What is up with all the different variant comics? 1 1

[jfree580]

Hey! So I’m some what new to collecting, I have some ASM 300 and below comics, working on the collection, and a bunch of other various comics. I’ve recently become intrigued with some of the new comics and collecting those, however, I see that the new Spider-Man’s have a bunch of different variant covers. What is this reason for this? Also does anyone know where I can find a list of all the different variants for a specific comic, and maybe even a regularly updated list? I feel as if this can be pretty confusing, but maybe it’s just me lol. Any help would be appreciated!

[keithl]

some variant comic sites with more info.

cheers

https://www.sellmycomicbooks.com/variant-comics.html

https://rarecomics.wordpress.com/

http://www.recalledcomics.com/index.php

 

 

 

[revat]

they have variants hoping you'll buy multiple copies of the same book, possibly for reasons other than the actual content of the book.

[RockMyAmadeus]

8 hours ago, keithl said:

https://rarecomics.wordpress.com/

This is not a legitimate source of information. It is fact mixed with error, and as such, completely unreliable as a source.

The site's owner, Mr. Benjamin Nobel, does not make corrections when they are pointed out to him, and blocks people from commenting on his "blog" when they do. 

For example:

Quote

In 1979, something happened in comics that would change everything — Marvel made its first sales of distinct direct edition comic books to specialty comic shops, at discounted prices but on a non-returnable basis. That was a major development, because outside of some non-returnable comics produced for Whitman/Western Publishing starting in 1977, the prior primary distribution method for comic books was the newsstand model: unsold copies could simply be returned for a refund.

https://rarecomics.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/comic-book-newsstand-editions-understanding-the-difference/

...this paragraph has fact mixed with fiction. The Direct market started in 1973/74...NOT 1979, as Mr. Nobel inelegantly claims here, and their first sales of distinct direct edition comic books to comics specialty shops was in late 1976...NOT 1979. And his contention, that "outside of some non-returnable comics produced for Whitman/Western Publishing" is completely erroneous. Those comics weren't produced solely for Whitman, as the DC program launched a year later was...they were produced for the Direct market, of which Whitman was probably the largest consumer at the time. When he says "outside of some non-returnable comics", he's unwittingly talking about the Direct market and its operating principles.

And there are many more errors like this. 

And if those are the mistakes that are obvious to people who know...how many people don't know, and accept his errors as fact?

Be very, very wary about such sites, especially those which are part of "blog" type sites, that anyone can post to with little or no cost.

Edited September 13, 2018 by RockMyAmadeus

[RockMyAmadeus]

"recalled comics" also has some errors, and uses other people's scans without their permission, but the difference...and it's major...is that the person who runs that site is willing to correct the record when it's pointed out.

[Mercury Man]

Two words-  Money Grab

[NP_Gresham]

There is a theory in retail.

Any established product has 3 categories of consumers

 1) Heavy users

2) Consumers

3) Non-consumers

So with any given product if you want to increase sales you target #1

Consumers under #2 and #3 have their mind made up. They purchase on need or don't use at all.

Heavy users will tend to stalk up when a product they really like goes 'on sale" or promotional offers.

Disney is simply using this theory. Marvel is a well known commodity. They have deliberately targeted the completionists(Heavy users) who buy books at an irrational rate. If a single cover has 200,000 buyers, then whatever is lost by ordinary consumers losing interest will be more than made up by those who will seek out 20-30 different covers at 4-10 copies each.

It is math.

 

[theCapraAegagrus]

Yeah, being newer myself, the variants kinda me off.

I've said it before, that the only variants I like (so far) are the direct Action Comics #1000 ones (there's 9 outside of the main cover, and then 2 foil versions of those 9, so 12 total). Then there's 40+ "store" variants, or whatever, that I couldn't care less about.

Variants are a person_without_enough_empathy.

