OK so what Exactly kind of CPV book do I have in this GI Joe 5 book? 0

[Ares]

OK so as I am bagging and boarding I come across this GI Joe 5 book that has a Canadian Cover Price of 74 cents and the Curtis circulation logo but not a UPC in the Corner.

Its Spidey's head for direct copies

I thought it might be a second print but there is no Second print notice in the Indicia.

Is it possible it was a book from a 3 pack that was opened>

[Brock]

I believe this is a 2nd print. The Canadian price variant has a UPC... As you suggest, this one was likely part of a bagged set.

A lot of these GI Joe variants and reprints are poorly researched. I did find one reference to this edition online, but it's on a website that - if I posted a link - would trigger some boardies' pet peeves, launch a five-day Mobius loop flame war, cause 17 boardies to put each other on ignore, and get you and I banned for a month.

I kid - sort of.

Edited November 10, 2021 by Brock

[Ares]

On 11/10/2021 at 10:50 AM, Brock said:

I believe this is a 2nd print. The Canadian price variant has a UPC... As you suggest, this one was likely part of a bagged set.

A lot of these GI Joe variants and reprints are poorly researched. I did find one reference to this edition online, but it's on a website that - if I posted a link - would trigger some boardie's pet peeves, launch a five-day Mobius loop flame war, cause 17 boardies to put each other on ignore, and get you and I banned for a month.

I kid - sort of.

Thanks. 

I have been scanning my collection into CLZ and I came across a few GI Joe CPV books.  This one threw me for a loop. 

I have two copies of this one.

[Qalyar]

On 11/10/2021 at 9:19 AM, Ares said:

OK so as I am bagging and boarding I come across this GI Joe 5 book that has a Canadian Cover Price of 74 cents and the Curtis circulation logo but not a UPC in the Corner.

Its Spidey's head for direct copies

I thought it might be a second print but there is no Second print notice in the Indicia.

Is it possible it was a book from a 3 pack that was opened>

Out of curiosity, can you check the inside back cover? Is it a "Prizes or Cash" sales club advertisement or an ad for MPC model kits?

Edited November 10, 2021 by Qalyar

[Ares]

On 11/10/2021 at 3:37 PM, Qalyar said:

Out of curiosity, can you check the inside back cover? Is it a "Prizes or Cash" sales club advertisement or an ad for MPC model kits?

MPC model Kits

 

[Qalyar]

On 11/10/2021 at 5:34 PM, Ares said:

MPC model Kits

 

I believe the general consensus is that these were from multi-packs, possibly themselves distributed in Canada. Later on, they'd explicitly call books (sort of) like this as second editions in the indicia. But there are a couple of weird books like this where the pieces seems mismatched (as I recall, Thundercats is another one. Ho!).

[profholt82]

In my experience, the 3-pack reissues had black Spidey heads, not white. I bought quite a few of those years ago when they could be had for dirt cheap. At issue 23, the black Spidey became the norm for first print direct copies, so whenever you see a black Spidey on the cover of an earlier issue than that, it is considered a 3rd print.

But while I don't believe they started those 3 packs until after that time, there very well could have been some exceptions, particularly in Canada, so I don't want to speculate on your copy. I just wanted to point out the black/white Spidey rule of thumb in general. 

[shadroch]

I believe 1st prints have a 60 cent cover price.

[comiconxion]

I also have one of these variants which I purchased from a comic shop in Toronto in March 2020.  There are also Canadian newsstand versions of this comic with the UPC code as well.  There are US polybag reprints of this book, but you can easily distinguish them as they have a checklist with G.I. Joe #11 on this inside and a different back cover (Jedi Game). 

I checked my copy vs. a 1st printing direct edition and the inside back cover does differ.  The Canadian Variant has the MPC Kits ad vs. the Prizes or Cash ad on the 1st printing.  This one also has the Dodgers Cracker Jack ad on the inside front cover.  That ad combo matches to cover ads that were published in Jan. 1983 (issue #7) so this does appear to be a later printing which used the same interiors as the 1st printings.  This is similar to what happened with the Transformers #1-3 three packs which had a different back cover ad on issue #3, but is still considered (by most) a 1st printing. 

Regardless, it's a cool G.I. Joe rarity.  

Another bit of trivia... the cover layout was drawn by Ed Hannigan (uncredited) the same person who penciled the cover to G.I. Joe #21.

Edited December 24, 2021 by comiconxion