It's rare that we agree on anything, but I'm 100% with Brendan on this point. I can't understand why Kirkman would allow more variants. All they are doing is harming the retailers who need to sell the initial variants solicited by Diamond. Now there's a sketch variant of the Otley cover, a blank cover, a black and red cover and I don't even know who is producing these books, what the print run on these items will be or where to start looking for them. It was in poor taste in my opinion to do this to retailers and fans who have supported the comic over the years.
Nobody is forcing you to buy these books. As far as im concerned, retailers should be happy as heck. My LCS makes good money off WD. Upped his order. And more people come into the shop because of walking dead. Fans should be happy that a series they like reached 100 issues and is still going strong.
You are 100% right that no one is forcing me to buy them, but I when I actively collect a series I want one copy of ever cover / variant if possible.
This is just kind of the icing on the cake, the art has gone down hill a ton the last couple years, and I feel like the story behind the comic just doesn't have a lot really left in it to be told.
I will probably wait until the show is back on to take advantage of a better time to sell and unload then. I think most of us agree that a lot of the hype will eventually die down especially once the show runs it course and this would be a good time to sell and reinvest into something else I will enjoy long term like some pre-code horror or some nice silver age books which are hard to go wrong with.
Yes, the amount of variants is ridiculous. One reason I stopped trying to collect on one of my favorite all time books is because of multiple covers. If you are the type that has to have every cover, then I can see why this would be an issue. But you can get over it. YET, if you think the art sucks and the story is not doing it for you anymore, then maybe it is time to move onto something else.
I was upset back when Tony left the book and still think the current art is . Just what I think. But I still read it. Sure, there are lows and highs, but for a book that is now on the 100th issue...what else could be expected? Hang in there, Brendan. This could just be one of those lows for you in the run and can always change...as a reader. Now, as you being a collector of covers, not sure where this book is going with that, but if this multiple cover stuff is going to be an ongoing thing on a smaller scale, you may be facing further disappointment.
As long as I have just one cover to read, it's all good, bro. Give it several more issues and see where it goes. (thumbs u