Do Variant Covers Make or Break Your Kickstarter?
Should you include Variant Covers on your next campaign? And how to make those tiers successful?
Hi Lifeline Comics Readers,
Variant Covers are one of the most talked about elements of comics. Some of the biggest questions we hear new creators of self-published comics ask are (a.) whether to have variants and (b.) how many covers to have. So this week, we thought it would be fun to talk all about Variants and why they’re important!
We’ll also talk about our experiences at ALA Library Conference, our final Pride Festivals of the year (Boston, Rhode Island, and New York), and give our opinions on new releases Elio and Lilo & Stitch (2025).
Let’s dive in!
Do Variant Covers Make or Break Your Kickstarter?
Kat: Unless you’ve crafted your own Kickstarter, it’s hard to express the brainpower that goes into making your page. Nitty, gritty details like, “should I have a variant cover?” can be hair pulling.
So Phil and I are here to break down why variant covers are such an important element to any comic book campaign!
Variant Cover Artists Bringing Their Audience
Phil: We’ve all heard the platitude before: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
Well, from a decade of experience selling at Conventions and online, we can tell you: people are going to judge a book by its cover. All of its covers.
Historically, Variant Covers have a bit of a sordid reputation in comics. Many a long-time reader (but certainly not all) love to throw around the word “gimmick” — particularly in reference to the “boom” of variants in the ‘90s.
And when you get down to it, yes. Alternate covers for your comic are a gimmick. But that doesn’t make them any less important.
Folks buying comics, more often than not, are art (and artist) lovers. And consequently, readers are often willing to spend extra for really cool cover art.
In addition to having cool cover options, Variant Covers are also a chance to work with particular artists — artists who have audiences of their own. From our experience, working with legendary artists like Terry Moore & Stjepan Šejić has been absolutely instrumental in expanding the audience reading our comics.
Each of your variant cover artists brings in their own fanbase to check out your comic. So it’s to your benefit to work with artists whose fanbases overlap with your intended audience for your comic (i.e. If you’re writing a Vampire book, an artist popular for Vampire artwork will likely bring you a whole slew of vampire fans).
Exploring Different Styles/Opportunities for Thumbnails
Phil: It’s important to be strategic with your Variant Covers — “cover”ing different bases with each cover and providing a variety of fun concepts that sell your books in different ways.
If you have two primary leads, then more-often-than-not you should aim to have covers that spotlight each of them. Different readers gravitate towards different concepts and characters, so variety is important to appeal to as many different readers as possible — and even to give collectors who like multiple different covers the incentive to grab more than one cover.
If you’re running a Kickstarter for your comic, each cover is also an opportunity for a Project Thumbnail.
We’ve talked before in this newsletter about how important a Kickstarter Thumbnail is. And most of the time, you’re going to want to use one or more of your covers in the thumb for your campaign — showcasing the coolest art you have for your project.
Give Comic Book Readers Items They Want
Kat: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a project try pushing action figures, T-shirts, or some other non-adjacent product before focusing on the thing that backers came for in the first place - COMICS. Do the t-shirt or action figure campaigns once you have an audience. These are items that balloon your budget, while producing a different cover for a run you already have to print is a way cheaper way to give extra content.
Comics are adjacent to comics! Simple as that.
Initiatives to Help Push Premium Items
Kat: But how do you convince your readers to want to spend money on a variant cover instead of your standard Cover A?
1.) Have a variant cover worth purchasing with drop dead gorgeous art, a name artist, and/or a fun concept that your readers would want.
2.) An initiative! This is a Lifeline Comics’ staple. If you spend a certain amount on our campaign, usually adding up to at least one variant cover, you’ll get a special item: an email pin, metal bookmark, etc. It helps treat the readers that support your project's premium items well.
Is There Such A Thing As Too Many Variants?
Kat: I haven’t found the magical number for how many variants you should have, and it really depends on the type of project, but if it’s overwhelming to you then it’s probably overwhelming to your customers. Make sure that each variant holds purpose, and if it doesn’t you can always shift that cover to another issue!
Phil: If you’re a first-time creator, you probably don’t want to overload on variants while you’re still establishing yourself and your work. A good “sweet spot” to start with is probably two-to-four covers for your first comic.
Different series have different needs for covers. That’s why you’ll see some of our projects have only three cover options and others have ten covers! Start with what makes sense for you, and then you can experiment with different variant counts in future campaigns to find your sweet spot!
