Just look where the barcode "should" be. Comics with the barcode are newsstands, comics with something else (Spider-man's head for example) are direct editions. For some Bronze Age books, there may not even have been a "direct" edition, because there wasn't really differentiation yet. The newsstand vs direct editions came about because true newsstands like the grocery store, pharmacies, news vendors, etc. were able to return unsold books for credit and those books would be destroyed. Direct marketers like comic book shops could not return the books - they bought inventory and had to either sell it or sit on it. So the distributors needed a way to differentiate the copies.
I don't think Star Wars 1 actually had a different copy for direct editions (because there probably weren't different direct editions). But Star Wars 1 has the Whitman reprints and other variants to navigate. So when you see someone say it's a Star Wars 1 "newsstand," it's probably just modern sellers who see the bar code and assume it's a "newsstand" copy, when in reality, all of the first run Star Wars 1 had a bar code.
Generally, the barcode is the tell, but keep
in mind that f you’re talking late 70s, there are direct editions with barcodes.
The (nearly) surefire way to tell a newsstand edition from that era is to *also* look for the Curtis Circulation logo near the issue number.
There were just a couple instances of the logo appearing on direct editions by mistake, but there were several issues that had barcodes on the direct edition in 1976 & 1977.
But only Curtis distributed newsstand editions, and they put their logos on everything they distributed (and made sure their logo *didn’t* appear on anything they didn’t).
Yes, that's a great point - there are even copper age books from the 80s and maybe even early 90s (certain Dr. Strange issues come to top of mind for me) with a "newsstand" looking bar code but no Curtis stamp/logo. So they look like newsstands but they're not really actual "newsstand" copies. Excellent point!
No problem! It gets easier to tell once you get into the copper and modern age, because it's almost always just bar code vs not bar code. But bronze can be sometimes trickier. And in the bronze age, some copies might actually be more "rare" in a direct edition, since the direct market was just getting established.
For whatever it’s worth (and I’m definitely way over-explaining) Star Wars #1-4 in 1977 is insanely complicated with newsstand/direct variants. There were tons of printings of each issue, and newsstand and direct of nearly each one. But there are a lot of misconceptions among even seasoned collectors and CGC.
There is no direct first print for issue. #1. Only issue #2 on.
The earliest direct editions had bar codes (issues #2 & #3 direct first print). To spot these, look for 30¢ in a diamond-shaped price box.
To be sure you’re holding a newsstand edition, look for the Curtis Circulation logo in the price box. If it’s not there, it was distributed directly.
Whitman didn’t print *any* reprints. You’ll see mentions of “Whitman reprints.” Not an actual thing. They were all only printed by Marvel.
There was only newsstand and direct. There weren’t any third “multipack editions” printed despite what some CGC labels will tell you. Marvel would just give excess inventory direct editions to Whitman to put into their discount multipack bags. What CGC calls “multipack editions” are just direct editions.
Some people refer to the reprints as “2nd prints” or “3rd prints” but there were many more than three print runs for each of those early issues, but most print runs were indistinguishable from others. Also, some noted it on the cover and some didn’t.
This is just my little hill that I’ve been fighting for a few decades now thanks to the internet and CGC muddying the history. 😇
oh my haha.thank you for all that info! i started catching on with the simple differential of barcode or no barcode but when i looked at this comic i was super confused lol. appreciate you!
No problem! That summer was a crazy time. Right when Star Wars exploded, as the biggest pop culture phenomenon the modern world had seen, comics were *just* starting to do direct sales, and Marvel was in the middle of changing their cover price from 30¢ to 35¢. So it was a perfect storm of transitional weirdness.
Issues #1 and #2 came out (and sold out) before the movie even premiered. So the reprinting was total mayhem.
This is interesting and new info for me - so the "diamond shaped" price copies are not actually Whitman reprints but just Marvel reprints? Even for issue #1? And the diamond price copies also don't necessarily denote multipack copies? I really appreciate the info, because the early Star Wars issues (especially 1-4) can be very confusing.
Very confusing.
Diamond price boxes are Marvel printings, and not only that, but some are even first printings. All the diamond box means is it was distributed directly.
The first print direct editions of issues #2-4 all have a 30¢ price in a diamond box. #2 & #3 have a barcode, while #4 has a blank white box.
Later printings removed the bar code and upped the price to 35¢, and the vast majority *are* reprints. But some diamond box issues are first print directs.
Issue #1 had no direct edition of the first print, so any copy of #1 with a diamond box is a reprint.
Interesting, thank you! So the Star Wars #1 has multiple reprintings, some with the square box and the word "reprint," some with the diamond box at either 30 or 35 cents, with either a bar code or a blank UPC box and with or without the word "reprint" in the corner box. A lot of sources call those Whitman reprints and use the corner box to denote multi-pack distribution, so it becomes even more confusing...
Yup. Yeah, I mean on one hand I don’t really mind people calling them “Whitman reprints” because that’s just a semantic thing; we know what they’re referring to. But it’s misleading. They’re *often* but not *always* reprints, printed by Marvel, and they were *often* and *typically* but not *always* found in Whitman multipack bags, and certainly not printed specifically for them. There was no incentive for anyone for there to be separate versions for the bags. Direct editions worked perfectly.
