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ASM "Whitman" copies being sold as variants - legal?

Started by ASM-completist,

182 posts in this topic

Samruby

Samruby

Posted
Posted

If you may be referring to me as far as the ASM #173 Whitman "Variant" from a couple of weeks ago, I can give you (for whatever good it will do) the name and location of the drug store I puchased it from around 1978 or so in Edison New Jersey, from a Whitman Bag (with blue Whitman logo on the top flap-part (with little hole to hang)...I knew the owner, and purchased many of these bagged comics, and remember them very very well, as it was when I was just starting to collect and read comic books.

 

I remember your e-mail, and it was answered promptly. I do not appreciate you or anyone describing any of my auctions "fraudulent in nature". I do NOT lie about anything in my auctions. Yes, I do make mistakes and will will make more in the future, but refunds are given in these instances. My inclusion of the word "Whitman" in the auction's title and description was not meant to mislead.

 

The book in question was originally sold in a Whitman bag. Whether it states "Whitman" in the idicia, the UPC, or anywhere else are all semantics. Many hardcore Spider-Man collectors do not even consider "Whitmans" variants to begin with,

 

There were two type of Three-To-A-Bag comic packs I remember:

 

One type was sold in Drugstores, and Department Stores (Alexanders in the old Menlo Park Mall had thousands back then), and this type was a quite a bit older (I started collecting with ASM #180/ Spec #17), but ASM's from late #160's were in circulation in Whitman bags at the same time. These had "Whitman" some where on the flap or bag.

 

The other type of three-to-a-bag "sets" were comics that were approximately a week or two in advance of their newsstand release, and were sold in grocery stores near me...I remember many of these had yellow and red flaps with a spidey logo, and no "Whitman" anywhere on it, plus the UPC's were not blank. Some had the "starburst" logo as well on these. The above linked MTIO I remember getting from one of these bags.

 

Then we get into the (non-bagged) advance comics I remember seeing first at the Route US1 Flea Market around issue #196 or so (I precisely remember seeing this "Death" of Aunt May issue back then and bought about ten copies thinking the death was genuine)...These had lines through the UPC and/ or "diamonds" in the price area.

 

Eric

 

PS: I cannot recall seeing "Whitman" stamped anywhere on a Marvel comic like some DCs.

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bobel

bobel

Posted
Posted

I seem to remember in the late 70s or early 80s the whitman packs had a yellow W on the left hand upper corner where price info was. I don't have any of the books but seem to recall it. IMO the whole price variant thing is BS. I understand it's an important criteria for someone else. Just because the guide broke it out doesn't mean it is to me. Why shouldn't the inverse be true. I say let anyone make any claims they want as long as the book is physically as described. Now, if I am wrong about Whitman packs having identifing marks dosregard all of the above.

I think the poor grading on so many of the pre 1985 Ebay books is a lot more of a problem than someone doing this. By poor I mean so poor you can see from a bad scan cut and pasted and magnified on image viewer the description is a lie. I have had great luck buying newer books on ebay and real mixxed results buting older ones. I just picked up a beautiful Daredevil run from a collector but know that will be balanced out when I recieve some VF/NM books with owl pages calleed off white from another collector or dealer. After having people offer to return my money on a 40.00 book minus the 6$ I spent on shipping if I send it back priority( another 4$) or not respond at all. I am just leaving badfeedback and a descrition of the book along with the dealers number grade or vf/nm description. If someone is selling books that far off grade they know they are and don't need emails from me telling them so. Maybe I will scan the really bad ones and post them on the web with the dealer ID and a copy of the auction. If i think a book is a little overgraded i figuire it's subjective but for those people pawning off fine books as NM I'd really like to do something to drive them off EBAY. I don't mind paying good money for what's described I don''t like being a mark.

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ShieldAgent

ShieldAgent

Posted
Posted
IMO the whole price variant thing is BS.

 

Whatever, and what does this have to do with Whitman's?

 

And Marvel Whitman's do not have distinguishing marks like their DC counterparts, so I guess we need to follow your disregard comment....

