May 1st, 2006 - Variants, GØDLAND and Suits of Armor

New format. For a while.

Rather than tailor each post to a specific topic I’m going to try one large, column-like post a few times a week, wherein I’ll run the gamut of what’s on my mind. Lately I find I’ve got lots of partial thoughts across a variety of comic subjects and quite less time to fully flesh them out; I’m sitting on about a half dozen half-finished posts, none of which meet even my own modest standards for blog publishment. I figure this format allows me to disguise these fragmentary thoughts as cleverly tossed off observations. I assume you’ll humor me.

~

I’ve been thinking about variant covers a lot lately. You’d think I have nothing better to do, but that’s not so. I simply tend to obsess over things I perceive as business problems.

What I find fascinating about this topic is the crankiness it engenders from those who have no horse in the race.

For most of us variant covers simply mean one more buying decision, Lee or Perez? The decision is made all the easier if one version happens to cost 10 times the other – hey, the inside’s the same, right? For some reason the idea of one book carrying a different cover, lower distribution and costing more is in itself an affront to people who have no intention of buying either book. A few weeks back I listened to a youngster at the LCS rail for several good minutes about the horrors variant covers are perpetrating on the industry – you’d think the things had sprung right off a Moreau operating table. “With all the great books out there people could find something better than a lousy Neal Adams Green Lantern cover to spend $50 on,” he concluded and then plopped about 15 “great” X-books on the counter.   

The mistake, I think, is in believing that variants are about comics. Oh, sure peripherally it is, but only that.   

Now I certainly don’t claim to know the motivation behind every variant cover purchase, but let’s generalize and say that most are sold to people who view the purchase as an investment of sorts. And this refers to those variants whose supply has been artificially limited or incentivized by the publisher, causing them to be sold above cover price. Comics that just happen to come in a variety of cover flavors without invoking a premium for any particular cover are part of another discussion.

You can argue the soundness of this type of investment all you like -- and believe me, making a case against variants as a long-term investment is pretty easy -- but every investment channel carries with it a certain amount of speculation, often fueled by emotion. Whether it’s the stock market, real estate, precious metals, stamps, coins, beanie babies or comic books, a certain segment of the investing populace is buying the wrong thing at the wrong price for the wrong reason. Unfortunately, dissuading someone from that $70 WOLVERINE variant doesn’t guarantee they’ll turn around and use that money for any other comics, let alone something new and deserving. Let’s say you convince Comic Variant Guy of your argument that variant covers are a lousy investment vehicle and a gross waste of his money. Maybe, maybe, he diverts some of those funds to GØDLAND or ROCKETO or insert-your-favorite-comic-that-isn’t-selling-what-you-think-it-should-sell-here, but these don’t really satisfy his need to throw money into the intersection of potential profit and nostalgic fondness. So what does he buy instead? I’m sure you can think of other ways for him to spend that money but you’re playing with fire when you start trying to mitigate this sort of thing and dealers run a real risk of alienating these buyers entirely. There’s always the Internet you know.

And the Internet, specifically Internet Robber Baron eBay (truth is I love eBay, so read that with the dollop of sarcasm intended), is fostering a lot of this activity. The impetus for many variant purchases is towards turning the issues for a quick eBay profit. I’ve studied this a little and while it’s a very narrow window, it’s definitely a profitable niche for those who can get their hands on variant cover books at below the variant ratio adjusted price. I am curious about the folks who finally end up with these books in their collection but I’m willing to let the market play out in odd cases like this as examples of irrational exuberance or maybe an exhibition of some folks dominant collector gene.

So who gets hurt? Near as I can tell the short straw goes to the small or start up comic shops who can’t possibly move the enough of the incentive books to justify the variants certain clients demand. And can’t really afford to lose those client’s to other shops or the Internet. To an extent I sympathize with that, largely because I’ve been on that side of the equation and I know that it ain’t fun watching your customers go to a competitor because you’re simply not big enough to get the product they want. But I’ve been on the power side of the aisle as well and know that better pricing and special deals is one among a number of advantages you have when you’re big – or at least bigger than the other guy. And there’s no crime in this, in fact it would be folly not to try and leverage the position as much as possible. Update to “legally possible” if your ethics weren’t molded by one of our fine business schools and you’re not a member of congress. In the end, it sucks to be small and new in business.

