Thing #4 Newsstand 75¢ Variant Value

From: The 2024 CPV Price Guide for Canadian Price Variants (Type 1A) by Bill Alexander, Tim Bildhauser, Paul Clairmont, Greg Holland, Jon McClure, Jayden Mitchell, Benjamin Nobel, Conan Saunders, Doug Sulipa, and Angelo Virone [ introduction, table of contents, all titles, other price guide editions]

What is the value of Thing #4?
I have a copy of Thing #4 and I want to know what this comic book is worth in different grades as a first printing?

✔️Accepted answer: The answer depends on the type that you own. For Thing #4, Marvel published a direct edition type (exceptionally well preserved by collectors as direct edition comics were the type sold in comic shops), and two newsstand types which were sold to the general public on newsstands (a regular cover price version and the 75¢ price variant). If you own a price variant, lucky you, it is worth $12 in 9.2 (Near Mint Minus).

  Suggested answer: Check whether the cover of your copy of Thing #4 has a graphical logo or a bar code box. If it has a graphical logo, sorry to break it to you but you own a commonplace direct edition copy which is worth about $6.

  Suggested answer: If your copy of Thing #4 has a bar code box on the cover, then you've got a newsstand copy! Is it the more-rare price variant? Now for the moment of excitement: is the cover price of your newsstand copy 75¢? If so, congratulations, you own the cover price variant!!

✔️Accepted answer: The direct edition (logo on cover) is worth about $5 in VF/NM whereas the 75¢ newsstand variants are worth $10.

✔️Accepted answer: As collectibles, direct edition copies are already at a disadvantage compared to newsstand copies in the highest grades, because direct editions were extraordinarily well preserved as the distinct type sold in specialty comic shops. The comic shop owners ordered direct edition copies of Thing #4 at a discount to cover price, but on a non-returnable basis (the graphical logo was to tell non-returnable copies apart from their returnable newsstand counterparts). When their orders arrived, the comic shop staff handled the books with extreme care to preserve their condition, and then the comic book collectors who shopped there typically preserved their purchases in plastic bags with backing boards. By contrast, newsstand copies were treated as reading material with no staff training to handle the books with any semblance of care, and they were then sold to the general public; unsold copies were returned for credit and typically pulped/recycled forward. Only those newsstand copies of Thing #4 that were taken home and preserved by collectors would survive today in the highest grades. Among surviving newsstand copies of Thing #4, the market area that received the 75¢ cover price newsstand copies was a restricted area representing less than 10% the population of the total North American newsstand market. That's because the destination market for 75¢ copies of Thing #4 was Canadian newsstands — hence the name Canadian Price Variant as a short-hand for 75¢ Price Variant. All of this adds up to a market value for the 75¢ variant approximately 100% higher than the direct edition in Very Fine / Near Mint (9.0) condition, as of our 2024 CPV Price Guide Edition.

✔️Accepted answer: The direct edition version of Thing #4 is worth about $4 in Very Fine (8.0) whereas the 75¢ newsstand variants are worth $8.

✔️Accepted answer: In FN (6.0) shape, the direct edition version of Thing #4 is worth about $3 whereas the 75¢ newsstand variants are worth $6.

✔️Accepted answer: Down in VG (4.0) Very Good condition, the direct edition version of Thing #4 is worth about $2 whereas the 75¢ newsstand variants are worth $4.

✔️Accepted answer: The price guide value way down in GD (2.0) Good condition for Thing #4 is about $1 for the direct edition version whereas the 75¢ newsstand variants are worth $2.