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The Variant Scene

Started by OldGuy,

48 posts in this topic

25CentComic

25CentComic

Posted
Posted
Some of the variant schemes described in that article are insane. Trying to get dealers to sell an equal amount of a BW comic as the regular color issue is ludicris.

The incentive plan for New Avengers#1 is possibly the first disincentive plan as many retailers limited their orders so asto qualify for the later variants.

This Wolverine #20 has the making of being one of the rarest Marvels ever. Even if orders go up to 100,000,there will only be about 1,500 copies,

but to get one,a dealer needs to order 65 copies.If the average shop sold 65 copys of each issue,Wolverine would be selling 250,000 a month,not the 65,000 it does.

So the big guys(Mile Hile,Buddy Saunders,ect) get a freebie,and the smaller shops that are struggling get nada.The bigger shops get a $100 book simply for ordering their normal amount of books. If a shop is ordering 25 a month,now they need to order an extra 40 copies.Will they be able to sell the variant for enough to cover the additional costs? It seems quite possible,this time. But if this variant succeeds in pumping sales by 20% or more,they'll be many,many more to follow.

 

And yet EVERYONE who wants one has one or a very real chance to buy one for $100. I wouldn't be suprised to see Wolverine #20 has sold 670,000 copies. 10,000 variant copies are rare but only if 10,001 people feel the need to own one. What a glut on the market. I think I'll wait a couple months and buy the whole 6 issue run off eBay for $2. Variants and everything.

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Alberto1975

Alberto1975

Posted
Posted

When I first saw it I thought it was the exact same cover, and they had just colored it differently. But then I paid close attention and realized they were indeed different.

Still, noone knows if the variant wraps around too? damnit, you guys are gonna make me have to get mine out of the bag!!!!

 

crazy.gif

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Solar

Solar

Posted
Posted
Some of the variant schemes described in that article are insane. Trying to get dealers to sell an equal amount of a BW comic as the regular color issue is ludicris.

The incentive plan for New Avengers#1 is possibly the first disincentive plan as many retailers limited their orders so asto qualify for the later variants.

This Wolverine #20 has the making of being one of the rarest Marvels ever. Even if orders go up to 100,000,there will only be about 1,500 copies,

but to get one,a dealer needs to order 65 copies.If the average shop sold 65 copys of each issue,Wolverine would be selling 250,000 a month,not the 65,000 it does.

So the big guys(Mile Hile,Buddy Saunders,ect) get a freebie,and the smaller shops that are struggling get nada.The bigger shops get a $100 book simply for ordering their normal amount of books. If a shop is ordering 25 a month,now they need to order an extra 40 copies.Will they be able to sell the variant for enough to cover the additional costs? It seems quite possible,this time. But if this variant succeeds in pumping sales by 20% or more,they'll be many,many more to follow.

 

And yet EVERYONE who wants one has one or a very real chance to buy one for $100. I wouldn't be suprised to see Wolverine #20 has sold 670,000 copies. 10,000 variant copies are rare but only if 10,001 people feel the need to own one. What a glut on the market. I think I'll wait a couple months and buy the whole 6 issue run off eBay for $2. Variants and everything.

 

Huh? 670.000 copies? This isn't 1992.

 

I dont think you'll ever see the whole 6 issue rune WITHOUT the variants for under $10 and somehow with about 1200 or so copies I doubt the variant will ever drop under $40 or so.

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Kevin Boyd

Kevin Boyd

Posted
Posted

Wolverine has been selling in the 65,000-75,000 copies/month range thru Diamond (to comic shops) for the last few months.

 

Astonishing X-Men #1, the highest selling comic in years sold 209,000 comics thru Diamond to stores last May.

 

Print run for Wolverine #20 will not match Astonishing's sales, it will however definitely increase the print run.

 

I'm going to generously estimate that Diamond will sell about 125,000 copies of Wolverine #20 to it's 4500 accounts. Using the 1/65 ratio that means that there are approximately 1923 copies of the variant out there. Divided by 4500 Diamond accounts that's an average of less than 43% of comic sellers getting even 1 copy.

 

If, however, every Diamond account ordered 65 copies in order to get 1 variant - sales on Wolverine #20 would be close to 293,000 copies = making Wolverine #20 the best selling comic in many years and there would be 4500 copies of the variant available.

