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So we got a few versions of this one in the database.

Reg'lar:




Newsstand Edition with #1 on cover (Quasar was direct-only, so offering the Galactic Storm crossover to the newsstand folks made sense, but they put "#1" so the buyers wouldn't go looking for more issues on the newsstand racks later):



Then I found this:





NOW WHAT??

Why offer the two different versions of the direct market edition? Should this be labeled a Direct Sales Misprint?

Suggestions, please...

Wow - I think we definitely list this, cause it's not like the usual direct/newsstand variations. But I don't know I'd assume it's a misprint. Have we found anything on the internet about this?

I found some copies of the #1 version on ebay, both newsstand and direct. Most listings call them misprints, but they also say that for the newsstand version (which I don't think was a misprint--I think it was intentional).

But I do think the direct version could be a misprint.

My guess would be that it's the same sort of thing as these issues:



...



These two comics have virtually identical interior pages (IIRC, the indicia are different in the two comics). Furthermore, there are direct-sales AND newsstand versions of at least the Doctor Strange/Ghost Rider Special. Why would Marvel do this sort of thing?

Well, Ghost Rider, at this time, was being distributed to newsstand outlets by Curtis, Marvel's newsstand partner of (then) some 23 years. Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme, I believe, was being distributed to newsstand outlets by another distributor (identity unknown to me). So, publishing a crossover between the two titles carried the risk that, in some markets, readers of the GR chapter (with saturation distribution) might not be able to read the DSSS conclusion (with perhaps more spotty distribution). I believe that, to prevent reader frustration, Marvel elected to publish the DSSS chapter as the Doctor Strange/Ghost Rider Special one-shot, to be distributed by Curtis, thereby allowing all readers the opportunity to read both chapters of the crossover.

Of course, if direct-sales retailers found out that there was an issue distributed to newsstands that was NOT made available to direct-sales shops, they would have screamed bloody murder (never mind that they had the story in their copies of DSSS #28). And so Marvel had to publish a direct-sales version of the DS/GR Special.

I believe similar marketing objectives can account for the two versions of the Quasar #1 that you showed us.

FWIW:

Quasar #33 also has a newsstand alternate, with #2 on the cover. This has already been recorded in the CCL database (CCL's cover scan of the #2 cover has no Curtis emblem and no barcode).

A true newsstand version of the #2 alternate, with the Curtis emblem and with UPC barcode does exist. I found one yesterday, and it's in my collection now.

Does the #2 newsstand edition say #2 in the indicia? Or is it still #33? This may help to figure out if the direct version with #1 on the cover is a misprint or not (the #1 direct edition I have says #32 in the indicia).

The indicia of the comic I described says #33.

It looks to me like there was just one single press run of interior pages. The covers, as usual (until the last year or so), were printed separately, and married to the interiors in bindery.

IMO, the three versions appear to be the result of deliberate decisions at Marvel. I don't see evidence of any misprint.

Then why create two different direct editions, one with #1 and #2, and the others with #32 and #33, respectively?

Outcast's explanation made the most sense to me. When they published the #1/#2 versions, they offered them on the direct market as well.

Please see my discussion (above) regarding Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme #28 and Doctor Strange/Ghost Rider Special #1.

Quasar was (I am assuming) a direct-only title for its first 31 issues. Numbers 32 and 33 (and 34!) were published in direct editions as a continuation of that series. Those issues were part of a crossover that involved titles distributed to newsstands; to accommodate newsstand-only readers (who otherwise might not have been able to read the full story), the Quasar issues were also published in newsstand versions (distributed by Curtis, with the Curtis emblem and with a barcode). Why the #1, #2 (and #3!) numbering? I can only speculate. Perhaps they didn't want readers to wonder why they had missed the prior 31 issues. Perhaps Curtis agreed to carry the issues, but made their agreement conditional on getting a new #1 issue in the bargain (with its potential for higher sell-through).

Why the direct-sales versions of the #1, #2, and #3? As with the Doctor Strange/Ghost Rider Special, I believe that Marvel anticipated that direct-sales retailers, had they learned that differently numbered #s 1–3 had been published but not offered to comics shops, would have screamed bloody murder. I believe it was in order to keep comics-shop owners happy that Marvel decided to offer #s 1–3 in direct editions.

Okay, I've submitted this for inclusion into the database, since nobody have a definite yes or no on this thread.

It was submitted this past Sunday, but nobody wants to touch it. Can we get a decision on this?

your new find has a UK price on it, the newsstand version currently in the database does not - I'm guessing it was released for the UK market

That's just a standard Direct Edition price box. See any other Direct UPC edition under Operation: Galactic Storm's story arc. Newsstands just left it off (see the Cap #398 cover image).

I don't think this should be an additional variant. We already have a #1 cover in the database, it just happens to be a newsstand UPC. The only difference here is Direct vs. Newsstand, which CCL says isn't a valid variant.