Is My The Amazing Screw-On Head a First Edition?

The points of issue

• One-shot published by Dark Horse Comics, May 2002
• 32 pages, full color, cover price 2.99 US. Written and drawn by Mike Mignola with color by Dave Stewart
• First print of the one-shot

How Dark Horse Comics marked a first edition

• Trade paperbacks / hardcovers: the indicia/copyright page states 'First edition:' or 'First printing:' with month and year; later printings update the wording.
• Many Dark Horse collected editions print a printing-history line that adds dates as printings accrue — a first printing shows a single date.

Full Dark Horse Comics first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Read the indicia — a first-printing single issue carries no later-printing line; a collected edition is “first thus,” not the true first.
3. Verify this is the world true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

Format & printing

This title first appeared as a single issue / periodical, not a trade book. The true first is the first-printing single issue; later trade paperbacks or hardcover collections are “first thus.” Check the indicia (the small-print publication block) for a printing statement.

Is this the true first?

The true first is the 2002 one-shot. A later collected and expanded hardcover, The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects (2010), and a 20th-anniversary edition are first-thus for their added material.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Later printings and the collected hardcover are reprints of the one-shot content.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Amazing Screw-On Head a first edition?

A first edition of The Amazing Screw-On Head by Mike Mignola (Dark Horse Comics) is identified by: One-shot published by Dark Horse Comics, May 2002; 32 pages, full color, cover price 2.99 US.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. For a single issue, the indicia shows the printing. The true first is the 2002 one-shot.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

Later printings and the collected hardcover are reprints of the one-shot content.

I have a first edition of The Amazing Screw-On Head — what should I do?

If you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than lost. To sell, see the author’s collecting guide. Either way, nothing collectible ends up in a landfill.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.