Newstand variants!!!!!!

[Batavenger]

Lately I have been watching You tube videos, specifically on comic book hauls and finds!
And it seems that people assume that pre 1982 comic books with a news stand symbol are actually worth more than the direct version of the same comic. I disagree, Before 1982 most all comics were sold on newstands, With the direct market being the scarcer choice.in 1982 Diamond became a comics distributor and slowly the direct market became the dominate seller of comics. Supermarkets and other outlets began to discontinue selling comics on their shelves leaving comic specialty shops mainly the only place to buy comics regularly. Only comics dated around 1983 - and up would the newstand variant be more of a commodity.Any newstand comic pre- 1982 is a common comic.Any pre- 1982 direct sales comic would be of more value. Any comments would be appreciated.

[Bad Wolf]

Lately I have been watching You tube videos, specifically on comic book hauls and finds!
And it seems that people assume that pre 1982 comic books with a news stand symbol are actually worth more than the direct version of the same comic. I disagree, Before 1982 most all comics were sold on newstands, With the direct market being the scarcer choice.in 1982 Diamond became a comics distributor and slowly the direct market became the dominate seller of comics. Supermarkets and other outlets began to discontinue selling comics on their shelves leaving comic specialty shops mainly the only place to buy comics regularly. Only comics dated around 1983 - and up would the newstand variant be more of a commodity.Any newstand comic pre- 1982 is a common comic.Any pre- 1982 direct sales comic would be of more value. Any comments would be appreciated.

The only thing I can think of is that they are scarcer in good condition. But "officially" there should be no difference in value.

[Mace Dolex]

I know there is no price difference between newstand or direct market but if you have an OCD when it comes to comics normally if I'm hunting in the back issue bins I would usually pick a comic with the Marvel/DC logo in place of the UPC barcode at the bottom because the newstand version has a greater chance of having fingerprint smudges from the casual person having flipped through it.

[Cometman]

The only thing I can think of is that they are scarcer in good condition. But "officially" there should be no difference in value.

This is what I have always heard. It is usually harder to find a news stand copy in mint or fine condition. As for value that's a whole different argument. The way I see it anything is worth what the buyer is willing to pay for it, so what does the buyer prefer? My preference has always been the direct version because it has a better looking cover. Your argument based on availability is a good one though.

[John Keyt]

I often wonder about that . Price guide shows no difference and most of my books were book of the rack at the corner store . So they are new stand copies . But you go on some of the online stores and they price them 3 or 4 times book . Do they actually sell I wonder .

[SJNeal]

Probably 10+ years ago, I made the decision to "upgrade" a ton of the books in my long boxes from newsstand editions to Direct Market editions. After all, why have rounded corners and stress marks on the spines of books I knew were now available in quarter bins?? It was a project conceived from a mix of boredom and OCD.

Thanks to various sales at local shops and online stores, I replaced hundreds of VG/FN issues with VF/NM copies for much less than cover within about a year, and sold 4 or 5 long boxes worth of newsstand editions to some LCS's for pennies on the dollar. More recently, I've noticed a lack of newsstand books in the back issue bins and at cons. Hopefully my OCD doesn't rear its ugly head again any time soon....

[John Keyt]

Probably 10+ years ago, I made the decision to "upgrade" a ton of the books in my long boxes from newsstand editions to Direct Market editions. After all, why have rounded corners and stress marks on the spines of books I knew were now available in quarter bins?? It was a project conceived from a mix of boredom and OCD.

Thanks to various sales at local shops and online stores, I replaced hundreds of VG/FN issues with VF/NM copies for much less than cover within about a year, and sold 4 or 5 long boxes worth of newsstand editions to some LCS's for pennies on the dollar. More recently, I've noticed a lack of newsstand books in the back issue bins and at cons. Hopefully my OCD doesn't rear its ugly head again any time soon....

Nice . On my micronauts series by marvel I decided to round up both newsstand and direct copies for fun . It was actually harder to find the early direct copies than newsstand . The first 37 issue other than # 4 had both versions printed . I recently sold the series to a fellow collector . Who thought it was kinda cool to have the complete series . Though looking back maybe it to was OCD .

[ultimate jezebel]

The newsstand variants I like most are the UK editions from the 60s to early 80s. Not the weekly reprints but legitimate monthly editions that were identical in every respect except for the cover price - and Marvel All-Colour Comics where Marvel Comics Group used to be.

Like these two copies starting from the left.



These are my copies by the way, and I always try to pick up the UK editions when I can.