Low Pop for Value CPVs
I approached the question of CPV rarity as a value to population ratio among high valued CPVs and ranked our guide universe by this metric. Here's the resulting 50 lowest pop for value CPVs ...
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Rare Comics Blog Article Archive: APVs, CPVs, Newsstand, Pence, Price Variants Galore, & General Comics Topics
Browse every article, market report, mini-guide, slideshow, and comic book content for collectors that has ever appeared or been linked on the Rare Comics Blog, including commentary from past and present CPV Price Guide collaborators and outside contributors.
Articles and reports represent the views of their individual authors. Use the controls below to browse by date, author, or category.
177 articles and reports
2026
Archie Phase Three CPVs: Eric Rom Cracks the Case
For years, the post-1997 Archie CPV trail looked like a handful of stray Sonic examples. Eric Rom followed the clues to a pattern much bigger than a few random books ...
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Canadian Price Variants and GPAnalysis.com (2026 Update)
The 2025 average CGC sales prices for books with both CPV and regular sales have reflected multipliers as follows — CGC 9.8: 2.5x · CGC 9.6: 1.6x · CGC 9.4: 1.5x ...
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Canadian Price Variants and the CGC Census (2026 Update)
The CGC Census reported percentages of CPV books for Marvel and D.C. Comics in the 1980s is currently 2.8% and 3.1%, respectively ...
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Superman #75 (1993): Newsstand Variants Versus the Rest
In 1992, DC Comics came up with an idea that would result in the single highest sales day in comic book history: the “Death of Superman”...
Read article »2025
CGC Signature Series: Astonishing Cover Price Variant Rarity
A collecting angle which can add absolutely astonishing levels of rarity to a cover price variant and is activated by the collector themselves: the addition of CGC Signature Series ...
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Top CGC Grades For Top Canadian Price Variants
After all these years, it finally happened: Saga of the Swamp Thing #37 now has a CGC 9.8 on record, leaving only three of the top ten CPVs lacking 9.8s — Batman #423, Blip #1, and Vampirella #113 ...
Read article »2024
Remembering Bill Alexander
Heaven has a new super hero. Goodbye for now ol' friend ...
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Light Musings of a Native CPV Guy
For what it's worth, I'll spill a couple things I've noticed over the last few years of searching out CPVs in the wild and at cons. These are my observations and YMMV ...
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A Guide to CPVs Featuring Industry Experts Sulipa, Holland & Virone
If you went to the comic shop and you bought your books and you put them in a box and you kept them in a closet, you haven't done something special, you've done the common thing, you've done what everybody else did ...
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Canadian Price Variants (CPVs) and GPAnalysis.com (2024 Update)
The year-to-date 2024 average CGC sales prices for the top 100 books with a CPV have reflected multipliers of: CGC 9.8 - 2.9x; CGC 9.6 - 1.8x; CGC 9.4 - 1.5x; CGC 9.2 - 1.4x ...
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Canadian Price Variants (CPVs) and the CGC Census (2024 Update)
The CGC Census reported percentages of CPV books for Marvel and D.C. Comics in the 1980s is currently 2.8% and 3.0%, respectively ...
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Eleven CPV Picks I Absolutely Love
Like I've been saying, last issues are where it's at and this gem is no exception ...
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ChatGPT Explains Why You Should Collect Canadian Price Variants (CPVs)
Marrying these two worlds together — the generative AI world and the actual human expert world — perhaps will amplify the message, making even clearer the collectible appeal of CPVs ...
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LEGO/DC Bionicle Comic Series Canadian Price Variants
As a comic collector, and specifically a variant collector, I silently set aside extra copies of the Bionicle comic line which coincidentally have cover price variants ...
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From "F.O.M.O." (Fear of Missing Out) to F.O.L.M. (Fear of Losing More)
2024 has been a banner year when it comes to scandals with a 3rd party grading company known as CGC, which still sting investors and collectors to this day ...
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The Overstreet Guide to Grading Comics, Sixth Edition
Published within the pages of The Overstreet Guide to Grading Comics, Sixth Edition, Jon's newest article updates his 2010 epic about different kinds of variants (which to date marks the longest article ever published in the Overstreet Price Guide) ...
Open PDF »2023
From Pandemic Boom to Bust in Comics
In reality all sales prices appear to be returning to what they once were in January of 2020 right before sales prices went nuts ...
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2023, A Period of Adjustment
The market for CPVs doesn't look to have been as drastically affected as the comic market overall ...
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2023 PNJ Comics Canadian Price Variant Market Report
Prices came crashing down hard and fast on 99% of the comic book market ...
