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Marvel Whitman Variant List

Started by fastballspecial,

128 posts in this topic

fastballspecial

fastballspecial

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There is no such thing as a Marvel Whitman variant. They are Marvel direct editions and have NO distinguishing marks. The only way to tell if a copy is a Whitman copy is to have the ORIGINAL Whitman bagged 3-pack with the comic in it. If I take a copy, bag/seal it, and distribute it, is it a variant? No, and neither are the direct edition Whitman copies. I would guess that the comics themselves have no more value than an unbagged copy. The only rarity which would command a premium is the Whitman bagged comics as a whole. There can not bew too many of them floating around any more.

 

JMO - taste

You are exactly correct sir hail.gif As my research has found this month. The comics being marketed as Marvel Whitmas are direct editions that have blank UPCs and starburst over the price logo. See the above website. They are however harder to find then other versions of those books though. For example I have seen literally 100s of regular versions of Uncanny X-men 118 and have only seen 2 copies of the Direct starburst version of it over the years.

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gifflefunk

gifflefunk

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Well, here's part of an e-mail I sent to John Miller over at CBG (I'm corresponding with them for an upcoming article they plan on doing about the early "diamond" issues):---begin---I do think the Western Publishing/Whitman orders for issues drove the "diamond" printings, but I suspect* Marvel offloaded some of this material to other secondary channels which is why Marvel went with a "diamond" overprint instead of co-branding them with a Whitman label like DC did (i.e. Marvel had a dual purpose in mind). Marvel would have had no problems putting a Whitman overprint on the books as they did so with some of the treasury sized issues for other Whitman "exclusive" material.http://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/Direct/images/MarvelTreasuryEdition/017_w.jpghttp://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/Direct/images/MarvelTreasuryEdition/018_w.jpg(and of course the Star Wars Treasury sized issues)Later, of course they converted the overprint to that of the "diamond" format on the treasury size books:http://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/Direct/images/MarvelTreasuryEdition/023d.jpghttp://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/Direct/images/MarvelTreasuryEdition/024d.jpg* My suspicion is based on the following which was posted on the long expired eBay thread "Anyone Collect Whitman Reprints?" back in 2002:"It has always been my understanding that June 1979 was Marvel's 'official' and permanent jump into the Direct Market, with the differences now on every Marvel comic printed, and anything else prior (going all the way back to the Feb. 1977 cover dates) what I have always understood them to be, 3pack versions to easily tell what went to Whitman and other '3packers' and thus could not be 'returned.' "Later the following was given as an example of a non-Whitman 3-pack (unproven):http://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/Direct/Direct/3packs/comicpack89-front.jpghttp://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/Direct/Direct/3packs/comicpack89-back_middle=PPTSS_n11.jpgWhich ties in with what you have already mentioned, "we don't believe Whitman was the sole polybagger for Marvel".---end---I also sent them a link to my Star Wars Web Guide which has more printings listed than what they noted in their recent article "Mastering the Star Wars printings" article in CBG #1606:http://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/StarWars/Marvel/StarWars/001-006.html...and I added the following paragraph to the Marvel Direct Sale Issues, 1977-1979 page:Various theories have been submitted over the years to explain the differences in the size of the diamonds, why some issues have months in the diamond and others do not, and why some issues have UPC barcode lines and others have blank boxes. The size of the diamond appears to be related to how the cover was initially laid out for publication. Slim diamonds started to appear on all Marvel Direct Sale issues in May, 1979, after a change to the cover design. But slim diamonds did exist on some Marvel titles as early as 1977 (see Tarzan #2). Some Direct Sale issues have a month on the cover and others do not. This also extended to the Newsstand editions (see Star Wars Newsstand issues #10 through #13[/b'>). The month not appearing on the cover appears to be a "random" Marvel behavior with no other significance. The existence of UPC barcode lines was thought by some to indicate if an issue was in a Whitman 3-pack or if the issue was sold as a single issue. Recently a series of surfaced on eBay, all of which contained Type 1 issues (diamond with UPC barcodes) and two different Star Wars 3-packs containing a #11 with UPC barcode lines and a #11 without UPC barcode lines have been found.

