Copper's Heating/Selling Well on Ebay 33 33

[Guardian Comics]

There are 3 versions of mid-80s comics: Direct Market, (U.S.) Newsstand and Canadian Newsstand.

 

I'm not sure how or why they decided to make an extra version, but i have to assume they were printed and sold in large enough quantities to somehow be worth it.

 

It happened in the early 80's, when the Canadian dollar fell in value enough against the US dollar to make the exchange worth the cost of printing up different versions for the (not insubstantial) Canadian newsstand market.

 

As you know, Canadian price editions weren't new to the comic book market; they had been around almost as long as comic books themselves had.

 

But, in the early 80's, it was determined at Marvel, DC, and other newsstand distributors like Archie, etc, that there was enough of a difference to print a special Canadian newsstand edition company-wide, and that's what happened.

 

Marvel eventually figured out by 1986 that they only had to print the Canadian price along with the US price on the newsstand copies, which DC didn't figure out until 1988 (and Archie didn't until 1990 or so?), and that would save the additional costs associated with the separate version.

Yeah, I realize that the exchange rate had become a factor, but who was making these decisions and couldn't figure out that multiple prices could be printed on the covers of newsstand editions as well?

 

It would be interesting to know exactly how much that extra cover cost them.

 

Maybe the retailers didn't want multiple prices, and have their part time employee at the convenience store just punch in the first # they saw of 75 cents, when they should have punched in 95 cents. These corner stores staples were milk and cigarettes, not comic books. Unlike an LCS owner or employees who lived and breathed comics and that is basically all they sold. No scientific proof, just thinking out loud.

 

Jim

[Guardian Comics]

I always thought that the direct market versions contained both the US and Canadian prices, so the Canadian price variants were necessarily only newsstand versions.

 

Exactly

 

Jim

[Guardian Comics]

I'm probably confused here so I'll throw this out there.

 

I'm Canadian and bought most of my pre-2000 comics at a US LCS so while I do have some Cdn price variants, they are all newsstand copies.

 

Are people assuming Canadian stores received Cdn price variants w/barcodes? I seem to recall Canadian LCS stores I visited always had direct market books (same as US) but they were bagged w/higher Cdn sticker prices. Being so close to the border this particular store may have simply been using/sharing a US Diamond account.

 

If my memory is accurate then Cdn price variants didn't sell in the local LCS & the 10-1 ratio, if relevant, would be in relation to US newsstand counts not total US circulation.

 

Can any Canadians chime in here?

 

Exactly....CDN price variants were sold in book stores, convenience stores etc. Direct books were the same version at a U.S. or CDN LCS.

 

And yes people would be correlating the 10-1 ratio on CDN vs US newsstand books.

 

And is 10-1 an exact science, no. Just a hypothesis.

 

All I have to go on is this, in 1999 when I was researching my first book on Canadian Star Wars collectibles I met with the former owners of Kenner Canada (the distributor/manufacturer) for the vintage Star Wars toy line in Canada from 1978-1985. He told me at the time that SW toys were produced for the CDN market at 1/10 of what Kenner in the US was producing for the U.S. market, with whatever didn't sell being shipped to foreign markets like Japan and Australia. It's a number that was published in my book, and I have seen other people apply the same numbers to other collectibles, such as comics and video games. Although I'm sure not entirely accurate is the 10-1 ratio, it's a decent starting pointing but could vary a couple percent either way depending on how receptive the CDN market would be compared to the U.S. marketplace.

 

Jim

[Flatliner1313]

These days it's not a flat ratio for booking product for foreign markets, but 30-40 years ago I could see it happening.

 

[bababooey]

I always thought that the direct market versions contained both the US and Canadian prices, so the Canadian price variants were necessarily only newsstand versions.

 

Exactly

 

Jim

That's why I got confused by the 10-1 ratio based purely on population.

You have to factor the DirectMarket/NewsStand market share shift throughout the 80's - early 80's newsstand was 70-80% of market and then in the late 80's DM was dominant. So the earlier Cdn newsstand price variants are more common - I'd estimate the early Canadian price variants were 7-8% of the run and gradually declined to being only 2-4% of the run.

 

Now I'm basing some of that off that transition on what RMA posted here and I'd also argue that the DM domination was slower to take hold in Canada.

 

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

 

Exactly....CDN price variants were sold in book stores, convenience stores etc. Direct books were the same version at a U.S. or CDN LCS.

 

And yes people would be correlating the 10-1 ratio on CDN vs US newsstand books.

 

And is 10-1 an exact science, no. Just a hypothesis.

 

All I have to go on is this, in 1999 when I was researching my first book on Canadian Star Wars collectibles I met with the former owners of Kenner Canada (the distributor/manufacturer) for the vintage Star Wars toy line in Canada from 1978-1985. He told me at the time that SW toys were produced for the CDN market at 1/10 of what Kenner in the US was producing for the U.S. market, with whatever didn't sell being shipped to foreign markets like Japan and Australia. It's a number that was published in my book, and I have seen other people apply the same numbers to other collectibles, such as comics and video games. Although I'm sure not entirely accurate is the 10-1 ratio, it's a decent starting pointing but could vary a couple percent either way depending on how receptive the CDN market would be compared to the U.S. marketplace.

