C2E2 Variant Drama 24 24

[Dr. Balls]

On 8/11/2022 at 12:43 PM, Axelrod said:

There are 29 different versions of that book listed on that census.

Twenty-nine.

This book was published in 2022?

How can that many variants exist?  Did everyone and their dog "special order" up their own exclusive versions from Marvel? 

I am just so confused.

I am interested in the variant crowd educating me on the reasoning behind buying a book like this. I will not make any snarky comments or disparaging observations. I’d like to know the draw behind these books.

is it the fun and hype of the show you’re at? Is it because you collect a specific person’s art? Are you a completist in the sense of you have to own every variant of a certain book? I have never bought a modern comic under the rationale of any of those aforementioned reasons (I was a rabid CFD collector, so I get it, but that was before the con variant thing) - I’d like to hear more.

[AmazingComics413]

Hmmmmm. So that’s a ‘yes’ unless it gets reported?

[kav]

On 8/11/2022 at 12:17 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I am interested in the variant crowd educating me on the reasoning behind buying a book like this. I will not make any snarky comments or disparaging observations. I’d like to know the draw behind these books.

is it the fun and hype of the show you’re at? Is it because you collect a specific person’s art? Are you a completist in the sense of you have to own every variant of a certain book? I have never bought a modern comic under the rationale of any of those aforementioned reasons (I was a rabid CFD collector, so I get it, but that was before the con variant thing) - I’d like to hear more.

Its tulip bulb speculation.

[jaybuck43]

On 8/11/2022 at 3:17 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I am interested in the variant crowd educating me on the reasoning behind buying a book like this. I will not make any snarky comments or disparaging observations. I’d like to know the draw behind these books.

is it the fun and hype of the show you’re at? Is it because you collect a specific person’s art? Are you a completist in the sense of you have to own every variant of a certain book? I have never bought a modern comic under the rationale of any of those aforementioned reasons (I was a rabid CFD collector, so I get it, but that was before the con variant thing) - I’d like to hear more.

I’m a turtles fan. I have the full run of mirage books and the full run of the idw books (to current). I’m a completionist. Kevin does the art on the b’s so have to have that, if I’m going to have the a’s and the B’s I need the ri too… otherwise I feel like I’m missing a piece of my collection. Thankfully my dealer pulls all for me and charges me cover, so it’s not THAT expensive.

[Dr. Balls]

On 8/11/2022 at 1:22 PM, AmazingComics413 said:

Hmmmmm. So that’s a ‘yes’ unless it gets reported?

Good lord, every response from every person and every company in the world sounds like this.

This is what the world has become. Endless non-committing inoffensive arsecovering answers to the most basic of questions ABOUT ANYTHING AT ALL.

Edited August 11, 2022 by Dr. Balls

[Dr. Balls]

On 8/11/2022 at 1:26 PM, kav said:

Its tulip bulb speculation.

I’m not going to get any real answers, am I?

[kav]

On 8/11/2022 at 12:37 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I’m not going to get any real answers, am I?

it is a real answer-people are buying this book because they expect it to rise in value as it has been doing.

[KirbyTown]

On 8/11/2022 at 2:17 PM, Dr. Balls said:

I am interested in the variant crowd educating me on the reasoning behind buying a book like this. I will not make any snarky comments or disparaging observations. I’d like to know the draw behind these books.

is it the fun and hype of the show you’re at? Is it because you collect a specific person’s art? Are you a completist in the sense of you have to own every variant of a certain book? I have never bought a modern comic under the rationale of any of those aforementioned reasons (I was a rabid CFD collector, so I get it, but that was before the con variant thing) - I’d like to hear more.

I try to ask about this when I can so I can wrap my head around it. My first thought was for display, like art, but apparently not. It just seems to be that you buy the standard issue to read and you buy the variants for the artists. But no display, just go in the box like anything else.

However, there IS a notion of holding for future value, and that figures into it probably more heavily than disclosed.

Then of course there are the exploitation covers, which MCS recently began censoring. They're essentially explicit cartoon pin-ups that don't get pinned up. God, they're so ugly.

[Beastfeast]

On 8/11/2022 at 3:38 PM, kav said:

it is a real answer-people are buying this book because they expect it to rise in value as it has been doing.

Reductive, as always.  

I don't buy variants with any regularity but here's my experience for when I do:

A) I like the cover and it's a title/character I collect and it gets put in the PC.  This happens pretty rarely because I never know when variants are coming out because I don't follow them carefully.  
B) I buy the variant because I know I'll be able to flip it and buy a book I actually want.  I think I've done this with a new Wednesday books once, ever.  It's usually old stock or back issues.  
C) I buy it because a friend collects that character/title.  

Granted, I only buy maybe 5-10 variants a year and they're always impulse buys.  

I do have friends that are crazy completionists and will buy ANYTHING in a title.  Or for a character like Miles, they'll buy literally every cover that is an homage or a variant.  This is really common with ASM 300 and iconic covers like that. The UF4 creature falls into that category, easily.  I can see why people want it. 

Edited August 11, 2022 by Beastfeast

[kav]

On 8/11/2022 at 12:42 PM, Beastfeast said:

Reductive, as always.  

