The Wolverine #75 Blue Hologram and getting conned by dste2068 aka Devin Stewart

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Dr. Balls · September 27, 2014

I stuck this thread in the Copper age section, just because it seems like it's more appropriate here than in the modern area, even though it's from 1993.

And, since I don't have a CGC Journal, you guys will have to indulge me in my reminiscing a bit, but I did want to catalog this oddly unique comic.

So, way back in the mid-90's when I had my

, one of my fellow collectors came in with a Wolverine #75 that had a oddly colored blue hologram instead of the standard colorful one that spanned from blue to green to goldish. I mean, this hologram was BLUE and it didn't shift correctly when turning the book from side to side. It was deep blue no matter what angle you looked at it, and the image of Wolverine didn't look right. I bought it for a premium, probably $25 or so when #75 was going for about $5 - but, I was a huge Wolverine fan, and back then - other than the occasional variant, unique Wolverine stuff didn't show up often.

I treasured this issue, especially since there was absolutely ZERO reference to it anywhere in print magazines or on any bulletin boards in that newfangled internet thing (remember, this was 1996). No one had seen nor heard of this copy. I searched diligently, and never found another one. I wasn't sure what I had - but I figured it was a very rare form of variant or incentive or something spectacular like that.

A short time later, I closed my comic shop and sold off nearly all of my stock - as I was closing, I had a customer who was a big Wolverine fan and so I gave him that book as a thank you for his business, as I know he would appreciate it - and he did. Flash-forward many years later to 2008, when I got back into comics after a 12 year hiatus. As I reminisced about my comic shop days, I remembered the old Blue Hologram book, and started to think about it. Then I started to think about my years working in prepress for a printing company and being familiar with print production from working at the advertising agency. That's when I began to formulate an idea of what this blue hologram book was all about.

Odd blue hologram that didn't look right? No reference to it anywhere? I think I had figured out the answer.

Many holograms were manufactured to be put onto the book - I assume it was on some sort of roll that adheres it to the cover - I would love to hear about the specific equipment that does this, if anyone can comment on that. Since this special automated equipment adheres the hologram to the comic cover, it's reasonable to assume that they would also need to set this machine up to register the hologram in the right place on the cover. And in doing that, they would need extras to set up so they don't waste good holograms on the setup process.

So, with all that - I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Wolverine 75 Blue Holo is merely a make-ready that managed to get past Quality Control and get out of the printing plant. However, I will say there are not very many that got out. I mean, I've only seen three in my life, and I spent the past 6 years looking for one off-and-on. A tip for anyone who wants to embark on this quest: The tricky part is that when you scan a Wolverine #75 (for Ebay, for instance) it appears as if the hologram is blue. I recall a time back in 2010 when I decided to buy the ones on Ebay that I thought looked blue in the description - and I ended up with like 12 copies of *not* blue hologram 75s. I'd surmise that this book is extremely rare in terms of a recall/misprint/error copy. I don't know how many got out, but it probably wasn't many. Maybe I'm wrong, who knows - but at least this thread is out there and if anyone else has one, throw it up and let's see it! This might be an exclusive Wolverine club to be in (as exclusive as the #35 9.8 club )

So, to the point of this rambling post: finally, after all these years, I found another one. When I started this thread, it was to talk about the Wolverine #75 Blue Hologram. What I left out was all the BS I had to go through with the Ebay seller dste2068 aka Devin Stewart in Charlotte, NC to get it. I was going to let by-gones be by-gones (because I got a raw book, not the slabbed one that was originally sold to me) but it appears that the seller has attempted to screw me twice, and he's playing me against another boardie on another purchase. Whomever this is that wants it, I would highly suggest you take caution in your dealings with him, because he sold me the first book, and held my money for 30 days before reneging on the deal for the CGC slabbed book that is pictured below (this is what I originally bought from him). Read onward about what happened: I'm going to put it behind Spoiler Tags due to length:

Ebay seller dste2068 aka Devin Stewart in Charlotte, NC pulled the ol' Bait-and-Switch on me this past month on a CGC book. Took my money for it on August 20th, sat on it for a month then gave me the "I don't want to sell this book, but I have this ungraded one that's just a nice!" when it came time to ship.

