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Freaky X-Men 99 Variant

Started by Stronguy,

28 posts in this topic

Stronguy

Stronguy

Posted
Posted

Ok, you all are familiar with this...

xmen99.jpg

 

Now look at this... 893whatthe.gif

xmen99_1.jpg

 

I pulled this off of an eBay auction back in 2000. The seller was in France and sold several < $30 books to a guy here in the US. I contacted the winner and, naturally, offered to buy it from him at a tidy profit. He said that he would let me know once he had a chance to check them out. Guess what -- the books never arrived. Go figure.

 

Anyway, look closely at that second pic -- real or fake.

 

If it's a fake 30¢-er then the guy went to a lot of trouble to do it. Why completely change the top of the cover when he could have just changed the 25¢ to 30¢ in the starburst?

 

If it's real then we have something really weird on our hands -- even if the price is a fake.

 

The only thing I can think of is that this might be a foreign reprint doctored to look like it has a 30¢ price. Anyone else have theory?

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Stronguy

Stronguy

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it's just photoshop. gossip.gif for an april fools joke, JC listed a .25 cent price variant for ASM 129, had everybody creaming their pants. 27_laughing.gif

 

Ya, I know a/b that but this was loooong before that. The original auction mentioned nothing a/b it being a variant. Besides, there is a lot more work that went into this than just a cut and paste in PS.

 

I emailed this to Paul M. back when I found it and he flipped.

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Jayman

Jayman

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Ya, I know a/b that but this was loooong before that. The original auction mentioned nothing a/b it being a variant. Besides, there is a lot more work that went into this than just a cut and paste in PS.

 

Photoshop can do some pretty intricate work, I know since I've been using it at work since version 3. I'm not saying the book is a fake, just that it is very possible that it has been pixel pushed!

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rob_react

rob_react

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it's just photoshop. gossip.gif for an april fools joke, JC listed a .25 cent price variant for ASM 129, had everybody creaming their pants. 27_laughing.gif

 

Ya, I know a/b that but this was loooong before that. The original auction mentioned nothing a/b it being a variant. Besides, there is a lot more work that went into this than just a cut and paste in PS.

 

I could do that in about three minutes.

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rob_react

rob_react

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482163-JMMN07_1_.jpg

 

Okay, maybe ten including finding the images on the net. If I scanned the books myself this would be seamless and most of the time would be in the scanning.

 

[oops] I forgot to copy and paste the cc symbol over the bar on the right which would have hid the half-assed cloning I did to fill that area out.

482163-JMMN07_1_.jpg.f8e5a8df03d33f02337f4cdb8b6ea16e.jpg

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Stronguy

Stronguy

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Photoshop can do some pretty intricate work, I know since I've been using it at work since version 3. I'm not saying the book is a fake, just that it is very possible that it has been pixel pushed!

 

Oh, I'm quite aware of the power of PS. I too have been using it since v3. Ain't it great?

 

What I'm saying is that the book is most likely a fake but why go to all of that trouble. Totally change the banner and price and then not try to exploit it. This whole thing was several months before all of the psycho prices started being paid for variants so I doubt he was really trying to capitalize on it. IIRC, this book ended up closing for a/b $30.

 

Anyway, after reading the ASM 129 thread I thought I would share it.

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blowout

blowout

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Besides, there is a lot more work that went into this than just a cut and paste in PS.

 

As Rob has already pointed out, this would be very quick and simple to do in photoshop. Theres not too much doubt that its a doctored scan.

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rob_react

rob_react

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Gorgeous QP tongue.gif on that 30c var Rob 27_laughing.gif As JC would say, " it took me some time to recover from that blinding white spine" smile.gif

 

It was the first copy that came up in a google search that was big enough to use. I should have saved all the QP guys some pain and grabbed some scans I have from copies I've sold. Next time. thumbsup2.gif

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blowout

blowout

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It was the first copy that came up in a google search that was big enough to use. I should have saved all the QP guys some pain and grabbed some scans I have from copies I've sold. Next time

 

Well since you were at it, you could have just photoshoped out the white border. grin.gif

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Stronguy

Stronguy

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xmen99.jpg

 

 

Is that you personal copy? I'm hoarding these hi.gif

 

Ya, that's mine. I got it back in '98 before everthing got so hot. I slabbed it a few year back -- red label days.

 

Now let's play "Guess The Grade"... All flaws are clearly visible -- back cover is really clean -- pages are ow/w.

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Jayman

Jayman

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Oh, I'm quite aware of the power of PS. I too have been using it since v3. Ain't it great?

 

Well then you should know that doing this to a image is a very elemetary task for PS.

 

What I'm saying is that the book is most likely a fake but why go to all of that trouble.

 

What trouble? You said a lot more was done than a simple cut and paste, this could be done while watching TV!

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