Get Marwood & I

No, nothing new Stephen. Your response seems pretty good to me. It's likely we'll never know the printing order now isn't it. And even if the answer were found, it may indeed be different by publisher, date, shipping requirement or the foreman's fancy as you say. For a book like Rawhide Kid #17, with four different versions out there, maybe the pence copies were printed third. Or second. Or fourth. First maybe. Who knows. I've done my bit to get the question out there, and if CGC are now on the hunt too then the chances of finding an answer has increased. I would still like them to recognise the US price fonts on their labels though, as we know which books are involved now. I've documented them fully, and banged on about them for 3 years and no one has found another during all that time. By putting something like "Different US price fonts exist" on the labels of those 13 books, the chances of 'the right person' seeing them and coming forward with information increases still further in my opinion. Also, it 'protects' CGC as it shows that they are aware of the situation if not able to explain it. The buyer who sees such a note on the label knows that they are buying a book over which a production question mark exists, and for which different copies exist. Should a printing order one day be discovered, possibly rendering certain copies as second / subsequent printings, they could at least claim to have noted the discrepancy in a 'buyer beware' type fashion. But I'm probably over thinking it. I've said before, it probably wouldn't matter to the vast majority what order of printing was undertaken for the pence copies and, where applicable, cents variations. But to know something about why font variants exist, and in what order different books were printed would be nice given the focus on comics of this period. It's just the ongoing pursuit of knowledge really.

Cheers Jim. As far as I know, the Haunted #50 has a regular barcode - I haven't found any black/blank UPC versions of it. Have a look when you get a spare mo.

Hmmm. I may have the wrong Crowley. Or pronunciation...

Is that who that is, Gary Crowley? My, he's changed. How do you say that anyway, ygogolak? Is it 'y-go-go-lack' or 'why-go-go-lack'? Or 'Dave'?

I've seen a few 'blue and whites' in my time and this does appear to be what extreme sun fade looks like. The red on the back is telling. Here's another example which I found in the files: Blue always goes last. I remember a Hulk key in a similar state too.

Afternoon Charlies Here's a little Charlton variant interlude while we await further Canadian sightings. In July 1980, Charlton produced these eight titles: If you look closely, you'll see that three titles have a blank UPC box, one a black box, and the rest have regular barcode UPCs. As far as I can tell, this is the only Charlton cover month which has titles with black / blank UPCs - all applicable copies before and after have the standard barcode and - to my knowledge - only the one US issue type. If we look a little closer at our four 'non-standard' titles, we find that each has two UPC types - one blank and one black. Here's Battlefield Action to illustrate: The UPC's seem to be the only differences - everything else is the same in the copies I have, including the indicias: I expect the other three titles will be the same, and will let you know once I pick copies up: As is often the case, I haven't yet determined why these variations exists. Perhaps someone reading will know. I can understand having a blank UPC to prevent a book from being scanned for a particular reason (similar to the Marvel early direct / Whitman bagged copies perhaps). But why a blank and a black version? Surely that serves the same purpose doesn't it? And why only these four titles? Why no regular barcode versions? And who won the FA Cup in 1964? We may never know. Anyway, nice things all the same, regardless of the whys and wherefores. Something else to look out for why we wait for the missing (?) Canadians to surface

I was hoping to win this nice looking 'no price' copy on ebay in the week but it went too high: There are actually four TTA #16's to collect:

Sorry Andy, I didn't get a notification you'd posted. eBay searches can be erratic, but I do get them as a rule, yes. When looking for AUS copies on eBay.com.au I select 'Australia Only' and it works: Having spoken to a few people about this kind of thing I do think that search results vary widely depending on which country you are in. Maybe Australia has some kind of block in place. We should try duplicate searches next time we're both online, and compare the results.

Thanks Ryan. No, nothing heard from CGC. Too busy grading I should think.

Morning Two bits of X news today. First up, X-Men #50. Not often you see an AUS price (AUS $4.90) on the back cover: And a new annual title - X-Force #2 from, you guessed it, 1993. Usual price too: Shame the barcode is obscured, but another copy will materialise at some point I'm sure...

That could be a good comic. Flies about the universe apologising for everything. Black Fury / Sorry Silver Surfer Team-Up

That could be a good comic. Flies about the universe apologising for everything.

Wassat?

Pop back a page for Cap #1 if you want great art Jim. Great as in 'great big pile of s' that is

Afternoon We're up to 1,133 confirmed APVs now I managed to finish the title Infinity Crusade today courtesy of two images from a regular ebay seller: Here they all are: Moving on, I haven't found a Cable #1 APV yet - it seems reluctant to appear. #2 to 6 exist - see below - and #7 may not exist as few AUS April 1994 books do. It's also likely that no phase II books exist from US February 1996 onward based on current numbers: Cable Blood & Metal #1 is often mistaken for "Cable #1": But that's a different title. The fact that group images like this one below exist, showing (the correct) #1 as a US copy and #2-6 as AUS copies, could indicate that #1 was missed / skipped? Time will tell....

Got there in the end...

Received today! And spent! I tell you, the drugs were so strong I don't remember much about her. The vague recollection of wool and four legs is troubling though, if I'm honest Thanks Harry! @Harry Lime Taken to the skies today! Thanks for picking mine Ginger

I liked it. But then again, I am an in that respect. Yes, I erupt at 12:00 every day. You can return the favour over at Brent's if you like You can't beat the medics can you. And they always insist on their weird hippocratic symbols don't they...

Shhhh!

Off to bed now - thanks for keeping the show on the road for us - and good luck to all the pickers