Mel V's Variants of the Year Poll

What Up CHU Mel V here with 1st Annual Variants Of The Year Award. It’s my pleasure to bring you guys The Variants of the Week each and every week. We had some winners and we had some losers in the year of 2017 . The following sixteen selections are among the best of the best. Let’s get it started… 

Please take a moment to look over the contenders and vote in the poll at the end.


 
 

1)  Animosity #5 Hip Hopf Comics Variant By Mike Rooth – When you need an absolute hit, call Mike Rooth. I had the honor of getting a preview for Animosity #5 from Jimmy Linguini, owner of Hip Hopf Comics, and like most of Mike Rooths work it was love at first sight. A fantastic depiction of animal savagery

 
 
 
 

 
 
2) Dark Knights Metal #2 Bullet Proof Variant by Dell’Otto – The highly debatable first appearance of The Batman Who Laughs. One thing that can’t be debated is how great this cover is by the legenday Gabriel Dell’Otto. Shout out to Hank and the crew at Bulletproof Comics.
 
 
 
 

 

3) Dark Nights Metal #3 Frankie’s Comics Variant by Francisco Mattina – There are good covers. There are great covers. Then you have LEGENDARY covers. This is a LEGENDARY. Sold out within seconds of release. Shout out to Frankie’s Comics, The Comic Mint, Sad Lemon Comics, and 7ate9 Comics.  Certified classic cover, this one has my vote


 
 
 
 
 

4) Deadpool #25 Mark Brooks Variant – I remember the week this 1:50 came out. The scramble and hunt was real. Mark Brooks delivers a fantastic take on Deadpool and his silly ways


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

5) Gamora #2 Francesco Mattina Variant – Legendary status as well. Best depiction of Gamora I have ever seen. Still a tough book to come by in a 9.8

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

6) Guardians of the Galaxy  #19 1:50 Mike Deodato Variant – Very Tough book to find. I’m am really like this cover, very underrated in my opinion

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

7) Gwar #1 Foil Hip Hopf Variant by Mike Rooth – Hip Hopf and Mike Rooth team up to make the list,  yet again, with an over the top parody of Gwar and President Trump. I’m surprised this cover didn’t ruffle more feathers. The Gold Foil was a genius touch and added flair.

 
 
 

 
 
 

8) WWE #3 Ric Flair Variant by Felipe Massafera – I think Felipe Massafera is a name we are going to hear of a lot more in 2018. Salute and welcome to Variants of The Year I’m sure we will see your work next year

 
 
 
 

 
 

9) Silver Surfer #9 Simone Bianchi Variant– The underdog on the list. I really liked this cover on the day of release as well as a lot of others. This may not get a lot of votes, but it should not be over looked

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

10)   Spawn #280 Scott’s Comics Variant by Francisco Mattina – I’m expecting this to have a ton of votes. Shout out to the fellas over at Scott’s comics. I also remember this being sold out quick. Great art for a book with a great fan base is one way to ensure a sell out


 
 
 
 
 
 
 

11) The Mighty Captain Marvel #1 Alex Ross Variant – Alex Ross is such a fantastic artist and this cover really shows that he as a certain gift for detail, mixed with beautiful background and use of colors. Amazing work on this up and coming character.

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
12) VENOM #6 ComicXposure Variant by Francesco Mattina – The guys at ComicXposure NAILED it with this one. They broke the internet when the image dropped, and everyone and I mean everyone, was scrambling to get a set of these. This should get quite a few votes for Cover of the Year
 
 

 
 

13) Venomverse #1 NYCC Variant by Francisco Mattina  – Mattina again. What else can be said about this man’s talent and knack for drawing great covers. The lines at NYCC to get this cover were insane. I didn’t even get a copy,  as bad as I wanted one.

 
 
 
 
 

 

14) Z Nation #1-6 Parrillo Virgin Variants – Parrillo’s name rung bells in 2017. These covers are simply amazing. They really can be compared to works of art. If you put them next to the real works of art it’s hard to tell who’s the legend and who’s the up-and-coming comic legend (sans zombies of course). These variants were hell to track down due to the high ratio and low ordering from stores on this title

 
 
 

 

15)Amazing Spider-Man #789 Shattered Comics ASM #129 Homage Variant by Matt DiMasi – Big shout-out to the guys at Shattered Comics for bringing a new and fresh idea in a world of rehashed and redone ideas. The freshness of the cover is why this one makes the list for me.

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

16) Iron Fist #1 Frankie’s Comics Variant by Dell’Otto  – Dell’Otto will not be out done. Masterful rendition of The Immortal Iron Fist.

