UPC sticker covering direct edition art on cover. 0

[Ccmp99]

I was hoping someone on the boards had some experience with this situation. Basically,I have a copy of Marvel Super Heroes #8 Winter Special 1991  (1st Squirrel Girl) with UPC barcode sticker on the cover. The sticker is actually covering the direct edition artwork in the white box on the lower left corner of the cover, so it's actually where the UPC code would be if it were a news stand copy. Basically the book was a direct edition copy and a UPC sticker placed over the artwork. 

I've checked other examples as well as another copy I own, and the bar-code is the same one as other news stand copies (same number, same bars, etc). I'm assuming stickers were put on direct editions to make them available to be sold at news stands, super markets, etc.

Anyway, this is something I've never ran into before and was hoping to get some info on what exactly it is and any opinions on it effecting grade.

 

Thanks

[Tony S]

Well, that is a bit of mystery....

I see another copy like this on eBay from tingles-comics.  But the sticker is on backwards (the 7148601402 is on the right side) 

There are half a dozen newstand copies of the book on eBay, including a couple of CGC graded copies. The CGC graded newstand copies are all printed, not  a label added.   It's interesting to note that the UPC code number is not exactly the same between printed newstand UPC and sticker newstand UPC.  The printed UPC code is  0   7148601402   7.  The sticker UPC leaves off the 0 and the 7. On your pictured copy and the one on eBay.

So it would appear to be a legitimate distribution thing. Perhaps a print run error and not enough copies were printed for the newstand market so some direct copies had a label printed and slapped on? 

Maybe someone else knows exactly what happened instead of just my theory based on copies for sale on eBay?  Be interesting to see how CGC would grade such. Normally stickers get a green label. But if done at the printers or the distributor, I think it should be OK (blue label) 

 

Edited October 29, 2017 by Tony S

[Tony S]

After further checking, I believe I was wrong about the possibility of the book getting a blue, universal label.  It appears CGC gives a green label to any comic with a sticker, even if placed there by the manufacturer. 

[Ccmp99]

Hm, interesting. Thanks for the input, I was thinking along the same lines. I wonder how many books this was done to? I might just give them a call and see what they have to say about it.