Cpt Kirk

You just bought the winning lottery ticket with that find!

Great find... rare to find so many in one spot!

Good point. By the way, I still need Westgate, North Shore Square and Spring Hill Mall variants. If anyone has those and is interested in selling, please let me know. I'm williing to pay $100 in FN or better condition.

And here's a photo of 6 of them together (the ones I have, that is) along with the direct sales and newsstand copies.

Mysterio --- thanks for posting the Willowbrook Mall variant. With the photo below, all 9 known variants are shown on this one posting.

Great idea for a posting. Thanks for putting the info out there!

The only DC Universe variant of Action 695 that we know of is the un-embossed version like the one shown in your photo. For whatever it is worth, it looks like the embossed version also got stickered and sold at news stands (makes sense to me, since Superman was selling like crazy at the time due to the death of Superman story). Following is a link that shows the stickered newsstand version of the Action 695. http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=8602705

Very true. But if you were lucky enough to find the sticker, I can't figure out why you would take it off one comic book and put the sticker on a different comic book. The thing I've wondered is whether nor not someone could figure out a way to make those stickers. Probably not likely since there's really not much demand for these DC Universe variants to warrant the trouble of trying to make exact replicas of these stickers (I've rarely seen anyone crazy enough to pay a huge premium for them except for me). Perhaps the CGC should use carbon dating to figure out the age of the sticker (just kidding!) Like any sort of "add on" to a book, if the book itself became valuable because of that add-on, the unscrupulous would certainly attempt to switch stickers from a more common book to a rare one. I would like to know why DC felt the need to sticker these books in the first place. Of course, the books were designed to be part of (discounted) packs, and they didn't want the same problem that occurred with the 70's 2- and 3-packs, whereby retailers were accidentally scanning the one book as the price for the whole pack, but since many of them seem to have been made *only* for the boxed packs, which had universally covered UPC areas, the sticker seems unnecessary. It would appear that there are very few known examples of stickered books for any of these examples. If these are the only four known books, with possibly single examples (or maybe two) of each known to collectors of these things, then it wouldn't be worthwhile to potentially damage the book or the sticker to try to manipulate anything. At best it would be a lateral move. I'd be much more concerned with potential counterfeits (because they are pretty simple designs and fairly rough printing quality) than removing legit stickers to place on other books. I am also curious about the rationale for the stickers. My guess is that they may have needed some additional books to round out some of the multi-packs, so rather than go back to print on covers with the DC Universe logo they may have simply taken some regular printings and placed stickers on them. I suspect that this could have been some form of inventory control, similar to printing "not for retail sale" on some things, to prevent retailers from buying discounted multipacks and then reselling the books inside at cover price. But that is pure speculation on my part. I think you have the right idea here. I don't believe any of the known stickered DCU's came from 20 packs. The last 20-pack was for issues dated Nov 1994 and the 4 known stickered DCU's were dated after Nov 1994. That leads me to believe they came from boxed sets or two packs. My stickered Superman 104 DCU actually came from a sealed boxed set (i.e., Superman's Greatest Foes) that I opened myself. I don't know why DC felt the need to place the sticker on the boxed copy since the sticker doesn't show through the box (and interestingly, it was the only stickered comic book among the 6 comic books in that boxed set). Maybe the stickers were placed on there because those comic books could be sold in either boxed sets or two packs (the UPC codes are visible in the two packs and would therefore need to be covered up) For whatever it is worth, the sticker on my Superman 104 covers a newsstand UPC. The sticker on my Detective 690 and SM MOS 42 covers a direct sales UPC. I don't know what possesses me to care about these things, but DC also produced stickers to cover some errors on newsstand bar codes. In case you didn't see my posting on that, you can see it in the following link: http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=9240642#Post9240642

By the way, I found a non-stickered copy of TEC 802 newsstand. Somehow this copy got out the door with part of the bar code missing. Not sure how the store was able to ring it up and sell it with a portion of the bar code missing. Of the other newsstand issues that had errors on the bar code, I've only seen the Action 759 without the sticker on it. I haven't been able to find copies newsstand copies of Superman 677 and Batman 582 without the sticker on them. p.s. In the titles of Batman, Detective, Superman, and Action Comics, I have found newsstand issues of every single issue except Batman 706, Detective 829, 862, 868, and Action 895. If you see a newsstand variant of those issues, I would love to hear about it.

