Identifying Marvel Reprints - Star Wars 1977-1986

[Guest]

Ok - here I go again with more Star Wars stuff (Hey! Its what I collect ok?)

 

Anyway, I thought that I was fairly knowledgeable when it came to the identification of the Marvel Comic Star Wars reprints...for what I knew it was fairly fool proof.

 

1) A Star Wars Reprint was easy to tell simply because there was a big blank space where the UPC code was suppose to be

2) The date was contained in a diamond box with no month

3) Sometimes the colors were a tad off

 

This is the knowledge that I have gone with for quite sometime now.... but now I have run into a twist. I have purchased a few Star Wars Comics that none of those features that broadcast the fact they are reprints....except I think they are.

 

These comics have the exact same identical cover as they should, except for the fact that there is a small diagonal line that goes thru the UPC code from the upper left to the bottom right. The issue number is in a square box WITH a date, there is a UPC code (with that line), nothing says reprint on the inside of the cover - but the colors do not match with other comics of the same issue number.

 

What gives here - is this a reprint or what?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Jeremy

[delekkerste]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think in a thread a while back that we identified such books as being early direct sales editions and NOT reprints.

 

Gene

[Guest]

I'm not 100% sure, but I think in a thread a while back that we identified such books as being early direct sales editions and NOT reprints.

 

Hmmm...intersting. All the information I can get from the internet states that direct sales have the "spidy" drawing where the UPC should be.

 

This I found in the "Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide":

I"n recent years Marvel has reprinted some of their comics. There has been confusion in identifying the reprints from the originals, but in 99% of the cases, the reprints have listed "reprint" or "2nd printing" etc. in the indicia, along with a later copyright date in some cases. Come Marvel 2nd printings have a gold logo. The only known exceptions are a few of the movie books such as STAR WARS, the Marvel Treasury Editions, and tie-ins... These books were reprinted and not identified as reprints. The STAR WARS reprints have a large diamond with no date and a blank UPC symbol of the cover. Others had cover variations such as a date missing or different colors...."

 

So according to Overstreet this is not a reprint (diagonal line in the UPC code) but could mean that it is indeed an early direct sales edition as you say...but what would have caused the color differences that I noted?

 

[Kevin Boyd]

Please see my reply to your question in the main comics forum.

 

Color differences are not unusual in Marvel Comics printed during these years - they are a by-product of the actual printing process and the ways that colors were blended.

 

For example, I have two copies of Uncanny X-Men 143 (last Byrne issue) - one of which has a BLUE background, while the other has a PURPLE background.

 

Sometimes the wrong color might get into the mix. Something that may supposed to be white will appear as green. Or sometimes a color may begin to run out and something that was supposed to be red comes out as orange, etc.

 

The older the comic is the weirder the color variants get. Sometimes entire colors did not come out. I once saw an issue of Silver Surfer 1 (1968) which looks like it was printed in San Francisco - all psychadelic covers - orange and red and white and but no blacks or blues.

 

Kev

[dam60]

Also to take into consideration is what order the book was printed - the first few copies of a standard printing job are usually discarded, the later colors display the colors as they were intended. Hence, the "blue" and "purple" makes perfect sense and wouldn't necessarily indicate a reprint.

[Guest]

Please see my reply to your question in the main comics forum.

 

Kev,

 

Thanks a million for that information. Anyone else that is interested you should check it out as well - very informative and extremely helpful.

 

Where did you get this informaiton from, personal research or do you have a "cheat book" of somekind? I ask only in an attempt to be able to answer my own questions in the future with out having to bug the list members.

 

Thanks,

Jeremy

 

[Kevin Boyd]

Some of it was found online, for example Robert Beerbohm's history of the direct market has some great information.

 

Some of has to do with some back and forth research that some board members and I had back in the fall on the variety of different covers that appeared on Marvel books in the late 1970's and whether or not Whitmans are reprints or not.

 

CGC has also been helpful, Paul Litch is a great source of information and it is his business to know about what books are considered reprints, variants, and so on.

 

Some information I was able to get from Mile High Comics online store. Most covers have at least one scan pictured - for instance I was able to identify what months the various UPCs changed by the scans he has up on his website. He also lists which issues are known to have Whitman versions.

 

Kev

[Guest]

I could tell you all about the reprints of early GI JOES.....a lot of people get very confused by which is a first or second printing. If anyone has any questions regarding this just ask and I will tell!

[Guest]

I knew a kid who years ago drew a upc code by hand ,that looked very real at the time, on his reprint of Star Wars #1 and tried to pass it off as the "rare" issue at the local comic store for some big cash......it didnt work......the store owner just said "Nice try kid....now get the Hell outa my store!"