Marvel’s Unusual Pricing for Its Foil Variant Covers

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“Just a Reminder” is a feature when we look back at comic book history to remind people of the actual comic book history in the midst of whatever the current comic book controversy is. Today, I look at how Marvel Comics has an unusual policy regarding the pricing of its foil variant covers.

If you have read my various columns about comic book history over the years, you likely already know that I’m about to repeat myself about how there was a very special moment in the history of the comic book cover called the institution of the direct market. You see, once the direct market became a thing, comic book companies began to make more profit on the production of their comic books, since they no longer had to produce 300,000 copies to sell 100,000 copies (or whatever, something along those lines). Once the direct market became the main way that comic books were sold, if the company was selling 100,000 copies, it could actually print 100,000 copies and not have that crazy extra overhead. Without that overhead, comic book companies had the freedom to spend more money on the actual comic books themselves, since there was less of a need to make them as cheap as possible. This is how gimmick covers were introduced. It would be way too expensive to mass produce hologram covers, but if every hologram is already paid for before it is produced, you can print as many as necessary.

That still remains the case today, as comic books with special covers cost more than “normal” comic books. However, starting in 2023, Marvel has adopted an unusual pricing policy with its foil variant covers that don’t fully REFLECT the fact that the covers are more expensive (“reflect” was not an intentional pun referencing how foil covers reflect light and are all shiny, but it totally works as a pun, right?)…

And if you were curious why your local comic book store charges you more than the cover price for Marvel foil covers, this is why.

How does DC and most other comic book companies handle its foil variant covers?

DC Comics has a number of foil covers, just like Marvel and other companies.

Here is an eBay listing for DC’s recent Aquaman #1 foil cover (I recently reviewed the second issue of that series here)…

On the back of the issue, you’ll notice that it is priced at $7.99…

The main cover of Aquaman #1 cost $3.99…

So the foil cover is basically twice the price of the main cover. You might think that that is too much money to pay, but whatever your position on it is, note that it is clearly delineated on the cover. The main cover is $3.99, the variant is $7.99.

DC has its OWN weird thing where it uses card stock covers for its normal variant covers, and charges an extra dollar, so the main cover is $3.99, but any variant covers are at LEAST an extra buck…

So, well, whatever, if you don’t to pay an extra buck, go right ahead and just get the main cover. It’s all good.

Dynamite, too, clearly shows that its foil covers cost twice as much as the regular cover, as seen in this foil variant cover for Thundercats #6 (as sold on eBay here. If I’m using their images, I gotta at least link to their listing)…

See? It says $9.99, and the main cover for that book was $4.99. Note that there are also “incentive” covers where a store had to order, say, 15 copies of the main cover to order one copy of the special cover, so that’s typically going to involve an increased charge by your retailer, while the prie will still be $9.99 if it is a foil incentive variant.

Okay, so what does Marvel do?

First off, let’s note that Marvel’s normal variant covers don’t have special cardstock covers, and thus Marvel charges the same for each of its normal variant covers, so, let’s say, each of these Psylocke #4 covers, the main and the variants, are the same cover price…

But when it comes to FOIL variants, Marvel is tricky.

The recent Hellverine #1 from Marvel was a cover price of $4.99. Here is the Mark Bagley foil variant…

Notice the price (here is the eBay listing I got the images from)….

However, despite the retail price still saying $4.99, Marvel is charging retailers something about 16% off of that price, so a retailer is paying over $4 for the comic book, and thus, most likely will not be charging cover price for it. So if you’re curious as to why your retailer is charging over cover price for a brand-new Marvel foil variant, that is why. They’re paying as if the book was over $8, but the price tag, unlike DC and Dynamite and other companies, doesn’t reflect the fact that the book costs more than a normal cover. It’s just an unusual thing that Marvel does that I thought you might all want to be aware of when doing your regular comic book shopping.

Rich Johnston wrote about this when it was first announced (back then, Marvel was charging retailers the FULL retail price, so a store would be spending $4.99 on that Hellverine #1 foil, but I believe they’ve added a slight discount since then).

This one is a bit less reader-suggestion-friendly of a feature, but hey, maybe you have a topic that you think I should write up, so feel free to drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com.

“}]] Marvel Comics has an unusual pricing policy when it comes to its foil variant covers, and it’s a bit confusing for fans and retailers  Read More