Quote from: BettyReggie on April 22, 2016, 09:59:45 PM
Midtown Comics does have a cover that's actually $16, if that evers goes down in price . Maybe I'll buy it but they don't have the a picture of it yet.

Wow, I only get $40 allowance every month so like I said I have to be picky with what I get with my money because that is not only used on my comics. It is on if I want candy or anything else.

If I were you just pick your most favorites. Midtown Comics is actually the place that sells it the cheapest. But you have jump on buying them because they don't stay that price forever.

Quote from: BettyReggie on April 22, 2016, 10:53:06 PM
If I were you just pick your most favorites. Midtown Comics is actually the place that sells it the cheapest. But you have jump on buying them because they don't stay that price forever.

That is why I am just reading the new rebooted Archie and Jughead series and will add the Betty and Veronica one when that comes out in a few months. I have still never read a "Classic" Archie comic other than the panels that I have seen on the internet. I am really enjoying the stories in the Archie and Jughead series(Especially(Jughead). Back in South Africa I read a webcomic called Cottonstar which was pretty cool.

Quote from: BettyReggie on April 22, 2016, 07:19:09 PM
I preordered these covers from Midtown Comics.com
B & V #1
1-Adam Hughes
2-Evely
3-Coover
4-Geneviene
5-Gonazles
6-Henderson
7-Martinez
8-Moritat
9-Onge
10-Sook
11-Zdarsky
12-Zullo
But from archie comics I'll preorder these
1-Asar
2-Bancroft
3-Buscema
4-Chaing
5-Isaacs
6-Mok
7-Perez

I went with these for now. Really excited for the relaunch. Hopefully it lives up to the hype. At least we know the art will be beautiful.


Adam Hughes
Cliff Chiang
Colleen Coover
Francesco Francavilla
Rian Gonzales  Probably like this one the best after Hughes'
Tula Latoy
Alitha Martinez
Audrey Mok
Moritat
Chrissie Zullo
Jenny Frison

If I were going to buy a physical copy of this for the cover, it would be the blank sketch variant (but not if it has that horrible block text logo shown on the "not-final-I-hope" image). At least you know having one or more of those around might come in handy if your ever had any inclination to commission a drawing from a pro artist (or even a talented amateur).

Otherwise, this is where going digital has it all over print comics. Who needs 25 variant covers over the exact same interior story filling up boxes in their house, when you can just save any of the images off the internet for free to look at whenever you want? I don't need to purchase the same story multiple times for $4 a pop when there are plenty of other comics to spend my money on.

I guess if you want to look at it that way, it's nice to have 25 flavors of cover to choose just one from, but I don't know if the idea of cultivating comic collectors instead of comic readers is a particularly good one. It sort of changes the basic nature of the hobby to make it more like stamp collecting. The cover art is nice to look at, but what does that have to do with reading comics? I can't argue against the fact that it does help inflate sales for any given issue, since if it didn't work the practice wouldn't continue, but it does feel a little creepy, sort of as if the comic book industry is only surviving on life-support. On one extreme they're pushing cover variants, and on the other extreme they're pushing digital, but the traditional middle ground of one single copy of a printed comic for one reader seems to have just fallen by the wayside. More and more the industry depends on a single comic book collector to carry the burden of being a heavy consumer by purchasing multiple titles and multiple variants of the same issue. And yeah, as it happens, I AM that heavy consumer... I just choose to allocate my money among as many different titles and publishers as possible. But... fewer individual readers, each of whom is depended on to purchase more than was the case in the past, can't be a good publishing model, can it? Whenever a single heavy consumer suffers burnout, it's like losing ten or twenty readers that the industry had in the past. Just my two cents.

I get a lot different ones because I have 12 comic frames . I like to change my wall around . And I don't have a printer . They would just come out black & white at the library. I have only pre-order 13 so far.

Quote from: BettyReggie on April 23, 2016, 08:58:40 AM
I get a lot different ones because I have 12 comic frames . I like to change my wall around . And I don't have a printer . They would just come out black & white at the library. I have only pre-order 13 so far.

I say do whatever the heck you want to do and what makes you happy. I know for me it is a bit expensive to do that, but that me. If you like to display them then that is cool.

Quote from: BettyReggie on April 23, 2016, 08:58:40 AM
I get a lot different ones because I have 12 comic frames . I like to change my wall around . And I don't have a printer . They would just come out black & white at the library. I have only pre-order 13 so far.

