CPVs are gaining more and more attention.
Here is a recent article I came across.
Here is an older, more detailed article.
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Cool history. Definitely gaining more traction, and those of you in Canada have an advantage in finding these in back issue bins and garage sales or other obscure places you might find comics for sale with the seller not realizing the scarcity.
I’d say pence and austrailian variants are not too far behind in gaining collectibility/popularity.
CPVs are also noted on both CGC and CBCS slab labels, which is cool.
CGC still hasn’t acknowledged US newsstand copies as “variants.” Probably because it really only makes a difference in collectibility starting in the mid 80s.
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I agree w/ the Aussie books, but I’m not sure the Pence variants will ever overcome the mysterious slag that they have received in the past, that continues to this day.
A lot of shops in my area (Toronto) are still uneducated on the CPV. But they’re are some definite sharks out there who I have seen buying exclusively CPV high grade keys. It’s always nice to come across a new collection at any given LCS, as those older collections tend to have more CPVs than not, depending on the collectors buying habits at the time. A lot of Canadians, in the early/mid 80s, were buying their books from the local corner store as opposed to an actual LCS.
I also am loving this fact. Validation, lol.
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There definitely has to be a market for them, @D-Rog. I’m not too familiar with them, and rarely see them in my travels.
I think there were some exclusive books that were distributed through Scholastic via Canadian Public Schools, in the 80s too. These books are original stories featuring popular characters in lesson learning stories. The stories are not that great, but there was some A+ talent on pencils. McFarlane did a cover for issue 1 of a 5 issue set featuring Spidey. That issue has McFarlane cover art and is an anti drug comic.
Notice the one kid on the cover is wearing his ‘C’ Oilers shirt. Not sure if it’s Gretzky or Messier, but it is 
McFarlane.
I do not think that McFarlane did the covers to the other 4 issues in that series, but I believe they are done by good talent too. One is called ASM Chaos in Calgary…it has Spidey riding a bull at The Stampede, on the cover.
There were also french books too. I think these were exclusive to the Zellers Stores in Canada.
This particular book was written by Len Wein, and although it is not in French, it takes place in Quebec. As seen in the word boxes on page 1.
There are lots of cool comic collectibles that were exclusive to the Canadian market back in the days. 
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My only 2 CPVs. The one in the left I just won in an eBay auction for $32 shipped! Can’t beat that. (Has some nasty newton rings though)
The one in the right I also acquired for about $15 a year or two ago on eBay. Looks to be a 9.4 (or better) as well. Given I have a 9.4 graded copy of Thor 337, I now need to send in my 339 for grading to complete the set.
And when that comes back 9.4 my OCD will kick in and I’ll be obsessed with finding a CPV of 337 to replace my direct copy…it does not end!
Grabbed this off eBay for about $50. Replaces my us newsstand cgc 9.6.
First appearance of several popular G1 characters, including Blaster who is also in the cover.
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Vacationing in Nova Scotia this past week, was able to visit a few shops in Halifax. Figured since I’m in Canada, I can’t leave without some CPV’s!
Not in the best shape, but price was right…cheaper than most souvenirs…
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I have some CPV’s. I am waiting for my Pence Variants of Moon Knight 1-3 to get some heat.
Been wanting a 9.6 or better newsstand (US) of this book…So when a 9.8 newsstand popped up on eBay for a reasonable price I immediately jumped on it.
Only 16 9.8s in the CGC census. And this one doesn’t show up on CGC (old label, need to reach out to them)
So probably the only one.
Looks every bit the 9.8, though. Not a single flaw. The good ol’ days of CBCS when they were super tight on grading. Would be a 10.0 if graded by CGC…but then it’d get a spine tick from the banana case and ruined forever…
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Great grab…I removed the book from my search list and of course, one gets listed…smh…
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Wasn’t even on a search list. The eBay algorithm must have figured I’d be interested.
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This is going to possibly sound dumb, but are CPVs easier to find in Canada? Like, at a Canadian comic shop, they’ll just be sitting in back-issues bins ripe for the picking? They aren’t used on new comics now, right?
They are pretty easy to find here, like you said lots of them in back-bins, but CPV was only a thing for a few number of years. If I remember they started in 1982 when a comic book was 60 cents but the CAD exchange was so bad, they started the CPV and charged 75 cents CAD. I believe there are 95 cents versions as well. Then for awhile they put both prices on the comics, CAD and USD. Today there is only USD on them but my LCS just charges a conversion.
It depends on the shop and the owner. Most shops here don’t bother checking or feel it’s a waste of time/lack of knowledge so they don’t do it. Other shops they meticulously check for these. They are easy to spot if you know exactly what to look for.
I found this at my shop for $1. They never check but I saw that 95 cent price tag and knew right away it was a CPV. Don’t exactly know what price guide they were using but Booster Gold 1 was always worth some bucks on it’s own.
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Garage sales and marketplace sales you find them often. Much of my collection I have cpv, newsstand and direct version of titles
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I’ve found them pretty easily in Canada shops when I’ve visited. But not in high grade, which is where the value is. It’s the high grade CPVs that I would think are pretty scarce.
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