Don't Rush 2! No Jackie Chan but maybe some Tom Foolery.

Good day Barragers,

I hope this post finds you well. Forgive me as I play with the format some trying to find a better way to show off images and text in unison. Hostinger is kinda clunky and I'm sure I'm not going about this in the best manner to make these reads easy on desktop and mobile users. Whatever the case landscape and widen your screen seems to fix any visual layout issues.

Crazy to think we're in the closing months of 2026 already. In reflection, I thought back on what my focus gravitated towards for collecting over the year. Seems like it has been wayyyy harder to find gems in those nooks and crannies, IE antique stores, flea markets etc. The things that slip by are the obscure, which in and of itself is good for those who have sight beyond sight :). Now let me flip that keen eye concept, what I've also had to educate myself on are all the ways the industry has gimick'd us into spending our money.

On that note, I wanted to speak to some problem areas the average Joe might be ignorant to. Thus provide insight to help yall be mindful so you don't buy something erroneously.

I'll start off with one of my flub's.

1. Michael Turner's - Vampirella Strikes #1

I hate that I got back into comics after the Turner era, he's still one of my favorite artists and I buy his work whenever I find it. I was wondering the ol eBay and came across a Vamp Strikes #1 for 35 bucks I was like whaaaaa. FOMO... so I bit fast to buy now given that's a steal.... Yeh, then the hunter side of me kicked in. I noticed after the fact, that hey... 21 of 35 sold. Red Flagg (yes double G, Stephen King level horror) immediately... I knew I made an ignorant error.

EDUCATION : (Learning 4 Yourself > Listening 2 Others)

Vampirella Strike's #1 had a 1:35 virgin variant back in 2013, this was deemed a Vol.1 since it was Dynamite's first published volume using this name. Harris Comics released the original Strikes Vol.1 back in 1995. A Vol.2 was put out by Dynamite for this title in 2022 that had a 1:15 variant of the same cover. They are identical cover wise, aside from MAYBE a background shading variance, I can't be for certain without having both copies to do a side by side in person comparison.

To make this more confusing, CLZ comic database lists the 1:15 as Vol.3 Oo

Whatever the case, this 1:35 has been deemed to be pretty scarce if we go off KeyCollector pricing. But let’s prove it over believe it.

Let's assume a comic has a 1:25 incentive variant, and the estimated total print run for that issue across all covers is 40,000 copies.

• Step 1: Determine the ratio total. For every 25 standard copies, there is 1 variant. Total unit block (25 + 1 = 26)

• Step 2: Calculate the scarcity percentage.
  Take you fractional math of (1/26 = 0.0384 or 3.84%)

• Step 3: Calculate the total variant count. Multiply the total volume by the percentage. (40,000 x 0.0384  = 1,536 copies)
  

In this scenario, the 1:25 variant makes up roughly 3.84% of the total volume, meaning a maximum of 1,536 copies exist.

In our case, I yoinked the total estimated units off ComicCron. For the 1:35 It shows a total estimated units sold of 14,862. If we do the math.

35 + 1  = 36

1 / 36  = 0.0278

14,862 x 0.0278  = 413.164

So for our scenario this incentive only produced 413 copies. Oo

Ok so we confirmed it’s definitely a rareiant (tm :)). Sadly after 2020 even comicchron gets foggy in terms of total sales volumes.

To make things even worse ... inside the cover of the 1:15 you get the following details. That show this issue is VOL.1.... whomp whomp, the deciding factor is the release date year of 2022. Remember the 1:35 was dropped in 2013. Two very identical issues, 2 very different prices and rarities.

2. Marvel Value Stamps

Wow, great price on that Hulk 180/181... ohhhhh its missing its Marvel Value Stamp. IE its a damaged copy. Hope you checked before hand.

EDUCATION :

Purpose of the Stamps :

2 Sets: There were two main series—Series A featured 100 individual character stamps, while Series B (released later) featured stamps that formed puzzle images.

• Collection: Readers clipped these stamp-like boxes featuring Marvel heroes and villains from the letters pages of monthly comics.
  

• Redemption: Fans glued or taped the stamps into a special mail-order booklet (which cost 50 cents).
  

