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The Whitman Thread
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605 posts in this topic

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 by ChrispyC66
Corrected start date for Marvel direct sales
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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:

image.jpg

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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 by bellrules
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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... 

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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.

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19 hours ago, bellrules said:

Some sealed examples of the 8/80 12/80 issues 

AA6D0EB4-A0EB-4600-91DC-5849E2419A9C.jpeg

B3FEE275-245C-43C1-825A-6F691DE49121.jpeg

 

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 by Number 6
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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. (shrug)

Edited by Lazyboy
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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.

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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 by Number 6
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