On Back Issue, every design is an issue with its own number, printed in the front badge. Designs come in runs: Cover A, Cover B and Cover C are three takes on one idea, and you can pick the one you like or collect the run. The editions are shelves that group issues by kind: Facsimile Editions are the classic layouts, printed close to the originals that made them famous; Remix Editions are proven vintage tee layouts re-cast with new characters; Heavy Hitters are the biggest names on the rack.
The words are borrowed from the comic shop, where a back issue is an old number of a comic, kept in a longbox. Below is what each one means here, with examples from the rack. The newest arrivals sit on new issues, and the about page has the short version.
Issues, and why the tees are numbered
A comic comes out in issues, each with a number on the cover. Back Issue works the same way. Every design is an issue, and every issue gets a number. The number sits in the badge on the chest, so the front of the tee says which issue it is, and the big print on the back shows what is in it.
The number is not decoration. It is also how we find your design when you write to us, so quote it. Two designs can show the same character; no two share a number.
On the shelves, each design is listed with its number, its cover and its shelf, in the form “No. 046 · Cover A · Comics”. The number tells you which issue, the cover letter which take, and the shelf where it lives.
Cover A, Cover B, Cover C
In comics, one issue often ships with several covers: the same book inside, a different picture on the front, labelled Cover A, Cover B and so on. Collectors pick the one they like or hunt down the set.
Here the idea is the same, turned around: Covers A, B and C are three takes on one idea. Each cover is its own design with its own issue number, so you buy the one you want, not a set. The issue number goes into the front badge. The cover letter goes on the product page.
What a run is
In comics, a run is a stretch of a series, read together. Here, designs come in runs: the covers of one idea, side by side. Pick the one you like, or collect the run.
The about page shows one in full. Run 05 has three covers: Cover A is No. 046, Get Up, with Invincible himself; Cover B is No. 047, Think, Mark, with Omni-Man; Cover C is No. 048, Conquest. One series, three takes.
Not every run stops at three, and not every run has more than one. Some ideas are a single cover. The turtles' Graffiti run goes as far as Cover D, one cover for each brother, ending with Does Machines for Donnie.
On the shelf
Facsimile Editions
In comics, a facsimile edition is a reprint of a classic issue made to look the way it did the first time, down to the old adverts. The point is the original, not an update.
The Facsimile Editions shelf takes that idea to the vintage tee. In the store's words: the classic layouts, printed close to the originals that made them famous. One big back print each, pulled straight from the longbox. Each one is an issue like any other, with its own number and cover.
The shelf runs across the whole rack, from Ryu's Hadoken to the Nine Riders and Michael Myers in Haddonfield.
On the shelf
Remix Editions
A remix keeps the track and changes the voice. The Remix Editions shelf does that with layouts: proven vintage tee layouts re-cast with new characters from comics, games, cartoons and horror. Big back print, numbered chest badge.
So the difference from a Facsimile Edition is the cast. A facsimile keeps a classic layout close to the original; a remix keeps the layout that worked and puts a different character into it, such as Raiden, Toph or Ghostface.
On the shelf
Heavy Hitters
Heavy Hitters is the simplest shelf to explain: the biggest names on the rack. It is where the characters everyone knows are gathered in one place, from comics, games, cartoons and film.
The editions are shelves, not separate products, so one issue can sit on more than one. Snikt, with Wolverine, is a Facsimile Edition and a Heavy Hitter at the same time, and it still has one number and one cover letter.
On the shelf
Finding an issue, and quoting one
New Issues holds the latest issues to hit the rack. The five shelves, Comics, Games, Cartoons, Horror and Sci-Fi & Monsters, sort the rack by where the characters come from, and every franchise has its own shelf inside them.
Whatever you pick, it is printed on the same tee, so one size guide covers every issue. And if you ever write to us about a design, quote the issue number from the badge or the product page: it is the fastest way to the right tee.
Read next: fan-made tees: what unofficial means, and a gift guide with a vintage tee for every shelf.
Back Issue is fan-made, unofficial merchandise. We are not affiliated with, licensed or endorsed by any studio, publisher or rights holder. Character names, titles and marks belong to their owners and are used only to describe what a design shows. Rights & IP