DC Comics Sets New Rules to Combat Price Gouging

The change comes after a string of recent controversial variant cover releases.

Perhaps one of the most annoying aspects of modern comic book publishing is the prevalence (and over dependence on) variant covers. The industry is at a point where consumers are now being sold blind bag variants that the customer doesn't even know which cover they're purchasing. If you're unfamiliar with how this all works, here's a basic breakdown: comic book publishers regularly put out high quantities of variant covers for the series they produce, in particular very popular ones like Absolute Batman, for instance. These comics will get multiple different covers each month, and some of those covers are offered as incentives for ordering a certain amount of a given issue.

Once the comic gets to retailers, these shops will take the incentive covers and mark up the price, sometimes at values of five, six, seven, eight, or even higher, times the amount of MSRP. This covers the cost of having to order all those extra copies of a given issue in order to obtain the valuable variant covers, but it also means that some comics are seeing an artificial boost to sales numbers, as a result. Look no further than Stephanie Philips and Lee Garbett's Daredevil #1, which launched to sales so high it was lauded as the best-selling single issue in the series ever produced. The problem? It might have sold that many copies to retailers, but it was all in an effort to get ahold of the variants attached to the book and not reflective of actual interest in the relaunch.

Basically, the comic book industry is trying to paint a sunnier picture of sales than actually exists. Variants artificially boost sales numbers on paper, but the sales are to stores and not to customers; head into your local comic book shop and you'll likely find a bunch of copies of any given book despite publishers claims of sellouts and so on. Now, don't get us wrong; series like Absolute Batman are indeed popular, very popular, and do sell well. What we're arguing is that the numbers simply aren't as compelling as DC or any other publisher would have you believe. Which brings us to the news that DC is now fighting back against price gouging as a result of this variant cover fiasco it's helped to create.

According to Bleeding Cool, DC has reached out to retailers with a new, strict set of guidelines governing the sale of variants covers, including retailer-exclusives. This is due to a couple of recent controversies regarding retailer-exclusive covers, including a variant for Absolute Batman #19 that had consumers in a commotion online arguing about pricing and availability, among other concerns. Although DC simply gave the thumbs-up to the production and sale of the cover, the publisher had nothing to do with the ensuing chaos that erupted from the retailer end of things. This move is being done with the hope of mitigating future controversies by returning more control to DC and providing a framework to keep pricing reasonable for consumers.

If you're interested in the specifics of the language sent to retailers, be sure to hit up the link. down below In short, though, DC is making the following changes:

• Retailers are asked to keep price increases, specifically for Absolute Batman but presumably also other books, to five times the MSRP for unsigned copies and ten times for signed books.

• Retailer-exclusive covers must be coordinated with DC and not directly between shops and artists.

• DC can reuse retailer-exclusive art as it sees fit.

• Retailers who don't comply risk being banned.

How shops will react to this remains to be seen. This move is ostensibly a consumer-friendly one; after all, restricting prices will benefit the customer. But as ridiculous as the variant cover market is, it certainly seems to be yielding a certain amount of sales success at a time when retailers are struggling to keep customers coming in. If retailers can't sell copies at prices of their discretion, it's unclear if this might result in lower sales, which could throw a monkey wrench into the whole variant cover scheme. Still, no one should be getting shafted simply for trying to obtain a cover they're interested in, so it's a delicate balance to try and strike.

What do you think? Will DC's decision ultimately help consumers but hurt shops? Or is this the best possible outcome for everyone? Share with us on social media!

Source: Bleeding Cool