![]() They would then order most of their books at the cheaper direct rate and return them under the newsstand account. Initially there was no difference between the two editions, and some unscrupulous owners would open two merchant accounts, one in each category. Supermarkets, drug stores, and similar businesses would return unsold issues of comics to the publisher for a partial refund comic shops, whose model is partly based around back issues, would forgo that option in exchange for a lower wholesale cost on the books. If you didn’t know, the primary difference between newsstands and the direct market is returnability. The newsstand/direct market variant was born out of necessity to protect publishers from deceitful retailers in the new specialty outlets. Aside from a few key issues like “Star Wars” #1 which fetch much higher prices, most price variants are not valued more than $10 higher than the standard version.Īnother more noticeable type of variant also began appearing in 1977. The same process occurred for another four months the following year, going up another nickle. Naturally there was no advertising for the price variations, so very few readers were aware of the variants’ existence at the time. The issues from the test markets had the same cover art, with the only difference being the price. #COMIC COLLECTOR LICENSE KEY FREE TRIAL#The trial lasted four months before being implemented nationwide. While the rest of the country received their books at the regular quarter per issue, six small markets were selected as test runs for books priced at thirty cents. ![]() The next cover variant didn’t come along until a decade later in 1976, when Marvel wanted to gauge the reaction to a nickle price increase. A CGC 9.4 copy of the issue recently went for $865 on eBay. When they finally got included toward the end of the millennium, the reprint with the record was listed at $260, aka 1.4% the price of the first printing. ![]() Even at the peak of the speculator boom in the early 90s, the Golden Record variants didn’t even warrant a mention in the “Wizard” price guide. Partly because they had the same covers and weren’t obviously distinguishable and partly because there was no collector market to speak of at the time, there has never been much demand for these rare alternate editions. An agreement with Marvel allowed them to make some read-a-long recordings of “Fantastic Four” #1 and “Avengers” #1 in 1966, and because this was several years after the books had been available on newsstands, a special printing of the issues was done just for Golden Records. The sudden popularity of Marvel’s first comics in the sixties gained the attention of the Golden Record company, known for packaging story books with vinyl records of them read aloud. The first variant covers weren’t produced with collectors in mind, or anything in mind for that matter. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |