Bob Wayne Steps Down On DC's Variant Cover Programme

[Rich Johnston]

It was a phrase I heard Bob Wayne, Senior VP Sales of DC Comics, use at New York Comic Con. How variant covers should be used as "part of a balanced diet". It struck me as the truth, (and I nicked it as well), variant covers add a little fun, a little spice, into the collection of comic books, even if you're committed to following a comic, you get to pick your favourite covers, you can choose a specific style, you can show your devotion by collecting all the covers of a first issue, it can be harmless and help spice up a company's sales along the way.

But, of late, variant covers, rather than being an occasional hamburger or chocolate sundae, have become a staple diet of many, with more and more retailers chasing them for fewer and fewer dollars. The retailer exclusive cover, where one retailer gets an exclusive cover just for themselves and their friends, has exposed a flaw, the idea that a customer could get all the available covers from their local store, adding to the belief that if they can't get all the covers, they they might as well not get any. The tiered incentive covers have led to retailers regularly buying more comics than they can sell, just for that variant cover which will make it all worth while. And with launches of big titles getting twenty-odd variant covers and several variants of subsequent issues there is a real danger that the system will come crashing down around our ears again, and taking disillusioned customers, stores, and maybe a publisher with it.

I've mentioned this before.

Well, in an interview with ICV2, Bob Wayne seems to be doing something about it. On the back of the fifty-two flag-variant covers for Justice League Of America #1, Wayne stated that regarding the use of variant covers;

Overall we?re running in the zone of Spinal Tap in that we?ve got it up to 11 on that. We?re going to pull back and drop variants from a handful of titles in the next solicitation cycle to pull back that number ourselves, where it didn?t seem the variant was making a substantial difference in the buy-in for the book or the perception of books. We?ll be looking at the remaining titles that have variants the following month.

It?s like having a balanced breakfast in the sense that if you only have variants and you don?t have other aspects of how you try to get the attention of retailers and through retailers to consumers, it would be like only eating pizza. We?re just trying to make sure we keep a balance between the different ways that we can draw attention to books.

What will Marvel make of this? Will they choose to follow DC's unilateral approach, or figure that there's now a gap in the market for even more variants, tiered ordering programmes and retailer variants? Especially since there is such a dislike for Bob in the House Of Ideas...

Let's find out!

[Blackfist]

Comics with less variants? What new circle of hell is this!

[dazzknowles]

Of course I may be looking at things through rose tinted glasses but since the introduction of the New 52, DC really seem to have a much better feel of what readers and thus retailers are thinking. That's not to say everything they do is right, but they've kept their pricing/page count balance right and now they've seen the light on the tired and overused variant situation too.

Marvel may not like Bob but they would do well to pay attention to what he says.

[xdemon]

I kind of doubt Marvel will follow suit as a lot of their sales numbers are built on variants.

I'm really starting to think that in the next few years, we are going to see a market correction.

[Peter J Poole]

I think DC - or more likely Warner - are playing a longer game than Marvel, who seem 99% driven by Cap'n Ike's need to pay the rent every quarter.

And 'good for them (DC)' for doing so.

On t'other hand, I think variants are only a danger to retailers who don't understand the gambles they are choosing to take, and thus fail to hedge their bets accordingly.

Cheers

[toodoor]

I think DC - or more likely Warner - are playing a longer game than Marvel, who seem 99% driven by Cap'n Ike's need to pay the rent every quarter.

And 'good for them (DC)' for doing so.

On t'other hand, I think variants are only a danger to retailers who don't understand the gambles they are choosing to take, and thus fail to hedge their bets accordingly.

Cheers

What we need is a retailer to tell us!

[Comicsfan101]

What we need is a retailer to tell us!

... and tell us and tell us and tell us ...

[Stefan Offenberg]

I'm sure the use of the phrase "steps down" was just an unintentionally poor choice of words, and not at all meant to bait people into thinking a major DC Executive had quit so as to garner more clicks.

Right?

[Comicsfan101]

I'm sure the use of the phrase "steps down" was just an unintentionally poor choice of words, and not at all meant to bait people into thinking a major DC Executive had quit so as to garner more clicks.

Right?

Keep up that optimism, Stefan.

[Caanan]

They'll do anything to sell more books except... make good books.

Seriously. Doesn't a variant cover just reek of a lack of confidence over what's inside the comic itself? So... the more variants, the worse it's going to be, right? Suckers!