Too many variants these days! 1 1

[mephistopheles]

Just getting back into comics after 30 years and holy Hannah everything has variants and variants of the variant. Maybe I am old school, but modern comics feel so gimmicky. I can't believe the premiums some of this trash is going for. I guess I will just stick with bronze and early copper age.

[marvelmaniac]

Welcome back to the hobby. 

30 years ago is when this all started, 5 X-Men Covers for #1, glow in the dark covers, etc., it was almost the death of the industry. 

I only collect Gold/Silver/Bronze, collect what you enjoy weather it be a character, artist, storyline, etc. 

[mephistopheles]

On 10/18/2022 at 12:16 PM, marvelmaniac said:

Welcome back to the hobby. 

30 years ago is when this all started, 5 X-Men Covers for #1, glow in the dark covers, etc., it was almost the death of the industry. 

I only collect Gold/Silver/Bronze, collect what you enjoy weather it be a character, artist, storyline, etc. 

I got out of comics in high school, 1990. Recently bought a new house with my gf and went through my old comics and rekindled my interest. Thank god I was into early wolverine, and bagged everything. Maybe it's just nostalgia for my childhood, but I really dislike modern comics. From the photoshop covers, to the terrible stories...hard pass.

[marvelmaniac]

Nostalgia from your childhood is one of the main reasons for adults to collect comics, (buying comics to flip IMO is not collecting) at least that Is why I did it, I grew up in the 60's and that is where my best comic book memories come from, comics are supposed to be fun, relaxing and entertaining, hope you find that in your search/hunt for books.

[valiantman]

On 10/18/2022 at 9:58 AM, mephistopheles said:

Just getting back into comics after 30 years and holy Hannah everything has variants and variants of the variant. Maybe I am old school, but modern comics feel so gimmicky. I can't believe the premiums some of this trash is going for. I guess I will just stick with bronze and early copper age.

Comics are actually about 10 years slower than sports cards, which have been playing the "variants game" since at least the early 1980s (different manufacturers for the same players). There are at least 3 "rookie cards" for every player in the past 40 years. Now, try figuring out the rookie card for any player since 2000. There aren't 2 rookie cards, or 3, or even 10 variants... like most comics still have...

A rookie card is now hundreds of different sports card variants, signature cards, jersey cards, prism cards, die-cut cards, die-cut prism cards, holofoil die-cut prism cards, alternate color holofoil die-cut prism limited and numbered with signature and a piece of game used jersey, alternate-color-not-the-first-alternate-color ... not to mention all the 1-of-1 there-are-no-others-in-the-world cards that are made now.

Tom Brady is certainly going into the Hall of Fame in football. There are 44 different rookie cards from 2000... and good luck if you're a Tom Brady collector for cards AFTER the year 2000.

https://www.beckett.com/news/tom-brady-rookie-cards/

Edited October 18, 2022 by valiantman

[Tnexus]

Collect what you love.

Moderns are much more about collecting art than collecting stories.

[Mike Bray]

[Cat]

On 10/19/2022 at 1:28 AM, mephistopheles said:

I got out of comics in high school, 1990. Recently bought a new house with my gf and went through my old comics and rekindled my interest. Thank god I was into early wolverine, and bagged everything. Maybe it's just nostalgia for my childhood, but I really dislike modern comics. From the photoshop covers, to the terrible stories...hard pass.

There's some good stuff in amongst the trash, same as there always has been, and will be. To dismiss it all based on the worst is being a tad short-sighted about it, no offence. You're missing some good stories. 

[D2]

On 10/18/2022 at 12:56 PM, Cat said:

There's some good stuff in amongst the trash, same as there always has been, and will be. To dismiss it all based on the worst is being a tad short-sighted about it, no offence. You're missing some good stories. 

Agreed. 

Court of Owls (Snyder), Old Man Logan (Millar), God Of Thunder (Aaron), Hawkeye (Fraction), WW: Dead Earth (Johnson), Batman: Universe (Bendis)…

And this is all on the top of my head…

Criminal (Brubaker), Saga (Vaughan), Blacksad (Canales)…

But sure, go ahead. Ignore modern books. 

[The lips]

On 10/18/2022 at 4:28 PM, mephistopheles said:

I got out of comics in high school, 1990. Recently bought a new house with my gf and went through my old comics and rekindled my interest. Thank god I was into early wolverine, and bagged everything. Maybe it's just nostalgia for my childhood, but I really dislike modern comics. From the photoshop covers, to the terrible stories...hard pass.

Similar here. I stopped around 1992 then rekindled during lockdown when I went looking for the long box I hid away at parents house 30 years ago. 
Im still very silver, bronze and copper but I do pick up moderns where the cover catches my eye. Mainly the Patrick Gleason or Skottie Young stuff. 

