Priscilla Craddock of Comic Book World, Inc. in Florence, Kentucky saw the suggestions by Dave Autzen of Reader's World (see 'Dave Autzen of Reader's World on Ordering Variants -- Redux') and Jim Crocker of Modern Myths (see 'Jim Crocker of Modern Myths on Ordering Variants') on ordering variants and disagrees:

 

While I can commiserate with Dave Autzen's plight, I don't agree with his suggestion.  I have enough trouble with Diamond without them willy-nilly signing me up for variants.  Having three stores to keep up with, sometimes there just isn't enough time in the day to make sure your managers are keeping up with their FOC's and adding their variants (maximizing the good ones and ordering the not-so-good ones appropriately).

 

The tool that would be the most value to me on the FOC page is a sub-title line that says 1 for 10, or 1 for 20, or unlimited, or unlimited but allocated so that we can quickly make our order changes without having to read through the Marvel Hype sheet or waiting for a call back from our sales rep to get this info.  Then we can quickly and concisely make decisions based on correct information.  In lieu of a sub-title line, I'd like an auxiliary page we can click over to that lists the announced variants and their breakdowns so that when I receive a variant, I don't have to remember which one it is and how many I could order.  Having pictures on the auxiliary page would also be a bonus, but I'm sure that's asking too much.

 

I wholeheartedly disagree with Jim Crocker on assigning new item and bar codes to multiple cover books.  Trying to accurately order 6-800 comics is a difficult enough task each month.  Trying two months or four months after the fact to remember that you had two different covers on issue #1 of Adventures of Batman & Robin and they're under two different titles just adds another dimension of difficulty.  Put sixteen covers on something, I don't care; just give 'em all the same barcode and item code in my opinion.  His point to DC is very valid.  I would have expected the FOC arrangement that Marvel is using from them more so than Marvel.  I think they would see increased sales on most titles.

 

Mostly, I long for a day when publishers remember the bad times as well as we do.  Do we really want to return to that late 80s, early 90s mentality when the variant chase cover was all the hype?  Can we not remember where that business plan led?  Produce quality comics with good art and entertaining stories, don't push hype covers to feed the eBay market and eventually pull the market down around us again.  And for the love of all that is good, just call it a second printing!  I don't miss the foil, cardboard cut-out claw marks on my Wolverine issues.  The embossed, holographic Spawn 1 for 4000 variant just doesn't need to be done.
 

The opinions expressed in this Talk Back article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.