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Marvel UK Price Variants: My Part in Their Downfall
A rare book with a nice acquisition story. It doesn't get much better than that ...
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Canadian Price Variants (CPVs) and GPAnalysis.com (2023 Update)
The year-to-date 2023 average CGC sales prices for the top 100 books with a CPV have reflected multipliers of: CGC 9.8 - 2.3x; CGC 9.6 - 1.8x; CGC 9.4 - 1.7x; CGC 9.2 - 1.4x ...
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Canadian Price Variants (CPVs) and the CGC Census (2023 Update)
The CGC Census reported percentages of CPV books for Marvel and D.C. Comics in the 1980s is currently 2.7% and 3.0%, respectively ...
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Newly Added CGC First Appearance Label Credits
Five important issues CGC changed, plus three they should ...
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Is It Time to Stop Looking and Start Buying?
I cannot tell you how many times I track books I want to buy and later discover that they settled in the USA ...
Read article »2022
Charlton Canadian Price Variants (CPVs)
They're not the easiest set of variants to collect and some appear to be quite scarce. I love Charlton myself, so will be slowly picking off those remaining books until I hopefully one day complete the set ...
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X-Factor #38 $1.00 Cover Price Variant
Even though this is a Type 1B price variant, "thinking Type 1A" is how I actually found one myself ...
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Jon's Views Prevailing (Again)
Long-time readers may already be familiar with Jon McClure's once-"controversial" stance on the Tattooz inside of Amazing Spider-Man #238, with Jon advocating that their absence should not cause an "INCOMPLETE" label ...
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Newsstand (And in Turn Canadian Price Variant) Awareness Is Exploding
Now is a great time to buy key CPV books in high certified grade at incredibly low bargain prices ...
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Canadian Price Variants: Thoughts & Perspective
The comparison that comes to mind, at least for me, is that in the middle of the chaos, the CPV market turned out to be the CD of the investment market as opposed to openly traded stocks ...
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2022 PNJ Comics Canadian Price Variant Market Report
It was not easy to predict what would become more expensive because conventional economics didn't drive pricing in collectibles during the pandemic and especially in a niche area such as Canadian Price Variants ...
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UKPVs: The Persisting Public Perception That Seems to Defy Demonstrable Data
The disrespect is real. But why? ...
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Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice
With all the recent talk of a planned sequel for the Beetlejuice movie this line of six issues is likely to have the biggest potential rise in value of all the 90's Harvey comics that they released ...
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The A, B, & C Titles Among Canadian Price Variants
In many cases, that is the deciding factor in my opinion: the availability of certain books, regardless of their significance, is the driving factor in their value ...
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Harvey CPV Price Guide (2023 Edition)
This year I've provided guide values for each of the Harvey CPVs ...
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Whitman 1984 CPV Price Guide (2023 Edition)
Since these are KIDS comics, very few exist in 9.0 or better, with Almost NO Copies Yet Graded by CGC ...
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What Should I Buy This Year?
A growing segment of the collecting community is discovering the desirability and true scarcity of CPV's and now they want to own a piece of the pie ...
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Applause To CGC Now Recognizing Newsstand (And Multi-Pack) Comics!
“CGC is pleased to announce the identification of newsstand editions and multi-packs, beginning September 26, 2022. Because of their rarity, newsstand editions and multi-packs have been increasingly sought out by comic collectors in recent years, making the recognition of this attribute an important component of certification.” — CGC Comics ...
Read article »2021
Saga of the Swamp Thing: 1st John Constantine Appearance
Let’s start with a game: I’ll show you twelve images, and you mentally mark which ones you recognize as John Constantine. From your selections, we’ll learn where you stand on the true first appearance of John Constantine in comics ...
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The Hottest CPVs of 2021
I've always felt Spidey and Star Wars are the two easiest CPV's to find, as it should be, as these were immensely popular titles during that time. But in high grade, most of the Star Wars CPVs are still extremely elusive ...
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CaptCan Comics 2021 CPV Market Report
We have become known for our selection of Canadian Price Variants & intend to continue expanding our CPV inventory ...
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CPVs: The Even Rarer Newsstand Choice
I attribute a lot of the growth in our guide's website usage to one of the ...
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CPV Market Report: Year In Review
The gap between certified 9.6 and 9.8 books in what they sell for, is still continuing to grow wider and wider. At comic book auction houses, I have noticed that some certified 9.8 graded copies of popular key books are sometimes ...
