I tend to enjoy some variants but my only problem with them is I don’t want to absolutely FILL my PC with them. I respect you though for reiterating an old opinion though. 💯

I do enjoy variants based on the artist but sometimes I'll pull them if it's character specific and it grabs me.

The amount of variants for books confused the hell outa me when I first got back into comics a year ago. But now I do understand them and do not mind them. And I do find myself collecting some now and enjoying it. Thank you for the videos!

I will buy Scottie Young variants even if I don't read the comic.

If it keeps comics alive I’m good with variants. But it does suck knowing that most new key comics will never be worth anything because there are five incentive ratios that people would rather own.

I think it’s fair to say that getting into variants can be a money pit but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. With comic publishers allowing so many different wonderful artists to give takes on our favorite characters, it makes it hard to just get the cover A or even just one variant. It gives you options and it almost never an easy one. I think it’s also great to give newer artists an opportunity to shine on a cover even if the publisher is not yet ready to put them as the main cover artist.

Love hearing "buy what you like" instead of just the buy to resell mentality too many have.

I only get certain variants. If it's by an artist I like or I do like those photo or movie variants. Sidenote, Batman no man's land is over of my top 5 favorite Batman stories of all time

Hey, we here at Readers Digest loved one of your videos and would love to talk more!

When i see CLZ report on Wednesday that a single issue can have up to 40 variants, that's insane. Does it ruin the hobby... no, it just gives folks more options to buy what they like. I can see all sorts of times where a sale of an issue wouldn't have happened if it weren't for "Cover C" or Retailer Exclusive. I'm a "Cover A" person through and through, but i see the appeal, and will snag a variant here an there that i like... just because i like it.

Derpus.

Each variant should have a slight variation to the story that would make me buy them

I Heart Skull Crusher love!!!!! Indy comics are destroying Marvel, DC is still doing ok with Absolute and Vertigo. The stories are the best part of comics.

The No Mans Land series is theeeee BEST DC Storyline ! Would really like to have the originale Trades

I go for certain variants but not all…sometimes the A cover is most appealing to me.

the problem with Valiant is simple, either the books look great or they look very amateur. As readers and collectors (and as an artist myself), i was told by Jim Steranko "the consumer eats/sees the art before they actually read a single word of story!" And if the heavy stylized era of art in the 90's, they came off like cheap books. Sure the books that had BWS, Bart Sears, Joe Quesada or Sean Chen looked and sold great, but then they gave to book to a terrible creative team and the fans followed the art and not the company.

C'mon you know what you got to do! You need to release a video attacking your FIL's content. Report him and accuse him of copyright infringement! Don't do anything that will make the wife too mad, just crush his 15 minutes of fame so that he never does it again!

Nah. You were right the first time. Please understand, though, that any ire I have about the issue isn't aimed at the collectors who buy them (I don't think about them at all) - it's aimed at the companies who produce them.

Need that FiL bump!😂

The entire business at the end of the day is about making money, so variants aren't any different. No one has to collect them, but they're there for the people who want to collect them. Some people just collect them for the artwork. I buy some variants for books I read, so sometimes I do just pick the variant I enjoy the most depending on the price. I'll almost never buy super expensive ones.

I prefer the 2024 variant version of Mint-Hunter over the 2021 version with his mom's earrings. 🤣

I just started back into comics after a 30-year gap. I was so confused about the variants. I ended up getting the same comic due to the confusion. Now that I understand, I don't mind. I gave away my doubles, and now I look for my favorite cover. I don't have any comics worth over 100 dollars, but I don't mind. That was never the point with me.

Remember that brief Justice League of America run from 2013? FIFTY state flag variants, plus Puerto Rico and DC? It's amazing they had the restraint to skip Guam and the Mariana Islands. But why stop there? There are 191 countries in the world, each with various flag-bearing provinces, cities and territories. I'd like to have seen the attractive provincial flag of Madang in Papua New Guinea on a variant cover! Let's face it...the variants are annoying cash grabs.

If I like the book and the characters in the book, then I might track down a few variants. But I don't buy a comic just for the variant cover, without any concern for the content in the pages of the book. One big pet peeve of mine is when the variant cover features characters that aren't even in the book itself. For example, I'm not going to buy an Iron Man variant cover for a Spider-Man book. Especially not if Iron Man doesn't even make a guest appearance in that issue. I did buy a CGC graded and signed 9.9 copy of the Kael Ngu variant of The Last Ronin #5; but that was mainly because I love that story, the cover is one of the best pieces of TMNT art I've ever seen, and the issue itself features the death of my favorite of the original Ninja Turtles. So it was just such a monumental issue on so many levels for me and I thought it was worth the money.

