DC Comics Variant Covers: The Complete Visual History

What a beautiful book! Large formatted as beautiful art should be displayed...lots and lots of pretty illustrations....and who doesn't love those. I hope they publish a follow-up...I can't imagine, altho I could be wrong, that every variant cover they produced is in this book....ironically a book on covers that displays a cover that's not so great....IMHO. Highly recommended for DC fans...or even just fans of comics...heck, even fans of art.

Buyer beware, this is hardly a “complete” guide to DC variant covers. We are told in the introduction that DC started using variants in 1986 beginning a rich tradition that continues to the present day, but the catalogue includes only sparse details on covers prior to the more recent boom. I think there are 3 or 4 covers from the 1980s and 1990s, and the rest of the book covers twenty-first century examples. Still, even those are not given a complete coverage. For example, I purchased the book looking for insight into the recent monster variant covers. These were produced for two separate years, but we only get a small sampling of the art and minimal commentary. Sadly, this is a recurrent pattern in the book, and I feel a bit shortchanged here given the hype. It is a nice (oversized) book, but it should have been more comprehensive.

Measuring 14 inches or so in height, this book is very large, so the illustrations inside really pop. It is absolutely worth the price and recommended for all DC history buffs and collectors of cool covers. I wasn't at first sure if I should buy it but now I am glad I did.

I dropped this review rating by one star because the title may make one think that "Complete Visual History" is a comprehensive collection of every variant cover issued by DC Comics. That is hardly the case as it would take 4 to 5 books this size to cover them all. What one does get is a briskly-written overview of different times when DC had special months and samples of several of the covers from that period. The captions for many of the individual items pictured benefits greatly by the artist of the cover discussing what he or she was trying to accomplish with it. The size of the book, like the exceptional "The Art of Harley Quinn" from the same publisher, is large (11.25 x 14.25 x 1 inches) and is filled with many diverse covers. However, the Quinn book is better designed. What the "Variant Covers" book does do is whet your appetite to look up more of the ones the author talks about but doesn't have room to show (as he mentions, "The Dark Knight III: The Master Race" miniseries had 112 variant covers.)

there is nothing 'complete' about this, I expected more info on variant copies

Em 1986 a DC Comics trouxe às comics shops 02 capas para a revista do Superman de John Byrne. O público aparentemente gostou desta proposta, fazendo com que o “mercado das capas variantes” tivesse início.São diversos temas, modelos e interpretações dos maiores personagens da Editora das Lendas nesses mais de 30 anos (32 anos, já que o fechamento da edição é de 2018) de publicações que contam com variações.Este livro contém um acabamento excepcional! Com um formato maior que a publicação “Marvel Comics: As Capas Variantes”, esta publicação em capa dura acompanha uma sobrecapa e uma qualidade de impressão significativa (característica da Editora Insight Editions), e durante suas 186 páginas somos transportados por uma “viagem visual” entre as publicações de: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Teen Titans, Green Lantern, entre outros (com descrições em cada reprodução ali mostrada, como: título, ano, artista, etc.).Um livro para fãs da DC Comics, bem como fãs da história da indústria das HQ’s. Um artbook fantástico que recomendo demais.