star wars comic #7 0

[mike donohew]

Hi...I sent in to CGC my "Star Wars" comic #7 for grading and just got it back--graded 9.0 but marked as a "reprint"....According to "obiwon-kenobi", prominent comic book collector/dealer and author of online "How to tell if your Star Wars comic is a reprint", Marvel only reprinted issues #1-6....From #7 on, all were original first printings....What's the truth?   would appreciate your expert comments...thanks...Mike

[revat]

The 1-6 reprints are a specific type of reprint I think in some cases. But plenty of books have reprints.

 

if Cgc called it a reprint it’s a reprint.  But you can post a pic here for people to comment.

 

 

[jcjames]

 

Edited: Looks like the diamond-price/no-UPC were Whitman 1st prints sold in packs. However, Newkadia lists a 1st and 2nd print SW7 but uses the same pic as the 1st print. Hmm... So looks like there ARE 2nd prints of this book, but don't know what the cover or the indicia says?

Pics?

 

 

Edited April 27, 2018 by jcjames

[BlowUpTheMoon]

Does it look like this?

[mike donohew]

Here's a photo of S.W. #7....thanks for your help

[revat]

1 hour ago, mike donohew said:

Here's a photo of S.W. #7....thanks for your help

blank box on the lower corner is a dead giveaway.  You've got a reprint!  also, obviously your comic is slabbed, but if you looked inside at the publishing info, it would say it was a reprint.  in the future, if you've got a comic you're unsure of, you should do an ebay search for something that looks similar.

[jcjames]

44 minutes ago, revat said:

blank box on the lower corner is a dead giveaway.  You've got a reprint!  also, obviously your comic is slabbed, but if you looked inside at the publishing info, it would say it was a reprint.  in the future, if you've got a comic you're unsure of, you should do an ebay search for something that looks similar.

MyComicShop describes these as "1st printing, Direct Market Edition - often referred to as Whitman Editions by collectors because the very early direct market editions, identified by the large diamond price boxes, were distributed almost exclusively in sealed Whitman value packs."

ETA Odd that MCS would call it a 1st print.

Edited April 27, 2018 by jcjames

[Bird]

This seems to be a fairly odd copy...I would think that you may well end up preferring this to a "normal" 1st print standard issue 7.

[revat]

5 minutes ago, jcjames said:

40 minutes ago, revat said:

blank box on the lower corner is a dead giveaway.  You've got a reprint!  also, obviously your comic is slabbed, but if you looked inside at the publishing info, it would say it was a reprint.  in the future, if you've got a comic you're unsure of, you should do an ebay search for something that looks similar.

MyComicShop describes these as "1st printing, Direct Market Edition - often referred to as Whitman Editions by collectors because the very early direct market editions, identified by the large diamond price boxes, were distributed almost exclusively in sealed Whitman value packs."

were they sold concurrently with the comics on the newsstands?  I think CGC has always classified these as reprints.

 

although maybe I'm wrong and only 1-6 were the reprints....this link below seems to disagree with me... Interesting.

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

[Shadow Images]

In the past Whitman's were considered reprints. Only recently has this become a debate of wether to call them reprints or not. They were released in multipacks for Whitman. 

 

[jcjames]

2 hours ago, revat said:

were they sold concurrently with the comics on the newsstands?  I think CGC has always classified these as reprints.

 

although maybe I'm wrong and only 1-6 were the reprints....this link below seems to disagree with me... Interesting.

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

What does the indicia say?

I don't have a #7 Whitman to look at.

 

[mike donohew]

Hi...thanks for the info...even tho one source ("obiwon-kenobi") says reprints only for #1-6, others say because of the blank lower upc box  my #7 star wars comic is a reprint....I got this comic in a Whitman 3 comic pack back in 1977 and I previously sold one  from that pack (exactly like this one) that was graded by CGC and CGC did not mark it a reprint....any further thoughts or advice ????   thanks....

[Philflound]

I do not have issue #7, but did look at copies of 10, 12 and 13. Was a bit of a struggle to get to those so that's all I checked. All those issues with blank UPC boxes does NOT mention anything about a reprint on the cover or in the indicia. They've always been known as Whitman packs along with many other Marvel issues during that time period with blank UPC boxes. They've pretty much been accepted as reprints through the years. Though that may not have been a correct assessment by the hobby. I'm assuming these were reprints, even if they didn't say it. 

If you follow along with Marvel in the 1980s, there were many books reprinted that did not say they were reprints. The Smurfs which I don't have in front of me at the moment had 3 printings. The way to determine them were by different later ads printed in the book/cover. 

For DC, Batman comes to mind where they were sold in 3 packs. Some said reprint or 2nd or later printing. Others had nothing but again, just different ads. You had to know what to look for to tell if a book was 1st print or not.

