Completed Variant Sets 10 — April 25, 2025

So, I realized when I was taking the photos for the second set, that I had already taken photos for the first set a couple years ago, but it was before I started this blog and I guess when I was checking my backlog of photos for this blog, I forgot this first set. So in Completed Variant Sets 1, this should have been the first set posted. It’s the amazing InHyuk Lee covers for AAPI Heritage Month from 2021. Now, it’s possible I have posted some of this set and completely forgot, but I’m going to assume I haven’t.

These are just so gorgeous!! The details are wonderful, the characters are all great. The coloring and line-work are on-point.

And this is the set from 2023. Aaaand for some reason I forgot to take a photo of the third issue individually. So I have to go get it out of its bag and board and take the photo. Ridiculous.

And of course I love these too for all the same reasons. I had been hoping we’d get another set this May, but seemingly not.

Okay, NOW I’m done with these variant posts! That took a couple hours to do haha. Tomorrow I’ll post my normal new comics posts.

Completed Variant Sets 9 — April 25, 2025

Of course I love the Titans, and I love legacy. So these Nicola Scott covers are fantastic!

I love seeing their history literally behind them pushing them forward.

I was so excited to get these Todd McFarlane Action Figure variants! Such a creative way to do variants! I’m not sure if there have been action figure variants that are actual action figures or just design variants for action figures like John Tyler Christopher likes to do.

These are so great! I think there is another recent set, which will be on here at a later date.

Here’s another sequential art set! These are of course by InHyuk Lee.

I wanted the photo to follow the narrative.

It’s always tough to get a good photo of a foil cover. In my normal posts I do decently, but I really like how these came out!

These look amazing next to each other too!! I need someone to help me figure out the best way to display foil covers. All three of these artists did a great job with these covers.

Here we are, at the 37 cover set! Of course it’s an Alex Ross set. In 2020, he did a Timeless set focusing on (35 or 36) heroes (based off of a big mural of the characters all together). This set is based on another mural focusing on the villains. And he has another set coming out this year with 16 heroes. I love these so much. Not only because of Ross’ art, but because of the white space and the colors.

And here they all are together and it’s wonderful!

I was going to end with this set and have the set I’m going to have in the next post be before this set, but I forgot about something to do with that set that I want to have separate. So, the next post will be the last for these complete sets.

Completed Variant Sets 8 — April 25, 2025

So the main covers for this Peacemaker miniseries are basically the same as these, but these are styled like movie posters and I love covers that are as such! These are all by Chris Anka.

They look great together! I’m leaning towards framing them side-by-side instead of getting them slabbed so it’s like a set of movie posters next to each other. I actually haven’t looked up if anything of these are based on actual movie posters or not. I mean issue 5 looks like it’s based off of the Kindergarten Cop movie poster. And I’m sure at least one of these is based on Die Hard considering the title. Oh and the last one is certainly paying homage to Star Wars.

Speaking of movie poster covers, these Silk covers are fun! She’s trapped in dreams during this arc, those are the dreams.

All of these covers are by David Johnson. And again, not sure about framed or in a profolio or something else for display.

These absolute works of art are all by Francesco Mattina. He’s one of my first artists of whom I collected covers from when I started collecting comics.

These look amazing next to each other! I think framing for this set.

Alright. So, 20 issues in this set. Dustin Nguyen did an AMAZING job with all of these. The details and tone are fantastic.

They look wonderful together! these also I don’t know if I want to frame them or slab them. The problem with framing them all like this would be that they are all different thicknesses, so I don’t know how easy or difficult it would be to make happen.

The next post will be the last one of these for now. and also have a larger set than these 20!

Completed Variant Sets 7 — April 25, 2025

This post should be less traumatic! Haha.

Having said that, I did forget to take a photo of these next to each other, but that’s fine. The cover art in this set is all based off of album covers I think. Though, I don’t know which ones, so if anyone would like to chip-in, I’ll add those details whenever I learn them. The first issue is a wraparound cover too, but I think I had posted that back when I got it. So, the first four issues of this miniseries had that X-Men 1 homage connecting cover set that I posted long ago. These were the set covers for the last 4 issues of the miniseries. This was just a fun set of variants.

