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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 19, 2020 22:13:14 GMT -5
When I was a kid, I found the first version of the Azrael Batsuit cool. As an adult, I still find it cool. That thigh belt can die in a fire, though. Aggggh, my eyes! the goggles, zey do nothing! No, seriously, I didn't care for a lot of it; but, it was way better than costumes at Image and Marvel. I liked the Azrael costume much better, though thought Quesada went a bit overboard on the gauntlet detailing. I always laughed at thigh rigs. The US Army experimented with that, in the late 60s or 70s and found they either slid off or had to be so tight they cut off circulation. They eventually developed web geat that allowed some equipment, like holsters and mag pouches, to be slung lower, for special operations missions. The US Army uses the MOLE system, which allows them to attach gear, as needed, customized to their particular missions. By contrast, the tactical vests and gear that gets marketed to police and other units tends to go overboard. Some SWAT team members found that a fully loaded tactical vest weighted them down so much that their boots sank in asphalt! Then again, they weren't roided up 90s superheroes. Wally Wood probably started that trend, which was understandable, as he was an ex-paratrooper and they strap all kinds of gear on for a jump; but, redistribute the load on the ground. This is what the German fallschirmjaeger looked like when jumping into combat..... and an American paratrooper, on the D-Day night jump... and a Wally Wood drawing.... which led to Steranko...
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 19, 2020 22:22:49 GMT -5
With Azrael, I thought Quesada needed to streamline the gauntlets more, and tone down the shoulder pieces... I know he kind of drew inspiration from Doug Rice's Dumas; but, Rice gave that armor a sleeker look, which worked better for action scenes... Rice's Manhunter was also a great design; it looked functional, yet mysterious... I know some artists didn't like the details; but, it was a lot easier to capture than all of the gear on Deathstroke or Taskmaster, or other Perez creations (not to mention stuff like Jack of Hearts). I asked Rice about it and he said he drew inspiration from the Japanese hero shows, like Kamen Rider...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2020 23:08:57 GMT -5
Variants vary from order what you want (meaning you can order any quantity of any cover you want) to limited variants from anywhere to 1 in 5 to 1 in 1000 at times (DC does more of the order what you want, Marvel and others more the 1 in x style). Most retailers fix the price of the variant at whatever the cost to them was for ordering extra copies that are not likely to sell. If I have to order 1000 copies of a book I only sell 50 of, the cost of that variant is the cost of the 950 unsold copies I had to order to get it in order for it to be profitable for me to order it at all. Therefore the cover price of $3.99 doesn't reflect what I had to pay to get that book in. A lot of retailers will order and sell at cover any variant they can get within their regular order range, i.e. if they usually order 50 copies and there is a 1 in 25 variant or a 1 in 50 variant, they will order it and charge cover, but if you ask them to order a 1 in 100 variant, they will charge you what they have to order in extra copies for it, which is what their de facto cost is in ordering it. Which means they are just breaking even (minus shipping for the extra books of course) to order that book for you. Most do it to keep regular customers happy and prevent them from going somewhere else, but aren't going to take a bath to do it. The way I approach the variant is usually this-if all are the same price, I pick the one I like best and get that variant. If there is more than one cover I like, I treat it like buying a piece of art-what would I pay to get a print of that piece of art that is on the variant, as it will go on display if I buy it. If I can get it at a price I would be willing to pay for an art print, I may pick it up. If not, then it's a pass. As for blank variants, I buy them at cover price or less occasionally for stuff I want to commission a cover sketch from an artist I will see at a con over the next year or so. Sometimes I use them to create jam pieces as I did with the Action #1000 blank variant (which is still a work in progress) here's the front cover... and on the back so far is just Krypto... and here's a Micronauts #1 blank variant from IDW I had done... and a Shadow Midnight over Moscow #1 blank variant I had done... but I enjoy getting these type of commissions done. If I didn't, I would have no use for the blank variants, and I have a small stash of them I haven't gotten commissions for yet, so I haven't bought any in some time (the last was a Detective #1000 blank I plan to do a themed jam with like I did with Action). The problem with variants however, is not that they exist, it's that they are used by publishers to prop up sales and milk more money from the existing customer base at the expense of tying up retailers ordering capital and preventing other smaller books from getting support, and retailers are sometimes held hostage by customers and pressured into ordering them-can I afford to not order something a regular pull customer who orders 50 books a month from me (600 books a year) and risk losing that much business even though I lose money ordering extra copies to get the variant he wants? If I don't order it, will he take his business elsewhere? If he does, can I make up the lost revenue? And this is a direct result of the "order in" type variants where you have to meet a minimum threshold in order to order any copies. So my issues are not with the variants themselves, but with the strong-arm business tactics surrounding them that are a a detriment to the long term growth potential of the industry and the viability of smaller retail stores survival in the marketplace. Midtown and DCBS are big enough and do enough volume they can order these in with impunity, but the local store serving a smaller customer base is not positioned to be able to do so and have their cash flow survive intact -M
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Post by Deleted on Apr 19, 2020 23:27:57 GMT -5
^ Awesome...got a remarked Batman sketch on this variant of Batman #1, gives it some personality. This copy was exclusive to a store in Turkey of all places....
