Why is this cbcs slab of 2001 #8 labeled newstand edition prior to direct market? 2 2

[valiantman]

1 hour ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

On 8/17/2019 at 9:49 PM, RockMyAmadeus said:

Gold Key's solution was to have their books carry the Whitman cover dress:

Let's make this accurate and say "Western Publishing", rather than "Gold Key." Gold Key was their newsstand imprint.

That is a really helpful way to remember the details.

Western Publishing was the parent company...

• Dell Publishing = Newsstand comics
• Gold Key Comics = Newsstand comics
• Whitman Comics = Direct Edition comics

[Warlord]

On 8/20/2019 at 12:04 PM, valiantman said:

That is a really helpful way to remember the details.

Western Publishing was the parent company...

• Dell Publishing = Newsstand comics
• Gold Key Comics = Newsstand comics
• Whitman Comics = Direct Edition comics

I'm not sure that's the whole story.   Whitman comics have white/yellow logo variants.  Yellow are in multi-packs and I was thinking the white were in the newsstands and stores?   Checking my multipack references, I can say that out of about 200 different comics in multi-packs, none of them are the white logo version, all are yellow.  I can't say I've ever seen a white logo Whitman in a multipack.  So a difference in distribution is perhaps the likeliest explanation for the different logos to exist.

[01TheDude]

When there is a diagonal line printed through a bar code, is that an indicator of anything? or was that just another method to show direct/multi-packs?

I think this was briefly done until they went with some less awkward looking, like a character image

[RockMyAmadeus]

22 hours ago, Warlord said:

I'm not sure that's the whole story.   Whitman comics have white/yellow logo variants.  Yellow are in multi-packs and I was thinking the white were in the newsstands and stores?   Checking my multipack references, I can say that out of about 200 different comics in multi-packs, none of them are the white logo version, all are yellow.  I can't say I've ever seen a white logo Whitman in a multipack.  So a difference in distribution is perhaps the likeliest explanation for the different logos to exist.

I think that's a reasonable conclusion. Publishers rarely did things without cause; it's just difficult to try and piece together what they did and why after the fact.

It's amazing how little was known and/or reported about these things while they were happening. No one really guessed that the 30c and 35c were line-wide until the 90s, or if they did, they didn't report it. How many people knew there were different Canadian newsstand price versions while they were being published? (The one example was the so-called "test version" of New Mutants #2...which identified the issue, but incorrectly.)

We still don't know the extent of the newsstand price differences of the 1999-2001 period.

We also don't know the extent of the second print newsstand program of the early 90s, and why it even existed. 

I wonder how much we have irretrievably lost to time and inability to track down examples from before the 60s?

[kav]

Maybe Comic Book Marketplace knows.

[Logan510]

3 hours ago, kav said:

Maybe Comic Book Marketplace knows.

Zap!

[kav]

1 minute ago, Logan510 said:

Zap!

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/18/2019 at 9:46 PM, Lazyboy said:

That's for sure, but it still doesn't make sense to mark an book as "Newsstand Edition" when there wasn't a different version of that issue made for the Direct market.

I thought that way too. In my old Spidey image files I only started filing the newsstand copies as such once there was an alternative version in existence. It seemed pointless to do so when the newsstand copy was the only version.

[Get Marwood & I]

On 8/25/2019 at 4:18 AM, 01TheDude said:

When there is a diagonal line printed through a bar code, is that an indicator of anything? or was that just another method to show direct/multi-packs?

I think this was briefly done until they went with some less awkward looking, like a character image

In my mind I always considered these - wrongly probably - the start of 'proper' direct editions. We had the blank UPC fat diamond early directs, then these as the run in to the proper directs. Three types, with the slash barcodes in the middle.

[Get Marwood & I]

This is a great thread, full of all the things I like. As has already been said, it's amazing how little is known of the history of many of these quirks and practices - especially when you consider the focus the books have been under all these years by generally mad collector types.

I'm still waiting for someone to add to my 1999-2000 Marvel newsstand tally. Will it ever happen...

[valiantman]

On 8/24/2019 at 7:52 PM, Warlord said:

On 8/20/2019 at 11:04 AM, valiantman said:

That is a really helpful way to remember the details.

Western Publishing was the parent company...

• Dell Publishing = Newsstand comics
• Gold Key Comics = Newsstand comics
• Whitman Comics = Direct Edition comics

I'm not sure that's the whole story.   Whitman comics have white/yellow logo variants.  Yellow are in multi-packs and I was thinking the white were in the newsstands and stores?   Checking my multipack references, I can say that out of about 200 different comics in multi-packs, none of them are the white logo version, all are yellow.  I can't say I've ever seen a white logo Whitman in a multipack.  So a difference in distribution is perhaps the likeliest explanation for the different logos to exist.

I love it when I learn something new, go to my collection and... there is it... 

[Get Marwood & I]

7 hours ago, Get Marwood & I said:

In my mind I always considered these - wrongly probably - the start of 'proper' direct editions. We had the blank UPC fat diamond early directs, then these as the run in to the proper directs. Three types, with the slash barcodes in the middle.

Here are some documents from my old files - long before I discovered the boards, and a time when I didn't know what I was talking about and took it all far too seriously:

'Whitman distribution' indeed!

Then I joined the boards of course and, nowadays, I still don't know what I'm talking about and still take it all far too seriously 

[valiantman]

13 minutes ago, Get Marwood & I said:

I still don't know what I'm talking about and still take it all far too seriously 

No politics! 

[Warlord]

10 hours ago, valiantman said:

I love it when I learn something new, go to my collection and... there is it... 

Score!   And keep checking - there are many Whitmans that I've seen that have white logo variants.  I've never tried to create a list but I suspect there are versions that cover multiple years.  If you have more Whitman comics, then you are likely to come across other issues with white logos.

Edited August 27, 2019 by Warlord

[valiantman]

14 hours ago, Warlord said:

On 8/26/2019 at 9:04 AM, valiantman said:

I love it when I learn something new, go to my collection and... there is it... 

Score!   And keep checking - there are many Whitmans that I've seen that have white logo variants.  I've never tried to create a list but I suspect there are versions that cover multiple years.  If you have more Whitman comics, then you are likely to come across other issues with white logos.

Judging from the Ebay selection on Uncle Scrooge #195, it looks like the yellow logo is the uncommon one. 

[Warlord]

9 hours ago, valiantman said:

Judging from the Ebay selection on Uncle Scrooge #195, it looks like the yellow logo is the uncommon one. 

Wow, how odd.  That's a switch.   Well, I did pick that issue from memory because I knew I had seen the white logo version of it in person.

[Lazyboy]

On 8/24/2019 at 7:52 PM, Warlord said:

On 8/20/2019 at 11:04 AM, valiantman said:

That is a really helpful way to remember the details.

Western Publishing was the parent company...

• Dell Publishing = Newsstand comics
• Gold Key Comics = Newsstand comics
• Whitman Comics = Direct Edition comics

I'm not sure that's the whole story.   Whitman comics have white/yellow logo variants.  Yellow are in multi-packs and I was thinking the white were in the newsstands and stores?   Checking my multipack references, I can say that out of about 200 different comics in multi-packs, none of them are the white logo version, all are yellow.  I can't say I've ever seen a white logo Whitman in a multipack.  So a difference in distribution is perhaps the likeliest explanation for the different logos to exist.

Yeah, the last Western comics published were all under the Whitman imprint, regardless of distribution method.

Also, Dell and Western were partners, not the same company.