• Perks: A completed booklet entitled the owner to exclusive merchandise, posters, and discounts on comic book convention admissions.
  

• Sales Boost: Stan Lee famously noted that if fans had to cut up their comic books to get the stamps, they would simply have to buy a second copy

Damaged Issues: Because readers actually cut the stamps out of the pages, surviving vintage comic issues with their stamps intact (or unclipped) are much scarcer and more valuable today. Worse when they didn't have scissors....

Now this is a tough grouping of issues to summarize, I wanted to bump this old blog post that did a pretty good job of gathering the data. Thanks Bobarian!

• NOTE : Conflicting numbers as to how many titles had a MVS. Do your due diligence to make sure no damaged pages or look specifically for an issue to see if it had an MVS page.

• For instance Bob said 412, Google says over 9000.. I mean 300, and KeyCollector only lists 144.

Last edited July 28, 2014 3:07:24 pm

MARVEL VALUE STAMP BOOKS (412 books total) ...
• Adventure into Fear, vol.1: #21-26, 31 (7 books)
• Amazing Adventures, vol.1: #23, 24, 26, 27, 33, 34 (6 books)
• Amazing Spider-Man, vol.1: #130-141, 144-147, 152, 154, 156, 157 (20 books)
• Astonishing Tales, vol.1: #23-28, 33 (7 books)
• Avengers, vol.1: #121-132, 143, 144, 147, Giant-Size #3 (16 books)
• Captain America, vol.1: #171-182, 184, 192-195, 197, 198 (19 books)
• Captain Marvel, vol.1: #32-36, 41-43 (8 books)
• The Champions, vol.1: #3-5 (3 books)
• Conan the Barbarian, vol.1: #36-44, 49, 59, 60, 62 (13 books)
• Creatures on the Loose, vol.1: #28-33, 36 (7 books)
• Daredevil, vol.1: #108-118, 120, 127, 129-132, 134, 136 (19 books)
• The Defenders, vol.1: #13, 15-17, 19, 20, 23, 31-33, 35, 37, 38, Giant-Size #3 (14 books)
• Doctor Strange, vol.2: #1-6, 12, 13 (8 books)
• Fantastic Four, vol.1: #144-147, 149-155, 159, 160, 166-168, 170, Giant-Size #4 (18 books)
• Frankenstein, vol.1: #9-14, 16 (7 books)
• Ghost Rider, vol.1: #5-9, 11, 16, 18 (8 books)
• Giant-Size Creatures featuring Werewolf: #1 (1 book)
• Giant-Size Dracula: #5 (1 book)
• The Incredible Hulk, vol.1: #174-177, 179-184, 186, 195-200 (17 books)
• The Inhumans, vol.1: #3, 6 (2 books)
• The Invaders, vol.1: #1, 3, 4, 7 (4 books)
• Iron Fist, vol.1: #1, 3, 4 (3 books)
• Iron Man, vol.1: #67-71, 81-84, 86-88 (12 books)
• Jungle Action, vol.1: #9-13, 20, 21 (7 books)
• Ka-Zar, vol.1: #2-6, 8, 10, 12, 15-17 (11 books)
• Kull the Destroyer, vol.1: #13-15 (3 books)
• Man-Thing, vol.1: #3-11, 13, 14, Giant-Size #3-5 (14 books)
• Marvel Feature, vol.1: #3 (1 book)
• Marvel Premiere, vol.1: #15-20, 23-25, 29, 30 (11 books)
• Marvel Spotlight, vol.1: #14-20, 26, 27 (9 books)
• Marvel Team-Up, vol.1: #19-30, 33, 39, 41-45 (19 books)
• Marvel Two-In-One, vol.1: #2-7, 12-15, 18 (11 books)
• Master of Kung-FU, vol.1: #17-19, 21-25, 31, 38, 39, Giant-Size #3 (12 books)
• Omega, vol.1: #1-3 (3 books)
• Power Man, vol.1: #18-21, 23, 24, 29, 32, 33 (9 books)
• Sgt. Fury, vol.1: #118-120 (3 books)
• Skull the Slayer, vol.1: #3, 4 (2 books)
• Son of Satan, vol.1: #1, 5 (2 books)
• Strange Tales, vol.1: #173-176 (4 books)
• The Sub-Mariner, vol.1: #69-72 (4 books)
• Supernatural Thrillers, vol.1: #8, 9, 11, 12 (4 books)
• Super-Villain Team-Up, vol.1: #4, 5 (2 books)
• Thor, vol.1: #221-229, 231, 232, 235, 237, 238, 243-246, 248, 249 (20 books)
• Tomb of Dracula, vol.1: #18-31, 34, 35, 37, 39-45 (24 books)
• War is , vol.1: #11, 13 (2 books)
• Werewolf by Night, vol.1: #15-17, 19-27 (12 books)
• Worlds Unknown, vol.1: #6-8 (3 books)