For the non-involved -- guys like me, and presumably most of you, who are as likely to pay a premium for a comic with a sketched cover as we are to pass on a free one -- I think the whole variant topic smacks too much of 1993. I get that, but I’m not really worried about it. I’d like to believe the industry learned something from that mess and won’t tread too far down that path again.         

~

GØDLAND is quickly becoming, for me, the best-book-not-enough-people-are-buying; I like it so much I even went to the trouble of checking the character map for the funky, slashed “Ø”. But the roughly 5K units per issue it moves is pathetic given the quality and heritage. I can’t help but think if it were flying under Marvel or DC’s banner it would move six or seven times that. I wonder if the overt Kirby homage is actually turning some people away? If I want to listen to Elvis, I’ll listen to Elvis. Not some guy in a wide lapelled jumpsuit and sunglasses on a Vegas stage, no matter how good his “thank you very much” sounds.

I keep expecting the sales numbers to start improving, but so far it's not happening. There's about 5,000 of you out there holding out on this book, and you know who you are.

If you haven’t tried GØDLAND with 3D glasses it’s probably because your kids weren’t watching Sharkboy & Lavagirl while you were trying to read the latest issue. Try it, it works marvelously – you’ll think they designed the book for that purpose.

~

Speaking of Joe Casey, his IRON MAN THE INEVITABLE is one of several Tony Stark/Iron Man perspectives I’ve tried to digest of late. It’s probably just me, but I can’t get a bead on what Marvel wants us to think about this character right now. I kind of like the over-confident, arrogant ass we’re starting to see in IRON MAN #7 but that doesn’t really jive with the Tony Stark in NEW AVENGERS or the Tony Stark in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN or Casey’s TONY STARK.

Maybe this is the effect of all these mini-series. Or it’s just me. In any event, I'm getting tired of being told what a heavy hitter Iron Man is by every other Marvel character and shown little to consistently back that up nor any cohesive editorial effort to at least make Stark interesting.

And maybe it's just the conspiracy buff in me, but I've had the impression of late that Marvel is making a supreme effort to keep Iron Man in front of the public as much as possible while they ramp up for a potential movie. I don’t think this character has the icon status they’d like for him to have but Marvel seems to think if they repeatedly tell us how important and powerful and, well, iconic, he is we’ll start to believe it.

~

Speaking of suits of armor, have you read ZOOM SUIT? A lot of effort was put into the trade dress and variant cover distribution – the cover of the one I bought was thicker than the walls of my first apartment. Animated shorts, web sites, Metal FX printing technology, staccato screening processes, contests, trading card sets, incentive variant covers - there’s all kinds of kitschy promotional efforts wrapped around this book. There’s been a lot written about the various marketing maneuvers, not so much about actual story in the book itself. The reason may be that the single most apt word for it is “unremarkable”.   

~

My April Comics By The Numbers column is posted over at PopCultureShock, covering March’s numbers. Go. Read. Now.

Comments

[~Bear'Z Blog~]

Dear speculators!
I wish to present your attention lifetime free online-service Fixed Ratio Calculator. It is one of methods of management of risks for a speculative portfolio. Trade with mind! Thanks.
_http://www.pitbear.com/fixed-ratio-method.php

[CalvinPitt]

I've never been one to buy variant covers, but I also have a hard time envisioning myself selling my comics (trading with a friend is another matter), so they probably aren't aimed at me. I do hope thye don't go back to the '90s, when there we seven covers for every book. That got kind of confusing.

As for Iron Man, I haven't read the solo titles, but I'd say the Spider-Man books tend to emphasize that Stark has a "lead dog" mentality, from the way he's trying to keep Peter under control. Whether he's poking and prodding after Peter's "death", or giving him a new costume with stuff he didn't ask for, or making Peter swear a blood oath not to tell anyone about stuff before confiding in him (which would have made me say no way. You want me to keep secrets from Captain America? There's no way it can be honest, unless it's a surprise birthday party), he comes off as very controlling, and he has kind of been an ass to Mary jane with the microphones and stuff in their bedroom(!)