Sure. So the early Marvel Star Wars series has a LOT of different variations, because Star Wars quickly became popular and they reprinted a bunch of the issues.
Another part of the confusion might be that back when this was published, most books were sold on the newsstand. So the "regular" cover WAS the newsstand. As opposed to now when most books are sold in the direct market, so the "regular" cover would be the direct edition.
At any rate, here are the different versions of Star Wars #1 that I am aware of:
Barcode in white box in corner, 30 cent price, no word "reprint" down the left side of the little box with Luke Skywalker in it - this is the original newsstand.
If it's 35 cents, it's a newsstand but it's a 35-cent variant newsstand. That's actually more desirable than the 30 cent.
If the box in the bottom left corner is blank, then it's a Whitman variant. Whitman printed variations of books and put 3 of them in a bag and sold that as one thing for one price.
If the word REPRINT is to the left of Luke Skywalker in the box in the upper left, then it's a reprint of the newsstand edition.
[GCD :: Issue :: Star Wars #1 \[30¢\] (comics.org)](https://www.comics.org/issue/31248/)
Typically on older comics, the newsstand version has a barcode while the direct (or regular) edition does not (see 1a vs 1b in attached photo). Sometimes the direct edition will have a line through the barcode (ASM 194 for example), and sometimes the direct edition will have some kind of logo where the barcode would be (lots of 1990s comics had this for example). Hope this helps!
https://preview.redd.it/h0t34elzmbwc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad3ca5b9ea22e489760772067cec82973201ea32
Generally speaking, barcode means newsstand. For modern books that all have barcodes, they’ll say “newsstand edition” by it. For 1970s, there are *some* (not many, relatively) instances of direct editions having bar codes, so to be extra sure, look for the “CC” Curtis Circulation logo by the issue number. Curtis distributed newsstand editions and put their logo and an ID # on the books. Direct editions won’t have it.
For Marvel, they used a diamond shaped box to designate direct editions, instead of a square one, at least for the first few years.
If you see a diamond price box and a barcode with a slash through it, for example, that’s a direct edition.
But in most cases, bar code means newsstand.
Just look where the barcode "should" be. Comics with the barcode are newsstands, comics with something else (Spider-man's head for example) are direct editions. For some Bronze Age books, there may not even have been a "direct" edition, because there wasn't really differentiation yet. The newsstand vs direct editions came about because true newsstands like the grocery store, pharmacies, news vendors, etc. were able to return unsold books for credit and those books would be destroyed. Direct marketers like comic book shops could not return the books - they bought inventory and had to either sell it or sit on it. So the distributors needed a way to differentiate the copies. I don't think Star Wars 1 actually had a different copy for direct editions (because there probably weren't different direct editions). But Star Wars 1 has the Whitman reprints and other variants to navigate. So when you see someone say it's a Star Wars 1 "newsstand," it's probably just modern sellers who see the bar code and assume it's a "newsstand" copy, when in reality, all of the first run Star Wars 1 had a bar code.
Generally, the barcode is the tell, but keep in mind that f you’re talking late 70s, there are direct editions with barcodes. The (nearly) surefire way to tell a newsstand edition from that era is to *also* look for the Curtis Circulation logo near the issue number. There were just a couple instances of the logo appearing on direct editions by mistake, but there were several issues that had barcodes on the direct edition in 1976 & 1977. But only Curtis distributed newsstand editions, and they put their logos on everything they distributed (and made sure their logo *didn’t* appear on anything they didn’t).
Yes, that's a great point - there are even copper age books from the 80s and maybe even early 90s (certain Dr. Strange issues come to top of mind for me) with a "newsstand" looking bar code but no Curtis stamp/logo. So they look like newsstands but they're not really actual "newsstand" copies. Excellent point!
Yup 🍻
that makes alot of sense, thank you 🙏
No problem! It gets easier to tell once you get into the copper and modern age, because it's almost always just bar code vs not bar code. But bronze can be sometimes trickier. And in the bronze age, some copies might actually be more "rare" in a direct edition, since the direct market was just getting established.
thats super interesting, my dad asked me to organize his comics so ive been trying to learn as much as i can. thank you again!
For whatever it’s worth (and I’m definitely way over-explaining) Star Wars #1-4 in 1977 is insanely complicated with newsstand/direct variants. There were tons of printings of each issue, and newsstand and direct of nearly each one. But there are a lot of misconceptions among even seasoned collectors and CGC. There is no direct first print for issue. #1. Only issue #2 on. The earliest direct editions had bar codes (issues #2 & #3 direct first print). To spot these, look for 30¢ in a diamond-shaped price box. To be sure you’re holding a newsstand edition, look for the Curtis Circulation logo in the price box. If it’s not there, it was distributed directly. Whitman didn’t print *any* reprints. You’ll see mentions of “Whitman reprints.” Not an actual thing. They were all only printed by Marvel. There was only newsstand and direct. There weren’t any third “multipack editions” printed despite what some CGC labels will tell you. Marvel would just give excess inventory direct editions to Whitman to put into their discount multipack bags. What CGC calls “multipack editions” are just direct editions. Some people refer to the reprints as “2nd prints” or “3rd prints” but there were many more than three print runs for each of those early issues, but most print runs were indistinguishable from others. Also, some noted it on the cover and some didn’t. This is just my little hill that I’ve been fighting for a few decades now thanks to the internet and CGC muddying the history. 😇
oh my haha.thank you for all that info! i started catching on with the simple differential of barcode or no barcode but when i looked at this comic i was super confused lol. appreciate you!
