What's going on with IDW's ARAH variant covers in 2012?

[Scoop]

Does anyone what's going on with IDW's ARAH variant covers in 2012?

Yesterday I went to a local comic shop near my job where I have a subscription to IDW's G.I. Joe ARAH series. I have them order cover "B" for me because when IDW first started to continue the series with issue #156 they used old Marvel style covers for "B" and IDW style for "A" covers. Then beginning with issue #161 they began to use Marvel style for "A" covers as well as "B" covers.

Well when I went into the comic shop on Friday night to pick up issue #173 cover "B" they told me that IDW had changed how they are releasing their covers.

It used to be a 50-50 split between cover's "A" and "B" so that one was not rarer than the other. The comic shops could order as many as they wanted to of each cover. Now they are telling me that cover "B" will be in short supply and that they would have to order 10 comics in order to get me cover "B" at a discounted price, or I would have to pay around $16.99 for it instead. I think they were charging me just around $3 for each comic during my subscription so that was lower than the cover price.

I don't think they are lying to me because they looked up some other places for me to go to in order to find the new cover "B" versions at cover price. Not many other places would do that. I've known these guys for years. They are not your average "Simpson's Comic Book Guy" shop owners. They actually have a small quaint little place that reminds you more of a fancy book store than it does a comic shop.

In any case does anyone know the deal witn what IDW is doing in 2012 concerning the covers for the ARAH comics. They used to have 3 covers which were "A", "B", and the limted cover with the black and white sketch art. Are they doing away with an alternate cover "B" and just doing a cover "A" along with a sketch art alternate cover?

If anyone has any info on this matter please post it here.

Thanks in advance!

[Jinx723]

I have always hated the multiple cover scams with IDW. What pisses me off even more is the awesome covers are always incentive covers. Which cost more or don't get them because my comic shop doesn't order enough copies.

[Stormgard]

The covers are beginning to bug the absolute shit out of me.

I don't care about collecting mutiple covers myself, but I also don't resent collectors who do, or comics that try to cater to/make money off of them.

But at least have the covers represent what is happening in the actual issue. I don't want a cover that highlights Joes who aren't in the issue or that suggests that someone is going to die or be badly hurt if they aren't.

On the bright side, I really liked the recent 173 issue cover of the three joes and the tank. And I'll admit the sketch versions of the finaly pic are pretty cool.

[Troynos]

Haven't heard anything official.

But my guess would that rising costs of doing business vs. lower sales (IDW Joe comics average around 8,000 copies a month) means one less cover a month. So instead of paying three artists, they only pay two.

And the second regular cover is the one that, rightly so, goes away.

[Scoop]

Haven't heard anything official.

But my guess would that rising costs of doing business vs. lower sales (IDW Joe comics average around 8,000 copies a month) means one less cover a month. So instead of paying three artists, they only pay two.

And the second regular cover is the one that, rightly so, goes away.

Thanks for posting this!

While not official your statement does make alot of sense so maybe that's exactly what they are doing, especially if they've done the same in the past.

Maybe they are doing as you said... going from 3 covers to 2 covers by doing away with cover "B" and only making cover "A" with the second cover being the sketch art.

If that is the case I would probably just continue my subscription with "cover "A" or stop the subscription all together since all the past issues I have are of cover "B" alone. I could also try to go back and collect all of the older cover "A" versions as well.

Hopefully I will hear something official soon enough.

[ZombieSnake]

I've not heard anything official either, but from what I've seen from artists, on comic shop shelves, and advanced solicitations is that the "A" "B" and "RI" style covers are continuing. At my local shops the covers they put aside for me are random, sometimes "A" sometimes "B" but both always cost the same. They may be cutting back from 50/50, but the cost of one does not exceed the cost of another. My shop only gets in about 5 copies of each issue for all the IDW GI Joe titles, but they always get a combination of both "A" and "B" covers, both just costing cover price. The only one that should cost you more is the "RI" (Retailer Incentive) cover. It sounds like your shop is trying to charge you Incentive cover prices for regular covers.

[Crimson Rage]

(IDW Joe comics average around 8,000 copies a month) .


Seriously? DDP Joe was declared a 'failure' with double those figures back in the day.

I gave up on IDW's TF and Joe comics ages ago. Multiple titles, multiple covers... The TF series has split into two ongoing series, each with four covers for the first issue..?

When I need a 'guide' to know what order to read the books in, I think they're doing something very wrong.

[Troynos]

Seriously? DDP Joe was declared a 'failure' with double those figures back in the day.


Different time. Numbers have been going down for years now. The top selling book is usually around 140k copies. IDW's books are still doing well.

Sales Estimates for December, 2011 - Marvel Edges Into Top Spot - Comic Book Resources (http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=36346)

In December G.I. Joe #8 had around 10,500 copies, placing it at 175. ARAH, 8600 copies, was ranked 190. Snake Eyes 8400 which placed it at 194 and Cobra, 8300, was 196.

Now keep in mind that Marvel/DC sell about 100 books between the two of 'em. The first non-Marvel/DC book on the charts was The Walking Dead (58) with 31,400 copies. The next non-Marvel/DC book is Buffy with around 31,100 copies. But from those two it's a long time before you hit another non-Marvel/DC book (ranking 98 with 21,300 copies - Aspen's Lady Mechanika).

IDW makes up about 4% of the comics market place. Marvel makes up about 39% and DC 37%.

So chances are, in relation to overall sales, the IDW books are selling at, or better, then DDP levels.

[homer_sapien]

I gave up on IDW's TF and Joe comics ages ago. Multiple titles, multiple covers... The TF series has split into two ongoing series, each with four covers for the first issue..?

When I need a 'guide' to know what order to read the books in, I think they're doing something very wrong.

I was with them on the new Joe book from issue 1-27. Dropped it after that when they split into a few different new titles and I didn't know which order to read things in.

[Troynos]

It's pretty easy to know what order to read in right now, they're listed as parts.

[homer_sapien]

Doesn't matter now. I gave up when they put out the bunch of new #1's and now I've gone long enough without reading that I'm not interested any more.