Fantastic Four pricing variants

[ASM-completist]

A bag with the Whitman name on it, to me, simply means that a company names Whitman, placed comics in their bag. If I bag a newstand edition and place taste_of_h8red on the bag, it is not a taste_of_h8red variant or is it a taste_of_h8red. In the same respect, it is not a Whitman variant nor should it be called a Whitman.

 

You are close to geting me to jump on your side, but I still see no PROOF for either case.

[joe_collector]

A bag with the Whitman name on it, to me, simply means that a company names Whitman, placed comics in their bag. If I bag a newstand edition and place taste_of_h8red on the bag,

 

The key element is, that I and many others (including large dealers at the time), believe there were no "direct editions" before 1979. Look at X-Men, MOKF, Dracula, What-If, Sgt. Fury, etc.,etc., etc. Where are the 1977-78 Direct Market copies?

 

So, if we are correct, there were no such thing as a Diamond Direct Copy at that time, so no way for Whitman to bag such an entity. So therefore, to ensure no enterprising individual bought these multi-packs at discount, Marvel used a different cover format when printing for Western Publishing. And this scenario worked so well, it was then transitioned to the Direct Market in 1979, only using a different "skinny Diamond" format.

 

That's why I refer to these random 1977-78 comics as Whitman's.

 

P.S. If the Direct Market started in 1977, why does the "slashed UPC" take over for a month in 1979, then switch over to the new "skinny Diamond" miraculously at the EXACT time I/we contend the Direct Market started, AND the exact month where every Marvel has a "Diamond Copy"?

 

Mighty big coincidence, wouldn't you say?

[shadroch]

Are you now claiming that there was no direct market prior to 1979?That Seagate wasn't selling direct to comics prior to this?

[joe_collector]

Are you now claiming that there was no direct market prior to 1979?That Seagate wasn't selling direct to comics prior to this?

 

No, read the post. I am stating that there were no specific Diamond Direct Market copies before 1979.

 

Of course there was a Direct Market, but Marvel didn't start marking the books differently until that initial "crossed out UPC" first month, then with the "skinny Diamond" books after that.

 

The data 100% supports this conclusion, especially the "large size" book examples like What If! that would never be included in a Whitman/Western run.

 

If the Direct Market was NOT selling newstand copies, then their shelves would have been pretty bare - only a single X-Men issues in 2 years? No MOKF, No Dracula, No Dr Strange, No Sgt. Fury, No What If!, and only a SINGLE Diamond Copy (mysteriously in October 1977) for a pile of other books.

 

If the Direct Market was not selling newstand copies, then they must have been selling air for 2 years.