[1950's war comics]

18 hours ago, jfree580 said:

Hey! So I’m some what new to collecting, I have some ASM 300 and below comics, working on the collection, and a bunch of other various comics. I’ve recently become intrigued with some of the new comics and collecting those, however, I see that the new Spider-Man’s have a bunch of different variant covers. What is this reason for this? Also does anyone know where I can find a list of all the different variants for a specific comic, and maybe even a regularly updated list? I feel as if this can be pretty confusing, but maybe it’s just me lol. Any help would be appreciated!

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

17 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

This is not a legitimate source of information. It is fact mixed with error, and as such, completely unreliable as a source.

The site's owner, Mr. Benjamin Nobel, does not make corrections when they are pointed out to him, and blocks people from commenting on his "blog" when they do. 

For example:

https://rarecomics.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/comic-book-newsstand-editions-understanding-the-difference/

...this paragraph has fact mixed with fiction. The Direct market started in 1973/74...NOT 1979, as Mr. Nobel inelegantly claims here, and their first sales of distinct direct edition comic books to comics specialty shops was in late 1976...NOT 1979. And his contention, that "outside of some non-returnable comics produced for Whitman/Western Publishing" is completely erroneous. Those comics weren't produced solely for Whitman, as the DC program launched a year later was...they were produced for the Direct market, of which Whitman was probably the largest consumer at the time. When he says "outside of some non-returnable comics", he's unwittingly talking about the Direct market and its operating principles.

And there are many more errors like this. 

And if those are the mistakes that are obvious to people who know...how many people don't know, and accept his errors as fact?

Be very, very wary about such sites, especially those which are part of "blog" type sites, that anyone can post to with little or no cost.

I learned a lot from this Post. Thank You.

[valiantman]

The comics industry is about a decade behind the sportscard industry in terms of promotions and "slabbing".  Variant started being a regular occurrence around 1990, particularly for books with a #1 on the cover (Spider-Man #1, X-Men #1).  That is basically a decade later than sportscards introducing multiple "rookie cards" beginning around 1981, with 3 to 5 different versions of rookie cards for the same player.  Somewhere around 1992, sportscards realized there was more money to be made with "chase cards" and "premium cards", with ratios of 1:25 packs, etc., even though those cards feature the same players.  Sure enough, one of the biggest "premium variants" for comic books came along in 2002... Batman #608 Retailer exclusive. 

So, when we started seeing a single comic with 10, 20, or 50 different variants for a "#1 issue" (or a #700 or a #1000), sometime in the early 2010s (Justice League - 50 state variants, etc.), we were really seeing a ten-year delay from sportscards, which expanded way beyond 5 rookie cards over a decade ago.  Tom Brady has 44 different rookie cards, from the year 2000. https://www.beckett.com/news/tom-brady-rookie-cards/

What does the future hold for comic book variants?  As Jerry Seinfeld would say, "Look to the cookie rookie!"

[ComicConnoisseur]

5 hours ago, valiantman said:

The comics industry is about a decade behind the sportscard industry in terms of promotions and "slabbing".  Variant started being a regular occurrence around 1990, particularly for books with a #1 on the cover (Spider-Man #1, X-Men #1).  That is basically a decade later than sportscards introducing multiple "rookie cards" beginning around 1981, with 3 to 5 different versions of rookie cards for the same player.  Somewhere around 1992, sportscards realized there was more money to be made with "chase cards" and "premium cards", with ratios of 1:25 packs, etc., even though those cards feature the same players.  Sure enough, one of the biggest "premium variants" for comic books came along in 2002... Batman #608 Retailer exclusive. 

So, when we started seeing a single comic with 10, 20, or 50 different variants for a "#1 issue" (or a #700 or a #1000), sometime in the early 2010s (Justice League - 50 state variants, etc.), we were really seeing a ten-year delay from sportscards, which expanded way beyond 5 rookie cards over a decade ago.  Tom Brady has 44 different rookie cards, from the year 2000. https://www.beckett.com/news/tom-brady-rookie-cards/

What does the future hold for comic book variants?  As Jerry Seinfeld would say, "Look to the cookie rookie!"

