Addendum.
I saw the additional responses to yesterday’s post this morning as I was putting up my latest entry, but had no time to respond as I was off to the dentist. So, I thought I’d try your patience with some additional responses.
Commenter Mark (of Chaosmonkey fame) asked about Marvel’s “deluxe/newsstand” editions of their X-Men line of comics from a few years back. Commenter Bob’s response is correct…the “deluxe” $1.95 edition, printed on the slick paper, was released about two weeks before the $1.50, printed on the non-slick paper, edition. I believe Marvel’s statement on the matter was that they were testing the market, to see which edition readers, and retailers, preferred. Unsurprisingly, the one that came out first sold the best, since most X-fans didn’t want to wait half a month to read the latest installment of their mutant adventures, and the $1.50 editions were done away with in short order.
Commenter Chris (from Matter Eater Blog) makes his attempt to break my brain by asking me to explain the whole Wasteland multiple-cover boondoggle. The Grand Comic Book Database has explanations in the entries for issue 5 and issue 6. Basically, #5 came out with the cover to #6 wrapped around it…it was reprinted with the correct cover, and the real #6 was released with a blank cover to (heh) avoid confusion. By the way, as a retailer, dealing with this sort of thing really sucks.
To pal Evilbeard…I haven’t responded to your e-mail because I’m not sure how any answer I can give you could improve on the question itself! (I believe Hawkgirl would indeed shout out “Caw! Caw! Caw!” at that, er, moment.)
And, to Chaz…yeah, that’s the problem with some of the really eye-catching covers, particularly in the case of Superman #204. The contents didn’t always live up to the cover. You see that dynamic Neal Adams cover, and inside…generic late-60s Superman art. Not terrible, really, but it just suffers in comparison to that fantastic cover.
