Saga of the Swamp Thing 21 club - best comic of the early 80s!

[Bronty]

My Canadian news stand copy has some funky staples going on

 

Click for high res:

 

 

Newstand copies are pretty uncommon I think so a Cdn newstand one especially so (thumbs u

[Lazyboy]

My Canadian news stand copy has some funky staples going on

 

Click for high res:

 

 

Newstand copies are pretty uncommon I think

On a Feb 84 cover date? Not so much.

so a Cdn newstand one especially so (thumbs u

Of course, Canadian Newsstands are uncommon.

[Bronty]

My Canadian news stand copy has some funky staples going on

 

Click for high res:

 

 

Newstand copies are pretty uncommon I think

On a Feb 84 cover date? Not so much.

so a Cdn newstand one especially so (thumbs u

Of course, Canadian Newsstands are uncommon.

 

Well, I bought 24 copies randomly without thought to whether they are newstand or direct (I don't care). I took stock when taking the photo for this thread and found that precisely ONE copy is newstand.

 

They are certainly not rare but quite a bit less common than the direct market ones, from my small sample size. I still don't care, but they do seem to represent a small percentage of the print run. I would say 10% or so, maybe less. Cdn newstand I would say less than 1%.

[Lazyboy]

Well, I bought 24 copies randomly without thought to whether they are newstand or direct (I don't care). I took stock when taking the photo for this thread and found that precisely ONE copy is newstand.

 

There are two (out of the six visible) copies in your picture.

[chrisco37]

Oh, and my graded copy has the staple issue. I wish I could say it was a 9.8 trapped in a 9.6 holder. Alas, it is accurately graded at 9.6.

[Bronty]

Well, I bought 24 copies randomly without thought to whether they are newstand or direct (I don't care). I took stock when taking the photo for this thread and found that precisely ONE copy is newstand.

 

There are two (out of the six visible) copies in your picture.

 

I see the one, I can't tell on the back copy.

 

Maybe you're right, but if so its a miscount on my part and the point is the vast majority of the copies are direct market

[Bosco685]

Guess I don't have a raw copy. At least I don't have to go looking for it.

 

Was that when I got the DKR from you? That SOST was/is a nice book.

Sorry. Was at a conference the past two days, so limited access.

 

That's it! I remember that DKR 1 GC 9.6, which was really nice looking.

[Chadwick]

My Canadian news stand copy has some funky staples going on

 

Click for high res:

 

 

Newstand copies are pretty uncommon I think

On a Feb 84 cover date? Not so much.

so a Cdn newstand one especially so (thumbs u

Of course, Canadian Newsstands are uncommon.

 

Well, I bought 24 copies randomly without thought to whether they are newstand or direct (I don't care). I took stock when taking the photo for this thread and found that precisely ONE copy is newstand.

 

They are certainly not rare but quite a bit less common than the direct market ones, from my small sample size. I still don't care, but they do seem to represent a small percentage of the print run. I would say 10% or so, maybe less. Cdn newstand I would say less than 1%.

 

I didn't even notice it was a newstand until I got the book home, nice little bonus

[Number 6]

I didn't get a chance to buy this issue when it came out - the last SotST issues I bought of the rack were 14 and 15. Seems like I never saw the title again after that.

 

I did, however, get The Best of DC Blue Ribben Digest #61 the following year. It reprints the best stories from '84 and issue #21 is one of them. But even then, As a kid I don't think I read the storie all the way through. For one thing, the narrative boxes are very difficult to read when shrunk down to digest size. Also, I didn't know how Swamp Thing died, who the Floronic Man was, who Sunderland was or why he was so interested in Swamp Thing. I assumed I didn't know enough to follow the story so I gave up on it. Plus, it looked really different than what I was used to.

 

Of course, when I finally read it years later, I realized you didn't have to read issue #20 to enjoy the story. Now it's one of my all-time favorite stories, right up there with Year One. I also like #55. Overall, the story is decent, but the opening 2 pages where Moore describes the transitory nature of existence and relationships is excellent.

 

I've actually been looking for a high-grade copy for awhile and only recently had success.

 

I purchased this off eBay as a "near mint/mint". Looked good in the scans but unfortunately the seller was a poor packer and I received it with a bunch of non-color breaking stresses. I'm having it pressed and slabbed for re-sale, but I think the bottom right corner will keep it from being anything higher than 9.4. Probably won't even break even.

 

 

Bought a CGC 9.6 but when I got it in hand it looked like a soft grade to me. So still not completely happy.

 

A couple of weeks later, I found the 2 copies on the left locally. Both are solid 9.6s as they stand. I'll keep one and sub the other for re-sale.

 

 

The copy on the right is my 9.0-9.2 reading copy I got off eBay awhile back.