Variant Cover Comics Explained
Do you collect comics? If you do you it would be hard to not notice the popularity of variant covers.
A comic with a variant cover is a comic that has a featured artist do the art for the cover of a limited printing of an issue. The comic might have an “A” and “B” cover (or more) that are common. The variant cover is available to retailers in limited quantities. A single issue might have 10 different variant covers available. A retailer will have to order multiple copies of the regular cover of the issue in order to have the opportunity to order a single issue with a variant cover.
Now let’s look at why this would make variant covers rare and potentially valuable. Most often a retailer has to order either 10 or 25 issues of the the common covered issues, of which there can still be multiple. There are usually several variant covers for a popular series. So let’s say a issue of Batman has 5 variant covers and a minimum order requirement of 10. 55 (50 regular, 5 variants) issues would need to be ordered by a shop in order to receive one of each of the variant issues. Now let’s say the order requirement was 25 issues, now the shop has to order 130 issues (125 regular and 5 variants) to get one of each variant.
Plenty of comic readers are not a fan of the growing popularity of variants. To be fair, I can see how it can seem kind of “gimmicky”. However ,this was one way for publishers to continue to appeal to collectors. When comics became more mainstream the number of issues being printed increased. Back in the old days, a limited printing of an issue could possibly increase the value of a comic, especially if it were a key. A “key” is comic talk for an issue that featured an important event, like the first appearance of a character, an important event in a story arch, or the death of character. A key issue could become a valuable collector item in the future. Now a days a #1 issue for a new superhero might have so many issues printed that it would be difficult to become worth much money in the the near future. Creating variant covers allows comic publishers to create the rarity collectors crave while not limiting the number of issues printed.
For more stories about comics and comic books/collectibles check out my comic shop/blog at secretbasecomics.com