The Whitman Thread 15 15

[FoggyNelson]

On 4/20/2022 at 10:47 PM, OtherEric said:

And, as I mentioned last page, I had this one as a kid.  Finally tracked down a new copy.  It's not a particularly common book:

Looks like an Invaders TV show cover👍

[Skwerl]

It's been awhile since I checked this thread, but someone pointed me to it in a discussion about "mutlipack editions" in the "Ask CGC" thread and urged me to post my knowledge here to contribute to the discussion. I grew up in print shops and comic book stores, so the ins & outs of printing and distribution of comics has always fascinated me, and I've sort of majored in 1977 specifically (mostly because I'm also a Star Wars fan), and I've been obsessing over some of these topics for decades. I'm in my 40s now, so I wasn't there in the late 70s, but in the 80s I talked to people who were.

Here's the Ask CGC thread: 

Whitman's parent company Western printed a lot of comics, but they did not print Marvel comics. They did not have a license to. All Marvel comics were printed on the same printing presses, which I believe were always at World Color Press. In a sec, I'll post an editorial printed by Marvel in the early 80s that stated they all came from the same printing presses.

There is not really any such thing as a "multipack variant." This statement has been a little controversial, and I've got no ego here and would happy to be proven wrong (okay, it would be really embarrassing, but I would try and take the L with grace). But I would simply challenge anyone to show three versions of a particular Marvel comic that had a third version besides newsstand (Curtis insignia), and direct (no Curtis insignia). There would have been no reason to print a third version specifically for multipacks which were just a way to dump excess (as in already printed) inventory at a discount. Important things to note, which has made this challenge tricky: The presence of the barcode is not really the defining characteristic of a newsstand edition, but rather it's the Curtis insignia. Curtis distributed to newsstands, and they put some numbers and their mark on the books they distributed. Direct editions went out through other means (I believe this was typically Sea Gate distribution, as World Color did not distribute), and those did not have the Curtis insignia. I think it's common knowledge at this point why bar codes started going away on direct editions: Retailers were returning unsold direct editions for the higher newsstand wholesale prices, and also some retailers were trying to scan the barcodes on the comics in the multipacks rather than the ones on the multipacks themselves. But that's a rabbit hole in and of itself. For now suffice to say that transition didn't happen overnight at once across all titles.

Okay, so this is from Marvel Team-Up #108 (1981), but I've seen it in other issues from around that time, when collectors first started asking what was up with the diamond boxes:

Note that Marvel confirms that there were just two versions, and that they were printed "on the same presses." Which further proves that Western/Whitman didn't print Marvel comics (they never had a license to and you won't actually find a Whitman logo on any Marvel books besides a few oddball examples such as the treasury editions and Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali, etc.). And now, the debate that is opened up on the "Ask CGC" thread was whether or not the smaller diamond box shown here is different than the larger diamond boxes on the so-called "multipack variants." My position is that they're the same thing; the design just evolved in 1978/1979 for aesthetic reasons. But that's an open debate, I'll admit.

Now, on that other thread, as we got into questions of who exactly got what versions, many pointed out examples of mistakes. There was the design of things, the intent, and then you had the reality of a lot of cokeheads working on tight deadlines, and there were lots of anomalies, and "bugs" in 1977, which was sort of the 1.0 release of Marvel direct editions. There were some direct editions printed with the Curtis insignia accidentally. Newsstand editions popped up in comic book shops (this happened even into the 80s). I would not be at all shocked to find multipacks with newsstand editions post-1977. It's sort of the same as finding retailer variants in Wal-Mart packs today. Anything lying around could go into them.

This is a big reason why I try to focus my "arguments" on the things that couldn't have been occasionally messed up: That a) there was simply never a third version printed of a Marvel comic for multipacks; If comic stores existed in 1977-1979 (they did of course), and any of them got Marvel comics through a distributor other than Curtis/ID, then they got Marvel comics without the Curtis symbol on them. There was only ever newsstand, and direct edition, and "multipack edition" is a misnomer.  And 2) Whitman didn't print Marvels, they only got their hands on Marvel inventory that was printed not by their parent company Western, who printed the DC and Dell/GK stuff. Which was confirmed by Marvel who literally said they came from the same presses in that Marvel editorial I posted. So "whitman reprint / whitman edition" is a misnomer as well.

So that's the hill I'm on: No such thing as Marvel "Whitman reprints" or "Whitman editions," and no such thing as "multipack edition;" Those were all just early direct editions, printed by Marvel, on the same presses that printed the newsstand inventory that went to Curtis/ID. But I'm not posting this to "be right on the internet," I'm just a nerd who loves this stuff and would love to learn more if I'm off on anything. Hope something here is helpful for anyone else on that same journey.

Edited December 1, 2022 by Skwerl
Typos

[Skwerl]

On 11/22/2022 at 10:27 AM, Skwerl said:

I would not be at all shocked to find multipacks with newsstand editions post-1977. It's sort of the same as finding retailer variants in Wal-Mart packs today. Anything lying around could go into them.

