Love them or hate them, variant covers are a big part of the comic book industry. Here are the single issues with the highest number of variant covers to date.
10. Detective Comics (1937) No. 1000
86 Variants
This may almost settle who’s the King of DC Comics once and for all … Although Superman was the first to hit 1,000 issues in Action Comics (1938) a few months prior, his milestone was only celebrated with 54 variant covers. Batman? Eighty-six kick-ass variant covers lit up the release of Detective Comics (1937) No. 1000.
9. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin (2020)
87 Variants
This isn’t the only time you’re gonna see Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird’s subterranean martial arts experts appear on this list.
8. Vampirella (2019) No. 1
90 Variants
Pretty much every issue of Vampirella from any of her dozens and dozens of series has a mountain of variant covers, but the IDW Publishing relaunch in 2019 topped them all with a whooping 87 different covers.
7. Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters (2011) No. 1
104 Variants
King of The Monsters and King of the Comic Book Variants, IDW Publishing’s Godzillia relaunch went nuts with 93 retailer variants alone. Your move King Kong …
6. Dark Knight III: The Master Race (2016) No. 1
108 Variants
Third time’s the charm? After a disappointing sequel to his original masterpiece, Frank Miller returned to tell one more chapter of The Dark Knight, and 104 variant covers came with it, including a 1:5000 original art cover by Jim Lee. After just nine issues, the entire series generated 190 (!) total covers.
5. Batman (2016) No. 50
106 Variants
No stranger to the variant game, this is the odd non-first-issue that did it up big. The (almost) wedding of the century! The Dark Knight and Catwoman tie the knot (or do they?) in Tom King’s landmark issue of the Caped Crusader, and fans had an avalanche of variants to RSVP for.
4. Thundercats (2024) No. 1
107 Variants
We’re all for 90’s nostalgia, but 107 variants for the third volume of Thundercats? Oh yeah, it’s Dynamite so of course there is.
3. The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) No. 666
145 Variants
What? A single issue with the lots of variant covers that isn’t a No. 1 issue? And oddly enough, it’s the devil’s number — No. 666 of the original volume of The Amazing Spider-Man. The issue kicked of the prologue of the Spider-Island event, but was in no other way special. Still, one-hundred and forty-five different covers is a pretty tall order. How’d they do it? 141 various comic shop variants help. Of course, the number one spot had help from comic shops too …
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2024) No. 1
204 Variants
Cowabunga! Great example of just because you can do a thing, should you do a thing?
1. The Walking Dead (2003) No. 1
253 Variants
The first issue of Image Comic’s wildly popular The Walking Dead has a bit of an odd path to its two-hundred forty-six (and counting) variant covers. Not all variant covers of the first issue of Robert Kirkman’s zombie saga were released at the same time. As its popularity grew, and exploded with AMC’s hit television show in 2010, the first issue was reprinted, re-issued, and given lots and lots of new covers. What really pushed it over the top? 157 store variants. One. Hundred. Fifty. SEVEN!
