Comprehensive List of DC Universe Logo UPC Variants 18 18

[ZillaCat]

Interesting take on that mysterio. Cap and I were just discussing this earlier, wondering how to confirm or deny something like that.

I have also postulated, since we have confirmed some instances, that the Star Trek books from this time, which sport a Star Trek logo, also represent a 20 pack variation.

 

[Cpt Kirk]

Great synopsis Capt. That matches my research. There are a few questions that it still raises.

 

A couple of comments and questions.

You mentioned 4 DC Bullets in the Nov. '93 pack. Don't forget Catwoman 4. It is dated Nov. '93 and should be in that pack somewhere.

You mentioned that June '95 has a 10 pack. I don't think we can count the absense of a 20 pack as proof that "only" a 10 pack exists. Refer back to my newest packs, which show both a 20 pack and a 16 pack, for the same month with the same content, minus 4 books.

Also, you stated that between yourself and one other person you have had all but one of these bricks in hand. Did you open any or all? And if you opened any of them, were they all DC Universe books? Or were there any with random Direct Market books, like the Metal Men 3 in my Dec. pack?

Myself, I keep going back to the math.

Jan '94 to Nov '96 is 35 months. At 20 books a month we would have 700 books sporting the DC Universe upc logo. Subtract the 24 Zero Hour books, and assume that the June '95 10 pack is the only one, that brings the total down to 666 books. ( an ominous number on it's own, let's hope that isn't the actual number). Going back to the master list we have compiled here, there are only 523 known DC Universe books.That leaves 123 books unaccounted for. So, are they unknown DC Universe issues, or random fillers during each month.

In addition, let's factor in my stack of smaller multipacks. Superman Wedding Album. The list counts 2 issues, both different but having the DCU logo. If one of those was available in the Wedding pack that I have, and the other one was available in that months 20 pack, then that should reduce the number of 'found' books by one, meaning there is another missing book from that months 20 pack. And I would make the same argument for other sets, like the Troika set or the Deadman set. So, if we start factoring in that kind of logic, the number of missing brick books goes up again. And for the Death of Superman reprints. And for the 'rarer' 2 pack books.

 

Personally, I will continue to hunt for unopened packs. I will keep them sealed, unless I can get a second one. For me, the only way to confirm or deny the existence of a DC Universe variant is by opening and cataloging the contents, as I did with the Dec. pack.

 

Does anybody else have any of the 20 packs unopened, or have personal experience at opening one?

 

Interesting analysis. I do have one question, in that the bricks often have titles with two issues represented (denoted with a * on the labels on the packs). Do we know if DCUs were ever duplicated month to month? If Flash #92, for example, could have shown up in two consecutive packs that could help explain the smaller number.

 

Dear Zillacat and Mysterio -- Great questions. And yes, I have opened many a pack, and I kept documentation of what was in each pack. It will take me a little while to go back to my notes and report the results, but I will do that as soon as I can. I love Zillacat's observations about the fact that some bricks contained bar-coded issues instead of issues with the DC Universe symbol, by the way. I believe these bricks are not all the same. My own theory is that they were stuffed with excess inventory that was laying around at the time. That theory is backed up by the fact that a few of the issues that went into 2-packs and boxed sets actually were bar-coded issues that had a DC Universe sticker placed on them presumably so that the bar code would not show through the plastic on the pack, and thus let the pack be scanned at the wrong price (examples were Detective 690, Superman Man of Steel 42, and Superman 104).

 

But heck, who knows? I would love the find the mininum-wage guy that had the job of bundling the comic books and then shrink wrapping them.

[revat]

Great synopsis Capt. That matches my research. There are a few questions that it still raises.

 

A couple of comments and questions.

You mentioned 4 DC Bullets in the Nov. '93 pack. Don't forget Catwoman 4. It is dated Nov. '93 and should be in that pack somewhere.

You mentioned that June '95 has a 10 pack. I don't think we can count the absense of a 20 pack as proof that "only" a 10 pack exists. Refer back to my newest packs, which show both a 20 pack and a 16 pack, for the same month with the same content, minus 4 books.

Also, you stated that between yourself and one other person you have had all but one of these bricks in hand. Did you open any or all? And if you opened any of them, were they all DC Universe books? Or were there any with random Direct Market books, like the Metal Men 3 in my Dec. pack?

Myself, I keep going back to the math.

