Venom Vol. 3 (2017) #1 Select Variants
Marvel Comics, published January 2017 (in shops 2016-11-23).
Venom Volume 3 (2017) #1 features the origin and first appearance of the Lee Price / alien symbiote Venom.
There were a ridiculous number of cover variants for the issue, indexed below with the barcode suffix (and also the diamond code, if known/applicable, in square brackets):
- 00111 - Gerardo Sandoval Regular Cover [SEP160951]
- 00121 - Rick Leonardi 1:25 Variant [SEP160953]
- 00131 - Ron Lim Variant [SEP160952]
- 00141 - Bill Sienkiewicz Hip Hop Variant [SEP160954]
- 00151 - John Tyler Christopher Action Figure Variant [SEP160955]
- 00161 - Blank Cover [SEP160956]
- 00171 - Gabriele Dell'Otto Color Cover
- 00181 - Gabriele Dell'Otto Black and White
- 00191 - Gabriele Dell'Otto Virgin Variant
- 00122 - Todd McFarlane 1:1000 Variant [AUG168725]
- 00123 - Clayton Crain (ComicXposure) Color Variant
- 00124 - Clayton Crain (ComicXposure) Negative Variant
- 00125 - Clayton Crain (ComicXposure) Virgin variant
- 00126 - Gerardo Sandoval Sketch Variant
- 00127 - Todd McFarlane Limited Sketch Cover
- 00116 - Greg Horn (Wonderworld Comics) Color Variant
- 00117 - Greg Horn (Wonderworld Comics) Black and White
- 00128 - Greg Horn (Wonderworld Comics) Negative Variant
- 00118 - Mark Bagley (Scorpion Comics) Color Variant
- 00119 - Mark Bagley (Scorpion Comics) Black and White Variant
- 00120 - Mark Bagley (Scorpion Comics) Virgin Negative Variant
- 00112 - Gerardo Sandoval Second Print Cover [OCT168806]
Note that the Second Print was in shops on Dec 28, 2016 and came with a published date of February 2017.
The Dell'Otto Virgin Variant (which allegedly had a distribution of only 500 copies) was jointly sponsored by 3 comic shops: Frankie's Comics based in North Carolina, USA, plus 7ate9 Comics and Sad Lemon Comics both based in the UK:
The Mark Bagley Negative Virgin Variant (which also allegedly had a distribution of only 500 copies) was sponsored by Scorpion comics based out of the village of Bayville, NY.
For the "secret artist" variants, Marvel disappointingly decided not to get any new artwork commissioned but instead used a recolored Todd McFarlane panel from Amazing Spider-Man #299 (the first appearance, of the Eddie Brock / alien symbiote Venom, in cameo at the end of the issue):
The McFarlane variants are certainly a matter of taste with McFarlane admitting himself "I could draw one wicked Venom that would be way cooler than that", negative variants are also a very faddish invention, which leaves the Dell'Otto Virgin Variant as the one many would rather own from an aesthetic point of view, however, the idiotic 1:1000 McFarlane incentive will still draw the crowds with its low distribution (but expect to pay a bundle to own one).