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2021 Canadian Price Variant Market Report
Much like the rest of the comic market I believe we're seeing the threshold begin to lower in terms of what constitutes an acceptable grade. Collectors are realizing that there are some CPVs that are out of their price range in the higher grades ...
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Canadian Price Variants And Overstreet's Top 25 Copper Age Comics
I predict with confidence, if the economy holds up, Key CPV's will break many more records given that new collectors as well as seasoned ones, not yet into this space, develop a better understanding of their true potential ...
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First Appearance of Spider-Man 2099: Don’t Forget Web of Spider-Man #90!
Interestingly, Web of Spider-Man #90 actually pre-dates Amazing Spider-Man #365 by a full month, and inside its pages we see Spider-Man 2099 appearing on a large 3 page gatefold poster! ...
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The Overstreet Grading Guide, Staple Replacement, and ASM 238 Tattooz
Something I read in the grading guide left me “with more questions than answers”: “Any staple can be replaced on books up to Fine, but only vintage staples can be used on books from Very Fine to Near Mint. Mint books must have original staples” ...
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Will NFTs Be Part Of The Future Of Comic Book Collecting?
In a recent discussion with one of my fellow CPV Price Guide collaborators about the broad market for collectibles, I made an off-hand mention of “NFTs” … and the response was: What are NFTs, is that something I should know about? ...
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Spider-Man #1 (1990): Newsstand Variants Versus The Rest
Today I’m going to dig into the various versions of Todd McFarlane’s 1990 classic, Spider-Man #1 (a “Classic Cover” if there ever was one!) ...
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Lists Of Key Comics By Year/Decade
My popular lists of key comics by age/decade/year, now re-done with CGC label notes included! ...
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CBCS Population Report: A Quick Guide To Understanding Newsstand, Direct, and CPV Census Numbers
Here’s a quick guide to demystifying the CBCS census when it comes to 1980’s comics that were published in three different types (direct edition, regular cover price newsstand, and higher cover price newsstand for the Canadian market) ...
Read article »2020
Collecting CPVs for Profit
The CPV window was open for a considerable period of time and encompassed an incredibly fertile period of game changing imagination and innovation in the industry. There are so many keys to choose from during this era, a more detailed examination is called for ...
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Welcome to CPV Price Guide #4!
In today's age of an endless supply of 'manufactured-rarity' retailer incentive variants we could choose to take home, many of which collectors are asked to shell out $25-$50+ to own, it is so nice by contrast to have a universe of 'naturally-occurring' Type 1A price variants within the world of 1980's (and 1990's) newsstand comics ...
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Market Report + Dell and Archie CPVs 1951-1959
It appears there has been a big noticeable increase in demand for newsstand edition comics versus direct edition comics especially with certified 9.8 grade comics published from 1979 on ...
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Amazing Spider-Man #238 Remains the King of CPVs
This year we saw unprecedented sales, some of which were record highs and others that are so consistent that they firmly established the fact that mainstream collectors have accepted and embraced CPVs as an unquestionably legitimate part of the hobby ...
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My Take on the Market 2020
Bob Overstreet used to preach the slow and steady approach, which I'm not a huge fan of, when a book goes up and is trading for a higher amount, my feeling is that the book should show significant upward momentum in my survey. But unlike Bob who rarely went backwards on values, we are a small unit who still are early enough into this where we can make corrections where need be ...
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From a Seller's Perspective...
I started classifying comics as CPVs about 12 years ago. At first, I was surprised to see that roughly 80% of all my sales were predominantly from fellow Canadians. Now that CPVs are more mainstream, I would estimate that about 65% of my CPV sales goes to the States and this percentage continues to rise ...
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Where Have All the Cartoon Books Gone?
The demand for Gladstone, Archie and Harveys are still in its infancy. The growth potential in CPV values for these 3 publishers is massive in my personal opinion especially given that most 30-40 year olds are familiar enough with most of the properties to feel comfortable and nostalgic enough to begin investing in them ...
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Get Them Now or Chase Them Later
Given the fact that regular newsstand copies for key Copper and Modern age books are now selling at multiples to their direct edition counterparts, I strongly believe and predict that KEY CPV's in the highest grades are presently under-valued as newsstand price variants because they are the scarcest of the first printings ...
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PNJ Comics 2020 Canadian Price Variant Market Report
People need to remember the distribution channels for these books was not speciality shops with owners wearing white gloves carefully laying them out for the fine art crowd to come and carefully handle. These books were stuffed into unforgiving newsstands and spinner racks in convenience stores and grocery stores with employees unloading them with the same care as tossing tin cans of corn onto a store shelf ...