Jan '94 to Nov '96 is 35 months. At 20 books a month we would have 700 books sporting the DC Universe upc logo. Subtract the 24 Zero Hour books, and assume that the June '95 10 pack is the only one, that brings the total down to 666 books. ( an ominous number on it's own, let's hope that isn't the actual number). Going back to the master list we have compiled here, there are only 523 known DC Universe books.That leaves 123 books unaccounted for. So, are they unknown DC Universe issues, or random fillers during each month.

In addition, let's factor in my stack of smaller multipacks. Superman Wedding Album. The list counts 2 issues, both different but having the DCU logo. If one of those was available in the Wedding pack that I have, and the other one was available in that months 20 pack, then that should reduce the number of 'found' books by one, meaning there is another missing book from that months 20 pack. And I would make the same argument for other sets, like the Troika set or the Deadman set. So, if we start factoring in that kind of logic, the number of missing brick books goes up again. And for the Death of Superman reprints. And for the 'rarer' 2 pack books.

 

Personally, I will continue to hunt for unopened packs. I will keep them sealed, unless I can get a second one. For me, the only way to confirm or deny the existence of a DC Universe variant is by opening and cataloging the contents, as I did with the Dec. pack.

 

Does anybody else have any of the 20 packs unopened, or have personal experience at opening one?

 

Interesting analysis. I do have one question, in that the bricks often have titles with two issues represented (denoted with a * on the labels on the packs). Do we know if DCUs were ever duplicated month to month? If Flash #92, for example, could have shown up in two consecutive packs that could help explain the smaller number.

 

Dear Zillacat and Mysterio -- Great questions. And yes, I have opened many a pack, and I kept documentation of what was in each pack. It will take me a little while to go back to my notes and report the results, but I will do that as soon as I can. I love Zillacat's observations about the fact that some bricks contained bar-coded issues instead of issues with the DC Universe symbol, by the way. I believe these bricks are not all the same. My own theory is that they were stuffed with excess inventory that was laying around at the time. That theory is backed up by the fact that a few of the issues that went into 2-packs and boxed sets actually were bar-coded issues that had a DC Universe sticker placed on them presumably so that the bar code would not show through the plastic on the pack, and thus let the pack be scanned at the wrong price (examples were Detective 690, Superman Man of Steel 42, and Superman 104).

 

But heck, who knows? I would love the find the mininum-wage guy that had the job of bundling the comic books and then shrink wrapping them.

 

that minimum wage guy will not remember because he was high as a motherforker.

[Warlord]

Fantastic info, Kirk.

 

To be certain, can you confirm that this comment:

 

10. The bricks from Nov 1994 and June 1995 contain issues that all have the DC Universe symbol in the UPC.

 

is simply saying Nov 1994 through June 1995 are DC Universe books, right?

[Cpt Kirk]

Fantastic info, Kirk.

 

To be certain, can you confirm that this comment:

 

10. The bricks from Nov 1994 and June 1995 contain issues that all have the DC Universe symbol in the UPC.

 

is simply saying Nov 1994 through June 1995 are DC Universe books, right?

 

 

Yes, that is right. There is a 20-pack brick from Nov 1994 and a 10-pack brick from June 1995. We have not seen a brick in between those months. This seems to be confirmed by the fact that DCU variants get spotty after Nov 1994 (in other words, after November 1994 it seems that several major titles have issues which have not been found to contain DC Universe variants, whereas the DC Universe variant occurs in all the major titles from Jan 1994 thru Nov 1994 (except Oct 1994, which is the month where they all have been found with the zero hour bullet)

Edited October 13, 2016 by Cpt Kirk

[Cpt Kirk]

 

But heck, who knows? I would love the find the mininum-wage guy that had the job of bundling the comic books and then shrink wrapping them.

 

that minimum wage guy will not remember because he was high as a motherforker.

 

Thanks Revat... that was about the funniest statement I've seen in a long time.

[EwanUK]

Was there some discussion on the Amalgam issues recently?

 

Found a 2nd print of Dark Claw which I'm pleased with

says "2nd print" in the indicia too

 

what was the research on the blank UPC issues?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cpt Kirk]

Great synopsis Capt. That matches my research. There are a few questions that it still raises.

 

A couple of comments and questions.

You mentioned 4 DC Bullets in the Nov. '93 pack. Don't forget Catwoman 4. It is dated Nov. '93 and should be in that pack somewhere.

