Interesting Find..FF Annual #2 blank Back?

[kryptonitecomics]

This may not be a major find...but I did find it quite interesting. I recently got a shipment of comics in that I plan to sell on Ebay. Obviously with the Movie Hype...I wanted to get any issue of Fantastic Four on the bay since they should do a little better right now.

 

I was scanning a VG copy of Fantastic Four Annual #2 and I noticed that the normal ad on the Back cover isn't there. It hasn't been washed away or erased...it looks like it was never printed?

 

So have other folks seen Silver Age books missing the back cover Ad's? Is this just a semi unique printing error.....or is this some strange test version that I have never heard of?

 

Any thought would be appreciated......don't know that it adds any value per say...but it does make it a little more unique then your average copy

 

I attached an image of the back cover though....as you can see there is nothing there.....

[uclapeterg]

I think it's the canadian variant.

[kryptonitecomics]

Interesting....never even though about that......I'll check my overstreet and see if I can find any info on it

[aardvark88]

Quite common in Canadian collections to have this Marvel annual without ad on back cover.

[Kakapo]

From the old 1996 UK Price Guide: "[FF] Annuals 1-3 occasionally turn up with blank back and inside front and back covers (see also Spiderman Annual 1, 2, Sgt Fury Annual 1, Strange Tales Annual 2). These were subscription copies sent over to [the UK] and are very scarce."

 

Hope that helps!

[kryptonitecomics]

From the old 1996 UK Price Guide: "[FF] Annuals 1-3 occasionally turn up with blank back and inside front and back covers (see also Spiderman Annual 1, 2, Sgt Fury Annual 1, Strange Tales Annual 2). These were subscription copies sent over to [the UK] and are very scarce."

 

Hope that helps!

 

Ahhhhh yes that helps a lot ...thanks!!!

[Red Hook]

You know what they say, Krypton, about guys with huge signature images...........

 

 

......compensation.

[Norrin_Radd]

You know what they say, Krypton, about guys with huge signature images...........

 

 

......compensation.

 

[Aces]

You know what they say, Krypton, about guys with huge signature images...........

 

 

......compensation.

 

New improved version that shouldn't spread the page and load a little faster.

 

[Red Hook]

And that is why they call him "Aces"!

[Sharkey]

I've not seen the Canadian versions bring any higher price than normal versions, has anyone else? I've had versions of the Spidey Annual 2. People didn't seem to care that it had blank back and inside covers. Nor did they think it made it any more valuable.

[Kakapo]

That old guide went on to say that because of the white back covers, and their tendency to show up any and all dirt that they come into contact with, they are very rare (not a term the editor used lightly) in mint condition. But hey, so are most books. And this was pre-CGC; I think I've read on the boards that even 9.4s can have significant discolouration to the back cover (those Norman Rockwell ads especially...did he ever find people who like to draw??? I think we should be told...)

 

So anyway, for ubergrade label collectors, a variant might be of interest. I'm too poor to be one of them VF all the way, baby...

[WernerVonDoom]

Canandian editions of FF Annual 2 seem to sell for considerably less than their US counterparts. A 9.2 went for $400 recently.

[Sharkey]

Canandian editions of FF Annual 2 seem to sell for considerably less than their US counterparts. A 9.2 went for $400 recently.

 

Yeah, that was my experience. Of course, mine were raw and not high grade but they fetched less than the "regular" edition in the same grades.

 

But completists may want copies just to own the variants.

[Mr. Zipper]

From the old 1996 UK Price Guide: "[FF] Annuals 1-3 occasionally turn up with blank back and inside front and back covers (see also Spiderman Annual 1, 2, Sgt Fury Annual 1, Strange Tales Annual 2). These were subscription copies sent over to [the UK] and are very scarce."

 

Hope that helps!

 

I've seen quite a few of the blank back covers. They may not be as common, but I would hardly call them "rare."

 

I would surmise that an OS Advisor -- who was sitting on a mountain of the blank back covers -- probably suggested that OS add the "rare" notation. They are "rare" like Silver Surfer #4 is "low distribution."

[Kakapo]

That quote wasn't from an Overstreet guide, it was from Duncan McAlpine's book. The UK Price Guide used scarce/very scarce fairly sparingly (and dare I say, accurately - they certainly are tougher to find than surrounding issues), and rare/very rare basically meant "forget it, you'll never find one." It explicitly stated that overuse of those terms rendered them worthless; and you can't argue with that. Whatever flaws his book may have had, at least he got that bit right.

 

Also, the quote in my earlier post says that they're very scarce in the UK, because they were subscription copies, and most UK collectors would have bought at the newstand. Nowhere does the book say that they're scarce in the US.

 

I did once hold a pence copy of JIM #109 in my hands though...that was actually given "very rare" status. Dockers' strike in 1964, I think...

[awe4one]

Also, the quote in my earlier post says that they're very scarce in the UK, because they were subscription copies, and most UK collectors would have bought at the newstand. Nowhere does the book say that they're scarce in the US.

 

And since the advent of the Internet comics marketplace, the quote has been rendered obsolete...

 

Jim

[Kakapo]

Not unless people make a point of importing locally scarce issues - in some cases they do, in some cases they don't. Obviously books like ASM 121 and 122 (that were never distributed in the UK) have been brought over in large numbers; non-keys are generally still noticeable by their absence. I assume you meant that anyone in Europe could just buy a copy from an American dealer, which is true, but on lower-value books, the shipping costs etc. mean that few bother. Pre-Paypal, I had to pay my bank the princely sum of 10 pounds just for the privilege of having a money order in US$...Appalling.

 

Thankfully times have changed, and the world is now populated by happy people who dance in flowery meadows wearing gumdrop smiles.

[awe4one]

I assume you meant that anyone in Europe could just buy a copy from an American dealer, which is true, but on lower-value books, the shipping costs etc. mean that few bother.

 

According to some of the bigger comic dealers on eBay and over the Internet, quite a few comics are making their way over the pond...

 

Jim

[kryptonitecomics]

ok....so it is the Canadian edition that is scarce only in the UK......I am somewhat confused now.....but I don't want to provide misinformation if I list it so......?

 

I am assuming that their is no difference in the cover price on the American and Canadian versions......which I find a little odd?