The next set is an Artgerm set featuring Batman and some other character from Gotham.

As always, I love Artgerm’s art!

This next set of three is by David Marquez protesting the three Batgirls.

Such a great use of light and shadow! and also wonderful bright colors. I hadn’t noticed this before, but I like how the pink/purple background in the first cover leads into the inner cape of Stephanie and her yellow background leads to Babs’ yellow inner cape.

Jen Bartel continues to be amazing. I LOVE these streetwear/party attire that she dressed the Titans up in for these covers. I still don’t know if I want them framed or slabbed!

Look how stunning they look together!…Is she ever makes more of these but for some of the villains, like Rose Wilson (specifically, haha), I’d love that!

Continuing with Jen Bartel, her She-Hulk cover run is so gorgeous! I love the colors, aesthetic and just everything about all of these.

Such a great set of 15! And after this run ended, Jen continued as the main cover artist for the next run.

This final set for this post is a corner box themed set by Mark Brooks.

I always enjoy Brooks’ art. It’s so detailed and has so much character. I love getting corner box art all blown up for a cover.

The next post will have one set that overpowers the other sets, haha.

Completed Variant Sets 6 – April 25, 2025

This will be a post of only connecting covers. I’m glad I did the photos of these first, because this was extremely frustrating to do. Why, you ask?

Because I forgot how many problems there are with connecting covers. I guess it’s just been so long since I last sorted these that I didn’t remember what to expect, and also, it was vastly more comics I was taking photos of than previously. There are, as far as I know, 6 problems with connecting covers, and I don’t really understand how it’s possible to get connecting covers wrong when DC and Marvel comic books have existed for over 90 years, you’d think they’d have figured it out by now.

Now, since I’ll be posting the collection images as images and not in a gallery form, as I always do, it may be difficult to see some of the 6 problems, and for some it’ll be very obvious. I will save the worse for second or third from last so I don’t end on a very frustrating paragraph of text.

I also feel so badly for all the amazing artists whose art have been done wrong by the printing process. And I hate that other than I think 2-3 sets of allll these connecting cover sets, none of them can really be displayed together since they aren’t all connecting the images correctly. I had been planning on framing all these connecting cover sets so they could be beheld in their full image, but I won’t be able to.

The first set was a bit odd because it took me a while to figure out if this was, in-fact, a connecting set at all. The only things that actually connect are a couple of small items between the second and third issues and then generally the literal background of outer space. I, of course, still enjoy Todd Nauck’s art in the set, I just was left confused. But on the plus side, everything that did connect, actually connected between the covers!

The next set is during the same time, and is a Suns of Sinister set. This was by Salvador Larroca. I enjoy the art and the characters and the design (I will probably repeat myself on this for all of these sets) in general. One of the 6 problems appears here in the form of thin gaps between the covers where art is missing. And therefore, the covers don’t actually connect because of a couple centimeters of space. I tried my best (with this set and with other sets which had the same problem) to make the image work as best as it could with where it should be lined up.

I do love the poses and such of these covers a lot.

Next had the same problem, the gap between the cover art. This one, even though it’s a collage, it still noticeable because of Galactus missing have of his face and body (among other characters bodies below him sharing the same fate).

This design was in celebration of every character who’s been in an FF comic, I assume. I love seeing so many characters on these covers! So many I know and so many I don’t know.

This next set showed a different problem, and one that I’m not sure if it’s a product of the times or it’s just continued bad luck with how they print these covers. The problem being that the image itself is made up of layers, and most artists drawn digitally now, and the way things don’t line up here make me think that each layer of the whole image lines up with itself on each cover but not all the layers lining up with each other. But again, how does something like that happen when the original image is all drawn as one?? It’s frustrating. And again, I tried my best to line of the most prominent layers so the image works as best as it can.

The art is by Humberto Ramos. I loved seeing his work on these covers since he did the original run of this title when it was a full title and not just a tie-in for an event or crossover. His art is so fun and dynamic.

