What comic started the modern store variant exclusive phase? 0

[Tnexus]

Was doing a little research today and this got me thinking, what comic started the whole current store exclusive thing? I know there were past exclusives like ASM666, but I don't really count those since those weren't all that unique. Was it Spider-Gwen #1?

[mysterymachine]

Danger Girl 1 from 1998.

Edited July 6, 2022 by mysterymachine

[drmccoy74]

Maybe The Tick from New England Comics back in the late 80's ?

[davidpg]

Arguably the platinum Spider-Man #1?

[ADAMANTIUM]

On 7/6/2022 at 10:22 AM, davidpg said:

Arguably the platinum Spider-Man #1?

That's originally what I thought as far as "variants", but I wasn't too sure as it's been a long time since discussed

 

[Comicshows]

Does the OP mean a LCS type of variant where a store could get one for their own store?

[davidpg]

On 7/6/2022 at 11:23 AM, ADAMANTIUM said:

That's originally what I thought as far as "variants", but I wasn't too sure as it's been a long time since discussed

 

I still have my platinum copy I got when we had our comic shop back then, still in its original envelope and with the (badly photocopied ;) ) letter!

[southern cross]

Could it be when Marvel was publishing Uncanny X-Men in a higher paper higher cover price then the standard newspaper print came out two weeks later?

 

But I'm thinking that platinum Spiderman came out before that.

The first cover art variant that wasn't meant for comic shops only is the Justice league.

[Cat]

2007ish IDW and Marvel started offering minor store variants, where the picture was the same, say of Godzilla, but the store getting destroyed would be your store. They were earlier attempts at it, too. 

Plus DC didn't help by releasing the JLA issue with different covers for each US state,so fans had 51 covers to collect. You may count that as an early attempt, as I'm sure most states wanted their own state's comic? 

[southern cross]

On 7/6/2022 at 9:36 AM, Cat said:

2007ish IDW and Marvel started offering minor store variants, where the picture was the same, say of Godzilla, but the store getting destroyed would be your store. They were earlier attempts at it, too. 

Plus DC didn't help by releasing the JLA issue with different covers for each US state,so fans had 51 covers to collect. You may count that as an early attempt, as I'm sure most states wanted their own state's comic? 

51 covers?

That's hideous for the collector that wanted all of the books to complete their collection.

I thought Gen 13 cover variants of the one issue was bad!

[Lazyboy]

I'm not sure what's so difficult to understand about "store variant exclusive" but maybe we'll eventually get the actual answer.

[Dr. Balls]

On 7/6/2022 at 12:18 PM, Lazyboy said:

I'm not sure what's so difficult to understand about "store variant exclusive" but maybe we'll eventually get the actual answer.

My guess is that it started with Midtown Comics? Not sure which book, but those guys were out of the gate pretty early on if I remember right.

[Yorick]

1940's Buster Brown Shoe Store exclusives? 

[Tnexus]

On 7/6/2022 at 11:18 AM, Lazyboy said:

I'm not sure what's so difficult to understand about "store variant exclusive" but maybe we'll eventually get the actual answer.

Yeah that's pretty much what I'm looking for, what specific issue of what comic started the current store exclusive variant trend.  I know there are a few smattering of early 2000s examples, but I dont really consider one offs starters of the current trend per say. I'm pretty sure it was somewhere in 2014-2015.

Edited July 6, 2022 by Tnexus

[Qalyar]

There are a handful of examples from the early 2000s (I'll add 2000's Midnight Nation #2 Pink Foil Edition to that list, as it was a Graham Cracker Comics exclusive in exactly the same sense as modern store exclusives, but these are sort of prototypes of what store exclusives have become.

There's a credible case that IDW's 2011 Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1 really kicked the trend into high gear. Requirements for store exclusives were very low on this book (seriously, I think it was 500 copies), and they actually modified the cover art -- of Godzilla crushing a building -- to feature the individual stores getting crushed (which, let's be honest, is kind of awesome). There were about eleventy-seven zillion stores that bought in, and the whole thing got a lot of attention. Shortly after, the frequency of these store variant mass offerings really took off, including from the Big Two.

Was G:KoM what sent us off to the races? Hard to say. I think industry trends were pointed in that direction regardless. But it sure helped push them along.

[Cat]

On 7/7/2022 at 11:28 AM, Qalyar said:

There are a handful of examples from the early 2000s (I'll add 2000's Midnight Nation #2 Pink Foil Edition to that list, as it was a Graham Cracker Comics exclusive in exactly the same sense as modern store exclusives, but these are sort of prototypes of what store exclusives have become.

There's a credible case that IDW's 2011 Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #1 really kicked the trend into high gear. Requirements for store exclusives were very low on this book (seriously, I think it was 500 copies), and they actually modified the cover art -- of Godzilla crushing a building -- to feature the individual stores getting crushed (which, let's be honest, is kind of awesome). There were about eleventy-seven zillion stores that bought in, and the whole thing got a lot of attention. Shortly after, the frequency of these store variant mass offerings really took off, including from the Big Two.

Was G:KoM what sent us off to the races? Hard to say. I think industry trends were pointed in that direction regardless. But it sure helped push them along.

That's the one I alluded to. I think it was the starting point too. 

[Sigur Ros]

On 7/6/2022 at 2:18 PM, Lazyboy said:

I'm not sure what's so difficult to understand about "store variant exclusive" but maybe we'll eventually get the actual answer.

Lol, was thinking the same thing. 

[wardevil0]

On 7/5/2022 at 10:34 PM, mysterymachine said:

Danger Girl 1 from 1998.

Depending on how finely you slice it, I think mysterymachine got it immediately.  Danger Girl #1 had an Another Universe exclusive cover with the "Another Universe" logo in March 1998, followed by an AU exclusive Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1 in Sept 98 and #2 in Oct 98.  I think Dynamic Forces started getting exclusive covers around this same time.  Maybe this is the "prototype" phase of the cover variants exclusive to one retailer?

I read somewhere the Star Wars: Dark Empire gold foil logo sets were exclusive to QVC or HSN back in 1992.

Maybe these don't meet the OP's intent with the "current store exclusive thing," but they're definitely examples of variant covers unique to a single retailer.

Edited July 7, 2022 by wardevil0
added picture