Talapas1 Posted December 29, 2021 Share Posted December 29, 2021 As I was going through my collection tonight, I noticed that my Batman/Spawn War Devil doesn’t have a upc. I did a quick search on eBay and I couldn’t find any that were like mine so I was wondering if anyone knows the story behind this. Is there a search term I need to use to look it up on eBay? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks littledoom 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetalPSI Posted December 29, 2021 Share Posted December 29, 2021 Now youre going to make me look for mine Talapas1 and divad 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetalPSI Posted December 29, 2021 Share Posted December 29, 2021 Mine has the red UPC My Spawn/Batman Miller/McFarlane doesn't have either, not sure if thats normal or not Talapas1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted December 29, 2021 Share Posted December 29, 2021 I have one of these, offered it here with the regular for $12 (even had a B1G1 going) and no takers. I couldn't find out what it was when I tried. oldmilwaukee6er and Talapas1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talapas1 Posted December 29, 2021 Author Share Posted December 29, 2021 So doing a little more digging online, I’ve come across these two packs. I’m wondering if that is what the No UPC issues may be from. Hoping someone knows. MetalPSI 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightning55 Posted December 30, 2021 Share Posted December 30, 2021 On 12/29/2021 at 2:31 PM, Talapas1 said: So doing a little more digging online, I’ve come across these two packs. I’m wondering if that is what the No UPC issues may be from. Hoping someone knows. Seems logical. There is a UPC on the packaging, and the trades show through the plastic window. They would want to remove the UPC from the trades to avoid having multiple UPC's visible to the scanner. Maybe you can check if there is anything in the indicia that says it's a later printing than the original. You could also compare the years of publication. Talapas1 and fastballspecial 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talapas1 Posted December 30, 2021 Author Share Posted December 30, 2021 Great ideas. I’ll take a peak tomorrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted December 30, 2021 Share Posted December 30, 2021 On 12/30/2021 at 12:33 AM, Lightning55 said: Maybe you can check if there is anything in the indicia that says it's a later printing than the original. You could also compare the years of publication. I just checked mine (the weird red one and red upc DE) and the back cover indicia is the same on both: printed in Canada, first printing Talapas1 and oldmilwaukee6er 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talapas1 Posted December 30, 2021 Author Share Posted December 30, 2021 Thanks for checking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted December 30, 2021 Share Posted December 30, 2021 On 12/29/2021 at 4:10 AM, Talapas1 said: As I was going through my collection tonight, I noticed that my Batman/Spawn War Devil doesn’t have a upc. I did a quick search on eBay and I couldn’t find any that were like mine so I was wondering if anyone knows the story behind this. Is there a search term I need to use to look it up on eBay? Any info would be appreciated. This looks like it might be related to the DC Universe variant packs, so I wonder if it was part of the same program from DC, for distribution to Wal-Marts, Costcos, etc. Batman/Spawn War Devil was published in 1994, which is when the DC Universe variant editions began (I think?). But before the "DC Universe" logo was used in the UPC box for these books, DC published a number of Batman books for these packs with variations on the Bat logo, like your copy here. It may be that the War Devil release slightly preceded the DC Universe program, or that Image objected to having "DC Universe" printed on the book. Certainly the 2-pack that @Talapas1 found resembles the packs from that program. But let me call in the real experts here... @Cpt Kirk @onlyweaknesskryptonite @Warlord @bellrules Talapas1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bellrules Posted December 30, 2021 Share Posted December 30, 2021 I’ve seen the pack before but have no idea what versions of the books are inside. A seller at a local show had one, but it was too expensive to justify buying it. I know there is a lower quality paper one for the McFarlane issue. Maybe that’s the version that came from this pack. It has a UPC on the back cover Talapas1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastballspecial Posted December 31, 2021 Share Posted December 31, 2021 I think you are right. The package was distributed at a different time. Did you read the indicia to see if