Variant Covers | Man of Steel #1

This is the first in a series of posts about variant covers used in the comic book industry.  A variant cover is a cover with different cover art from the standard edition of an issue of a comic book.  According to Brian Cronin, senior writer at CBR.com, the first comic book to feature a variant cover was The Man of Steel #1 (1986). 

The standard cover features a rocket launching from the planet Krypton as it explodes on the left side of the cover.  The right side features a full-figure image of Clark Kent opening his shirt to reveal his Superman costume.  The books logo is a 3-dimensional "S" shield, which features the title along the bottom edge in 3-dimensional letters.  Information along the top edge of the cover notes that this is the first issue of a six-part mini-series.  The bottom left corner has a space for a UPC symbol or a mini-ad, depending on whether the comic was sold in a retail store or a local comics shop.  The copy boasts that this is "The Comics Event of the Century."  A small seal below the DC bullet is the Comics Code Authority seal of approval.  The cover of each issue of the mini-series had a similar look, with an action shot on the left and a full figure on the right.  Subsequent issues featured the figures of Lois Lane, Batman, Lex Luthor, a bizarre duplicate of Superman, and Lana Lang.

The variant cover of the "Special Collector's Edition" includes a "zoomed in" image of Clark Kent opening his shirt to reveal his Superman costume.  Rather than the outfit seen in the standard cover, Clark wears the traditional Silver Age Clark Kent outfit--blue suit, white shirt, and reddish tie.  Given the size of the S-shield on Superman's uniform, another shield in the logo would be redundant.  The title of the book serves as the logo, in a different font than used on the standard cover.  There is no need for a UPC box on the Collector's Edition, because it was only sold at local comic shops.  The price of the Collector's Edition is the same as the standard edition, $.75 (sigh... those were the days.)  Copy on the cover reads "The Legend Begins!"  

Not only does the Superman "legend" begin with this cover, but also a decades long tradition of variant covers that we will explore in future posts.