Oh, quick note on this: There definitely were mutlipacks with newsstand editions, as Whitman wasn't the only multipack game in town. Marvel had their own multipacks too distributed through Curtis and/or the ID network. On the other thread, someone posted a Marvel multipack containing a newsstand edition of ASM #186, side by side with a Whitman multipack with a direct edition of the same issue.

[bellrules]

Found these bad boys recently. Just can’t say no to those June 1980 DC Whitmans.

[Brock]

On 12/1/2022 at 9:52 PM, bellrules said:

Found these bad boys recently. Just can’t say no to those June 1980 DC Whitmans.

You continue to amaze me…

[FoggyNelson]

On 12/1/2022 at 9:52 PM, bellrules said:

Found these bad boys recently. Just can’t say no to those June 1980 DC Whitmans.

Flash phsycodelic cover is cool👍‼️

[Morganmi]

Found a stack of Whitman's in my friends attic the other day. A few of them are surprisingly in ok shape.. 

[Brock]

Still slowly chipping away at my set.  Here's the latest addition, courtesy of a seller in Texas. This is the 3rd highest copy on the census.

[bellrules]

There’s no place like home for the holidays! Nothing in great grades apart from the Donald Duck 222, but happy to add these to my hoard 

[bellrules]

On 4/10/2022 at 2:00 PM, MAR1979 said:

 

General Kala, Flash Gordon approaching
What do you mean Flash Gordon approaching?
Open fire - all weapons
Despatch war rocket Ajax to bring back his body
Gordon's alive! live live  live

Great Stuff!!!  More than Hens tooth rare in high grade! I have them raw but mine are perhaps 8.5/9.0 at best

The film came out when I was a young child about a year later it was on HBO where the first month or so it seemingly aired 5x a day. I do recall in school for a short time around then a common catch phrase when asked your name was to respond "Flash Gordon Quarterback New York Jets". Nostalgia aside, nowadays the reason for me to watch the movie is Ornella Muti !

Too bad Gold Key/Whitman didn't also adapt Flesh Gordon

 

Question Folks, are there variants of 31/32/33 with UPC codes? Or were these were only issued via 3-Pack?

Only pre-packs

[southern cross]

[OtherEric]

On 12/25/2022 at 4:41 PM, Et Al said:

Why is there no issue number on this one?

Most… but not all, I believe… of the DC Whitman books don’t have issue numbers.  I presume because Whitman wasn’t distributing every issue and didn’t want people looking for “missing “ issues 

[Warlord]

On 12/25/2022 at 7:53 PM, OtherEric said:

Most… but not all, I believe… of the DC Whitman books don’t have issue numbers.  I presume because Whitman wasn’t distributing every issue and didn’t want people looking for “missing “ issues 

Hm, I can't think of a single DC Whitman comic that has the issue number on the cover.   Am I right, or can anyone point one out?

[OtherEric]

On 12/25/2022 at 7:50 PM, Warlord said:

Hm, I can't think of a single DC Whitman comic that has the issue number on the cover.   Am I right, or can anyone point one out?

 

Here’s one.  It may only be that last month that does it.

[Warlord]

On 12/25/2022 at 10:57 PM, OtherEric said:

 

Here’s one.  It may only be that last month that does it.

Nicely done! 

[Warlord]

On 12/26/2022 at 10:27 AM, Warlord said:

Nicely done! 

The cover layout of the previous three LSH issues has the small Whitman W in the spot where the issue number appears, and the price to the right of that.  But for #266, they put the small W in the "wrong" spot, which hid the cover price and left the issue number visible!

Is that also the only DC Whitman that doesn't have the price on the cover?  What an oddball!  It's a set of one, collect them all.

Edited December 26, 2022 by Warlord

[Brock]

On 12/26/2022 at 10:36 AM, Warlord said:

Is that also the only DC Whitman that doesn't have the price on the cover?  What an oddball!  It's a set of one, collect them all.

Whoops... editing for clarity!

I think the only other one that has a number on the cover is Limited Collector's Edition #C-61.

There are quite a few others that have no price, such as the first seven issues Superman (#321 to #327) or the first three issues of DC Comics Presents (#1-#3). 

Edited December 26, 2022 by Brock

[Warlord]

On 12/26/2022 at 2:05 PM, Brock said:

Whoops... editing for clarity!

I think the only other one that has a number on the cover is Limited Collector's Edition #C-61.

There are quite a few others that have no price, such as the first seven issues Superman (#321 to #327) or the first three issues of DC Comics Presents (#1-#3). 

Huh, I never noticed these price and numbering inconsistencies before!  Good call, it appears that from the start through November 1978, all the black circle Whitman logo covers have no price.  Then those from December 1978 (even a few of the black circle Whitman logos) on all seem to have the cover price, except for the LSH266 oddball, unless there's another one hiding in there that I'm not seeing.

[Brock]

I found a few price variants out in the wild. Like most of these that I find, they're beat but complete.

[FoggyNelson]

On 1/2/2023 at 3:54 PM, Brock said:

I found a few price variants out in the wild. Like most of these that I find, they're beat but complete.

My sister bought these type books as kids , I always bought superhero books , but I still liked reading her books