Heir to the Empire: Anyone seen this version? 2 2

[azcards4ever]

Looks like a promo book; no barcode on the indicator location/no store stamp.  Lists as being printed 1995... 

I know of the action figure 2nd print version, but not this one.  Google wasn't my friend.

Figured someone in this group would have an decent idea.  

Thanks in advance!!  

[Tnexus]

Weird, never seen that before myself. Pricetag on it means it's not from a toy. Same back as the normal one?

[valiantman]

Possibly a set of reprints... here's one for Dark Empire II #2

[azcards4ever]

1 hour ago, Tnexus said:

Weird, never seen that before myself. Pricetag on it means it's not from a toy. Same back as the normal one?

Yup, same back as the other one.  
 

thanks for sharing that pic of DEII...has to be the same (a reprint).  Just never seen it before.  

[azcards4ever]

Well, they labeled it a newsstand...very happy!!!

 

Edited November 6, 2020 by azcards4ever

[valiantman]

11 hours ago, azcards4ever said:

Well, they labeled it a newsstand...very happy!!!

That's funny because CGC usually ignores newsstands, but this one isn't a newsstand. 

The newsstand Heir To The Empire #1 has the full barcode on the cover.

Edited November 6, 2020 by valiantman

[azcards4ever]

I've seen this type of an issue before with this book, but  it had a printed sticker barcode placed over the white area...wonder if that was their reasoning.  

[valiantman]

3 hours ago, azcards4ever said:

I've seen this type of an issue before with this book, but  it had a printed sticker barcode placed over the white area...wonder if that was their reasoning.  

Hard to say.  From the CGC Census can see that CGC only had two entries for this book in their database so they would have been wrong either way (direct or newsstand) because they didn't create a third entry.

There's an example on Ebay for "Star Wars Comic Pack #25" from the descriptions of the three books on this link:

http://www.cgcdata.com/cgc/search/title/:heir:empire:1:/label/all/orderby/year/variants/yes/

...and it doesn't look like your book either.

Edited November 6, 2020 by valiantman

[awakeintheashes]

This is interesting... I can't find anything on it. Wonder if it's another UXM #302 wtf-type variant (link). This has a price, though. I can't find any documentation of another printing that hasn't been discussed here.

 

I'm trademarking "WTF Variant" btw

 

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

[Yorick]

Maybe a newstand defect copy?  They forgot to print the barcode?  That's a cool book.

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

Ok. I too searched and like you was unable to locate any direct details or information.  That said I can offer an educated guess.  Outside of what others have mentioned as a printing error, I do know a lot of multi packs, giveaway,  and special distribution editions lacked barcodes and in their place would be blank boxes or other art. One example being "DC Universe Logo Variants " where they reprinted books, but didnt change anything about the book except the upc box. These have been found to be distributed through toy stores, bookstores, and retailers.  I have also seen several of the stickered upc comics that too were distributed through bookstores and the sticker upcs were placed over blank boxes, direct box art, or original upc. After talking with some of the workers who worked for these bookstores they informed me the reason was either to add a upc to make them scannable or that the original upc were not in the correct format/type for their scanner to work. So they had to add these to make them scannable.  I know the pictures i am about to add are not directly related, but are there to give an idea and examples of what i am referring to.  First blank upc from Whitman packs.

Next example of what a toy store pack would look like sealed(although I am pretty sure these contained direct editions) 

Finally an example pulled from ebay here https://www.ebay.ca/itm/223876053499     of a upc sticker 

Another reason I mention the multi packs and DC Universe Logo Variants is that even with a bunch of people all hunting for these some are still extremely rare and have only had 1 found to date, where others show up every so often. 

Congratulations on finding this issue that does indeed appear to be a rare variant . 

[azcards4ever]

Another strange note about this book:  it wasn't composed of the thick card stock paper that is on the regular edition.  I also have the 2nd print (the comic pack 25 edition with the Thrawn toy), and that is also the thick card stock.  This paper was thin, like a normal marvel comic. 

[ADAMANTIUM]

7 minutes ago, azcards4ever said:

Another strange note about this book:  it wasn't composed of the thick card stock paper that is on the regular edition.  I also have the 2nd print (the comic pack 25 edition with the Thrawn toy), and that is also the thick card stock.  This paper was thin, like a normal marvel comic. 

That's probably why it got the Newsstand designation. There have been a few issues that cgc recognizes because of paper quality, but I can only assume it's due to distribution too, not really sure. I just remember the reason cgc would recognize certain Newsstands on the label.

Basically not all Newsstands are recognized but also must have a defining feature. I dont have a defining Feature list, but I know paper quality was one of them 

Edited November 7, 2020 by ADAMANTIUM

[valiantman]

31 minutes ago, azcards4ever said:

Another strange note about this book:  it wasn't composed of the thick card stock paper that is on the regular edition.  I also have the 2nd print (the comic pack 25 edition with the Thrawn toy), and that is also the thick card stock.  This paper was thin, like a normal marvel comic. 

Keeping the $2.95 cover price and using thin, normal cover stock is pretty bold.  It makes me think it could have been part of a pack (similar to Whitman, but this is 15-20 years later), so the cover price is irrelevant because the price would have been a pack price.

[valiantman]

On 5/28/2020 at 4:24 PM, valiantman said:

Possibly a set of reprints... here's one for Dark Empire II #2

Here's a sticker from the same series and you can see the box was printed on the cover.  I wonder if it's blank underneath:

Edited November 7, 2020 by valiantman

[valiantman]

1 hour ago, onlyweaknesskryptonite said:

Another reason I mention the multi packs and DC Universe Logo Variants is that even with a bunch of people all hunting for these some are still extremely rare and have only had 1 found to date, where others show up every so often. 

Congratulations on finding this issue that does indeed appear to be a rare variant . 

Amalgam books are fairly common with blank UPC boxes, and they're from the same time period.  They're not Dark Horse, but they're not strictly Marvel or DC either.  Maybe Dark Horse tried whatever Amalgam was doing with blank UPCs at that time, on a smaller scale.

[onlyweaknesskryptonite]

22 minutes ago, valiantman said:

Amalgam books are fairly common with blank UPC boxes, and they're from the same time period.  They're not Dark Horse, but they're not strictly Marvel or DC either.  Maybe Dark Horse tried whatever Amalgam was doing with blank UPCs at that time, on a smaller scale.

Thank you. I knew there were more I was forgetting.  Yes Amalgam. 

Which had some that were blank upc , but also had direct editions and were also usually found in the packs I had mentioned as well.

and some others were DC vs Marvel 

Which the blank boxes are usually thought of as 2nd prints. With all of this it has me leaning more and more towards the OPs book was probably a 2nd print made for multi packs . Which a lot of the book stores would open up and sticker for sale individually or some like the DC vs Marvel were just shrink wrap with a sticker on the wrap, but the stores could have either pulled if the wrap got messed up and placed on book or unused sticker if the wrap was gone. 

[azcards4ever]

Just a note:  when I looked at the guts, the inside copyright info was exactly the same as the first print.  No differences..

I was originally thinking it would come back a new cgc category as reprint...or 2nd print.

Edited November 7, 2020 by azcards4ever

[awakeintheashes]

31 minutes ago, azcards4ever said:

Just a note:  when I looked at the guts, the inside copyright info was exactly the same as the first print.  No differences..

I was originally thinking it would come back a new cgc category as reprint...or 2nd print.

Were you able to compare the ads? I know some of the Marvel JCPenney Reprints/Variants had different ads.