So back to the blank UPC boxes. Even though they don't say it, I believe they are reprints. Maybe CGC should change the language on the label to say "Sold in Whitman collector packs" like they're doing for DC with those DC Universe reprints sold in DC Collector Packs.

[Lazyboy]

On 4/27/2018 at 4:10 PM, jcjames said:

On 4/27/2018 at 3:35 PM, revat said:

blank box on the lower corner is a dead giveaway.  You've got a reprint!  also, obviously your comic is slabbed, but if you looked inside at the publishing info, it would say it was a reprint.  in the future, if you've got a comic you're unsure of, you should do an ebay search for something that looks similar.

MyComicShop describes these as "1st printing, Direct Market Edition - often referred to as Whitman Editions by collectors because the very early direct market editions, identified by the large diamond price boxes, were distributed almost exclusively in sealed Whitman value packs."

ETA Odd that MCS would call it a 1st print.

What's actually odd is people still calling these Whitmans or reprints, like they haven't paid any attention since they read their 1985 OPG.

[Lazyboy]

6 hours ago, Philflound said:

I do not have issue #7, but did look at copies of 10, 12 and 13. Was a bit of a struggle to get to those so that's all I checked. All those issues with blank UPC boxes does NOT mention anything about a reprint on the cover or in the indicia. They've always been known as Whitman packs along with many other Marvel issues during that time period with blank UPC boxes. They've pretty much been accepted as reprints through the years. Though that may not have been a correct assessment by the hobby.

Yeah, a lot of things that have been "known" in this hobby for years or decades are wrong. Even the stuff that was eventually corrected was missed by many people.

6 hours ago, Philflound said:

I'm assuming these were reprints, even if they didn't say it. 

The obvious flaw in your assumption being that the few issues that were actually reprinted for multi-packs were marked as reprints.

6 hours ago, Philflound said:

If you follow along with Marvel in the 1980s, there were many books reprinted that did not say they were reprints. The Smurfs which I don't have in front of me at the moment had 3 printings. The way to determine them were by different later ads printed in the book/cover. 

For DC, Batman comes to mind where they were sold in 3 packs. Some said reprint or 2nd or later printing. Others had nothing but again, just different ads. You had to know what to look for to tell if a book was 1st print or not.

Not relevant. Different time.

6 hours ago, Philflound said:

So back to the blank UPC boxes. Even though they don't say it, I believe they are reprints. Maybe CGC should change the language on the label to say "Sold in Whitman collector packs" like they're doing for DC with those DC Universe reprints sold in DC Collector Packs.

No. No.

[Philflound]

Ok, since you're so knowledgable about these things, what was the purpose of making the blank UPC?

[Lazyboy]

The UPC box change was made because Whitman was the main distributor via multi-packs and they didn't want scanners to be able to read an individual (cheaper) piece of the product.

[Philflound]

So you're saying that Marvel went back to print (reprint) the same comics without a UPC box. Thus the book is technically a reprint. They would not have printed say Battlestar Galactica #1 with a blank box the same time they printed Battlestar Galactica #1 with a UPC code. They probably waited until after #3 to make all 3 issues with the blank box. Thus these copies are not part of the initial print run.

I don't know whether or not to actually call these reprints or Whitman collector pack variants or something else, but they should be noted as something. And it seems over the years Whitman reprints have been the name stuck with. If you can come up with something more accurate to your liking, then maybe you should make the suggestion to CGC and see what they think about your proposal.

[Lazyboy]

On 5/4/2018 at 7:55 PM, Philflound said:

So you're saying that Marvel went back to print (reprint) the same comics without a UPC box. Thus the book is technically a reprint.

Um... no, not at all. How in the world do you think I'm saying that?

Quote

They would not have printed say Battlestar Galactica #1 with a blank box the same time they printed Battlestar Galactica #1 with a UPC code.

Of course not, that wouldn't make any sense. No publisher would ever print multiple versions at the same time.

Quote

They probably waited until after #3 to make all 3 issues with the blank box. Thus these copies are not part of the initial print run.

Probably? Prove it.

Quote

I don't know whether or not to actually call these reprints or Whitman collector pack variants or something else, but they should be noted as something. And it seems over the years Whitman reprints have been the name stuck with.

Yes, we should always stick with whatever stupid thing was said many years ago. They are neither Whitmans nor reprints (other than the few that are reprints, obviously).

Quote

If you can come up with something more accurate to your liking, then maybe you should make the suggestion to CGC and see what they think about your proposal.

CGC usually doesn't separate Direct and Newsstand editions. Why would they call these anything? Just because they screwed up on a label (yet again), that doesn't mean anything.

 

 

http://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/Direct/index.php

Edited May 6, 2018 by Lazyboy

[The Lions Den]

When categorizing comics, it's often easier and less confusing to put a blanket statement like "reprint" on the label rather than trying to figure out the multitude of differences in the printing history.