ChrispyC66 Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 (edited) On 12/20/2020 at 11:38 PM, bellrules said: Marvels aren’t Whitmans. The bags that Whitman distributed contained early direct editions. Marvel Whitman’s existed from 1977-1979. They contain the large diamond around the issue number and early versions had barcodes. Later the barcode area was blank. Marvel started direct copies in June 1979. Edited December 22, 2020 by ChrispyC66 Corrected start date for Marvel direct sales Randall Dowling 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellrules Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 Those were the first direct éditions and not exclusive to Whitman. It’s a controversial topic. PeterPark and OtherEric 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasonmorris1000000 Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 On 9/9/2020 at 9:55 PM, wormboy said: Here’s a pic of my Star Wars Volume II Whitman display all set up What about these? They actually say “Whitman” and “Marvel” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 51 minutes ago, bellrules said: Marvels aren’t Whitmans. The bags that Whitman distributed contained early direct editions. I agree with you 99% of the time, but that’s a windmill I’ve give up tilting at. Here’s an example of the other 1%, probably one of the 10 earliest original owner books I still have: Jasonmorris1000000, ganni and mec3437 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellrules Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 There were treasuries. Absolutely. In terms of the books in the bagged sets, direct editions. This just reinforces the point that Whitman variants, have the Whitman logo on thé cover. When they don’t, they are direct editions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post bellrules Posted December 21, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted December 21, 2020 (edited) Actually picked up the Whitman version of this guy today.‘ I’ve also included a pic of the standard version. Edited December 21, 2020 by bellrules mec3437, ganni, Jasonmorris1000000 and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post ganni Posted December 21, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted December 21, 2020 My friend just send me this sample. Its not his copy mec3437, Jasonmorris1000000, Get Marwood & I and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellrules Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 (edited) Yep. Bags say Whitman, books do not. Books were distributed in bags by western/Whitman. Those versions of the books were also sold at comic shops loose. It was the beginning of the direct market/non returnable copies. Later on, the direct versions were distributed by Parkes Run. Edited December 21, 2020 by bellrules Jasonmorris1000000 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosmic_surfer Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 1 hour ago, bellrules said: Yep. Bags say Whitman, books do not. Books were distributed in bags by western/Whitman. Those versions of the books were also sold at comic shops loose. It was the beginning of the direct market/non returnable copies. Later on, the direct versions were distributed by Parkes Run. Hmmm... so these are not Whitman’s, instead early variation of direct edition comics? Interesting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Brock Posted December 21, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 21, 2020 5 hours ago, cosmic_surfer said: Hmmm... so these are not Whitman’s, instead early variation of direct edition comics? Interesting... As @bellrulessays, it’s a controversial topic. My personal opinion is the same as his, that the fat diamond Marvels were distributed through multiple channels, INCLUDING Whitman. Others argue that the fat diamond Marvels were EXCLUSIVELY distributed by Whitman. Neither side has been able to show direct evidence of their perspective, so it remains one of the great mysteries (of which there are several) associated with Whitman. It also tells us that even though this happened just 40 years ago, when some of us were already active collectors, Whitmans were so underrated and undercollected that nobody bothered to document the specifics. That lack of original interest from collectors is part of why thye’re Starting to be so valuable today... Warlord, Get Marwood & I, bellrules and 2 others 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellrules Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 5 hours ago, cosmic_surfer said: Hmmm... so these are not Whitman’s, instead early variation of direct edition comics? Interesting... No they really a variation. All marvel direct editions had the diamond price. It evolved over time. ganni and cosmic_surfer 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrispyC66 Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 13 hours ago, bellrules said: Yep. Bags say Whitman, books do not. Books were distributed in bags by western/Whitman. Those versions of the books were also sold at comic shops loose. It was the beginning of the direct market/non returnable copies. Later on, the direct versions were distributed by Parkes Run. We don’t know that the Marvel books we have from 1977- May of 1979 were NOT distributed by Western/Whitman. Here is an article that covers the story of the Marvel Direct/Whitman variants from 1977-05/1979. https://rarecomics.wordpress.com/2019/12/05/no-month-variants-pre-pack-editions-whitman-3-pack-variants/ And since large retailers like MyComicShop and Mile High Comics refer to the Diamond covers during this time as Whitman’s I think it’s safe to do so in this thread. So for this thread I suggest we don’t continue the debate over what we call them (done and