Some more UPCs

While I’m at it … here are some Night Men. Um, Night Mans.

Night Man and Gambit variant

Honestly, I’m starting to run a little low on variant covers. This issue is from one of the Marvel-Ultraverse crossover books featuring Night Man and Gambit, a pretty forgettable story.

 

This was the first book in a three-issue miniseries. They are quite easy to find cheap as a set, sometimes with both covers included for No. 1. I sometimes spring for one if I see it in a quarter bin but I’ll just as often let it sit there.

Painted variants

The seven titles that were relaunched after Black September each got a variant cover for the No. 1 issues (there were also painted variant covers for the Infinity issues and additional covers for the All New Exiles).

I don’t have the overall numbers, but the painted variants made up 20 percent of the print run. I don’t think the painted covers necessarily look better; they just look different. It was also apparent that the Ultraverse was heading in an entirely new direction. There is a whole lot of Marvel on those covers, including the Spidey-Prime with his hair hanging out.

But man, I miss $1.50 comics …

 

 

 

Prime is the only one with a UPC code on the painted version.

 

 

 

 

These aren’t too hard to find on eBay. The easy way to tell them apart is that the regular issues have a UPC code on the front and the painted ones don’t (apart from Prime … just be careful with that one). They’re pretty common in larger lots.

There are also signed-and-numbered versions of many of these with Ultraverse COAs.

The Infinity issues

By the mid-1990s the concept of the “Zero Issue” had been pounded into the ground. So for the Black September relaunch, the new Ultraverse started instead with”Infinity” issues. Try sticking that one into your comics cataloguing software.

Eight comics got the treatment, including Black September. Each had a regular all-black cover (title and price were in bright colors) and an alternate illustrated cover. These books were meant to stand out on a comics shop shelf, and they look fantastic. Both versions are eye-catching and mysterious.

The black covers are not hard to find, and really cheap when you do find them. The illustrated covers are a lot tougher to find. They’re usually easiest to buy if you are getting them as part of a large lot on eBay. According to the books, the painted covers made up 20 percent of the print run.

My scans look a little crinkly, but the actual books are a perfect flat black. I was eating a pot pie while I scanned them in and didn’t bother taking them out of their bags.

 

There is actually one more All New Exiles Infinity variant. You can read about it right here.

 

 

 

 

Siren is the only title here that was not a relaunch of an original Ultraverse title.

 

 

In the interest of being complete, here are the Black September books, even though these were covered in another post.

 

I think I got all of these books as part of a larger lot of about 100 books on eBay, and spent less than $20 shipped. That’s how it goes sometimes when you are collecting Dead Universes.