bababooey

2, 4, 5, 1, 3

thanks for the link I've been abusing the "mark forum as read" option lately and totally missed that thread

That pic is from well after the period being discussed. No one has provided any proof that comic stores sold single copies of the whitman/early direct issues distributed between 77-79. I'm sure it happened in some limited cases since I think this was a period of trial and error, I personally bought a bunch of 25 cent giant sizers and other books from 1975 (ASM 149, Avengers 138, DD 124 etc..) in 1977 back when I was buying everything in three packs that I could get my hands on.

I knew that those numbers that are frequently shared only represented a portion of the direct market but the clarification is a good reminder to anyone unfamiliar with the source data. We also need to remember that in 1994 the newsstand market was still relevant, not thriving, but not dead either. Is there a year to year or month to month estimate of Cap City's market share? That might help people to at least get these Cap City numbers 'closer to' the NA sales estimates (comichron/icv2) that people in the modern forum are more familiar with. also, you said 'print run'

Argument? I'm not trying to rename an era when books were being published or correcting people using a term that has been used and accepted for decades....I'm nostalgic for the era because it was my gateway to the hobby, nothing more than that, I don't care if we agree on "direct market whitmans" since all parties agree that Whitman was the largest early direct customer...why anyone would want to call them "direct adjective adjective" when there is clearly a difference from this era to the nationwide direct market era where EVERYTHING is readily available in the direct version. However, when you and @RockMyAmadeus call them "Direct Market Experimental Program" issues in the future, I'll make it my personal goal to follow those discussions on here and they'll look like this. RMA: No, these are DMEP copies because...paragraph paragraph paragraph Lazyboy: yeah, what he said was right and you all are stupid Random boardie: what? bababooey: they're talking about Whitmans Everyone: oh okay thanks

Here's some pics I pulled from another thread when looking up past discussions....I bought one of every one of these and haven't seen copies of these in bags for years.

Thanks for the example of the "mindless parroting" I wasn't clear what you meant when you mentioned it earlier but this helps.

Where is the bag it was sold in? https://blog.comichron.com/2010/04/jim-shooter-on-marvel-whitmans-direct.html And while you keep trotting out the Tarzan 2 as an example of the squashed Diamond prior to 1979, that was explained to you years ago...read and ignore it again.

I don't have any problem with this idea, and have said it before. The problem, however, is that when they were made, they weren't made just for Western, and there's no indication whatsoever that they were. The cover markings exist to prevent distributors from returning the books to Marvel for credit, which they weren't allowed to do because they'd bought them as non-returnable for a better discount. And what is that method of distribution called....? The Direct market.

If a group of people use terminology that is universally understood to describe something specific why would it be beneficial to abandon this 40 year old descriptor to lessen the distinction conveyed by the widely used term? I'm okay with people using widely understood terms on these boards.

Wrong forum.

The markings were created to differentiate non-returnable versions from newsstand, there is no debate that their intention was to use these for the direct market...but the beta customer and by far the largest customer was Whitman/Western. There's no evidence I've seen posted that these were the copies distributed in bulk for the direct market, whatever you imagine the '73 to 79 direct market to be at the time was likely serviced through the supply of newsstand copies. If you wish to ignore the many differences from this era by grouping pre-national distribution copies with everything after that's up to you. There's no need for anyone to provide documentation to you, that's silly posturing on your part, we've all seen the bagged three packs that were used at the time...show me a pic of dealer back issues with a dozen fat diamond versions. Also, I just looked and both MCS & Mile High use the term "Whitman" to identify these for collectors who are looking to buy or sell them. So whether it is right or wrong in your mind, the colloquial and industry accepted reference to the Marvel books from this era is: Whitman

I figured there was a show coming up and looked the other day but my google skills failed me, all I saw was the two May shows. Thanks for the pics BUTM