I don't buy variants with any regularity but here's my experience for when I do:

A) I like the cover and it's a title/character I collect and it gets put in the PC.  This happens pretty rarely because I never know when variants are coming out because I don't follow them carefully.  
B) I buy the variant because I know I'll be able to flip it and buy a book I actually want.  I think I've done this with a new Wednesday books once, ever.  It's usually old stock or back issues.  
C) I buy it because a friend collects that character/title.  

Granted, I only buy maybe 5-10 variants a year and they're always impulse buys.  

Do you spend $500 for a variant for reasons A, B, C?

[Beastfeast]

On 8/11/2022 at 3:44 PM, kav said:

Do you spend $500 for a variant for reasons A, B, C?

I have for reason B.  

[kav]

On 8/11/2022 at 12:45 PM, Beastfeast said:

I have for reason B.  

Then, you agree with me.  people are buying this book because they expect it to rise in value as it has been doing.
we're done here.

[ExNihilo]

On 8/11/2022 at 11:16 AM, Kon_Jelly said:

Can't believe I read the entire thread. I expected another response from CGC, but I'm guessing they're going to be radio silent about this moving forward. 

Just keep pinging @CGC Mike.  Apparently 57 notifications was insufficient.

[Beastfeast]

On 8/11/2022 at 3:46 PM, kav said:

Then, you agree with me.  people are buying this book because they expect it to rise in value as it has been doing.
we're done here.

Glad you're able to extrapolate what I've spent on how all variant collectors spend.  Again, reductive as always.  

Apologies for the edit on the first post but I explain why it's perfectly reasonable for someone to chase variants - even expensive ones.  I would never do it (unless I REALLY wanted it) but it's insane to me that you can't imagine a world in which someone would spend money on something they like.  

Also, an amendment to the time I spend money on a variant.  Spent $500 on platinum Spidey 1 for personal collection.  Does that count? 

[kav]

On 8/11/2022 at 12:49 PM, Beastfeast said:

Glad you're able to extrapolate what I've spent on how all variant collectors spend.  Again, reductive as always.  

Apologies for the edit on the first post but I explain why it's perfectly reasonable for someone to chase variants - even expensive ones.  I would never do it (unless I REALLY wanted it) but it's insane to me that you can't imagine a world in which someone would spend money on something they like.  

Also, an amendment to the time I spend money on a variant.  Spent $500 on platinum Spidey 1 for personal collection.  Does that count? 

I'm not the droid youre looking for.  Find someone else to buzz around.

[AmazingComics413]

On 8/11/2022 at 3:36 PM, Dr. Balls said:

Good lord, every response from every person and every company in the world sounds like this.

This is what the world has become. Endless non-committing inoffensive arsecovering answers to the most basic of questions ABOUT ANYTHING AT ALL.

Email away kids

[justafan]

On 8/11/2022 at 12:16 AM, TTony said:

GoCollect on these is gonna be insane!

yeah, for their FMV.  There and maybe GPA on any graded issues that sell if they don't do any follow up other than scrape or subscribe to the ebay sales.  a few months down the road you'll still have folks shelling out 3-5k for a 9.8 based on fake ebay sales.

Edited August 12, 2022 by justafan
they're to they

[graffix13]

I don't expect CGC to comment anymore on this. They have money and power and we're still going to send our books into them to get slabbed. It is what it is.

Black Flag, hopefully, won't recover from the bad publicity. But then again, you know what they say about publicity. I know that I won't ever give them a dime of my money. Hopefully others follow suit. 

Any updates from Skeff, Nerdy Girl, Comic Tom, or Gem Mint? Funny how they all scurried away like cockroaches and have been relatively silent since. I used to watch some of their YouTube videos, but I won't give them the clicks anymore. Gem Mint even took down his video addressing this because he was getting roasted (rightfully so). That just makes him look worse. Every one of these clowns should put up an apology video, own their mistake, and ask for forgiveness for scalping us peasants. Hiding away and hoping this blows over just makes them look worse each passing day. OWN IT. 

[Miket123]

On 8/11/2022 at 11:59 AM, GeeksAreMyPeeps said:

IIRC, those didn't really alter the underlying art though.

The X-O Database used acetate overlays to show stages of the armor, but in the interior. What I was commenting on was something specific like this. Let's say there's a brand new Iron Man armor in the comics. And Marvel wants to do a facsimile of ToS39, so they print that, but with an acetate overlay showing the new armor on top of a repro of the original cover. Something like that.

x-o database!!!!

deep dive into the nostalgia here.

i did have it.

[Red84]

I think this is primarily a question of fair use of which there are 4 factors to consider: "the purpose and character of your use. the nature of the copyrighted work. the amount and substantiality of the portion taken, and. the effect of the use upon the potential market." Fair use implies infringement. Fair use is a defense to that infringement.

Here the purpose of the use was commercial - to sell the variants for a profit.

The nature of the copyrighted work is an original story and art owned by Marvel.

The amount of the work taken is the entirety of the work - it included the entire copyrighted comic book.

As to the effect of the use upon the potential market - it is a small number of books (750) but it is also depriving Marvel of the ability to make their own derivative work involving a patriotic acetate cover.

*DISCLAIMER - not legal advice.