You mentioned that June '95 has a 10 pack. I don't think we can count the absense of a 20 pack as proof that "only" a 10 pack exists. Refer back to my newest packs, which show both a 20 pack and a 16 pack, for the same month with the same content, minus 4 books.

Also, you stated that between yourself and one other person you have had all but one of these bricks in hand. Did you open any or all? And if you opened any of them, were they all DC Universe books? Or were there any with random Direct Market books, like the Metal Men 3 in my Dec. pack?

Myself, I keep going back to the math.

Jan '94 to Nov '96 is 35 months. At 20 books a month we would have 700 books sporting the DC Universe upc logo. Subtract the 24 Zero Hour books, and assume that the June '95 10 pack is the only one, that brings the total down to 666 books. ( an ominous number on it's own, let's hope that isn't the actual number). Going back to the master list we have compiled here, there are only 523 known DC Universe books.That leaves 123 books unaccounted for. So, are they unknown DC Universe issues, or random fillers during each month.

In addition, let's factor in my stack of smaller multipacks. Superman Wedding Album. The list counts 2 issues, both different but having the DCU logo. If one of those was available in the Wedding pack that I have, and the other one was available in that months 20 pack, then that should reduce the number of 'found' books by one, meaning there is another missing book from that months 20 pack. And I would make the same argument for other sets, like the Troika set or the Deadman set. So, if we start factoring in that kind of logic, the number of missing brick books goes up again. And for the Death of Superman reprints. And for the 'rarer' 2 pack books.

 

Personally, I will continue to hunt for unopened packs. I will keep them sealed, unless I can get a second one. For me, the only way to confirm or deny the existence of a DC Universe variant is by opening and cataloging the contents, as I did with the Dec. pack.

 

Does anybody else have any of the 20 packs unopened, or have personal experience at opening one?

 

Interesting analysis. I do have one question, in that the bricks often have titles with two issues represented (denoted with a * on the labels on the packs). Do we know if DCUs were ever duplicated month to month? If Flash #92, for example, could have shown up in two consecutive packs that could help explain the smaller number.

 

Dear Zillacat and Mysterio -- Great questions. And yes, I have opened many a pack, and I kept documentation of what was in each pack. It will take me a little while to go back to my notes and report the results, but I will do that as soon as I can. I love Zillacat's observations about the fact that some bricks contained bar-coded issues instead of issues with the DC Universe symbol, by the way. I believe these bricks are not all the same. My own theory is that they were stuffed with excess inventory that was laying around at the time. That theory is backed up by the fact that a few of the issues that went into 2-packs and boxed sets actually were bar-coded issues that had a DC Universe sticker placed on them presumably so that the bar code would not show through the plastic on the pack, and thus let the pack be scanned at the wrong price (examples were Detective 690, Superman Man of Steel 42, and Superman 104).

 

But heck, who knows? I would love the find the mininum-wage guy that had the job of bundling the comic books and then shrink wrapping them.

 

 

Here's a quick summary of the bricks that contain DC bullets, DC Universe and Zero Hour symbols:

 

1. Nov 1993 20-pack (see photos below; I broke this pack open in the name of science, because I know my buddy has an un-opened version of this pack. Note that all the issues are from Nov 1993, except the Flash 85, which is a DC bullet variant dtd Dec 1993; the other bullet issues included in this pack are Robin 1, Catwoman 4, BM Adv 14, JLI 58, Action 693. All other issues in this pack just have bar codes, including the Flash 84 dtd Nov 1993)

 

2. Dec 1993 16-pack and 20-pack (see post from Zillacat a few pages earlier on this thread that shows all the ones in the 20 pack; I'm assuming the 16-pack contains just 4 less issues, which would be spelled out on the front cover of the pack)

 

3. Jan 1994 20-pack -- all DCUs* -- I've opened this and have recorded all of the contents. BM Adv 16 and BM Mask of Phantasm both contain Bat symbol in UPC box instead of DCU symbol

 

4. Feb 1994 20-pack -- all DCUs*

 

5. Mar 1994 20-pack -- assumed to be all DCUs*; we have never seen this pack but it must exist because almost all of the major titles contain from that month have been found with the DC Universe symbol

 

6. Apr 1994 20-pack -- all DCUs* - I've opened this and have recorded all of the contents; Star Trek Next Gen 58 and Star Trek 59 have Star Trek symbols and BM Adv 19 has bat symbol instead of DCU symbols in UPC boxes

 

7. May 1994 20-pack -- all DCUs*

 