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Overstreet Price Guide #50 Full Market Report
I have long argued that Type 1A variants of all eras would climb in interest due to scarcity ...
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Whitman 1984 Canadian Price Variants
These are Quite Rare in High Grade, with 9.2 copies worth $75.00 or more each ...
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The Story of the Wawa Collection
When he opened the door, Craig and I were speechless ...
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That Newsstand Comic You Didn’t Know You Owned May Be Worth Over $8000
Screenshots show both copies had the same grade assigned by CGC at 9.8 and both were sold around the same time, in June of 2020. So what made one of them worth a full $6,700 more than the other? ...
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Newsstand Rarity By Year: CBCS Census
There is a treasure trove of new newsstand vs. direct edition population data that goes beyond what we can study over on the CGC census ...
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Applause To CBCS Releasing Their Census!
CBCS announced their long-awaited census — or “Population Report” as they are calling it — revealing the counts and grades for each of the books that have passed through their doors ...
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Collecting Comics During The Coronavirus Pandemic
You’re getting dozens of ‘Coronavirus letters’ these days in your inbox; here’s one more! ...
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Harvey Canadian Price Variants
Everyone knows about Marvel's 35¢ cover price variants from 1977 (Type 1), but few know that Harvey published 35¢ Type 1A cover price variants in 1974 ...
Read article »2019
No Month Variants / Pre-Pack Editions / Whitman 3-Pack Variants
The Wonder Woman v2 #1 “No Month Variant,” the Batman #357 “Pre-Pack Edition,” and the Spectacular Spider-Man #27 “3-Pack Variant” have three different variant names on slabs but all share several common attributes including: (a) multi-pack distribution, and (b) no cover month ...
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CPV Census: Most Actives Table
A lot of the big DC Canadian Price Variant comics are shockingly hard to find compared against Marvel ...
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Notable Sales, Archie "Phase 1" CPVs, and Widening 9.8 Premiums
CPVs, and Widening 9.8 Premiums By Bill Alexander — ...
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Fun, Frustration and General Observation
Regardless of which perspective one may have about CPVs, there's no doubt and no denying that they're becoming a greater force in the mainstream of comic collecting ...
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First-To-Market CPV Keys Seeing Exceptionally Strong Sales
If you can achieve being first to market with the highest certified copy of even a semi-key book you can almost set your price ...
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CPVs Are Hot on ICE
Can you believe, with how hot this book has been, that it's now been almost 4 years since an Amazing Spider-Man #238 CPV has sold in 9.8? ...
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2019 in Review
Once a niche topic, CPV discussion has exploded on comic forums everywhere in the last few years ...
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State of the CPV Market
It's interesting to see well known collectors who never fully got into Canadian Price Variant comics now entering the space paying big bucks for top graded key issues ...
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The "Quebec Effect" on the Supply of CPVs
The Quebec Effect definitely would have had some noteworthy directional impact on the "big picture" rarity characteristics for Canadian Price Variant comics ...
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Australian Price Variants ("APVs")
Marvel published these awesome Australian Price Variants in the 1990's, encompassing keys like New Mutants #98 & ASM #361.
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CPV Discussions In Overstreet #49 Market Reports
Excerpts of OPG reports from Conan Saunders, Jay Halstead, Marc Sims, Jim McCallum, Dr. Steven Kahn, Steve Ricketts, Ben Nabonog, Joseph Fiore, Tim Bildhauser, Brock Dickinson, Jon McClure, Paul Clairmont, and Doug Sulipa.
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Kurt Halvorsen Newsstand Finds
Check out these cool finds courtesy of Kurt Halvorsen including newsstand issues with bar-code-on-the-front similar to Amazing Spider-Man v2 #36, finds among Marvel’s 70th Anniversary Magazines, as well as Daredevil Volume 2, Marvel Knights, Citizen V, Hulk Smash, and Banner!
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Archie Canadian Price Variants
Sharing Sal's research into Archie Canadian Price Variants of the 1980's and 1990's.
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Applause to CGC Now Labeling Type 1A's as "Canadian Price Variant", "Australian Price Variant", and "UK Price Variant"
Starting May 2019, CGC now dignifies our Type 1A's with price variant labels!
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Marvel Annual Newsstand Numbering: Uncanny X-Men
Recently I was part of a research conversation where we were looking into an aspect of 1993 Marvel annuals, specifically the newsstand copies of those annuals, and as it turns out there’s an interesting newsstand numbering phenomenon at Marvel for their annuals that I wanted to document ...
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ThunderCats #1 True Canadian Price Variant vs. 75¢ "Logo" Copies
Angelo and I investigate the ThunderCats #1 situation.
