Thank you for your patience

[Angilasman]

It's kind of crazy that there is this resistance to black and white comics in the American scene when manga, which is more widely read in America than American comics, is almost always in black and white!

I guess it speaks to the weird divide between the two. They're all just comics to me!

[Otter]

I love that there is still such strong demand for B&W.

How much clout do you think our handful of posts would have if Stan presented them to IDW to suggest collecting their issues in the Saga black and white format?

[jabba359]

Kevin Eastman shared his variant cover.

[Gaffey]

Has Stan mentioned anything about the rarity of the variants? 1 in 10 / 1 in 25 / 1 in 100

[jabba359]

Has Stan mentioned anything about the rarity of the variants? 1 in 10 / 1 in 25 / 1 in 100

Since there are three alternative covers (Eastman, Simonson, and Johnson), if it follows the regular IDW pattern, then we'll have a regular cover A (Stan's), a regular cover B, a 1:10 retailer incentive cover RI, and maybe an exclusive. As to who is the regular cover B, who is the RI, and who is the exclusive (if any are indeed "exclusives"), we may know by the end of the week, as IDW generally releases their solicitations around the 20th +/- a few days.

[Loafing Ronin]

I'm loving that Eastman cover.

[Stan Sakai]

Has Stan mentioned anything about the rarity of the variants? 1 in 10 / 1 in 25 / 1 in 100

Since there are three alternative covers (Eastman, Simonson, and Johnson), if it follows the regular IDW pattern, then we'll have a regular cover A (Stan's), a regular cover B, a 1:10 retailer incentive cover RI, and maybe an exclusive. As to who is the regular cover B, who is the RI, and who is the exclusive (if any are indeed "exclusives"), we may know by the end of the week, as IDW generally releases their solicitations around the 20th +/- a few days.

I do not know what the ratio of the variants will be.

A few comic book stores contacted IDW to request store variants. These will help defray costs of the overall printing. I don't know who they have in mind to draw their variants, though. Daniel is thinking of doing some blank covers for ourselves. I've never liked drawing on blanks because of the quality of the papers used. However, if I can select a good stock myself we may do some.

Of course, we will try to get these into the hands of Dojo members who want them, at a reasonable price.

[Maka]

A few comic book stores contacted IDW to request store variants. These will help defray costs of the overall printing. I don't know who they have in mind to draw their variants, though. Daniel is thinking of doing some blank covers for ourselves. I've never liked drawing on blanks because of the quality of the papers used. However, if I can select a good stock myself we may do some.

Of course, we will try to get these into the hands of Dojo members who want them, at a reasonable price.

Thank you, Stan. If you end up selling some blank cover sketches on stansakai.com, if it is in my budget, I will order one. I've asked my LCBS to get me one of each varient cover. I will have to wait and see if they can do that or not. Thank you for trying to get the varients to the Dojo members, at a reasonable price too! Peace, maka

[Otter]

This may be an unpopular opinion... but I just want the cover that Stan does. My LCS has a strict policy about not guaranteeing which cover a customer will get in their pull and hold service. I'm hoping they won't mind a request for "no variant covers please".

I just can't imagine owning a variant over a Sakai cover (though I do understand people owning multiple copies of the book with different covers... but I couldn't commit to that myself) . I can't even imagine an artist whose work might tempt me. Not that there aren't other artists whose work I love, I just can't imagine wanting Usagi done by anybody else.

[jabba359]

I just can't imagine owning a variant over a Sakai cover (though I do understand people owning multiple copies of the book with different covers... but I couldn't commit to that myself) . I can't even imagine an artist whose work might tempt me. Not that there aren't other artists whose work I love, I just can't imagine wanting Usagi done by anybody else.

Like you, I prefer the Sakai cover first and foremost, but I would also like to get all the variants as well. It's not something I'd want to do on a consistent basis, so fortunately it doesn't sound like this will be a frequent thing and I won't have to worry about getting multiples of every single issue (I probably wouldn't do all the variants if it was a monthly thing).

I also like getting commissions of Usagi from various artists, as I enjoy seeing what their artistic interpretations are of the character, so variant covers are sort of an extension of that in my mind. I also enjoy seeing Stan's interpretations of other properties when he does covers and pinups for other books.

[Mayhem]

This may be an unpopular opinion... but I just want the cover that Stan does. My LCS has a strict policy about not guaranteeing which cover a customer will get in their pull and hold service. I'm hoping they won't mind a request for "no variant covers please".

No danger there, as unless your LCS orders at least ten copies, they won't get anything but Stan's cover for issue #1.

[Angilasman]

I might make an effort to snag the reg cover and a variant cover. I don't make a habit of such a thing and am cold on the concept in general, but it's a bit of a special occasion with the new #1 and new publisher.