 

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cosmic-spider-man

cosmic-spider-man

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Great post gifflefunk and a great web sight on those eairly Marvel Direct Market issues I go their quite a bit cool.gif. I collect these eairly diamond issues and am always interested in any info I can find on them so I realy appreciate your efforts. thumbsup2.gifthumbsup2.gif.

 

I also have some more of those three packs like the one with FF 187, P.P. 11 & MTU 62 that are in the same style bags only the top lables are different colors.

 

They are; Avengers 161, Marvel's Greatest 71,& Conan 76 with a blue lable

ASM 170, Invaders 18, & Marvel Two in One 29 with a Orange label

Cap. 211, Marvel Super Heroes 65, & Thor 261 with a pink label

Cap. 211, Marvel Premiere 37, & Thor 261 with a Green lable

Marvel Super Action 3, MTIO 29, & Invaders 20 with a Red label

Avengers 161, Eternals 14, & Conan 76 with a pink lable

Hulk 214, Iron Man 101, & Conan 78 with a red lable

 

893scratchchin-thumb.gif It would be cool to have a list of all the posible 3 pack combinations and a gallery on these eairly direct market marvels 3 packs and if you would like scans for any of these I have for your sight or that CBG article I would be happy to post them up hear for you to use.

 

gossip.gifThe one big Question I have about these eairly direct market issues 1977-79 is were they only sold in 3 packs or could you buy them new separately at comic stores or where ever?

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gifflefunk

gifflefunk

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It would be cool to have a list of all the posible 3 pack combinations and a gallery on these eairly direct market marvels 3 packs and if you would like scans for any of these I have for your sight or that CBG article I would be happy to post them up hear for you to use.

 

I'm slowly working on scanning the packs I have and building a better layout for a page to display the known 3-packs. So I would love to acquire scans for all the packs you listed!

 

The one big Question I have about these eairly direct market issues 1977-79 is were they only sold in 3 packs or could you buy them new separately at comic stores or where ever?

 

I don't know. I just collect information/data and attempt to reconstruct the past.

 

There is some indication that Marvel did send out "diamond" issues to test other channels. One report from a dealer I spoke with states that he received some "diamond" books in the spring/summer of 1977 and then they returned to being newsstand issues in the fall of 1977 with the "diamond" issues reappearing again in the spring/summer of 1979. At this point its just hearsay until more evidence turns up, but I have no reason to doubt his story (I guess its possible that Marvel used some points as a test for their eventual direct sale distribution model in 1979).

 

Some collectors have told me that they recall buying loose "diamond" books as singles. But it seems possible to me that some dealers were just buying up bagged sets after they were marked down for clearance at Kmart, etc., and then they opened the bags up and stocked their "back-issue" bins with them (pure conjecture on my part); or it could be the dealers just bought up a bunch of collections containing these books.

 

The "skips" in January-March 1978, July 1978, and March-April 1979 in the superhero titles indicate a strong tie to orders for books placed by Western Publishing for inclusion in their 3-packs. If Western Publishing (aka Whitman) hadn't sold through their previous batches of "diamond" material they didn't bother ordering more books, so Marvel didn't bother printing a "diamond" run for those months (cost justification).

 

Because of the strong tie between Marvel's print runs and Western Publishing's orders I think CBG is going to call these "Whitman Variants" even though there seems to be evidence that Marvel was shipping/testing these books elsewhere (and they told me that they already had a data model in their system because of the work they did on the DC/Whitman and Gold Key/Whitman material they've added... so it would be easy to do the same for Marvel). The "test" channels appear to be very small in comparison to the larger Whitman distribution, so it is not unreasonable to label them as "Whitman Variants" (even though it they don't appear to have been sold to Whitman exclusively).

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gifflefunk

gifflefunk

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Thanks!

 

I have no idea what the prize is... but I'd love to know if it was something from Western Publishing (Gold Key/Whitman). If the prize was created by them then it would be strong evidence that these packs are "Whitman" bags.

