The Variant Debate, Part 236: Also at Newsarama, retailer Rick Shea looks at the return of variant covers, and doesn't like what he sees:

"Needless to say, I'm not a fan of variant covers. Although it was an interesting novelty in the early to mid 1990s to grab your choice of covers on a certain issue or even grab both, variant covers are not a trend that is helping the industry in the long term. They were created to squeeze more money out of a struggling market and I know this industry should be way above that now. Since the content of the comics has improved, as has the creative talent working on the books, we don't need gimmicks like variant covers to 'help' the industry. The best way to sell a book is to have a fantastic creative team, throw some interesting characters into wild situations and more times than not, your audience will find you. 'Tricking' people into buying two copies of the same story just because it has a different cover is one of the biggest scams the industry has ever seen. That's why I'm so frustrated that variants seem to be making a big comeback."