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Post by chaykinstevens on Oct 20, 2023 18:12:14 GMT -5
According to GCD, Hercules #1 was released on June 1st 1982.
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Post by driver1980 on Oct 23, 2023 4:22:06 GMT -5
Magazines also did variant covers, such as this 1992 issue of WCW Magazine: Okay, am I right in thinking that Man of Steel #1 was the first comic to do variant covers? Did any magazines do variant covers prior to comics doing so? Or did comics get there first? Nowadays, variant covers of some magazines can be a thing, at least here in the UK (most specifically, subscriber and newsstand covers can vary). Now and again, when perhaps a huge film is released, a movie magazine might do 4 covers. Did comics get there first, and, if so, am I right about Man of Steel #1? Can anyone remember variant covers of a magazine that predate the 1980s?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2023 5:24:44 GMT -5
Okay, am I right in thinking that Man of Steel #1 was the first comic to do variant covers? I'm not as well versed in the magazines side of your question, but two answers to this question. The short version: variant intended as full on alternative art sold to the same audience? I've researched this before and the answer seems to be yes. The long version (which I only include because I know this is going to come up even though I think the spirit of your question is more the Man of Steel type): Adventures of the Big Boy in the 1950's sold intentionally slightly different covers to their east and west coast markets (Big Boy had red hair or black hair depending on which one). From a "badging" standpoint you had Buster Brown comics from the 40's and 50's that would print different store names on covers that otherwise had the same art. Other badging exampes would be stuff like a 25 cents comic having a 30 cent variant, certain Whitman branded, even your basic direct/newsstand versions such as UPC or no UPC. Technically "error" covers are a form of variant as well like Fantastic Four #110 and the "green printing error" version.
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Post by driver1980 on Oct 23, 2023 5:48:46 GMT -5
Thank you, @supercat2099, I’ve learnt a lot from your post.
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Post by tonebone on Oct 23, 2023 14:30:46 GMT -5
Okay, am I right in thinking that Man of Steel #1 was the first comic to do variant covers? I'm not as well versed in the magazines side of your question, but two answers to this question. The short version: variant intended as full on alternative art sold to the same audience? I've researched this before and the answer seems to be yes. The long version (which I only include because I know this is going to come up even though I think the spirit of your question is more the Man of Steel type): Adventures of the Big Boy in the 1950's sold intentionally slightly different covers to their east and west coast markets (Big Boy had red hair or black hair depending on which one). From a "badging" standpoint you had Buster Brown comics from the 40's and 50's that would print different store names on covers that otherwise had the same art. Other badging exampes would be stuff like a 25 cents comic having a 30 cent variant, certain Whitman branded, even your basic direct/newsstand versions such as UPC or no UPC. Technically "error" covers are a form of variant as well like Fantastic Four #110 and the "green printing error" version. Other "sort of variants".... Marvel's newsstand comics had a UPC code, but their Direct Sales comics had a character in the UPC box. Star Wars's original 6 issue adaptation was reprinted multiple times, each with different trade dress around the issue or price, and sometimes with different coloring, I think. DC, in the late 70's early 80's did different comics for their Whitman comics (it had the Whitman logo, instead of the DC logo). Also, they toyed around with dropping the DC logo for a "Superman Comics" logo, in certain parts of the US... these trial comics had the logo swap, but also sometimes had completely redesigned covers. The interiors were the same. That's probably the closest thing to a real "variant".
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Post by MDG on Oct 23, 2023 15:24:38 GMT -5
What was the deal w/ the two different covers to Justice League (Giffen) #3?
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Post by Farrar on Oct 23, 2023 17:07:12 GMT -5
What was the deal w/ the two different covers to Justice League (Giffen) #3? Justice League #3 is a great example of what tonebone mentions in his post, regarding DC testing out a new Superman-centric cover brand logo. In 1987 variant covers of Justice League #3 and Fury of Firestorm #61 were sold in a few markets, to test out a new "Superman Comics" cover logo/branding. And in addition to the Superman brand logo, the (redesigned) cover art was deliberately "simpler", in hopes of appealing to younger readers. Here is some info: "This is the second of two comic variants produced by DC in 1987 with simplified cover art and a "Superman Comics" test logo (replacing the DC logo); this seems to have been a marketing experiment to see if they could sell more comics to the younger readers via the newsstand market (which was around 30% of the total comic distribution at that time but in rapid decline)." Source: recalledcomics.com/JusticeLeague3LogoVariant.phpETA: Btw the entire site recalledcomics.com/ is quite interesting, well worth checking out
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Post by badwolf on Oct 23, 2023 18:20:58 GMT -5
The page in the JLI omnibus captions it as "alternate cover for limited newsstand release." You know, I never really noticed the "Superman Comics" thing in the corner! Just that the cover image was different.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 23, 2023 21:04:40 GMT -5
You had variant covers before Justice League and Man of Steel, aside from the Marvel UPC code vs Direct Market image. DC's comics that were sold in the Whitman bagged sets had an alternate Whitman logo, in the DC Bullet circle, instead of the DC initials. Also, the same deal with the Modern Comics reprints of the Charlton comic books.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,041
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Post by Confessor on Oct 23, 2023 21:50:40 GMT -5
Has anyone here seen the 1983 animated fantasy film Fire and Ice?