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Kevin Boyd

Kevin Boyd

Posted
Posted

Kevin, my LCS ordered just 65 receiving 1 Variant (HIS) , he has no plans to order more # 20

 

and is NOT selling(at this time) the Variant. FYI: The Brain.

 

Given that Marvel prints to order + subscription service copies they probably won't have any left at Diamond to reorder anyway.

 

Most stores didn't get any copies of the variant, the majority got 1 and then the big time stores & subscription sellers/speculators probably got anywhere from 4-10 copies (and this will pretty much ensure that the regular version will be easily obtainable for at least the next three-four months).

 

The mid-level accounts will probably hold onto their one copy for themselves (like your LCS), offer it to valued customer or chuck it on eBay for a quick buck.

 

My LCS got 1 variant and it was offered to someone 893scratchchin-thumb.gif (not me) and he turned it down... so Peter will likely keep it and get it graded or perhaps get Millar and Romita Jr. to sign it for signature series.

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Defiant34

Defiant34

Posted
Posted

I think that variant covers are cool headbang.gif & if you want to collect them then that is fine & also your business. I personally like to have variants of certain titles as long as it is within reason which depends on rarity & price.

What does suck is when certain companies use a gimick news.gif , Wolvie # 20, to get $$$ from the stores, few but some, which sometimes try to get $$$ from customers & then there are those that create mayhem on eBay about it to get $$$.

893naughty-thumb.gif For example: Identity Crisis # 4 from DC which came out last week. There was a "variant" that has an insert of a Sky Captain teaser poster in the middle that interrupts the 2 page layout so they were supposedly recalled & then the poster was removed. One of these, which are very rare, sold on eBay graded @ 9.4 for $250.00 confused.gif . Out of curiousity I took out my issue & to my amasement saw that my copy was one of these "rare" variants. I went to another store to buy a "regular" & to see if any had the poster in it & found all were poster-less. I went back to my regular shop & found 1 more with the poster but all the others had no poster. But does having that hideous poster make the issue jump to an incrdible price?

 

See the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=35764&item=2273467646&rd=1

 

I kinda feel bad for the guy that paid $$$ for a poster which is in every other DC issue 27_laughing.gif (sorry).

 

 

yeahok.gif ...& that guy who wrote the article that is complaining about the variants sign-rantpost.gif.... he should stop crying Christo_pull_hair.gif

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Darthdiesel

Darthdiesel

Posted
Posted
I kinda feel bad for the guy that paid $$$ for a poster which is in every other DC issue 27_laughing.gif (sorry).

 

popcorn.gif

 

Yeah that flying-donut...what a dumb arse! What was he thinking? 27_laughing.gif

 

devil.gifstooges.gif

 

 

 

I saw him at Tyson's today, poor guy still hasn't got his variant book.

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Darthdiesel

Darthdiesel

Posted
Posted

Where did you get your "rare" copy of Identity Crisis 4? and which of the Sky Capt poster variants was it? (Jude Law, Angelina Jolie, or Gwyneth Paltrow?) nd if the poster was there and not "inserted" afterwards, then yes to some folks it is worth more than cover.

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Defiant34

Defiant34

Posted
Posted

The thing is that "supossedly" , according to the auctioner, it is rare to find #4 with a poster in it. I don't think that there is a variant of the poster in it but the variant is that there is a poster in the 2 page layout obstructing the story. I got it @ my LCS,

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colossuscomics

colossuscomics

Posted
Posted

As a retailer, I love variants. As a collector, I love them as well. But with this Wolverine #20, I'm finding that it has created a lot of waste. I ordered 195 copies to get my three variants. My cost was 1/2 cover which I think is $1.12 each. I bought all the copies just for the three variants (my costs $234). I plan to get my variants graded and I expect to sell them for $200 plus each as CGC 9.8. Not a bad return on investment. However, since I'm strictly mail order/ebay, I have no outlet for selling the non-variant editions. I guess I will put them in my dollar or quarter bins at conventions. Seems like quite a bit of waste to me, however I'm not sure how you can get around it and still preserve the inherent value (rarity) of the variants.

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