The next set simply wasn’t lined up properly, so the only way to make the image work was to have the issues unaligned for the photo. This is again, something that works for a photo, but not for a display.

This art is by the amazing Taurin Clarke of course! The red looks great and the shiny look of his art are amazing. It just sucks that the images aren’t aligned. This was during the Carnage Reigns event, as is the next set. which is also by the same artist.

Another great art piece that for messed up. but again, I love the details and colors he used so much!

This set had the layers problem and an overlap problem. Now, for a photo, I don’t mind the overlap problem too much since at least it still shows the whole image. But, for display, it will be tricky. if I can find a way to hold the comics in place so that the images work, then perhaps I will be able to display them, we’ll see. I think between the second and third issue, the overlap was larger than others.

The next set is so amazing that it really is disappointing that the art doesn’t match up. It’s the Alex Ross homage connecting cover paying homage to Jim Lee’s X-Men 1 triple gatefold and connecting cover art from the 90’s. The art is of course amazing as ever. Though in this case, the details in the art make it even more obvious that the images don’t line-up.

I mean from afar, that looks amazing!! Up close, the errors were I think some small overlap, and misalignment.

The next one has that same missing line of art similarly to those first sets I posted. and it’s only between two issues, not a bunch of covers.

This one is more noticeable because of the coloring I guess. But there are part of their hands missing and bits of the architecture of the church is missing. This are is by the amazing Lucas Werneck! He always does such a great job whether it’s with multiple characters on a cover or singular characters.

The next one is a Nakayama set for Birds of Prey. This one is just a misaligned set. Though, this also was released as a wraparound cover, so I can just display that.

Love this! they all look great!

The next set is another Nakayama one!

This was a slight misalignment. But I still enjoy the depth and colors on these!

The next set is another Alex Ross one!

It looks so good from afar!! I love his art so much! Before the days where we had comic book characters in movies and shows, Ross’s work was the only way people saw what these characters could look like if they ever existed in the real world.

The problems here were misalignment and overlapping. It’s most noticeable between the first two covers. I lined up the images via Hawkeye’s bow and you can see above that area, there isn’t alignment.

The next set of two has the same problem as the first set but this gap in the art is far more noticeable because Xavier is missing 70% of his face!

This wonderful art is by Mark Brooks. It all looks amazing! If only the centerpiece of the image was present!

Alright. Before I post the best three sets, I am going to post the absolute worst printing of a connecting cover set I’ve ever seen. The other problems seem like simple printing errors or cutting errors or something, but this? This is, I don’t even comprehend how a connecting image can be printed SO badly, and then how it can then be approved for mass production.

But before I get to that, I will also say that this was a 7 part crossover between two titles and for some reason, the last issue wasn’t included in the connecting cover set and it’s the same artist too. It’s just an odd choice. I still included it in the photos because I feel like it deserved to be part of the set.

The line art is by Juan Frigeri. I loved the sequential aspect of this connecting set! I was excited to see it all together, and I’m very sorry to Juan that his art got absolutely butchered.

Between the third and sixth issues there was the missing art gap problem. I think between the first two issues was either an overlap, or it was fine. But between the second and third issues was the huge problem that I can’t comprehend.

At first I had them side-by-side and was like oh, maybe Bobby’s ice bridge is just bending down? But no, because it doesn’t look right like that. And, when I do that, part of that Brood at the bottom doesn’t line up correctly. Once I realized how the line-work lined up, I was flabbergasted. How does a piece of art drawn in a straight line, so-to-speak, get printed in such a way that part of the art is diagonal??

Okay, now that that traumatic viewing is over I will move to the best three sets.

This five-part set is soooo close to being correct! The problem is just misalignment. The art is by Steven Cummings and was made for the Hidden Empire event in Star Wars comics that continued after the Crimson Reign event. It’s such a great set!

A couple of the ships aren’t lined up in the background. Even with the slight misalignment I think I may still get these framed.