I can't quite believe I've only just heard about this. It was directed by Ralph Bakshi, who did the cartoon adaptation of The Lord of the Rings in 1978, which I love, and was a collaboration between him and Frank Frazetta. Plus, the screenplay was written by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas. Seriously, how have I not heard of this film before?!
Anyone know if it's any good?
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Post by berkley on Oct 23, 2023 23:16:14 GMT -5
Has anyone here seen the 1983 animated fantasy film Fire and Ice? I can't quite believe I've only just heard about this. It was directed by Ralph Bakshi, who did the cartoon adaptation of The Lord of the Rings in 1978, which I love, and was a collaboration between him and Frank Frazetta. Plus, the screenplay was written by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas. Seriously, how have I not heard of this film before?! Anyone know if it's any good?
I've never watched it all the way through but if I remember, the few clips I've seen looked pretty good. No idea about the story or what age level it was aimed at and I haven't seen or don't remember enough to say how much influence Frazetta may have had on the overall look of the animation, but I certainly plan to watch it one of these days..
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Post by foxley on Oct 24, 2023 0:14:31 GMT -5
Has anyone here seen the 1983 animated fantasy film Fire and Ice? I can't quite believe I've only just heard about this. It was directed by Ralph Bakshi, who did the cartoon adaptation of The Lord of the Rings in 1978, which I love, and was a collaboration between him and Frank Frazetta. Plus, the screenplay was written by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas. Seriously, how have I not heard of this film before?! Anyone know if it's any good? It's decent. It is a fairly standard sword & sorcery plot. The quality of animation varies a bit, but overall I found it enjoyable.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Oct 24, 2023 2:59:32 GMT -5
Has anyone here seen the 1983 animated fantasy film Fire and Ice? I can't quite believe I've only just heard about this. It was directed by Ralph Bakshi, who did the cartoon adaptation of The Lord of the Rings in 1978, which I love, and was a collaboration between him and Frank Frazetta. Plus, the screenplay was written by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas. Seriously, how have I not heard of this film before?! Anyone know if it's any good? Can't help you any of these questions, as a) I've not seen it, so c) I can't intelligently answer your third question, as for b) why you haven't heard of it, don't know. I recall it being hyped a bit back when it was released, and I vaguely recall seeing ads for it in comic books (but I could be misremembering that, perhaps mixing it up with magazine ads). Edited to add: Now, though, you've kind of got me wanting to watch it myself...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 24, 2023 7:05:27 GMT -5
Okay, am I right in thinking that Man of Steel #1 was the first comic to do variant covers? I'm not as well versed in the magazines side of your question, but two answers to this question. The short version: variant intended as full on alternative art sold to the same audience? I've researched this before and the answer seems to be yes. The long version (which I only include because I know this is going to come up even though I think the spirit of your question is more the Man of Steel type): Adventures of the Big Boy in the 1950's sold intentionally slightly different covers to their east and west coast markets (Big Boy had red hair or black hair depending on which one). From a "badging" standpoint you had Buster Brown comics from the 40's and 50's that would print different store names on covers that otherwise had the same art. Other badging examples would be stuff like a 25 cents comic having a 30 cent variant, certain Whitman branded, even your basic direct/newsstand versions such as UPC or no UPC.
Technically "error" covers are a form of variant as well like Fantastic Four #110 and the "green printing error" version. I tried to cover a lot of the earlier badging type of "variant" per the bolded above, but also was trying to address the question around Man of Steel being the "first" in terms of clearly different imagery on the cover (per the example given). Man of Steel was 1986, and again, is where you first see clearly alternative art marketed as such. The Superman logo stuff is definitely interesting as well, but that was after Man of Steel in 1987. If we are going after Man of Steel, you also have in 1987 another straight up cover art variant per below (direct vs newsstand):
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Post by Dizzy D on Oct 24, 2023 9:23:04 GMT -5
Has anyone here seen the 1983 animated fantasy film Fire and Ice? I can't quite believe I've only just heard about this. It was directed by Ralph Bakshi, who did the cartoon adaptation of The Lord of the Rings in 1978, which I love, and was a collaboration between him and Frank Frazetta. Plus, the screenplay was written by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas. Seriously, how have I not heard of this film before?! Anyone know if it's any good?
It's Bakshi fully in love with his rotoscoping, but as you enjoyed his Lord of the Rings, that shouldn't bother you too much (it certainly does not have those weird red backgrounds with solarization that LOTR had, so it improves in that way at least).
It's serviceable as a pretty standard Sword&Sorcery story.
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