Tales of suspense . I had to focus on stuff I needed more to sell to keep the collection going .

1:59 what is this girl from

👍

Dang I thought Zatanna's first appearance was in a DC title (Hawkman) not marvel (Hawkeye) 😅 siick crossover

Even restricting myself to collecting 2 titles, there are so many variants of each issue...but damn it, the covers are generally great..

I think variants are fine for people who are already in the know. Fans who are well-versed in what is coming out and their favorite artists know what to look for. However, I also think that variants are part of gatekeeping toward people who aren’t massive fans or people are interested and don’t know where to start. It’s very disconcerting to go to the few comic stores left and look for a mainstream title and be confused and overwhelmed by the sheer amount of covers. IDW has a lot of well known mainstream titles and there are 8 or more covers for each. Imagine trying to start collecting Power Rangers. It would be really hard to start. Is this issue 4 or is that issue 4? Is it the same story? As comics get more expensive, the general public is turned off by the confusing array of choice.

Great video. Thanks for the information 👍

I remember seeing your old video covering this. I was a fairly new collector at that point in time. But I absolutely adored variant covers and looked for specific artists like you do now. It's is great to see the adjustment in your opinion! I see both sides of the spectrum for new and old collectors alike. Chasing more "modern" comics can be a bit more of a challenge now but what's the fun in a hunt without a challenge? :)

Hello, James! I agree with the Variants getting out of hand. However, I do enjoy 1-2 variants that have true significance. Not just a random character or layout thrown in to sell more books. Keep up the good content.

I 💯% agree with this Video!!! I have Certain Characters/Titles that I try to Key Out on as well as Artists that I try to focus on those Certain Characters/Titles. But I find Myself Drifting/Exploring with those Artists as well! Keep up the Good Work!!!

No Man's Land!!! Whaaaaaa! I buy variants but I've been cutting back. It does get expensive.

It’s nice to have option on what cover to pick up, my problem is the amount of variants per issue (why does issue 7 need 15 covers?). I like that DC has thicker card stock variants, but on the other hand, I see that main covers suffer from the variants as they look like a variant themselves (covers hardly show anything of significance of what takes place in the book). I could use those No Man’s Land TPBs… 😅

I tend to only collect the regular covers of heroes I read, as my completionist brain, does not mix with my minimalist wallet. But you can bet your sweet bippy, if I see an Artgerm or Ross variant or really any cool “got to have it art” I grab at least two of the covers.

Never hated them. If I'm buying a new X-Men book, why not grab a cover I like more? Like you, I also chase certain artists like Alex Ross, Artgerm, and Hughes. Beyond that, if it really catches my eye, I'll grab it. Any of the Patrick Gleason webhead or J.S. Campbell stuff usually does the trick too.

Literally never had an issue with variants. If I liked em, I bought em, if not... didn't.

I find it amusing that people will pay more money for a comic with a blank cover than the same comic with cover art. Incidentally, which comic has the highest number of variant covers? I've read that it's Marat Mychaels' "Do You Pooh" but a friend told me he'd seen a report of a 75-variant cover book, though he couldn't remember which comic. Frank Brunner is a great artist, apart from those Doctor Strange issues he also had quite a lot of work published in Mike Friedrich's 1970s independent title Star*Reach as well as drawing many, if not all, issues of Warp from First Comics. And his art portfolios such as Alice In Wonderland are gorgeous but, being signed and numbered and limited to 500 or 1000, they are pricey and not easy to find.

I agree, trying to collect all the variants is crazy. However everyone should focus on what covers they enjoy and what they like to read. When I first got into it, I was so focused on getting whatever covers I thought would make money and I don’t even sell lmao. Big fan and great video!

No sir. I don't like them. And now we're getting interior variants, too. Red Band from Marvel.

I collect to read personally but Ive gotten into getting a few variants of characters/series I like if I see them pop up on whatnot for a decent price to use as wall art.

An interesting take. But I'm still with the thought that variants are a money grab. The companies are in business of making money. So they'll put as many as they can, helping out the LCS, because they know the 1 in 50 will fetch the store $50 to $100 on release date.

I look at the dead #2 cover and I feel violated

Marvel versus Capcom is my favorite game

Those are my hobbies comic books and video games

😂 it was a shock to me too!

It’s all about the art 🖼️! And everyone’s different styles of taste and how you build a curate your collection and hopefully it pays off one way or another in the future

I also by variants just for the art! Sometimes the variants are cooler than the Cvr A’s.