PeteUK

Had an interesting discussion about this, and it seems that it was offered as back issues but not advance orders from at least one distributor (but possible they didn't get them direct from Marvel themselves which might explain the patchy distribution as some retail customers are saying they had to source them elsewhere). Other possibility is comic shops still having newsstand accounts and getting them that way. Strange if Marvel knew there was demand from comic shops why they didn't just print off a direct variant. Perhaps there was some arrangement with the news trade distributors, in return for getting them into more mainstream channels and extra sales they agreed to do less through the direct market? Just guessing, as obviously I wasn't there and you were!

Well they were a Nudie, kind of... that's why we got so excited about them when we were 13....

Thanks, excellent idea to check the UK variants as evidence, why didn't I think of that??!!

Interesting, as comic shops surely would have wanted to stock them... I guess the record stores were sale or return basis ie. same as newsstands then.

Thanks, yes I had second thought about my comment... the statements of ownership prove if a NS edition exists because returns are shown but don't prove much else.

Does the statement of distribution offer any clues to direct market distribution? My copies (if I have them) of #10/23 are well buried at the moment so can't look. I think the statements don't offer any breakdown of the two other than "returns" obviously being from the newsstands if I understand them correctly?

Interesting thanks, of course the comic format ones had direct and NS editions too, I wonder if they actually designated the mags as newsstand only does that mean the comic shops would not be able to order them even if they wanted them.... ie. it simply didn't appear on their direct sales order forms? (someone must still have copies those order forms somewhere given the hoarding mentality of comic collectors!)

Just been sifting through this title in my ongoing attempt to catalogue all Marvel newsstand variants. Marvel mags generally go to direct and newsstand variants with 10/81 cover date (a bit later than standard size comics). Marvel Super Special returns after a gap in publication with #18 and is published around that time (though muddies the water a little by only having the year printed and no month). Going by the published on sale date it looks like it is the first Marvel magazine to have a direct edition, BUT it then reverts to barcoded covers only for the rest of the run leaving #18 the only one with a direct variant (and hence the only one with a newsstand variant which is the main purpose of the research!) So, I am wondering what was different about this magazine? Did comic shops stock it? Or have to order it on different terms? Was it on the newsstands in the USA (I'm in the UK so have no knowledge of that!) I pondered on the same questions in the Epic Illustrated thread, as that title likewise has no direct variants (the blank UPC #11 could be just an error). Anecdotal evidence suggests that Epic had wider mainstream distribution, and maybe that's the case too with MSS being mainly film adaptations that would be of interest to the wider public. There is obviously something different with these titles! Crazy, Bizarre Adventures and Savage Sword all fall into the regular pattern of direct and newsstand from 10/81 cover date but these two titles don't. I would love to understand more, if there is anyone who worked in comic shops in the USA in the early '80s and remembers if they stocked them, or did they order them through the same channels as their direct comics and mags. I'm hoping to catalogue all the variants but more than just make a list, as I'd like to be able to put everything in context of the times... in other words when changes were made (or not made) what were the reasons for that in relation to the marketplace at the time.

I've not yet gone through Marvel Super Special, but Hulk magazine I wouldn't expect direct issues on as it finished before direct variant mags began. I'm working my way through EVERYTHING slowly, chronologically by year and then alphabetically in each year... trying to put all the changes in the context of when they were published and working out any anomalies! It's coming back to me now about Epic Illustrated, that we did see a more mainstream distribution in the UK as well, I have a feeling it might have been sold in WH Smith which is our main chain of book and stationary stores which otherwise didn't sell a huge amount of comics. I only bought one issue at the time though, #2... I do remember the kids at school being very excited by its appearance locally... Starlin art with bare boobs! Wow! We had heard of this new magazine coming out but didn't expect to see it in the local shops. Interesting if comic shops did NOT have it, as surely they would have wanted it. Would it actually have been refused if they asked to order it?