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Metarog

Metarog

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Great info on these comics Nick.... here is an e-bay auction for Tarzan 24-26 with the thinner Diamond and the bag states a Whitman Product on the lower left. At least we can be reasonably sure those were distributed by Western Publishing.

 

The interesting thing here is that the comics in the bag cover both pre and post June 1979 issues. Does this muddy the waters further? confused.gif

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=35765&item=6532034741&rd=1

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gifflefunk

gifflefunk

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The interesting thing here is that the comics in the bag cover both pre and post June 1979 issues. Does this muddy the waters further?

 

Not at all. The Star Wars 3-packs also spanned that period by including pre-June 1979 issues in with the June 1979 (and later) issues. And so did other "themed" 3-packs such as Micronauts, Shogun Warriors, Battlestar Galactica, etc. (in fact I suspect the 3-pack that contains Conan #100 is for 98-99-100). Whitman continued selling Marvel "diamond" books throughout 1979 and into 1980 after the Direct Sale program "expansion" (see last pack here which contains two January 1980 books):

http://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/StarWars/Marvel/WhitmanPolybags/index.html

 

The only thing that happened in June 1979 was that Marvel "expanded" who received the "diamond"/Direct Sale books by including subscribers and and all vendors who were purchasing copies in advance for re-distribution/re-sale, namely comic shops and catalog services such as Mile High Comics back in 1979.

 

Basically Whitman went from being the main customer for "diamond" issues to just another distribution venue for Marvel. So we see a large increase in the number of "diamond" issues published after May 1979. But Whitman continued to get what they always got: "diamond" books.

 

This is the strongest case for calling the entire "diamond" run of books "Direct Sale" instead of trying to make a special "Whitman" sub-category for this material. Whitman appears to be the first vendor and the driving force for the "diamond" print runs between Feb 1977 and May 1979. So calling the pre-June 1979 books as "Marvel Whitmans" isn't totally without merit (although probably not 100% accurate) but it seems clear to me that these are just early Direct Sale books.

 

The only pure Marvel "Whitman exclusive" books would appear to be some of the Treasury issues that have a Whitman specific co-branding overprint. Again, Whitman was the largest customer in 1977, but evidence seems to indicate that Marvel had larger plans in mind and didn't lock themselves into a Whitman exclusive deal for the "diamond" issues.

 

Whitman distributed Marvel comics from February 1977 to at least January 1980 and then Marvel began supplying Parkes Run with comics. I know some Treasury material dated Spring 1980 was distributed by Parkes Run... and according to John Miller (CBG) the 3-pack of Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) was done through Parkes Run: "On my desk here is a RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK three-pack from Parkes Run, a Pennsylvanian company...".

 

Does anyone have any Whitman 3-packs with Marvel comics in them that have cover dates after January 1980?

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Warlord

Warlord

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I don't have the 3-pack bag anymore so I don't know who bagged it. But a 3-pack that I clearly recall purchasing (at a discount Woolworth's store IIRC) back in the day contained ASM #298, Classic X-Men #21, and Hulk #343. These were 1988 issues. No scan of the ASM #298 handy, but here are the other two.

 

 

hulkv1-343sm.jpg

classicxmen21sm.jpg

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cosmic-spider-man

cosmic-spider-man

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I found that most of these 3 packs have Bank of KOREA and Bank of INDONESIA notes with various amounts on them. Don't it seem strange to put those in comic 3 packs in the U.S. confused-smiley-013.gif?

 

The pack that had the Fantastic Four 187, Peter Parker 11 and Marvel Team-up 62 has what appears to be a game in it called Magic Dominoes #4. It has a sheat of card stock with a bunch of tear out square pieces and directions on the other end and on the side it says by Western Publishing Company, Inc. Their were a few packs that I couldn't find anything in so I sure their may be some different stuff I don't know about.

 

Hear is the back of that Bank of Korea note I will post that game and the other 3 packs soon thumbsup2.gif.

816575-tboK.jpg.a43d5055b10717bb279fee9903d91bd9.jpg

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