Used to hate variant covers until a beat-up dollar bin copy changed my mind

For years I thought variant covers were just cash grabs for collectors who never read the comics. I only bought standard covers so I could actually flip through the pages without worrying about value. Then back in March at a small con in Des Moines, I found a beat-up copy of Detective Comics #1000 with a Jim Lee variant that someone had clearly read five times and spilled coffee on. The cover was all scratched up and the spine was creased but the art inside still looked amazing. It hit me that these covers are just art, plain and simple, and someone out there loved that book enough to wreck it. Now I buy whatever cover catches my eye at the shop and I don't even check the price tag. Anyone else come around on something in the hobby they used to roll their eyes at?

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2 Comments

christophermorgan2mo ago

Stopped worrying about cover condition after my kid dropped a fresh copy of The Immortal Hulk into the bathtub. That book was wrecked but my son was laughing his ass off. Realized then that comics are for reading and enjoying, not for sitting in a bag forever. Now I grab whatever cover makes me smile and I don't look back.

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the_kim2mo ago

Man that's the right way to look at it honestly... my most beat up books are the ones I actually loved reading, they got character you know. Once you let go of the whole mint condition thing it just makes collecting way more fun.

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