VH1 Ninjak 1 Gold Variant VF/NM Proof Prototype 1

[jmatt]

Can't say that I've heard of this before. But how could one determine a prototype from a regular run copy?

Listing.

[raiden]

That's been listed for a while... I've always just assumed it was the cover and not the full comic. On other Ninjak golds, the cover seems to be a bit shorter than the interior pages. But again, I don't really know.

[nycjadie]

The seller appears to be connected with the original printer who kept a few copies of the flats. I don't see that the "prototypes" are any different from the flats that have been circulating for years. In fact, some of his flats are folded, which arguably makes them worth less. His prices, however, are incredibly inflated.

He has one that arguably might be worth a bit more - the Turok 1 cover insert. I'm sure you can detach these pretty easily from a quarter bin Turok 1. However, this one doesn't have any glue on it. Again, may be able to be replicated with a bit of effort. I've never tried. But with with a Turok 1 chromium print that is glueless, that is a pretty neat item.

[greg]

Well, if these come from the printer and even if they are identical to other copies of the cover flat, they could be called "printer's proofs".

Ninjak #1 Gold was the only holochrome (not just regular chromium) cover for Valiant, so I'd be interested to know if any of his other titles used the holochrome technique. If another Valiant title had the holochrome cover, that would be a prototype of sorts because if he was the printer he's allowed to play around with technique... just not to pretend it's official in any way.

Similarly, I'd be more interested in the Ninjak #1 Gold cover if it wasn't a holochrome cover but was just printed as regular chromium... because that's not how they were officially made.

[jmatt]

No doubt about it, that was a pretty cool cover. It's like looking through a kaleidoscope.