Shortly after I started collecting Star Wars comics, I began noticing that certain comics would either have their barcode struck out, blanked out or replaced by a little Spider-Man head as shown below.
These comics also have a different design around the price and issue number. Instead of these details being surrounded by two separate boxes (below left), the special barcode comics have a black diamond surrounding them (below right).
As the same comic seemed to come with either one design or the other, I suddenly got a horrible feeling that I had been buying reprints at the full price of originals. In a rage I started trawling forums and websites seeking confirmation. What I found out put my mind at rest and I thought I'd now share this with other collectors, or at least my general understanding of the issue.
Comics with the special barcodes and black diamonds are not reprints. They are genuine issues that were sold alongside the regular ones. The only difference is that the two types of comics were sold to different purchasers and are now considered to fall into two categories: Newstand Editions and Direct Market Editions. The deal with newstands (who only wanted to stock current issues) was that they could return any unsold comics to the companies they bought them from and recuperate their money. But these companies also sold directly to comic book stores. As these stores specialised in hoarding back issues, Marvel wasn't about to start paying them for all their old stuff. To make sure none of these Direct Market editions made their way back to the Marvel warehouse, alterations were made to the covers (i.e. the barcodes and issue numbers) to distinguish them from the Newstand editions.
Comics with the special barcodes and black diamonds are not reprints. They are genuine issues that were sold alongside the regular ones. The only difference is that the two types of comics were sold to different purchasers and are now considered to fall into two categories: Newstand Editions and Direct Market Editions. The deal with newstands (who only wanted to stock current issues) was that they could return any unsold comics to the companies they bought them from and recuperate their money. But these companies also sold directly to comic book stores. As these stores specialised in hoarding back issues, Marvel wasn't about to start paying them for all their old stuff. To make sure none of these Direct Market editions made their way back to the Marvel warehouse, alterations were made to the covers (i.e. the barcodes and issue numbers) to distinguish them from the Newstand editions.
So, all fears can be laid aside: comics featuring the weird barcodes are just as genuine as the normal looking ones. Personally I prefer the Newstand editions as I just think they look better, but there should be no difference in price for us collectors.
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