it says anything. Also visit the Spawn SpawnWorld.com : Your unofficial guide to Spawn Comics, Toys, and more! It will have the information you may want. Talapas1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicmeta Posted December 31, 2021 Share Posted December 31, 2021 On 12/31/2021 at 10:26 AM, fastballspecial said: I think you are right. The package was distributed at a different time. Did you read the indicia to see if it says anything. Also visit the Spawn SpawnWorld.com : Your unofficial guide to Spawn Comics, Toys, and more! It will have the information you may want. I need a Spawn #306 the one with the Gunslinger Spawn on the cover. Anything with the Gunslinger Spawn, I want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talapas1 Posted January 1, 2022 Author Share Posted January 1, 2022 On 12/31/2021 at 8:26 AM, fastballspecial said: I think you are right. The package was distributed at a different time. Did you read the indicia to see if it says anything. Also visit the Spawn SpawnWorld.com : Your unofficial guide to Spawn Comics, Toys, and more! It will have the information you may want. I just ran across a upc version yesterday so now I need to remember where I set it. I’ll compare the two as soon as I can locate both again. Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warlord Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Nope On 12/30/2021 at 12:48 PM, Brock said: This looks like it might be related to the DC Universe variant packs, so I wonder if it was part of the same program from DC, for distribution to Wal-Marts, Costcos, etc. Batman/Spawn War Devil was published in 1994, which is when the DC Universe variant editions began (I think?). But before the "DC Universe" logo was used in the UPC box for these books, DC published a number of Batman books for these packs with variations on the Bat logo, like your copy here. It may be that the War Devil release slightly preceded the DC Universe program, or that Image objected to having "DC Universe" printed on the book. Certainly the 2-pack that @Talapas1 found resembles the packs from that program. But let me call in the real experts here... @Cpt Kirk @onlyweaknesskryptonite @Warlord @bellrules Nope, I don't have any information on this variation. It does adhere to the same Bat-logo variation that we've seen with other Bat issues from the mid-1990s. We can see that the Direct edition has a UPC code, so there's no reason that a newsstand version, if it existed, wouldn't also have a UPC code. The Bat-logo suggests this was a multi-pack issue, and the theory presented above makes sense to me. Here are the two versions side by side. Talapas1 and Brock 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warlord Posted January 6, 2022 Share Posted January 6, 2022 On 1/3/2022 at 12:30 PM, Warlord said: Nope Nope, I don't have any information on this variation. It does adhere to the same Bat-logo variation that we've seen with other Bat issues from the mid-1990s. We can see that the Direct edition has a UPC code, so there's no reason that a newsstand version, if it existed, wouldn't also have a UPC code. The Bat-logo suggests this was a multi-pack issue, and the theory presented above makes sense to me. Here are the two versions side by side. BTW, I compared the indicia in both issues and did not identify any differences. Brock and Talapas1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldmilwaukee6er Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 On 12/29/2021 at 1:09 PM, Bird said: I have one of these, offered it here with the regular for $12 (even had a B1G1 going) and no takers. I couldn't find out what it was when I tried. @Bird I bought a set from you... Spawn Batman (Image) regular and one was a prestige format but with a barcode adjustment sticker. I still have em. Talapas1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bird Posted January 10, 2022 Share Posted January 10, 2022 On 1/9/2022 at 8:38 PM, oldmilwaukee6er said: @Bird I bought a set from you... Spawn Batman (Image) regular and one was a prestige format but with a barcode adjustment sticker. I still have em. I remember those as well. Many purchases in the newsstand search! Talapas1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.Biz Posted March 4, 2022 Share Posted March 4, 2022 There is a third version with a red barcode on the rear but does not say “direct edition” over the code. Talapas1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
awakeintheashes Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 On 3/4/2022 at 4:25 PM, J.Biz said: There is a third version with a red barcode on the rear but does not say “direct edition” over the code. Yup. Here are my copies. One direct, one newsstand. Don’t have the bat logo variant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