I bought the slabbed book knowing it was at CGC getting reholdered (submitted in Chicago), and I was ok with that. So, the seller keeps me in the loop throughout the month, telling me the status, etc. So he gets the book Monday and I write on Tuesday for an update (it'd been 7 days since he stated CGC shipped his books)

"hey, sorry for the late response. been busy getting ready for selling at comic con. i got the book in on monday. i havent opened the box yet but im sure my rep took care of it."

No problem. But then he starts telling me about another of the same book - but ungraded.

dste2068 aka Devin Stewart: "hey, i haven't got it graded yet. looks like it will be 9.0-9.2."

I offer to buy the ungraded book as well. Then this:

dste2068 aka Devin Stewart: "i would rather keep the ungraded for myself"

Fine. I then ask when MY slabbed CGC book go out? The response:

dste2068 aka Devin Stewart "how about i sell u the ungraded one for $X and refund you the difference back on paypal? that would be $X back to you. it might be fun to have it raw to open and look it up on the sku numbers and most importantly get a small sketch and totally get it signed!"

Me: "I'd like to have the graded one" Now I'm a little confused, he wants the ungraded one, then he doesn't. I'm pretty concerned at this point.

dste2068 aka Devin Stewart: "do you have a CGC account?"

Me: "I don't. I just buy them graded when I see one I want."

dste2068 aka Devin Stewart: "we can figure out a trade on something else i have."

So, at this point - I'm pretty sure he's screwed me. He's dodging the question, coming up with loads of BS to deflect the fact he's not going to ship my book. I throw one last desperate email at him:

"I'd like to just get the 9.2 graded one I bought last month that you sent in for reholdering, if you can get that sent off, that'd be great. Let me know when you can ship. Thanks!"

Then nothing. He responds to my emails every 10 minutes until the last one where I tell him I want the book I paid for. Then a day of silence. So the inevitable is staring at me in the face, so I toss this out there and head right over to dispute it on Paypal:

"Ok, Devin, after some thought - I'm pretty sure this is a scam. I don't think you have the book graded, I was never going to get the book and that you're now trying to string it along. I'm taking it up with Paypal immediately."

And then the oh-so-classic 350 word explanation of why he was justified sitting on my money for a month and generally acting like a shyster.

dste2068 aka Devin Stewart: "hi, sorry you feel that way. i actually want to keep the book. my rep sent it back to me and it looks really good. no scam here man. dont worry. i will refund your money by end of the day so please look for that. i tryed to tell you in a nice way i was wanting to keep this one and poss give you the one thats ungraded or refund you and wait till the other book gets graded. i will take pics of the new case they put it in. it looks really good. its the new big cgc cases. i can take pics of that all with no problem, i can only say soory for not wanting to let go of this book after we agreed to. again im sorry. like i stated before u will have your full refund. but if you want to be rude than im sorry. i still want to make this up to you by giving you the ungraded copy plus what it cost to get it graded by cgc and or give u the refund and wait till i send the other one i have off to cgc. also if you think this is a scam you should have checked all the info i gave you plus the cgc book case id code just above the bar code scan to confirm it real. but what ever man.... sorry....

hey, also i didnt want to mention it but the book was listed at $X or best offer and i sold it to you for $X. that was a deal that after the fact i wasnt to happy about. but you will have the full refund later and i will send you the pics of both books and paper work just for laughs. :-)

also i hate to loose a customer but when you have cooled down and have stopped worrying so hard i can give you the ungraded book or wait till the other one goes and comes back from cgc. that still stands if you like. sorry again.

thanks. "

I gave him some choice words, I was really, really pissed off - because it sure felt that he had no intention of selling me the CGC book, and kept my money until I asked for it back. In the end, I actually apologized because I was hoping to still get one of the blue holograms. I had no problem putting away my pride for a sentimental book, but I'll be damned if I'm going to do it twice.

