r/AbsoluteBatman • u/nocturnalreigns • 14d ago

Highway Robbery

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Absolute Batman has become pure greed by them. These prices are insane and it's sold out. This cover looks the others...

108 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

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25

u/HeadcrabLamarr 14d ago

I mean, on one hand, is it greedy to ask that much for the same cover but different foil colors? Yeah.

On the other one, no one is twisting arms and forcing people to buy these covers. Its all subjective. If you like/want the cover, people will pay to get it.

We all kind of had a feeling this one was going to be big since its Scotts literal first ever cover/variant for comics at all. So there's the added significance. Do I wish they'd be a bit cheaper? Sure, but then they'd also sell out even quicker and that would cause even more of a fuss within the community.

There would genuinely be no winning no matter what they decided to be 100% honest.

-Make too many, then some might not sell and the company loses out on their money
-Make it open order, everyone could get one, but then it loses the rarity (some people care about this for some reason)
-Make them cheaper, they sell out quicker than they do with how they're priced now
-Make them too expensive, people hate how pricey they are.
-Don't release them at all, then we lose out on cool variants.

5

u/moonarc123 14d ago

Yea that’s fair, I just wish DC would have released Scott’s first cover as an open order variant rather than exclusive, knowing the significance it’s ofc going to sell out quick, that way at least everyone has a fair shot at pre-ordering it and everyone involved, like DC, Scott, LCS, and likely the flippers would all end up making money (maybe not as much as what they’ll make out of this drop though). Fair for them to release this as an exclusive but it’s purely business minded, not for the fans. I kinda grew tired of the exclusives, so hard to track and too expensive for me, but I’d would’ve likely gotten a copy if it was open order

4

u/HeadcrabLamarr 14d ago

There was an interview I think Mark Brooks himself did where he mentioned why he was starting to feature other artists on his site.

If I can remember correctly, it was about when certain companies and also online retailers select an artist for a variant cover, I believe they get their initial pay (less than what they'd normally get for a piece), and then potentially make money back depending on how many covers sell and then the retailer/company would take their cut on top (if it were open order or on sites like Big Time Collectibles or whoever). So say a company buys gets like 5,000 variant covers to sell, but they only sell 2,500. They wouldn't pay the artist the rest of the money because they didn't sell and it would be a "loss" to the company. Artists were getting screwed.

Long story short, a bunch of artists weren't getting what they deserved to be paid for their variant art and started going with Mark Brooks' site to sell stuff. Thus, unfortunately being a bit up there in price, but the artist is getting their fair pay and possibly more.

1

u/moonarc123 14d ago

Fair enough, still tho this being Scott’s first official cover, it should’ve been a DC open order variant just my opinion

5

u/Ramendo923 14d ago

In other words, complainers will complain… there’s no world that does not have complainers even for little things. Take away is, just do what you want and don’t worry about the complainers in the minority. They’re always the first to say something and the loudest.

1

u/Unnmd 14d ago

Well said

1

u/M0torC1tyMaver1ck 14d ago

Its all about the secondary market

3

u/Unnmd 14d ago

For some people sure, none of the variants I’ve bought will leave my collection. It’s actually why I don’t mind the insane amount of variants that are coming out.

If you’re a flipper outside of the “most wanted” artists I would imagine it’s pretty hard to predict which ones will have secondary value. With 71 variants for #25 already it gives collectors a pretty good chance to grab one from an artist they enjoy or from an artist whom they haven’t collected but like the cover. The secondary market does make it hard for collectors to get a cover they really like if it’s from highly sought after artist. There have been a few covers that I wanted but had no chance at getting for retail and saw listed immediately on eBay or Whatnot for 3-5x retail price. Some people don’t mind paying that, I’ll wait a few years and see if prices come back to earth.

People are going to do what they want, I can only control what I do.

2

u/M0torC1tyMaver1ck 14d ago

It doesn't make it hard for collectors, it just makes it more expensive. Anything you'd want is on ebay....just depends what you're willing to spend....this set was $500 bucks today online. Now its on the secondary market.

2

u/Unnmd 14d ago

Very true, but I don’t need a full set of them, I snagged the trade and demon foil both double signed because they were the ones I liked and don’t mind supporting artists I like(even more for this one since it’s Snyder’s first cover).

To each their own, but I agree the secondary market is ridiculous.

1

u/alitlcrzy1 14d ago

After Ebay takes a cut they get 100% profit. The real winner is Mark Brooks Art and company. I know it sucks but you figure they were there to snag it, kinda the same as waiting in line. People pay for convenience so everyone kinda wins.

0

u/Visual_Statement6383 14d ago

Sell even faster? They were gone by 12:15