heck.

Kenaran -- dang it... now you have me looking for stickers! I found an Action 775 newsstand issue with sticker on it in Asheville last weekend (truth is, my wife pulled it out and asked if I needed that newsstand issue... go figure) Turns out Action 775 newsstand issues have an error on the bar code. They have a little number "4" at the tail end of the serial number on the underside of the bar code. All other Action Comics newsstand issues have a the number "3" in that spot of the serial number. The sticker has the correct number "3" in that spot. See photos, which hopefully are clear enough to see that number. I hope this doesn't cause me to start checking all these numbers on other newsstand issues looking for similar defects... I ain't doin' it!

Action Comics 683 3rd print was once mentioned on MyComicShop website but without a photo. I don't know of anyone who has ever seen it.

Interesting. The dealer who snagged it for me said the seller only had this one pack (along with bunch of loose DCUs) and that seller originally bought the packs from K-Mart. if only we had a time machine!

here's a two-pack; each of these DCUs are hard to find

The only other mall variants known are The Parks and Fiesta Mall (neither seller seems willing to sell) and Westgate (I don't know who has that one, I only know the guy who found it and sold it). It would be nice if the owner of the Westgate came forward so that we would know where it is.

Thanks to Ben Griffel, the Eden Prairie joins its brothers. Great find Ben!! Ten years ago, I never would have dreamed of being able to put ten of these mall variants together.

I was surfing this morning and the following things occurred to me. a. These known 13 variants of Adv of Superman 443 came out in 1988. Hard to believe, but that was 30 years ago. Many of the malls featured in this variant are now dying and may become things of the past. b. There are websites dedicated to history of malls but images of the logos from 1988 are very hard to find. The logos on these comic books might be one of the few logo images remaining from 1988. c. BGriffeyJr had a theory that Homart Development company was a common denominator for these mall variants. Homart for sure developed at least 9 of the 13 mall variants that are known to have been featured in this Adv of Superman 443 Mall variant. This seems like a very logical explanation, but this might also be coincidence because Homart developed more malls than just about anyone. Looking at the Homart wiki site you can see they developed several malls whose logos have been found on Adv of SM 443. Unless otherwise noted, the source of Homart opening the following malls was the Homart wiki article: 1. Midland Mall opened in 1967 in Warwick RI which became Rhode Island Mall in 1985 (closed in 2012) 2. Montclair Plaza opened in 1968 in Montclair CA but was owned and remodeled by Homart in 1985 according to the following article: http://articles.latimes.com/1985-10-27/realestate/re-12523_1_montclair-plaza 3. Eden Prairie Center in Minneapolis MN; opened in 1976 4. Fiesta Mall in Mesa AZ; opened in 1979 5. Spring Hill Mall in West Dundee IL (Chicago suburb); opened in 1980 6. Willowbrook Mall in Houston TX; opened 1981 7. Washington Park Mall in Bartlesville OK; opened 1984 by Homart according this article: http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/business/20170607/bartlesville-mall-listed-for-134m 8. North Shore Square Mall in Slidell LA; opened 1985 by Homart according to this article: http://www.nola.com/northshore/index.ssf/2017/06/slidell_mall_owners_hope_to_re.html 9. The Parks at Arlington (Dallas TX suburb); opened 1988 Others malls appearing on Adv of SM 443 that I can’t tie to Homart: 10. Clearview (Metairie LA or Butler PA… not sure) 11. Westgate Mall (Brockton MA, but hard to say)… there are a lot of Westgate Malls and I can’t find an image of the Westgate logo on Superman 443 that ties to the mall in Brockton; the closest logo match I can find is this one, which does belong to the Brockton MA mall: https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHWA_enUS617US617&biw=1600&bih=720&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=fxX3WuKCGcKz5gLazauIDQ&q=westgate+mall+sign&oq=westgate+mall+sign&gs_l=img.3...4895.6715.0.7032.11.11.0.0.0.0.168.940.9j2.11.0....0...1c.1.64.img..0.9.803...0j0i24k1j0i10i24k1j0i67k1j0i5i30k1.0.FD8JIYkYBRY#imgrc=AboUZX2VoyHKaM: 12. Georgetown Park (Wash DC)... the logo from Adv of SM 443 can clearly be seen in the doors to the mall in the 1994 movie True Lies 13. Cranberry Mall (Cranberry PA or more likely the mall opened in 1987 by ShopCo in Westminster MD and now known as Westminster Mall)

p.s. I sent you a private message. Please check it and let me know what you think. Thanks again for posting the photo.

LOL. I agree there's not much to those stickers. For me, it's more of a matter of research and documentation. It is interesting to me which comics got the stickers.

Thanks kenaran.... As I went back through all of these, I noticed that very few are in high grade. It makes me think these were just given away at those shopping malls, and very few made it into the hands of serious collectors. Thus, most probably got beat up before making their way into the dollar and quarter bins, or even more likely just thrown away.

dagnabit kenaran... now I've got these stickers on the brain. Many moons ago I found a Superman 80 with newsstand sticker placed over a direct sales UPC, just like your Superman 75 IV new sticker. I thought it might just be a fluke. Today I found another Superman 80 with news sticker at a 2nd and Charles. Attached are a couple photos of them.

Here is the newsstand sticker that was placed over the direct sales UPC on the deluxe version of Action Comics 695. I know of only 2 of these stickered copies, and I think they both came from the same place. When the appearance of the sticker is really hard to find (e.g., just one or two known) it makes me think that some store put the sticker on there, as RockMyAmadeus stated.

kenaran -- Great photos and great posting. Thanks for sharing!

We had a Hastings in Auburn AL. They did not normally sell new comic books but rather re-sold used ones (very similar to 2nd and Charles). It would not surprise me if they put their own stickers on the Superman 75's.

Thanks to kenaran, the Georgetown Park variant of Adv of Superman 443 joins the collection. I really appreciate kenaran for doing the trade to make this happen. Only known ones missing from this bunch are The Parks, Fiesta, and Westgate Mall. I'm sure they are many more mall variants existing but not yet seen (recall I'm offering a bounty to anyone who is willing to sell one to me if not currently in my collection).

For whatever it is worth, the stickers on Superman 75 2nd printing and 4th printing were both placed over a direct sales UPC box.

I agree that we will eventually see some more of these pop up. We were looking for 10 years before an Action 706 DCU was found, and then three more of them appeared within six months, so go figure. I would not be surprised if some issues never surface though. Batman 525, for example, was dated December 1994 (after the last of the 20-pack bricks) and from that same month we have never seen a Superman 95, Superman Man of Steel 39, nor a Justice League 94. On the other hand, I think Adv of Superman 523 (May 1995) DCU should exist because all the other Superman/Batman titles from that month have a DCU variant. Same thing with Justice League 96 (Feb 1995)

Here's the photo of Detective 802 (one with sticker, and the other with sticker pulled off). Note how part of the bar code is missing on the original printing of this newsstand issue. As mentioned earlier, I also found a copy of the defective bar-coded copy that never got a sticker placed onto it (so that copy somehow got away from the printer without being corrected with a sticker... but I would think if that if you placed that un-stickered comic book under a bar code reader, it would not be readable)

As always, a very thoughtful and interesting analysis. I really appreciate you for putting this info out there.