George Brent

Great idea about a list of holy grails for newsstands --though we should exclude cases where nobody has ever seen a newsstand copy (e.g., Wolverine #74 --I have every issue of the 2003 series from #40 through #90 in newsstand except #74, and I remember 2-3 years ago someone posted that he'd never seen a newsstand copy of #74, so there is a good chance it never came out as a newsstand). Rare + pricey would fit the bill for a holy grain, imho (so, Ultimate Fallout #4 definitely qualifies).

That is a good one, I found a copy back in 2015 from a vendor who had stashed a bunch of newsstands, but I haven't seen one since --well, just checked eBay and there is an allegedly "NM" copy selling for the bargain price of $199, but the pics show a bunch of spine bends/etc., looks more like a VF- copy.

I wish I had a fairy tale description of how I stumbled upon all those in someone's garage sale, but the fact is I got them over a few months from a variety of places and by being proactive, persistent, and very lucky. Re: the specific issues, I recall seeing at least 4-5 newsstand copies of AF#15 over the past few years, so, yes, that's rare, but nothing like ASM #694, I've only ever seen the copy I've posted plus one more (but in F/VG condition). Kind of a mystery for a non-key issue, whose surrounding issue #'s have had plenty of newsstand copies floating around --and more than a few folks know about this, there were some relevant discussions 2-3 years ago on this forum (can't recall if it was this Topic or another one).

Some key newsstands --took a lot of luck to find them in the NM range (well, ASM #694 is not a key issue, but it's exceptionally rare to find a newsstand copy in any condition, so NM copies are beyond super rare)

I confess ignorance Re:worth of Spawn's with stickers. Quite some time ago I got a bunch of Spawn newsstands in the #130's (#137 is the last with a newsstand barcode printed on the cover) and the #138 had a barcode sticker on it, but I thought nothing of it. Does anyone have more details on Spawn issues of that era with stickers? Thanks

Yes, all the Avenging Spider Man #10 newsstand copies I've seen so far are stickered ones. I own or have seen non-stickered newsstand copies of Av. Spider Man #1-9, 11,13-22, so #10 seems to be the only stickered one (I've yet to see a newsstand copy of #12). Btw, I've been looking forever for a reasonably priced (<$100) NM newsstand copy of Daredevil #9 and *any* condition copy of Av. Spider Man #9, I lucked into both of them a couple of months ago (the Av. Spider Man copy is a VF-, but I can't complain) :

I'd say NM- to NM/VF. Plenty of NM's, a good amount of VF+'s, a few F's here and there, but, overall, not bad at all --must have been a store not too heavily frequented.

Major rearranging time for my collection and a good chance for pics of newsstands: back in 2012-2013 I was lucky to have access to unsold issues from a news-stand at 2x their cost (so, 50c per issue for me) and I was getting every copy they wouldn't sell --I wish Marvel hadn't stopped their newsstands in Dec of 2013, I would have loaded up on everything.

A steal at $75.

Half price sale at 2nd & Charles, hadn't been there for 3+ years, spent 2 hours yesterday going through a gazillion issues only to pick out these 6 modern newsies in so-so condition (average VF+ or thereabouts). This newsstand hobby is a curse.

Newsstand Spawn's in the 130's have gone for ~$80-100 in the VF-ish range on eBay, I would not sell this 9.8 #133 for less than $350 or so.

Not always --but, judging by the $6.70 Canadian price listed on the front sticker, it's almost certain you'll see a newsstand barcode if you remove the back sticker.

90's newsstands, not sure we can pass these off as "modern", but I'm seizing this opportunity to show off my vaunted Namor # 16-35 newsstand collection --and, yes, I do realize I'm the only person on the planet who cares about those, but they are inexplicably super-rare for their time (as discussed a bit a few months back in this topic). These are the only copies I've been able to find during the last 10+ years and most of the multiple copies I got through one guy who happened to have stashed a few. I've found only stickered-newsstands of #16,17,19, and never seen a newsstand copy (stickered or regular) of 18, 20-26, 36-46, if somebody has copies of any of those, please post --and there is a cheap stickered #16 for sale on eBay currently.

You bring up a very good point here, so, having frequented lots of comic shops and pharmacies/drug-stores/supermarkets/etc. in several states in the late 80s and through the 90s, yep, I can say with certainty that, indeed, copies were handled much more carefully in comic shops.

Well, you are talking about the company that hyped their occasional 50% off sales (back when their "regular" sale was 35%) as a unique opportunity for awesome deals --in the meantime, they have pretty much all their issues on eBay for 50-60% off all the time, but they don't publicize that. Chuck's non-comics volunteer work is admirable, but I have to often cringe at the lack of sincerity of his sales pitches (and, yes, offering non-existent direct edition issues for sale is a credibility problem for the man who basically spread the word first on newsstand scarcity ~15(?) years ago). Btw, I think higher prices for even early (79-85) newsstands actually make sense, but only for higher grades, as one would still expect the direct edition copies to have survived in higher numbers for higher grades due to the environment they were sold in.

The 1977 reference throws me off : for Marvel the start of direct editions was approx. mid-1979 and for DC past Jan. 1980 --if Heritage is calling pre-1979 issues "newsstands", I suppose they are technically correct (b/c everything in that era was "newsstand"), but misleading in terms of newsstand vs. direct scarcity difference in high grades.

I've stumbled upon many a newsstand-looking copy and each time compared the last five digits in the barcode to those in pics found either on MHC or MCS and it always matched some type of "KB Toys" special or "Checkers" or other. I have not been able to find a pic of a copy that is the true newsstand version of this, if anybody has it, can you please post? Thanks

Lots of good ones, actually, great find!

I'd been actively looking for a high grade newsstand copy of ASM #693 for, literally, more than 9 years, then found two copies in the 9.2-9.6 range within a couple of weeks last month:

Some finds from a visit to Kauai, of all places. Not the best deal I've bumped into, average price was about $4, average condition about vf and I definitely overpaid for some of them (e.g., Wolverine(2003) #1 in f+/vf- for $5), but the Astonishing X-Men #3 and Amazing Fantasy #7 alone are worth about 1.5x what I paid for the whole batch.

Nice! Those last Savage Sword's (with #235 being the last issue in the series) are tough to get in high grade --though I have no clue what the newsstand ratio was, but it certainly is not in the 1/100 ballpark, given what I remember when I was looking for it on eBay, in fact, the two copies MCS has available now are both newsstands (I did manage to find a very nice newsstand copy on eBay, still sealed in its subscription bag and I plan to keep it that way when/if I ever sell it).

The classic revivalist neo-postmodern expressionistic "villainess' right leg" theme looks undeniably better in newsstand.

Plus some one-shots, mini/limited series, i.e., issues you really aren't sure have had a newsstand version until you see it, along with some misc. stuff --a question and a comment: (1) I've never seen newsstand versions of the Inhumans 1998 series except for #1, has anyone seen newsstands for any of #2-12? (would be nice to get a newsstand copy of #5) (2) The Mighty Avengers(2007) #1 is very rare, for whatever reason, I've only seen one so far.

And some Wolverine Origins:

Found some time to sort through some of the stuff I got in the past few months, here are some 2000s and 2010s ASM's (can never have too many copies or multiples of those) :