This set of two is one of the ones that works almost perfectly too. The only detail that’s odd is the shading, but I think that may just be the art being brighter because of the explosion creating light on the center character. I think this is all lined up. This art is by Harvey and Kevin Tolibao

The last set of these connecting covers is one I was so happy to finish finally! And it looks amazing!! This masterpiece is drawn by Bob Layton.

It just such a great use for a connecting cover art piece! I had forgotten that it connected in this T shape when I was putting them together. I was fearful that something wasn’t aligning, but nope, it was all good. If I can figure out a way to frame these, I probably will do so. so, thank you Bob Layton for drawing this all and thank you Paul Mounts for coloring it!

Alright, that’s the connecting variants post done! Hopefully, the normal completed collection posts don’t take as long to type up as this did!

Big sorting project! (April 15-22, 2025)

So, for the a period of 7 days during the last 10 days, I finally continued to do another variant sorting session. But, unlike last August when I sorted 1 box of 8 weeks-worth of variants, this time I stored 6 boxes of 48 weeks-worth of comics!! So this ended 2023 and dipped into 2024. It was doable since it was spring break and the schools I work at all had the same week off. It was also Star Wars Celebration last weekend in Japan, so I was watching those livestreams at night which gave me daytime to do more.

The only thing I have left to do is just move the little boxes I sort variants into back downstairs.

This is what I started with once I’d finished arranging the first bunch into categories. Once I got done with this, I sorted the easiest sections into their boxes.

Once I’d done that, I had only the Complete Collections left to photograph and then sort, which took the most time. But before then, I saw that I added I think 7 boxes to the number I had before!

Next will be all the completed variant sets from this session. I will divide them into 4 posts I think. And they’ll be in the completed collections section.

April 9, 2025

The next Creature Commandos issue dropped. This issue of Action Comics has G. Willow Wilson as a writer! We got a new miniseries run for Fire & Ice! Adventure Time got a new comic run! We got the next Alien issue. Gwen and Loki’s adventure continues. This Storm issue celebrates 50 years of Ororo!! Hulk visits Clea? Amazing Spider-Man got a new run started. And the next Jedi Knights issue dropped.

David Nakayama had 3 covers this week! This is the first one!

Great Fire & Ice covers!

Nakayama made this amazing design for Adventure Time! Love the gold foil! He didn’t even know they made other color foil covers!

The next Phoenix covers!

Another Capcom cover, the next Marvel Universe connecting cover. And a great Mack cover! I don’t see variants from him often.

Great covers for Storm of course!

The next Giarrusso cover. And look at this other one! So many hands!

The next Giarrusso cover and the next Meinerding cover!

There were a lot of variants for this issue, of course, and these two are the variants that I wanted.

Such a great wraparound cover! And that other variant I got with Peter on the front looks really good. Like the Spidey suit stands out a lot and I liked it most out of the other variants. And of course the blank variant.

The next covers for Jedi Knights!

April 2, 2025

A lot is going on in Poison Ivy evidently. We got a new Absolute title with Absolute Green Lantern. Cassie and her mother are in some trouble. Harvey also isn’t having a good time. Major Force appears in The Atom Project. We got the next Secret Six issue. The next issue of the Bad Batch dropped. We got a Marvel Rivals one-shot. Moon Knight has a visit from a bunch of D-listers? The West Coast Avengers are having some friendly-fire trouble. The identity of All-New Venom was revealed! After his crossover with Deadpool, Miles has an adventure with Thor and Hercules. While Wade and Ellie have to deal with Solem. Thor is still dealing with the other set of gods. We got a 10th Anniversary special to celebrate Moon Girl (I don’t know why Kamala didn’t get one last year)!! We got a Dazzler or music-related special. And Riri (Ironheart) got a one-shot! I thought this was a new miniseries and was disappointed when I realized it was a one-shot. I thought they would do a miniseries in prep for her show airing in a couple months.

Love a Rian Gonzales cover! It’s odd when some are incentive covers and some aren’t and they’re still part of the same run. This Ivy cover is by KyuYong Eom, it’s so fantastic! And I love this InHyuk Lee cover!

More Dreamer covers!

The next foil Absolute logo.

More Ellie covers!

