Look - I'll start off by saying that, in general, I don't hate variants. I'm old enough that I remember a time when you only got one cover like it or not. When Variants started I thought it was pretty cool and I still like some alternate covers.

However, too much of almost anything is not good and too many variants can be downright ponderous.

If I say to you "Action Comics #1", what do you think? I dare say the image of Superman smashing a car while criminals flee in terror will come to mind. Do you think that image would be so memorable if there were 32 different covers for that book? 3-D, five different guest artists, Skottie Young, zombies, left cover/right cover?

Probably not.

So how do you know when there are too many variants for a particular comic? Here's a couple of tips:

If the issue designation is a number and more than 2 letters, i.e. #2-AF - then you have too many variants.

If I have to scroll through 3 pages of listings to find issue #7 - you have too many variants.

If you have a "Blank Cover" variant then you have run out of ideas and have TOO MANY VARIANTS.

If you have a variant of a variant such as if issue #5-L is a black and white cover of issue #5-E - you have way too many variants!

If there is a variant cover with a currently "Hot" character popping in (and said character does not even appear in the issue) then you may have more problems then just having too many variant covers but- you have TOO FREAKING MANY VARIANTS!

Can anyone help me (and the Comic Book Publishers) out? What other signs are there for too many variants?

Like I said before, I don't have a problem with variants but too many of them make my head hurt.

BTW - I think I may have set a record for the number of times the word "variant" was used in a post.

Hilarious, Howie.

When you have to resort to hiding multiple variant covers behind an opaque bag, you have too many variants.

When you have to move the variant cover number from the variant portion of the UPC to wrap around to the printing number, then you have too many variants.

(For example on the most recent Amazing Spider-man #1, it goes from 00191 from the 9th variant to 00119 on the 10th variant. And ESPECIALLY on that issue, they have so many variants that they start making it look like there are 2nd printings of variants (but they're not), for example 00152 for the Limited Edition Comix sketch variant.)

Side note, is there a proper name for the 5 digit number on the UPC which identifies the issue?

Side side note, WTF is DC going to do when Action Comics and Detective Comics hit 1000 for that since it's only 3 digits for the issue number.

On a serious side, you get 2 regular covers, 1 retailer incentive, and MAYBE a comic con exclusive and that's it for any given issue. Beyond that is too many for my taste.

If you have so many variants that they've all become so generic you can't tell one TITLE from the next - you have too many variants.

If you have 9 covers to promote "A New Story Arc begins in #14!" - you have too damn many variants.


(I'm looking at you Valiant)

Oh come on man, stop picking on Deadpool. So what if he's doing stuff that makes no sense to what's happening in the book or making ridiculous body poses just to look dumb. I love Deadpool, but yeah, I guess you might be right now that I think about it. His current series actually has a comic outside his current storyline with that UPC character, just on the cover of each issue. You know you have to many variant covers when they start telling stories on the covers that don't relate to the story in the book the cover is on! Man when Star Wars #1 came out, not to mention Darth Vader, wow variant after variant...Store Variants, Store black and white with color cousin covers...

But people are buying them...and they are spending money on them...what gives? I've heard this argument for a while now...that one where the person complaining starts out remember the 90s? Crappy writing and a bazillion covers, crashed the market? ... At least we have some good writing!

If your book is published by IDW, you have too many variants (current TMNT series, 57 issues 269 covers, for example).

If you got books that are only available from one specific store, you got too many variants.

Granted, as long as people are buying them, the publishers are going to keep making them. I am part of the problem (though I don't have nearly all of the Buffyverse, or TMNT IDW books).

And that's set to 50 books per page.

Technically, they wouldn't really have to worry until at least issue #1400 or #1500, since there were no UPCs for the longest time, so if they just go back to 000 and 001, it's not like they'd be doubling up.

But then again, they don't make the distinction for other volumes, unless it's in the actual UPC number that I never pay attention to, so how many times have we seen 001xx on a Fantastic Four or Captain America comic?

When you have to include unfinished sketchbook drafts as a cover...you have too many variants.

I currently have 6 pages of wish list items when set to 50 per page...no lie 4 1/2 of those pages are IDW's Transformers and variants. I'm definitely part of the problem and I'm OK with that.

That's my case with the new Valiant. I have all the ones I don't have on my wish list noted in case I find them in a $1 box (which I have plenty of times), but have no/little intention of ever buying here.

I wish there was a way to have multiple or prioritized wish list.

Mine is full of TMNT and Buffyverse variants. Majority of my 8 pages are variants. There is only a handful of books on my list that I do not have at all. I too am part of the problem.

Though I am with SwiftMann and would like to set a priority to my wish list.

When a Regular cover and a Sketch variant aren't enough and you need a Color/Sketch Fade to combine them

Now, I like some variant covers. I like the theme covers, even when the character (harley, flash, green lantern, deadpool, wolverine) doesn't appear in the books themselves.

But I do understand that there are too many variant covers out nowadays. For a standard issue to have 3-4 covers is too many. I'm just really glad that they tend to leave Batgirl and Supergirl alone. I wish they'd leave Black Widow alone.

But I do want to defend the blank covers. Blank covers can be AWESOME. The intent is for you to take them to conventions, or send them through the mail to artists (or to draw on them yourself, if you've any artistic ability) and create something unique and fun.

You'll notice that, usually, blanks don't have a large secondary market sale value. That's because they're supposed to be cheap, so fans can get them drawn on.

That's all.

Do you like telling your customers that the book they're about to purchase is virtually gauranteed to become worthless because the company producing it offered variant covers to encourage large qty sales on their end knowing it was going to make every normal persons book worthless?

Easy example, Dark Knight 3 #1A.

The books not past the 4th issue and CCL is already buried in more copies under cover price than should even be sellable (118 listed right now)

With that 1 to 5000 Variant issue I read an article that so many stores qualified for that even it wasn't pulling high end numbers and those 52 stores alone had to have purchased 260,000+ A Covers and I'm sure picked up every Variant between the 1/5000 and the A they qualified for at the same time watering down all the Variants.

It's only a matter of time before more copies turn up here at the flea market and people keep underpricing each other until it's in the dollar bin range.

Or it could be the fact that the story isn't the greatest, just like dk2, it's been delayed again and again, and issue 6 has actually been canceled due to lateness.

The majority of comics today are virtually guaranteed to be worthless. I have no doubt that books with triple digit issue numbers will also be an extreme rarity.

they take so long between issues I almost forgot the story line in a few issues.that I'm being serious about.

Back to beating up Valiant (which I do out of love and buy at least one cover of every issue they put out):

You know you have too many variants when you're releasing the second #1 issue issue in 7 months just so you can make 10 more covers (on top of the 12 for the first #1) instead of your standard three.

um… wtf.

do you? if it's a book without offered variants, what do you tell your 'customers'? that the book they're about to purchase is virtually guaranteed to appreciate?

why speculate to your 'customers' about monetary worth at all, when you could be reinforcing the idea that a love for the content / medium virtually guarantees their book will become priceless?

Resurrectting this thread:

Issue #1 of the new TMNT series is planned to have 162 variants (at least 10 of which are different Blank ones).
https://tmnt-ninjaturtles.com/tmnt-vol-vi-001-idw/

That definitely qualifies as too many.