Another two months since the last Complete Collections posts! This time things were a bit more complicated and took much longer because of two things. One was that a small part of the basement flooded on the morning that I was going to start doing this. So, that took 3 days way from my schedule. And the second thing is that I ran out of the small boxes I use for this. And since the comic distribution company that used them essentially went under, the boxes weren’t being made anymore. So I had to use the ones that I had as efficiently as possible. And it did work out very well for most of the sorting. I still have half a short-box of comics I have to put in boxes and I have found a place to order them from, so I’m waiting their delivery to finish up completely. But I finished taking photos yesterday.
From 66 boxes to 71! Not much during the initial sorting because I ended up not needing a lot since many of the incomplete boxes got a lot of comics moved to the complete boxes. This was me sorting 24 weeks of variants from last year!
This is Jen Bartel’s next set of She-Hulk’s next run following that previous one. This run was far too short! I was sad that in got cancelled. But these covers are so fun and different than Jen’s previous She-Hulk cover set.
Peach Momoko has such an innovative artistic mind. she has a couple distinct styles from herself and then she dropped this which was another different style!
Now, I think these are a set of three. I tried searching to see if there were more covers of this design of hers, but I found nothing. If there are any more from 2024, someone let me know!
Leirix did such a good job on these fun covers!
I think these are the only J. Scott Campbell covers that I’ve bought from the store. I got a pack of some others at some point but haven’t taken photos. But I really like these.
This set looks so good together! There are virgin variants of these designs, but I like the X-Men logos in the background.
That’s it for now! I’ve not planned when to do the next bunch of these. But, doing this I think 2-3 more times and I should be caught up with all variants and should be able to keep up to date with variant photos. But we’ll see.
I will be starting with the connecting covers sets again.
So, unlike last time, the connecting covers weren’t as bad with the connecting aspect of the covers. Having said that, none except one set actually connected without needing to overlap, line up misaligned covers or having a space of missing art.
These are the Nakayama trio from his cover run of the current Poison Ivy run.
I had to overlap with these covers. They almost made it! But they look so good together! I love his sense of legacy with the Ivy’s from different eras.
This is a very dynamic connecting cover with Apocalypse and Annihilation at war with each other with the others in the background.
This also overlapped, though, again it works well.
Such a cool cover set. Warring sides and Clark at the center.
This was a misaligned set. I lined up the image focused on the Superman hair curl because if I didn’t, it just looked weird with the curl cut up.
Here’s another Nakayama set during the Fall of X. I love these designs and the shot itself.
And unfortunately, it’s misaligned and a bit disproportioned with one of the covers. I lined it up as best as I could. Though the art is so good, I really don’t notice the flaw.
This is a nice set by W. Scott Forbes. I love the bright colors and the scene itself.
I think this was the only set that actually connected properly. So, woot!
There were a lot of wars going on last year. This is another dynamic set.
This was another overlap, but at least it works when it’s overlapped and lines up.
This cover should be familiar because it’s been here before. Taurin Clarke is just so good!
This had an overlap and perhaps something missing? But they also did this design as a wraparound cover. So I’m fine with this having a flaw.
This is just a fun design even with the tone of the end of the Krakoan age happening.
These also overlapped.
These designs were variants for each of these titles’ 50th issues. I like the characters from each title in the background of each cover.
This set was misaligned, but it still looks good.
I’ve been waiting to have this set together. Björn Barends did such a great job with these!
I know you can’t zoom in on this, but they line up perfectly, but, it’s all overlap. That’s the problem with the covers that go for card material of the covers because the cover doesn’t fully wrap around the issue itself. So they just all overlap.
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.
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!
Cover by Riley RossmoCover by Jorge CoronaCover by David Talaski
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.
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!
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.
Art by Ben OliverArt by Jeff SpokesArt by Ben Oliver Jay Anacleto
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.
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!
The Phandom Bender 