 

Jim

 

I dunno...it's pretty weak evidence, and there are many significant factors that would have affected the numbers, not least of which was the Direct market itself.

 

I wouldn't be comfortable pulling 1/10th out of seeming thin air, starting point or no. There seems to be no reasonable foundation to start there.

 

I'll have to do some research on this.

 

For record purposes, Direct versions did NOT include the Canadian price for DC or Marvel until Dec, 1983 (DC) and Oct, 1982 (Marvel.), quite some time after the Direct versions themselves went company-wide.

 

Did Archie have Direct market copies in the early 80's?

[FlyingDonut]

 

Exactly....CDN price variants were sold in book stores, convenience stores etc. Direct books were the same version at a U.S. or CDN LCS.

 

And yes people would be correlating the 10-1 ratio on CDN vs US newsstand books.

 

And is 10-1 an exact science, no. Just a hypothesis.

 

All I have to go on is this, in 1999 when I was researching my first book on Canadian Star Wars collectibles I met with the former owners of Kenner Canada (the distributor/manufacturer) for the vintage Star Wars toy line in Canada from 1978-1985. He told me at the time that SW toys were produced for the CDN market at 1/10 of what Kenner in the US was producing for the U.S. market, with whatever didn't sell being shipped to foreign markets like Japan and Australia. It's a number that was published in my book, and I have seen other people apply the same numbers to other collectibles, such as comics and video games. Although I'm sure not entirely accurate is the 10-1 ratio, it's a decent starting pointing but could vary a couple percent either way depending on how receptive the CDN market would be compared to the U.S. marketplace.

 

Jim

 

I dunno...it's pretty weak evidence, and there are many significant factors that would have affected the numbers, not least of which was the Direct market itself.

 

I wouldn't be comfortable pulling 1/10th out of seeming thin air, starting point or no. There seems to be no reasonable foundation to start there.

 

I'll have to do some research on this.

 

For record purposes, Direct versions did NOT include the Canadian price for DC or Marvel until Dec, 1983 (DC) and Oct, 1982 (Marvel.), quite some time after the Direct versions themselves went company-wide.

 

Did Archie have Direct market copies in the early 80's?

 

I think the 10% number for the beginning is probably right, with it falling off towards the end - just anecdotally from several years of buying Canadian newstand variants, 75 centers are MUCH easier to find than 95 centers, both Marvel and DC. Some of the 95 cent Marvels are very tough - Thor 370, for example, is really hard. I don't have any hard numbers, but its just from the ten long boxes of Canadians I've bought over the past 10 years.

[RockMyAmadeus]

 

Exactly....CDN price variants were sold in book stores, convenience stores etc. Direct books were the same version at a U.S. or CDN LCS.

 

And yes people would be correlating the 10-1 ratio on CDN vs US newsstand books.

 

And is 10-1 an exact science, no. Just a hypothesis.

 

All I have to go on is this, in 1999 when I was researching my first book on Canadian Star Wars collectibles I met with the former owners of Kenner Canada (the distributor/manufacturer) for the vintage Star Wars toy line in Canada from 1978-1985. He told me at the time that SW toys were produced for the CDN market at 1/10 of what Kenner in the US was producing for the U.S. market, with whatever didn't sell being shipped to foreign markets like Japan and Australia. It's a number that was published in my book, and I have seen other people apply the same numbers to other collectibles, such as comics and video games. Although I'm sure not entirely accurate is the 10-1 ratio, it's a decent starting pointing but could vary a couple percent either way depending on how receptive the CDN market would be compared to the U.S. marketplace.

 

Jim

 

I dunno...it's pretty weak evidence, and there are many significant factors that would have affected the numbers, not least of which was the Direct market itself.

 

I wouldn't be comfortable pulling 1/10th out of seeming thin air, starting point or no. There seems to be no reasonable foundation to start there.

 

I'll have to do some research on this.

 

For record purposes, Direct versions did NOT include the Canadian price for DC or Marvel until Dec, 1983 (DC) and Oct, 1982 (Marvel.), quite some time after the Direct versions themselves went company-wide.

 

Did Archie have Direct market copies in the early 80's?

 

I think the 10% number for the beginning is probably right, with it falling off towards the end - just anecdotally from several years of buying Canadian newstand variants, 75 centers are MUCH easier to find than 95 centers, both Marvel and DC. Some of the 95 cent Marvels are very tough - Thor 370, for example, is really hard. I don't have any hard numbers, but its just from the ten long boxes of Canadians I've bought over the past 10 years.

 

Only 10 longs, over only 10 years...?

 

Amateur.

 

[Bronty]

RMA that is just.......way too easy.... might consider rewording it.....

[spreads]

 

Exactly....CDN price variants were sold in book stores, convenience stores etc. Direct books were the same version at a U.S. or CDN LCS.

 

And yes people would be correlating the 10-1 ratio on CDN vs US newsstand books.