Just to be clear, I'm not criticizing the people who collect and enjoy having these variants. It's YOUR money, and nobody can tell you how best to spend it. It's YOUR choice. My choice happens to be to spend my disposable income on maximizing the number of comics I can purchase whose interior contents contain as many different stories as possible, but that's neither here nor there.

I just question whether the continuing proliferation of cover variants doesn't put the comic publishers in the position of becoming overly dependent on too few consumers for the sales of too many copies.


Let me give you an example of what I mean. Let's say Joe Squish is a big fan of all the new Archie Comics. He buys ALL the New Riverdale titles, ALL the Archie Action titles, ALL the Archie Horror titles, and ALL the Dark Circle titles. Joe is an Archie Comics superfan, so he doesn't just get one copy of each issue to read, he gets ALL of the cover variants as well, because he just enjoys collecting them and looking at them. Joe's got a good job, and plenty of disposable income to spend on his hobby, so what's the harm? He enjoys it. Then one day Joe finds out that he's got a medical problem. It's manageable, and not life-threatening, but it's going to cost him some money in terms of doctor appointments, medications, and so forth, even though the major expenses are being covered by his medical insurance. Now Joe has to crunch his budget, and figure out what luxuries to cut out of his disposable income, and he's really going to be forced to curtail his comic spending. Or, maybe Joe's just been collecting too long, not enjoying the hobby the way he did 5 or 10 years ago. Or maybe he needs to save money to buy a new house or a new car, or his hours got cut back at work from 40 to only 32 hours a week. Doesn't matter what the reason is, but Joe Squish's days of throwing cash around for his hobby are coming to an end. He can still enjoy the older comics in his collection, but he needs to cut out buying new ones.


If there are 3 New Riverdale titles, 2 Archie Horror titles, 3 Archie Action titles, and 3 Dark Circle titles, and they all cost $4 each, then if ACP only produced one cover of each of those books every month, the loss of Joe Squish as a consumer of ACP product is (3+2+3+3=)11 comics @ $4 each (OK, just to keep it simple, I'm ignoring the fact that Archie Action titles are still priced at $3, I know). But now what if each of those titles produced by ACP has at least one cover variant every month, and some of them have 3 or 4? Or a new #1 issue that month has 25 variants? Now instead of Joe being responsible for buying 11 copies of Archie Comics every month, he's buying more like 25 or 35 copies. Now Joe Squish's loss as an ACP customer is hurting ACP as a company a lot more than it would have if they were only depending on Joe to buy ONE copy of every title.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 23, 2016, 10:01:27 AM

Quote from: BettyReggie on April 23, 2016, 08:58:40 AM
I get a lot different ones because I have 12 comic frames . I like to change my wall around . And I don't have a printer . They would just come out black & white at the library. I have only pre-order 13 so far.

Just to be clear, I'm not criticizing the people who collect and enjoy having these variants. It's YOUR money, and nobody can tell you how best to spend it. It's YOUR choice. My choice happens to be to spend my disposable income on maximizing the number of comics I can purchase whose interior contents contain as many different stories as possible, but that's neither here nor there.

I just question whether the continuing proliferation of cover variants doesn't put the comic publishers in the position of becoming overly dependent on too few consumers for the sales of too many copies.

I can see a variant cover maybe one or two at the most for an issue and maybe because this one is a special #1 release maybe 10 variants but going what I feel is hog wild and having 20 or so variations of the same cover is a bit overboard. People must like them though.

Why do people buy tons of blank sketch covers (with the same internal material usually unrelated to the commission) when the artist could draw on any old piece of paper?

I only bought 2 variants for Archie #1 because those were the only ones I liked. Coincidentally they both featured Betty on the cover. I'm just a bigger fan of Betty and Veronica. I only buy what I like. I don't indiscriminately collect all the variant covers.

Yes you could print out the covers but not many people have such high quality color printers and you would bankrupt yourself buying ink. Plus you gotta buy high quality paper or the paper will roll.

I can see how variant covers could eventually destroy the industry with your morbid story. I think comic publishers are giving consumers what they want. The covers usually feature art that is different from the regular interior art and they are trying to draw non-Archie fans into picking up a copy of Archie comics. 

IMO, buying variant covers is one of the few, only? reason to buy paper comics anymore. You can read the digital versions earlier and faster. I haven't been a comic collector for years and years so I'm not good at the delayed gratification comic shops insist on. Plus, to own a copy of Donald Duck or Silk wouldn't make me as happy as owning the variant cover of B&V.


It's all in what you like to collect. Shows like American Pickers boggle my mind. Why would you want to own something rusty and faded where you can't even see the colors anymore? I tend to be attracted to art that is really bright and colorful (i.e. Jem and the Holograms) so I like the variant covers. Going to conventions is extraordinarily expensive and even getting commissions done is the price of at least 10 variant covers.

