Something About Amazing Spider-Man #320 That You Might Not Have Spotted 2 2

[Get Marwood & I]

Hello 

It's always nice to discover something new when you're looking for something else, isn't it. 

The other day, while looking for Mark Jewelers copies, I spotted something about Spidey #320 that I hadn't spotted before. I'm wondering how many of you might not have spotted it either, despite it being 34 years old and sitting in plain sight. 

The GCD has the two known versions - newsstand and direct....

...as does Pete's place, the home of Spidey Completists worldwide (one of which I used to be):

 

Here are my two copies:

 

Anyway, I was looking for a jewelers copy the other week and found that eBay USA had 205 results for "Amazing Spider-Man 320":

 

Of those 205 listings, 168 (83%) where the Direct Edition:

35 of them (17%) were the Newsstand:

None of them, however, were this Spidey head UPC version:

On eBay UK, 3 of the 12 copies for sale, and 3 of the 8 sold were this hitherto (by me) unspotted version:

 

So, none out of 205 listings in the US, but 6 out of 20 in the UK.

Hmmm....

I ordered a Spidey head UPC copy so I could do a full comparison but the seller sent me the Paladin UPC copy (I suspect on purpose, as I ordered one of each type which likely brought it to their attention). From the eBay images I've seen, the only difference besides the Spidey and Paladin UPCs are a tiny production related line under the word 'LATE' which appears on all the Spidey head UPC copies:

The indicias appear the same - no indication of a second printing or anything like that.

I've ordered some more copies and will do a full review when they arrive, but in the meantime I thought some of you might find this interesting if, as I suspect, it has passed you by too.

[Get Marwood & I]

[HarrisonJohn]

Interesting. Reminds me of the X-Factor 38 1.00 price variant that largely turned up in the UK and had a slightly different looking price box (besides the price change, which must have been an error). X-Factor #38 $1.00 Cover Price Variant | Rare Comics (wordpress.com)

[seanfingh]

This is fascinating.  I have only seen the hand drawn boxes on the Assassination Nation books.  Do you think there is a Spidey head variant for each one? 

[Get Marwood & I]

On 10/11/2023 at 7:05 PM, HarrisonJohn said:

Interesting. Reminds me of the X-Factor 38 1.00 price variant that largely turned up in the UK and had a slightly different looking price box (besides the price change, which must have been an error). X-Factor #38 $1.00 Cover Price Variant | Rare Comics (wordpress.com)

@androolx sent me a PM saying the exact same thing. I gathered up a few of the X-Factor books some years back. I thought I'd posted about them here but can't find the link now. 

On 10/11/2023 at 8:00 PM, seanfingh said:

This is fascinating.  I have only seen the hand drawn boxes on the Assassination Nation books.  Do you think there is a Spidey head variant for each one? 

I suspect not, but haven't done a deep dive yet. I'm away at the moment but will hopefully have a copy of the Spidey head UPC waiting for me when I get back. I'll post a full comparison then and will check the surrounding issues. 

[HarrisonJohn]

I bet there's more variants to be found from this time period on Ebay UK!

Edited October 11, 2023 by HarrisonJohn

[Get Marwood & I]

On 10/11/2023 at 8:38 PM, HarrisonJohn said:

I bet there's more variants to be found from this time period on Ebay UK!

I will look for them. I will find them. And I will post about them here 

[paqart]

And what about this, a slashed UPC: https://www.ebay.com/itm/175950160060?hash=item28f77260bc:g:MwcAAOSwE4dkofXm&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4HkzYWfhP2GV3gcw8A9Fg2hOPl%2Fjr4e8jxcaLVUZvWPX21H89ZvI%2FhiFBuZpTbkcvVt3WHC%2FVWB0B75qp%2BfFa9aKb2VgFfIsNqPqpPfSXTJ9y1Esnch0Xted6h2MGrw01fYEf%2Fnoaqddq9I%2BFpk4QXeFzh61ZqwBUehat7GXhJTDQ9pP9QCEPgX0hzIw%2BE%2B4mkETPuR%2F6O2ESVyuOwO2ZJkrhFrQ43gjpwfYdS7Gq1Ecb3cNn7lqKRhZ%2BjRxWKaZsMyB2kXu97YJcHC4CaljiRii3K9hdcxZir0hXiBrDUVv|tkp%3ABk9SR7aJh4vkYg

[Get Marwood & I]

On 10/11/2023 at 10:45 PM, paqart said:

And what about this, a slashed UPC: https://www.ebay.com/itm/175950160060?hash=item28f77260bc:g:MwcAAOSwE4dkofXm&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4HkzYWfhP2GV3gcw8A9Fg2hOPl%2Fjr4e8jxcaLVUZvWPX21H89ZvI%2FhiFBuZpTbkcvVt3WHC%2FVWB0B75qp%2BfFa9aKb2VgFfIsNqPqpPfSXTJ9y1Esnch0Xted6h2MGrw01fYEf%2Fnoaqddq9I%2BFpk4QXeFzh61ZqwBUehat7GXhJTDQ9pP9QCEPgX0hzIw%2BE%2B4mkETPuR%2F6O2ESVyuOwO2ZJkrhFrQ43gjpwfYdS7Gq1Ecb3cNn7lqKRhZ%2BjRxWKaZsMyB2kXu97YJcHC4CaljiRii3K9hdcxZir0hXiBrDUVv|tkp%3ABk9SR7aJh4vkYg

Not the clearest picture, is it. I would put my money on that being added post production. Find a second example and we're in business Paq. And no slash jokes.

