Cherry Poptart #1
Are you as interested in cherry poptart #1 as I am? The classic x-rated comic by Larry Welz has 11 printings that I am aware of (per 2015-16 fogels). Ms. Cherry Poptart herself appeared before this elsewhere but this was the debut of her own book series. We are going to discuss my ongoing journey to find a second printing of this beloved book.
The reason I wanted a second print comes down to price. Right now first printings are routinely fetching 400 usd and up. It is also rare to see them come up raw in decent shape. Graded copies are always asking 500-1000 usd depending on the grade. I eventually got a first print to use for comparison, but it was a very low grade. It still cost 40 usd at an auction. Honestly expected it to go for around 60-70 since it had some pre-bids but the auction had to be rescheduled and all pre-bids had been lost when that happened.
1st Print
There are some very distinct and well publicized differences between first prints of this comic and future prints. The first is the price. The 1st printing is the only one marked as $2.00. The other is the removal of the story Vampironica as well as The Wholesome Twins. The rear inside cover is also different. Just below this you will see the top of the front cover and a table of notable dates and markings I found in my first print.
2nd Print?
I came across my first potential second print at my LCS. I trust this shop and the owner 100%. It was the owner of the shop who asked me to write something up about the 2nd print because of lack of clear information on the subject. He explained to me that the book was a 2nd print because it was published by last gasp and had a cover price of 2.50. He also explained the difficulty he had in pricing and finding out more information on the different prints. He also told me that if I found out differently to let him know. This is how I started down this rabbit hole.
After going home, I started doing some research. I came across some threads on the cgc website that are several years old talking about ways to tell the different printings apart. Everyone is confused and gives generic answers. The most helpful answers point to getting the ‘Fogel’s supplement’ for better information. So, I sought out the supplement. I came across 2 price guides and a supplement and ordered them all. Below is what they say for prints 2-6 of cherry poptart #1.
2006 Fogels’s undergound comix price guide –
2nd, Cherry Poptart, no Todd, Kinney, c= 2.50
3rd-10th, c=2.95
*** This could be where a lot of people get the information that if the cover says 2.50 then its second print. It can also explain why I have seen pictures of a cgc slabbed 4th print with $2.95 price tag.
2010 Fogel’s underground comix price guide supplement-
2nd, $2.50, (Cherry Poptart), pr=8k, no Todd, Kinney
3rd-5th, $2.50, pr=10k each
6th, $2.50, pr=20k
*** This information printed 4 years later shows that prints 2-6 all have 2.50 price and lists the different print run amounts.
2015-16 Fogel’s underground price and grading guide –
Last Gasp
2nd, 1985, Cherry Poptart, $2.50, pr-8k, No Todd, Kinney
3rd, 1986, $2.50, pr-10k
4th, 1987, $2.50, pr-10k
5th, 1988, $2.50, pr-10k
6th, 1989, $2.50, pr-20k
*** This most recent information that I have found shows the years the books were made as well as the print run amounts.
Now looking at the book from my LCS. The price on this print is right justified. The coloring of the background is much bluer than the first print (looks much more blue than purple in person too). Inside I found one page dated 1985, 2 dated 1986 and an advertisement for volumes 1-5. The 2 pages dated 1986 really troubled me if the book was made in 1985 (2015-16 fogel’s) why would there be a copyright 1986. Part of me wanted to believe that it could still be possible that it came out in 1986 but was printed in 1985 so the 1986 was included in the book. The advertisement including cherry # 4 and 5 is what convinced me I did not have a 2nd printing in my hand since they were both released in 1987. So, I started looking at other trusted locations for a 2nd printing.
