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Hunting the 6 variants of Batman 457 (1st Tim Drake ROBIN)
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511 posts in this topic

On 9/24/2016 at 10:56 PM, Carl Elvis said:

Found the 8th known copy of the 2nd print newsstand on eBay today!

 

Incredible seller, I informed him about the rarity of the comic but he insisted that due to the condition of the book he was happy with the sale price (he even offered a partial refund which I kindly declined).

 

E6D43DDD-060C-4EF4-A90D-40A4CE586187.jpeg

This copy is on its way back from CGC, 6.5, better than I expected.

 

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1 hour ago, Hado said:

Very interesting read, thanks for all the info.  Great detective work Carl Elvis. :applause: 

Thanks, always a good time tracking down info on these rare books and sharing the way Cpt Kirk does. 

Edited by Carl Elvis
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On 9/24/2016 at 10:56 PM, Carl Elvis said:

Found the 8th known copy of the 2nd print newsstand on eBay today!

 

Incredible seller, I informed him about the rarity of the comic but he insisted that due to the condition of the book he was happy with the sale price (he even offered a partial refund which I kindly declined).

 

E6D43DDD-060C-4EF4-A90D-40A4CE586187.jpeg

Six months later, its pressed and slabbed.

IMG_5068.thumb.JPG.ec4f22ef021559daa88d6aea40b5257e.JPG

 

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On 2/22/2017 at 11:07 PM, Carl Elvis said:

Nice to see a 12th, these are like Doctor Whos now lol.

Any idea where it originated? A few have come from Florida.

Guys -- There's something very odd about the Batman 457 2nd print newsstand.   I have every single Batman, Superman, and Action comics newsstand (as well as all but one newsstand version of Detective Comics).    I've seen thousands of newsstand issues over the years but I have never seen a case where a bar code had a black mark across it, and we know that at least 3 of the 12 newsstand copies of Batman 457 2nd print have that black mark on it.     It make me wonder if that copy was a printing error or made for a pack where they wanted the bar code to be blacked out.   I've never been able to find anyone that knows where it came from, and we might never find out.   Surely the Bats 457 is one of the holy grails of variants.

As for the regular 1st print newsstand issue, I agree that the 457 is plentiful but the 000 is hard to find.   Over the years, I've probably found 100 copies of the 457 newsstand issue but only about 2 or 3 copies of the 000 newsstand issue.  Perhaps the newsstand ones were pulled from distribution before most of them got out there.

Kirk

 

Edited by Cpt Kirk
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1 hour ago, Cpt Kirk said:

Guys -- There's something very odd about the Batman 457 2nd print newsstand.   I have every single Batman, Superman, and Action comics newsstand (as well as all but one newsstand version of Detective Comics).    I've seen thousands of newsstand issues over the years but I have never seen a case where a bar code had a black mark across it, and we know that at least 3 of the 12 copies found have that black mark on it.     It make me wonder if that copy was a printing error or made for a pack where they wanted the bar code to be blacked out.   I've never been able to find anyone that knows where it came from, and we might never find out.   Surely the Bats 457 is one of the holy grails of variants.

As for the regular 1st print newsstand issue, I agree that the 457 is plentiful but the 000 is hard to find.   Over the years, I've probably found 100 copies of the 457 newsstand issue but only about 2 or 3 copies of the 000 newsstand issue.  Perhaps the newsstand ones were pulled from distribution before most of them got out there.

Kirk

 

The scarcity and the blacked out barcodes remind me of the Whitman DC Comics Presents 22.

 

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3 hours ago, Carl Elvis said:

The scarcity and the blacked out barcodes remind me of the Whitman DC Comics Presents 22.

 

IMG_5133.PNG

Good point Carl --  Those Whitman variants had the bar codes blacked out so that sales clerks would not accidentally scan that bar code when ringing up the cost of the Whitman packs.    Similarly, the DC Universe symbol was placed on reprints of DC Comics so that the 20-pack bricks and 2-packs would not be scanned incorrectly by a sales clerk.     That was one of the reasons why I thought maybe that 457 2nd print newsstand issue may have come in a pack of some sort.   But who the heck knows.    The only thing we know for sure is that they are hard to find.

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Well, there is definitely a discount applied to the 2nd print newsstand copies that have the marker across the bar code. I had a few people interested in the book, but they wanted a copy without the sharpie mark. Good market intelligence there for those of you that have copies.

Still, for a $1 bin book, I made out like a bandit. :wink:

Edited by AGGIEZ
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Thanks for all the input folks, very interesting!

I'd pulled 10 copies out of a box a few weeks ago and will have to revisit those. I'd rebagged/boarded and never looked to see the indica indication and don't recall "noticing" anything out of norm at time. 

After reading this earlier, I went looking through some unsorted Copper boxes and came across a 2nd Direct copy. 

I may have missed the comment, but I DO see that there are only 4 on the census... Does the 2nd Direct edition command a premium over the 1st? I am looking at the GPA data and it is unclear to me. When did they start to list the newstand designation on sales and slab? Only sales are of a 9.8 and a 9.6 from '14 and '16. 

?

Again, great post and thanks to those who contributed ?

Oh and congrats on the very nice turn overs.

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20 hours ago, comxdlr said:

So you guys made me go look as I know I had copies of this and I found (in my "run" box and not the bulk copies area these 3 books)IMG_3553.thumb.JPG.8b4fe96c81ec01ff22993eb9d73547c7.JPG

IMG_3554.JPG

IMG_3555.JPG

IMG_3556.JPG

 

20 hours ago, comxdlr said:

So you guys made me go look as I know I had copies of this and I found (in my "run" box and not the bulk copies area these 3 books)IMG_3553.thumb.JPG.8b4fe96c81ec01ff22993eb9d73547c7.JPG

IMG_3554.JPG

IMG_3555.JPG

IMG_3556.JPG

The newsstand version with 000 in the indicia is pretty hard to find.

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16 hours ago, Cpt Kirk said:

 

The newsstand version with 000 in the indicia is pretty hard to find.

Cool yeah i figure i have some more of these.. but these were all i could put my hands on quickly :)   I guess i may hold that one to get graded at some point but, if the Label doesnt note that its a #000 inside, then may have to wait til that gets added to the Notes.

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11 hours ago, comxdlr said:

Cool yeah i figure i have some more of these.. but these were all i could put my hands on quickly :)   I guess i may hold that one to get graded at some point but, if the Label doesnt note that its a #000 inside, then may have to wait til that gets added to the Notes.

Call and ask them to add it. From what others have told me, as long as info legit they usually do.

Good luck ?

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