By Hal Hickey

In this multi-part series on the history of variant comics, we are exploring series of variants that collectors are likely to find, albeit some being much more difficult than others, depending on the rarity of those series. Part 1 and part 2 explored the first series, the “price variant comics”. In part 3, part 4 and part 5, we dug into the second series, the “printing variant comics”, covering second printings, third printings and beyond. In part 6 we discovered the “alternate publisher” variants, namely the “Whitman” and “Modern Comics” variants. In part 7 we talked about the groundwork for the last series of variant comics, the “cover variants”, which in part 8 saw their birthplace.

In part 9 and the final part of this series, we will find out what the birth of those first cover variant wrought!

Meanwhile DC Comics was the first to produce a “major event” comic with the death of Superman in 1992. Of course, this came with variant covers. With comic book sales at their highest in 40 years, several of Marvel Comics “hot artists” of the day decided this was the best time to make a move to create their comic book company and “Image Comics” was born. During its early life, those creators took the cover variant to dizzying heights! A great example of this was Jim Lee, Brandon Choi and J. Scott Campbell’s “GEN13” with a whopping 13 different covers released in 1995: Continue reading →

by Hal Hickey

In this multi-part series on the history of variant comics, we are exploring series of variants that collectors are likely to find, albeit some being much more difficult than others, depending on the rarity of those series. Part 1 and part 2 explored the first series, the “price variant comics”. In part 3, part 4 and part 5, we dug into the second series, the “printing variant comics”, covering second printings, third printings and so on. In part 6 we discovered the “alternate publisher” variants, namely the “Whitman” and “Modern Comics” variants. In part 7 we talked about the groundwork for the last series of variant comics, the “cover variants”, which are everywhere today.

Ronald O Perelman bought Marvel Comics for $82 million and change in January 1989. He then took the company public and scored big on his initial investment solely with 40% of Marvel’s stock going to public hands. He believed that if he increased the number of comic series and raised cover prices; hard core Marvel fans would spent more and dedicate more of their comic buying budget to the Marvel brand. To some extent he was absolutely correct! His major failure was that he also promised those investors, who purchased shares from him, that there would be more price increases and more comic output from the company. But the cover price increases occurred too fast. When he took over, cover prices had been raised by Marvel’s previous owner from 65cents to $1.00 in only 3 years. Two years later, under Perelman, they were $1.25, two more years $1.50, a doubling from 75 cents in just over four years.

Popular titles, Amazing Spider-Man and Uncanny X-Men, to name just two, began publishing twice per month instead of the usual once per month. Increased production and titles diluted quality and collectors began to abandon their hobby due to increased cover cost and a glut of poor storytelling. There were certainly good books during this time but you had to sift through sub-par work to find them. During his ownership, to increase output, Marvel introduced the 2099 universe and Marvel UK Comics with the total number of comics published per month doubling to over 140, from just under 60 monthlies in 1989. Both the 2099 and UK Comics lines failed to trigger popularity with collectors and many saw these as examples of Marvel’s 1990’s move to less quality and overall money grab. Many fans and collectors were disillusioned and gave up their comic collecting hobby. Perelman eventually had Marvel Comics declare bankruptcy in 1996. How did variant covers play a role in this? Continue reading →

by Hal Hickey

In this multi-part series on the history of variant comics, we are exploring series of variants that collectors are likely to find, albeit some being much more difficult than others, depending on the rarity of those series. I have stayed away from the “one-off” variants of which there are many but most are rare. Part 1 and part 2 explored the first series, the “price variant comics”. In part 3, part 4 and part 5, we dug into the second series, the “printing variant comics”, covering second printings, third printings and so on.

In this, part 6, we will explore the third series, the “alternate publisher variant comics”. There are only two of these, the “Whitman” variants and the “Modern Comics” variants. These variants exist primarily as a result of two publishers experimenting with the earliest stages of the “direct market”, where publishers distributed their comic books directly to stores, rather than via the most common method of distribution of the time, the newsstand market. There is still much discussion around what makes these variants and the potential inclusion of other comics in the same category. Both of these “alternate publishers” were not actually different from the parent publisher, they were merely different divisions of their main publisher with a focus on publishing and distribution of printed material other than comic books. Thus they had their own distribution system that did not rely on the newsstand market. We will begin with Modern Comics as the least complex of the two.

Modern Comics published within Charlton’s massive structure for the briefest of periods 1977 & 1978. There was a random selection of Charlton Comics that were essentially reprinted by the Modern Comics publishing imprint and distributed directly to large stores. The stores would purchase the comics outright (eliminating unsold returns) and the stores could sell them individually, or package them with other products as a marketing tool. Print runs are unknown and they are relatively common. From a collectable point of view, the Modern Comics publisher variants, have not caught on. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the Modern Comics variants are essentially random second printing variants, or could even be considered reprints, often reprinted 8-12 years after the original Charlton comic. Here are 2 examples. Continue reading →

by Hal Hickey

In Part 1 and part 2 we looked at the very beginnings of series of variant comics beginning with the “price variants” and how they evolved from relative obscurity, during their 50 year existence, to collectability following Marvel test marketing their own “price variants” over a few select markets. The discovery of those Marvel price variants spurred on the discovery and collecting of 50 year old Dell’s and slightly less old Gold Keys and Archies. In part 3 we looked at the beginnings of the second major series of variant comics, the second (and subsequent) printings. We looked at how rare it was for a publisher to publish a second printing of any comic due to the newsstand distribution system of comics. Any decisions on second printings of a popular title were not only rare but often a year or two later.