dusted) and just share with our fellow boardies. Warlord and OtherEric 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number 6 Posted December 21, 2020 Share Posted December 21, 2020 (edited) 19 hours ago, bellrules said: Some sealed examples of the 8/80 12/80 issues Just to clarify: is the Battle of the Planets #8 bagged with the Black Hole #4? And that 2-pack is for Canadian distribution correct? I’m curious because when I got back into comics in 1999/2000 BotP #7-9 and BH #4 were all viewed as being rare. But now, if the CGC census is an indicator, BotP #8 and #9 seem to be (comparatively) more plentiful in high-grade and don’t seem command as much in price (9.4 and lower) as they used to, while BotP #7 and BH #4 still seem fairly scarce in high-grade and command higher prices. Edited December 21, 2020 by Number 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazyboy Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, ChrispyC66 said: We don’t know that the Marvel books we have from 1977- May of 1979 were NOT distributed by Western/Whitman. We know that Whitman did distribute them, but unless we know that they were exclusively produced for and distributed by Whitman, they aren't Whitmans. Quote Here is an article that covers the story of the Marvel Direct/Whitman variants from 1977-05/1979. https://rarecomics.wordpress.com/2019/12/05/no-month-variants-pre-pack-editions-whitman-3-pack-variants/ Anything from that terrible site should be taken with a mountain of salt. Quote And since large retailers like MyComicShop and Mile High Comics refer to the Diamond covers during this time as Whitman’s I think it’s safe to do so in this thread. MCS refers to many non-enhanced Direct editions as Newsstands, so that's not a good argument. And don't get anybody started on Mile High. Quote So for this thread I suggest we don’t continue the debate over what we call them (done and dusted) and just share with our fellow boardies. But this is the Whitman thread. If they aren't Whitmans, they don't belong in the thread. Edited December 22, 2020 by Lazyboy add PeterPark, 01TheDude and steveinthecity 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellrules Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 1 hour ago, Number 6 said: Just to clarify: is the Battle of the Planets #8 bagged with the Black Hole #4? And that 2-pack is for Canadian distribution correct? I’m curious because when I got back into comics in 1999/2000 BotP #7-9 and BH #4 were all viewed as being rare. But now, if the CGC census is an indicator, BotP #8 and #9 seem to be (comparatively) more plentiful in high-grade and don’t seem command as much in price (9.4 and lower) as they used to, while BotP #7 and BH #4 still seem fairly scarce in high-grade and command higher prices. The Battle of the Planets was packaged with the Black Hole 4. It’s how I bought it as a kid, and how I found this pack over 20 years ago. Black Hole 4 isn’t that rare now that prices hit some pretty spectacular highs at one point. Battle of the planets 7 is definitely thé tougher of thé three BTP books to find. Once a movie begins production, I suspect all three books will explode as will #1. Brock 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ganni Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 So whats the "survey says" about the Whitman in Marvel? It's one of life's great mysteries. Here is a copy i bought when it came out. Jasonmorris1000000, bellrules and mec3437 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Number 6 Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, bellrules said: The Battle of the Planets was packaged with the Black Hole 4. It’s how I bought it as a kid, and how I found this pack over 20 years ago. Black Hole 4 isn’t that rare now that prices hit some pretty spectacular highs at one point. Battle of the planets 7 is definitely thé tougher of thé three BTP books to find. Once a movie begins production, I suspect all three books will explode as will #1. Thanks for the reply. Interesting. I would assume (which is probably incorrect) that if BotP #8 and BH #4 were packaged together that they both exist in roughly the same ratios. Last year I picked up a CGC 9.4 copy of BotP #8 for about $95. While I didn’t think it was a screaming deal, I was a bit surprised that I was able to get it for only that much. After all, Doug Sulipa had recently sold a CGC 9.2 copy of #7 for $200. But I’m pretty sure that while prices may have dropped, if a CGC 9.4 copy of BH #4 popped up I seriously doubt I’d be able to pick it up for anything close to $95. So I was a bit surprised to see them both packaged together. Edited December 22, 2020 by Number 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post OtherEric Posted December 22, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted December 22, 2020 (edited) Here’s a rarity: The only Whitman Marvel (as opposed to Marvel Whitman) that I’m aware of, along with the Whitman version: Edited December 22, 2020 by OtherEric reorienting picture mec3437, PeterPark, wormboy and 3 others 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellrules Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 52 minutes ago, OtherEric said: Here’s a rarity: The only Whitman Marvel (as opposed to Marvel Whitman) that I’m aware of, along with the Whitman version: There were a bunch of treasuries that were both Whitman and Marvel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtherEric Posted December 22, 2020 Share Posted December 22, 2020 8 minutes ago, bellrules said: There were a bunch of treasuries that were both Whitman and Marvel. Yes, but this is the only one I know of where the content of the treasury was produced by Whitman, not Marvel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...