Fantastic Four 199 Marvel Special Market Edition distributed by Whitman 1 1

[MAR1979]

Hi,

Anyone else notice that since last August  pretty much every week a Fantastic Four 199 "Whitman Variant" in CGC 9.8 has been sold on eBay.   Also seem to be many in 9.4 and 9.6 as well

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=fantastic+four+%2B199+cgc+9.8+Whitman&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&rt=nc

Via history can only see back now to early Nov, but I'm pretty sure I started to notice these last Aug or Sept: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=fantastic+four+%2B199+cgc+9.8+Whitman&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=fantastic+four+%2B199+cgc+9.8&_osacat=0&LH_Complete=1

Prices somewhat steady, yeah they go up and down but never lower, as of today, than $75 and never higher than approx $152. If prices do fall to $50-$60 I may even break my own guideline about only purchasing books I have can view in hand and pull the trigger on one.

Is there a story behind why there are now so many these in 9.8 of what was once a semi-difficult book to find in any grade?

 

 

 

Edited February 2, 2022 by MAR1979

[batmiesta]

Just checked my copy and it too is a Whitman and I live in the UK, I bought from a US ebay seller years ago, they must be fairly plentiful. 

[Get Marwood & I]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5x-Copies-From-a-discovered-batch-Of-300-MARVEL-FANTASTIC-FOUR-199-Oct-1978-/133998996655?hash=item1f32f66caf:g:wisAAOSw4ZhhDtww&pageci=1204acb1-f2d5-4841-a7d8-f24b157eff93&redirect=mobile

5x Copies (From a discovered batch Of 300) MARVEL FANTASTIC FOUR #199 (Oct 1978)

During a recent house renovation/clearance a box was discovered stored away in a room containing a batch of 300 identical copies of this comic issue #199 MARVEL’S

THE FANTASTIC FOUR

 

ALL in amazing condition for their age

(published by Marvel 43 years ago Oct 1978)

The comics originally belonged to a gentleman who once owned/ran a newsagent and the box containing these comics were all part of his excess stock, they have been sitting in their boxes/containers for over 4 decades now and so was an very exciting find to say the least!

[djzombi]

To my knowledge, these are not "Whitman variants."  They are early Direct Sales editions.  As the direct market was in its infancy at that time, I would imagine the print run of these is much lower than the Newsstand version at the time.  

[shadroch]

Mycomicshop and most dealers call them Whitman Variants, as do I.  It's not a bridge worth fighting over.

[Brock]

On 2/1/2022 at 5:53 PM, djzombi said:

To my knowledge, these are not "Whitman variants."  They are early Direct Sales editions.  As the direct market was in its infancy at that time, I would imagine the print run of these is much lower than the Newsstand version at the time.  

 

On 2/1/2022 at 6:01 PM, shadroch said:

Mycomicshop and most dealers call them Whitman Variants, as do I.  It's not a bridge worth fighting over.

There is a more detailed (and very friendly) discussion of this over in The Whitman Thread"... check it out!

 

[djzombi]

On 2/1/2022 at 8:06 PM, Brock said:

 

There is a more detailed (and very friendly) discussion of this over in The Whitman Thread"... check it out!

 

Thanks for that link!
@shadroch I wasn't "fighting over" anything, which I why I prefaced my comment with "To my knowledge."  I wasn't stating what I said as fact.  
Given the first couple pages of the Whitman threat, this seems to be a very controversial and mysterious topic.  

[MAR1979]

I changed the thread title to:

"Fantastic Four 199 Marvel Special Market Edition distributed by Whitman"

Marvel Whitman or Whitman Variant is much less wordy even it technically not 100% accurate.  I really don't see "Marvel Special Market Edition distributed by Whitman" catching on. I think folks are going to have to deal with the easier to use 2 word terms and expect to see them stick which I believe they have done already

Edited February 4, 2022 by MAR1979

[shadroch]

Why use a simple term when a much longer one is just as accurate? Don't you get paid by the word?

[wormboy]

A recent YouTube video by ‘Bronze and Modern Gods’ interviews Chuck about the subject of Whitman vs. Direct Market. 

 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 2/1/2022 at 9:07 PM, MAR1979 said:

Is there a story behind why there are now so many these in 9.8 of what was once a semi-difficult book to find in any grade?

I bit the bullet and ordered 5 copies and they are lovely and clean with faultless spines. Here's one:

At less than a couple of pounds each, if I sent them to CGC and they came back as 9.4/6's, I could make a buck. Pound, sorry. That's probably what others did, hence the sudden glut of high grades in slabs. Likely too late now for me, though. By the time I got them back, assuming I was still alive, the money making boat would have almost certainly have sailed. I've always been rubbish at making money on comics though, so I'm not overly troubled.