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Top Comics Published By Month
A month by month exploration of issues published during the CPV window.
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Archie Canadian/Pence Price Variants and the Betty's Diary #36 Mystery
We're all used to single-price Type 1A's, but Archie published these cool dual-priced Candian/Pence copies!
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Gladstone Canadian Price Variants
Sharing Sal's research into Gladstone Canadian Price Variants of the 1980's and 1990's.
Read article »2018
Pence Price Variant Issue Guide (Marvel & DC)
An introduction and issue guide to U.K. Price Variants published by Marvel & DC.
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Record-Breaking 2018 Sales for Canadian Price Variants
2018 saw many record breaking and high end sales for Canadian price variants in the hobby ...
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Price Variants and the International Collector
One of the main styles of collecting comics, that is growing in popularity, is assembling what is referred to as a set ...
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A Common-Sense Approach To Understand Canadian Price Variant Scarcity
Here is a simple and very common-sense approach to understand the scarcity of Canadian Price Variant comics ...
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Canadian Whites and Type 1A Variant Perspective
I would advise collectors in Canada to zoom out and keep the 'big picture' in mind when it comes to Type 1A variant scarcity ...
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A Short History in Comics: 35 Cent Cover Price Variants and Various Reminiscences
It's been a fun and challenging ride so far, and I think it's just getting started for Type 1a Variants, so sit back and enjoy the fireworks ...
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Two Ways to Win Update
When collecting any given key comic book issue, it is better to have two ways to win, than just one ...
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Canadian Newsstand Cover Price VARIANTS 2018-2019 Market Report
Canadian Newsstand Cover Price VARIANT editions, were easily our #1 bestselling VARIANTS of the year ...
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Comic Book Table Talk: Predict, Invest, Collect!
Introducing my personal method when investing: I call it my ' Comic Score Card ' ...
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The 2019 Price Guide for 1980’s Marvel & DC Newsstand Canadian Cover Price Variants (Type 1A)
The second edition of our price guide to Canadian Price Variant newsstand comics of the 1980's ...
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Applause To CBCS's New "75¢ Canadian Price Variant" Labeling
CBCS beats CGC to the punch, changing their treatment of Type 1A price variants to now carry price variant labels!
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Savage Dragon #156 Herb Trimpe Variant
Retailer incentive variants are an interesting “category” of comic book collectibles: instead of their rarity attributes occurring “naturally,” retailer incentive variants meanwhile have a “manufactured rarity”...
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6 Epic CGC Labeling Blunders Of Price Variant Comics And What We Can Learn From Them
Off the bat, the very first thing I would like to state is that I am a fan of CGC, a customer of CGC, and I would not hesitate to recommend CGC to others. And, I believe that everybody makes mistakes ...
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How Many Amazing Spider-Man Stan Lee CGC SS Books Exist?
Stan Lee will live forever through his incredible creations and stories. He gave so many gifts to comic collectors; and one of those gifts was the way he embraced the CGC Signature Series. [11/30/2018 update - How Many Stan Lee CGC Signature Series Books Exist?] ...
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The “Cover Swipe Test”: 2 More Price Variant Keys Passing It
The “Cover Swipe Test” is the idea that for a past important comic book cover, being cover swiped is an excellent test of being deserving of future Classic Cover status down the road ...
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Voltron #1-3, Type 1A $1.00 Cover Price Variants
Modern published the Voltron mini-series in 1985 (which was based on the original Japanese anime television show). And as we know, Voltron is today back on TV as a hit Netflix series ...
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures: VideoMedia and Archie
A reader brought to my attention the existence of TMNT Adventures comic books that were distributed along with cassette tapes in Canada, by VideoMedia. These are counterpart to the US version distributed by Random House ...
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Three Variants That Surprised Me
Thanks to the help of users of 2018 guide, we have gotten reports of titles that we missed — one of those titles really surprised me and motivated me to make this post! ...
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2017
CGC 9.8 Census Comparison: 1970's Keys vs. 1980's Keys
A fascinating comparison, looking into the CGC census data.
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Amazing Spider-Man #238: The Tattooz Situation
The most conversation-provoking advisor note in the 2018 guide was contributed by Jon McClure, about Amazing Spider-Man #238, arising from the Tattooz situation. This is a situation with lots of interesting facts and also interesting thought angles ...
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"Canadian Edition" vs. "Canadian Price Variant"
2017 article laying out the case for why grading companies needed to change their labeling to "Canadian Price Variant".
