DC Has Warned Retailers Not to Price Their Exclusive Variants Too High

Retailer-exclusive variants have been around for some time. A store buys the rights to make their own variant for a (potentially) popular comic, pays an artist to create some cool artwork, and then seel a number of copies--often one that has the text/"Trade Dress," and one with just the artwork/a "Virgin," cover. It's a thing that has exploded lately with, "Absolute Batman," however. Some stores release quite limited variants with pretty high prices compared to the, "Cover price," of a comic if it were a standard, "A," cover. Something that's normally $4.99 gets sold with the variant cover for $50-$100, depending on the material (cardstock, foil) and any signatures or such--with remarques/little drawings on the cover causing prices to sometimes get astronomical! Apparently, DC has concerns about being associated with any accusations of, "Price-gouging," on these Absolute Batman titles as they're beginning to warn retailers they should only, "Upcharge," a certain amount higher for any retailer variants (around 5 times for unsigned and 10 times for signed and such). In other words, if the cover price on a carstock variant comic is $4.99, they should only ask $25-ish for the comic. A foil that's priced at $8 shouldn't generally exceed $40, and so forth.

I see this from various angles, as do others. I mean, if you don't want to spend too much on a special variant cover...don't buy it. You can always buy the standard, "A," cover of a comic and completely disregard special store variants, even if they've got snazzy artwork. I also know stores need to pay the artists who make the cool covers a, hopefully, good paycheck. Then again, is manufactured scarcity with ultra-limited and high-priced covers going to be healthy for the comic-book market, or will this be something that contributes to a potential new bubble reminiscent of the 90's? DC's Absolute comics have been fantastic for the comic-book industry in terms of great stories for readers, steady/solid sales for stores, and just getting more folks excited about comic-books in general. It makes sense retailers want to capitalize on this any way they can to not just survive, but hopefully thrive in a field that can be like a rollercoaster in terms of successes and failures. I understand that, but I also don't think milking the fans who are the lifeblood of this industry for every dollar they have is wise. I suppose we will see how retailers react to what DC said and if it stands firm, offers some leeway, or how this all develops.