The Whitman Thread 15 15

[OtherEric]

A dollar bin find today of a Marvel "Mostly if not entirely Whitman" variant.

[ganni]

Never thought this is a Whitman...

[Brock]

11 hours ago, ganni said:

Never thought this is a Whitman...

That's an interesting one... with a quick eyeball survey of ebay, I see about 80 of the regular versions and 5 of these. If we can extrapolate (which is always dangerous) these would be a little more than 6% of the un-returned print run. Assuming these were some sort of non-returnable book (Whitman, other resellers, direct market?), maybe 3-4% of the total print run?

[ganni]

8 hours ago, Brock said:

That's an interesting one... with a quick eyeball survey of ebay, I see about 80 of the regular versions and 5 of these. If we can extrapolate (which is always dangerous) these would be a little more than 6% of the un-returned print run. Assuming these were some sort of non-returnable book (Whitman, other resellers, direct market?), maybe 3-4% of the total print run?

Early copies of the direct market versions are more scarce than the news stand versions then.

[Brock]

1 hour ago, ganni said:

Early copies of the direct market versions are more scarce than the news stand versions then.

Could be, but the early direct editions were notable for the ABSENCE of the UPC code... this one has a UPC like the newsstand editions, but a fat diamond like the (presumably) non-returnable editions. It’s an interesting hybrid.

[ganni]

Here is a interesting copy.  It has no ccc (curtis circulation) below the price corner box and the internet tag it as a news stand.  And  whitmans had its direct copy release with a small diamond with a white box the corner below.

[Brock]

My latest Whitman editions, courtesy of a seller in Wisconsin.

The Brave and the Bold #165 and DC Comics Presents #19 are both the single highest copies on the CGC census, while Superman #327 is the only 9.6, with a single 9.8 graded higher.

I now have an "undercopy" of B&B 165 in CGC 9.0 if anybody is looking to trade!

[Brock]

On 6/13/2021 at 10:13 PM, ganni said:

Never thought this is a Whitman...

Here's another one that has the fat diamond and the UPC:

 

[ganni]

2 hours ago, Brock said:

Here's another one that has the fat diamond and the UPC:

 

So back-issue sellers do not recognize Marvel comics above 1979 as Whitman variants in Whitman polybags ?

[wormboy]

[Get Marwood & I]

44 minutes ago, wormboy said:

That Cap bag is a wonderful riot of colour isn't it - love it 

[wormboy]

29 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

That Cap bag is a wonderful riot of colour isn't it - love it 

I agree! All of these logo branded Whitman bags give me a similar feeling. Bombastic bright colors in the Marvel way!

[PeteUK]

Hi, everyone, my first post here...

Unfortunately I don't have any unopened 3 packs to show you all, but hoping someone can help with a little research. I'm actually trying to list newsstand variants (where they exist in parallel with regular comic shop type direct variants) and while the scarcer 21st century ones are of greatest interest, for the sake of completeness I'm going right back to the start of the direct market in 1979. I'm an old silver/bronze collector really who has now jumped forward a few decades rather than chase prices higher and higher on stuff I already had and sold in the past... my current interest/research now begins at around the same time it previously waned, in 1979/80!

There is so much conflicting, and downright wrong, information out there! But from reading this thread, and others, the general consensus seems to be that 6/79 cover dated Marvels were the first month of widespread supply of direct edition variants to comic shops (though anecdotal evidence of some shops receiving them before this), and that the 5/79 cover dated output with blank UPC boxes was largely (if not exclusively) to supply Whitman.

OK, perhaps we shouldn't call them "Whitmans"... how about "Whitman-type variants" (WTVs?) ie. typified by blank UPCs and fat diamonds.

I had originally thought that 5/79 was the first for "comic shop direct variants" |(as opposed to those sold mainly to Whitman. It was quite compelling for a while, as clearly a lot of changes were happening that month... the change to 40 cent price, the return of diamond logos after a gap of several months without (except for a handful of licenced titles), the cancellation of many titles, and sites such as GCD referring to "blank UPC and squashed diamond" books as direct rather than Whitman, BECAUSE of the squashed diamond and assuming that fat diamonds and squashed diamonds have intentionally different meanings.

