Peter DeFelice of Pyramid Comics and Cards in Sparta, New Jersey sent us his thoughts on the Astonishing X-Men #1 variant (see 'Variant Covers--Are They Back?'):

It's time for all of us retailers to tell Marvel to cut it out.  The way they are distributing their Astonishing X-Men #1 variant cover is harmful to our industry, not helpful.  Didn't we learn from the past that endless variant covers, chromium editions and the like bring only short term buyers into our stores, over inflate the market, and in the end make us all look bad when their comics are worthless?  If Marvel wants to put out variants, make them orderable as DC Comics does so the true fans don't feel left out.

ALL Comics publishers need to focus on good art and great stories to gain the true fans, the READERS of comics and to build new readers.  The readers are the only customers that come in week after week, month after month, and year after year.  I've built my store on the readers of comics and not the speculators and this is why I'm one of the remaining comic book stores in my area, when most of my competition has failed.