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Marvel Comics #1, October or November 1939. How rare are the OCT dated copies?
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Started by Shield,

125 posts in this topic

Primetime

Primetime

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Posted
On 6/21/2024 at 1:41 PM, sfcityduck said:

Aren't a lot of the Octobers restored? I believe the top Oct. was a 8.0 R but the restoration may have been slight. Could be wrong.

CGC has never differentiated and wish they had a census for OCT and NOV copies. They are now starting to print “October cover” on cgc labels for such copies. Most OCT copies I have seen are restored, however. 

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Frisco Larson

Frisco Larson

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On 6/21/2024 at 4:37 PM, Primetime said:

CGC has never differentiated and wish they had a census for OCT and NOV copies. They are now starting to print “October cover” on cgc labels for such copies. Most OCT copies I have seen are restored, however. 

I've never understood why CGC hasn't separated the Oct and Nov copies in the census. They ARE different!!! A test of difference that our very own @Straw-Man uses to establish that there actually IS a difference is to ask, "If you had 2 identical copies on the table and you could take only one, which would you take?" "If you have a preference, then they ARE different!"

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pemart1966

pemart1966

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On 6/21/2024 at 4:10 PM, Primetime said:

And 10:1 with original print runs of 80k (OCT) and 800k (NOV) just one week apart 

I don't know that I've ever head that the two versions were printed one week apart.  What's the source of that?

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Primetime

Primetime

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On 6/21/2024 at 3:58 PM, pemart1966 said:

I don't know that I've ever head that the two versions were printed one week apart.  What's the source of that?

This has been common knowledge amongst many golden age timely collectors @Ameri@MrBedrock @VintageComics@Straw-Man@G.A.tor

for many years now sourced from the Overstreet, CBM, and many fanzines of the past. Goodman took a chance and printed 80,000 copies initially to see if the comic would sell locally. The Octobers were released on 8-31-39 and sold out in a week. He changed the indicia and used a black slug to blot out the OCT and added the NOV stamp for another 800k to be distributed nationwide.

Here are three NOV copies which have September arrival dates (9/8, 9/13, 9/22) which support the short period of time between the Oct and Nov copies. I have not seen any October copies with any arrival dates, but I don’t believe anyone would argue 8-31-39 not being the release date for the Octobers.  

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woowoo

woowoo

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On 6/21/2024 at 8:36 PM, Primetime said:

This has been common knowledge amongst many golden age timely collectors for many years now sourced from the Overstreet, CBM, fanzines. Goodman took a chance and printed 80,000 copies initially to see if the comic would sell locally. The Octobers were released on 8-31-39 and sold out in a week. He changed the indicia and used a black slug to blot out the OCT and added the NOV stamp for another 800k to be distributed more nationwide. Here are three copies which have September arrival dates (9/8, 9/13, 9/22)  that support the short period of time between the Oct and Nov copies. I have not seen any October copies with any arrival dates, but I don’t believe anyone would argue 8-31-39 not being the release date for the Octobers.  

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All I got in my picture collection.

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Frisco Larson

Frisco Larson

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On 6/21/2024 at 10:36 PM, Primetime said:

This has been common knowledge amongst many golden age timely collectors @Ameri@MrBedrock @VintageComics@Straw-Man@G.A.tor

for many years now sourced from the Overstreet, CBM, and many fanzines of the past. Goodman took a chance and printed 80,000 copies initially to see if the comic would sell locally. The Octobers were released on 8-31-39 and sold out in a week. He changed the indicia and used a black slug to blot out the OCT and added the NOV stamp for another 800k to be distributed nationwide.

Here are three NOV copies which have September arrival dates (9/8, 9/13, 9/22) which support the short period of time between the Oct and Nov copies. I have not seen any October copies with any arrival dates, but I don’t believe anyone would argue 8-31-39 not being the release date for the Octobers.  

IMG_5298.jpeg

IMG_5296.png

IMG_5297.jpeg

For what it's worth, I remember Fishler commenting that the nicest unrestored October copy he'd ever seen (not counting the Church copy), was a 5.0. Whatever one's feelings are about him personally, it's tough to deny that he has a lot of knowledge. 

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