Has variant fatigue set in? 2 2

[TheNero]

 

Upcoming NYCC Realm of X 1 Variant 
How can you not get fatigued with slapping old variant covers on newer books that have nothing to do with the book inside just to charge $30 

Edited September 13, 2023 by TheNero

[WolverineX]

On 4/19/2023 at 9:42 AM, maraxusofkeld said:

Just was wondering, have other board members had variant fatigue set in on modern books? Wanted to see other's thoughts.

yes. 

[the blob]

On 9/13/2023 at 4:26 PM, TheNero said:

 

Upcoming NYCC Realm of X 1 Variant 
How can you not get fatigued with slapping old variant covers on newer books that have nothing to do with the book inside just to charge $30 

That is a cool cover at least

[justafan]

On 9/12/2023 at 9:36 AM, valiantman said:

This is from 2017...

I think variant fatigue was already in full effect by 2005.

https://www.comicsbeat.com/nearly-50-of-the-comic-book-market-consists-of-variant-covers/

Yeah. The fatigue is real. In a few years there will be a glut of worthless variants. Actually there already is but it'll be even worse. 

[Juno Beach]

On 9/14/2023 at 6:16 PM, justafan said:

https://www.comicsbeat.com/nearly-50-of-the-comic-book-market-consists-of-variant-covers/

Yeah. The fatigue is real. In a few years there will be a glut of worthless variants. Actually there already is but it'll be even worse. 

Are you saying there will be a glut of just worthless variants? What about the regular covers? They will hold their value?

[PossumGrease]

That's a pretty shocking pie chart. This industry (perhaps like all industries) always goes to far with a trend and pursues a strategy until it kills what it started. Meaning, a variant, a foil cover, a facsimile, a crossover, etc., these can all be neat and cool when used sparingly, but when books are only being printed to sell a variant, what are we doing? Just sell limited print run posters.

Some might say that the variant game is only thing keeping the industry alive, but that's short sighted. Words and pictures being used together to tell a compelling story is what should be driving the industry. If you can't do that, then maybe you don't need to be publishing.

Is there any "data" on how variants affect long-term collectability of a title? It completely turns me off from trying to have a run because it is impossible to own them all. I know I was working on a complete CGC 9.8 of Invincible, but all these post-story, convention variants have killed my interest in that pursuit. 

[captainzombie]

On 9/15/2023 at 11:31 AM, PossumGrease said:

That's a pretty shocking pie chart. This industry (perhaps like all industries) always goes to far with a trend and pursues a strategy until it kills what it started. Meaning, a variant, a foil cover, a facsimile, a crossover, etc., these can all be neat and cool when used sparingly, but when books are only being printed to sell a variant, what are we doing? Just sell limited print run posters.

Some might say that the variant game is only thing keeping the industry alive, but that's short sighted. Words and pictures being used together to tell a compelling story is what should be driving the industry. If you can't do that, then maybe you don't need to be publishing.

Is there any "data" on how variants affect long-term collectability of a title? It completely turns me off from trying to have a run because it is impossible to own them all. I know I was working on a complete CGC 9.8 of Invincible, but all these post-story, convention variants have killed my interest in that pursuit. 

You nailed it on the head with your comments.

Look at the craze now that DC has started with foil covers. They were doing lightly in the last 1.5 years and then all of a sudden its like everything is foil this, foil that. To some degree I can see where some would blame BOOM for the foil madness, but I think DC has taken it much further and now Marvel has jumped into this too.

[GeeksAreMyPeeps]

On 9/15/2023 at 12:31 PM, PossumGrease said:

That's a pretty shocking pie chart. This industry (perhaps like all industries) always goes to far with a trend and pursues a strategy until it kills what it started. Meaning, a variant, a foil cover, a facsimile, a crossover, etc., these can all be neat and cool when used sparingly, but when books are only being printed to sell a variant, what are we doing? Just sell limited print run posters.

Some might say that the variant game is only thing keeping the industry alive, but that's short sighted. Words and pictures being used together to tell a compelling story is what should be driving the industry. If you can't do that, then maybe you don't need to be publishing.

Is there any "data" on how variants affect long-term collectability of a title? It completely turns me off from trying to have a run because it is impossible to own them all. I know I was working on a complete CGC 9.8 of Invincible, but all these post-story, convention variants have killed my interest in that pursuit. 

I think you need to clarify what you mean regarding "long-term collectability"; I think a lot of people would have different thoughts on what that means, and there are probably many different contributing factors influencing "collectability." Clarifying what you want to track makes it easier to determine whether there is data to track that.

[justafan]

On 9/15/2023 at 12:14 PM, Juno Beach said:

Are you saying there will be a glut of just worthless variants? What about the regular covers? They will hold their value?

The non-key regular covers are pretty much worthless now. Especially if they arent NM or better. Occasionally there's a better regular cover than the variant but due to ratio requirements there's probably more of regular cover print run copies to the total variant print runs for that issue which are artificially kept low. A month after their release you can't sell a regular cover for more than cover price and often find their way into the $1-2 bins. Grading modern comics costs about $55-60 including shipping and fees. Most non-key modern regular covers graded 9.8 sell for less than the grading fees often 50%-75% the cost of grading. Less than 9.8, forget it.