Wolverine #88 second print? 1 1

[mysterio]

I found a small group of Wolverine #88s at a recent show. I got one book that is clearly a 1st print direct, one newsstand, and a book that appears to have a second print barcode but is not mentioned as a second print in the indicia (book to the far left). I figured I would bring this conundrum to the experts here to see if anyone knew what this was.

Edit: I noticed the pricing is different between the two direct editions  is this a clue to the mystery? Why is the US price 45 cents cheaper with added price info on the left?

 

Edited September 5, 2017 by mysterio

[Jtwpantera]

The one to the right is the Deluxe version and if you look at the top left you will see that word underneath the word X-Men.  The middle one is the newsstand Deluxe version, which I believe is the only version the newstands got.  The one on the left is the regular non-deluxe version.  The difference is that the Deluxe versions, which I believe there are more of than regular, have better paper quality. 

[mysterio]

1 hour ago, Jtwpantera said:

The one to the right is the Deluxe version and if you look at the top left you will see that word underneath the word X-Men.  The middle one is the newsstand Deluxe version, which I believe is the only version the newstands got.  The one on the left is the regular non-deluxe version.  The difference is that the Deluxe versions, which I believe there are more of than regular, have better paper quality. 

Perfect, that's what I needed. I remember this plan back when I was buying books off the shelves during this period. Thank you!!

[Jtwpantera]

You are welcome.

[RockMyAmadeus]

On 9/5/2017 at 4:38 AM, mysterio said:

I found a small group of Wolverine #88s at a recent show. I got one book that is clearly a 1st print direct, one newsstand, and a book that appears to have a second print barcode but is not mentioned as a second print in the indicia (book to the far left). I figured I would bring this conundrum to the experts here to see if anyone knew what this was.

Edit: I noticed the pricing is different between the two direct editions  is this a clue to the mystery? Why is the US price 45 cents cheaper with added price info on the left?

 

Just for clarity, and I don't know if this was answered elsewhere, but the coding on the Direct edition on the left is for a "variant", not a second printing.

The first three numbers of the code are the issue number, the 4th number is the printing (or edition; rarely used in comics), and the 5th number is the printing. Though it is WILDLY misused much of the time, the coding is supposed to look like this:

37611 <---- this is the code for a standard, first print, issue #376

37621 <---- this is the code for a first print variant.

37612 <---- this is the code for a second print.

37613 <--- this is the code for a third print.

37622 <---- while excessively rare, this would be the correct code for a second print variant. I doubt this actually exists.

Also...the two groups of five numbers at the bottom of the code refers to the Publisher (first five numbers) and the Title (second five numbers.) Publisher and title codes are usually different for Direct and newsstand (Curtis Circulation), but in this case, the code for "Wolverine" is the same, which is interesting. For the newsstand, the top number ("12" in this case) represents either the number of issues released with that cover year (in this case, 12, and usually corresponds to the month, unless there were issues released more frequently) OR the last two digits of the issue number.

I do not know, and have never been able to learn, what the small numbers represent.

[lighthouse]

On 11/21/2018 at 9:39 AM, RockMyAmadeus said:

Just for clarity, and I don't know if this was answered elsewhere, but the coding on the Direct edition on the left is for a "variant", not a second printing.

The first three numbers of the code are the issue number, the 4th number is the printing (or edition; rarely used in comics), and the 5th number is the printing. Though it is WILDLY misused much of the time, the coding is supposed to look like this:

37611 <---- this is the code for a standard, first print, issue #376

37621 <---- this is the code for a first print variant.

37612 <---- this is the code for a second print.

37613 <--- this is the code for a third print.

37622 <---- while excessively rare, this would be the correct code for a second print variant. I doubt this actually exists.

Also...the two groups of five numbers at the bottom of the code refers to the Publisher (first five numbers) and the Title (second five numbers.) Publisher and title codes are usually different for Direct and newsstand (Curtis Circulation), but in this case, the code for "Wolverine" is the same, which is interesting. For the newsstand, the top number ("12" in this case) represents either the number of issues released with that cover year (in this case, 12, and usually corresponds to the month, unless there were issues released more frequently) OR the last two digits of the issue number.

I do not know, and have never been able to learn, what the small numbers represent.

The final small number is a check digit that verifies whether the first 11 digits form a valid bar code.

We generate our own bar codes for back issues in the shop, and I wind up having to deal with the check digit math more often than I would like. The ones we generate ourselves are 8-digit codes, so they are 7 useful digits plus 1 check digit (where a self-generated code of 9900720 would have a check digit of "1" for example, and a code of 9900721 would have a check digit of "8"). When I send data to my barcode printer I am only sending 9900720 and the printer knows to add a "1". But when I upload the bar codes into our POS system I have to tell it that 99007201 (including the check digit) is a $20 back issue of 1990s Deadpool.

The first small number is part of the publisher code. Things change over time, but all current Marvel start with 759606, DC with 761941, Image with 709853, Boom with 844284, Valiant with 858992, IDW with 827714, Oni Press with 649856, etc.

So if I were to generate a bar code for Uncanny X-Men (2018 series), issue 8, main cover, 2nd print, the code would be: 7 59606 09134 8 00812

And if Marvel decided to put out a new title with the title code 09135, the first issue main cover would have a bar code of 7 59606 09135 5 00111, because the check digit for the new 09135 title would be a "5" instead of an "8".

