r/comicbooks • u/B3epB0opBOP • 1d ago
News Daniel Warren Johnson’s ‘Chainkata’ #1 scores a whopping 116 retailer exclusive covers
https://aiptcomics.com/2026/10/16/chainkata-1-preview/9
u/fastballspecial 23h ago
I will buy one copy of the A cover to read. And that's fucking it! This shit is out of hand.
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u/kukov 1d ago edited 22h ago
Jeez, I'm really looking forward to this from a storytelling standpoint. Also, heck, from a collectability standpoint. But this many variant covers just seems... messy. I guess it's cool it's creating work for all those artists, but I dunno, isn't there a better way to do it than just spamming the marketplace with variants? (I'm assuming these will all get snapped up and the demand is there, I just know DWJ is usually pretty smart about this kind of stuff and this seems excessive).
EDIT
Check this out - I searched the list of store exclusives to see if there were any in Toronto, Canada (where I live) and was surprised to see there is one, Gotham Central Comics. They're getting an Ito exclusive cover that they're selling for $35 CAD ($25 USD). Wrote to them on Instagram and they said they've sold out of the first 400 copies, and will hopefully have 100 available on release week. I wonder if this is true of ALL the store exclusives? Are they already sold out? My guess is most likely. That's crazy. And congrats to the shops.
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u/Pure_Internet_ 1d ago
If a store wants to commission a cover, why stop them? It’s good for the book, it’s good for the store, and it’s good for whichever artist they commission.
There’s only a handful of open order variants.
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u/johnny5yu Dream 1d ago
Its my opinion that there’s a distinction between a retailer exclusive variant and a variant available at all stores. I’m all for more retailer exclusive variants because I like seeing more pretty pictures. There are 4 “official” variant (not including the blank sketch cover) which doesn’t sound too bad
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u/enjoiYosi 11h ago
This is the best take I’ve read. No one seems to understand what a retail exclusive is. I personally love variants, I seek out my favorite artists, I don’t just buy random ones for no reason.
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u/TheAmbushBug 19h ago
People need to really take a breath. These are not exclusives that Image is releasing to all stores. Any shop can purchase a limited print run provided they pay for it, and the artist who does the work. Shops pay, the print gets done.
I dont know why anyone would WANT to even try to collect all of them. It's pointless and in the end, the only real."collectable" cover is going to be the plain old cover "A".
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u/enjoiYosi 11h ago
There are always highly sought out variants that will exceed the value of the A cover. Most variants are worthless, but specific artists variants will pop and stay high. Just look at past variants. Always a few that stay high. Especially the exclusives by DWJ himself.
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u/spiderreader X-23 1d ago
Is there a competition for who can make a comic with the most variants? I get it’s working for profit, but 116 different covers is ridiculous.
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u/Adamsoski 1d ago
Retailer exclusive variants are really pretty different from normal variants, specific retailers work with the publisher and with a particular artist to produce a version with a unique cover just for their shop(s). The number of retailer exclusive covers depends on the number of retailers who want to commission exclusive covers, not the publisher. As the article says there are only 6 normal covers and 3 incentive covers that are widely available.
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u/DerrickBino 21h ago
Can someone explain why "variants bad" is one of comics reddit's pet positions? I'm out of the loop
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u/gothjones 21h ago
It's now fully into gambling territory with all of these blind bag promotions. It's also a predatory market that thrives on perceived value, and so you get a culture of people making extremely poor financial decisions without realizing it until it's far too late.
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u/CapnSmite Invincible 17h ago
To add onto this, we've also been through it all before in the 90s when the speculative market went tits up and did major harm to the industry.
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u/goodwithcolour 12h ago
I guess the only advantage now is that because the big two are owned by mega conglomerates it’s at least unlikely they’ll drag down the entire industry, again, but it does seem like everyone just sorta forgot all that ever happened.
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u/enjoiYosi 11h ago
Absolute Batman has the highest print runs of a DC comic, it just hit 750,000 copies for issue 25. The industry used to produce 2-3 million copies of a bullshit comic as a norm… this is so vastly different
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u/Adamsoski 6h ago
Anyone who thinks that there is speculation now like there was in the 90s either doesn't understand what happened in the 90s or doesn't understand what is happening now (or both).
