The Whitman Thread 15 15

[BuscemasAvengers]

On 9/22/2021 at 1:07 PM, OtherEric said:

My old beater SW2

Alright, who has a beater Whitman 3?

[OtherEric]

On 9/22/2021 at 10:10 AM, BuscemasAvengers said:

Alright, who has a beater Whitman 3?

I do, but it's a more recent pickup, not one I picked up off the shelf new back in the day.  Besides, I want to see if somebody else can complete the set.  If nobody hops in I'll share it tomorrow.

[OtherEric]

And, since nobody else jumped in, as promised:

[Morganmi]

On 9/23/2021 at 12:21 PM, OtherEric said:

And, since nobody else jumped in, as promised:

I had the Star wars  fantastic four and a couple of spider-man treasuries but alas they didn't survive my carefree youth. Read those suckers to death and it also didn't help their survival prospects that they didn't pack well when we moved a lot during the late 70's early 80's. 

[ganni]

Long long time ago back in 1977

In a comic book store far far away.....

A 11 year old kid went in and bought some comics.....

[bellrules]

Rescued today from a local antique store 

[Stronguy]

So did we ever reach a consensus about late-'70s Marvel Whitmans? 
Fat Diamond (with a date)/UPC books were distributed in multi-packs in early '77 but those packs are not branded Whitman.
Later (when exactly?), Fat Diamond (w/o date)/No UPC books started showing up in Whitman bags.

Has anyone figured it all out yet?

Edited October 7, 2021 by Stronguy

[OtherEric]

On 10/7/2021 at 1:34 PM, Stronguy said:

So did we ever reach a consensus about late-'70s Marvel Whitmans? 
Fat Diamond (with a date)/UPC books were distributed in multi-packs in early '77 but those packs are not branded Whitman.
Later (when exactly?), Fat Diamond (w/o date)/No UPC books started showing up in Whitman bags.

Has anyone figured it all out yet?

No consensus.  I think everyone agrees fat diamond books were heavily distributed by Whitman but there is still a lot of dispute about them being entirely distributed by Whitman. In this thread we’re happily showing fat diamond books as Whitman’s but trying to avoid arguing about them, saving that for other threads.

[Stronguy]

I decided to dig through a box of multi-packs I picked up long ago; found a Whitman 3-Pack with MTU 77, Iron Man 118, and FF 202.  I also discovered an open DC 3-Pack with Action 486, Super Friends 13, and Superman 326. Good stuff!

[Brock]

On 10/7/2021 at 4:34 PM, Stronguy said:

So did we ever reach a consensus about late-'70s Marvel Whitmans? 
Fat Diamond (with a date)/UPC books were distributed in multi-packs in early '77 but those packs are not branded Whitman.
Later (when exactly?), Fat Diamond (w/o date)/No UPC books started showing up in Whitman bags.

 

On 10/7/2021 at 5:21 PM, OtherEric said:

No consensus.  I think everyone agrees fat diamond books were heavily distributed by Whitman but there is still a lot of dispute about them being entirely distributed by Whitman. In this thread we’re happily showing fat diamond books as Whitman’s but trying to avoid arguing about them, saving that for other threads.

I think there actually has been an interesting tidbit come up here, though no one has commented on it directly yet... On June 12, @bellrules posted a link to some material on the BIP website (see https://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/Direct/index.php). BIP describes itself as "a comic book resource and research site" though it has no additional identifying information that I can find.

On this page, in discussing the fat diamond variants, the site's author suggests

"While it is true Western Publishing was the largest distributor of these early diamond issues between 1977-1979 there is anecdotal evidence that indicates they were not the only distributor. Recollections of several dealers have indicate that they had received diamond issues at varying points in time prior to 1980. Regardless of these recollections, it is clear that Western Publishing was the driving force behind these early diamond cover print runs. Starting with comics cover dated June 1979, Marvel began sending diamond cover issues to subscribers and comic shops." [I have added the bolding to the text]

So nothing conclusive here, but definitely one more little piece of the puzzle.

In terms of the fat Diamond discussion, the balance of the BIP discussion largely reflects what we've already covered here in this thread. BIP later suggests:

Various theories have been submitted over the years to explain the differences in the size of the diamonds, why some issues have months in the diamond and others do not, and why some issues have UPC barcode lines and others have blank boxes. The size of the diamond appears to be related to how the cover was initially laid out for publication. Slim diamonds started to appear on all Marvel diamond cover issues in May, 1979, after a change to the cover design. But slim diamonds did exist on some Marvel titles as early as 1977 (see Tarzan #2). Some diamond issues have a month on the cover and others do not. This also extended to the regular newsstand editions (see Star Wars newsstand issues #10 through #13). The month not appearing on the cover appears to be a "random" Marvel behavior with no other significance. The existence of UPC barcode lines was thought by some to indicate if an issue was in a Whitman 3-pack or if the issue was sold as a single issue. Recently a series of early 3-packs surfaced on eBay, all of which contained Type 1 issues (diamond with UPC barcodes) and two different Star Wars 3-packs containing a #11 with UPC barcode lines and a #11 without UPC barcode lines have been found.