Of the titles I collect (see post above), I would say the ones I'm missing are pretty rare because I've been looking for 5 years on ebay and stores all over the country and haven't found them (I still say they are probably in the closet of someone's little brother because they came in those 20-packs from Toys R Us). The following are also very rare in the titles I collect (I've paid up to $100 in some cases to get copies): Action 686, 718 Adv of Superman 499 Superman 77, 96 Superman Man of Steel 20 Detective 680, 682 (orange cover), 685, 691 Batman 517, 524 If you find any of these, buy them right away and don't sell them for cheap! Just to add something as the basis for my statement of rarity. I know three other guys who have tried vigorously to find DCU Universe variants in these titles. The ones listed above and the ones I'm missing have been very hard for the other guys to find as well.

Very true. But if you were lucky enough to find the sticker, I can't figure out why you would take it off one comic book and put the sticker on a different comic book. The thing I've wondered is whether nor not someone could figure out a way to make those stickers. Probably not likely since there's really not much demand for these DC Universe variants to warrant the trouble of trying to make exact replicas of these stickers (I've rarely seen anyone crazy enough to pay a huge premium for them except for me). Perhaps the CGC should use carbon dating to figure out the age of the sticker (just kidding!)

Of the titles I collect (see post above), I would say the ones I'm missing are pretty rare because I've been looking for 5 years on ebay and stores all over the country and haven't found them (I still say they are probably in the closet of someone's little brother because they came in those 20-packs from Toys R Us). The following are also very rare in the titles I collect (I've paid up to $100 in some cases to get copies): Action 686, 718 Adv of Superman 499 Superman 77, 96 Superman Man of Steel 20 Detective 680, 682 (orange cover), 685, 691 Batman 517, 524 If you find any of these, buy them right away and don't sell them for cheap!

Yes, the Superman 104 and TEC 690 both have "non-stickered" DCU Universe variants. I have the "stickered" and "non-stickered" version of both issues. Besides Mysterio's Green Lantern "stickered" DCU and this SM MOS 42 DCU, I haven't seen any other stickered ones. I imagine there are some out there, though. Normal "non-stickered" DC Universe variants are hard enough to find.... I have probably seen 500 DCU Universe variants through my searching through thousands of comic books, and these 4 are the only stickered DC Universe variants I have seen.... so they are hard to find, indeed. In other words, they are the "best of the best of the best, sir!" Here's the DC Universe variants I'm missing in the titles I collect: Action 706 (I don't know anyone who has it) Batman - have them all (at least the known ones, that is!) Detective -- have them all Adv of Superman 530 and 531 (Zillacat has 531, and I don't know anyone who has 530) Superman 95, 98 (Jerome has it), 117 (I don't know anyone who has 95, 117) SM Man of Steel 49 (I don't know anyone who has it) Justice League of America (1986 series) -- have them all For some reason, Jerome believes that all of these exist.

I've been looking for 5 years for the DC Universe variant of Superman Man of Steel #42. Was starting to think it didn't exist. Then found 2 of them in one week. One is the regular version, and the other is a stickered version. The stickered one is a little beat up, but I'm glad to have found it. Here they are:

