Alpha Flight Direct UPCs (and other oddities) 0

[RockMyAmadeus]

11 hours ago, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

I started another thread to compile a checklist. I know it's sort of duplicating what's being discussed here, but maybe we can keep discussion about the topic here and compilation there.

One thing I noticed while starting a list is that a lot of the books that were direct only start to include UPCs when there's a line-wide crossover (Inferno, Acts of Vengeance, Infinity Gauntlet, etc.) for the crossover issues and then sometimes for a few issues after. Maybe these crossover issues were also distributed to newsstands so readers who only bought at the newsstand could read the whole story (similar to the reason for the Quasar and Dr. Strange/Ghost Rider books), and perhaps tested them for the following issues as well?

 

This is mentioned in the Quasar #32 thread somewhere around. Yes, that's exactly what happened. Books like Avengers and Cap were distributed to newsstands, while books like Quasar were not...so Marvel printed the "special editions" for newsstand distribution, so readers could get the whole story.

For example, Alpha Flight Special Edition #1-4 is also AF #97-100, which...as discussed at length here...was not a newsstand title at the time.

I'm wondering what other bits of info are missing from people's knowledge about this era. There was a ton bunch of unusual things happening, mostly due to the massive tidal wave of both product and quantities being produced at this time. It was a very haphazard time.

 

[RockMyAmadeus]

 

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 5/25/2018 at 7:37 PM, Lazyboy said:

DC had way more early Direct-only titles, although a bunch of them were limited series.

Doom Patrol was one of the very few that changed from full distribution to Direct-only.

For Dc, the titles were chosen largely based on content.

Camelot 3000 (Dec 82, 12 issues)
Omega Men (Apr 83, 38 issues)
Ronin (Jul 83, 6 issues)
Green Lantern/Green Arrow (Oct 83, 7 issues)
Thriller  (Nov 83, 12 issues)
Vigilante (Nov 83, 50 issues)
Infinity, Inc. (Mar 84, 53 issues)
Legion of Super-Heroes (v.2) (Aug 84, 63 issues)
New Teen Titans (v.2) (Aug 84, 130 issues)
DC Challenge (Nov 85, 12 issues)
Outsiders (Nov 85, 28 issues)
Electric Warrior (May 86, 18 issues)
Lords of the Ultra-Realm (June 86, 6 issues)
Watchmen (Sep 86, 12 issues)
The Question (Feb 87, 36 issues)
Spectre (v.2) (April 87, 31 issues)
Young All-Stars (June 87, 31 issues)
The Shadow (Aug 87, 19 issues)
Silverblade (Sep 87, 12 issues)
Outcasts (Oct 87, 12 issues)
Slash Maraud (Nov 87, 6 issues)
Sonic Disruptors (Dec 87, 7 issues)
Wasteland (Dec 87, 18 issues)
Hellblazer (Jan 88, 300 issues)
Peacemaker (Jan 88, 4 issues)
Forever People (v.2) (Feb 88, 6 issues)
Green Arrow (Feb 88, 139 issues)
Checkmate (Apr 88, 33 issues)
Cinder and Ashe (May 88, 4 issues)
Animal Man (Sep 88, 89 issues)
Doc Savage (Nov 88, 24 issues)
Dr. Fate (Winter 88, 41 issues)
Sandman (v.2) (Jan 89, 75 issues)

There are more, but this is what I already had recorded.

Dazzler began (Mar 81) as a Direct-only title and stayed that way through the entire first issue! 

Micronauts started with issue 38 (Feb 82), Ka-Zar the Savage with issue 10 (Jan 82), and Moon Knight with issue 15 (Jan 82).

Is it bascially all of the Baxter titles? Should New Gods, Heckler, Haywire, and Hawkworld be added to the list?

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 5/22/2018 at 5:29 PM, Lazyboy said:

There are so many little things done by the publishers that just leave me scratching my head.

Just a few of the oddities include:

• Direct editions with no UPC box on issues that also have a Newsstand edition (like X-Factor 11, 13, and 14)
• UPCs on Direct editions before the point when they all got them
• Different prices on Directs/Newsstands for the same issue (though I do understand the higher Newsstand prices when the publishers were about ready to just give up)
• Inconsistencies in the second part of Direct bar codes
• Canadian Newsstand editions (I've mentioned this before but still don't know why it took them years to figure out that they could just put all the prices on them like they were doing with Directs)

I understand that various errors will occasionally creep into the creation process, but most of these kinds of things were clearly intentional.

Regarding the X-Factor issues, are the back cover ads the same on the Direct and Newsstand? I ask because the Spidey head (or various other art on later issues) is very likely there so that the printer can run the same Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow plates for all covers, and only switch the black plate for the Newsstand vs. Direct run. If they're printing different ads on the back cover, then they need to run all 4 plates either way, so they can safely drop the art box.

[HarrisonJohn]

13 hours ago, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

Regarding the X-Factor issues, are the back cover ads the same on the Direct and Newsstand? I ask because the Spidey head (or various other art on later issues) is very likely there so that the printer can run the same Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow plates for all covers, and only switch the black plate for the Newsstand vs. Direct run. If they're printing different ads on the back cover, then they need to run all 4 plates either way, so they can safely drop the art box.

Looked at X-Factor 13 on ebay and both versions have the same back cover.

