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Marvel October 1999 ~ February 2000 US Newsstand Price Variants
8 8

381 posts in this topic

On 5/19/2017 at 8:23 AM, Marwood & I said:

Meanwhile, if anyone has any Marvel newsstand comics dated Oct 1999 to Jan 2000 with single $2.29 / $2.49 prices, please post them here so I can add them to the list.

I pulled an X-Men #93 $2.49 Newsstand at C2E2 this year for a whopping $1.  It was one of my better finds this year, as I've been searching for these for some time to "complete" my X-Men run.  I was going to post it to this thread, but then saw you already showed a scan from Mile High Comics.

This X-Men #96 looks to be the $2.29 Newsstand edition from January 2000.  I found the scan on Comicvine.

 

50338-4605-65795-1-x-men.jpg

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7 hours ago, masterlogan2000 said:

I pulled an X-Men #93 $2.49 Newsstand at C2E2 this year for a whopping $1.  It was one of my better finds this year, as I've been searching for these for some time to "complete" my X-Men run.  I was going to post it to this thread, but then saw you already showed a scan from Mile High Comics.

This X-Men #96 looks to be the $2.29 Newsstand edition from January 2000.  I found the scan on Comicvine.

 

50338-4605-65795-1-x-men.jpg

Excellent, thanks @masterlogan2000 (thumbsu

When I get some time I'm going to put a template together of what should exist, a bit like my pence ones, and then start populating it with what we currently know exists. I know of no other record of these books anywhere on the webulator, so we may as well create one here. 

Keep em coming! 

 

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On 24/05/2017 at 5:16 PM, Marwood & I said:

Excellent, thanks @masterlogan2000 (thumbsu

When I get some time I'm going to put a template together of what should exist, a bit like my pence ones, and then start populating it with what we currently know exists. I know of no other record of these books anywhere on the webulator, so we may as well create one here. 

Keep em coming! 

 

Image result for mr bump gif

A bump from Mr Bump. Does any one have any more variants they can post? These charts don't make themselves you know.... :foryou:

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Hello.

5a3019aa1ddc7_SpideyWindow.gif.7ddcf5f0ce5c250182eec9cf35e0ba12.gif

Some posts back our good cat loving friend @Lazyboy cited a “complete lack of information and general lack of interest” as a probable cause for this thread’s subject matter failing to set the boards on fire :whatthe:

I think he’s probably right.

Information about these variants remains stubbornly elusive and, if my experience is anything to go by, anyone diving into the hunt is likely to baulk at the size of the task and then dive just as quickly out!

To recap, $2.29 / $2.49 newsstand price variants exist for some $1.99 priced 1999/2000 cover dated Marvels. We don’t know why they exist however, and we don’t know specifically what exists.

But I like a challenge me, so have been continuing to gather evidence since first coming across them back in the noughties.

As readers of my Pence and Miller dreads will know, I rarely say ‘definitely’ when it comes to the documentation / presentation of obscure variants. Things are only 'definite' when I have proof of them that I can share. But I do like to speculate and make assumptions based on research and patterns (e.g. there are probably no ASM pence copies of issue 42 & 43 because no pence copies have been found for any Marvel title which crosses the applicable months).

So, here are my latest musings on these Marvel $2.29 / $2.49 newsstand price variants.

We’ll start with a ground-breaking fact. The keen eyed will notice that I’ve changed the tread title from this:

1.thumb.PNG.d44be9ef5ae1ad304cf2d04ff4c07689.PNG

…to this:

2.thumb.PNG.fa102cb40cab21effd5f9377300a7014.PNG

 

This is as a result of finding this:

5a3014f541414_FantasticFour26Feb20002_49.GIF.9645624e75b4a09df778360519f7f7ba.GIF

:whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe:

 

For me, the discovery of a February 2000 cover dated variant is very significant as I have always believed the dates to end at January. When I was a Spidey Completist back in the day I managed to collect all the ASM variants (scans below and in the first post if you scroll back) and I can’t tell you how long and hard I looked for issues 9 and 14. After years of searching, often liaising with fellow completists, I finally ‘admitted defeat’ and decided the four months of October to January inclusive were probably it.