Good post. Just about everything the sportscard hobby did comics followed later.

Sportscards are killing it on eBay in sales volume. Every year there is a Walking Dead #1 in the sportscard hobby. New stuff creates new interest. 

That's how you get the younger fans because their generation can have its own keys.

Comic variants are doing good, and eventually this resistance to variants will disappear with most collectors.

 

 

 

[valiantman]

1 hour ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

Good post. Just about everything the sportscard hobby did comics followed later.

Sportscards are killing it on eBay in sales volume. Every year there is a Walking Dead #1 in the sportscard hobby. New stuff creates new interest. 

That's how you get the younger fans because their generation can have its own keys.

Comic variants are doing good, and eventually this resistance to variants will disappear with most collectors.

I generally hate the variant market because it is currently rewarding quite a few "nothing books".  But the same thing happened in sportscards.  There was a time that any refractor had value, or any jersey card, or any signature card, but eventually there were enough big value cards that collectors could say, "there are lots of different 'rare' cards, so we should focus on rookies for great players". The "common rares" became basically nothing.  Pre-premium cards became "vintage" and important rookies and early hall of famer cards are their own well-deserved active market.

 

I think there's a strong chance that 'rare' random modern issues, first appearances of nobody, storylines that don't matter, will follow the path of "common rares" in sportscards... and it will be the rare variants of books that matter in their regular editions that hold value.  I still believe that the rarest nothing special comic is just multiplying a big rarity number by zero for content. That shouldn't be $1,000+.

 

Eventually, when everything is rare, it will take something more... inside the book... first appearances (of characters with a fanbase) and good storylines.  Cover art will be fantastic on all of them, so even a great cover won't be enough by itself.

 

There will be two solid ways to spend $1,000 in comics.

Rare versions of books worth at least $20+ in their regular editions, and vintage first appearances and early issues for classic characters.

 

Rare versions of nothing special are currently dangerous places to put money... but if people are happy with nothing special expensive variants... hopefully they'll still be happy when they're nothing special cheap variants.

[JollyComics]

On 9/12/2018 at 4:03 PM, Mercury Man said:

Two words-  Money Grab

If you notice 1:25 variant that means the comic book dealer has to give up 25 comic books for one variant copy. You will see 1:50, 1:100 and go on with higher numbers.

My LCS never use variants and has rather to sell more regular comic books so I have to order the variants on my monthly subscription via other comic book dealer's website.

[Readcomix]

1 hour ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

Good post. Just about everything the sportscard hobby did comics followed later.

Sportscards are killing it on eBay in sales volume. Every year there is a Walking Dead #1 in the sportscard hobby. New stuff creates new interest. 

That's how you get the younger fans because their generation can have its own keys.

Comic variants are doing good, and eventually this resistance to variants will disappear with most collectors.

 

 

 

This makes a lot of sense. While variants are not my thing, there are plenty of long-time collectors who get excited about the relative scarcity of price variants. Heck, this is not a new invention. I posted maybe two days ago in comics general in what's new in your collection this week -- I just bought a 16-box collection that's maybe 80% classics illustrated. Apparently, the late collector was attempting to assemble one of every different Highest Reorder Number (eg - each different reprinting) of all 169 issues of the series -- literally about 1,600 different comics. I'm not keeping it all -- far from it. But I'll keep the early originals and some non-Classics stuff from the collection.

Arguably, you get more variance for your variant collection with different covers than 30 vs 35 cents on the cover. But then I never chased those either. But the completionist is a strain of collector, and it's for them. We are a hobby of niches.

[ComicConnoisseur]

1 minute ago, valiantman said:

I generally hate the variant market because it is currently rewarding quite a few "nothing books".  But the same thing happened in sportscards.  There was a time that any refractor had value, or any jersey card, or any signature card, but eventually there were enough big value cards that collectors could say, "there are lots of different 'rare' cards, so we should focus on rookies for great players". The "common rares" became basically nothing.  Pre-premium cards became "vintage" and important rookies and early hall of famer cards are their own well-deserved active market.