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The 2018 Price Guide for 1980’s Marvel & DC Newsstand Canadian Cover Price Variants (Type 1A)
The hobby's first price guide to Canadian Price Variant newsstand comics of the 1980's ...
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The Orange Cat Phenomenon (and Canadian Price Variants)
Taking my family to the zoo is always a fun outing, and during the car ride today we were listening to a podcast answering frequently asked questions about animals — specifically, cats… And one caller asked: “Is it true that all orange cats are male? And if so, why?” ...
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Applause To CPG Accepting $3.99 Cover Price Variants Into The Price Guide!
Up until now CPG hadn’t weighed in yet… but that has just changed ...
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Amazing Spider-Man #400: Understanding The Real Newsstand Edition
Amazing Spider-Man #400: I’ve been asked about this particular issue so frequently, and I’ve found there is so much misinformation out there about it online, that I concluded the situation demands a “reference article” ...
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30 More Newsstand Census Variants Confirmed at CGC Since Year-End
I think of this list as a good “hunting grounds” for interesting comics to collect… because it is always interesting to see what other people are submitting! ...
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$2.99 Newsstand Edition CGC Census Variants, and, “Partial Cover Price Variations” ($1.99 Newsstands Too!)
A cover price difference between two copies of the same issue is something all collectors can naturally (and quickly) comprehend and relate to: it very clearly makes those copies different from the rest of the print run ...
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AUS Price Variants (Australian Newsstand Editions)
This is “Part II” of my look at Marvel’s 1990’s-era AUS price variants (Australian newsstand editions), a fascinating “class” of first-print, US-published cover price variants targeted to the Australian market — specifically to Australian newsstands ...
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DC Rebirth, $3.99 Newsstand Editions
DC’s late-modern newsstand cover price variant window would encompass their “Rebirth” phenomenon, as well as some other interesting recent comics ...
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What If Venom Possessed Wolverine? (New Avengers #35, $3.99 Newsstand Edition)
New Avengers #35 features the first “Venomized” Wolverine, with an absolutely amazing cover by Leinil Francis Yu ...
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What If Venom Possessed Deadpool? What If There Was A Rare Cover Price Variant?
Venom/Deadpool: What If #1 is truly one of the exceptional stand-out comics within this “class” of variants, on account of the low numbers in play ...
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95¢ and $1.00 DC Price Variants: How Do We Know What They Are?
A fascinating phenomenon inside the indicia pages of these DC price variants!
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Daredevil #21, $3.99 Newsstand Edition (Superior Spider-Man Cameo)
A lot of the collectors who purchased this comic did so at the urging of Superior Spider-Man creator Dan Slott, who tweeted the following about it: “Surprise! Superior Spider-Man's 1st official appearance is in Daredevil #21 by Mark Waid & Chris Samnee!”...
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66 New Canadian Price Variants Confirmed at CGC Since Year-End, a 16% Increase
What this surprising recent growth in the number of issues with confirmed price variants on record at CGC shows me, is just how “young” this entire “class” of variants really is in terms of the hobby paying attention to them and submitting them to CGC ...
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Applause to CBCS Now Recognizing Newsstand Comics!
“This is just one more way for CBCS to help lead comic collectors into the future of this great hobby.” — Steve Borock, CBCS President ...
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X-Men Annual #14 (1st Gambit Debate)
There’s an interesting debate in the comic collecting world, over the 1st appearance of Gambit; in this post I will investigate and weigh in ...
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7 Variants Destined For Future Classic Cover Status
Future classic cover contenders [companion cover swipes slideshow] ...
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“Why are newsstand comics worth more?”
The WordPress stats page tells me that someone found my blog today by searching the web on this phrase ...
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“Nice book, too bad it’s a direct edition”
Newsstand awareness is quietly building like a snowball rolling down a mountain ...
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Lists of Key Comic Books by Year
Lists of key books by age, decade, year, and variant grouping [also see the updated version (2021) of these lists] ...
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Variant vs. Variant: Amazing Spider-Man #678 (Mary Jane Venom) vs. #607 (Black Cat $3.99 Cover Price)
Warning: I am about to compare a cover price variant, against an alternate-cover-artwork retailer incentive variant ...
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Darker Image #1 — Newsstand $1.95 Cover Price Variant (1st Maxx Appearance)
Figuring out the CGC credit for 1st appearance of the Maxx was something of an interesting mystery… I literally couldn’t find it at first! ...
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New Mutants #98 — $1.50 Cover Price Variant (1st Deadpool Appearance)
I begin this story with a bar code, the kind that appeared on 1990’s Marvel newsstand comics ...