But now we have a Fantastic Four #26, cover dated February. So we can start to assume that the variants crossed 5 months, not the four I’ve always believed. Five months incidentally fits with the 30 / 35 cent variant time frame, and strengthens my own belief that these variants are indeed simple market testers, as their predecessors were. It’s a big coincidence isn’t it – a five month run of higher priced newsstand books existing in tiny quantities alongside their regular priced cousins. More on that later.

Some more facts. Here are the 18 confirmed variants that I have manged to find pictures of – I’ve placed them in a chart which shows each issue by month (October to February):

5a30144d2b3b8_picchart.thumb.PNG.b744ea1f896ca5fc0a9319b1fa163120.PNG

 

So, six titles have variants so far as follows:

  • Amazing Spider-Man

5a30159a96d85_v2102_29.thumb.jpg.f562bfefd288bcc959b880553d0298a3.jpg  5a30159e162a8_v2102_49.thumb.jpg.37756b699d80e108ec491092e65587e5.jpg  5a3015a12c5b0_v2112_29.thumb.jpg.76c19f21bb0cfbfedca2522eadcc450d.jpg  5a3015a3cd38c_v2112_49.thumb.jpg.3c4282ab36a771dad11dd0ca6feb3167.jpg  5a3015a992881_v2132_29.thumb.jpg.467b1c23b063fce0e7ed519353200352.jpg  5a3015acaf176_v2132_49.thumb.jpg.70bb05bdbb62a4e3b888e7f15503ac5e.jpg

  • Cable

5a30163f57997_Cable73Nov19992_49.thumb.jpg.8e30dc8aa4d4ebe19e15eb6d225a05d9.jpg

  • Fantastic Four

5a30166aea804_FantasticFour23Nov19992_49.GIF.e1e4e6be44e9595dd6b607bebce3caee.GIF  5a30166d79394_FantasticFour24Dec19992_49.GIF.3df7a99523a5bfa2392f4ac6f9ffaee5.GIF  5a3016700d06a_FantasticFour26Feb20002_49.GIF.4310af5dfdebdffabb0586d3c86524af.GIF

  • Hulk

5a3016a9f1944_Hulk8Nov19992_29.JPG.eeb663ad79b0f0f10bc15f2aaa56d54d.JPG  5a3016abd5d52_Hulk9Dec19992_29.JPG.1be0b3299549060fd3648f4a6bcae500.JPG

  •  Thor

5a3016f7ada07_Thor18Dec19992_49.GIF.17d767fde1cd470886f30d4b51b3c226.GIF

  • X-Men

5a3017253baff_X-Men93Oct19992_29.thumb.GIF.5f12f70243fc80d55c16a695f1db8806.GIF  5a30172913fa3_X-Men93Oct19992_49.GIF.2948ac210181c64f5ea5be1ec9c5d6e4.GIF  5a30172c1d86f_X-Men95Dec19992_492.thumb.jpg.ac35c78e57a91e991ec5e8b771cb156b.jpg  5a30172dc7350_X-Men96Jan20002_29.jpg.94a656e2250bb91c228e563f867a7a0f.jpg  5a30172f3e7eb_X-Men96Jan20002_49.thumb.jpg.230583276a45ca9c4f79e59e7b6a19ae.jpg

 

When you plot things on charts you start to see the patterns from which you can start to make reasonable assumptions. As I’ve worked through, I’ve pondered the following:

  • Whenever an issue is double sized, and has a higher cover price (e.g. ASM 12, Cable 75, X-Men 94) I have found no newsstand variants. This makes sense in a way, as all the other regular sized books are $1.99 so ‘qualify’ for $2.29 / $2.49 variants. If the double size issues were involved in the price increases they would have had to have bespoke prices set for them and may have skewed any sales data if anyone was indeed vetting the % returns take up. So perhaps it’s reasonable to assume that only $1.99 priced issues will have variants.
  • I have found no annuals with price variants (some were issued during these months) and assume these escaped the process for the same reason as above.
  • I have only found variants for fairly established titles and not for those which would have had comparatively small print runs. Lots of speculation here though, as the lower the print run the less copies exist for you to find. But it may be that very low print run books did not get the treatment.
  • Is it a coincidence that I haven’t found a single $2.29 FF but have found 3 $2.49 issues? Similarly, 2 x $2.29 Hulks and no $2.49 copies?
  • The existence of the Fantastic Four #26 indicates that ASM #14 could exist. But if it does, it must be so rare as I have been looking for years. And I mean, years. Maybe the FF 26 is the only one? But why would you extend just that one title and not the others?

If we consider what should exist in theory, to get a feel of overall numbers, we can view the titles from here….

http://www.dcindexes.com/features/newsstand.php?publisher=marvel&type=cover&month=10&year=1999&sort=alpha

….and add up those which should exist as a newsstand comic. If we deduct the variant covers, annuals and TPBs from October 1999 we have around 47 comics. If each has a $2.29 and $2.49 variant that’s 94 potential variants for October alone. Add another four months and we’re looking at c450 possible variants. So far, I’ve found 18.

I have to say, I’ve spent a lot of time looking online for examples on and off over many years. If all that has generated a mere 18 copies, of a potential 400+ copies, it’s easy to see why these variants have not taken off. The task of identifying and collect them is a mammoth one which will likely grow harder as each year passes. I’m based in the UK so don’t have the luxury of visiting the local US shops in which you might find these books. I don’t think I’ve done too badly as it goes, as I don’t see any other data about these books anywhere else on the web. My suspicion though is that there are US collectors hunting them down as we speak, and they’re probably staying quiet as they want to gather everything they can before going public (and probably grimace whenever I post!).

My final summary is as follows:

  • There are definitely $2.29 and $2.49 priced newsstand variants of some Marvel books cover dated October 1999 to February 2000 inclusive.
  • There may be as many as 450 of them, but it’s likely that some of the lesser titles were not produced so the actual figure may be a lot lower.
  • In the absence of a more obvious explanation, I believe they are market testers in the same vein as the 30 / 35 cent variants from the seventies. But I can’t be sure, and would love to hear an alternative theory, if not actual proof.

I won’t be looking for any more copies myself now, as it’s too time consuming and being in the UK makes it trebly difficult. But I would like to hear the thoughts of others. To that end, allow me to invite a few of what I hope are the interested / informed crowd to comment;

@Lazyboy – to your knowledge, did all titles Marvel put out in these months have newsstand copies? In some cases, I can’t find an example of a regular newsstand copy never mind a price variant. Were some titles print runs so low that they would only have had direct editions produced?

@mr_highgrade did you ever find any copies in your box diving?

@awakeintheashes – did you ever find anything out from your enquiries elsewhere?

@RockMyAmadeus – Rock, I saw you put some thoughts on the DF boards. Would you share / expand on them here? You clearly know a lot about this stuff and I’d value your input

 

I hope you enjoyed my addition to the enigma that is the October 1999 to February 2000 Marvel newsstand price variant hunt. I enjoyed making it. If no one replies to this, the thread ends here!

5a301a025b216_DrWhoLonely.gif.34716f5b91adac3f8c5836c8d62b13a4.gif

 

P.S. Two variants hiding here if anyone wants to snag them:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CABLE-73-Vol-1-Rob-Liefeld-Newsstand-UPC-Price-Variant-RARE-1999-NM/152803965516?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/INCREDIBLE-HULK-5-7-9-Marvel-Comic-Books-Mixed-Lot-of-3-Issues-NM-NM-1999/131878646730?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

:headbang::headbang:

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21 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

Hello.

5a3019aa1ddc7_SpideyWindow.gif.7ddcf5f0ce5c250182eec9cf35e0ba12.gif

Some posts back our good cat loving friend @Lazyboy cited a “complete lack of information and general lack of interest” as a probable cause for this thread’s subject matter failing to set the boards on fire :whatthe:

I think he’s probably right.

Information about these variants remains stubbornly elusive and, if my experience is anything to go by, anyone diving into the hunt is likely to baulk at the size of the task and then dive just as quickly out!

To recap, $2.29 / $2.49 newsstand price variants exist for some $1.99 priced 1999/2000 cover dated Marvels. We don’t know why they exist however, and we don’t know specifically what exists.

But I like a challenge me, so have been continuing to gather evidence since first coming across them back in the noughties.

As readers of my Pence and Miller dreads will know, I rarely say ‘definitely’ when it comes to the documentation / presentation of obscure variants. Things are only 'definite' when I have proof of them that I can share. But I do like to speculate and make assumptions based on research and patterns (e.g. there are probably no ASM pence copies of issue 42 & 43 because no pence copies have been found for any Marvel title which crosses the applicable months).

So, here are my latest musings on these Marvel $2.29 / $2.49 newsstand price variants.

We’ll start with a ground-breaking fact. The keen eyed will notice that I’ve changed the tread title from this:

1.thumb.PNG.d44be9ef5ae1ad304cf2d04ff4c07689.PNG

…to this:

2.thumb.PNG.fa102cb40cab21effd5f9377300a7014.PNG

 

This is as a result of finding this:

5a3014f541414_FantasticFour26Feb20002_49.GIF.9645624e75b4a09df778360519f7f7ba.GIF
 

:whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe::whatthe:

 

For me, the discovery of a February 2000 cover dated variant is very significant as I have always believed the dates to end at January. When I was a Spidey Completist back in the day I managed to collect all the ASM variants (scans below and in the first post if you scroll back) and I can’t tell you how long and hard I looked for issues 9 and 14. After years of searching, often liaising with fellow completists, I finally ‘admitted defeat’ and decided the four months of October to January inclusive were probably it.

But now we have a Fantastic Four #26, cover dated February. So we can start to assume that the variants crossed 5 months, not the four I’ve always believed. Five months incidentally fits with the 30 / 35 cent variant time frame, and strengthens my own belief that these variants are indeed simple market testers, as their predecessors were. It’s a big coincidence isn’t it – a five month run of higher priced newsstand books existing in tiny quantities alongside their regular priced cousins. More on that later.

Some more facts. Here are the 18 confirmed variants that I have manged to find pictures of – I’ve placed them in a chart which shows each issue by month (October to February):

5a30144d2b3b8_picchart.thumb.PNG.b744ea1f896ca5fc0a9319b1fa163120.PNG

 

So, six titles have variants so far as follows:

  • Amazing Spider-Man

5a30159a96d85_v2102_29.thumb.jpg.f562bfefd288bcc959b880553d0298a3.jpg  5a30159e162a8_v2102_49.thumb.jpg.37756b699d80e108ec491092e65587e5.jpg  5a3015a12c5b0_v2112_29.thumb.jpg.76c19f21bb0cfbfedca2522eadcc450d.jpg  5a3015a3cd38c_v2112_49.thumb.jpg.3c4282ab36a771dad11dd0ca6feb3167.jpg  5a3015a992881_v2132_29.thumb.jpg.467b1c23b063fce0e7ed519353200352.jpg  5a3015acaf176_v2132_49.thumb.jpg.70bb05bdbb62a4e3b888e7f15503ac5e.jpg

  • Cable

5a30163f57997_Cable73Nov19992_49.thumb.jpg.8e30dc8aa4d4ebe19e15eb6d225a05d9.jpg

  • Fantastic Four

5a30166aea804_FantasticFour23Nov19992_49.GIF.e1e4e6be44e9595dd6b607bebce3caee.GIF  5a30166d79394_FantasticFour24Dec19992_49.GIF.3df7a99523a5bfa2392f4ac6f9ffaee5.GIF  5a3016700d06a_FantasticFour26Feb20002_49.GIF.4310af5dfdebdffabb0586d3c86524af.GIF

  • Hulk

5a3016a9f1944_Hulk8Nov19992_29.JPG.eeb663ad79b0f0f10bc15f2aaa56d54d.JPG  5a3016abd5d52_Hulk9Dec19992_29.JPG.1be0b3299549060fd3648f4a6bcae500.JPG

  •  Thor

5a3016f7ada07_Thor18Dec19992_49.GIF.17d767fde1cd470886f30d4b51b3c226.GIF

  • X-Men

5a3017253baff_X-Men93Oct19992_29.thumb.GIF.5f12f70243fc80d55c16a695f1db8806.GIF  5a30172913fa3_X-Men93Oct19992_49.GIF.2948ac210181c64f5ea5be1ec9c5d6e4.GIF  5a30172c1d86f_X-Men95Dec19992_492.thumb.jpg.ac35c78e57a91e991ec5e8b771cb156b.jpg  5a30172dc7350_X-Men96Jan20002_29.jpg.94a656e2250bb91c228e563f867a7a0f.jpg  5a30172f3e7eb_X-Men96Jan20002_49.thumb.jpg.230583276a45ca9c4f79e59e7b6a19ae.jpg

 

When you plot things on charts you start to see the patterns from which you can start to make reasonable assumptions. As I’ve worked through, I’ve pondered the following:

  • Whenever an issue is double sized, and has a higher cover price (e.g. ASM 12, Cable 75, X-Men 94) I have found no newsstand variants. This makes sense in a way, as all the other regular sized books are $1.99 so ‘qualify’ for $2.29 / $2.49 variants. If the double size issues were involved in the price increases they would have had to have bespoke prices set for them and may have skewed any sales data if anyone was indeed vetting the % returns take up. So perhaps it’s reasonable to assume that only $1.99 priced issues will have variants.
  • I have found no annuals with price variants (some were issued during these months) and assume these escaped the process for the same reason as above.
  • I have only found variants for fairly established titles and not for those which would have had comparatively small print runs. Lots of speculation here though, as the lower the print run the less copies exist for you to find. But it may be that very low print run books did not get the treatment.
  • Is it a coincidence that I haven’t found a single $2.29 FF but have found 3 $2.49 issues? Similarly, 2 x $2.29 Hulks and no $2.49 copies?
  • The existence of the Fantastic Four #26 indicates that ASM #14 could exist. But if it does, it must be so rare as I have been looking for years. And I mean, years. Maybe the FF 26 is the only one? But why would you extend just that one title and not the others?

If we consider what should exist in theory, to get a feel of overall numbers, we can view the titles from here….

http://www.dcindexes.com/features/newsstand.php?publisher=marvel&type=cover&month=10&year=1999&sort=alpha

….and add up those which should exist as a newsstand comic. If we deduct the variant covers, annuals and TPBs from October 1999 we have around 47 comics. If each has a $2.29 and $2.49 variant that’s 94 potential variants for October alone. Add another four months and we’re looking at c450 possible variants. So far, I’ve found 18.

I have to say, I’ve spent a lot of time looking online for examples on and off over many years. If all that has generated a mere 18 copies, of a potential 400+ copies, it’s easy to see why these variants have not taken off. The task of identifying and collect them is a mammoth one which will likely grow harder as each year passes. I’m based in the UK so don’t have the luxury of visiting the local US shops in which you might find these books. I don’t think I’ve done too badly as it goes, as I don’t see any other data about these books anywhere else on the web. My suspicion though is that there are US collectors hunting them down as we speak, and they’re probably staying quiet as they want to gather everything they can before going public (and probably grimace whenever I post!).

My final summary is as follows:

  • There are definitely $2.29 and $2.49 priced newsstand variants of some Marvel books cover dated October 1999 to February 2000 inclusive.
  • There may be as many as 450 of them, but it’s likely that some of the lesser titles were not produced so the actual figure may be a lot lower.
  • In the absence of a more obvious explanation, I believe they are market testers in the same vein as the 30 / 35 cent variants from the seventies. But I can’t be sure, and would love to hear an alternative theory, if not actual proof.

I won’t be looking for any more copies myself now, as it’s too time consuming and being in the UK makes it trebly difficult. But I would like to hear the thoughts of others. To that end, allow me to invite a few of what I hope are the interested / informed crowd to comment;

@Lazyboy – to your knowledge, did all titles Marvel put out in these months have newsstand copies? In some cases, I can’t find an example of a regular newsstand copy never mind a price variant. Were some titles print runs so low that they would only have had direct editions produced?

@mr_highgrade did you ever find any copies in your box diving?

@awakeintheashes – did you ever find anything out from your enquiries elsewhere?

@RockMyAmadeus – Rock, I saw you put some thoughts on the DF boards. Would you share / expand on them here? You clearly know a lot about this stuff and I’d value your input

 

I hope you enjoyed my addition to the enigma that is the October 1999 to February 2000 Marvel newsstand price variant hunt. I enjoyed making it. If no one replies to this, the thread ends here!

5a301a025b216_DrWhoLonely.gif.34716f5b91adac3f8c5836c8d62b13a4.gif

 

P.S. Two variants hiding here if anyone wants to snag them:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CABLE-73-Vol-1-Rob-Liefeld-Newsstand-UPC-Price-Variant-RARE-1999-NM/152803965516?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/INCREDIBLE-HULK-5-7-9-Marvel-Comic-Books-Mixed-Lot-of-3-Issues-NM-NM-1999/131878646730?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

:headbang::headbang:

So, you won the poster of the year for that!

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12 hours ago, mr_highgrade said:

Never did find any newsies from that time period. :frown: Although I do have some from the mid 2000's and up.

Never mind, thanks for looking Mr H (thumbsu

11 hours ago, BishopT said:

I have a few X Men #96 newsstands (they sold out quick at the comic shops around me at the time, so I had to go to grocery stores to find them), I'll have to pull them out and give them a look.

Yes please @BishopT - you never know what's hiding in there.... :wishluck:

55 minutes ago, 1950's war comics said:

Steve,... tell Marwood that was a great concise post... the kind that makes these boards so interesting (thumbsu

I told him Craig and he said "Shove it". Honestly, he's so rude  (thumbsu

21 minutes ago, Lucky Baru said:

So, you won the poster of the year for that!

Ah, cheers @Lucky Baru - comments like that make the effort worthwhile :foryou:

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2 hours ago, Marwood & I said:

@Lazyboy – to your knowledge, did all titles Marvel put out in these months have newsstand copies? In some cases, I can’t find an example of a regular newsstand copy never mind a price variant. Were some titles print runs so low that they would only have had direct editions produced?

I'm sure not all Marvel titles at that time had newsstand distribution.

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8 hours ago, Lazyboy said:

I'm sure not all Marvel titles at that time had newsstand distribution.

All the current  / sold  eBay searches I've done down the years  seem to back that position up.  Not knowing what exists as a newsstand in the first instance is quite a big investigative  hurdle. 

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See now, this is going to honk me off, because I'm going to have to start looking. 

You are where we were on 30 and 35 cent variants in 1997. Eventually it was proven that they all existed. I would be extremely surprised if - given what you've found so far - there were not variants for all Marvels produced in that timeframe. The five month is the same, etc. etc. etc.

Edited by FlyingDonut
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40 minutes ago, FlyingDonut said:

See now, this is going to honk me off, because I'm going to have to start looking. 

You are where we were on 30 and 35 cent variants in 1997. Eventually it was proven that they all existed. I would be extremely surprised if - given what you've found so far - there were not variants for all Marvels produced in that timeframe. The five month is the same, etc. etc. etc.

Yippee, a bite! Thanks for diving in FlyingDonut.  :smile:

Thing is, some of the titles produced during these months had very low print runs and, therefore, extremely low or potentially no newsstand copies. I'm in the UK, so only have eBay to work from, but you can't find standard $1.99 newsstands for a lot of the in frame titles, never mind price variants of them.

So I'm not convinced that we'll find $2.29 / $2.49 variants for all of the titles - possibly just the 'main' ones - I've only found Spidey, Hulk, X-Men etc, but that may because they are in more plentiful supply, being more popular / prevalent / likely to be listed on eBay.

We need someone to hit the back issues in US shops and start seeking them out.

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9 hours ago, FlyingDonut said:

See now, this is going to honk me off, because I'm going to have to start looking. 

You are where we were on 30 and 35 cent variants in 1997. Eventually it was proven that they all existed. I would be extremely surprised if - given what you've found so far - there were not variants for all Marvels produced in that timeframe.

But these are newsstands from 1999. It's a completely different distribution environment than the 70s. Between non-standard priced issues, one-shots, limited series, and cancelled titles, it's extremely unlikely that every issue will have them.

Quote

The five month is the same, etc. etc. etc.

FF 22 has not been confirmed to have variants. It's possible that the FF variants got pushed back a (cover) month due to a scheduling quirk or for some other reason. There is no current evidence of these variants spanning five months in any single title.

 

After some quick research, it appears that just over half of the issues published in the time frame in question were priced at $1.99 U.S. Those being:

Amazing Spider-Man 10, 11, 13, 14
Avengers 21-24
Avengers United They Stand 2-4
Bishop: The Last X-Man 2-5
Cable 72-74, 76
Captain America 22-24, 26
Deadpool 33-37
Deathlok 3-7
Fantastic Five 1-5
Fantastic Four 22-24, 26
Gambit 9-11, 13
Generation X 56, 58-60
Heroes Reborn: Ashema
Heroes Reborn: Doom
Heroes Reborn: Doomsday
Heroes Reborn: Masters of Evil
Heroes Reborn: Rebel
Heroes Reborn: Remnants
Heroes Reborn: Young Allies
Hulk 7-11
Iron Man 21-24
Mutant X 13-17
Nova 6, 7
Peter Parker: Spider-Man 10, 11, 13, 14
Slingers 11, 12
Spider-Girl 13-16
Spider-Man Unlimited 2, 3
Spider-Woman 4-8
Thor 16-20
Thunderbolts 31-35
Uncanny X-Men 373, 374, 376, 377
Warlock 1-5
Wild Thing 1-5
Wolverine 143, 144, 146, 147
X-51 3-7
X-Force 95-99
X-Man 56-60
X-Men 93, 95-97

Edited by Lazyboy
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7 hours ago, Lazyboy said:

FF 22 has not been confirmed to have variants. It's possible that the FF variants got pushed back a (cover) month due to a scheduling quirk or for some other reason. There is no current evidence of these variants spanning five months in any single title.

 

Good spot Lazyboy, that's true. It could be that FF22 doesn't exist and that 26 does due to production timing reasons. A similar scenario exists with the early pence books where the odd issue strays into a block of months where no other title has a pence copy with those cover dates. So sometimes I think the timing of production slips and throws out cover date 'anomalies'. Things are rarely set in stone, and in some situations you clearly can't judge a book by its cover (date)! Makes the search fun though :D

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On 12/14/2017 at 9:07 AM, FlyingDonut said:

You are where we were on 30 and 35 cent variants in 1997. 

That can't be true, because they weren't discovered until 1998. "Eminent experts" say so (I must keep things anonymous, so I'm not accused of "cyber bullying", you see, and thrown off the boards yet again.)

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35 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

That can't be true, because they weren't discovered until 1998.

I know you're being snarky, but that's what he means. In 1997, the hobby knew about them to at least some degree, but very few cared or were aware of the full extent before the so-called "discovery" in 1998.

35 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

"Eminent experts" say so (I must keep things anonymous, so I'm not accused of "cyber bullying", you see, and thrown off the boards yet again.)

The "cyber bullying" was using a name here that you found on a public blog that was being promoted by the offended poster. CGC should be embarrassed that they were completely manipulated.

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Back to the actual topic.

Marvel's top 15 selling Direct titles at the time, in order, were:

  1. Uncanny X-Men
  2. X-Men
  3. Wolverine
  4. Avengers
  5. Amazing Spider-Man
  6. Fantastic Four
  7. Peter Parker: Spider-Man
  8. Thor
  9. Captain America
  10. Iron Man
  11. Mutant X
  12. Generation X
  13. X-Force
  14. Cable
  15. Hulk

The titles in bold are the ones that we currently know have Newsstand price variants.

Combined with my post from a few days ago and @Marwood & I's table of confirmed issues, there should be enough info in this thread to help people search for "missing" issues. If anyone actually cares, that is.

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