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Books you just cant find in the Wild
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4,477 posts in this topic

1 minute ago, GoldenAgeAddict said:

134 and 153 are left.  Looking for additional high grade 161 and 162 as I just purchased the cover art

I might have some. I recently picked up a run from the last 10 years. Is that the correct time frame for those books? If so, please PM me. Cheers!

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I came across a Transformers Generation 2 #1 Newsstand in my collection today. Mycomicshop has their newsstand edition as an issue with a $1.75 cover price and no gatefold cover despite having a "Direct Edition" bar code. My copy has the gatefold cover, a $2.95 cover price and a Newsstand bar code on the back. I think what mycomicshop is selling is just a non-deluxe cover.

Mycomicshop Transformers G2 1 Newsstand

Transformers G2 1 front Newsstand.jpg

Transformers G2 1 rear Newsstand.jpg

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On 10/8/2019 at 12:12 AM, mr_highgrade said:

Not at all.

I just checked eBay on this. Out of 117 copies of ASM 500 offered, 115 were direct, 2 were newsstand. I bought both of the newsstand copies. Now it is 115 to zero. I think it is rare.

Edited by paqart
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22 minutes ago, paqart said:

I just checked eBay on this. Out of 117 copies of ASM 500 offered, 115 were direct, 2 were newsstand. I bought both of the newsstand copies. Now it is 115 to zero. I think it is rare.

I meant to say that it's "not at all" a common newsstand book. I agree it's a very rare book. (thumbsu

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On 9/11/2019 at 6:05 PM, valiantman said:

 While there are certainly books which exist in fewer numbers for newsstand, nothing close to 1,500 copies was used for newsstand books.  It's unlikely any newsstand anywhere at any time was fewer than 5,000 copies. 

What makes you think this is correct? To take an example of a comic that shouldn't be rare, Superior Spider-Man #1 from January, 2013. The Diamond distribution was 188,182 copies. Rounded up to 200,000 copies for miscellaneous other copies printed, and you have a pretty common issue that should have a lot of copies available. However, at least one industry insider estimated the proportion of newsstand to direct copies in that year was only 1%, or 2,000 copies. A check of eBay shows 117 copies offered, one of which is a newsstand copy (that I bought). That is line with the 1% estimate. Now look at a comic that didn't have the highest print run of the month, Captain America 3. Diamond run of that issue is 59,836. Rounded up app 10% is 65,000 copies printed. One percent of that is only 650 copies, less than half the 1,500 figure you are using. There are plenty of newsstand comics that can't be found at more than 1 per hundred that had print runs less than 150,000. This means that 100:1 rarity is not only possible but likely. The question is whether this is worth a 100x premium? Personally, I've paid as much as around 8x for some comics, but only comics that have very low value outside of their rarity. That said, I would only sell for less than a much higher premium if I was in need of the money. Otherwise, I'd rather keep them because I don't know when or if I'll ever run across more copies of the rarer issues. The "I'd rather keep them" factor shouldn't be forgotten because there will be collectors who won't pay 100x but they also won't sell for 100x, thus reducing the supply even more.

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6 minutes ago, mr_highgrade said:

I meant to say that it's "not at all" a common newsstand book. I agree it's a very rare book. (thumbsu

Whoops, I read this wrong. And that cost me some money because I had to buy six comics to get the two copies of ASM 500 that I wanted. Not that I'm complaining.

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10 hours ago, kairos70 said:

I came across a Transformers Generation 2 #1 Newsstand in my collection today. Mycomicshop has their newsstand edition as an issue with a $1.75 cover price and no gatefold cover despite having a "Direct Edition" bar code. My copy has the gatefold cover, a $2.95 cover price and a Newsstand bar code on the back. I think what mycomicshop is selling is just a non-deluxe cover.

Mycomicshop Transformers G2 1 Newsstand

Transformers G2 1 front Newsstand.jpg

Transformers G2 1 rear Newsstand.jpg

Correct. Whoever wrote the description at Lonestar is wrong, and isn't aware of the existence of non-deluxe Direct editions.

1618752080_transformers11994.thumb.png.aa2635ef640b611f652f017a7153db7a.png

Edited by RockMyAmadeus
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3 hours ago, paqart said:

What makes you think this is correct? To take an example of a comic that shouldn't be rare, Superior Spider-Man #1 from January, 2013. The Diamond distribution was 188,182 copies. Rounded up to 200,000 copies for miscellaneous other copies printed, and you have a pretty common issue that should have a lot of copies available. However, at least one industry insider estimated the proportion of newsstand to direct copies in that year was only 1%, or 2,000 copies. A check of eBay shows 117 copies offered, one of which is a newsstand copy (that I bought). That is line with the 1% estimate. Now look at a comic that didn't have the highest print run of the month, Captain America 3. Diamond run of that issue is 59,836. Rounded up app 10% is 65,000 copies printed. One percent of that is only 650 copies, less than half the 1,500 figure you are using. There are plenty of newsstand comics that can't be found at more than 1 per hundred that had print runs less than 150,000. This means that 100:1 rarity is not only possible but likely. The question is whether this is worth a 100x premium? Personally, I've paid as much as around 8x for some comics, but only comics that have very low value outside of their rarity. That said, I would only sell for less than a much higher premium if I was in need of the money. Otherwise, I'd rather keep them because I don't know when or if I'll ever run across more copies of the rarer issues. The "I'd rather keep them" factor shouldn't be forgotten because there will be collectors who won't pay 100x but they also won't sell for 100x, thus reducing the supply even more.

That "industry insider" (let me guess...Chuck Rozanski) doesn't know what he/she is talking about. That "estimate" is made out of thin air, merely by looking at anecdotal evidence, by someone who doesn't understand how the newsstand market has worked for well over 100 years.

I will just say this: Neither DC nor Marvel ever printed a mere 2,000 copies of ANYTHING for continent-wide (remember, they went to Canada, too) distribution. It would not make any sense to do so; the cost for such a distribution scheme would be far, far in excess of any hope of profitability. That would mean...even if they were distributed only in the United States...a mere 40 copies PER STATE distribution. No publisher in their right mind would ever do such a thing. It would make no sense whatsoever to print a mere 2,000 copies...of anything...for the traditional newsstand distribution system...and no, no publisher EVER printed only 650 copies of anything that way, either. 

Newsstand runs were, at the end, likely still in the 20,000-50,000 copies printed range. The reason you don't see them on eBay is the same as it's always been: people who bought them at newsstand vendors were readers. They either threw them away when they were done, or they still have them. The copies you see on eBay for most books...especially modern books...are being sold by DEALERS....not individual collectors, for the most part. 

"100:1" is a made up ratio; a marketing gimmick, and nothing more (in more ways than one.)

Also...you're misusing the Diamond numbers. You cannot "round up" to any known number, because Diamond only reports SALES in the FIRST MONTH to NORTH AMERICA. Reorders alone often account for more than simply "rounding up"...and let's not forget the rest of the world.

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Hmm...regardless, what matters to collectors is the supply available to them, not the hypothetical number of copies that exist. If they aren’t in the collector’s market, they may as well not be there at all. For example, there are Disney’s and superhero comics from the 1950’s that sold in the 5-10 million copies a month range, yet the comics are hard to find now.

the industry insider is not Chuck Rozakis btw. I wouldn’t even describe Rosakis that way because he is a dealer not someone who ever worked for a publisher. The guy I’m thinking of worked for Marvel. I’d have to look up his name to remember it but he would have had knowledge of print runs as part of his job. One thing about logical arguments that I don’t like is that they are often wrong. Sometimes things don’t make sense but they happen anyway. If a Marvel VP of marketing says it was 1%, and Jim Shooter says it was 2%, I’ll believe the number is closer to either of those two numbers than the larger numbers you mention, which, by the way, appear to be based on logical assumptions, not any kind of estimate from someone with knowledge of actual print runs.

again, the number printed is less meaningful than the number available for purchase, but the number printed does give an idea of the maximum that could be available. I agree that 40 copies a state seems ridiculous, but it may be that by the time Marvel was at the lowest numbers for newsstand distribution they were only selling to a few stores around the Country — exactly as they say they were doing. Maybe those stores were in only ten or twenty states. Also keep in mind that although their total order may have been a few hundred comics per month, they would be divided by a number of titles. When I worked at a comic book store in the seventies, there were some titles we didn’t order at all, and others that we ordered only a few copies of. Given the number of titles Marvel was pumping out around 2013, it wouldn’t surprise me if Barnes and Noble and Waldenbooks ordered only a few copies of each title, resulting in a total order of maybe one or two boxes of comics.

Edited by paqart
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When I was searching out and buying newsies in the mid 2000's, I would find maybe 5 to 10 copies max of Marvel or DC's better selling titles. This included titles like Spidey, X-Men, Hulk, Bats, Tec, etc. I always made sure to pop in on the day they were release to get the best possible copies. Usually at Hudson Newsstands in the city or Barnes &  Noble.

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