im not sure if anyone else heard this, or if anyone besides myself cares at any rate (any collectors as rabid as me on this board?) but there are "secret variants" being put out in this event. variants of comics not even nessesarily tied into the event itself. what makes them a secret is that the retailers arent told what, when, or where theyll show up, and theyre even mixed in with the regular comics in their order. needless to say i know a few retailers in town pretty angry about this, some even boycotting certain marvel titles. which puts me in a bad position, since im the type of rabid collecter that needs it all. so just in case there are other collecters like me on this board, ill be posting my findings on here and i encourage anyone else to post their findings if its something i missed.

ok heres the first one. young xmen #1. this is what made me think it was a joke at first, but i guess im a beleiver now. heres the regular, skrull version, and a close up of the difference.



next is amazing spidergirl #19.



and new exiles #4



ive only been able to discover these through searching many pages of ebay. so if anyone knows of any more, feel free to let me know.

I did not know about this. And, as far as sales and marketing strategies go, this one's pretty neat. Not quite as WTF as the MySpace girl whose brother turns out to be a Skrull (Yes, you read that correctly: You can't even trust people on MySpace these days!), but one has to admit there is a lot of fun in trying to collect these variants.

i found the young xmen and spidergirl variants! woo.

*update*
got new exiles as well. woo.

I won't be looking for myself, but if you have trouble locating one, let me know. I've got 3 comic stores in the area, so I'll do my best to hook you up.

thanks

im not sure if this is going to get easier or harder though. after this run of secret variants, more people are going to catch on. so customers will be looking for them. and so will the retailers im sure. i know a few stores that would slap a $10-$20 price tag on these if they knew they were there. we'll see.

according to Graham Crackers, this week's Ghost Rider will have a skrull variant.

thanks drew. i checked that after you posted. ill keep watch on that site to see if they keep giving hints. but at the same time ill always be scouring ebay.

heres the ghost rider #22 and variant.



ive got mine already. two actually. but i weird like that.

I like the variant version better, but my store either pulled them before I got there or didn't order enough to get one (which is possible, there were on 5 left on the shelf when I arrived)

was that the only one for this week?

Graham Crackers doesn't have any listed for next week.

i scoured four different stores on wednesday (thats new comic day here. im not sure if thats universal) and only found the one ghost rider. my comic store (where i have my file) had one for me as well. but i checked everything else, and i checked ebay. ebay had a bunch of green ghost riders but i didnt see anything else new. so im going to assume thats it for this week. as for next week i dont know. all ive had to go on is your tip from graham crackers. aside from ebay.

if you want to check ebay ive just been searching "secret invasion" and "secret variant". i think now people have been catching on. now they know they exist, and theyre looking for them. so i think they will be popping up on ebay as theyre released.

LAWL.

i did a google search for "secret invasion variant" to see if i might find anyone knowing of future secret variants, and found this.

http://www.icv2.com/articles/home/12329.html

thats my comic store guy. well, not mine, hes the co-owner of mine. he runs the main and original store, and my file as one of the other two. needless to say his staff (which i know pretty well because i spend alot of time and money there lol) arent backing him on this. mainly because they have intimate knowledge of jay himself and the fact that he just plain out hates marvel. if it was dc pulling the same thing, he'd think it was genious. but they cant do much though than suffer silently since he owns the place.

imo, he's over reacting to "what if theres a 1:75 when i only ordered 50? and i dont even want 50 to begin with!" because i know that even titles that sell well, with high incentives, they sometimes dont order enough to get those incentives. so thinking marvel will make a 1:100 for a really low title is pretty absurd. and even if they did to try and boost sales on those low titles, no retailer would bite even if it wasnt "secret". so i dont think marvel is trying to purposely screw retailers. and so far, all the "secret" ones have been 1:10 anyways. theres not much reason to think that theyd go any higher than 1:10 at this point.

anyways, at the end of the article he posts titles he knows will have the "secret incentives" griping he doesnt know of the ratio. which are:
NEW EXILES #4 (FEB082274, $2.99, On-Sale - 4/2/2008)
YOUNG X-MEN #1 (FEB082264, $2.99, On-Sale - 4/2/2008)
AMAZING SPIDER-GIRL #19 (FEB082211, $2.99, On-Sale - 4/9/2008)
GHOST RIDER #22 (FEB082225, $2.99,On-Sale - 4/16/2008)
UNCANNY X-MEN #497 (FEB082261, $2.99, FOC - 4/3/2008)
BLACK PANTHER 36 (FEB082217, $2.99, FOC - 4/10/2008)
CABLE #3 (MAR082229, $2.99, FOC - 4/17/2008)

im trying to stay on top of things, but with this guy "helping" me it wont be easy.

It's kinda weird that Cable is listed for a Thursday...

I'll ask my LCS owner what he thinks of them this week to see if he feels the same way...

new one for today.

no skrull variants for this week.

so I finally got around to doing this.

He just shrugged and said he had no personal interest. He knew about them ahead of time and that they were all 1 in 10, but didn't change his orders. If he got them he sold them, if he didn't he didn't. He also said he doesn't really understand the interest in walking in to drop $300 on books that the person won't read.

(he's not selling the SI covers for $300, but some customers will spend $300 on incentive covers each month)

its a completist thing. maybe even a little obsessive complulsive. hey ill be the first to admit im probably a bit of both. but its no different than dropping 300 on a botcon set. i mean their not new figures. for me, i like looking at my collection and being able to say "i have everything." but im sure that will come to an end some day. being single i can waste my money on whatever i want. and though i wouldnt nessesarily call toys and comics an investment (lets be honest, if your looking to make money theres way better things to do with your money) they at least have resell value. though i hope i never have to.

but back to my comic guy, he's just a dc fanboy. thats all that his angst really comes down to.

I picked up Secret Invasion 1, and they were all skrulls on the cover, is this normal? please forgive my ignroance Ive only gotten back into comics recently

Yes, it is.

i was having some difficulties logging in the past week... so my secret cover update is slightly late... but here they are.

for two weeks previous (7th) theres the following:

ironman: viva las vegas #1


punisher war journal #19


cable #3


and for last weeks (14th) theres the following:

xmen #211

hey ultra prime, these are the covers for #1.

1st print, 2nd print, 3rd print(not released yet, probably 21st)


incentives- 1:25, 1:50, 1:75


and the other oddball ones.
blank variant, midtown comics convention exclusive, dynamic forces

this weeks new ones:

avengers initiative #13


wolverine origins #25


black panther #36


so far, i havent missed any of these variants... aside from this effin black panther one. i was really hoping to not bring ebay into this, but what else can i do. grr.

from the looks of it, none this week. my comic store emails me my invoice's each week and theres no skrull variants listed. though secret invasion #3 is out this week!

ok i havent been slacking. there just seriously hasnt been any skrull variants since the last batch posted above.