Love this Fan Yang cover! I initially thought it was a Sabine Rich.

This is the next Capcom cover I wanted. And this is the first of a very long connecting wraparound cover set by Chris Giarrusso! There are so many I’ll have to line up! I can’t wait!

The next bunch of Ultimate X-Men covers! Mei looks great in that Gurihiru cover!

MEPHISTO COVERS! That is all.

Devil Girl and Moon Dinosaur!

Great Riri covers! I still want a Marvel Legends figure for this suit.

March 2025 Late Issues 2

Many DWM issues, some variants, and some late issues to read.

Nice DWM cover and it came with a Target book.

Such a great wraparound cover!

I enjoy this Spears incentive cover of Lois holding Lobo. And this Frison cover is great too! I wasn’t sure I wanted this cover because I enjoy the way she draws eyes, but I liked it enough to get it. And I got an edition of the paperback of Kingdom Come since I’d been meaning to get it for a while.

Awesome Con 2025 (April 4-6, 2025)

I liked adding my San Diego Comic Con adventure on here last year, so, even though this isn’t a comic book convention, I decided to add my adventure at this con on here.

I’ve attended this convention almost every year since I first found out about it. It started in 2013 and I found out in 2014. I love going and meeting celebrities and meeting with friends I don’t see often. The art is always wonderful to see. And when I used to go to panels, I enjoyed hearing all the stories being told. I just love being in that world. Of course, as it’s a con, there are stresses and my body hurts afterwards and stuff, but it’s worth it, haha.

Awesomecon Day 1!

The first thing I did today was attempt to search for an Owl House shirt. That search did not go well, haha. There were only like 4 shirt vendors and most of them were anime-themed. I wanted it for my first photo-op. 

Since I had extra time, I went to Tara Sands table to meet her. She’s a voice actor who’s done many anime. For me, I know her from her many voices in the original Pokémon dub (where I chose Bulbasaur as the voice she does), and the first English VA for Sōijrō Seta from Rurouni Kenshin. 

I met her and thanked her for her VO work, and that Bulbasaur was my first Pokémon in the games. She loved hearing that and pointed to one of her prints that promotes that idea. She also gave me a card for a podcast she does. And I mentioned that I loved her VO of Sōjirō Seta from RK. She was so surprised to hear that I knew she was the voice of Sōjirō! She told me that the voice changed later on in the show because she had moved away and couldn’t voice him. She signed my poster (by Geoff Pascual) for Pokémon and she signed my saya of my first Sakabatō that I got for $40 on eBay, my first eBay purchase in 2007. She also took a photo of it since she was so excited to have an RK fan show up. 

Next, I met Mela Lee, another voice actor from many anime. For me, she voices a character from The Owl House. Told her I’m a Kikimora fan and that I had a photo with her later. I also told her that I usually have a shirt from the fandom on when I do a photo-op, but I had forgotten to get a shirt before the con and I couldn’t find an Owl House shirt at the convention. She was very nice and thanked me for stopping by. 

I then had a long gap before my photo-op, so I ate and wandered around for a while. 

Then it was time for me to get in line for my Mela Lee photo-op. She loved seeing the Owl House portal key I brought for the photo. 

And straight after that was my Tara Sands photo-op. She recognized me from earlier and loved that I brought a Bulbasaur. 

6:00 pm – Home. 

It was a great first day in-that I was done so early! Tomorrow will be crazy, but shouldn’t be as crazy as last year’s Saturday. 

AwesomeCon Day 2!! 

I had a LOTR photo-op with Liv Tyler, John Rhys-Davis, Sean Astin and Orlando Bloom! It was very fast but it was exciting! 

I met Sean Maher. I wore my new Firefly shirt to meet him, but I got signed something for actors in the Arrowverse for his two episodes as Shrapnel. He liked the shirt and the poster. I thanked him for his work and he appreciated it. 

I met Simon Pegg! Told him that I loved his various roles over the years, and I’d see him later for a photo-op. I had him sign my Doctor Who item for his single episode (The Long Game) from Series 1.