Both of these are ten years newer than MOS #18. Both of these have more desirable cover art on the second printing. Batman #612 second printing basically started the sketch cover craze... that's a collector's market unto itself. Batman #608 second printing is a totally new cover that looks much better than the giant boot on the first printing. The difference between MOS #18 reprints is a word color and a little Roman numeral... and a couple of years. valiantman, I get what you are saying, but who are we to decide what people want to collect? If some of these comics are harder to find, and the demand is there, I can see why they rise in value. Some of us collectors are completist. We want to have every permutation of our favorite comics or titles. I have this problem myself. I not only collect all the different versions of the original Marvel Star Wars title (including foreign editions) but I also collect direct and newsstand editions of the Dark Horse Star Wars titles. Think about how masochist that sounds. Would I spend more on a DH SW newsstand issue than a direct issue? Yes, I would be willing to spend cover price for a newsstand issue, whereas most of the direct issues are worth far less than cover price. As for crazy, think about this, a simple number change on the cover of Star Wars #1 (a 0 to a 5) can mean the difference of hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Thousands! For a cover that is identical except for the price. I do have to ask though, wouldn't the ads be different in a comic reprinted a few years later? Those 2nd thru 5th printings (and DC Universe variants) have ads and indicia that are identical to the 1st printings. So it is pretty hard to say when they were published. On the other hand, the 2nd thru 7th printings that occurred in the Batman run from 397 through 480 do have ads that are different than the 1st printings. I studied the problem and found that the date of those different ads could be pinpointed by comparing them to later issues in the same run. For example, the Lynx ad on the back cover of the 2nd printing of Batman 445 (originally dated Mar 1990) can be found on the back cover of all DC issues that are dated Aug 1991. So one can assume that 2nd printing of Batman 445 was published at the same time as the Aug 1991 issues.

My good friend... you also have Spring Hill Mall variant. I still remember the ebay listing where you bought it before I ever saw the listing. Not knowing it was you who bought it, I contacted the seller and asked him if he could get you interested in selling it to me for about $100. He contacted you and then you reached out to me to tell me that you were the guy who bought it! and you never part with anything.... drats!

All but the Cranberry are shown at the beginning of the post. I will also get off my duff in a few days and post a photo of the Cranberry Mall variant! regards, Kirk

Update: I found a copy of the Clearview Mall variant of Adv of Superman 443. Just found it laying around in a dollar box. Here's the kicker: I just found a Cranberry Mall variant of Adv of Superman 443. So now the grand total is 8 mall variants. I've got 5 of the 8. Jerome has two more that I don't (North Shore Square and Spring Hill Mall). So we have 7 of the 8 variants in hand.

nice!

yes, but it will depend on the grade in some cases. Some appear to be extremely rare and there are completionists who will pay significant amounts for them. And I've definitely sold some midgrade rare-ish ones for $10-$15, that I assume would have gone for more than $20 in NM. But its probably more about finding the right buyer at the right time with the right book than anything being universally recognized as valuable. I'm probably on the extreme end, but I'm offering $100 for any DC Universe variant of Adv of Superman 530 or 531 and Action 706 in FN or better. Also offering $50 for Superman 95, 98 and 117 and SM MOS 42&49 and Justice League 86 in FN or better. I know for sure that Adv of SM 531, Superman 98 and JL 86 DCU's exist.

Jerome thought MOS 42&49 and Superman 95 might exist, so I would leave them on for now. I've never seen them.

Hey Revat. My confidence is low.... I only have DCU variants of Action 706 and Adv of Superman 530 on my list because Jerome thought they might exist (I recall Jerome telling me many moons ago that he had an Action 706 in his hands once, but it was in such bad shape he didn't buy it). I've been looking for 4 years now, and I've never found a DCU variant of Action 706 and Adv of Superman 530 issues, so I think it is best to just keep listing them as questionable.

Yes, we have such a list. I've been keeping track and with the help of some friends, we have confirmation that 20-pack "bricks" can be found for each and every month from Dec 1992 thru Nov 1994 with one exception: we have not seen one for March 1994. Also, there's a 10-pack brick for Jun 1995 issues. Starting in Nov 1993, the top 4 issues showing thru the plastic on the brick had a DC Bullet symbol in the UPC box. In Dec 1993, all 20 issues in the pack had the DC Bullet symbol in the UPC box. Starting in Jan 1994, all the issues in the packs had DC Universe in the UPC box (except for Oct 1994 zero hour issues, which had the zero hour symbol) regards, Kirk

great find on the stickered green lantern. the only other ones we know of are Superman 104 and Detective 690. It is interesting to note that none of those 3 stickered books are from the same month/year.

dude!