X-Men 173 Blue Cover?

[joe_collector]

Here's the standard black one:

 

 

And is this the Blue Cover?

 

[ubiquiti]

Yep,

There were 2 diffent covers printed. I'm pretty sure there were equal number of both - but of the 5 I have, all of them are black...go figure.

[blowout]

Just for the record, the black one looks way cooler.

[joe_collector]

I have a ton of them, and only one Blue edition (wasn't sure til now). I'm certain it's scarcer than the Black and the price guides list it at a premium.

[ubiquiti]

Nope, there is no price distinction in the price guide between the blue and black cover.

And yeah, the black cover looks waaaaay cooler.

[joe_collector]

Well, in Wizard there is (I know ) and in my experience the Blue one is far tougher to find.

 

Just do a search of X-Men 173 on EBay and see what the ratio is.

[ubiquiti]

thats weird.

Maybe there is no price distinction becuase the blue cover looks not quite right.

[blowout]

Could the blue version just be a printing error?

[joe_collector]

I don't believe so, as the rest of the comic looks identical, and if there was a lack of color or ink, it is usually reflected in more than just a black-to-blue background shift.

 

The blacks in the other areas look the same between editions, and maybe it was just an early test run, them it shifted to Black for the coolness effect? Or it was printed in different areas using two different specs?

[ArAich]

Could the blue version just be a printing error?

 

That's what I was thinking...kind of like the Fantastic Four book that has that awful printing defect....#110 I think???

[joe_collector]

Actually Wizard breaks them out as:

 

173A: $5

173B - Blue Cover: $10

 

And while I don't usually give Wizard too much credit, when it comes to 1980's comics, they do have a better view of what's going on at street level than OS.

[joe_collector]

Sure, but as you can see, the cover shifted quite a bit through most of the colors:

 

 

[ArAich]

I don't know anything about the printing process but the X-men 173 blue seems to be a matter of shade or contrast....

Could it be that the printers decided to either lighten up the color of the book or darken the color of the book...depending on which version was printed first?

The colors do seem to be a differant shade throughout...(this is using your pics as referance though as I have never actually seen the book before now)...

[joe_collector]

Yeah, the colors in the two above pics are not comparable, and when two similar-condition books are viewed, Wolverine, Rogue and the title/price box are virtually identical. It's only the background that really changes, not the black inks or darker shades anywhere else.

[PovertyRow]

Looks like they were printing magenta on the cyan plate and cyan on the magenta plate! Interesting effect.

[supapimp]

where's shuley76 when you need him

[OldGuy]

When have we ever needed him?