 

And is 10-1 an exact science, no. Just a hypothesis.

 

All I have to go on is this, in 1999 when I was researching my first book on Canadian Star Wars collectibles I met with the former owners of Kenner Canada (the distributor/manufacturer) for the vintage Star Wars toy line in Canada from 1978-1985. He told me at the time that SW toys were produced for the CDN market at 1/10 of what Kenner in the US was producing for the U.S. market, with whatever didn't sell being shipped to foreign markets like Japan and Australia. It's a number that was published in my book, and I have seen other people apply the same numbers to other collectibles, such as comics and video games. Although I'm sure not entirely accurate is the 10-1 ratio, it's a decent starting pointing but could vary a couple percent either way depending on how receptive the CDN market would be compared to the U.S. marketplace.

 

Jim

 

I dunno...it's pretty weak evidence, and there are many significant factors that would have affected the numbers, not least of which was the Direct market itself.

 

I wouldn't be comfortable pulling 1/10th out of seeming thin air, starting point or no. There seems to be no reasonable foundation to start there.

 

I'll have to do some research on this.

 

For record purposes, Direct versions did NOT include the Canadian price for DC or Marvel until Dec, 1983 (DC) and Oct, 1982 (Marvel.), quite some time after the Direct versions themselves went company-wide.

 

Did Archie have Direct market copies in the early 80's?

 

I think the 10% number for the beginning is probably right, with it falling off towards the end - just anecdotally from several years of buying Canadian newstand variants, 75 centers are MUCH easier to find than 95 centers, both Marvel and DC. Some of the 95 cent Marvels are very tough - Thor 370, for example, is really hard. I don't have any hard numbers, but its just from the ten long boxes of Canadians I've bought over the past 10 years.

 

Are you interested in buying Can. Price Variants? I have an absolute mess ton of them...

[WebSlinger]

I bought a collection of about 3000 books a year or so ago and at least half were canadian price variants.

[spreads]

I bought a collection of about 3000 books a year or so ago and at least half were canadian price variants.

 

How many marvel 95 centers? I think I'm around 100 or so, but would have to check...

[WebSlinger]

I bought a collection of about 3000 books a year or so ago and at least half were canadian price variants.

 

How many marvel 95 centers? I think I'm around 100 or so, but would have to check...

 

Had a ton of them. Not sure exactly how many.

[Bosco685]

Shadowman Vol. 1 #16 (1st Doctor Mirage) - I always enjoyed that short series.

X-O Manowar Vol. 1 #25 (1st Armorines)

Bloodshot Vol. 1 #7 (1st Ninjak in costume)

 

I hope all these characters show up one day in movies if they are done right.

 

Those just missed the cut for a "one page" printout. (thumbs u

 

I believe there are Armorines in X-O #19.

 

[towards2112]

Shadowman Vol. 1 #16 (1st Doctor Mirage) - I always enjoyed that short series.

X-O Manowar Vol. 1 #25 (1st Armorines)

Bloodshot Vol. 1 #7 (1st Ninjak in costume)

 

I hope all these characters show up one day in movies if they are done right.

 

Those just missed the cut for a "one page" printout. (thumbs u

 

I believe there are Armorines in X-O #19.

 

 

Soooo, we're hoping XO #19 is the ace in the hole ?

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

Shadowman Vol. 1 #16 (1st Doctor Mirage) - I always enjoyed that short series.

X-O Manowar Vol. 1 #25 (1st Armorines)

Bloodshot Vol. 1 #7 (1st Ninjak in costume)

 

I hope all these characters show up one day in movies if they are done right.

 

Those just missed the cut for a "one page" printout. (thumbs u

 

I believe there are Armorines in X-O #19.

 

 

Soooo, we're hoping XO #19 is the ace in the hole ?

Because that's the serial number contest issue, that's probably the issue with the highest print run, except for the 0 issue.

[Vikingreed]

The Armorines Gold pops.

[towards2112]

Shadowman Vol. 1 #16 (1st Doctor Mirage) - I always enjoyed that short series.

X-O Manowar Vol. 1 #25 (1st Armorines)

Bloodshot Vol. 1 #7 (1st Ninjak in costume)

 

I hope all these characters show up one day in movies if they are done right.

 

Those just missed the cut for a "one page" printout. (thumbs u

 

I believe there are Armorines in X-O #19.

 

 

Soooo, we're hoping XO #19 is the ace in the hole ?

Because that's the serial number contest issue, that's probably the issue with the highest print run, except for the 0 issue.

 

Like I don't have about 50 toilet bound issues of this one.

[HighStakesComics]

I've been saying it for a couple months now. I hope you guys were listening (reading).

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/X-Factor-19-CGC-9-8-White-Pages-1st-Horsemen-of-the-Apocalypse-Cover-/111612664784?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19fca21bd0

 

Probably time to ship your 9.8 candidates to Sarasota. I believe the label on this will likely change as well. It's the first full appearance of the Horsemen. Only headshots in #15.

[Beastfeast]

That's one of those books I KNEW I should have been grabbing but didn't, for whatever reason. Oh well. Good job everyone else that did!