Wonder Woman (1987) "No Month" Variants

[Brock]

Today I picked up a copy of. Wonder Woman #1, but it has a variant price box... The (regular) direct edition shows the prices in the US, Canada and the UK, and has an ad for the History of the DC Universe in the UPC box.

 

The newsstand edition has a 75c price in the box, along with the date of February 1987, and - of course - a UPC code.

 

This edition has the single 75c price, but no date, and a "Who Watches the Watchmen?" Ad in the UPC box.

 

Looking online, I see that Mile High lists similar "no month" variants for #2 and #3, though not #1. You can see these on the Mile High website, or in several listings they have on ebay (search "Wonder Woman no month").

 

Does anybody have any information on what these are, and whether there are other similar "no month" issues in other titles?

 

 

[bellrules]

Probably from a sealed pack from 1987. If you look at the superman 19 in this listing, it's missing the month and only has one price on it as well. Many reprints from the era were distributed in those packs. Some of the batman ones have over 5 printings.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-3-Comic-Book-MultiPack-Superman-19-20-21-SEALED-3rd-Prints-1989-Trading-Cards-/322016612693?hash=item4af9af9155:g:U2kAAOSwPc9WzARd

[RCheli]

Probably from a sealed pack from 1987. If you look at the superman 19 in this listing, it's missing the month and only has one price on it as well. Many reprints from the era were distributed in those packs. Some of the batman ones have over 5 printings.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DC-3-Comic-Book-MultiPack-Superman-19-20-21-SEALED-3rd-Prints-1989-Trading-Cards-/322016612693?hash=item4af9af9155:g:U2kAAOSwPc9WzARd

 

That Superman 3-pack is interesting, because the 19 is missing a date, but the 21 looks like the regular version.

[Brock]

Thanks, Bell -

 

That's really helpful... The "Who watches the Watchmen" ad ran in the UPC box for Wonder Woman #6 through #9, so that likely gives us an approximate timeframe for the three-packs.

 

It's also interesting that only the US price appears on these editions, so they were definitely more limited in their distribution than the regular editions. I wonder if anyone has a sense of just where these were distributed, and how limited that distribution might have been?

 

It's also interesting to note that the indicia does not suggest it is a second print...

 

Does anyone know if any of the Superman or Batman versions list a print number?

[RockMyAmadeus]

Thanks, Bell -

 

That's really helpful... The "Who watches the Watchmen" ad ran in the UPC box for Wonder Woman #6 through #9, so that likely gives us an approximate timeframe for the three-packs.

 

It's also interesting that only the US price appears on these editions, so they were definitely more limited in their distribution than the regular editions. I wonder if anyone has a sense of just where these were distributed, and how limited that distribution might have been?

 

It's also interesting to note that the indicia does not suggest it is a second print...

 

Does anyone know if any of the Superman or Batman versions list a print number?

 

Some of them are marked "second (etc) printing", and some of them are marked "multi-pack reprint."

 

These were sold at K-Marts, Wal-Marts, Targets, Pay-Less, etc.

[Brock]

Thanks, RMA... with those kinds of retail locations, distribution may have been limited geographically, but the actual number of copies in existence could have been quite high...

 

I see that Mile High is asking for about a 50% premium over the regular edition. Is this typical, and perhaps reflective of overall scarcity, or is it wishful thinking?

[RockMyAmadeus]

Thanks, RMA... with those kinds of retail locations, distribution may have been limited geographically, but the actual number of copies in existence could have been quite high...

 

I see that Mile High is asking for about a 50% premium over the regular edition. Is this typical, and perhaps reflective of overall scarcity, or is it wishful thinking?

 

Wishful thinking. They are common as dirt. It's possible, with Batmania in full swing in 1989 (and some of them were reprinted in 1990), the reprints could have had higher print runs than the originals.

 

The reprints don't exist for all the Bat books. They are:

 

397-399, 401-403, 408-416, 421-425, 431-432. There's also #436, which was a demand based second-printing because of the sellout of the first.

 

They were reprinted at various times, mostly 1989, but some earlier, like the 401-403...those were reprinted at some point in 1986/1987, probably for the earliest packs that DC was doing.