What about buying one of those stamp books you ask? That would be cool right?

Breakdown of the Stamps and Books

• The Stamp Book: Marvel issued a special 16-page mail-order booklet where collectors could paste their clipped stamps to earn convention and merchandise discounts. These booklets were numbered for reasons never fully explained by Marvel

• Series A Stamps: Featured 100 individual stamps of heroes and villains printed in various Marvel titles between March 1974 and December 1975 (found across 307 total comic issues).

• Series B Stamps: Featured another 100 stamps arranged into 10 separate puzzle images (10 stamps per puzzle), running from late 1975 through August 1976 (appearing in 110 comic issues).

These counts sum to 417, Bob was pretty darn close 12 year ago.

Finding the stamp books in good condition, partial or not including any stamps will run you 500+. More stamps in them and the better condition way more.

What's kinda interesting is you can still see people selling these pages for the stamps at like 15 per. I mean... you pay all that jack for a stamp book... it would be possible to finish it out which is pretty nuts IMO when you think about how many classic books would have to be chopped up to get a complete set. Lots of reader grades exist that would be perfect.

3. Ultimate Fallout #4

I feel Miles should have become either one of Apocalypse's horsemen, or one of Galactus heralds. Why... cause Miles was the kick start to singular powers are not enough. Spiderman needs tech, everyone gets a symbiotic suits that enhances them differently. Whatever the case, the OG hero structure was not super enough so we got a Spiderman 2.0. Now don't get me wrong I like Miles and the way they had him play out on screen was cemented him even more as a lovable character. The hard sell was hes everything Peter was with a bit more. Thus hes not been received as the Parker replacement I think they originally had hoped for.

With the focus being miles lets talk his first appearance in Ultimate Fallout #4.

We already talked about one sneaky reprint, lets talk about this one. Not all reprints are 98%/100% identical so we have to know what to watch for. When a book heats up later and the original numbers are low, demand = generate more supply. IE 26 variants of this issue.

The 2nd print no big deal easy to spot because they places Miles head in front of the title banner, where as its behind it in the 1st print. Also clearly shows 2nd print variant to the right of his face.

A tricky part is the barcode is incorrect. Its clearly the second print but shows a code of 00431, which suggests its a variant not a second printing. Read more here.

Here comes the tricky one and its found on a ton of books now days. The facsimile... I feel these have evolved to try and be even more deceiving as they have progressed. In the case of this issue 2 main difference pop out. One being the red marvel tag, 1st print its white. Second detail is the layout of the barcode (oddly numbered 00111), its tight to the left side whereas the 1st print its floating (00411).

4. Worse than Facsimile... La Mole...

The business of reprinting old keys isn't new. Like the Marvel Tales or Classics books.

The difference was those series had giant banners on them to reprint books pre-dating most of the more modern collectors. This new wave of reprint specific issues are sticking to obscure book covers / issues that might catch someones eye and play off their ignorance to what the original looked like. Luckily there are defining factors for many of these books but not all are straight forward. Notice how they retitle some so you can't find the original.

ALWAYS inspect your books closely, especially if you think its a steal... because it might be, but the wrong direction.

5. What's worse than La Mole... Replaced Covers.... IKR...

I was kinda shocked and I'm not sure why.. modern day replacement covers being printed and attached to older books. Be super careful because if we see books sold advertising them as such, you know the butt heads exist that are doing the work to make great counterfeits.

I really hope this helps someone, I wish you all the best and remember... proceed with caution. :)

God Bless,

DD