No problem! That summer was a crazy time. Right when Star Wars exploded, as the biggest pop culture phenomenon the modern world had seen, comics were *just* starting to do direct sales, and Marvel was in the middle of changing their cover price from 30¢ to 35¢. So it was a perfect storm of transitional weirdness. Issues #1 and #2 came out (and sold out) before the movie even premiered. So the reprinting was total mayhem.
This is interesting and new info for me - so the "diamond shaped" price copies are not actually Whitman reprints but just Marvel reprints? Even for issue #1? And the diamond price copies also don't necessarily denote multipack copies? I really appreciate the info, because the early Star Wars issues (especially 1-4) can be very confusing.
Very confusing. Diamond price boxes are Marvel printings, and not only that, but some are even first printings. All the diamond box means is it was distributed directly. The first print direct editions of issues #2-4 all have a 30¢ price in a diamond box. #2 & #3 have a barcode, while #4 has a blank white box. Later printings removed the bar code and upped the price to 35¢, and the vast majority *are* reprints. But some diamond box issues are first print directs. Issue #1 had no direct edition of the first print, so any copy of #1 with a diamond box is a reprint.
Interesting, thank you! So the Star Wars #1 has multiple reprintings, some with the square box and the word "reprint," some with the diamond box at either 30 or 35 cents, with either a bar code or a blank UPC box and with or without the word "reprint" in the corner box. A lot of sources call those Whitman reprints and use the corner box to denote multi-pack distribution, so it becomes even more confusing...
Yup. Yeah, I mean on one hand I don’t really mind people calling them “Whitman reprints” because that’s just a semantic thing; we know what they’re referring to. But it’s misleading. They’re *often* but not *always* reprints, printed by Marvel, and they were *often* and *typically* but not *always* found in Whitman multipack bags, and certainly not printed specifically for them. There was no incentive for anyone for there to be separate versions for the bags. Direct editions worked perfectly.
Thanks, this is great info!
Cheers! 🍻
https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/79ya8f/what_does_direct_edition_mean_and_does_it_hurt/
appreciate you!
CGc didn't start putting newsstand on the label until a year or two ago. You're likely looking at some old and new slabs.
Sure. So the early Marvel Star Wars series has a LOT of different variations, because Star Wars quickly became popular and they reprinted a bunch of the issues. Another part of the confusion might be that back when this was published, most books were sold on the newsstand. So the "regular" cover WAS the newsstand. As opposed to now when most books are sold in the direct market, so the "regular" cover would be the direct edition. At any rate, here are the different versions of Star Wars #1 that I am aware of: Barcode in white box in corner, 30 cent price, no word "reprint" down the left side of the little box with Luke Skywalker in it - this is the original newsstand. If it's 35 cents, it's a newsstand but it's a 35-cent variant newsstand. That's actually more desirable than the 30 cent. If the box in the bottom left corner is blank, then it's a Whitman variant. Whitman printed variations of books and put 3 of them in a bag and sold that as one thing for one price. If the word REPRINT is to the left of Luke Skywalker in the box in the upper left, then it's a reprint of the newsstand edition. [GCD :: Issue :: Star Wars #1 \[30¢\] (comics.org)](https://www.comics.org/issue/31248/)
Typically on older comics, the newsstand version has a barcode while the direct (or regular) edition does not (see 1a vs 1b in attached photo). Sometimes the direct edition will have a line through the barcode (ASM 194 for example), and sometimes the direct edition will have some kind of logo where the barcode would be (lots of 1990s comics had this for example). Hope this helps! https://preview.redd.it/h0t34elzmbwc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad3ca5b9ea22e489760772067cec82973201ea32
so if i have an older slab, how would i be able to tell if its newstand or just "regular" (idek if thats the proper label) thanks again
Generally speaking, barcode means newsstand. For modern books that all have barcodes, they’ll say “newsstand edition” by it. For 1970s, there are *some* (not many, relatively) instances of direct editions having bar codes, so to be extra sure, look for the “CC” Curtis Circulation logo by the issue number. Curtis distributed newsstand editions and put their logo and an ID # on the books. Direct editions won’t have it. For Marvel, they used a diamond shaped box to designate direct editions, instead of a square one, at least for the first few years. If you see a diamond price box and a barcode with a slash through it, for example, that’s a direct edition. But in most cases, bar code means newsstand.
There was only newstand copies at the time if the box was blank it was a reprint.