Only the SECOND known copy of a Valiant book located 4/10/14

[nycjadie]

If only four copies are known in the last 24 years. Why aren't this covers more popular? Since, it's a once in a life time cross over. It's even rarer than the Bloodshot error print

From what is known of this book, it was supposed to be a "free with purchase" of the Iron Man / X-O Manowar video game at EB Games (Electronics Boutique) back-in-the-day.
Either they all got thrown away, or they still exist with the cover ripped off because the regular X-O Manowar Retailer Review is inside. That being said, if I got a free comic (with purchase) expecting Iron Man or at least X-O Manowar (that had 68 issues) and got a black and white preview of a reboot X-O and no Iron Man, I'd be pretty mad. So, it's also likely that these were "recalled" or at maybe "please destroy" and Electronics Boutique did just that. Ripping off the covers and having a free X-O Manowar preview (not associated with the Iron Man / X-O game) seems like the kind of generic junk that got thrown in the bag pretty regularly at stores... and then thrown away.

It's the outer cover that's peculiar about this book, having only 4 known in 24 years... but there could be hundreds of them in closets around the country with video game instruction manuals and copies of video game weekly, or something similar.

You'd think that there would be more than a few if that happened, though. I mean, back then any sort of error item would have been coveted even by people who didn't know anything about comics.

[greg]

If only four copies are known in the last 24 years. Why aren't this covers more popular? Since, it's a once in a life time cross over. It's even rarer than the Bloodshot error print

From what is known of this book, it was supposed to be a "free with purchase" of the Iron Man / X-O Manowar video game at EB Games (Electronics Boutique) back-in-the-day.
Either they all got thrown away, or they still exist with the cover ripped off because the regular X-O Manowar Retailer Review is inside. That being said, if I got a free comic (with purchase) expecting Iron Man or at least X-O Manowar (that had 68 issues) and got a black and white preview of a reboot X-O and no Iron Man, I'd be pretty mad. So, it's also likely that these were "recalled" or at maybe "please destroy" and Electronics Boutique did just that. Ripping off the covers and having a free X-O Manowar preview (not associated with the Iron Man / X-O game) seems like the kind of generic junk that got thrown in the bag pretty regularly at stores... and then thrown away.

It's the outer cover that's peculiar about this book, having only 4 known in 24 years... but there could be hundreds of them in closets around the country with video game instruction manuals and copies of video game weekly, or something similar.

You'd think that there would be more than a few if that happened, though. I mean, back then any sort of error item would have been coveted even by people who didn't know anything about comics.

I'm trying to remember the details, but I'm pretty sure Electronics Boutique was told to rip the covers off or just throw them away, either at the end of the promotion or maybe because of some problem.

Interestingly enough, the Shadowman Volume 3 #1 with just JULY on the cover (no cover price) was supposedly printed at 70,000 copies, but distributed through video game stores. It's pretty clear that most of those were tossed or otherwise lost, and only a few hundred have probably been located with maybe a few thousand surviving. If 95%+ of the non-comic shop promotional books were discarded, and if only a few thousand Iron Man / X-O video game covers were printed, you'd be looking at a few dozen surviving and the rest getting tossed out like the flyers in a Sunday paper.

[nycjadie]

If only four copies are known in the last 24 years. Why aren't this covers more popular? Since, it's a once in a life time cross over. It's even rarer than the Bloodshot error print

From what is known of this book, it was supposed to be a "free with purchase" of the Iron Man / X-O Manowar video game at EB Games (Electronics Boutique) back-in-the-day.
Either they all got thrown away, or they still exist with the cover ripped off because the regular X-O Manowar Retailer Review is inside. That being said, if I got a free comic (with purchase) expecting Iron Man or at least X-O Manowar (that had 68 issues) and got a black and white preview of a reboot X-O and no Iron Man, I'd be pretty mad. So, it's also likely that these were "recalled" or at maybe "please destroy" and Electronics Boutique did just that. Ripping off the covers and having a free X-O Manowar preview (not associated with the Iron Man / X-O game) seems like the kind of generic junk that got thrown in the bag pretty regularly at stores... and then thrown away.

It's the outer cover that's peculiar about this book, having only 4 known in 24 years... but there could be hundreds of them in closets around the country with video game instruction manuals and copies of video game weekly, or something similar.

You'd think that there would be more than a few if that happened, though. I mean, back then any sort of error item would have been coveted even by people who didn't know anything about comics.

I'm trying to remember the details, but I'm pretty sure Electronics Boutique was told to rip the covers off or just throw them away, either at the end of the promotion or maybe because of some problem.

Interestingly enough, the Shadowman Volume 3 #1 with just JULY on the cover (no cover price) was supposedly printed at 70,000 copies, but distributed through video game stores. It's pretty clear that most of those were tossed or otherwise lost, and only a few hundred have probably been located with maybe a few thousand surviving. If 95%+ of the non-comic shop promotional books were discarded, and if only a few thousand Iron Man / X-O video game covers were printed, you'd be looking at a few dozen surviving and the rest getting tossed out like the flyers in a Sunday paper.

That is a good point! At 70K, there are very very few out there now. Nearly all of them were toast.