BuraddoRun

Nope, but I'll go check it out. Thanks. As for the sticker, yeah, I guess it is the same comic. But a manufacturer's sticker is different than a retailer's sticker, assuming one could tell the difference. Regardless, I just thought it was interesting.

What is it,exactly?It says "2099." but the characters on the cover are not the 2099 ones and there isn't an Avengers 2099 comic, is there? And it says "for all ages," which makes it seem like maybe a kids' comic compilation. Is it a TPB? It looks prestige format to me, from the pic.

That's pretty interesting, and I'd definitely never heard of it before now. I'm gonna have to keep my eyes open for this one now.

Nice HPB score!

So I did a search on ebay today and found a newsstand copy for auction. It had a sticker over the UPC. The seller said in the description that all copies, newsstand and direct, of that issue have the same cover inside and out, but that the ones distributed as newsstands got that sticker placed on them. So that explains this one.

So I just picked up Issue 22 of Tomb Raider, which appeared to be a newsstand, but when I opened it up, there was a Direct Edition UPC on the inside cover. Don't worry, I found it at HPB for half of cover price, so it's not like it was misrepresented to me by a seller or anything. But it's weird, right? I looked the book up on Mycomicshop, which of course has cover scans of comics, usually the Direct Editions. Their pic for TR 22 also shows the newsie-looking UPC on the front. In my comic book collection app from Collectorz, they often have pics for the Direct Edition entries but not always the newsstand ones. For this issue, they have this cover listed as the newsstand variant, but don't have a pic under the Direct Edition entry. My guess: they accidentally printed the front cover for the direct with the newsstand UPC. Question is, is there an actual newsstand variant that doesn't have the Direct UPC inside the front cover? Or maybe the version sold at comic stores and newsstands were the exact same for this issue, with instructions maybe given out to retailers on which UPC to scan? There are definitely Tomb Raider newsstands out there, as I also found a true newsstand of Issue 14 at HPB that same day. Anyone have any input? Also, are there other examples of Direct Edition books you know of that disguised themselves as newsstands?

And here are the DC and indie books.

Various X-Men books.

Here are some more random Marvel pickups I got from HPB this last month or so.

I've seen a few of these around. Anyone here collect them or have more info? They're interesting because they are just single issues, but bound in hardcovers and distributed to libraries.

It's sad, but I think these are done. Obviously we can't say for sure, but it's been so long. It started with less and less Walmarts carrying the comic packs, making them harder to find. Now, they're just not being restocked since that last $10 pack dump. Some Walmarts near me have various older packs, so I bought a few for old times' sake. Nothing amazing, but here's what I got.

I'm cross-posting from another topic, but I also found this book at HPB this weekend. It was published by a company in Hong Kong called HK Comics Limited. It's in English, though I suppose there were some made in Chinese as well? I don't know. I also am unsure who distributed it in the U.S. It's a Christian comic called King of Kings, and it appears only 1 issue was published, at least domestically and in English. There's a variant cover as well, which I don't have.

So I found this book at a Half Price Books this past weekend. I do a lot of my comic shopping there. LOL. Anyway, it's a Christian comic from Hong Kong, printed in English. The art is pretty and really detailed, and the book was printed in high quality. It's black and white with a glossy cover, and it's more like a silver age size than modern, though of course the book is a modern one. Plus, for what it is, it seems pretty unique. I looked it up online and I believe there was only 1 issue ever printed, though there is a variant cover out there. I haven't read it, but I flipped though and it was clearly meant to have more issues. Anyhow, I thought it was a neat find.

I found this DC Comics Presents this weekend at a Half Price Books. It's in bad shape but it's complete and only cost me $1. I found another comic from the same publisher at that same HPB about a year ago as well. I had to pull a stock photo for it since my copy's already bagged, boarded, and stored away. Both books are in English but were released in India, apparently, by a company named Gotham Comics. As you can see, they licensed both Marvel and DC books (and other companies', I believe). They are digest-size, but thin like a standard U.S. comic.

Wow, you can really see the contrast with color fade between the 2 covers. Nice book!

Nice find!! How did the assessment go?

I beg to differ! Little Shop of Horrors (musical) is one of my favorite movies of all time!

Image and Valiant.

HPB finds. Star Wars and Simpsons.

It wasn't bagged & boarded. I had grabbed it as a maybe-buy and put it with the rest of my maybes. Then later when I was sorting and deciding, I flipped through it and of course that's when I noticed, and it became a for-sure buy!

Collect what you want and try not to let OCD get the best of you. If you really love the book and want both versions in higher grades, then go for it! But if it's just a nagging feeling that bothers you for some reason and isn't based on your actual collecting wants and what you enjoy, let it go. Don't let the hobby control you. You control it. So again, collect what you WANT. Don't let the idea of, "I have this so now I have to get that too" mindset infect your collecting. It sucks the fun out.

DC. I'll post the indies a little later so I don't have too many posts in the same topic in a row.

More recent HPB finds. Starting with Marvel. It's weird how the Marvel Unlimited and Punisher don't have issue numbers on the covers.

Very awesome collection! I love collecting video game comics as well, but I'm not going for a 9.8 collection like you are. Here's a fun one I found earlier this week (my copy is very far from a 9.8) that you may find interesting. The comic is basically a beat 'em up comic, clearly homaging Final Fight, Streets of Rage, and more. But check out this unofficial appearance on the inside.