Why no Upc/corner box on x-men 214? 2 2

[BrooksR]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but after years of reading x-men I somehow just now realized that 214 direct edition doesn’t have the spiderman corner box. What is the reason for this? Did other issues do this too?

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 4/15/2023 at 8:51 AM, BrooksR said:

Sorry if this has been asked before, but after years of reading x-men I somehow just now realized that 214 direct edition doesn’t have the spiderman corner box. What is the reason for this? Did other issues do this too?

No idea why, but I know of at least one other similar book in this time period: X-factor 11.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

Just wanted to note that typically, the reason for the box on the Direct version is so that you can print all of the Direct and Newsstand editions using the same cyan, magenta, and yellow printing plates. Then you just need to create different black plates for the 2 versions. If there was some other difference between the 2 covers (different back cover advertisements, for example – which is not the case here) that meant the cyan, magenta, and yellow plates were going to be different anyway, then that would be a good reason to drop the box on the Direct, since you couldn't use common plates for any of the separations. But that doesn't appear to be the case for either of the books.

[Lazyboy]

On 4/15/2023 at 9:09 AM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

No idea why, but I know of at least one other similar book in this time period: X-factor 11.

X-Factor 11, 13 & 14.

Plus more from other titles, but I don't have a full list (I wonder if anyone does ).

Edited April 15, 2023 by Lazyboy

[Lazyboy]

On 4/15/2023 at 9:18 AM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

Just wanted to note that typically, the reason for the box on the Direct version is so that you can print all of the Direct and Newsstand editions using the same cyan, magenta, and yellow printing plates. Then you just need to create different black plates for the 2 versions. If there was some other difference between the 2 covers (different back cover advertisements, for example – which is not the case here) that meant the cyan, magenta, and yellow plates were going to be different anyway, then that would be a good reason to drop the box on the Direct, since you couldn't use common plates for any of the separations. But that doesn't appear to be the case for either of the books.

I'm pretty sure there were never any other cover differences for these issues. So, while that would make sense, it's not the reason.

Also, there are issues that appear at a glance to be similar to the issues mentioned in this thread, but on closer examination, the Direct box is filled with (basic) black, while the surrounding area is rich black (black plus one or more other colors).

[Jesse-Lee]

ASM 258 is like this too - no box on the direct edition, normal barcode on the newsstand.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 4/15/2023 at 1:34 PM, Jesse-Lee said:

ASM 258 is like this too - no box on the direct edition, normal barcode on the newsstand.

It looks like the art is probably only black ink in that area though, which would be a case where they're still using common CMY plates.

[JollyComics]

While I did my inventory on Nam 1-84, I noticed no direct or newsstand edition bar code from #18 to 24 (May 1988 to November 1988).

Checked on ASM....the barcode (Newsstand edition) started on ASM #157 until #431.  Skipped on #258, 288, 290, 295, 347, 358, 425 and 427 (some variant, die cut and 2nd print copies do not have the bar codes).

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 4/15/2023 at 2:05 PM, JollyComics said:

While I did my inventory on Nam 1-84, I noticed no direct or newsstand edition bar code from #18 to 24 (May 1988 to November 1988).

Checked on ASM....the barcode (Newsstand edition) started on ASM #157 until #431.  Skipped on #258, 288, 290, 295, 347, 358, 425 and 427 (some variant, die cut and 2nd print copies do not have the bar codes).

290 & 295 would be additional examples of where the Direct Edition only has black in the area where the barcode is on the Newsstand Edition. 358, 425 & 427 have the box on the back cover (none of those have ads on the back cover).

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 4/15/2023 at 2:05 PM, JollyComics said:

While I did my inventory on Nam 1-84, I noticed no direct or newsstand edition bar code from #18 to 24 (May 1988 to November 1988).

Checked on ASM....the barcode (Newsstand edition) started on ASM #157 until #431.  Skipped on #258, 288, 290, 295, 347, 358, 425 and 427 (some variant, die cut and 2nd print copies do not have the bar codes).

