Warlord

Looking at some sales on ebay and spotted this lot of 7 2-packs in the Sold listings. Common drek!

The seller also sold one pack as a single item.  C'mon, give, who's cornering the market on these?   

On 4/27/2024 at 11:16 AM, NoMan said:

Did you know that was a game changer? Did you know to buy multiple copies? 

Ha, no, I didn't buy UXM94 off the spinner rack simply because it contained unknown characters, not the "real" X-Men!  I picked up the issue, in a Lawson's store IIRC, and after seeing a bunch of nobodies on the cover I put it back in disappointment.   

Antique store find!  These Vlad's have bargain box values, so you'd think I'd have found all three in bargain boxes at cons or LCS, but no, I still need #1.   Low print runs could be the culprit.

The Robin issues have set me to thinking about which DCU issues are rarer or harder to find.  I've been wondering if the issues in some date ranges or certain months are any harder to find than others.  So I've done some analysis of all the DCUs that exist per my list (558 issues) vs those that I've found for my collection (393).  Excluding a handful of issues where I don't have a month/year date (some annuals and oddballs listed below), here's a look at how my collection has developed.  As I've noted in previous comments, my collection is perhaps 95+% sourced from LCS and conventions (plus a couple odd lots of ebay comics with some random DCUs) where I've bought whatever issues I encountered.  Those that I've sought out specifically, such as searching for and buying an issue on ebay, have been the exception by far.

I've made a couple observations from this analysis.  First, January through August 1994 are extremely well represented in my collection.  I've found about 150 of 158 issues. But then the last three months of 1994 stand in stark contrast.  I've only found about two-thirds of the Sept-Nov issues, and then only three of the Dec 1994 issues.  Of the months with any significant number of DCU issues, that is quite the outlier month.

The 1995 issues are all reasonably represented in my collection, with perhaps a slight under-representation of the May, June, and November issues.

The 1996 issues generally seem under-represented in my collection too.  I've done well with March through May but January and February appear to be giving me some trouble, and I'm doing only about 60% or so for the second half of the year.

Then, of course, there's 1997 issues of which I have none.  But there are only five 1997 issues, so for the moment I'm not making too much of that outcome.

I don't think my personal experiences can be extrapolated to form any conclusions.  However, I'd be interested in hearing from the peanut gallery on whether your collecting experiences or observations align with or differ with these results.   For instance, what about those December 1994 issues?  Are they really that tough, or am I just looking in the wrong boxes?

I need to nail down appropriate month/year of publication for these five issues... LMK if you can provide that info!

On 3/29/2024 at 10:45 PM, Warlord said:

 

Nice 6-pack!  Thanks for the info.  Somehow I've now found all of those issues except Robin #21.  Generally the comics from the 6 to 20-packs haven't seemed as hard to find, but issues can be hit or miss like that, at least when most of your collection comes from boxes of random overstock.

I was looking at the Robin collector's sets and noticed that, instead of unique issues, the sets contain overlapping runs of issues. What were they thinking?  The overlap issues are Robin #18-20 and Robin Annual #4.  I have all four of these issues in my collection.  Of the issues that don't overlap but appeared in just one of the two sets, I have only #15 and #22, so I'm missing #16 and #21.  Due to appearing in two boxed sets, assuming that the same number of each boxed sets were made and sold, you could conclude that Robin #18-20 and Robin Annual #4 should be twice as common as Robin #15, #16, #21, and #22.  My results suggest that's not a completely unrealistic assumption.

These are the only two Robin boxed sets I've seen.  Were there any other Robin boxed sets or bundles?

Mike's contests haven't quite yet destroyed my will to grade comics, so count me in!

On 3/29/2024 at 10:28 PM, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

Congratulations on the finds. The robin can be found in one of the boxed sets. (There are 3 versions.  )

Nice 6-pack!  Thanks for the info.  Somehow I've now found all of those issues except Robin #21.  Generally the comics from the 6 to 20-packs haven't seemed as hard to find, but issues can be hit or miss like that, at least when most of your collection comes from boxes of random overstock.

OK, I figure after 1.5 years it's about time for an updated list.    

I've been hard at work trying to get my list updated with the new information I've seen posted. I decided to split the list into two sections to simplify tracking the DC bullets vs the Batman logo/silhouettes.  Here are the lists with the updates I've made vs the Nov 2022 list.  Thanks to the many contributors who have identified these elusive variants in that extensive interval! Please check my work and feel free to post about any errors or omissions.