[Warlord]

On 10/8/2021 at 12:21 PM, Stronguy said:

I decided to dig through a box of multi-packs I picked up long ago; found a Whitman 3-Pack with MTU 77, Iron Man 118, and FF 202.  I also discovered an open DC 3-Pack with Action 486, Super Friends 13, and Superman 326. Good stuff!

 

 

 

I don't have pics of this multi-pack!  Please share an image of the other side, and if you could get the middle comic peeking out a bit in one of the images that would be great!

Edited October 10, 2021 by Warlord

[Stronguy]

On 10/8/2021 at 2:41 PM, Warlord said:

I don't have pics of this multi-pack!  Please share an image of the other side, and if you could get the middle comic peaking out a bit in one of the images that would be great!

[Warlord]

On 10/10/2021 at 10:59 AM, Stronguy said:

Wonderful pack, thanks for sharing!

 

[Stronguy]

A few more that I stumbled across in a random box.  As I recall, these were in a beat up 3-pack so I liberated them.
Superman 340 (Oct. 1979)
Legion of Super-Heroes 254 (Aug. 1979)
Legion of Super-Heroes 256 (Oct. 1979)

[Warlord]

On 10/11/2021 at 9:34 AM, Stronguy said:

A few more that I stumbled across in a random box.  As I recall, these were in a beat up 3-pack so I liberated them.
Superman 340 (Oct. 1979)
Legion of Super-Heroes 254 (Aug. 1979)
Legion of Super-Heroes 256 (Oct. 1979)

That would be an interesting pack to see intact.  I've only tracked Superman #340 in two packs - one is with Superman #338 and #339, and the other is with JLA #171 and Green Lantern #121.  Superboy and the LSH #254 and #256 have been spotted in a pack together, but it was the oddball pack where the middle comic was Hulk #238.   Where's that time machine so we can get these back into the sealed bag? 

[Number 6]

I have a question for the pack collectors:

 

This is my copy of Brave and the Bold #154, obviously the regular version. I bought this because as a kid I remember seeing it in a 3-pack at a grocery store that typically didn’t carry comics.  My recollection is that my mom refused to get it for me as she didn’t like paying for 3 comics when she didn’t know what the middle one was. 
 

Things is, as I flip through this comic the interior looks very familiar. Maybe she did get it for me after some initial resistance?  But I have no recollection of what the other comics were in the pack. 
 

Anyone know what else was packed with this comic so it can maybe jog my memory?

Edited November 3, 2021 by Number 6

[Warlord]

On 11/3/2021 at 7:12 PM, Number 6 said:

I have a question for the pack collectors:

 

This is my copy of Brave and the Bold #154, obviously the regular version. I bought this because as a kid I remember seeing it in a 3-pack at a grocery store that typically didn’t carry comics.  My recollection is that my mom refused to get it for me as she didn’t like paying for 3 comics when she didn’t know what the middle one was. 
 

Things is, as I flip through this comic the interior looks very familiar. Maybe she did get it for me after some initial resistance?  But I have no recollection of what the other comics were in the pack. 
 

Anyone know what else was packed with this comic so it can maybe jog my memory?

The whitman 3-pack contained B&B #153, 154, and 155.  I've not seen a DC multipack that contains this B&B issue, although it wouldn't be too surprising for it to have been in a 3-pack.

 

 

[Number 6]

On 11/10/2021 at 1:46 PM, Warlord said:

The whitman 3-pack contained B&B #153, 154, and 155.  I've not seen a DC multipack that contains this B&B issue, although it wouldn't be too surprising for it to have been in a 3-pack.

 

 

Thank you for posting!

Ok, I know I had the #155 as a kid…though I can’t truthfully say whether it was a Whitman or not. 
 

But the #153, I don’t know, maybe, it does look kinda sorta familiar…but I don’t know it that’s because I actually had it as a kid or I’ve just seen it when searching B&B issues. 
 

It’s possible. There are some comics I know I had as a kid but can’t remember exact issues. Like I know I had an issue of the Flash toward the end of the run with Infantino art but I’ve looked at all of those covers and none of them conclusively speak to me. 
 

I guess I’ll have to buy a copy of #153 and see if the interior jogs my memory. 
 

Thanks again for the picture!

[BigLeagueCHEW]

On 6/14/2021 at 6:07 PM, ganni said:

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.

@kav Your fav.

[kav]

On 11/30/2021 at 11:28 AM, BigLeagueCHEW said:

@kav Your fav.