[Get Marwood & I]

OK, after three false starts, a Spidey head UPC copy has finally arrived. 

I haven't checked the story text word for word, but the contents appear the same in both copies, including the indicias:

UPCs aside, the only other differences appear to be the text placements within the issue / date boxes, which differ in a number of ways.

That production line / mark under the A of LATE appears to be on every Spidey UPC head copy, the $1.00 sits higher in the box and the 'UK 50p' is wonky on them all too.

For whatever reason, it looks like the cover plate for this issue was made up a twice, resulting in these differing copies, and it looks like the majority of the Spidey UPC ones came to the UK. That doesn't necessarily have to have any bearing on it though, the fact that they're all in the UK. Maybe they didn't produce enough copies in error overall and the UK allocation included all the rerun copies. Or they may have run the Spidey UPC copies first, realised a McFarlane UPC was supposed to be in place, and changed the plates then. Perhaps the 'wrong' copies, being run first, all came to the UK as they were moved out first to take account of the shipping times. Or something else. Who knows.

The scruffiness of the date / issue boxes on the Spidey UPC copies sends my gut a message that they were done first. We'll probably never know though.

Anyway, two ASM #320 Direct Editions out there, if you're interested. 

No evidence as yet of any similar scenarios with other issues. 

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 10/7/2023 at 8:22 AM, Get Marwood & I said:

Hello 

It's always nice to discover something new when you're looking for something else, isn't it. 

The other day, while looking for Mark Jewelers copies, I spotted something about Spidey #320 that I hadn't spotted before. I'm wondering how many of you might not have spotted it either, despite it being 34 years old and sitting in plain sight. 

The GCD has the two known versions - newsstand and direct....

...as does Pete's place, the home of Spidey Completists worldwide (one of which I used to be):

 

Here are my two copies:

 

Anyway, I was looking for a jewelers copy the other week and found that eBay USA had 205 results for "Amazing Spider-Man 320":

 

Of those 205 listings, 168 (83%) where the Direct Edition:

35 of them (17%) were the Newsstand:

None of them, however, were this Spidey head UPC version:

On eBay UK, 3 of the 12 copies for sale, and 3 of the 8 sold were this hitherto (by me) unspotted version:

 

So, none out of 205 listings in the US, but 6 out of 20 in the UK.

Hmmm....

I ordered a Spidey head UPC copy so I could do a full comparison but the seller sent me the Paladin UPC copy (I suspect on purpose, as I ordered one of each type which likely brought it to their attention). From the eBay images I've seen, the only difference besides the Spidey and Paladin UPCs are a tiny production related line under the word 'LATE' which appears on all the Spidey head UPC copies:

The indicias appear the same - no indication of a second printing or anything like that.

I've ordered some more copies and will do a full review when they arrive, but in the meantime I thought some of you might find this interesting if, as I suspect, it has passed you by too.

Since the previous issue has that "Shan-Lon" giveaway edition with the Spidey head, maybe something similar was planned for this issue?

[Get Marwood & I]

On 10/16/2023 at 4:32 PM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

Since the previous issue has that "Shan-Lon" giveaway edition with the Spidey head, maybe something similar was planned for this issue?

I see what you mean about the Spidey head UPC, but there's no real comparison there for me. The Shan-Lon books were smaller, repackaged comics, made for a specific purpose.

Spoiler

That's not really what's going on with the 320 which is priced and in (largely UK) circulation just as a standard issue would be.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 10/16/2023 at 12:43 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

I see what you mean about the Spidey head UPC, but there's no real comparison there for me. The Shan-Lon books were smaller, repackaged comics, made for a specific purpose.

  Reveal hidden contents

That's not really what's going on with the 320 which is priced and in (largely UK) circulation just as a standard issue would be.

Gotcha. I had never heard of those before; just noticed that in the images you posted.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 10/16/2023 at 6:02 PM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

Gotcha. I had never heard of those before; just noticed that in the images you posted.

It was a good shout Geeks. I'm pleased to see any comments really. I'm quite surprised by how muted the response to the discovery of a 30+ year old ASM variant has been. What can you do. My mistake was to post about it on a comic forum 

[OtherEric]

I always find the discovery of a new variant fascinating, I just rarely have anything to actually say about it and am reduced to reacting to the posts.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 10/16/2023 at 1:15 PM, Get Marwood & I said:

It was a good shout Geeks. I'm pleased to see any comments really. I'm quite surprised by how muted the response to the discovery of a 30+ year old ASM variant has been. What can you do. My mistake was to post about it on a comic forum 

People probably saw it, and then started hunting for a copy for themselves.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 10/16/2023 at 6:18 PM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

People probably saw it, and then started hunting for a copy for themselves.

Indeed. I wish them luck. I had to order to four copies before getting the right one. Including from sellers who do not use stock images. Usual drill. 

[mrwoogieman]

I’m sure everyone’s flabber is properly gasted!

 

 

 

[ADAMANTIUM]

I'm aghast and thankful for a new topic, but would watch my own p's and q's before rambling.

As such I feel properly informed is the way to go! SKOAL!

[Get Marwood & I]

On 10/16/2023 at 11:29 PM, mrwoogieman said:

I’m sure everyone’s flabber is properly gasted!

 

 

 

I think it was the former completist in me that got a little over excited!