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,624
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Post by Confessor on Apr 20, 2020 3:10:18 GMT -5
Maybe it's just me, but I tend to regard variant covers as "not the real cover" of a particular issue. As such, the regular cover is much more desirable to me than a variant. I also view them as a rip-off, but to each their own.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 20, 2020 9:35:24 GMT -5
When I was a kid, I found the first version of the Azrael Batsuit cool. As an adult, I still find it cool. That thigh belt can die in a fire, though.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Apr 20, 2020 9:36:28 GMT -5
Maybe it's just me, but I tend to regard variant covers as "not the real cover" of a particular issue. As such, the regular cover is much more desirable to me than a variant. I also view them as a rip-off, but to each their own. I've never purposefully paid extra for a variant cover... even though there are some I like out there, I don't really have a place to display them.. I'mm buying the comic to read. If presented multiple options at the same price, I'll choose the one I like best. There were a couple times I accidently picked a variant when I was ordering with DCBS briefly, which annoyed me immensely.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2020 12:40:28 GMT -5
Maybe it's just me, but I tend to regard variant covers as "not the real cover" of a particular issue. As such, the regular cover is much more desirable to me than a variant. I also view them as a rip-off, but to each their own.
Sometimes the real cover is a bore...which I think is deliberate...so variants are done to spice it up. If I get a 50:1 variant at no extra cost. I take them
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 20, 2020 12:42:01 GMT -5
Maybe it's just me, but I tend to regard variant covers as "not the real cover" of a particular issue. As such, the regular cover is much more desirable to me than a variant. I also view them as a rip-off, but to each their own. I've never purposefully paid extra for a variant cover... even though there are some I like out there, I don't really have a place to display them.. I'mm buying the comic to read. If presented multiple options at the same price, I'll choose the one I like best. There were a couple times I accidently picked a variant when I was ordering with DCBS briefly, which annoyed me immensely. When I still had a subscription, my LCS would let me choose, if I was there when he was unloading. I never cared and usually went with the original cover, unless there was a variant that was better or an artist I really liked better. From my perspective, a variant should really only be used to distinguish between printings or some other form of change to the original book, like new material, behind-the-scenes stuff or whatever. At least then, it denotes a real variant and not just a change of "shirt".
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Post by codystarbuck on Apr 20, 2020 12:45:37 GMT -5
Maybe it's just me, but I tend to regard variant covers as "not the real cover" of a particular issue. As such, the regular cover is much more desirable to me than a variant. I also view them as a rip-off, but to each their own.
Sometimes the real cover is a bore...which I think is deliberate...so variants are done to spice it up. If I get a 50:1 variant at no extra cost. I take them
I always love when a comic book artist makes a weapon look bigger, after the military and the manufacturer have worked to make it smaller and more manageable. The best was Frank Miller, in Dark Knight, when you see soldiers with Uzis the size of assault rifles.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2020 12:47:03 GMT -5
From my perspective, a variant should really only be used to distinguish between printings or some other form of change to the original book, like new material, behind-the-scenes stuff or whatever. At least then, it denotes a real variant and not just a change of "shirt".
This was done with the 2nd printing of Batman 608 (the first issue with the Hush storyline). The 2nd print got a new cover, a much lower printing, and is now worth more than the first print. One of the few that has stood the test of time.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 20, 2020 13:25:30 GMT -5
I'm also glad there are variants to choose from when the regular cover artist is Ramos. His Amazing Spidey #1 cover was the worst one I've seen in the past 20 years.
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Post by Prince Hal on Apr 20, 2020 15:15:24 GMT -5
Ant room for a stick of Beeman's? Are these Deathstroke cosplayers? Red Dawn re-enactors? I'm guessing not ex-military.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Apr 20, 2020 19:50:52 GMT -5
Are these Deathstroke cosplayers? Red Dawn re-enactors? I'm guessing not ex-military. They’re disguised as characters from an unpublished Warren Ellis comic (Philosophers 2). The characters are Kierkeguard, Dyslexic Swastika and Camo Camus. The purple mag is a reference to the poetry of Arthur Rimbaud, who was at one time a colourful gunrunner, and the “Death Victory” badge refers to Corinthians 15:55. Brainy stuff! The water bottle is a commentary on the consequences of short-sightedness, an example of how immediate individual satisfaction (quenching one’s thirst) can lead to a massive societal problem (all the trash such bottles generate). The leader of the team (not shown in the picture) would have been, of course, Atlas Shrugg! We don’t get enough comics about philosophers. I’m glad to see kids so enthusiastic about the subject!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2020 3:09:20 GMT -5
Love 'warehouse finds' ie books found packed in their original boxes/cases and otherwise left undisturbed for years until someone goes sniffing. This was one such find, never opened, found its way to me sometime last year for less than a twenty. It's a useful spare and I'm thinking of putting either this or one of my other 2 copies in a time-capsule along with a nice handwritten letter full of profanities for whoever finds it. I'll blame it on covid-19 cabin fever dated April 2020. There, I said it without swearing...
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