Cpt Kirk

Sometimes it is hard to believe it has been almost 8 years since the last DC combo packs came out.

Thanks for letting us know. I have approximately 100 of them, so I can report on the percent that went bad when I have time.

DC sold combo packs with digital codes so they could be read online from roughly 2012 through 2015 and then they quit making them in the titles of Batman, Superman, Detective and Action Comics. There's an interesting article written about them in the link below. Has anyone noticed the plastic bags starting to fall apart on these combo packs? I just realized that many of the original plastic bags on my copies of the Batman combo packs have gotten brittle and are falling part (I have not yet had time to check my Detective, Action or Superman combo packs but I will do that later and report the results). I had kept most of my combo packs sealed and then I placed them in a mylar sleeve with acid free backing board, so I'm thinking the original plastic bag is simply unstable. I'm wondering if they were made with some sort of environmentally friendly plastic that would easily biodegrade in a landfill. I would love to hear if anyone else has any experience with this. Here's the link to the article I mentioned about about combo pack comics and their rarity. https://trendingpopculture.com/the-rarity-of-dc-combo-pack-comics-2011-2015/

please post an image. thanks!

I most certainly do!

I'm starting to doubt the existence of the following jeweler variants (I've been looking for 10+ years, and have not seen one yet): Batman 245, 390, Detective 470, 548, and Action Comics 579. For whatever it is worth, I think I have asked approx 150 sellers of Batman 245 and 125 sellers of Detective Comics 470 if they had the jeweler insert and the answer was "no". I'm down to needing those five jeweler variants plus I also need to find a Batman 247 and JLA 107 (a friend told me the Batman 247 exists and I once saw a JLA 107 in vg+ on ebay but lost the bid at $91... darn, should have gone higher). The Batman 247 has also been elusive. I've asked approx 175 sellers of Batman 247 and none of them had the jeweler insert. If you have any of the ones I'm looking for, I would love to hear about it. And if you were willing to sell, I would definitely make it worth your while to contact me via private message on this awesome website.

That is cool that you found a run of LotDK with those stickers. Thanks for posting the images! I was just thinking of stickers the other day when I ran across the newsstand version of Detective Comics 802 on ebay. A sticker was placed on that newsstand issue because there was a significant error on the original newsstand bar code when it was printed. The following image was copied from the ebay listing.

Thanks. I agree with the person above who said prices vary widely on those 10, 16, and 20 pack bricks. A typical price is probably on the order of $50 to $150 unless we are talking about the one with BA #12

whoops. I was thinking of BA #12 when I stated that a pack would be worth approx $500. Thanks for pointing that out!

I would think you could get approx $500 for the pack that has Batman Adv 14 if that comic book looks to be in NM. Maybe more, but now there's hundreds of that comic book for sale, so people really don't need the pack to get a really nice copy. But having it in the sealed pack probably makes it a little more special. If I am out of touch with the actual selling price of a nice copy of Batman Adv 14, someone please chime in. [Oops... .I meant to say "If I am out of touch with the actual selling price of a nice copy of Batman Adv 12, someone please chime in."}

I bought that one off the stands at my LCS shop when it came out, but also got the newsstand and all the 2nd and 3rd printings (as well as copies that are still sealed in the 3-packs that included the 2nd and 3rd printings) before the prices on this book got nutty. Glad I got them when I did. The prices for this comic book really amaze me.

Great detective work! Thanks for shaing!

Yup! By the way, I believe that Superman 117 DCU of your is rare, let alone in a 9.4. There was a time when thought it was only a myth that it existed.

First let me say.... . Second, let me say that whenever I see a "wall" like this I always sweat a little bit thinking that someone found another one that I need but don't have... lol.

Thanks. That is one of my all-time favorite TEC covers

Great goal! I wonder who still has all the Batman issues ever published. That would be a very small group I believe. I have 100 (original series and up) and approximately 30 of the first 100 issues.

What you have there is the pack reprint of Batman 415. We believe the stickers were placed over the bar codes so that the clerk at stores like "Toys R Us" or "Kaybee Toys" would not scan the bar code when they sold the pack. Attached is a photo of the Batman 414/415/416 pack. Each comic book in that pack had the sticker (even though the comic book in the middle of the pack did not need a sticker... lol). When you try to track down all the variants of Batman 414 thru 416, you will go a little batty. For example, Batman 415 was produced in a direct sales edition, newsstand edition, and 5 other subsequent variations including the variant shown above. Why did they make these pack reprints? My theory is that the demand was there. In the late 1980s and early 1990s there was huge demand for comic books. A lot of people thought they could buy comic books and then sell them later for a huge profit. Of course, most comics from that era are worthless. As for the pack reprint of Batman 415, I'm guessing it might sell for $10 in high grade. Mile High Comics has them on sale for approx $24 in FN if you include the 50% off the price that is almost always offered through their newsletters. Even at their sales prices of $24 for a FN copy, I beleive Mile High is at least asking double (if not quadruple) the price that it should sell for. And you also have shown one of the many Batman Whitman reprints as the last photo in your post. Most are fairly common, but if you find the Batman 324 Whitman in high grade, contact me first to make an offer. I would gladly pay $400 for a copy in high grade!

This was a fun story to read. Thanks for bringing back the memory!

That's a tough one to find in high grade. I pulled mine directly off the newsstand. If I recall correctly, it was hard to find that black cover with zero dings on the spine even right after it hit the newsstand. At Barnes & Noble, those newsstand issues got pretty ragged after spending a few weeks on the newsstand. I remember it well, and frankly I'm glad they stopped making them. It was getting to be a pain in the neck to stop by the newsstand weekly to keep up with having all the newsstand variants. And sometimes the local B&N store would get zero stock on some newsstand issues so then you had to go to another B&N a hundred miles away to keep the run going.

Here is a recent discovery of a new variant from the Death and Reign of Superman. It was pointed out to me by @kenaran, who has an uncanny knack for finding the rarest of the rare. The "Eastern News" is not a sticker, the book was printed this way. The only newstand issue that we have seen of this "deluxe" version before now is a stickered copy (the stickered newsstand version is also shown below for reference... it is a newsstand sticker that is placed over the Direct Sales UPC). I believe these can still be found on ebay.

This one is different. It was pointed out to me by @kenaran, who has an uncanny knack for finding the rarest of the rare. The "Eastern News" is not a sticker, the book was printed this way. Before his discovery, the only newstand issue that we have seen of this "deluxe" version is a stickered copy (the stickered newsstand version is also shown below for reference... it is a newsstand sticker that is placed over the Direct Sales UPC). The non-deluxe version of Action 695 exists in both Direct Sales and Newsstand formats.

Those were the days. People thought that all you had to do was buy a bunch of comic books and one day you would be rich. Well, if you hung onto some of those two packs (like the ones that had Batman 513 and the funeral for a friend DCUs), you would have gotten a pretty good rate of return. No so much for just about other every comic book sold in the 90's (with, of course, a few exceptions).

great idea!

Agreed. These types of "properties" usually don't get sold until they get in the hands of grandchildren. When that happens, I've heard that normally they get sold.