I wasn't one to snap up comics issues with variant covers when they suddenly began appearing on the store racks, since the price of a single comic book had become outrageous enough. (Though I did *ahem* mysteriously often find in my pull stack variant issues which the store dealer probably figured wouldn't move otherwise.) But as a browser, it was definitely fun to take a look at the different pieces of cover art than a single issue featured. I even remember wryly thinking, "Jeez--with all of this cover art being commissioned for a single issue, I'd better not hear any more excuses about a missed deadline for a story."
Recently, this related news item from over two years ago caught my eye:
"Now isn't that clever," I thought, intrigued. Of course I'd stopped collecting comics well before that time, or I might have been tempted to snag one or two of these variants. (Probably not.) I had to actually look up "Marvel NOW!" (which also carries the caption "Join The ReEVOLUTION"), since that was another sales push that passed me by; apparently it refers to the event in 2012 that relaunched several books with new #1 issues. Glancing at what's available from Marvel on a week-to-week basis these days, it looks like Marvel NOW! probably became Marvel ALL THE TIME!, given the overflow of issue #1s featuring the same characters that are constantly rolling off the presses.
At any rate, here are the featured variants from the 2014 Avengers #24--excuse me, Avengers #24.NOW--which are worth a look if mostly in a nostalgic sense. Each row displays the original issue's cover, followed by its variant to the right. (The final two covers you may remember from a prior post.)
Good grief, CF - you'd never heard of Marvel NOW !...??? Actually, my very last physical comic-book was 'Thor: God Of Thunder' #1 which I bought in November 2012 and which was one of the first Marvel NOW issues. Since 2013 I've downloaded graphic novels - the most recent was HULK volume 3 last August.
ReplyDeleteMarvel NOW! went in one ear and out the other for me, Colin, probably because I couldn't understand at first glance what the NOW! was meant to signify. I think I just mentally discarded it as a result and moved on. I'm guessing I wasn't at all what Marvel's ad agency had in mind. :D
ReplyDeleteBy the way, congrats on having a storm named after you, Colin! But rein it in, willya? We're getting drenched here!
Gosh, I'd never heard of Storm Colin but I've just been reading about it. Here in the UK we are having a long dry spell - in fact, it rained briefly a couple of hours ago which was the first rain I've seen for more than a week (a week without rain here is big news). By contrast France and Germany have been having torrential rain and floods - even the Louvre museum in Paris had to close for a while.
ReplyDeleteYeah, these covers are fun but they are just ghosts of better days. I really liked the Alex Ross aping of John Romita's Spectacular Spider-man #2 cover on the (new) Amazing #25.
ReplyDeleteBut the damn thing cost $9.99!!!
And that 499 cent thing on some tribute covers is just rubbing it in.
Don't get me started, I tell ya what!
From 60¢ to five bucks is definitely what I'd call sticker shock, Captain; jumping to ten bucks is downright fatal. BTW, you can find that ASM cover featured in a separate post.
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