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bobel

bobel

Posted
Posted
IMO the whole price variant thing is BS.

 

Whatever, and what does this have to do with Whitman's?

 

And Marvel Whitman's do not have distinguishing marks like their DC counterparts, so I guess we need to follow your disregard comment....

 

Thanks for pointing out they didn't have distinguishing marks. I knew I had seen distinguishing marks now I know it was on DCs

 

Price variants have nothing to do with Whitman's I was refererencing other posts in the thread which mentioned price variants. It was a sidebar conversation that started about half way through the thread. I think price variants are BS so what? I don't think they add anything to the esoteric appeal of the book like a variant cover might so what? Others think different so what? If someone wants it more they pay more end of story.

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ShieldAgent

ShieldAgent

Posted
Posted
IMO the whole price variant thing is BS.

 

Whatever, and what does this have to do with Whitman's?

 

And Marvel Whitman's do not have distinguishing marks like their DC counterparts, so I guess we need to follow your disregard comment....

 

Thanks for pointing out they didn't have distinguishing marks. I knew I had seen distinguishing marks now I know it was on DCs

 

Price variants have nothing to do with Whitman's I was refererencing other posts in the thread which mentioned price variants. It was a sidebar conversation that started about half way through the thread. I think price variants are BS so what? I don't think they add anything to the esoteric appeal of the book like a variant cover might so what? Others think different so what? If someone wants it more they pay more end of story.

 

collect what you like

 

talk about what you like

 

no need to bash what others collect

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bobel

bobel

Posted
Posted
IMO the whole price variant thing is BS.

 

Whatever, and what does this have to do with Whitman's?

 

And Marvel Whitman's do not have distinguishing marks like their DC counterparts, so I guess we need to follow your disregard comment....

 

Thanks for pointing out they didn't have distinguishing marks. I knew I had seen distinguishing marks now I know it was on DCs

 

Price variants have nothing to do with Whitman's I was refererencing other posts in the thread which mentioned price variants. It was a sidebar conversation that started about half way through the thread. I think price variants are BS so what? I don't think they add anything to the esoteric appeal of the book like a variant cover might so what? Others think different so what? If someone wants it more they pay more end of story.

 

collect what you like

 

talk about what you like

 

no need to bash what others collect

 

I stand corrected and apologize. It wasn't my intention to do that but when i re read my post it was what i did. It would of been far better for me to jsut say I didnt understand the appeal which I don't than to have said it was BS which conveyed derison on my part. No insult was meant and i respect and understnad they have value to others.

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towards2112

towards2112

Posted
Posted
OK, I am sickened by a tactic that sellers are using. They are advertising their Amazing Spider-Man, or other Marvel title, comics as being Whitman variants even though they are simply the regular direct editions. AFAIK, there are NO distinguising marks on the direct edition comics that went into the Whitman 3-packs. Please, someone correct me if I amwrong in any way. Now, if I am not wrong, is it morally legal to sell such items as being variants? Wouldn't it be keyword spamming to use "Whitman" in eBay auction listings? Buyers are actually paying premiums for these comics because they think it is a variant. Also, if others are doing it, is it OK for me to do it? I got plenty of the issues in question so perhaps I should do the same? Thoughts?

 

Don't lie about your comics to make more money.

 

Hobbie, showing your true colors, eh? Scumbag.

 

No, I don't sell my books. But he's not really doing anything illegal. They are Whitman books, and he's calling them that. And all my books I bought in 3-packs do look slightly different than the direct editions, so they're technically variants.

 

Really? How do they look different?

 

This is an excerpt from Doug Sulipa's market report:

 

sulipa.jpg

 

 

These three came out in Whitman bags circa '91, '92.

I'm in the throws of loosing money on trying to guess which books all

the speculators are going to preorder, and in my shop walks my bouncing

baby boy with 2 of his buddies and 4 boxes of 3-packs that he bought on

the cheap from a small 5 and 10cent chain known as Whackers. They

were shutting down operations and the manager garage sale'd the lot

to Sean for about $20 for some 400 odd 3-packs.

