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Variants: Are they the most loved and hated subcategory of comic book collecting?
So, what are variants in the first place? A variant comic book is a small(ish) number of variant covers printed for a particular comic book issue, making them a collector’s item… kinda. Of course, things are a bit more complicated…[/woodmart_text_block][woodmart_text_block woodmart_css_id=”6305d320c4d14″ woodmart_inline=”no” responsive_spacing=”eyJwYXJhbV90eXBlIjoid29vZG1hcnRfcmVzcG9uc2l2ZV9zcGFjaW5nIiwic2VsZWN0b3JfaWQiOiI2MzA1ZDMyMGM0ZDE0Iiwic2hvcnRjb2RlIjoid29vZG1hcnRfdGV4dF9ibG9jayIsImRhdGEiOnsidGFibGV0Ijp7fSwibW9iaWxlIjp7fX19″ parallax_scroll=”no” wd_hide_on_desktop=”no” wd_hide_on_tablet=”no” wd_hide_on_mobile=”no”]
General Variants
Some comics ship with multiple covers for their first printing. These books are more-or-less equally distributed. Publishers print these variants to drive up initial sales of an issue, especially first issues. So, it means that these books are sold for cover price or slightly higher and are easier to come by.
Chase Variants
Chase variants are printed in much smaller quantities than the standard cover and are distributed on a ratio system. The expectation here is that fans will chase after these covers.
It is also not uncommon that an issue could have multiple chase variants, each of these distributed at a different sales ratio. For example, an issue may be released with a 1 in 10 variant and a 1 in 25 variant and so on. This means that there’s only one copy of the chase variant for every 10, 25, 50 copies of the standard cover a shop orders. Because stores need to order more books to get the variants, chase variants are often sold for a lot more than their cover price.
Retailer Incentive Covers
These have very high rarity, around 1 in 100 or more and are created to get shops to buy waaaaay more issues than normal. These are among the most expensive type of variant available.
Retailer Exclusive Variants
These are variant covers that can only be purchased from a particular retailer, and they usually carry the store logo on them. Some of these covers are commissioned by the store itself and some are offered to stores who have ordered thousands of copies of a particular book. Retailer Exclusives tend to have their own costing that isn’t tied to rarity.
But wait. There are more… How about variants of the variants?!
Sketch cover variants being uncoloured art of either a standard or variant cover.
Blank variant covers made from heavier card stock that fans can take to conventions for artist sketches or signatures.
Naked covers, variants without the titles, creator credits, logos, or barcodes.
Anniversary variants, commemorative variants, colour-faded variants… So. Many. Variants.[/woodmart_text_block][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][woodmart_image img_align=”center” woodmart_css_id=”6305d4db00060″ img_id=”127175″ img_size=”full” display_inline=”no” parallax_scroll=”no” responsive_spacing=”eyJwYXJhbV90eXBlIjoid29vZG1hcnRfcmVzcG9uc2l2ZV9zcGFjaW5nIiwic2VsZWN0b3JfaWQiOiI2MzA1ZDRkYjAwMDYwIiwic2hvcnRjb2RlIjoid29vZG1hcnRfaW1hZ2UiLCJkYXRhIjp7InRhYmxldCI6e30sIm1vYmlsZSI6e319fQ==” woodmart_box_shadow=”no” wd_hide_on_desktop=”no” wd_hide_on_tablet=”no” wd_hide_on_mobile=”no”][woodmart_text_block woodmart_css_id=”6305d553e539c” woodmart_inline=”no” responsive_spacing=”eyJwYXJhbV90eXBlIjoid29vZG1hcnRfcmVzcG9uc2l2ZV9zcGFjaW5nIiwic2VsZWN0b3JfaWQiOiI2MzA1ZDU1M2U1MzljIiwic2hvcnRjb2RlIjoid29vZG1hcnRfdGV4dF9ibG9jayIsImRhdGEiOnsidGFibGV0Ijp7fSwibW9iaWxlIjp7fX19″ parallax_scroll=”no” wd_hide_on_desktop=”no” wd_hide_on_tablet=”no” wd_hide_on_mobile=”no”]
The five interlocking covers for 1991’s X-Men #1 are generally considered to be the best selling variant covers of all time.
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Where does the idea of variant covers come from?
Variant covers were designed more for the collector than for the mass market, but don’t get me wrong, they are a marketing ploy. A very very pretty and often lucrative marketing ploy for the collector.