Quote from: irishmoxie on April 23, 2016, 01:31:02 PM
Why do people buy tons of blank sketch covers (with the same internal material usually unrelated to the commission) when the artist could draw on any old piece of paper?


I only bought 2 variants for Archie #1 because those were the only ones I liked. Coincidentally they both featured Betty on the cover. I'm just a bigger fan of Betty and Veronica.


Yes you could print out the covers but not many people have such high quality color printers and you would bankrupt yourself buying ink. Plus you gotta buy high quality paper or the paper will roll.


I can see how variant covers could eventually destroy the industry with your morbid story. I think comic publishers are giving consumers what they want. The covers usually feature art that is different from the regular interior art and they are trying to draw non-Archie fans into picking up a copy of Archie comics.

The Blank Sketch Covers are kinda just a neat novelty way to get a commission drawing of a character you want I guess. I guess it can also run ya a lot of cash as well.

Even if I was into the reboot I don't think I would buy any variant covers, but that's just  because I don't really like any of them. The only one I liked was the one by Adam Hughes for B&V #2

Quote from: 60sBettyandReggie on April 23, 2016, 01:43:22 PM
Even if I was into the reboot I don't think I would buy any variant covers, but that's just  because I don't really like any of them. The only one I liked was the one by Adam Hughes for B&V #2

The only variant for Betty & Veronica #1 that sticks out to me is the one with the boxing theme to it.

Quote from: irishmoxie on April 23, 2016, 01:31:02 PM
Why do people buy tons of blank sketch covers (with the same internal material usually unrelated to the commission) when the artist could draw on any old piece of paper?

Let me venture a guess on this one. It's not that any of the people buying those sketch variants particularly care what the interior pages of that (NOT COMPLETELY*) blank sketch variant cover contain, the pages themselves could be blank as well, if it were more feasible (meaning cheaper) to print them that way (but it's not).

*WHY is a blank sketch cover "not completely" blank? Because it has a character's title logo on it, just like regular comic books do. The importance of the logo is this. A BETTY & VERONICA blank sketch cover variant is absolutely worthless to someone who only wants an artist to sketch a picture of SPIDER-MAN on it (unless that pic of Spidey ALSO has B&V in it, as well). That means when the cover gets sketched on by a pro, what the owner now has in his collection is in effect a "custom comic", a one-of-a-kind (as opposed to the unsketched blank) variant THAT NO ONE ELSE OWNS A COPY OF. That's true of the original sketch on an ordinary blank piece of paper as well, but here is the crucial difference (in the minds of those that care about such things, and the popularity of the blank sketch variant attests to this) -- no matter how nice the original art sketch on a blank sheet of paper, IT IS NOT A COMIC BOOK. That's about as simple as it is.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 23, 2016, 02:04:29 PM

Quote from: irishmoxie on April 23, 2016, 01:31:02 PM
Why do people buy tons of blank sketch covers (with the same internal material usually unrelated to the commission) when the artist could draw on any old piece of paper?

Let me venture a guess on this one. It's not that any of the people buying those sketch variants particularly care what the interior pages of that (NOT COMPLETELY*) blank sketch variant cover contain, the pages themselves could be blank as well, if it were more feasible (meaning cheaper) to print them that way (but it's not).

*WHY is a blank sketch cover "not completely" blank? Because it has a character's title logo on it, just like regular comic books do. The importance of the logo is this. A BETTY & VERONICA blank sketch cover variant is absolutely worthless to someone who only wants an artist to sketch a picture of SPIDER-MAN on it (unless that pic of Spidey ALSO has B&V in it, as well). That means when the cover gets sketched on by a pro, what the owner now has in his collection is in effect a "custom comic", a one-of-a-kind (as opposed to the unsketched blank) variant THAT NO ONE ELSE OWNS A COPY OF. That's true of the original sketch on an ordinary blank piece of paper as well, but here is the crucial difference (in the minds of those that care about such things, and the popularity of the blank sketch variant attests to this) -- no matter how nice the original art sketch on a blank sheet of paper, IT IS NOT A COMIC BOOK. That's about as simple as it is.

It is neat to have something that is a 1/1 or a custom. The thing is as with any type of art or actually anything that is that limited it comes at a hefty price. The bottom line is it is a very cool collectible to have and maybe someday if they continue to do blank sketch covers in about 10 years or so I can probably get an Archie artist to draw something I want on there for a huge one shot pop of money. Just to say I have a cool comic collectible.