One of the great things about the slabbed version is that CGC properly notates it as a 'distorted hologram' on the label, which is enough of a notation for me to send in my copy. The slabbed book is not mine, it's for reference only. Check out the scans!

Here's my copy in an old CGC case so it will sit on my shelf:

Ryan. · September 29, 2014

Very cool, Jason. Those Fatal Attractions holograms tickle my nostalgia. I don't think I knew about this blue hologram. Makes me want to go to a LCS and start digging through back issue bins.

Dr. Balls · September 29, 2014

Thanks, Ryan - yeah, it's an interesting comic that not many people know about. This boardie posted a thread on it but has since disappeared, and there has been some discussions on it elsewhere - but not many.

It's hard to describe to people because you can really see the difference in-hand. When you take a picture of it, it's like 'Oh yeah, mine turns blue, too' - but it's deep blue no matter how you tilt it. Really fun recall that is very different from the regular run.

Poe · September 30, 2014

So how rare are these? I have one. Are there any reported sales showing these versions are bringing a premium?

combiner1 · September 30, 2014

hmmm.... I wonder if any other "Fatal Attraction" would have this "blue hologram version"???

On another question : why didn't CGC just labelled it as a "printing error"??

I have a complete slabbed set (SS, I might add) and they really are a great set. It took me well over 5 years to have a complete set. :acclaim:

All in all GREAT LOOKING BOOK... and If I may add "quite ballzy" :boo:

Zack1973 · September 30, 2014

i have 2 copies of Wolverine 75, one hologram is orange the other is green.

JollyComics · September 30, 2014

How many colors does it require to function the hologram?

I think yellow, orange, green and blue are working together to make the reflections in that hologram.

Dr. Balls · September 30, 2014

How many colors does it require to function the hologram?

I think yellow, orange, green and blue are working together to make the reflections in that hologram.

Yeah, that's the typical range of color. The Blue holos are all blue - no change in color.

Dr. Balls · September 30, 2014

hmmm.... I wonder if any other "Fatal Attraction" would have this "blue hologram version"???

On another question : why didn't CGC just labelled it as a "printing error"??

I have a complete slabbed set (SS, I might add) and they really are a great set. It took me well over 5 years to have a complete set.

All in all GREAT LOOKING BOOK... and If I may add "quite ballzy"

Thanks! I'd guess the other Fatal Attraction books may have the blue hologram distortions, especially if my hypothesis on what they are (make-readies) is correct.

CGC has a hard time identifying printing issues for some reason - because I've seen printing errors listed as 'variants' and other label misnomers. The hologram looks so vastly different (and it is distorted because it doesn't shift right) that at least it gets it's own label.

Cyclops · September 30, 2014

Really cool book. I love all the error variants related to the Fatal Attraction books.

Holograms on comics stir up a lot of nostalgia for me. :grin:

Dr. Balls · October 1, 2014

So, when I started this thread, it was to talk about the Wolverine #75 Blue Hologram.

What I left out was all the BS I had to go through with the seller to get it. I was going to let by-gones be by-gones (because I got a raw book, not the slabbed one that was originally sold to me) but it appears that the seller has attempted to screw me twice, and he's playing me against another boardie an additional purchase.

So, with that - I bring attention to Ebay seller dste2068 aka Devin Stewart in Charlotte, NC. I was negotiating a deal for another Wolverine Blue #75 for $85 and he has since told me another boardie is offering WAY more now that I started this thread. And - of course - is looking to get more money out of me on my first offer. (I'm not interested in posting those emails, but I do have them)

Whomever this is that wants it, I would highly suggest you take caution in your dealings with him, because he sold me the first book, and held my money for 30 days before reneging on the deal, to which I had to open a Paypal case on the situation. Read onward about what happened: I'm going to put it behind Spoiler Tags due to length: