djzombi Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 As I was rebagging my newsstand copies of FF Vol. 3 # 34 & 35, I noticed they looked odd in the bag, as if the dimensions were off. I compared them to other books, and sure enough they are substantially shorter. While only slightly shorter than my newsie of Spider-Man #72 (1st pic), there is a noticeable difference when compared to Peter Porker #11 (also newsstand), and Adv. of Superman #570 (newsstand). I don't have a direct edition of the FFs handy, but do have the run (buried somewhere) and don't remember them being of different dimensions. Does anybody have any insight regarding these print run dimensions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightning55 Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 Looks like they were produced slightly shorter, as you point out. Doesn't seem important, though. They're paper comic books, made as quickly and cheaply as possible at the time. It's not like it's US currency. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadroch Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 These new mini variants are worth their weight in gold. djzombi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazyboy Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 It has nothing to do with Newsstands and everything to do with Marvel cheaping out on production material for the millionth time. There can always be some minor size variance in mass-produced comics, but when every issue from a publisher during a time period spanning months or years is shorter than the standard, it's not production variance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djzombi Posted March 21, 2022 Author Share Posted March 21, 2022 I was just wondering if anybody was knowledgeable about companies' production dimensions during time periods. I know it's a really niche topic! I didn't mean to imply there was any value, etc. Just as silver age books are a different size in width from current books, these struck me due to their change in height. I compared them to a Marvel comic released this week, and these FFs are significantly shorter than that issue as well, meaning at some point Marvel made their books "taller," and once again consistent with other books being released by other companies. Maybe for a period they went with another printing company that produced books of the smaller size. I'm genuinely curious! Again, I realize this is niche and most of you are rolling your eyes thinking "so what," but I'm just taking a chance there's somebody knowledgeable about this on these forums. If you don't care and have no input, then please move on and enjoy your day Brock and masterlogan2000 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shadroch Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 (edited) In 1975, America was having a paper shortage. Topps decided to experiment a bit with tnheir baseball cards. They produced a test set that reduced the cards size by about 20%. Doing this allowed them to put more cards on each sheet and supposedly saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. The smaller cards were sold in select markets and I guess the experiment wasn't a success as it was never repeated. The cards floated around as curiousities for years and it's only in the last few years that collectors are coming to realize how rare these cards truly are. The 1975 set has the most unusual design Topps ever did and it is love it or hate it among collectors, but even the haters are beginning to appreciate these rare mini-cards. If news stands are being made at different dimensions from regular books, they are legitimate variants and history shows there will be some who will want them. Edited March 21, 2022 by shadroch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazyboy Posted March 21, 2022 Share Posted March 21, 2022 On 3/21/2022 at 11:03 AM, shadroch said: If news stands are being made at different dimensions from regular books, they are legitimate variants and history shows there will be some who will want them. Again, this has nothing to do with Newsstands. It was all Marvels at that time. On 3/21/2022 at 10:29 AM, djzombi said: I was just wondering if anybody was knowledgeable about companies' production dimensions during time periods. I know it's a really niche topic! I didn't mean to imply there was any value, etc. Just as silver age books are a different size in width from current books, these struck me due to their change in height. I compared them to a Marvel comic released this week, and these FFs are significantly shorter than that issue as well, meaning at some point Marvel made their books "taller," and once again consistent with other books being released by other companies. Maybe for a period they went with another printing company that produced books of the smaller size. I'm genuinely curious! Again, I realize this is niche and most of you are rolling your eyes thinking "so what," but I'm just taking a chance there's somebody knowledgeable about this on these forums. If you don't care and have no input, then please move on and enjoy your day Yes. Since my earlier answer was apparently not enough, I will expand on it. Marvels were noticably shorter in the late-90s/early-00s. From what I can see, it looks like it lasted from around 1997 through mid-2002. Anyone who didn't drop Marvel during this period can feel free to correct me. djzombi and RockMyAmadeus 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djzombi Posted March 21, 2022 Author Share Posted March 21, 2022 On 3/21/2022 at 3:34 PM, Lazyboy said: Again, this has nothing to do with Newsstands. It was all Marvels at that time. Yes. Since my earlier answer was apparently not enough, I will expand on it. Marvels were noticably shorter in the late-90s/early-00s. From what I can see, it looks like it lasted from around 1997 through mid-2002. Anyone who didn't drop Marvel during this period can feel free to correct me. THIS is the kind of information I was looking for. Thanks. If making them smaller saved paper/money, I wonder what made them revert back circa 2002 (using your estimate). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
