EXCLUSIVE: Jason Pearson, Juan Doe's "Archer & Armstrong" #4 Variants

[CBR News]

With the first issue of Fred Van Lente and Clayton Henry's "Archer & Armstrong relaunch hitting stores this week, Valiant has provided CBR with a look ahead at issue #4's variant covers by Jason Pearson and Juan Doe.


Full article here.

[Roquefort Raider]

Yay! Jason Pearson! I loved his Legion of super-heroes run.

[BugsySig]

Cool covers. Really like the Wanted poster...need that framed on my wall.

[rasx]

Yeah that Jason Pearson cover really does look good.

[Obregon Kaine]

Nice! I might have to get them both...

[smo5000]

Ooh, both those covers are great. I second that BugsySig

[Schmakt]

all these variant covers make me unhappy to be supporting them... if this continues after the first story arcs (with maybe the exception of #1 issues), then I'm out.

[BugsySig]

all these variant covers make me unhappy to be supporting them... if this continues after the first story arcs (with maybe the exception of #1 issues), then I'm out.

I didn't realize anyone was forcing you to buy variant covers.

[Schmakt]

I didn't realize anyone was forcing you to buy variant covers.

no one is, but I greatly dislike the practice.
I do not enjoy collecting runs of comics that are incomplete, and I hate paying for the same issue multiple times, and I really hate paying a premium for the same story for one different picture on the front.
It seems like a cheap way to make more money on something without actually doing any (much) more work.
It seems like it takes money away from other lower-selling titles.
It seems like a sleazy way to artificially inflate sales numbers.
I do not respect a company that resorts to these shenanigans. Especially when it's every freaking issue.
#1? Ok, fine... anniversary issue? Fine. Random-ass number in the middle of a storyline getting multiple multiple covers?

At least they seemed to have realized what a dumb idea the "talking" covers were...

Even if I'm wrong about all of my "seems likes" it still annoys the crap out of me personally, so I will happily take my 3.99 and buy another beer.
Which will probably be worth more than these comics even after I've turned it into piss thanks to the ridiculous numbers of these books out there now...

[BugsySig]

no one is, but I greatly dislike the practice.
I do not enjoy collecting runs of comics that are incomplete, and I hate paying for the same issue multiple times, and I really hate paying a premium for the same story for one different picture on the front.
It seems like a cheap way to make more money on something without actually doing any (much) more work.
It seems like it takes money away from other lower-selling titles.
It seems like a sleazy way to artificially inflate sales numbers.
I do not respect a company that resorts to these shenanigans. Especially when it's every freaking issue.
#1? Ok, fine... anniversary issue? Fine. Random-ass number in the middle of a storyline getting multiple multiple covers?

At least they seemed to have realized what a dumb idea the "talking" covers were...

Even if I'm wrong about all of my "seems likes" it still annoys the crap out of me personally, so I will happily take my 3.99 and buy another beer.
Which will probably be worth more than these comics even after I've turned it into piss thanks to the ridiculous numbers of these books out there now...

Well, unfortunately, incentive covers are a necessity for publishers not named Marvel or DC (or a few self published Image books that dont make any money for their creators anyway). I understand all of your complaints because they are valid, which is why I have never bothered with variants. At this point in time it is unlikely a variant will ever be worth more than what they are being sold for. But again, it's not for the consumer -- though collectors always feel ripped off by the practice -- it is to push the retailer to order 20 issues instead of 15 or 50 instead of 40. That a) makes the publisher more $$$, b) evens out for the retailer because the profit they make on a variant mark up exceeds the extra ordering cost, and c) potentially puts more books in the hands of readers...no one can become a Valiant customer if there aren't any issues on the shelf to read.

[Schmakt]

Well, unfortunately, incentive covers are a necessity for publishers not named Marvel or DC (or a few self published Image books that dont make any money for their creators anyway). I understand all of your complaints because they are valid, which is why I have never bothered with variants. At this point in time it is unlikely a variant will ever be worth more than what they are being sold for. But again, it's not for the consumer -- though collectors always feel ripped off by the practice -- it is to push the retailer to order 20 issues instead of 15 or 50 instead of 40. That a) makes the publisher more $$$, b) evens out for the retailer because the profit they make on a variant mark up exceeds the extra ordering cost, and c) potentially puts more books in the hands of readers...no one can become a Valiant customer if there aren't any issues on the shelf to read.

Yah, I get the economics of it... and that's all very unfortunate. I don't know how to solve that problem for smaller publishers... although I do think it'd be a neat experiment for someone to go back to newsprint and drop all the glossy pages and whatnot to see if they can bring printing costs and cover prices down a little. Not that that will ever happen. So it goes...

(I do have to say that I thought David Aja's 1st round of variants were pretty badass...)