Thanks for your reply. After 40 years and the lack of documented evidence for some of this stuff, peoples recollections of where they bought comics and other anecdotal evidence can be quite useful! Another example of interesting anecdotal evidence is comic shops receiving "diamond" issues pre-June 1979 (ie. what folks call "Whitmans")... I'm at a slight disadvantage, in that although I was around at the time, I was in the UK, so have no memories of the USA market or what items could be found in what type of shops, or much knowledge of the distribution channels over there. I never even knew until recently that directs and newsstands had different on sale dates!

Just doing a bit of research on this title and wondering why no direct sales variants? Marvel mags start to have both newsstand and direct copies from 10/81 cover dated issues (eg. Crazy #79, Bizarre Adventures #28, SSOC #69), somewhat later than regular size comics. But Epic Illustrated only seems to have one variant issue that I can find (not including UK price variants), that being #11 (April 1982 cover date) which has a blank UPC box variant... so that's either a direct sales copy or an error? Anyone know if this series had different distribution arrangements than other Marvel mags (as far as I'm aware no issues were either direct only or newsstand only) so perhaps the lack of variants was just an oversight that never got corrected?

Hi, everyone, my first post here... Unfortunately I don't have any unopened 3 packs to show you all, but hoping someone can help with a little research. I'm actually trying to list newsstand variants (where they exist in parallel with regular comic shop type direct variants) and while the scarcer 21st century ones are of greatest interest, for the sake of completeness I'm going right back to the start of the direct market in 1979. I'm an old silver/bronze collector really who has now jumped forward a few decades rather than chase prices higher and higher on stuff I already had and sold in the past... my current interest/research now begins at around the same time it previously waned, in 1979/80! There is so much conflicting, and downright wrong, information out there! But from reading this thread, and others, the general consensus seems to be that 6/79 cover dated Marvels were the first month of widespread supply of direct edition variants to comic shops (though anecdotal evidence of some shops receiving them before this), and that the 5/79 cover dated output with blank UPC boxes was largely (if not exclusively) to supply Whitman. OK, perhaps we shouldn't call them "Whitmans"... how about "Whitman-type variants" (WTVs?) ie. typified by blank UPCs and fat diamonds. I had originally thought that 5/79 was the first for "comic shop direct variants" |(as opposed to those sold mainly to Whitman. It was quite compelling for a while, as clearly a lot of changes were happening that month... the change to 40 cent price, the return of diamond logos after a gap of several months without (except for a handful of licenced titles), the cancellation of many titles, and sites such as GCD referring to "blank UPC and squashed diamond" books as direct rather than Whitman, BECAUSE of the squashed diamond and assuming that fat diamonds and squashed diamonds have intentionally different meanings. Of course, when you look into it the main difference in use between fat and squashed diamonds is that dictated by the space they have to fill eg. the "starburst" price logo is big enough to accommodate fat diamonds, or the small top left corner character images moving slightly higher. Thus, fat diamonds disappearing after 5/79 cover date is a mere coincidence based on design changes and nothing to do with the market. Am I on the right track here? Anyhow, my notes show a possible 16 of the May 1979 cover dated issues without a Whitman-type variant and most of these were either on their last issues (low print runs/poor sellers?) and/or titles which Whitman hadn't ordered much or at all in the past. Perhaps the most surprising omissions are Defenders #71 and Marvel Tales #103, both regular Whitman titles previously (Mile High has a placeholder for a Marvel Tales but no image, they also have a placeholder for a MOKF #76 but illustrated with a NS copy). So, I think I will take 6/79 cover date as the start for regular newsstand variants (as opposed to newsstand copies). A bit off-topic for this thread I know, but for June 1979 there are three that I can't track down direct editions of... Marvel Two-in-One #52 Shogun Warriors #5 Spider-Woman #15 GCD have an entry for MTIO without an image and Mile High have a placeholder for the other two without any images. Are any of these three known to not have direct editions? Thanks in advance for any info!