Barcode and price box variants

[spidercrazy]

I was just going through my Amazing Spider-man collection to see which issues have pictures and which have barcodes in the barcode boxes. This raised some questions...

- When (which ASM issue) did they start with barcode box variants, and when did they stop? (Nowadays I only see barcodes, never any pictures)

- Are there always only two barcode box variants or are there more for certain issues?

- How can you tell if an issue is canadian? I have seen you talking about an ASM #252 canadian variant...

- When did they start with the 'diamond' price box variants? Is this variant always seen with a barcode or is it independent of the barcode box?

 

That's about it for now... hope someone can answer my questions. Thank you.

/Björn

[ASM-completist]

I think....

 

..the difference between newstand and direct editions, and thus cover boxes, started with issue 165.

 

..the first picture-in-the-cover-box issue was 202, featuring a Spidey head.

 

..that some might consider the blank and diagonal-line cover box as variants. There are a few that refer to these as Whitman variants. They started with issue 173.

 

..for the most part, there are always two versions, a newstand version and a direct market version. For only a handful of issues, will you get more than 2 versions. An example would be ASM 292 with the 2nd print cover box, as well as ASM 330 second print.

 

..Canadian issues, generally speaking, are copies that only have a Canadian cover price. There are a few exceptions, such as ASM Annual 1.

 

..diamond price boxes began with issue 165 and it is not always seen with a barcode.

 

 

Hope this helps.