Variant covers originate from the Direct Market days of comics distribution. Speciality stores were on the rise and newsstands sales were declining. A newsstand cover would ship with a UPC barcode box, a “Direct Market” cover would not have the barcode box. Because companies were already printing two covers some decided to pay a second artist to create another cover for one of the two markets. Variant covers were prevalent during the 1990s, when collecting and speculating on comics was at it’s peak and fans would pick up every cover. Like most things though, it got out of hand, and many cite Wildstorm’s Gen 13 #1 as ending the 90s variants craze because it launched with 13 variant covers and fans weren’t purchasing them as there were too many and they were too common to become a collector’s item. Fast forward to 2022 and variant covers are still around and often printed in larger numbers than they were before.
This doesn’t mean that they are no longer collectible or necessarily have less value, it does mean that they are far more accessible than they were before. Variant covers feature some incredible artwork by some incredible artists and sometimes covers are created that don’t represent the content of a particular issue. Marvel’s Wolverine Variant Cover month featured the star of the normal book with Wolverine or just Wolverine on the cover – even if it was the variant cover for Iron Man’s book. DC’s Harley Quinn books often feature Harley by herself with a small tie-in to the book the variant is on. Marvel’s Princess Leia series featured Luke Skywalker on one cover and Darth Vader on another. I am in two minds with this, firstly I think that a cover should reference the content within the book and not merely be a sales gimmick, but it also means that you could collect covers for multiple series of a particular character or a particular artist – which really appeals to me.[/woodmart_text_block][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][woodmart_text_block woodmart_css_id=”6305d5f7dd637″ woodmart_inline=”no” responsive_spacing=”eyJwYXJhbV90eXBlIjoid29vZG1hcnRfcmVzcG9uc2l2ZV9zcGFjaW5nIiwic2VsZWN0b3JfaWQiOiI2MzA1ZDVmN2RkNjM3Iiwic2hvcnRjb2RlIjoid29vZG1hcnRfdGV4dF9ibG9jayIsImRhdGEiOnsidGFibGV0Ijp7fSwibW9iaWxlIjp7fX19″ parallax_scroll=”no” wd_hide_on_desktop=”no” wd_hide_on_tablet=”no” wd_hide_on_mobile=”no”]
What is the takeaway, are Variants worth it?
I believe that variants add an exciting dimension to comic book collecting. From a fan perspective, you could collect all the covers of a particular character across series or collect covers by a particular artist across a series. If you’re looking at comics for investment, then hunting down super exclusive 1:100 or 1:500 books that are likely to pick up a good return a few years down the line could be a focus. Or purchasing variant covers of 1st appearance books could be the way you go.
Ultimately the decision lies with you.[/woodmart_text_block][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1661328434947{padding-top: 60px !important;}” woodmart_css_id=”6305da10cd9b5″ responsive_spacing=”eyJwYXJhbV90eXBlIjoid29vZG1hcnRfcmVzcG9uc2l2ZV9zcGFjaW5nIiwic2VsZWN0b3JfaWQiOiI2MzA1ZGExMGNkOWI1Iiwic2hvcnRjb2RlIjoidmNfcm93IiwiZGF0YSI6eyJ0YWJsZXQiOnt9LCJtb2JpbGUiOnt9fX0=” mobile_bg_img_hidden=”no” tablet_bg_img_hidden=”no” woodmart_parallax=”0″ woodmart_gradient_switch=”no” woodmart_box_shadow=”no” wd_z_index=”no” woodmart_disable_overflow=”0″ row_reverse_mobile=”0″ row_reverse_tablet=”0″][vc_column][woodmart_title align=”left” woodmart_css_id=”6305d9df216fa” title=”PICK UP SOME VARIANTS!” responsive_spacing=”eyJwYXJhbV90eXBlIjoid29vZG1hcnRfcmVzcG9uc2l2ZV9zcGFjaW5nIiwic2VsZWN0b3JfaWQiOiI2MzA1ZDlkZjIxNmZhIiwic2hvcnRjb2RlIjoid29vZG1hcnRfdGl0bGUiLCJkYXRhIjp7InRhYmxldCI6e30sIm1vYmlsZSI6e319fQ==”][woodmart_products columns=”6″ items_per_page=”6″ pagination=”more-btn” woodmart_css_id=”6305d62e8cc75″ taxonomies=”3557″ sale_countdown=”0″ stock_progress_bar=”0″ highlighted_products=”0″ products_bordered_grid=”0″ hide_out_of_stock=”no” lazy_loading=”no” responsive_spacing=”eyJwYXJhbV90eXBlIjoid29vZG1hcnRfcmVzcG9uc2l2ZV9zcGFjaW5nIiwic2VsZWN0b3JfaWQiOiI2MzA1ZDYyZThjYzc1Iiwic2hvcnRjb2RlIjoid29vZG1hcnRfcHJvZHVjdHMiLCJkYXRhIjp7InRhYmxldCI6e30sIm1vYmlsZSI6e319fQ==”][/vc_column][/vc_row]