Of course, when you look into it the main difference in use between fat and squashed diamonds is that dictated by the space they have to fill eg. the "starburst" price logo is big enough to accommodate fat diamonds, or the small top left corner character images moving slightly higher. Thus, fat diamonds disappearing after 5/79 cover date is a mere coincidence based on design changes and nothing to do with the market. Am I on the right track here?  

Anyhow, my notes show a possible 16 of the May 1979 cover dated issues without a Whitman-type variant and most of these were either on their last issues (low print runs/poor sellers?) and/or titles which Whitman hadn't ordered much or at all in the past. Perhaps the most surprising omissions are Defenders #71 and Marvel Tales #103, both regular Whitman titles previously (Mile High has a placeholder for a Marvel Tales but no image, they also have a placeholder for a MOKF #76 but illustrated with a NS copy).

So, I think I will take 6/79 cover date as the start for regular newsstand variants (as opposed to newsstand copies).

A bit off-topic for this thread I know, but for June 1979 there are three that I can't track down direct editions of...

Marvel Two-in-One #52

Shogun Warriors #5

Spider-Woman #15

GCD have an entry for MTIO without an image and Mile High have a placeholder for the other two without any images.

Are any of these three known to not have direct editions?

Thanks in advance for any info!

Edited July 7, 2021 by PeteUK
clarity

[Morganmi]

Was helping my LCS owner go through a bunch of new boxes and came across a whole bunch of Thor Whitmans. Here's a few. 

[Morganmi]

couple more I picked up recently

[Get Marwood & I]

On 7/5/2021 at 12:50 AM, PeteUK said:

A bit off-topic for this thread I know, but for June 1979 there are three that I can't track down direct editions of...

Marvel Two-in-One #52

Shogun Warriors #5

Spider-Woman #15

GCD have an entry for MTIO without an image and Mile High have a placeholder for the other two without any images.

Are any of these three known to not have direct editions?

Hello PeteUK 

The GCD often has a template set for a book that doesn't exist so I wouldn't worry too much about that where there is no image. They would be better to remove them, if they do not have picture confirmation.

Now, UK Price Variants exist for some but not all June 79 cover dated Marvels. Your three books above all have standard 'newsstand' barcodes on the 12p copies:

However, the remaining UK Price Variants for June 1979 all have slashed barcodes like so:

What this tells us, is that any UKPV cover dated June 12p has a slashed barcode UPC where an equivalent slashed cents copy exists. So the fact that your three books have UKPVs with regular barcodes is a good anecdotal indication that slashed barcode cents copies (your early directs) do not exist.

Probably. 

 

[PeteUK]

On 8/15/2021 at 5:44 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Hi PeteUK 

The GCD often has a template set for a book that doesn't exist so I wouldn't worry too much about that where there is no image. They would be better to remove them, if they do not have picture confirmation.

Now, UK Price Variants exist for some but not all June 79 cover dated Marvels. Your three books above all have standard 'newsstand' barcodes on the 12p copies:

However, the remaining UK Price Variants for June 1979 all have slashed barcodes like so:

What this tells us, is that any UKPV cover dated June 12p has a slashed barcode UPC where an equivalent slashed cents copy exists. So the fact that your three books have UKPVs with regular barcodes is a good anecdotal indication that slashed barcode cents copies (your early directs) do not exist.

Probably. 

 

Thanks, excellent idea to check the UK variants as evidence, why didn't I think of that??!!

[PeterPark]

On 6/26/2021 at 10:24 PM, ganni said:

So back-issue sellers do not recognize Marvel comics above 1979 as Whitman variants in Whitman polybags ?

Whitman variant implies that would be the only way to get them. Because these were also sold in a limited direct market without the bags, they are not Whitman variants but early direct editions. Whitman, at the time, was packaging early direct editions together and this is where the confusion comes from. The Whitman 3 packs are prepacks but not Whitman-exclusive variants so knowledgeable sellers will not designate them as Whitman variants.

[OtherEric]

A few today.  Super happy with the 35; I'm not a fan of the color bleed on the cover but it's structurally in amazing shape... and it's one of the crazy hard to find issues.

[bellrules]

Beautiful copy of Looney 35. Find it in person, or online? I've rarely come across one.