Star Wars: Vader Down #1 and Star Wars: Han Solo #1 Scholastic Reading Club Exclusives

One of the days I always looked forward to in elementary school was when the teacher would hand out the Scholastic Book Club flyer.  These flyers were full of books that appealed to me.  On the days these were handed out, I would race home and immediately begin a checklist of which books I wanted.  My enthusiasm was always tempered by reality; my parents would limit the number, or rather the cost, of books I was allowed to get.  These flyers invoked the same feeling I had when looking at the Star Wars toys in the Sears Christmas catalog, except these came out more frequently!  The first Star Wars book I ever owned came from one of these flyers, the Star Wars Storybook, and I bet this is true for a large number of Star Wars fans my age.

I do not recall comics being offered in the Scholastic Book Club flyer when I was a kid, but I know through my children that you can buy comics through Scholastic today.  Jeff Smith's Bone trade paperbacks are staples in these catalogs and other age-appropriate comics are also offered.  Two Marvel Star Wars comics with exclusive covers were also made available in recent years, Vader Down #1 and Han Solo #1.

Star Wars: Vader Down #1o - Marvel Comics, U.S. (November 2015)
Scholastic Reading Club exclusive

Star Wars: Han Solo #1p - Marvel Comics, U.S. (June 2016)
Scholastic Reading Club exclusive

While I'm positive these Scholastic Reading Club exclusives were published at the same time as the standard issue, both were some of the last exclusives to be available to collectors.  I suspect this is due to how they were distributed.  When they first became available on eBay, copies sold for $30 or more, but today I wouldn't pay more than $10 - 15 each for a NM copy.