hitmandm

There are two main drivers in rarity: Print Run and scarcity (survivability). Early on, the direct editions were a much lower print run. But Direct editions went from the publisher into the mail and to the collector who was pretty good at preserving the condition. In a news stand edition, early on, they were more plentiful, but the supply chain really damaged high grade comics as they went from hand to hand and into the metal racks. Their survivability in higher gardes are difficult to find. So if you are collecting like 9.2 or 9.4 and below, there is not a big difference from the mid 80's and earlier between the two.Later the NS editions became a much lower print run and are therefore NS will be rarer. But in the later issues, the NS are very hard to find and blow away the direct editions in both print run scarcity and survivability. If you are a 9.8 collector like me, it is always news stand....always. Eventually the general collecting public will realize the scarcity of the NS editions in high grade and they will easily outperform and hold their value compared to direct editions.