paqart

Marwood, Have you ever seen British price variants of the 1999/2000 Marvels?

This probably should be in another thread, but curious if newsstand versions of Gotham City Sirens #1-22 exist? I've seen #23-26, but that's it. It seems strange they would make ns versions for the last four issues of a series and not the first 22.

I'd love to trade for some of those but I only have extras of ASM 10/$2.49 and Thor 19/$1.99

I'm curious whether they had a fixed number of these comics printed on a per title basis, or if they assigned a percentage of the print run. Going by print run, X-Men and Spider-man should be the easiest to find, Cable and Thor the hardest. And yet, X-men seems just as hard to find as the rest, while ASM is the easiest. Also wondering if they split the run evenly between the variants? That would make all of them equally rare, making the $1.99 editions just as interesting as the $2.29/$2.49 versions. It would also dramatically increase the rarity of individual newsstand price variants, though "any" newsstand variant would not be more rare relative to the direct edition if price is ignored.

I just picked up a Fantastic Four #24/$2.29 edition. It is the first $2.29 that I've seen. It came from Ft. Collins, Colorado.

I wouldn't be surprised if the MCU created a lot of wealthy collectors in Hollywood. If I was Chris Pratt, for instance, one of the first things I did after getting paid would be to pick up every appearance of Star-Lord. I remember back in the eighties when Steven Spielberg bought the original art to the cover of Mad #1 for $20k. At the time, it was a huge sale.

I keep my newsstand editions in separate boxes. My cutoff date is 1980. That is too early to make a distinction for rarity. The first reason is that I am trying to recreate the collection I had in 1979 when my mom forced me to sell them. Those are kept separate also. Therefore, anything before 1980 belongs to that group. Second, 1980 is the year when pretty much all the publishers had separate direct/newsstand editions. Prior to that, everything was newsstand. Third, I'm watching as non-rare newsstands are getting higher prices from collectors, like ASM 300, likely because they don't understand rarity doesn't become an issue until 1999. To date, I have eight boxes of newsstands between 1980-2017. Four of those boxes are 1999-2017.

Despite that, I've seen a fair number of 9.8 post-2000 newsstands right here on the CGC page. Am I correct to think you have a few yourself? At the moment, I have about 1,200 newsstand editions, 664 of which are dated 1999-2017. Of those, I have no slabbed 9.8's, 5 slabbed 9.6's, 7 slabbed 9.4's, and 8 slabbed 9.2's. The rest are all raw. Among the raws, I suspect there are at least 50 9.8's, largely due to a purchase of 160 2013 newsstands that appear to have come straight out of a Barnes and Noble. Most of the raws look like they are about 9.2. Very few are below that because I tend to not buy those, or if I get them accidentally (like part of a larger purchase), I often (not always) throw them in the trash. I'm not comfortable claiming many above a 9.2 without sending out for grading, because of how much variation I've seen in grading.

Up near Poughkeepsie in a tiny village a few minutes from the Taconic.

FWIW: I live in New York. I go to conventions in New York City, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. I also go to flea markets, garage sales, and comic book stores. I find newsstand editions in all of these locations. If anything on this list had appeared in any of those places, I would have bought them, even before I knew about the price variants. My rule is to buy any newsstand dated 1999 or later, unless it is in poor condition. Even then I might get it if it is an interesting issue or as a stand-in. I've been looking for over a year. One, ASM 10/$2.49, I already had. I have no idea how I got it. Five others came from eBay, and two more from a comic shop (both Thor 19/$1.99--yes, I found another one).

My impression is that they are less common than the 35 cent Marvel price variants from the 1970's, same for the 30-cent variants. The reason is that, if I want any of those, I just have to type it in my search bar and I'll find one or more available to buy. The prices are high for those but they are available. This group from 1999/2000 requires a lot of looking to find them. The non-variant versions, meanwhile, are plentiful.

I wonder why. I thought maybe it had a lower print run because it has a fill-in artist but according to Comichron, the print run is similar to issues on either side (about 55,000). I also wonder why all of these price variants seem to be about equally rare, regardless of print run. The only reason I have this impression is that the X-Men group had much higher print runs than the rest but are not easier to find (110,000/X-Men, 60,000/ASM, 60,000 FF, 55,000/Thor, 45,000/Hulk, 42,500/Cable). To date, I have six of the ASMs, all $2.49 or $1.99 prices, one of the Cables ($2.49), one X-Men ($2.49), and this Thor.

They are all newsstand, just to clarify.

Just got the Thor 19 $1.99 version. Strangely, a bit happier about that than the two Spider-mans I got at the same time.

I just got these three fine newsstand editions in the mail, the day before Thanksgiving. Note the Thor #19 and its $1.99 price. Took awhile to find that.

Where are the newsstands?

What makes you think so? They both have US/CAN pricing on them.

I have that one too but forgot about it. Wonder how many more there are? Did DC do this with other titles?

Three more. The Hulk doesn't say "Variant" but it is.

I understand what you mean but don't think that is what Mr_Highgrade was getting at. Maybe he'll respond? I have that impression because he mentioned price variants, assuming he means the 36 or so from the end of 1999-start of 2000. Those are price variants, not cover variants like these.

Notice the "VARIANT EDITION" label on the Captain America 25. The two Supergirl #1's are the same issue, different covers, both newsstands. The Turner cover is the variant, the Churchill cover is the "normal" edition. I have other examples but not many. One of the people on this board posted a Hulk variant newsstand if I recall. I've been trying to find one for myself every since.

Thanks to Marvel colorist Gregory Wright, I now have an answer to the question. These were all colored by Jack Adler using a gray ink wash color guide for each of the colors. https://www.nerdteam30.com/creator-conversations-retro/an-interview-with-jack-adler-comics-innovator-of-the-golden-age?fbclid=IwAR0SI44s1AsBZg_bUr0JN3KS5inJxe9cTkzclNv7fP5pCp6J1ZFrsqGuaLg

A question for anyone else who might know: There was a brief period at DC comics, between approximately 1971-1972, where many of the covers had extremely striking coloring. It marked a stylistic change for DC but then it disappeared, never to return. Many of the affected issues were either 48 or 52 page comics with a 25 cent cover price. Others were 15 and 20 cents but they are in the minority. I find more of these in the Kirby Fourth World titles but they are found throughout the line. Was this the work of a single gifted colorist who left the business? Was it someone who changed his or her style? Was it due to a style guide from an art director? I'd like to put together a collection of all of these comics but would like to know how to define them first: by colorist, by titles, by price category, or whatever it is that unites the group. Attached are some examples.

Sometimes they do, but not often.

What are these? No price, no bar code, What?