At some point, I think the Nam went Direct-only. That may be why the box dropped off of those issues.

[JollyComics]

On 4/15/2023 at 2:48 PM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

290 & 295 would be additional examples of where the Direct Edition only has black in the area where the barcode is on the Newsstand Edition. 358, 425 & 427 have the box on the back cover (none of those have ads on the back cover).

I checked both 290 and 295 to find the hidden barcodes.  Nothing is found.  #358 has a wraparound the direct edition box is on BC.  425 & 427 have the direct edition on BC.

On 4/15/2023 at 2:56 PM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

At some point, I think the Nam went Direct-only. That may be why the box dropped off of those issues.

I believe Marvel didn't want returned comic books at some points.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 4/15/2023 at 4:15 PM, JollyComics said:

I checked both 290 and 295 to find the hidden barcodes.  Nothing is found.  #358 has a wraparound the direct edition box is on BC.  425 & 427 have the direct edition on BC.

Not exactly sure what you're getting at, but here is an example of the Newsstand 290:

Since the artwork looks to be black-only in the area where the UPC box is, they don't have to run the box with the spidey head on the Direct edition (which, as mentioned, they do so that they only have to run a different plate for the black, rather than all 4 colors). Instead, they can run the full cover art in that area:

 

Same situation with 295:

 

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 4/15/2023 at 4:15 PM, JollyComics said:

I believe Marvel didn't want returned comic books at some points.

Yeah, I think that was the idea behind dropping Newsstand Editions eventually for everything.

[JollyComics]

On 4/15/2023 at 3:47 PM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

Not exactly sure what you're getting at, but here is an example of the Newsstand 290:

Since the artwork looks to be black-only in the area where the UPC box is, they don't have to run the box with the spidey head on the Direct edition (which, as mentioned, they do so that they only have to run a different plate for the black, rather than all 4 colors). Instead, they can run the full cover art in that area:

 

Same situation with 295:

 

Thanks for clarification. I was little confused for little bit but thanks for showing two books with the code and without.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 4/15/2023 at 4:55 PM, JollyComics said:

Thanks for clarification. I was little confused for little bit but thanks for showing two books with the code and without.

Just for further clarification, what I wrote about the Spideys is clearly *not* what's going on with the issue of X-Men that prompted the thread.

[jdandns]

On 4/15/2023 at 5:51 AM, BrooksR said:

Sorry if this has been asked before, but after years of reading x-men I somehow just now realized that 214 direct edition doesn’t have the spiderman corner box. What is the reason for this? Did other issues do this too?

Maybe with the marquee teamup of BWS and Arthur Adams on that cover, it was decided to not block out any of the art on the direct edition, since it wasn't actually necessary to do so. 

A lot of Liefeld covers from this era, on the other hand, could've benefited from the placement of multiple UPC boxes, I'm thinking, like, 7-8 per cover .

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 4/15/2023 at 5:14 PM, jdandns said:

Maybe with the marquee teamup of BWS and Arthur Adams on that cover, it was decided to not block out any of the art on the direct edition, since it wasn't actually necessary to do so. 

A lot of Liefeld covers from this era, on the other hand, could've benefited from the placement of multiple UPC boxes, I'm thinking, like, 7-8 per cover .

That seems unlikely to me, as I imagine that the editorial team would not have much input regarding the production budget. Also, as mentioned, it did happen on issues of X-Factor where the regular artist was doing the cover.

[JollyComics]

Found this.   Between 1984 and 1988, the marketing may have do with this.

 

[jdandns]

Maybe they just forgot to affix the sticker or it fell off during production. 

Aren't there some instances of the Comics Code Authority paste-up seal simply falling off the original cover art?

[comic_memories]

On 4/15/2023 at 5:24 PM, jdandns said:

Maybe they just forgot to affix the sticker or it fell off during production. 

Aren't there some instances of the Comics Code Authority paste-up seal simply falling off the original cover art?

Since you mentioned it I looked at that X-men 214 and it's missing the Comics Code Authority also,

Edited April 15, 2023 by comic_memories