Variant Covers. You know what the worst part of them is?

[The Adventurer]

I mean other then fueling an artificial collectors market that's begging for a future crash?

The fact that you never seem to get the cover you actually want. My rule is, I want the cover that the interior artist drew (usually the 'A' Cover). But companies like IDW, Dynamite, and Boom (the biggest culprits in my experience) don't let you order the specific cover you want. You just order the issue, and they send your local shop a random batch of comics with random covers, and you're lucky to get the one you actually want. And if your shop is only ordering the comic you yourself ordered the odds are you are not going to get the one you want. Especially when these comics have in upwards of 5+ randomly assorted variants.


Dark Horse has it right, when they offer variants, they just let you order the one you want. No muss, no fuss. Image too (for the most part).

Anyone else frustrated by this practice? [/firstworldproblems]

[Alton]

I mean other then fueling an artificial collectors market that's begging for a future crash?

The fact that you never seem to get the cover you actually want. My rule is, I want the cover that the interior artist drew (usually the 'A' Cover). But companies like IDW, Dynamite, and Boom (the biggest culprits in my experience) don't let you order the specific cover you want. You just order the issue, and they send your local shop a random batch of comics with random covers, and you're lucky to get the one you actually want. And if your shop is only ordering the comic you yourself ordered the odds are you are not going to get the one you want. Especially when these comics have in upwards of 5+ randomly assorted variants.


Dark Horse has it right, when they offer variants, they just let you order the one you want. No muss, no fuss. Image too (for the most part).

Anyone else frustrated by this practice? [/firstworldproblems]

The Geneva convention should be held again and Variant covers be considered a warcrime. Just sayin'.

[Manga4life]

I've been discussing variant covers on another forum recently and in the 90's I was all about them, nowadays I'm basically just happy to have the comic I'm looking for and am not picky about the cover at all. If it's a book that means something special to me and is my absolute favorite comic book at that moment in time than I may splurge to get a special cover, but as a whole I just rather avoid alternate covers and enjoy my comics for the interior story. I remember back in the 90's when I was a fan of books such as Re-Gex, The Coven, and other such Awesome Entertainment comics I was constantly buying variants and it seemed like I was quickly loosing all my cash because it was all going toward different covers, but that was the fun and charm of the 90's and I think the hardcore collectors have faded out for the most part and people just want to more or less enjoy their comics by reading them instead of collecting them.

[icctrombone]

Variant cover shave been around in full affect since the booming 90's . I don't think any of those covers have held value for any length of time.

[SavijMuhdrox]

I thought the worst part was when you thought you bought a different issue of said comic and it turns out to be THE SAME DAMN ISSUE you already had..

[Manga4life]

Variant cover shave been around in full affect since the booming 90's . I don't think any of those covers have held value for any length of time.

Most of the books were always "hot" titles and comic shops were upping the prices on a daily basis for variants of certain books, but yeah, over time the value has dropped and something that hit like $15-$20 back in 1996 or 1998 or something is basically available for cover price if not cheaper. A few exceptions apply, of course.

I thought the worst part was when you thought you bought a different issue of said comic and it turns out to be THE SAME DAMN ISSUE you already had..

This has happened to me once or twice if I haven't been to a comic book store in a month or two and I needed to catch up with a few new issues of a title I was reading, sometimes I'd grab a variant by mistake because I was either in a rush or just blinded by the happiness of being inside of a comic book store and I'd be stuck with 2 issues of the same book. It was rare, but it happened lol.

[DonC]

I mean other then fueling an artificial collectors market that's begging for a future crash?

The fact that you never seem to get the cover you actually want. My rule is, I want the cover that the interior artist drew (usually the 'A' Cover). But companies like IDW, Dynamite, and Boom (the biggest culprits in my experience) don't let you order the specific cover you want. You just order the issue, and they send your local shop a random batch of comics with random covers, and you're lucky to get the one you actually want. And if your shop is only ordering the comic you yourself ordered the odds are you are not going to get the one you want. Especially when these comics have in upwards of 5+ randomly assorted variants.


Dark Horse has it right, when they offer variants, they just let you order the one you want. No muss, no fuss. Image too (for the most part).

Anyone else frustrated by this practice? [/firstworldproblems]

I absolutely love the Paul Renaud covers for Flash Gordon: Zeitgeist. What I did was I just wrote in the order form "Paul Renaud cover, please."

Then I switched to digital. Sometimes they include all the covers and sometimes they don't.

[Destro777]

The worst part about Variant covers is that a lot of the time - the Variant cover destroys the normal cover, and the book would sell much better with the cooler cover than the plain jane more produced one. Makes no sense if you're in business to try to sell as much as possible.

[The Adventurer]

The worst part about Variant covers is that a lot of the time - the Variant cover destroys the normal cover, and the book would sell much better with the cooler cover than the plain jane more produced one. Makes no sense if you're in business to try to sell as much as possible.

Not in my Experiance. The main cover (often either drawn by the interior artist, or a chosen artist by the creative team to create a sense of on-going unity with the cover design) usually ties into what is going on inside the comic. Where as the variants by 'name' artists are just some useless pin-up piece with little to no relevancy to the comic in question. Perhaps the variant is technicly better judged by experiance and technique. But as part of a complete 'package' it's just garish and pointless.

[bluebeetle73]

I thought the worst part was when you thought you bought a different issue of said comic and it turns out to be THE SAME DAMN ISSUE you already had..

Oh man, I hated when that happened. Usually it was when my wife would stop at the shop to get my comics, but it was still annoying.
I don't really care about variant covers, but occasionally there is one from an artist that I really like that I want but then I see it is ridiculously priced, even with DCBS discount, so I just go with the regular one. Seriously, $50 or more for a brand new comic? That's ridiculous, I won't pay more than cover price for a new comic just because of the cover. As OP said Dark Horse and sometimes Image does it right and lets you pick which one you want for same price. Good on them.
I hear that Valiant is reviving their Gold Logo program from the 90's. I'm surprised that there is still a big enough market for this kind of stuff. Although there covers are rewards for fans who promote their books rather than the price gouging books that other companies release.