Catch the Justice League United wave! (possibly could be spoilery)

[Le Messor]

Congrats!

Also, I notice the tagline: "Gathering to protect the galaxy"... as in, some kind of guardians, perhaps?
Hmm...

[Phil]

That's kind of the point of variants - to 'force' retailers to buy many more copies than they need.

It's part of why I hate them so.

That depends...

There are two types of 'variants' - Retailer Incentives and Alternate Covers.

Alternate Covers cost the retailer exactly the same as the Standard cover, so the retailer doesn't lose out. The ratio of these might be different but tend to be in low numbers (1 in 10, 1 in 50 etc) which tend to be covered by a retailers regular order count (pull list and shelf combined)

Retailer Incentives tend to be the ones that are becoming more common, where if a retailer exceeds their previous order of a specific title/issue by a certain percentage they'll be able to order 1 of these covers at standard price.
Obviously this means that a retailer has to order more copies than they need but there's no forcing; a lot of retailers choose to do this as they know they can mark up the price of the variant to whatever all the other copies have cost them so they've essentially got it for free. This can be a gamble though, but if you check eBay there are always people willing to pay prices for these variants.

I'm a fan of variants, to an extent.

I like having every cover as without them it's almost as if I'm missing a page of the artwork inside the comic; especially if there's an Alphan on it (which is rare these days, thankfully).

However; I do think that the number of variants for each issue, and the regularity of which they occur is stupid.

A new #1, or the start of a new story arc, or a new creative team should have 1 variant, maybe 2 including a sketch or blank cover.
Having these 15 covers for an issue 5 is just strangling the industry...

[Flightpath07]

Congrats!

Also, I notice the tagline: "Gathering to protect the galaxy"... as in, some kind of guardians, perhaps?
Hmm...

Coming as this did, immediately after I watched Ultimate Spider-Man Episode 218, with The Guardians of the Galaxy, it's not too hard to see where you are going with this.

It's a "bit" of a rip-off, I'll give you that. Technically, though, "gathering" and "guarding" are quite different. For instance, to my knowledge there are no games called "Magic the Guarding", nor does Buckingham Palace have "the changing of the gathers"...okay, I admit it, I don't know where I am going with this...

...where is one of those funny cat photos with the saying when you need one, them lolz cats things...

[Phil]

It's definitely 1000000000000000000000% a dig/riff at Marvel, but that's half the fun of the 'Big Two' for me.

[Le Messor]

There are two types of 'variants' - Retailer Incentives and Alternate Covers.

You are right about that difference, and I have no excuse for not accounting for it in my post!
Sorry.

there's no forcing;

Technically, no. Which is why I put the word force in quotes. (I sometimes do account for what I need to account for!)

a lot of retailers choose to do this as they know they can mark up the price of the variant to whatever all the other copies have cost them so they've essentially got it for free.

I do remember seeing my LCS selling the Wolverine-With-Canadian-Flag-on-his-face variant for about $50 new.

I like having every cover as without them it's almost as if I'm missing a page of the artwork inside the comic;

This is another part of why I'm against them; it 'forces' (note the quotes!) the fan to buy extra copies of the same book.
I've taken a hard line against it, and decided to only buy for new pages of story - which variant covers are not.

However; I do think that the number of variants for each issue, and the regularity of which they occur is stupid.

I really, really agree. IDW is the worst; they not only have about half a dozen variants for each and every comic they publish, but they advertise them with a checklist inside each copy of that issue!

That said, they do help bring costs down for publishers, especially the indies (like IDW). It's much cheaper for them to sell six copies of #5 than one copy each of #1-6.

It's a "bit" of a rip-off, I'll give you that. Technically, though, "gathering" and "guarding" are quite different.

But "guarding" and "protecting"...?
But...

It's definitely 1000000000000000000000% a dig/riff at Marvel, but that's half the fun of the 'Big Two' for me.

Yep!
Remember all the Marvel comics that used to talk about their "Distinguished Competition"?
(Oh, and a Bullpen Bulletins page that celebrated, in all seriousness, Superman's birthday?)

~ Le Messor
"He is not only dull himself; he is the cause of dullness in others."
~ Samuel Johnson

[Flightpath07]

But "guarding" and "protecting"...?

[Flightpath07]

It's definitely 1000000000000000000000% a dig/riff at Marvel, but that's half the fun of the 'Big Two' for me.

To be 1000000000000000000000% fair, DC's new JLU team has...

- no talking animals, just an Animal Man
- no walking plants that only say one sentence
- and no green-skinned characters, just a Green Arrow

Totally different.

[Phil]

I'm not saying they're the same; just that that phrase has been chosen very carefully and on purpose because of GOTG.

[Flightpath07]

I'm not saying they're the same; just that that phrase has been chosen very carefully and on purpose because of GOTG.

To your first part; I know. To your second part; probably, but inconclusive to this point.

[Le Messor]

Speaking as somebody who's had Hooked On A Feeling stuck in his head for about a week, I'm inclined to agree with Phil.