8. Jun 1994 20-pack -- all DCUs*

 

9. Jul 1994 20-pack -- all DCUs*

 

10. Sep 1994 20-pack -- all DCUs*, except the 4 Zero Hour comic books shown on the top of the brick, all which have the Zero Hour symbol in the UPC box*

 

11. Oct 1994 20-pack -- all Zero Hour symbols*

 

12. Nov 1994 20-pack -- all DCUs* -- I've opened this and have recorded all of the contents; BM Adv 25 and BM Adv 26 both have bat symbols instead of DCU symbols in UPC boxes

 

13. Jun 1995 10-pack -- all DCUs* -- I've opened this and have recorded all of the contents

 

* (note - in these bricks, Star Trek issues contain a Star Trek symbol and BM Adventures issues contain a Batman symbol instead of a DC Universe symbol)

 

PHOTOS OF NOV 1993 20-PACK:

 

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Edited October 16, 2016 by Cpt Kirk

[revat]

Updated 10/15/16

 

Added Power of Shazam 17

 

 

Action Comics 684 3rd print, 686 2nd print, 695-710 (2 versions of 700), 712-715, 718, 722-726

 

Adventures Superman 498 4th print, 499 3rd print, 508-520, 522, 524-530, 532, 535-540, Annual 8

 

Animaniacs 1, 2, 4-7, 9-10, 15, 16, 18, Christmas 1

 

Aquaman 1, 3, 5-8, 21-24

 

Aquaman: Time & Tide 1-3

 

Azrael 15, 16, 19, 20, 22

 

Batman 503-512, 514-524 (515 has two versions), 526-527, 529, 531 (2 versions)-535,

 

Batman Annual 13, 20

 

Batman Adventures 17, 18, 33, 35-36

 

Batman Chronicles # 4

 

Batman & Robin Adventures 1, 3, 4, 7, 8

 

Batman Legends Dark Knight 62-63

 

Batman: Shadow of the Bat 25, 29, 30, 35, 38 ,48, 49, 52-57

 

Catwoman 5-7, 9, 11-13, 15, 17, 18 31, 32, 36, Annual 2

 

Damage 0

 

DC vs Marvel #1, 4

 

Detective Comics 670-691 (675 and 682 have 2 versions), 694-704,

 

Detective Comics Annual 8-9

 

Flash 86-102, 104, 109-110, 114-115, 117

 

Final night 1-4

 

Green Lantern # 36, 47-56 (51 has 1st and 2nd print), 58, 59, 61, 63-68, 70, 75-77, 79-81 (2 versions of 81),

 

Green Arrow 110-111

 

Guy Gardner 15-17

 

Impulse 3, 10, 14-16

 

Justice League International 60-63, 67

 

Justice League of America 69 4th print 84-93, 95, 97-99, 107-108, 112

 

Justice League Task Force 7, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 32

 

Legionnaires 10, 12, 16, 19, 21-22, 25-26, 29, 33

 

Looney Tunes 2-6, 8, 12-15

 

Nightwing 1, 2

 

Pinky & Brain 1

 

Parallax: Emerald Night # 1

 

Power of Shazam 2-4, 12, 16-17, 19

 

Robin 3-9, 11, 13-22, 25, 27-28, 31-35

 

Robin Annual 4-5

 

Showcase '94 1-10

 

Steel 1-9, 11-15, 17, 23, 24, 28-29, 31

 

Superboy 1-9, 11-16, 20, 23-24, 29-30, 32, Annual 3

Superboy and the Ravers 1-2

 

Supergirl (1994) #1-4

Supergirl (1996) #2-4

 

Superman 74 4th print, 77 3rd print, 85-96, 98-106, 108-109, 114-118

 

Superman Annual 6, 8

 

Superman Man Steel 18 5th print, 19 3rd print, 20 2nd print, 29-38, 40-49, 52-53, 57-60, Annual 3

 

Superman: The Man Of Tomorrow # 1, 5

 

Superman Doomsday: Hunter/Prey 1-3

 

Superman Wedding 1 (2 versions)

 

Superman Toyman 1

 

Sovereign Seven # 1

 

Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? #1

 

Wonder Woman 82, 84-93, 95-98, 101, 106

Edited October 16, 2016 by Revat

[revat]

Power of Shazam shown here on atomic avenue

 

http://atomicavenue.com/issue/713153/Power-of-Shazam-The-172

 

There's a bunch of pics/scans there. If people are interested in uploading their high res dcu scans there, it not a bad place.

