GeeksAreMyPeeps

Sometimes, I walk into Red Lobster and make sure everyone knows that I don't like seafood, and then I go somewhere else for a burger.

2. This is just plain nonsense. Just look at (shared universe) comics history and you'll see it's a string of new versions of popular characters. Even when it's ostensibly the same characters, things are constantly being revamped, and taken as a whole, it doesn't work as a believable story. It's a string of different characters with the same name, as new creators give their spin on the character. As a whole, would it be more believable to tell those stories with new characters? Sure. But they might not sell as well, because it's not a recognized brand, and we're dealing with products from corporations that are all about branding. Want original characters? Try a book from a new company, or something creator-owned. 5. The 50s would like a word with you.

INVEST IN CHICK TRACTS!!!

I agree with a lot of this, but I think there are a lot of artists that don't take advantage of the artform. A lot of comics feel just like storyboards.

That would be fine with me, as I have 2 9.6s and 4 9.8s, and a bunch more ungraded

I don't know anyone who cares all that much about Scooby Doo comics. That would explain there being so few on the census.

List updated with more titles. Here's an interesting one: The Adventures of Captain America appears to have both a UPC and a non-UPC (Fantastic 4 30th Anniversary logo) for issue #4 only. Most of the listings I found on eBay are the UPC version, with only a couple of the FF logo. It seems unlikely that there would have been a ton of the these books distributed to newsstands, and a much smaller percentage to comic stores. There has to be something else going on there.

No worries

Yes. It's the silhouette of the Punisher from the Marvel Handbook.

I was about to point this book out as a reason why it's not exactly a Hulk 180/181 situation. Since EW 5 is the continuation of the story that features the last page cameo, it is more analogous to Hulk 181 (except that Rai #0 was published between them). Since Rai 0 is a bit of an oddball book, covering lots of little bits of history, there might be room for EW 5 to get a lot more respect further down the road.

I added a bunch more books, and realized there are a good number of titles to check in the Epic imprint and other Marvel imprints. I know that a lot of Epic titles were Direct-only, so I assume there will be a good number of books in there, but not all Epic titles were Direct-only.

I was going to suggest 4th World when I saw the mention of LI. When I lived on LI that was one of the shops I went to regularly. Picked up a nice copy of the Spectacular Spider-man magazine there for 50 cents. I think I got my Demon #1 from there too. My other favorite shops (Flashpoint and Port Comics and Cards) are long gone now. St. Mark's Place ain't what it used to be. My sister lived there in the '90s, when it was cool and still somewhat sketchy. It's a shadow of its former self.

Filming is done. Release is February 2020

The problem is that the non-glossy versions still look kinda glossy, so unless you've got both together, you may mistake the common version for the uncommon

Yes, but that's largely irrelevant. It's not the first appearance of Rai, just the first appearance of the next Rai. And since the continuity from the original Valiant line is dead, there's nothing significant about the "new" Rai. Especially since the current line's Rai is more similar to the original Rai.

The All-New, All-Different, Uncollectible Dreks-Men

Nothing else about that book comes to mind as being particularly key, except Bloodshot's first full appearance

Well, older collectors will be gone in time as well. Who knows whether a new generation of collectors will consider oversized books uncollectible.

Most bookshelf/prestige format books fall into this category, but there are a few books (e.g. Excalibur specials, Wolverine Saga 3-4, Havok/Wolverine: Meltdown) that have both UPC and non-UPC versions.

Good catch. I'm working my way through Marvel's monthly releases from 12/88 on, looking for books that seem to fit the profile, but haven't gotten to this one yet.

Is there a good resource for what titles were direct-only during this time period? I updated the list with more titles. The UPC-only books start in December 1988, and end, from what I've been able to tell so far, in October 1991 for comics and May 1992 for Prestige/Bookshelf format titles.

Like… overstating the condition of an item, perhaps?

I don't doubt your reasoning on this, but I know that I was only regularly going to newsstands (stationery stores and 7-11s, mostly) in my neighborhood for the first few years I was collecting comics. After that, and once I was driving, I didn't really bother, as I could drive to the various comic stores in my area. Occasionally I might buy a book from a "newsstand" on a whim, but that would usually be an additional book in my collection. As it is, I have a few copies of each Hulk book in that time period, all of them Direct copies, except 397, for which I *only* have Newsstand copies. There's nothing particularly special about that book that would have resulted in a sellout at my comic shop that I had to hunt down elsewhere. And they're all in great condition too, which probably would not have been the case if grabbed from a newsstand.

Good call. This scenario appears to be exclusive to books on Baxter paper. Especially with books that initially were on newsprint, but switched (Power Pack, Alpha Flight, 'Nam). Since it fit the profile, I checked on Strikeforce Morituri and found a few potential issues as well. Basically I've been starting by going through the covers on the Marvel wiki and then checking Mile High's website to see if they only have Newsstand issues available. I started checking eBay as well for some issues. Any other titles fit this profile?

As mentioned in the other thread, since many of these "Direct Only" titles seem to have barcodes coincide with crossover events, I wonder if there was limited distribution of those books to newsstand, even if they were not normally distributed there. As I recently was sorting through some books to post on ebay, I realized that I have some "Newsstand" editions of books (e.g. Hulk 397) that I doubt I got from a Newsstand, as I was in college at the time and not really doing any hunting for comics. I was picking up my pull lists from my usual comic store, and that's about it. There are Direct editions for some books that I only have the Newsstand Edition of, and I'm almost certain I got them at a comic shop. There's a chance there could be some aberrations in those Direct books.