In this, part 4, we will explore how second (and subsequent) printings evolved from rare events to commonplace. Along the way, those second (and subsequent) printings went from being shunned by collectors to recent events rendering them collectible.

Three events have contributed to a change in the recent interest in the collectability of second and subsequent printings.

1. The rise of independent publishing, which saw its early beginnings in the mid 1960s
2. The direct market of comics, which saw it’s early beginnings in the mid 1970s
3. A decision by Marvel Comics in late 2001. Continue reading →

by Hal Hickey

In part 1, we explored the very first series of variant comic books. I mention series as there were a fairly large number of these “test market” price variants and more are being discovered all the time. The scant number of Archie Comics price variants known today is more likely due to the fact that Archie Comics had not been a collectible prize until the last 10-15 years. Other Archie price variants will be found as collectors begin to search with enthusiasm. The original price variants (The Dell’s) have existed for almost 60 years and your chances of finding them at conventions are fairly good.

But what about other oddball variants and one-offs? Well, these exist too, but from an average collector standpoint, the opportunity to discover these, and collect a complete set are near impossible. For one thing, new one-off variants continue to be discovered at a few per-year. Here is an example of what I will call a one-off. Continue reading →

by Hal Hickey

It seems that since the early 1990’s, the comic industry has been hooked on producing variant covers for many of their regular comics. With a pause for the comic market crash of the early-mid 1990’s, variant comics have provided a strong cash flow for the publishers. Variant comics, albeit slight variations, have been around over 60 years, with some golden age variants becoming collectible only recently. So let’s delve into the history of variant comic books, why publishers love them, what types of variants exist and why collectors love them and hate them.

What is a variant comic?

Glad you asked. 98% of the variant comics that have been printed carry the identical internal content, and most of these are even right down to the publishing date. What is the variant? Well it’s the cover of the comic. The publisher pays an artist and writer to compose a different cover and use it in part of the print run, usually up to a maximum 50% of the regular cover and often much much less than that. Some of the rarest variant covers are printed in the low hundreds. The other 2% of the variant cover market include changes to the interior of the comic as well. The most common is a black & white interior instead of the original color version and on very few occasions, a page or two of additional story and art, inclusion of the original script, or even different endings. Oddly enough, this 2% of the variant market are deemed less collectible than variant comics where only the cover is different!

History:

Why weren’t variant comics produced “on-purpose” by the publishing industry for the first 50 years of comic book publishing? Before the direct market existed, publishers produced enough copies to satisfy their distributor and then had to take back all unsold issues and destroy them, otherwise known as “pulping” those unsold copies. Since the publisher took on the entire risk of printing copies, only to destroy those that were returned, the thought of any additional risky printing variables would never have entered their thoughts. Also, up until the 1960’s, comics were not deemed as “collectible items”, so producing a variant version of a comic in print would not attract any more buyers than the original issue would have. Second or additional printings were also unheard of for the same reason. There was no way for a publisher to know if an issue of a comic book had actually sold all of its copies, until the distribution network accounted for any and all unsold or damaged copies and returned them to the publisher. If a certain issue sold well, it meant that the publisher would contract with writers and artists to produce more issues with the same title and/or character. Any thoughts of reprinting an issue carried the added risk that it may not sell and most all of the copies would come back to the publisher. This carried a huge financial risk for the publishers so was never entertained.

After having said all that, there is a long history of variant comics, many that were not even considered variants until up to 30-40 years later. Let’s have a look at these first.

The first known variant editions of comic books were the “price variants”. The first price variants were the test market 15 cent cover price variants and have been found on Dell comic covers from 1956-1961.

Donald Duck #59 regular 10 cent cover alongside the 15 cent test market price variant.

Also 30 cent annual price cover variants exist alongside their 25 cent counterparts for the same period.

Marge’s Little Lulu #3 regular 25 cent cover alongside the 30 cent test market price variant.

Dell decided to test how the market would react to a price increase from 10 cents to 15 cents by distributing the higher priced versions exclusively to Arizona, California and Nevada. It wasn’t until 50 years later that these much rarer price variants became collectible and highly sought after. Dell also marketed another type of price variant between 1958-1960 with “Now 10 cents” on the cover.

Uncle Scrooge #23 regular 10 cent issue alongside the “Now 10 cent” price variant.

[The “Now 10 cents” variants are not to be confused with the “Still 10 cents” covers which are not variants. When a publisher places the word “Still” before the price, it is industry speak forewarning that the price will go up soon!] All of these price variants co-existed with the regular 10 cent covers, with no other changes to the comics in question. The test market proved unsuccessful and prices remained at 10 cents for a couple more years.

The second price variants were from Archie Comics who in 1962, also tested a 15 cent cover price (up from 12 cents) for regular issues and 35 cents for annuals. Some notable Archie 15 cent price variants include:”

• Archie’s Pal Jughead #84
• Archie’s Girls Betty & Veronica #75
• Laugh #132

Archie Comics Laugh #132 regular prices 12 cent issue along side the test market 15 cent price variant.

Why did it take so long (approximately 50 years) for these price variants to become noticed? In part 2, we will look at the more famous price variants, and their influence on the collectability of the Dell’s and Archie’s. We’ll also look at the first “second printing” variants. Part 3 is here  Part 4  Part 5  Part 6  Part 7  Part 8.  The History of Variant Comics Part 9 is here and is the last part of this series.