 

I think there's a strong chance that 'rare' random modern issues, first appearances of nobody, storylines that don't matter, will follow the path of "common rares" in sportscards... and it will be the rare variants of books that matter in their regular editions that hold value.  I still believe that the rarest nothing special comic is just multiplying a big rarity number by zero for content. That shouldn't be $1,000+.

 

Eventually, when everything is rare, it will take something more... inside the book... first appearances (of characters with a fanbase) and good storylines.  Cover art will be fantastic on all of them, so even a great cover won't be enough by itself.

 

There will be two solid ways to spend $1,000 in comics.

Rare versions of books worth at least $20+ in their regular editions, and vintage first appearances and early issues for classic characters.

 

Rare versions of nothing special are currently dangerous places to put money... but if people are happy with nothing special expensive variants... hopefully they'll still be happy when they're nothing special cheap variants.

One thing I like about the sportscard market is every year their is like one or two Walking Dead #1s for rookie cards. If you play your cards(pun intended) you can make some massive coin.

Yeah, I agree with you on your points, especially "there will be two solid ways to spend $1,000 in comics.

Rare versions of books worth at least $20+ in their regular editions, and vintage first appearances and early issues for classic characters."

Going forward I would also say sportscards, comics and video games will be were the action is as hottest collectibles just because of pop culture icons.

It's hard to beat Spider-Man, Batman, LeBron,Tom Brady, Super Mario and Zelda games for interest now and in the future. 

[valiantman]

26 minutes ago, ComicConnoisseur said:

One thing I like about the sportscard market is every year their is like one or two Walking Dead #1s for rookie cards. If you play your cards(pun intended) you can make some massive coin.

Yeah, I agree with you on your points, especially "there will be two solid ways to spend $1,000 in comics.

Rare versions of books worth at least $20+ in their regular editions, and vintage first appearances and early issues for classic characters."

Going forward I would also say sportscards, comics and video games will be were the action is as hottest collectibles just because of pop culture icons.

It's hard to beat Spider-Man, Batman, LeBron,Tom Brady, Super Mario and Zelda games for interest now and in the future. 

The interesting thing to me about the pop culture icons you listed are that comics pre-date current sports stars by decades, and the biggest characters still active in comics never retire so comic "rookies" (first appearances) are forever becoming more "vintage" (aging) while their character stats just keep growing (hall of fame).

Additionally, people love to hate sports stars for beating their own team and ending their playoff hopes each season.  Comic characters aren't competing against each other, and the seasons never end.

[NP_Gresham]

On 9/13/2018 at 7:51 PM, ComicConnoisseur said:

One thing I like about the sportscard market is every year their is like one or two Walking Dead #1s for rookie cards. If you play your cards(pun intended) you can make some massive coin.

Yeah, I agree with you on your points, especially "there will be two solid ways to spend $1,000 in comics.

Rare versions of books worth at least $20+ in their regular editions, and vintage first appearances and early issues for classic characters."

Going forward I would also say sportscards, comics and video games will be were the action is as hottest collectibles just because of pop culture icons.

It's hard to beat Spider-Man, Batman, LeBron,Tom Brady, Super Mario and Zelda games for interest now and in the future. 

Big differences between sports cards and baseball cards and comic books

No one owns the rights to Tom Brady, except Tom Brady. 

So while 30 companies can print 30 different Tom brady cards, only Marvel can print Amazing Spider-man.

So instead of having 30 different competitors trying outdo one another, Marvel can simply rehash the same Krap endlessly.

Edited September 16, 2018 by NP_Gresham

[NP_Gresham]

The best thing to happen to comics will not happen for many years yet.

These characters need to fall into the public domain.

The best thing to happen to comics would be downsizing of copyright protections.

 

Edited September 16, 2018 by NP_Gresham

[newshane]

On 9/12/2018 at 4:03 PM, Mercury Man said:

Two words-  Money Grab

That's the very first thing that came to my mind.