HAUNT #1 - 1st print v.s. 3rd print (collectors gold foil edtion) 0

[Lazyboy]

19 hours ago, StreetPreacher said:

I mean, I assume that the publisher would have printed ALL of the Newstand UPC copies at once, and the Direct Editions would also have been printed together as a separate run?  So wouldn't that mean that either the UPC or Direct version would have been printed as a complete batch 'first'?  Meaning that one variation must technically be a 2nd printing?

All of the interiors were printed together and the covers generally only had the black plate swapped out between the two versions.

[Malacoda]

On 9/30/2020 at 6:22 PM, valiantman said:

(3) The next set of five digits are the product code and created by a publisher.

@valiantman  Hi - this is a great post.  I'm very interested in these product numbers.   As you say, they are created by the publisher, but they actually long predate the barcodes. 

The product codes begin appearing on, for example, Marvel comics from July 1971.

then when the barcodes are introduced in 1976, they get added to the bar codes, but still appear as a separate number on the cover. 

 

so these weren't created for the barcode and were serving a different purpose (presumably relating to distribution) years before the bar codes came along.  They appear to denote the series (each title/series has it's own code, but they don't change from issue to issue or year to year), though the GS and annuals have different numbers.  It almost seems like they denote size more than anything else (the GS and annuals have different numbers to the standard size issues, but the same code numbers as each other, despite different frequency of publication). 

Do you have any idea what these codes were used for?  Thanks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[oldmilwaukee6er]

Thanks for resurrecting this sweet Haunt thread... got me a little re-education and it gives me something to look for in my backissues. 

In UPC terms ... the 02462 is the product reference code. The number on the left is the manufacturing code. There's a whole cool history of the codes and just a little review reminds me it's time to make some flashcards and start memorizing some of it because it communicates great info at a glance. 

[Malacoda]

On 10/22/2022 at 2:08 PM, oldmilwaukee6er said:

There's a whole cool history of the codes

Hi - do you have any history on the product reference codes?  They clearly pre-date the UPC codes (or at least pre-date them in bar code format).  I have a couple of pet theories about why these were introduced, but have never been able to verify.  Thanks