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| 2025 Facsimile. Copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Above, is the latest Facsimile Edition of The Fantastic Four #1. Look at that barcode box in the corner; far too big and intrusive compared to the 2018 edition, below. Why do Marvel do it? I'm talking about unnecessarily obscuring part of the cover in this way. At least with the 2025 edition they've got the date right (November) as opposed to August on the previous version. I should point out, though, that back in 1961, although the issue was cover-dated November, it actually went on sale in August (8th, I think), and the 2018 incarnation was, I assume, merely reflecting this fact.
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| 2018 Facsimile |
At least this time they've included the 'Continued After Next Page' tagline before the ads, which they neglected to do last time. I also note that although the 1961 issue placed the indicia under the ad on the inside front cover (as did the 2018 facsimile), it's now been moved to under the splash page. Again, why? Okay, the 2018 indicia had fewer lines than the latest one, but as the 2025 splash page was reduced in size to accommodate it, why couldn't they do likewise with the ad and put the indicia where it should be? (Seeing as how it's meant to be a 'facsimile'.)
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| 2025 Facsimile |
This latest edition doesn't have the 16 extra pages of bonus material that the last one did, which is something I actually approve of as I prefer it to be more like the 1961 printing. If they'd only reduced that barcode and had the indicia under the ad, the whole comic would've been perfect. However, there's some good news. The upcoming foil variant cover version has placed the barcode on the back cover (like DC now do) so that's an improvement. Why Marvel didn't do so with their 'standard' facsimiles is beyond me, but all the mags will likely be reissued again in the future, so we can only hope that then they'll do things right.
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| 2018 Facsimile |
I've heard that the barcode is destined for extinction anyway, before too long, so that's something to look forward to if it means its defacement of comicbook covers will soon be a thing of the past. Anyway, if you want a relatively inexpensive copy of FF #1, despite my observations, this is one of the better ones. Buy it as soon as you can, effendis - you know it makes sense. And below is an old photo of another issue of #1 in my collection, which is currently tucked away in a safe place, and not at hand for scanning.
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2 comments:
"the barcode is destined for extinction". Sorta, but not really. It is being replaced with QR codes.
Yeah, I knew that, but although they serve the same purpose, a QR code is slightly different from a barcode as we know them. I think it also takes up less space - at least I hope it does.
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