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Marvel Whitman Variant List

Started by fastballspecial,

128 posts in this topic

shadroch

shadroch

Posted
Posted

 

Hadn't read this thread before today. Very interesting stuff.About all I can add is that there was a bit of controversy about these diamond books when they first appeared. I remember that the three packs were regarded by most collectors as reprints and having inferior collectability than the newstand versions. When Marvel started with the more widespread diamond logo'ed Direct Editions,some comic shops didn't carry them.One,in particular, such dealer was a man named Perry Albert who was quite vocal against the diamond books and as he had the only comic show on Long island at the time,he set back the development of the direct market here I'd guess. Mr Albert was a very good guy and a very fair person to deal with,but on this,he was on the wrong side of history. I'll see if I can dig up some of the anti-diamond literature he used to stuff his bags with.

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gifflefunk

gifflefunk

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Hmmm, diamond price, Diamond distributors. Coincidence?

 

Probably not.

 

The story I've heard from a couple of places is that Diamond Dist. founder Steve Geppi was a huge Marvel fan and named his company in honor of the "diamond" that Marvel was using for marking Direct Sale books (Marvel "diamond": Feb. 1977; Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc.: 1982).

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shadroch

shadroch

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I've never heard that story.Let me just say that when Marvel adopted the diamond,Steve Geppi's company was known as Geppi's Comic World,and was one of about 25 authorized Marvel distributors.while he might have named his company after the diamond,Marvel certainly didn't use the diamond because of the company.

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cosmic-spider-man

cosmic-spider-man

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Hear is scans "best I could do" of that game Magic Dominoes #4 that I found sticking out of that Fantastic Four 3 pack and it does say by Western Publishing.

 

Does anyone on hear remember having opened any of these and what other things might have been in these 3 packs and does any one remember where they were originally sold the only place I know for sure was K-mart ? confused-smiley-013.gif would love to hear from anyone who remembers these. cool.gif

 

893scratchchin-thumb.gif I personaly don't care if you call them Whitmans or just Direct Market Marvels, but I would like to know more about them. crazy.gif

 

817265-MD%234.jpg

589a8eab3b00b_817265-MD4.jpg.4562b54558f3a49a44b4c30aff9f3be7.jpg

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Metarog

Metarog

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Great detective work Terry, man do I wish I had kept all these polybagged comics when I was helping out at a LCS 20+ years ago. frustrated.gif We had dozens if not hundreds of these sitting around. BTW, I remember seeing these at a local Woolworths back then too.

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Dr_Neff

Dr_Neff

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yesterday,

 

My friend got a Marvel Treasury Edition # 18 Astonishing Spider-Man with Whitman vaiant so that's a hero one, also got the Marvel Special Edition # 3 Close Encounters Whitman as well. We'll document them (copy cover and indicia, page count) and pass the info to Bob & Co.

 

I will also get a photo on here shortly of the MTE 18

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ASM-completist

ASM-completist

Posted
Posted
yesterday,

 

My friend got a Marvel Treasury Edition # 18 Astonishing Spider-Man with Whitman vaiant so that's a hero one, also got the Marvel Special Edition # 3 Close Encounters Whitman as well. We'll document them (copy cover and indicia, page count) and pass the info to Bob & Co.

 

I will also get a photo on here shortly of the MTE 18

By hero one, I meant one of its own title, such as Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, etc.. Good work though in adding to this mystery.
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ShieldAgent

ShieldAgent

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hey taste--

 

OT, but my, that was a very expensive reprint... 893whatthe.gif

 

I was going to snipe it, but I am sooooo glad I already have one

 

anyhow congrats flowerred.gif

 

Pardon my ignorance but what are your discussing? The ASM 292?

 

yup

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gifflefunk

gifflefunk

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Latest update from John Miller (CBG) is that they will not be including the Star Wars #1 30-cent "diamond" w/UPC issue on their list of Marvel/Whitman books. Apparently they cannot verify where they found the scan that was used in their Star Wars Printing Guide. John is worried that it might not actually exist and that it may have been a mock-up from a fans "want list" web page.

 

Does anybody here own a copy of a Star Wars #1 30-cent diamond w/UPC:

http://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/StarWars/Marvel/StarWars/001d_cbg.jpg

 

He also told me that they are not including that Star Wars #1 35-cent "diamond" w/UPC barcode. Even though two have passed through eBay they aren't certain if they are reprints or variants (John mentioned the interesting possibility that Whitman might have been involved in Marvel's test for a price increase, i.e. 3-pack price variants!). Wouldn't that be lovely... it would mean a whole new batch of undiscovered price variants might exist... that would really shake things up in variant land.