Dates listed for first prints of future volumes from 2015-16 fogel’s (could be useful for dating based on advertisements)
2-1985
3-1986
4-1987
5-1987
6-1988
7-1988
8-1989
9-1990
I found a copy for sale on a site I trust. I actually use them for a lot of information on other titles. Their notes are great. I buy from them probably about 3 times a year on average but am looking at their site almost once a week. Great site, Great company, Very trusted by me. They have a 2nd printing listed for sale. The cover looks slightly different than the one I already own. The price is centered in the white box whereas the one I already have has the price right justified. So I order the book. The inside of the book matches everything in the one I already have. I keep on looking.
I start contacting every seller of a 2nd printing or any that had a 2.50 price that I find. I wrote to people on Instagram, hip comic, ebay and whatnot. Nobody from Instagram or hip comic answered my inquiries. I found a copy where the top of the book was more purple (resembling the 1st print) than the blue of the 2 copies I already had. It also had a picture of the advertisement on the inside back cover and it was different than my first 2 books, so I put in an offer that was accepted and now I have 3 different books. The advertisement is only for books 1-3 not 1-5. The remainder of the inside of the book matches the first two. The price is centered in the box on the cover. At this moment I believe this one could be 2nd print or at least was printed before the other two since they advertise 1-5 and this only lists 1-3.
I continued contacting sellers as I found new listings. Now I was only asking about the advertisement on the inside back cover because I had found 2 different versions. One seller says his copy’s ad is just for cherry 1. I now think I have something, so I go hard to win the auction. When the book arrives, I go straight to the ad to see what it is, and I realize that it is for 1-3 just like the 3rd book I got. This 4th book has a blue top so it is different than the 3rd.
April fools day comes around and on whatnot I find a new listing of a cgc slabbed 2nd print with what appears to be a purple top but with the price right justified. My current purple top has the price centered. Since it is slabbed there is no way I can get it and then break it open to do research (sacrilegious). About an hour later I find a raw copy of a purple top with a right justified price. So I bought that one. When the book arrives I find that it is really blue. The scan made it appear more purple, It also has the advertisement for 1-5. I believe that while the blues are different that this is the same print as the copy from my LCS. The LCS copy was just a little faded.
Do I have a 2nd print? I do not know. If I had to select one of them and say that it is the odds-on favorite of the bunch, I would select the purple top. The reason being that the color is the match to a first print and it has the earliest of the 2 ads I have found. Part of me believes that I do not have a true 2nd print though. My rationale is that a print date of 1985 has been seen on boards, on the online site I bought book 2 from, and in fogel’s. If you look in my chart for 2nd print commonalities there is a page (cherry’s puzzle page) that is dated 1985. A piece of information I did not mention above because I have only seen it once says that 2nd print is 28 pages. The problem is that it also lists 3rd-8th prints as 28 pages with 9th being 36 pages. If you count the inside and outside, front and back covers then all the books I talk about above have 36 pages (32 pages +2 covers + 2 inside covers). The first print was 36 including covers and I know that 11 pages were removed (Vampironica and Wholesome Twins) and 1 new page copyrighted 1985 (puzzle). That is only 26 pages, so if there is a 28 page version, I do not know what would make up the 2 extra pages. I also believe that I only have 4 of the different prints ranging from 2-6 so there is 1 variance missing. Unless different prints look exactly the same and have no way of deciphering. But since I believe I have found 4 variances so far maybe a 5th one is out there.
My hunt still continues for different versions of $2.50 versions of this book. If you have one that differs from anything above to sell or just share the information/scans of, then please reach out to me on my contact form.
9th Print
Below you will find scans from my copy of what I believe to be a 9th printing. It has a blue background, priced 2.95, published by kitchen sink comix, has a copyright of 1982,1993 (indica) and states in the indica it is the first kitchen sink press printing. The shirt ad on inside front cover is full page instead of 2 ½ page panels and the inside back cover is a full-page ad for a cherry towel. The towel is gorgeous and would love to own one, but I have only seen them on ebay sealed in original plastic for more than I am willing to spend. Not pictured below but on back cover there is no isbn unlike all the prints I talk about above.
