bellrules

If there is Marvel book with a barcode box, that does not contain a barcode, it should be considered a direct market copy. What’s in that box over the years, has changed. From blank, to line through a barcode, to Spidey and Captain America heads. The diamond heads were there so vendors could not return these books. (They didn’t have to send back the entire book, just the masthead.) Eventually, those changes led to small diamonds, to Marvel M’s. Its how the direct market for Marvel books evolved. Marvel sent Whitman stacks of books that were non-returns, and let them sell them to other venues than newsstands. It’s the evolution of the direct market for that publisher.

Direct means they could not be returned for refunds like their newsstand counterparts. This started happening in the 70s and became more prevalent in the 80s. Check out all the books in the attached photo from 1982. All direct editions that were sold in packs, were also being sold individually.

Yes, the bullets came in packs just like the DCU books.

My finds for today

I can provide a single pic later tonight if that helps.

I think they maintained their printing dates up until mid 1982. No books seemed to have been published in 1983. Once they sold through their stock and resumed printing, the eliminated the dates on the cover codes.

Some finds from the Red and White show in Calgary, this past weekend. Cannot resist Captain Carrot of Cheryl Blossom issues.

My best guess would be that they would print them once the art was approved and stockpile the books. Battle of the Planets 8 (11/80) came with Black Hole 4 (9/80) in the pack I have, but the 1/81 price error books from 1/81 all came in the same packs. I suspect that it took from 8/80 to 12/80 for Western to get their stuff together, and by 1/81 they caught up. Some of the books from 8/80 came with issues that were from 4/80 and earlier. That’s the beauty of the sealed packs. They help decipher how the books were sold.

Battle of the Planets and Black Hole were only published by Western. Issues 6-10 of Battle of the Planets and The Black Hole were only available in sealed packs. The only Black Hole Comic available through newsstands was Walt Disney Showcase #54. Battle of the Planets 1-5 were sold under Gold Key on newsstands and Whitman in bagged sets.

Scored a copy of this bad boy today at a show.

Found this bad boy today

A few new ones in recent days.

I think that CGC should identify direct vs newsstand editions, and label them as such. The Whitman designation should be given to books with the Whitman logo on the cover. They are all limited area of collecting but very relevant to the community. Same goes for international variants. It's not about increasing prices for certain books, but rather to get relevant information out there. The census is a good tool for people who collect graded books but has little relevance to people who only collect raw books.

Spectacular. I’ll double your money on the sealed pack and the so much fun books

Tres cool! Congrats!