Some help understanding "variant" books 1 1

[lowball]

On 4/5/2023 at 12:57 PM, OtherEric said:

There are also some books with additional contents.  The major one is the Mark Jeweler variants, which started in the early bronze age.  They have a 4-page advertising insert in the middle of the book that other copies do not:

I really like this one!

[lowball]

On 4/5/2023 at 1:01 PM, OtherEric said:

A useful, if incomplete, resource to research variant covers is the Grand Comics Database.  You can look up any given issue and it will have information and often scans of the covers.  The limitation is it's an entirely volunteer operation, so if nobody adds the info or scans the cover it won't be there.

https://www.comics.org/

Another great resource. Thanks! These kinds of sites have been super helpful just getting into the hobby

[Get Marwood & I]

On 4/5/2023 at 9:21 PM, lowball said:

Thanks so much for the thorough response! That helped a lot. Going to re-read it a couple of times 

Quick followup question that may be a bit off topic now: How do I tell if a book is the "US" version? Is any book that is in cents a US/US-printed version? Sorry if that's a stupid question.

Not always - Canadian Price Variants, for example, are priced in dollars too:

https://www.comics.org/issue/38665/cover/4/

[lowball]

On 4/5/2023 at 4:34 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Not always - Canadian Price Variants, for example, are priced in dollars too:

https://www.comics.org/issue/38665/cover/4/

Is there a way to tell for certain if it is a US book?

[JollyComics]

On 4/5/2023 at 4:08 PM, lowball said:

Is there a way to tell for certain if it is a US book?

Here is the deep information....

https://covrprice.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-variants/

Do your research on each book if you want to know where the book was printed.

https://www.comics.org/

Edited April 5, 2023 by JollyComics

[lowball]

On 4/5/2023 at 7:27 PM, JollyComics said:

Here is the deep information....

https://covrprice.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-variants/

Do your research on each book if you want to know where the book was printed.

https://www.comics.org/

Thanks. So there is no standard on book covers that tell where it was printed?

[Lazyboy]

On 4/5/2023 at 9:05 PM, lowball said:

Thanks. So there is no standard on book covers that tell where it was printed?

No, and it doesn't actually matter where they were printed. Lots of comics from American publishers were printed in Canada.

[Lazyboy]

On 4/5/2023 at 6:27 PM, JollyComics said:

Here is the deep information....

https://covrprice.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-variants/

So much . I can't imagine why nobody put their name on that to take credit.

[rakehell]

On 4/5/2023 at 10:08 PM, lowball said:

Is there a way to tell for certain if it is a US book?

Short answer: maybe.

One thing that my good friend Marwood left out of his comprehensive explanation, specifically to do with UK pence variants, is that the price variant is (usually) only apparent on the cover. The inside pages of these books all came from the same pile as the US cents copies & therefore (usually) have the same indicia showing a price in cents. The clue, then, would be to check the indicia on whatever book you're unsure about. If the cover says "9d", but the indicia says "12c", you have a UK pence price variant. Likewise, if your book has a cover price of "75c", but the indicia says it should be "60c", you have a Canadian price variant. If the cover price matches the indicia, you have a standard US book.

Hope this makes sense. 

[lowball]

On 4/6/2023 at 6:04 AM, rakehell said:

Short answer: maybe.

One thing that my good friend Marwood left out of his comprehensive explanation, specifically to do with UK pence variants, is that the price variant is (usually) only apparent on the cover. The inside pages of these books all came from the same pile as the US cents copies & therefore (usually) have the same indicia showing a price in cents. The clue, then, would be to check the indicia on whatever book you're unsure about. If the cover says "9d", but the indicia says "12c", you have a UK pence price variant. Likewise, if your book has a cover price of "75c", but the indicia says it should be "60c", you have a Canadian price variant. If the cover price matches the indicia, you have a standard US book.

Hope this makes sense. 

I think that makes sense. Thanks.

So does that mean for a graded book that can't be opened, there is no way to know where it was printed? (I know this is getting off topic, might make more sense to start a new thread)

[JollyComics]

On 4/6/2023 at 5:04 AM, rakehell said:

Short answer: maybe.

One thing that my good friend Marwood left out of his comprehensive explanation, specifically to do with UK pence variants, is that the price variant is (usually) only apparent on the cover. The inside pages of these books all came from the same pile as the US cents copies & therefore (usually) have the same indicia showing a price in cents. The clue, then, would be to check the indicia on whatever book you're unsure about. If the cover says "9d", but the indicia says "12c", you have a UK pence price variant. Likewise, if your book has a cover price of "75c", but the indicia says it should be "60c", you have a Canadian price variant. If the cover price matches the indicia, you have a standard US book.

Hope this makes sense. 

@VintageComics   He can answer this.  

[marvelmaniac]

On 4/5/2023 at 1:14 PM, Axe Elf said:

Purple text and orange text variants of VAMPIRELLA #4 from April of 1970...

Where they made that way on purpose or was it a printing error like F.F. 110.

[Axe Elf]

On 4/6/2023 at 1:24 PM, marvelmaniac said:

Where they made that way on purpose or was it a printing error like F.F. 110.

I don't know, but it's not like CREEPY #20, which starts out brown and then starts to turn green as the red ink fades from UV exposure and whatnot.  The two VAMPIRELLA #4s were definitely printed with different inks.

How CREEPY #20 Turns from Brown to Green

[Lazyboy]

On 4/6/2023 at 1:34 PM, Axe Elf said:

I don't know, but it's not like CREEPY #20, which starts out brown and then starts to turn green as the red ink fades from UV exposure and whatnot.  The two VAMPIRELLA #4s were definitely printed with different inks.

How CREEPY #20 Turns from Brown to Green

Really? It looks like the top copy is just missing yellow.

[Axe Elf]

On 4/6/2023 at 3:13 PM, Lazyboy said:

Really? It looks like the top copy is just missing yellow.

Maybe, although adding yellow to purple would typically result in a more brownish hue--and none of the other cover art is affected in any way.  Granted, there wouldn't be MUCH yellow in the primarily cyan and magenta color scheme, but it's hard to believe that there would be NO yellow in any other area of the cover.

[universal soldier]

On 4/5/2023 at 3:23 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

Expensive, too... 

 

 

On 4/5/2023 at 4:09 PM, Math Teacher said:

You had to be quite persistent to acquire all those variants!

 

Or just need the one you are on the cover of! 

 

 

[rakehell]

On 4/6/2023 at 3:25 PM, lowball said:

So does that mean for a graded book that can't be opened, there is no way to know where it was printed? (I know this is getting off topic, might make more sense to start a new thread)

All the price variants I mention were printed in the US. Any foreign book would (should ) have its country of origin on the label.

As a slight diversion from your question, UK pence price variants have historically been viewed as less preferable by many collectors, including in the UK. This often inspired some "creative" mangling of UKPPV books to make them look like cents copies. Many a "9d" were blacked out, excised, or otherwise obscured & no one would then know the book wasn't a US cents original. If I remember right, there are even a couple of graded coverless AF15s that might be pencies. Not sure where I heard that...

Check out these threads:

There are loads more. Happy reading!