 
 
 
 
 
 
These are the choices, now, take the poll. Results will be posted in the CHU year end wrap up.
[polldaddy poll=9906278]

Well there you have it folks. I’m sure some of you guys will have your own variant pick of the year, so feel free to leave them in the comments below and vote other. Spread this around and let’s get votes in here ..Thank you all for reading  and see ya in 2018

45 thoughts on “Mel V's Variants of the Year Poll”

  2. Love your work Mel….but I hope you re-work your listing criteria or simply differentiate the variant category for next year. I personally think there is a dramatic difference between 3rd party store exclusives and regular priced variants. Most of of what you have listed in this forum are store exclusives and I really don’t think that is a fair comparison. I don’t think anyone needs a math review behind the books and their respective print runs, but I am quite shocked not to see the Supergirl 12 variant, Weapon X 7 regular cover, Suicide Squad 16 Bermejo variant, harley Quinn 30 Cho variant……and many, many other such picks. This is not to criticize your taste, but simply to illustrate a crazy difference between store exclusive / whatever limited prints and regularly priced prints. I think it might serve you better to differentiate the two since the artists contracted for these variants are even paid differently and are under different contracts or other associated, but undisclosed handicaps.

    1. Alot of the better variants were store exclusives, and these artists have begun to pour into ongoing titles- mattina, artgerm, cho, del otto, etc- as ratio/b covers their work is excellent and the big 2 are snatching them up as such. (My flow isnt as neat today, after a harrowing game of monopoly my grammar is subpar)

      1. Maybe even try to pick the best from each artist so it narrows down the field so only each artist can be selected once.

  3. I liked the Tyler kirkham Super Sons variant. It was really well done conceptually as well as artistically.

  4. Too many covers to choose from. I am partial to the Venomverse #1 Scorpion Comics Skyline Variant.

  9. I’ve got a set of those Z Nation variants, but the one I really wish I had is that Ric Flair.

  10. These are some great covers but like you said, That DNM#3 is LEGENDARY! That cover makes some of the other good covers look like shit… That’s probably one of the best covers I’ve seen in the past 5 years.

  11. As great as all these variants are, That Mattina Metals #3 virgin is simply a cut above! It’s sick how realistic it looks!

    1. Now I’d like to see this same type of poll for best flip of the year!! That’s why we are here

      4. I have one good idea per year. So I barely made it this year. Ha. By the way, my wife got me a she-ra funko pop for Xmas ( I’m a huge MOTU fan). It’s worth over $200. Wtf. There’s like a whole other funko pop world out there. So now I need y’all on y’alls “A” game for 2018 so I can buy more funko pops. My kids love them.

      5. Maybe we should do a forum type like the weekly Wednesday forums for people to post their best flips of the year. But it’s gonna be one book and one sell. And we judge by best percentage. Like, if someone found a book for a $1 and sold it for $100, that beats the person who spent $100 and sold it for $200… if you catch my drift.

      6. same book is best flip and best cover Metal #3 $40 buy in currently around $600 a couple months after release.other books with a great flip Teen Titans #12 and the Weapon X book. $2 buy in preordered now $35ish

  14. Oh and for the record, I had to vote for the ASM Shattered Variant. I love Mattina, I love Otto.. I love most of these covers but I had to vote for the one that took the most dedication, time, effort and uniqueness. I’m sure most of these artists pumped out their amazing variants in a a few hours or days time, maybe a few days but it took how long to make that shattered variant? In the interview Tony did with the creator, he estimated this one took around 150 hours to make. For those not good with math, that means to create this piece from start to finish took roughly what.. 6.25 days to create..

    1. I agree. I had to vote for the ASM Shattered variant just because of the amount of work he put into this cover.

  15. metal #3 will do the same that the first Mary Jane Venom cover is doing in the next few years its already around $600 in 9.8. most important thing is its a swipe of the cancelled Batgirl cover.

  18. Went with ASM Shattered variant. Homage to a legendary book is hard to beat. Lots of nice stuff all around and that made it tough to pick.

  19. #3 Dark Nights Metal #3 Frankies Comics Mattina. Hard choice but man that is an awesome cover.

  20. My vote is for the Dark Metal #3 Mattina Cover. Glad to see I got 11 of your pics on my pc. Great job as always Mel

  22. Granted, I may have already thrown my ‘two cents’ at polldaddy, but i’m missing the mattina b/w virgin variant for metal #1. I feel i could draw a line down the middle of the cover, it’s like Indestructible object meets Immovable object, Held stationary in time. Beautiful cover.
    Or, ya know, I might be completely wrong.

  23. I think there is a late arrival that needs a lot of consideration. The Thanos 13 1:25 Albuquerque variant is awesome. Plus that it looks like the Cosmic ghost rider is here to stay and be developed. I think Donny Cates will do a great job making he or she a very popular character.

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