[mephistopheles]

On 10/18/2022 at 3:23 PM, The lips said:

Similar here. I stopped around 1992 then rekindled during lockdown when I went looking for the long box I hid away at parents house 30 years ago. 
Im still very silver, bronze and copper but I do pick up moderns where the cover catches my eye. Mainly the Patrick Gleason or Skottie Young stuff. 

Silver's too rich for my blood, but bronze/copper is still ridiculously cheap compared to what some of the moderns are fetching. I confess while browsing ebay at 2am (bad idea) I bought one of the 3 faces of Joker and regretted it the next day. The cover was kinda cool, but photoshop style realism just doesn't mesh with my idea of comics.

[Krismusic]

I mostly collect silver and bronze can’t afford gold but when I can I buy them.. but I’ve been getting into the moderns and I do actually like some of them… 

[Ken Aldred]

I read moderns in trade form, the best way for the extended storylines that are now common. You also get the variant covers as well, and one or two might grab me, but most of them I’ll just glance at quickly and move on.  Alternatively, you could interpret the variant bundle in its entirety as catering to different artistic tastes, and it’s nice to see. Completists aside, for many I’m sure experiencing them this way would be enough, and at minimal cost, or without feeling overwhelmed by volume.

There are many good stories being published in the modern period and some very talented modern artists. To reiterate, as this is a common thread, when I go back to the material from my childhood, 70s Bronze, there’s a really large amount of dross there, and many of the classics don’t hold up as well now, and I find the halcyon, perfect olden days viewpoint to be a bit of a fallacy.  I agree with some of the others here; buy what you like, regardless of its Age, but try to be open-minded about the process and don’t judge moderns so harshly, or miss out on some of the best.

Edited October 19, 2022 by Ken Aldred

[Kramerica]

On 10/18/2022 at 8:16 AM, marvelmaniac said:

Welcome back to the hobby. 

30 years ago is when this all started, 5 X-Men Covers for #1, glow in the dark covers, etc., it was almost the death of the industry. 

Actually, I always thought it was the Superman Logo "Test" covers for Firestorm and JLA in 1987 followed by Marvel's "Sunburst" variants for the issue #2's of the "Heroes Reborn" epic.......

[circuitryusa]

I find it fascinating how many of us are just getting back into this after about 30 years... that's my story too!! Last book I actually bought as a kid was in 1992.... crazy what puberty, high-school, and college will do to us!!! haha

Now, I'm picking up on any new cool cover that just grabs me (variant or otherwise), and the new Sandman series (even though it's not Gaiman, I'm hoping his proteges follow in his perfection).

Example: I do not like batman anymore (hoping to sell all of mine actually) but how awesome is this cover??!!! Couldn't resist picking it up when I was grabbing some new Sandman books...

 

I do somewhat agree with you otherwise.. some vendors are more ridiculous than others... this is about every week with Dynamite ... 8 seems low for their averages .. haha

Edited October 19, 2022 by circuitryusa

[JollyComics]

On 10/18/2022 at 9:58 AM, mephistopheles said:

 So gimmicky.

Ridiculously too.   Just few variants that are beyond $2000 value.  Yep too many of them.

[Cat]

On 10/19/2022 at 10:40 AM, circuitryusa said:

I find it fascinating how many of us are just getting back into this after about 30 years... that's my story too!! Last book I actually bought as a kid was in 1992.... crazy what puberty, high-school, and college will do to us!!! haha

Now, I'm picking up on any new cool cover that just grabs me (variant or otherwise), and the new Sandman series (even though it's not Gaiman, I'm hoping his proteges follow in his perfection).

Example: I do not like batman anymore (hoping to sell all of mine actually) but how awesome is this cover??!!! Couldn't resist picking it up when I was grabbing some new Sandman books...

 

I do somewhat agree with you otherwise.. some vendors are more ridiculous than others... this is about every week with Dynamite ... 8 seems low for their averages .. haha

Dynamite has always had a ton of variants. Since day one. Just do what I do, and in the store, pick what cover you like best out of what they've got for cover price. Don't stress about it. It's a good way to discover artists, too. 

[Grayson9030]

I can't be the only one thinking this, but the whole variant of another variant (for example the black/white version is priced higher than a color trade dress copy) It seems counter-intuitive paying more for less but hey to each their own.

 

On the plus side, if one of my favorite artists comes up with something amazing for some special event, I'm picking it up. (Kelley Jones for instance)

[valiantman]

On 10/18/2022 at 7:51 PM, Cat said:

Dynamite has always had a ton of variants.

Dynamite is the "Franklin Mint" of publishers.

[speedcake]

Don't buy what you don't really like. Easy game, easy life.