1:00-4:15, so a bit of a wait to meet Ming-Na Wen again. But she was delightful as always. I told her I met her here in 2018 to get my Marvel poster signed and got her to sign a photo for one of my friends. I told her that I didn’t have a Star Wars item to sign back then and of course, she wasn’t Fennec yet! She loved the Star Wars logo item I brought. 

While in line, early on during that wait, my friend Cheyenne stopped by to say hi to me!

Then I wandered around. I stopped by a pin maker I follow and got Umbreon pin. I mentioned my pinstagram comment from yesterday. 

I ended the day with my Simon Pegg photo-op. It was quick but fun. And also got an “anim8ted” QR code with a prerecorded message for us convention-attendees. 

While I was in line for that, Cheyenne walked nearby to wave goodbye before she left : ) 

Waited to be picked up. 

7:00 – Home.

AwesomeCon Day 3!!! 

Today was the LOTR’s day! First on the list was with Liv Tyler (Arwen). I had her sign two things. The first was my Marvel poster for her role as Betty Ross. I then had her sign my LOTR item, which is a 3D wooden map of Middle Earth, she was the first to sign it! She was lovely and liked both items. 

Next up was my autograph with Sean Austin (Sam) . I told him that I’d seen him at the convention during past years but there was always so many other people I had to see, that I couldn’t fit LOTR people in. I told him how wonderful I thought he was as Sam. And I mentioned his other roles too. He was very kind and appreciative. 

I waved at and got a wave back from Martha Plimpton (I know her from being Stef in The Goonies, Virginia in the sitcom Raising Hope (2010-2014), and Eileen from the sitcom The Real O’Neals (2016-2017)), while in line for Sean ^__^ 

Next was the autograph with John Rhys-Davis (Gimli). I mentioned how much I enjoyed his role as Gimli. He was the next to sign the LOTR map. He really liked the map and appreciated my words. He was very kind. 

While waiting for my final autograph, I met Ross Marquand! I had him sign my Marvel poster for his role as Stonekeeper/Red Skull. And I thanked him for his work as The Immortal in Invincible and Xavier in X-Men ‘97 and Ultron in What If. He loved the poster and he pointed out a bunch of names that he was excited to see and asked what some of them were. He was really fantastic to meet and chat with. He said he was jealous of the poster and wanted one like it, haha. He also had a role in The Walking Dead.

I also said hi to Tara Sands again since, on Friday, I’d forgotten to tell her that Rurouni Kenshin continues to be my favorite anime. She loved hearing that. And I asked if she’s been asked to return for the rebooted version of the anime, and she said she hadn’t. Then we talked about how sometimes they bring people back for VO roles and sometimes they don’t. She also remembered signing my saya, which was nice. 

Next, I said hello to the two Mighty Morphin Power Rangers actors, Karan Ashley (Aisha) and Steve Cardenas (Rocky). I showed Karan the photo of her and Walter Jones (Zack) and the panel of 4 people from VA Comic con in 2019 and she remembered it and we reminisced. And I chatted with Steve and told him that I’d see them yesterday but forgot my item that I’d have gotten him to sign. (Though I may already have him signed but I can’t remember). I said to both of them that I always enjoy seeing various Rangers actor pop up at conventions. It was a nice chat with them both! 

(Update: I realized that I had seen him before but not met him before, and thus, not gotten anything signed by him, gahhh!! Hopefully I can meet him again)

I met Nick Frost very quickly as he was packing away for the day. I just said I was happy to see him here and that I didn’t have the item I wanted to have him sign and hoped that he’d come here again. He said sorry about that and that he hopes to. I asked if they (Simon Pegg and him) had a good weekend here and he said he had a wonderful time. So, hopefully they guest again!

My final autograph was with Orlando Bloom (Legolas)!! I told him how much I loved his roles as Legolas and Will Turner. And how much I appreciated his work. I told him about the LOTR map too and he loved it. 

This year was such a fun experience! Certainly with a lot less line stress than previous years! Which, I guess was because there were fewer guests who I wanted to meet this year. As always, I had positive experiences meeting everyone and can’t wait till next March!! 

From the few photos I took this year: