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400,000 copies of the same comic book...
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Started by jools&jim,

42 posts in this topic

jools&jim

jools&jim

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Posted (edited)

There was an interesting item in last week's MCS newsletter.  Here's the text for anyone who missed it, or who is not a subscriber (subscribing is free, and recommended!):

Quote

Buddy's Banter with Buddy Saunders, Owner (buddy@mycomicshop.com)

A Texas Howdy to All,

 

As per the comment that follows, I got a surprising number of inquiries regarding the 400,000 copies of the same comic that was recently offered to me by a paper recycler who had received the comics for recycling, but was checking first to see if he could get more for them by selling to me or another comic retailer. I had to explain to him that those comics were right where they should be with a possible future life as diverse as Dixie cups or Kleenex.

Buddy, I am a huge fan of Lone Star Comics and have been buying and selling through you for a few years now. I always read your weekly newsletter and love its content. Your recent story regarding the paper recycler and the 400,000 copies of a singular issue just slayed me! I immediately told it to all my comic collecting friends, most of us getting our start back in the early 80's and surviving the 90's glut (I'll be 45 years of age for what it's worth). So, it was a topic we immediately gravitated towards, since certain recent comic runs are genuinely hard to find if you didn't pick it up immediately due to much lower print runs nowadays.

So, obviously, we all started speculating.... what could possibly be the issue in question in which a singular individual would have 400,000 copies? We all leaned toward a 90's comic. My instinct said a Valiant from the 90's (my immediate gut reaction was Turok Dinosaur Hunter #1 with Deathmate a very close second). My friend, Kevin, was leaning more towards an Image comic, like Youngblood #1, Spawn maybe, or even a Marvel comic like X-Men 1 (the Claremont/Lee run) or X-Force #1 if the variants were included as "one issue". But we all agreed we could be way off and it might just as well be from the bygone era when comics still had wider distribution and larger print runs.

Regardless, that was a long-winded, extremely geeky way of asking.... are you willing to tell us what issue in question just got 400,000 copies recycled?

Much respect and thanks, Aaron C., Chandler, Arizona

Hi Buddy, care to share the lucky comic book?  I tried to think of what it could be but am coming up blank.  I'm convinced it's something obvious or something totally off the radar (like a Big Boy comic or Radio Shack TRS-80 giveaway). 

An early nineties first issue with multiple covers would be my best guess.  Those are the only recent comics I can think of with 1M print runs...

Hey, if I'm the 100th person to ask you this question, do I win a prize? Shawn D., New York City, NY

As much as Aaron and Shawn and numerous others would like to know, I'll not reveal the title and issue. Why embarrass that publisher who, by the way, is still publishing? At one point Shawn was correct when he guessed the comic in question might be a promotional issue. That it was, but for reasons unknown, vastly more were produced than needed. My guess is that those 400,000 copies may just be an accidental overprint, the result of a production error. Such things happen.  Whatever the case, I doubt I'll ever again be offered 400,000 copies of the same comic!

Apologies if this has already been posted...

Edited by jools&jim
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rjrjr

rjrjr

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If it is a recent book, it might be Star Wars.  Marvel overprinted tremendously on that title.  So much so, that Diamond has had several sales of the ratio'd variants.

Or, it could have been a book destined for a Loot Crate, but the orders from Loot Crate came in well under what was expected.

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tv horror

tv horror

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I once heard a story about an magazine publisher who burnt all his number 1 issues that he had in a lock-up, he hoped to make it rarer in collecting circles.  He was being inventive unfortunately it's still freely available, while not rare it was still a nice magazine.

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1Cool

1Cool

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Didn't that come out in the 80s?  Have they been sitting on it for 30 years?  You would think people would have pitched them by now

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1Cool

1Cool

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Based on the last collection I got in - I could see someone having 300,000 copies of that Avengers Skittles give-away.  I had 50 copies in that one collection

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1Cool

1Cool

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Would you consider the recent $0.25 comic a promotional book?  I could see some getting 300,000 copies for the variants and having a ton left over.

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Not*Sure*

Not*Sure*

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Somewhere ..out there one of my old customers is trying to figure out what to do with the 2500 copies of Beavis and Butthead #1 he swore were such a good investment he would never have a problem sending his kid to college lol
He also bought 1200 copies of a lady death book..because we would not order 1200 for the shop just to get him a special variant cover
He is probably trying to find someone to buy those lol

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Ken Aldred

Ken Aldred

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3 hours ago, Not*Sure* said:

Somewhere ..out there one of my old customers is trying to figure out what to do with the 2500 copies of Beavis and Butthead #1 he swore were such a good investment he would never have a problem sending his kid to college lol
He also bought 1200 copies of a lady death book..because we would not order 1200 for the shop just to get him a special variant cover
He is probably trying to find someone to buy those lol

I recall Ren and Stimpy 1 being sold out at the time.  I wonder if someone did the same with that issue?

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