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Type 1A Price Variants
Stepping back, what is a “Comic Book Variant” anyway? Here’s a great definition put forward by Jon McClure ...
Read article »2016
An Open Letter To Overstreet
C’mon guys, well past time to break out newsstand comics in the guide, especially 1980’s cover price variants ...
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Marvel Graphic Novel #4 — $5.95 Cover Price Variant (1st New Mutants Appearance)
The credit for 1st appearance of the New Mutants isn’t held by a regular-sized comic book… Rather, it is a graphic novel, by the name of “Marvel Graphic Novel,” issue #4 ...
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Amazing Spider-Man #252 75¢ “Canadian Edition” Variant: CGC Census Rarity Over Time
A reader by the name of Greg Holland reached out to introduce himself; he is the curator of a website by the name of CGCdata.com, and he had some thoughts for me about how I might make use of his website as a research tool ...
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Newsstand Rarity Discussions & Estimates
Why am I so interested in newsstand rarity estimates and discussions? To understand my way of thinking, I’ll have to set the stage for you… it all comes down to relative value ...
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Newsstand Variants, $3.99 Newsstand Editions, and The Doc Collection
The Doc Collection changed comic book history by giving us a whole new “class” of CGC-recognized variants where census data will separately track newsstand copies [also see: $2.29 & $2.49 price variants for ASMv2 #10, 11, & 13] ...
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1st Appearance of Krang in Comics
“While the comics were dark, gritty, and bloody, that’s not the type of TV series Wise wanted to make. The 1987 cartoon was going to be a kids show, so going full steam ahead with Japanese-style fighting wasn’t an option — which is why Wise opted to create the supervillain Krang as a way to alleviate the violence” ...
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The 75¢ Price Puzzle: Parallels To 35¢ Variants
The January 1998 article by Jon McClure in issue #55 of Comic Book Marketplace magazine is widely credited by collectors as the “catalyst” for widespread awareness of 35¢ price variants. I tracked down a hard copy of this magazine issue ...
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Hulk (2008) $3.99 Newsstand Editions
Hulk (2008) is an interesting title for cover price variant collectors to look at, with the title beginning its run during a cover price variant “window” at Marvel ...
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Canadian Price Variants — How To Spot Them
A practical guide for how to actually find/identify these variants out there in the marketplace ...
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Slideshow: Rare 1980’s Price Variants To Collect
A gallery/slideshow of a few CPV comic book examples I found particularly interesting ...
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Star Wars #1-4 35¢ Cover — Also, Other Price Variants You DIDN’T Know Existed!
Everyone, and I mean everyone who collects comics seems to be keenly aware of the 35¢ cover price variants of Star Wars #1-4 [related slideshow] ...
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D.C. Comics CPVs — Likely Only 2-7%
Although Canada has 1.6% more geographical area than the United States as measured in square kilometers, by population Canada is actually very small relative to the U.S., roughly the size of California, meaning that by population it was only 9.8% ...
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Newsstand vs. Direct Edition Comics
Newsstand vs. direct edition comics: an important distinction that all collectors should know about ...
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Amazing Spider-Man / Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man / Sensational Spider-Man
Strange but true: check out this fascinating newsstand UPC mis-identification phenomenon across these three titles ...
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Wolverine Limited Series #1 — Where Are The Newsstand Copies??
This post is prompted by a discussion I was having with a friend about which comic book version (direct edition or newsstand) is preferable to collect by year ...
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Spawn Newsstand Values Pulling Away From Direct Edition
With this kind of rarity difference compared to direct edition copies, it is no wonder we are seeing prices pull apart ...
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75 Cent Variants (Canadian Newsstand Editions)
Collectors of later bronze age and earlier copper age comic books may have encountered cover price variants when seeking out keys like Amazing Spider-Man #238 and #252 ...
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Savage Dragon Limited Series #1 Newsstand Edition
The first appearance of Savage Dragon credit is now given by CGC to Savage Dragon Limited Series #1 (Image Comics, 1992) ...
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Savage Dragon #137 (1st Obama Cover)
The reason the NY Times states that one in five copies will have the Obama cover is that the version with Obama on the cover is a “retailer incentive variant” ...
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Savage Dragon #1/2 w/Platinum Stamp
These Wizard 1/2 issues — which you can find out there for almost any comic book character — were mail-away offers, each one found within a particular issue of the Wizard guide ...
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Graphic Fantasy #2
The second of the Graphic Fantasy Fanzines (Ajax Comics), Graphic Fantasy #2 was self-published by Erik Larsen back in 1982 and featured the original incarnation of Savage Dragon (as The Dragon) ...