Some of the Marvel titles have been rebooted so many times, and aren't easily recognizable by trade dress changes, that we actually note the title bar code for the various volumes on our title dividers in the back issue boxes. It makes life a lot easier sorting in issues of Deadpool if you use the bar codes and don't even both trying to guess based on covers. Same thing for Amazing Spider-Man.

And yes, we need to update the divider for Legacy to no longer say "Current", and need to add a divider for the 2018 volume. Just hasn't happened yet.

 

[AnthonyTheAbyss]

Great informative posts.

[valiantman]

On 11/21/2018 at 11:39 AM, RockMyAmadeus said:

37622 <---- while excessively rare, this would be the correct code for a second print variant. I doubt this actually exists.

Marvel had the opportunity with Ultimate Fallout #4 "2nd Printing Variant" (since they stated that exact phrase on the cover) but instead of coding it as 00422, they went with 00441.

[Pyromaniac]

On 9/5/2017 at 7:38 AM, mysterio said:

I found a small group of Wolverine #88s at a recent show. I got one book that is clearly a 1st print direct, one newsstand, and a book that appears to have a second print barcode but is not mentioned as a second print in the indicia (book to the far left). I figured I would bring this conundrum to the experts here to see if anyone knew what this was.

Edit: I noticed the pricing is different between the two direct editions  is this a clue to the mystery? Why is the US price 45 cents cheaper with added price info on the left?

 

Which of these 3 is the rare one? Or harder to find? Middle newsstand 1?

[MetalPSI]

And it begins....

[Galen130]

2 minutes ago, Dr. Dank said:

And it begins....

again.........

[MetalPSI]

I have a almost complete run of Wolverine from 1 to 120 or so.

I pulled 88 and it will be a 9.8

I normally would never ever do this, but man, these are crazy times indeed.

[revat]

the newsstand is probably harder to find in CGC 9.8, but i think the non-deluxe version is the rarest in general i think.  I'm not sure if it was clearly resolved above, but I'm pretty sure none of these are second prints.

[Pyromaniac]

Yeah..I know. I'm just trying to get facts, not conjecture.  This hasn't nothing to do with speculation.  Just for the pc. But I want to know what I'm paying for and what to look for based on what's printed on the book, not sellers misinformed opinion in what they think they have. 

[valiantman]

33 minutes ago, Pyromaniac said:

Yeah..I know. I'm just trying to get facts, not conjecture.  This hasn't nothing to do with speculation.  Just for the pc. But I want to know what I'm paying for and what to look for based on what's printed on the book, not sellers misinformed opinion in what they think they have. 

Don't get discouraged.  Some people in the anti-science crowd also like comics, and any discussion of information, data, and facts about comics tends to set them off.  Don't worry, they'll go back to self-delusion and reassurance that no one will ever learn or change anything they have always believed soon.  This "internet age of information" just hasn't been kind to them.  The good news is that they're old, they type slow, and their only weapons are emojis, memes, and funny pictures stolen from Google, so probably it's just a matter of time before they give up completely on "the hobby they thought they knew" and switch to collecting 1oz silver bars for the inevitable collapse of society caused by...  you guessed it... people asking questions. 

... and they would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for us meddling kids!  

 

[MetalPSI]

11 minutes ago, valiantman said:

Don't get discouraged.  Some people in the anti-science crowd also like comics, and any discussion of information, data, and facts about comics tends to set them off.  Don't worry, they'll go back to self-delusion and reassurance that no one will ever learn or change anything they have always believed soon.  This "internet age of information" just hasn't been kind to them.  The good news is that they're old, they type slow, and their only weapons are emojis, memes, and funny pictures stolen from Google, so probably it's just a matter of time before they give up completely on "the hobby they thought they knew" and switch to collecting 1oz silver bars for the inevitable collapse of society caused by...  you guessed it... people asking questions. 

... and they would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for us meddling kids!  

 

To be fair, not all memes are stolen from Google. Some actually make their own.

Of course they can't be shared here

The thought police don't like that.

[Lazyboy]

7 hours ago, Pyromaniac said:

I'm just trying to get facts, not conjecture.

Then you're out of luck. The original data is not publicly available and nobody can possibly know the numbers of extant copies.

I agree with Revat that the regular (non-Deluxe Direct) edition is probably the least common, but none of them are actually anything close to rare.

7 hours ago, Pyromaniac said:

But I want to know what I'm paying for and what to look for based on what's printed on the book, not sellers misinformed opinion in what they think they have.

The first thing you can do is to fully avoid anybody claiming numbers for any particular version, because they don't actually know.

8 hours ago, revat said:

I'm not sure if it was clearly resolved above, but I'm pretty sure none of these are second prints.

That was fully clarified. There is no second printing.

[the blob]

On 4/8/2021 at 9:57 AM, revat said:

the newsstand is probably harder to find in CGC 9.8, but i think the non-deluxe version is the rarest in general i think.  I'm not sure if it was clearly resolved above, but I'm pretty sure none of these are second prints.

i dunno about that. my shop seemed to have 50/50 out there. I didn't buy a ton of books then, just x-men, wolverine, spiderman, mainly, i would buy the cheaper version (it hurt my brain to pay $1.50 as it is, but $6-7 a month wasn't too bad)

[Broke as a Joke]

Is this a thousand dollar book yet in newsstand?  Just found 2 copies. 

[MetalPSI]

58 minutes ago, Broke as a Joke said:

Is this a thousand dollar book yet in newsstand?  Just found 2 copies. 

About 500 I think