At first I thought I had hit the mother load, as McFarlane was THEE

fanboy favorite at the time. Then I shredded a bag, only to discover

"second printing" in the indica on some, and "third printing" in some

of the others.

 

batman421.jpg

 

batman422.jpg

 

batman423.jpg

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Harvey Dude

Harvey Dude

Posted
Posted

CBG #1604 has a good article on Whitman DC variants. The article states that bagged Marvels were pulled

from the print run prepared for the direct market. According to CBG, two oversized Marvel Treasury editions

were Whitman variants. They were Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Star Wars.

I do not believe any other Marvel' comics would be considered Whitman variants.

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Hobgoblin

Hobgoblin

Posted
Posted
OK, I am sickened by a tactic that sellers are using. They are advertising their Amazing Spider-Man, or other Marvel title, comics as being Whitman variants even though they are simply the regular direct editions. AFAIK, there are NO distinguising marks on the direct edition comics that went into the Whitman 3-packs. Please, someone correct me if I amwrong in any way. Now, if I am not wrong, is it morally legal to sell such items as being variants? Wouldn't it be keyword spamming to use "Whitman" in eBay auction listings? Buyers are actually paying premiums for these comics because they think it is a variant. Also, if others are doing it, is it OK for me to do it? I got plenty of the issues in question so perhaps I should do the same? Thoughts?

 

Don't lie about your comics to make more money.

 

Hobbie, showing your true colors, eh? Scumbag.

 

No, I don't sell my books. But he's not really doing anything illegal. They are Whitman books, and he's calling them that. And all my books I bought in 3-packs do look slightly different than the direct editions, so they're technically variants.

 

Really? How do they look different?

 

This is an excerpt from Doug Sulipa's market report:

 

sulipa.jpg

 

 

These three came out in Whitman bags circa '91, '92.

I'm in the throws of loosing money on trying to guess which books all

the speculators are going to preorder, and in my shop walks my bouncing

baby boy with 2 of his buddies and 4 boxes of 3-packs that he bought on

the cheap from a small 5 and 10cent chain known as Whackers. They

were shutting down operations and the manager garage sale'd the lot

to Sean for about $20 for some 400 odd 3-packs.

At first I thought I had hit the mother load, as McFarlane was THEE

fanboy favorite at the time. Then I shredded a bag, only to discover

"second printing" in the indica on some, and "third printing" in some

of the others.

 

batman421.jpg

 

batman422.jpg

 

batman423.jpg

 

YES! That's what I remember. I know I bought Batman 397-399 in a Whitman 3-pack back in the day.

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hobbes

hobbes

Posted
Posted
Yeah hobby was pretty blatent. Return to this thread and explain yourself! 893naughty-thumb.gif

 

Maybe he was simply reiterating Hobbes' point-of-view. 893scratchchin-thumb.gif

 

"I believe it is the buyer's responsibility to educate themselves. The dealer puts a comic out at a particular price and someone buys it. I don't believe the dealer is abusing anyone or taking advantage of anyone."

 

"If the buyer did not take the time to research the book and come to some sort of educated decision then the buyer deserves what he gets."

 

893scratchchin-thumb.gif

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40oz-migration

40oz-migration

Posted
Posted
If you may be referring to me as far as the ASM #173 Whitman "Variant" from a couple of weeks ago, I can give you (for whatever good it will do) the name and location of the drug store I puchased it from around 1978 or so in Edison New Jersey, from a Whitman Bag (with blue Whitman logo on the top flap-part (with little hole to hang)...I knew the owner, and purchased many of these bagged comics, and remember them very very well, as it was when I was just starting to collect and read comic books.

 

Eric

 

PS: I cannot recall seeing "Whitman" stamped anywhere on a Marvel comic like some DCs.

 

 

so apparently you are going to scam again using the same tactic?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6530355447&fromMakeTrack=true

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