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Spawn #1 Newsstand Edition
Two recent occurrences reveal to comic book collectors the fact that newsstand edition copies of Spawn #1 are a low distribution rarity worth seeking for our collections ...
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Savage Dragon #102 (Invincible First Appearance)
Tech Jacket #1 contained a multi-page Invincible “preview” comic; and the publication date on Tech Jacket #1 is November 2002. However! Savage Dragon #102 also contains an Invincible Preview comic and was published in August of 2002 ...
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Spawn Batman Newsstand Edition
If you have been looking to collect this comic, perhaps in the process you have come across different versions of it… specifically, a “Newsstand Edition” variant ...
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Spawn #9 Newsstand Edition (1st Angela)
In the process of collecting the first appearance of Angela, perhaps you have come across a CGC graded copy of Spawn #9 (like the one pictured below) and noticed “Newsstand Edition” on the label. You might have wondered, why are newsstand copies considered a variant by CGC? What’s the difference? ...
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Savage Dragon #10 Newsstand Variant
In the Savage Dragon series, #10 marks the first issue where an alternate version with a variant cover was released; in this case the variant cover appeared on newsstand copies ...
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Rare Comics To Collect
My “manifesto” [and companion slideshow]: Your typical comic book “top ten” type list will profile specific interesting or rare comic books to collect. I am going to take it up a notch and give you my top collecting themes, each of which will lead you to new ideas for comics to add to your collection...
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Savage Dragon #30 Newsstand Edition (As Seen on TV Variant)
It was recently announced that Erik Larsen is joining Todd McFarlane on Spawn. Given this news, this next rare Savage Dragon comic book is a timely pick (and is a Spawn comic too) ...
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Spawn/The Savage Dragon #1 (1996)
Savage Dragon newsstand sales were losing money. The final newsstand issue was #30, which featured Spawn on the cover. Interestingly, the newsstand print run for this issue was given a different cover ...
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Comic Book Newsstand Editions: Understanding The Difference
In June of 1979, something happened in comics that would change everything — Marvel changed its ‘trade terms’ and standardized its distinct direct edition type comic books which were sold to specialty comic shops, at discounted prices but on a non-returnable basis ...
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Rust #1 Limited Edition (Pre-dates Spawn #1 and Malibu Sun #13)
The publication date is 4/1992 — as compared to 5/1992 for the lookup earlier on Malibu Sun #13 — and in the Key Comments field, CGC notes the bronze foil logo (which Limited Edition copies have) and “Full page “Spawn” ad by Todd McFarlane”...
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Spawn #1 Black & White Edition Variant
The Spawn #1 black and white edition, it was a retailer incentive attached to Spawn issue #65: buy 50 copies, get a black and white edition ...
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Graphic Fantasy #1 (First appearance of the “original” Savage Dragon)
For years, most of the industry credited Megaton #3 as the true first appearance of the original incarnation of the character. But in fact, The Dragon’s “original” appearance in a published comic book was actually in 1982, in Graphic Fantasy #1, a comic so rare that it has practically eluded the industry and collectors ...
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Creed / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 Blue/Bronze Subscriber Edition
Here is another blog entry on a non-Mirage TMNT comic book driven by reader interest in the comic. This time the publisher is Lightning Comics, the year is 1996, and the comic is Creed / Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 ...
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How To Draw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (Manufacturing Error)
The #1 question I’ve been asked by readers since I created this blog, is about Solson printing errors; specifically, people have contacted me inquiring about issue #2 of the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Training Manual” series, and about issue #1 of “How To Draw Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” ...
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles v2 #13 (Error Edition)
The misprinted batch of TMNT v2 #13 hit the stands with the back cover art used for the front cover, and vice versa. If you were to hold a copy in your hands today, you might think you were looking at something called “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Crossover – Creed” ...
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Color Special #1 MISPRINT / Error Edition
Mirage invited long-time colorist Steve Lavigne to return and add his ”blazing hues” to this classic. This would have been collectible enough for collectors as it was. But Mirage gave us one final gift, a misprint variant to collect ...
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 Second Printing MISPRINT / Manufacturing Error Edition
In May of 1987, Mirage Studios sent two comic book issues to the printer at the same time. The “Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1” and a second printing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #4 ...
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3 NYCC “Laird’s Photo” Variant
Heading up to the 1985 New York Comic Con, Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird printed 500 ”advance copies” of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #3 to sell in New York at the convention ...
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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 (first print 1984)
The one that started it all: the May, 1984 original first printing of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1, by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird ...
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