 

On a related note, I'm trying to track down Ed Shukin. Ed was in charge of Marvel distribution in 1977 and would have been the person involved in setting up the deal with Whitman. So I might be able to finally get an answer regarding the exclusivity of the early "diamond" books or if Marvel pumped them out to others between Feb 1977 and Feb 1979 (and I'll make sure to ask him about the possiblity of Whitman getting price variant issues for a 3-pack test market).

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cosmic-spider-man

cosmic-spider-man

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Great Stuff gifflefunk keep us filled in on how it goes thumbsup2.gifthumbsup2.gif.

 

I personaly have never seen a 30 cent diamond Star Wars #1 and I have been looking for a few years confused-smiley-013.gif maybe someone on hear can come up with one I sure would like to see it blush.gif.

 

I was also under the impression that the 35 cent diamond Star Wars #1 with the UPC was a reprint did you say you had one of these does it say reprint on it any where? A board member says he has seen some of these "finecomics" and that they were found in boxes with alot of 35 cent price variants maybe he can help. If the UPC one turns out to be a variant and not a reprint it could be more valuable than the 35 cent variant that is a scary thought. 893whatthe.gif

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gifflefunk

gifflefunk

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I was also under the impression that the 35 cent diamond Star Wars #1 with the UPC was a reprint, did you say you had one of these does it say reprint on it any where?

 

The first copy that passed through eBay (that I'm aware of) was won by a guy in California. I asked him if it stated that the book was a "reprint" in the indicia. He didn't indicate whether or not it did, he only stated that his local comic dealer told him that it was a uncommon reprint.

 

The copy I own (second to pass through eBay) was slabbed by the original high bidder that won it on eBay. CGC claims that it is a reprint with a swapped interior, so I'm guessing the current interior doesn't mention it being a reprint.

 

So I'm extremely curious to see another copy.

 

Here was part of the e-mail exchange between John and I:

 

---start---

 

Miller, John wrote:

Finally, after you asked about it, since the scan for the 30 cent direct-sale #1 was exactly that, a scan we found somewhere, I'm not as confident about that one as I would be if we had a hard copy. Given that, I wonder now where your 35-cent direct-sale oddball copy fits into the scheme of things. Could Whitman have erroneously gone to 35 cents for the first direct sale issue -- given Marvel's test market plan -- and then backed off for #2-4? That might explain its existence, and why we can't find a #1. (I could swear I've seen one before, but I could be getting it confused with the Curtis one.)

 

I don't think anyone would try to "fake" a 30-cent #1 direct sale issue -- although it depends upon the context of the scan... if you found it on eBay it probably does exist. If you found it on a fan website as a "wanted" item it may very well be a doctored image to illustrate what it would look like.

 

The 35-cent #1 Direct Sale with UPC is something of a mystery... the price indicates it was printed after the price increase (post-October), but the UPC barcode (Type-1 layout) suggests a pre-November issue. Now some Type-1 layouts did turn up after the November cover date (I have no idea why), such as Marvel Team-Up #64 (Dec 1977) and Incredible Hulk #222 (April 1978).

 

Unfortunately the copy I own has a swapped interior (according to CGC). This leads me to suspect that it is an indicia reprint. Now, CGC could be wrong and this could be some strange price variant for the Direct Sale market but then it wouldn't have been slatted for a regular Whitman 3-pack... either Whitman was involved in a test market plan (which would indicate additional price variants exist for these test market 3-packs) or the variant was destined for another Direct Sale client as a single issue (i.e. Marvel using the "diamond" instead of a Whitman logo so they could experiment with additional distribution models).

 

If it is a reprint, then it probably came before the other two reprint groups (experimental reorder?).

It doesn't have a reprint notice in the logo box (which dates it before the second recorder batch, i.e. third printing)

It has UPC barcode lines, Type-1 layout (which dates it prior to first reorder batch, i.e. second printing).

It has a 35-cent cover price (which means it was printed after the October price increase -- unless it is a true "variant" like the July dated newsstand price variant issues)

 

The best evidence will be if/when a copy can be found that exists in a 3-pack. If we can find a 35-cent #1 "diamond" w/UPC in a 3-pack containing two non-Star Wars issues we can better isolate when it was actually published. The next hope is finding another copy and checking the indicia to see if it states that it is a reprint. If there is no reprint notice then there might actually be direct sale price variants (which would cause a huge ruckus in the collecting community).

 

---end---

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