DC Bullets in UPC Box

- Added Batman, The Collected Adventures Volume 1

21 DC bullets:

Action 693, 694
Adventures of Superman 507
Batman 502
Batman, The Collected Adventures Volume 1
Catwoman 4
Detective 669
Flash 85
Justice League America 83
Justice League International 58, 59
Legionnaires 9
Looney Tunes 1
Robin 1, 2
Showcase '93 12
Star Trek 55
Star Trek The Next Generation 55
Superman 84
Superman The Man of Steel 28
Wonder Woman 81

Batman logo in UPC Box except where noted

- Added Batman Adventures #21 with Collector Pack First Printing at bottom of indicia, #25 with a sticker
- Added Batman and Robin Adventures #9 and #11
- Added Batman Forever Standard format
- Added Batman : Mask of the Phantasm in Prestige and Standard formats
- Added Batman-Spawn: War Devil 2nd print

30 total: 28 Batman logo, 2 Batman/Robin silhouette

Batman 279 mini-comic from Monogram model kits
Batman Adventures 14 1st print, 14 2nd print, 15, 16 1st print, 16 2nd print, 18, 19, 20, 21 no notation, 21 Collector Pack First Printing, 22, 23, 24, 25, 25 sticker, 26, 27, 28, 29
Batman and Robin Adventures #9, #11 (Batman and Robin silhouette)
Batman Forever - The Official Comic Adaptation - Prestige format
Batman Forever - The Official Comic Adaptation - Standard format
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm - The Animated Movie - Prestige format
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm - The Animated Movie - Standard format
Batman: Riddler - The Riddle Factory
Batman: Two-Face - Crime And Punishment
Batman-Spawn: War Devil 1st print
Batman-Spawn: War Devil 2nd print

On 2/6/2024 at 6:27 AM, ThothAmon said:

That man could draw.  Some very impressive results on eBay  

 https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1311&_nkw=dave+stevens&_sacat=0&_odkw=fantastic+four+199&_osacat=0&_sop=16&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1
 

Think I’ve got most.  Time to dig em up and get them graded. 

 

 

One of my OO copies that I submitted just over a year ago.  Shortly after receiving it back, I got it reholdered to fix the splotchiness issue on the front cover.  I need to take a new pic!

I think when I got it back there was a recorded sale around then for about $800.  That link to the ebay results shows a recent sale about 50% higher!

On 2/6/2024 at 5:31 PM, alecholland said:

I'm curious about this as well. I have several paperbacks that have stickers on them. My LCS used lighter fluid to remove the sticker from a paperback I bought from them, but I'm pretty sure that's a no no. 

This will do the trick.  Test it on a teeny tiny spot first - there are some inks/finishes where it is possible that it will remove color.  After determining it's color safe, you'll still want to be very gentle.  Do more dabbing rather than rubbing/wiping.

Also, use in a well ventilated space to avoid inhaling the fumes!

On 1/16/2024 at 11:28 PM, frozentundraguy said:

I also consider myself fortunate to have a copy of An Earth Man on Venus.  A must have PB for sci-fi collectors.

 

MIA in my collection...

On 1/1/2024 at 1:31 PM, Pat Calhoun said:

Looking at this cover, I couldn't help but think of Kamandi #1

I haven't lost a grading contest all year!  I'm in!

On 12/10/2023 at 11:52 PM, L.E. Gill said:

• Batman #515 DCU - Both a Deluxe & Non-Deluxe Version exists (one is embossed other is not)
• Batman #531 - Both a Deluxe & Non Deluxe Version Exists (I think both have glow in the dark features, one has Batman & Deadman back-to-back and the other looks more like they are fighting/facing each other)
• Detective #682 - Both a Deluxe & Non Deluxe Version Exists (one is embossed/ other is a DCU of the 'Newsstand issue')
• Flash #100 - Both a Deluxe & Non Deluxe Version Exists (one is foiled/ other is a DCU of the 'Newsstand issue')
• Green Lantern #81 - Both a Deluxe & Non Deluxe Version Exists (one is embossed/ other is a DCU of the 'Newsstand issue')
• Robin #14 - Both a Deluxe & Non Deluxe Version Probably Exists (one is embossed (DEFINITELY EXISTS)/ other is a DCU of the 'Newsstand issue' and it is on my list but I am trying to confirm)
• Superman: The Wedding Album #1 - Both a Deluxe & Non Deluxe Version Exists (one is the non-deluxe DCU that show Superman carrying Lois and the other is an all white cover with DCU logo on the back)

Physically own all of the above except Flash #100 'Non-Deluxe/Newsstand" DCU and Robin #14 Newsstand DCU.

 

Thanks for all the great details!  I kept looking last night and was thinking that Flash #100 wasn't embossed vs non-embossed, but wasn't sure if it was holofoil vs non-holofoil.  Thanks for the confirm.  For the Batman #531, comics.org suggests that the regular issue isn't glow-in-the-dark.  Put your copies under a light and then into a dark room and let us know for sure!

On 12/11/2023 at 8:15 AM, Cpt Kirk said:

Detective 675 has two DCU Universe versions (premium and regular).

Action Comics 700 has two DC Universe versions (premium and regular)

Detective 674 has two DC Universe versions (the covers are identical, but one version says "Collector's Pack First Printing" in the indicia, and the other version doesn't have that statement in the indicia).  Superman Man of Steel 30 also has this same two variations.  

Thanks!  I had those details for those three pairs.  They are part of the next group of issues I'm trying to get clarified in my notes.