Amazing Spider-Man 149 red cover variant

[Stronguy]

Donut will buy it regardless of the price. He's made out of money. He bleeds gold when you cut him. He's Bill Gates' long lost lovechild. I say set the price a $500,000 and work up from there. He'll pay it...

[Stronguy]

Does anyone know anything about the rarity of this book? Or, why it's never been listed before in the Guide?

 

It's not in the guide because it's not a true variant.

It's a printing anomoly.

I'll dig up the post where I explained it when I get off work.

 

Right -- not a variant (something intentionally made different). It's a printing error just like the FF 110 or those USMs.

[deathlok]

Does anyone know anything about the rarity of this book? Or, why it's never been listed before in the Guide?

 

It's not in the guide because it's not a true variant.

It's a printing anomoly.

I'll dig up the post where I explained it when I get off work.

 

Right -- not a variant (something intentionally made different). It's a printing error just like the FF 110 or those USMs.

 

No it is not the same thing as the FF#110. The FF#110 has different colors printed for the actual true colors. The USM color variant has one of the pigments missing from the cover. Which is the way this ASM #149 sounds like. If the blue pigment is missing it would create the colors he mentions. So it is a variant, similar to the USM, but not the FF.

 

Kinda the same thing, but there is a slight difference.

[DiceX]

Does anyone know anything about the rarity of this book? Or, why it's never been listed before in the Guide?

 

It's not in the guide because it's not a true variant.

It's a printing anomoly.

I'll dig up the post where I explained it when I get off work.

 

Right -- not a variant (something intentionally made different). It's a printing error just like the FF 110 or those USMs.

 

Exactly.

FF 110 is listed in the guide because it was an error that ran a considerable percentage of the copies. The others are just freak accidents that could happen to a few books in any given press run.

No way to put a price on those, other than how much someone is willing to pay for them.

They are unique, and the number available per issue is going to be very small.

[DiceX]

Does anyone know anything about the rarity of this book? Or, why it's never been listed before in the Guide?

 

It's not in the guide because it's not a true variant.

It's a printing anomoly.

I'll dig up the post where I explained it when I get off work.

 

Right -- not a variant (something intentionally made different). It's a printing error just like the FF 110 or those USMs.

 

No it is not the same thing as the FF#110. The FF#110 has different colors printed for the actual true colors. The USM color variant has one of the pigments missing from the cover. Which is the way this ASM #149 sounds like. If the blue pigment is missing it would create the colors he mentions. So it is a variant, similar to the USM, but not the FF.

 

Kinda the same thing, but there is a slight difference.

 

The FF, USM, and the mentioned ASM are production errors.

A variant is intentional. These are not.

The FF error is due to two colors being transposed on the front cover.

All the Spidey errors mentioned are from a color *not* being printed at all.

[Tango 'n Cash]

I found this on EBay, is this the book?

[OldGuy]

Looks like a bad scan to me.

[BradleyX2]

I would still like to see a scan of this color difference on this ASM #149. A Yellow Goblin would be interesting.

 

 

Jackal

[deathlok]

I would still like to see a scan of this color difference on this ASM #149. A Yellow Goblin would be interesting.

 

 

Jackal

 

A Yellow Jackal would be interesting.

[Aman619]

what it looks like is one of the progressive proof sheets of the cover. Perhaps someone got a hold of the YMK sheet and replaced the cover on a normal copy. A married cover version. Nort to be too skeptical, but that would get the same result.

[DiceX]

what it looks like is one of the progressive proof sheets of the cover. Perhaps someone got a hold of the YMK sheet and replaced the cover on a normal copy. A married cover version. Nort to be too skeptical, but that would get the same result.

 

Progressives were made on the front cover.

I seriously doubt they would have been made of the front and back cover together.

Even if they were, there would not be anything on the inside pages of the cover because progressive proofs are not duplex.

[DiceX]

To describe how the error occured, I refer to one of my earlier posts...

When a press shuts down... (Either due to a problem or the end of the run.)

The ink shuts off and the paper slows to a stop.

In this case, a particular color shuts off before the others.

As the press slows to a stop, the printed pages still go into the stacker, even the now "defective" ones.

 

There is a guy standing at the end of the press that takes handfuls of product and stacks them on a skid.

