bshowell

I have one of these in a box somewhere too. I bought 2 just to see if the comic in the bag was different than its direct edition version but it was identical, neither have a barcode on the actual comic. Ultimate Spider-man relaunched shortly after this with Miles as the main character and that issue #1 was polybagged in the direct market as well with no barcode on the actual comic but they did print the barcode on the newsstand version and didn't bag it. My comics are sitting storage right now while I move so I can't snap a pick of these but I thought it was strange that they bagged one of those issue on the newsstand market but not the other 🤗.

It wasn't so much that is was a hassle as there was a startup fee for new titles so Marvel would just let new titles take over for titles that had ended to avoid the fee. If I remember correctly the Marvel Authors was what they were publishing the old, famous authors line they had before these issues (titles like Christmas Carol and other literary classics) until that line ended and this Wolverine series took that title over.

One more.

It's my understanding that as long as they don't break color a couple of spine ticks are allowed in 9.8 condition but I'm not an expert on CGC grading either. You are right, this issue does have a couple of ticks.

A few more keep trickling in.

Back in the mid 90s Marvel had a line of 99cent comics in the direct market. I assume there was a minimum price that they had to sell newsstand comics for so they would combine two of these issues and sell them for $1.95 on the newsstand. One page back in this thread I posted a couple examples of Untold Tales of Spider-Man/ Fantastic Four Unplugged which are another example of when they did this. The first issues of these flipbooks actually had barcodes on both sides but later they started only putting them on one side and leaving the other blank. Hope that helps!

I agree that they should be separate titles, I shouldn't have said variant in my original post as these are different books from their direct counterparts but even a note on the side of the label stating it is a price variant and includes the other book on the flip side would be a step in the right direction. It is still so weird to me that they don't acknowledge that in any way. Both times I put on the submission form that it is a flipbook of both titles and both times it has come back as just Fantastic Four Unplugged.

Me too! I've found a few #1s but the rest are a little hard to come by. That #1 9.8 is the only 9.8 candidate I've ever had (I tried to press the #3 but it didn't get it all the way there obviously).

The Avengers Unplugged issues were included on the back of the even issues of Untold Tales as both Unplugged books came out every other month. And if what you say is true that just reinforces my feeling that these should be considered different titles from their direct edition counterparts since the interiors and back covers would be very different when comparing a direct edition of Untold to a newsstand edition of Untold. I couldn't find an ungraded copy to snap a pic but if I remember correctly, the publishing info on the inside of the book included both titles as well (ie: it said UNTOLD TALES OF SPIDER-MAN/FANTASTIC FOUR UNPLUGGED #1 as the books title on the inside). Just my 2cents!😁

And then I got this one back. These comics have actually bugged me a lot that CGC won't recognize them as variants. Back in the late 90s Marvel had a line of 99cent comics. Two of them were Untold Tales of Spider-Man and Fantastic Four Unplugged. On the newsstand they would combine two of these issues and sell it for $1.95. I submitted and just received back the Untold Tales #5, FF Unplugged #3 issue and there is no mention of the 100% price difference nor that Untold Tales is on the flip side of this book. As far as CGC is concerned, this is just another Fantastic Four Unplugged #3 copy. I guess if I had submitted it with the Spider-Man comic facing out they would have called it just another copy of Untold Tales of Spider-Man. I think they need to recognize these as different (I included the pics of FFUnplugged/UToSpider-Man #1 that I already had that they did the same to).

And a couple more gems (the Deadpool I actually found on eBay).

A few more...

So, as I'm packing up getting ready to move, CGC finally sent me back some comics I sent them last November. Here are the best modern Newsstands I got back.

I use those Command velcro strips. Two strips per comic seems to do the trick and since it's velcro it's super easy to switch them around when I get new comics.

I know I showed a few of these recently but my wife got a new job so we have to move which means my newsstand wall display has to come down. I thought I'd take a pic and share it before it gets boxed up and put into storage until we find a new place to live😉. Sorry the glare makes it a little hard to see.

There are a few on eBay but they are stupid expensive right now...like $500.

And one last post for now.

Here's a few more I've found or received back from CGC over the last few month that I thought might interest you.

I have one of these but it came back 9.4 unfortunately. I still have it but I only posted the 9.8s i got back.

From what I understood at the time, Marvel did this to save money. Apparently you had to register every new title with the distributor that was selling these through Barnes and Noble and there was a new title fee every time they wanted to sell a new series. So instead of paying the fee they would let new series take over older ones that had ended. They would ring up at the register as the title next to the barcode because that is what the computer thought they were. I have a bunch of Fantastic Fours that rang up as Astonishing X-Men because when it turned into FF, FF kept the Fantastic Four title even after Fantastic Four came back (like in the pic). I hope this helps.

Oh, and I sent some of Hickman's F4 run in and got back some nice 9.8s.

And some Wolverine, Deadpool, and Witchblade.

Here are some Spider-Man.

Here are some Fantastic Four.

I just checked back in with this thread and thought I'd share some Newsstands I've gotten recently. Here are some X-Men. I know the Magneto War comic says Direct Edition but it has the Newsstand style barode, so I thought it was interesting.