The comics community has so many subcultures. As the owner of Secret Society Comics and a collector, I’ve always been fascinated by the lingo we use. I also know that for people just getting into comics, it can be really confusing.
So that’s what this blog is for. It’s the first article in a series designed to educate the community about collecting, and other parts of the comics world.
We’ll discuss these Trade Dress, Store Exclusives, and Virgin Variants, and how they relate to comic book collecting.
What is a Trade Dress?
Trade Dress is a form of intellectual property.
I like to think of it as a brand logo, like the iconic Coca Cola design. Comic book titles each have developed a specific style that showcases the book. In that way, the graphic design of the Trade Dress conveys the tone, imagery, and general feel of the series.
Often you will even see original cover art with no Trade Dress, like the sketch by John Buscema.
The cover would then be drawn and inked and the logo would be cut out and pasted on to the artwork — that way they could keep the consistent looking title or Trade Dress. This Conan the Barbarian #171 is an example.
What is a Store Exclusive?
Comic book shops all order the same books from the publisher of their choice via Diamond comics. We often have the option to order a Cover A or a Cover B. Cover A is the regular cover that all comic book shops have access to. It often features the Trade Dress artwork that is attached to that comic book.
Some shops work out deals with a publisher, who will create an exclusive cover for the store. Often, the store gets to choose the artist for that particular cover. These are known as Store Exclusives or Exclusive Variant Covers.
Store Exclusive Variants are often only available from the store that has created the Exclusive. There are quite a few online comic stores that may band together to create an Exclusive variant, which explains why you sometimes see the same cover featured by different online retailers. Typically, however, Store Exclusive Variants are not sold through Diamond and are not available for every shop to order.
These Store Exclusive covers have lower print runs. Most stores will have different versions of the cover that may include the Trade Dress on the variant. This version is often the larger print run in the group.
What is a Virgin Variant?
Store Exclusive Variants are often accompanied by a Virgin Variant, which is the same cover without the trade dress.
Here is an example of a Store Exclusive Variant cover with two versions. One displays trade dress, while the other was printed without the trade dress. This second type is known as a virgin variant.
For example, these Web of Venom: Funeral Pyre variants above are advertised to have a print run of 1,000 copies featuring the Trade Dress (left), versus 600 copies for the Virgin Variant (right).
Summary
- A variant describes any comic book cover that isn’t the main Cover A or Cover B.
- Store Exclusives are unique covers made for a specific comic retailer.
- If these store exclusives have the trade dress, then they’re called Trade Dress Variants.
- If the comic shop sells the same store exclusive cover, without the trade dress logo, then it’s called a Virgin Variant.
Store Exclusives always have smaller print runs than the Cover A of the title, and are divided into different levels of rarity.
For example, Store Exclusives will be available in different versions featuring the same cover art — such as a black and white cover, or Sketch Cover, or even a negative cover all with different rarity attached to it. The rarity completely depends on how many copies of that version were printed.
The Venom books above have print runs of 3,500, 1,500, and 500 respectively.
Stay tuned for our next educational article: “What is an Incentive Cover/Allocated Variant?”
Disclaimer
- Though about the comics industry as a whole, this information is from one person’s point of view.
- In other words, this isn’t hard fact. This is the opinion of one collector.
- So, basically, this post doesn’t directly express the viewpoint of Secret Society…
- It’s intended to help create an informed comic book community.
If you feel that information stated does not accurately describe the subject, please contact reece@secretsocietycomics.com with your thoughts using the form below.
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