 

there's a separate listing for them on atomic ave, check'em out.

http://atomicavenue.com/atomic/SearchIssues.aspx?XT=0&ST=N&SN=dc+universe+logo&PN=1&IL=

[Cpt Kirk]

Power of Shazam shown here on atomic avenue

 

http://atomicavenue.com/issue/713153/Power-of-Shazam-The-172

 

There's a bunch of pics/scans there. If people are interested in uploading their high res dcu scans there, it not a bad place.

 

there's a separate listing for them on atomic ave, check'em out.

http://atomicavenue.com/atomic/SearchIssues.aspx?XT=0&ST=N&SN=dc+universe+logo&PN=1&IL=

 

Finally someone besides Mile High (prices) that is listing some DC Universe variants. Thanks for sharing Revat.

 

[Aweandlorder]

Well looks like 99% of them are gone gee thanks for nothing!

 

[revat]

Power of Shazam shown here on atomic avenue

 

http://atomicavenue.com/issue/713153/Power-of-Shazam-The-172

 

There's a bunch of pics/scans there. If people are interested in uploading their high res dcu scans there, it not a bad place.

 

there's a separate listing for them on atomic ave, check'em out.

http://atomicavenue.com/atomic/SearchIssues.aspx?XT=0&ST=N&SN=dc+universe+logo&PN=1&IL=

 

Finally someone besides Mile High (prices) that is listing some DC Universe variants. Thanks for sharing Revat.

 

This was shared with me by an unnamed lurker.

 

I'm very glad we added one, it's been awhile.

 

But I will say that though they are generally listed as such on atomic ave, I don't view these as 2nd prints, except when the are actually labeled as second prints and maybe a few other cases.

[Cpt Kirk]

Power of Shazam shown here on atomic avenue

 

http://atomicavenue.com/issue/713153/Power-of-Shazam-The-172

 

There's a bunch of pics/scans there. If people are interested in uploading their high res dcu scans there, it not a bad place.

 

there's a separate listing for them on atomic ave, check'em out.

http://atomicavenue.com/atomic/SearchIssues.aspx?XT=0&ST=N&SN=dc+universe+logo&PN=1&IL=

 

Finally someone besides Mile High (prices) that is listing some DC Universe variants. Thanks for sharing Revat.

 

This was shared with me by an unnamed lurker.

 

I'm very glad we added one, it's been awhile.

 

But I will say that though they are generally listed as such on atomic ave, I don't view these as 2nd prints, except when the are actually labeled as second prints and maybe a few other cases.

 

Agreed. I believe they are mostly second prints, but more appropriately named as "DC Universe variants".

 

By the way, the fist time I've ever seen the Action 706 DCU variant that was shown on this Atomic Ave website. So I believe we can safely say it exists. I will reiterate that to me, it is worth $100. If anyone has one they would sell, please send me a PM.

Edited October 17, 2016 by Cpt Kirk

[oceans11]

Having a good time looking for these. Here are my recent finds of these all from one shop...

 

[Brandon Shepherd]

Having a good time looking for these. Here are my recent finds of these all from one shop...

 

Wow, nice haul!

 

I love the Shadow of the Bat and Action covers!

[Beastfeast]

From the same $1 box and not a single other one in the whole shop.

 

[mysterio]

Saw this tragedy yesterday at a Vintage Stock in Kansas City. They tore the cover off a number of books to decorate the wall of their hallway to the back room. This is only the second copy of this book I have seen, it is quite rare in the wild in my experience. It hails from a Batman villain four pack that isn't common either (and expensive when you do see it sealed).

 

[Aweandlorder]

Saw this tragedy yesterday at a Vintage Stock in Kansas City. They tore the cover off a number of books to decorate the wall of their hallway to the back room. This is only the second copy of this book I have seen, it is quite rare in the wild in my experience. It hails from a Batman villain four pack that isn't common either (and expensive when you do see it sealed).

 

 

[Cpt Kirk]

These links show all known DCU variants Batman, Detective, Adv of Superman and Action Comics.

 

Batman:

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7564066

 

Detective Detective Comics:

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=4&Number=7041600&Searchpage=1&Main=314328&Words=&topic=0&Search=true#Post7041600

 

Adv of Superman:

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7061584#Post7061584

 

Action Comics:

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=7564093#Post7564093

Edited October 30, 2016 by Cpt Kirk