Puzzled by VARIENTS

[Mister_Comics]

Is there anything in printing that explains all the different Variant situations?

 

I have doubles of many Marvel comics where some have something different then the other. It may be the bar code is different. Some have the normal bar code, some have the line through it, some have a picture, some have just a blank square.

 

Other comics may have the price in a diamond while others have the price in a blast shape.

 

And some have price differences. 35 cents and 40 cents.

 

I don't know if there are any other variant things I left out, but these are the things I noticed among my comics.

 

Can anyone help. I'm not sure which are the original issues and which are the variants.

[aardvark88]

Some of the Marvel "variants" of early # GI Joe (reprints?) & New Mutants are priced as 75 cents for the Canadian market due to exchange rate. These were 65 cent cover priced in USA.

[Guest]

Just recently I had a similar discussion about "diagonal lines" in the UPC of some of my Star Wars comics - these were describe to me as being early "direct sale" variants.

 

Kevthemev had some VERY good information on that thread...here is the link:

 

Variants

[Kevin Boyd]

No, I don't believe that there is anything in printing yet that details the different versions of Marvel and DC comics printed in the late 1970's.

 

Check out this thread for some discussion we had months back on the different versions:

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=comicgen&Number=30196&page=&view=&sb=&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

 

Fact is that during the late 1970's Marvel was experimenting with the way their comics were (1) priced and (2) distributed/marketted.

 

Parts of the print runs were set aside for various regional pricing experiments (hence the LIMITED price variants) and to sell within different markets (Whitman packs, direct sales to comic shops, overseas distribution).

 

This experimentation continued into the next decade. As the 1980's began there were two types of comics printed - newsstand (UPC code and price and number box) and direct sales (price and number diamond and UPC with slash later Spidey head or DC logo). UK newsstand copies had the price in English pence on them.

 

As the Canadian dollar began to lose value compared to the US dollar and as the UK market was opening up for newsstand and direct sales comics there are also different newsstand variants that also exist in 1980's Marvel and DC Comics as the Canadian and UK newsstand copies have the price in those countries currencies rather than USD. Canadian and UK Direct Sales copies were identical to US direct sales copies as all three prices were listed.

 

Starburst was used for the "Still only 25 cents" box on the newsstand comics while on the Whitmans and direct sales copies the starburst outline is seen but is blacked in and contains the usual black diamond.

 

What is the original if both versions were printed at the same time? Perhaps, aside from the Whitmans we should keep it simple:

 

Newsstand Version (US$)

Newsstand Version UK price (1960's -on)

Newsstand Version CAN price (early 1980's on)

Whitman Version (all sorts of variations per issue, no constant except for the black diamond price and number box)

Direct Sales Version (middle of 1978 on, bar code with slash or Spidey/DC logo, black diamond price and number box)

 

 

Kev