Starting with issue 20, a drawing of Cyclops is often used in the direct UPC box. Thinking it could have been a cover artist request, I looked at Walt Simonson's Thor covers from the same timeframe and a number of those are missing a direct UPC box or contain original artwork

.

Edited January 31, 2020 by HarrisonJohn

[Lazyboy]

14 hours ago, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

Is it bascially all of the Baxter titles? Should New Gods, Heckler, Haywire, and Hawkworld be added to the list?

Basically, yeah.

Like I said, that isn't a definitive list. Those titles (well, Heckler is at least borderline not Copper and my list was never intended to include stuff that started after the Copper Age), as well as V for Vendetta, New Gods (v.3) and the Catwoman mini also qualify, and there are probably still more.

[Lazyboy]

14 hours ago, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

Regarding the X-Factor issues, are the back cover ads the same on the Direct and Newsstand? I ask because the Spidey head (or various other art on later issues) is very likely there so that the printer can run the same Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow plates for all covers, and only switch the black plate for the Newsstand vs. Direct run. If they're printing different ads on the back cover, then they need to run all 4 plates either way, so they can safely drop the art box.

I would be very surprised if the ads were changed on any of the issues without a box.

The X-Factor issues were just examples. There are a bunch of (seemingly) random issues from multiple titles and publishers that have clean Direct covers but also have Newsstand editions. There are also some that seem to be that way from a quick glance, but the box is in a black area and the Direct box is just filled in with (basic) black.

[RockMyAmadeus]

22 hours ago, Lazyboy said:

I would be very surprised if the ads were changed on any of the issues without a box.

The X-Factor issues were just examples. There are a bunch of (seemingly) random issues from multiple titles and publishers that have clean Direct covers but also have Newsstand editions. There are also some that seem to be that way from a quick glance, but the box is in a black area and the Direct box is just filled in with (basic) black.

It was just an editorial decision, since the art boxes weren't actually ever necessary (as you know.) When the industry added UPC boxes to all covers in 1976, that became the default for all covers. When Direct went industry-wide by 1978-1980, the conventional thinking was that they had to have a UPC box, and the Direct box with the "slash", (especially with Marvel, but this also occurred with DC) to prevent scanning of packs at the single issue price, was born. A little less than a year later, someone at Marvel realized they didn't need to print a slashed UPC at all, that they could print an art box (because that's precisely what DC had been doing since 1978 with their Whitman exclusives), and that became the standard.

What no one ever thought of was this simple fact: they never needed the art box in the first place. They could have printed all the Direct copies without any box, ever...which they ended up doing by the mid-80s. I suspect, because of the nature of the "missing" art boxes of that era (see Thor #375 above) that they always show an outline of the box, that someone at Sparta had figured out the trick of not making entirely different black plates, and simply exchanging the newsstand price box with the Direct price box, and simply covering up the UPC box.

Now...I'm no expert on the intricacies of the printing process, admittedly, but if they actually burned entirely new black plates, it would seem to me there would be no outline of the UPC box on the covers with no art box...and yet, there is. There are also examples of the Direct price box being "tilted" or "skewed", and there's even one example which shows "another box" underneath....it escapes me right now, but I know I've seen it. If they were burning an entirely new plate, it seems like they would have perfectly justified formatting from the start, and no "shadow" of a UPC box.

Of course, all that is moot by 1993, when the Direct industry finally caught up to technology and realized that printing the UPC would be beneficial to them, too, which is where the "Direct Sales" and "Direct Edition" come into play...but it would take another 15-20 years before widescale use of scanning for Direct issues became commonplace.

[chasehasadog82]

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Edited June 19, 2020 by chasehasadog82

[Lazyboy]

They should all be Direct-only. Nobody knows why any that appear to be otherwise exist or how they were distributed.

[jimjum12]

On 5/22/2018 at 3:16 PM, RockMyAmadeus said:

Alpha Flight went Direct only with issue #52, and changed format from newsprint to Baxter with issue #61..

Never mind,,,, should have kept reading the thread. GOD BLESS ... jimbo(a friend of jesus)

Edited August 15, 2021 by jimjum12

[djzombi]

Am I falsely recalling that Dazzler went direct-only after some time (as Alpha Flight did, and Power Pack would also later do)?  
I remember pulling my hair out when I couldn't find the Secret Wars II crossover issue at any of my newsstand outlets, but was able to get all the other crossover titles.  I was a completist even then!  

[mec3437]

On 10/25/2021 at 10:44 PM, djzombi said:

Am I falsely recalling that Dazzler went direct-only after some time (as Alpha Flight did, and Power Pack would also later do)?  
I remember pulling my hair out when I couldn't find the Secret Wars II crossover issue at any of my newsstand outlets, but was able to get all the other crossover titles.  I was a completist even then!  

Dazzler had a full run of newsstand (not counting #1 which was direct-only).  Here's the last two in the run.

[djzombi]

Now show me the elusive Newsstand version of the #40 that 11-year-old me couldn't find!    

[djzombi]

Found one - 
Dazzler 40 (1985) VFNM Newsstand 1st App Outriders MCU X-Men Comics FREE Shippin | eBay
($50?!!)

[mec3437]

Whoa!  Reach for the stars and see what happens.  Not even the Canadian price variant of #40 cost me anywhere near what homeboy is asking in that listing.