One of his jobs is to toss the defective product into the trash bin during startup/shutdown.

They usually toss enough product out to even include several handfuls of *good* copies.

This makes sure all the bad books are eliminated.

 

While it's a common production variation, it's very uncommon for it to escape immediate destruction.

[Mephisto]

I would still like to see a scan of this color difference on this ASM #149. A Yellow Goblin would be interesting.

 

 

Jackal

 

A Yellow Jackal would be interesting.

 

It said Ned Leedds was affected too, and Ned was a Goblin.

[BradleyX2]

I would still like to see a scan of this color difference on this ASM #149. A Yellow Goblin would be interesting.

 

 

Jackal

 

A Yellow Jackal would be interesting.

 

It said Ned Leedds was affected too, and Ned was a Goblin.

 

 

No no no. Ned wasn't a *real* Goblin. He was, what we spiderfans refer to as, a faux-Hobgoblin.

 

(Let me put on my nerd-glasses for a minute). You see, the first Hobgoblin, this guy:

is Roderick Kingsly. And he was so crafty about protecting his idenity, that he set up three different guys as the Hobgoblin (now known as faux-Hobgoblins) to throw Spidey and the cops off his trail. First there was Lefty Donovan:

Then there was Flash Thompson:

And finally there was Ned Leeds:

Ned was a bit different, because as far as the current editorial team was concerned, he was the real Hobby, but Hobby's creator Roger Stern came back years later to reveal Hobgoblin as Stern had always intended him to be, Roderick Kinsgly, in this issue:

There was a second Hobgoblin, Jason Phillip Macendale, formally Jack O'Lantern, but Stern had the original Hobgoblin kill him.

 

Does that make it all clear?

 

 

 

 

 

[Darthdiesel]

Excellent post Brad! I remember it had come up and the official handbook of the marvel universe: spider-man 2004 broke it down like this too. Problem is for me, i stopped collecting briefly after Ned leeds was revealed as hobgoblin and never got around to reading the latest installment from Stern

[blowout]

 

The FF, USM, and the mentioned ASM are production errors.

A variant is intentional. These are not.

 

A great sumation of the difference.

 

Having said that though, just because this book is not a true 'variant' doesn't mean that people won't pay insane prices for it. Look at the kind of levels that books like Venom #1 BLACK and Bloodshot #0 PLATINUM (both books produced by production errors) have reached.

[blowout]

Does that make it all clear?

 

No.

 

...And the trrouble is, who's to say Marvel won't change it all again?

As far as anyone collecting books back in the 80's (including me) is concerned, Ned Leeds was the Hobgoblin. No amount of retcons will change that.

[DiceX]

Having said that though, just because this book is not a true 'variant' doesn't mean that people won't pay insane prices for it. Look at the kind of levels that books like Venom #1 BLACK and Bloodshot #0 PLATINUM (both books produced by production errors) have reached.

 

No doubt.

I think it's definitely something that would interest Spidey collectors.

 

And you're correct about Venom black and Bloodshot platinum being production errors.

The ones that have multiple copies gain more attention, and are more likely to have a price published in a guide.

In the case of Bloodshot, it's a smaller number, but still enough copies to create a demand.

The one of a kind errors can be quite different in variation, and thus get less exposure.

[BradleyX2]

Excellent post Brad! I remember it had come up and the official handbook of the marvel universe: spider-man 2004 broke it down like this too. Problem is for me, i stopped collecting briefly after Ned leeds was revealed as hobgoblin and never got around to reading the latest installment from Stern

 

 

For anyone who wants a truly in-depth look at the evolution of the Hobgoblin, I refer you to this commentary:

 

Squandered Legacy: The Rise & Fall of the Hobgoblin

 

[Aman619]

what it looks like is one of the progressive proof sheets of the cover. Perhaps someone got a hold of the YMK sheet and replaced the cover on a normal copy. A married cover version. Nort to be too skeptical, but that would get the same result.

 

Progressives were made on the front cover.

I seriously doubt they would have been made of the front and back cover together.

Even if they were, there would not be anything on the inside pages of the cover because progressive proofs are not duplex.

 

right as rain as usual.. I forgot the insides werent printed on these proofs. I had a set once... a full set. It had every combination of plates printed out...