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u/enjoiYosi 11h ago
The print sizes were in the millions in the 90s, for average at best comics. This is not the same
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u/Hypnodick 8h ago
Bc they fundamentally don’t understand the industry. The best part is none of this will ruin anyone’s enjoyment who just wants to read the stories.
No this is not the 90’s. No this will not kill off physical comics. This take has been around for like 10 years at least. All this especially applies to retailer variants, where the stores are assuming most of the risk here.
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u/DerrickBino 5h ago
I almost never buy them but they're fun. They typically release the high quality images online and I like to save them and use them as wallpaper.
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u/BitterFuture 23h ago
What on earth would you even do with them if you collected all 116? Wallpaper a room with them?
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u/smilinganimalface 17h ago
This does feel like the most "making to sell" DWJ comic so far so everything about it being towards bleeding the pockets I think makes sense.
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u/whytemyke 6h ago
So you're saying I should buy all of these and send them to CGC so I can sell them all in eBay?
Ok you guys all talked me into it!!
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u/Blitzhelios Damian Wayne 23h ago
Ok I love DWJ but this is fucking ridiculous i get it’s partially why absolute is doing so well but that’s utterly ridiculous
Still reading the book though
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u/xzerozeroninex 20h ago
Double standards of comic book fans.If it’s a Marvel or DC comic with many variants,you don’t see too much complaints.But if it’s an indie comic it’s bad.
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u/Lynch47 23h ago
I legit have no idea who is buying all these variants. They can't be so profitable that it makes sense to have lower print runs for certain covers while also paying dozens of separate artists to create the covers.
Lets say out of 116 covers that there's only 75 artists due to some doing multiple covers or having a regular and virgin variant- lets say they're paying all 75 of those artists the lower end of $500 a cover (even though the bigger names get 4 figures easy), that's $37,500 they're paying solely for the cover art, and that's a very low end estimate for industry standard.
Who is deciding how many covers and how much they're setting aside for cover art for something like this over at Image? Is it DWJ himself? Are they taking the loss on covers as a form of marketing?
Citing sales numbers from comicbookrevolution, and specifically the section of the battle for the top 100, they state:
Based on historical numbers from the Comichron as well as projections through April 2022, the titles in the numbers 76–100 range typically sell in the 24,000 to 18,000-unit range.
To make up that $37,500, they need to sell 7,500 issues just to break even on cover art (and again, that's a very low end estimate). That's about 1/3rd of the sales of a book that would break into the top 100.
Based on historical numbers from the Comichron as well as projections through April 2022, the titles in the numbers 11-25 range typically sell in the 80,000 to 50,000-unit range.
If it breaks into the top 25 it would amount for a smaller impact on overall sales, but cover art would still account for a sizable percentage of the overall take. I just don't understand how this is sustainable or good for the industry.
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u/danteholdup 23h ago
pretty sure each shop pays for their own variant
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u/PizzaRollEnthusiast 19h ago
You are correct. People do not understand how retailer exclusives work. The store pays for the art as part of an agreement with a publisher, they pay a flat fee per issue and have to order a minimum quantity. The store is then free to sell those exclusive copies for whatever they want. That is why it is worth it for the stores.
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u/XxOmegaSupremexX Venom 23h ago
#1's typically sell very well and more so for a hyped creator.
You also have to remember they are taking preorders so they will have a rough gauge of how much to print and still be profitable. They can always cancel covers too at anytime up until release. Add to that that comic stores can't return these once ordered and you can see why they are OK with it.
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u/Rollie-Tyler 23h ago edited 23h ago
Why would they spend that much money on that many variants? Is Kirkman digging into that TWD money to help DWJ lol. It’s a great opportunity for all the artists involved though but it seems excessive if Skybound is footing most of the bill.
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u/PearStyle 23h ago
The 116 retailer exclusives are just stores that paid an artist to make a cover for them. Image/skybound doesnt have anything to do with those for the most part.
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u/freddypoo 23h ago
I really only want the DWJ covers on a DWJ book…