Bombshell & Atomica #1-3 launches soon from Bad Bug Media!
The Mature Sapphic Pulp Superhero comic that we write for Bad Bug Media is launching its third issue on July 15th! You can follow the Pre-Launch Page now!
“Two women keep their superpowers and love for one another a secret in this post-WW2, pulp superhero comic. NSFW.”
Two Lifeline Campaigns Coming Soon!
Before we continue, let us take a quick moment to plug two comic campaigns we’ll be launching very soon!
Be sure to Follow those Pre-Launch Pages to be notified when they go live so you don’t miss out on Early Bird Rewards!
Nightmare in Wonderland #1-3: The Queen of Hearts’ Casino
“In this MATURE FAIRY TALE, Ex-Lovers Sleeping Beauty & Assassin Alice gamble their LIVES at the Queen of Hearts' Casino!”
Slice of Life #1-7: My Girlfriend Joins The Softball Team!
“YURIKO & LUCY ARE FINALLY A COUPLE! Enjoy their first date, Lucy's softball team tryouts, and...Yuriko's dead ex coming back to life...”
What have we been up to?
Let’s talk about how we’ve kept busy these last few weeks!
American Library Association (ALA)
Phil: We have been wanting to check out the ALA Library Conference for years now. We’ve only ever heard amazing things about the show. And librarians are some of our absolute favorite people to talk to at any given event. So when we heard that ALA would be based in Philadelphia this year (a short hour-and-a-half drive from us), we knew we had to attend!
ALA Artist Alley was a really rewarding experience in the number of librarians and fellow creatives we got to connect with. It’s a different vibe than your typical Comic Convention — less focused on “here-and-now” sales and more on fostering a connection to get books into libraries and other important locations.
We had a lovely experience and got to meet tons of cool people. Plus, the Artist Alley table was free, so we really only had to cover our travel costs. We’d certainly love to do ALA again if the conference is within driving distance again in the coming years!
Boston Pride
Kat: This was our first time boothing at Boston Pride, and it’s quickly became one of my favorites with constant traffic (even on a rainy day in the park).
We also got to see some of our favorite people, Julius’ cousins, Yana and Leon! They were wonderful hosts as they showed us the best places to eat in the city, and we even got to use our AMC A-List to see a movie. We’ve never seen a movie on a pride day!
Phil: So. Much. Bi Pride!
Rhode Island Pride
Phil: The week after Boston Pride, we made our way to New England for a second time to hit up Rhode Island Pride for the first time!
Some things we learned: people in Rhode Island love (1.) Pride (but who doesn’t?), (2.) Family Guy, and (3.) their pets.
A visit to Rhode Island is also an opportunity to visit my cousins Paul & MJ, who so graciously hosted us (and saved us from expensive hotels and long drives).
It’s always such a treat seeing Paul’s massive train collection! Every time we visit his house, his set up gets bigger and better!
New York Pride
Kat: New York Pride is our favorite event of the year because it’s the first pride we ever vended at back in the day AND it’s our hometown pride. It’s really cool that we have the chance to meet old customers from years prior, readers we met at the other Prides we vended at this very year, and, of course, brand new people to Lifeline Comics.
And we just keep finding awesome tattoos along the way. Look - it’s Ratatouille helping Bulbasaur cook!
“30 Rock” Trivia Night
Phil: I’ve made reference in this newsletter before to NBC’s 30 Rock being my favorite TV show ever. It’s my comfort show — the thing I put on when I just want to veg out and have a good time. I’ve seen the whole show all the way through at least eight times. And when I hang out with my siblings, we almost always make at least one 30 Rock joke or reference.
So when we heard about a 30 Rock Trivia Night in the city, we knew we needed to make the trip. Our three-person trivia team was comprised of 30 Rock experts: myself, my sister Marianne, and our friend T. Our team name was Lemon Party, because (to quote Liz Lemon’s father, Dick Lemon) “You can’t have a Lemon Party without a little Dick in it!”
The trivia was hosted by TriviaAD and broken up into five distinct rounds, each with a super fun themed answer sheet. The event was free, with guests simply encouraged to enjoy dinner at the restaurant hosting the trivia night.
The trivia night was a humbling experience where our team placed third out of five teams. Clearly, we need to study up more for next time! And maybe bring another 30 Rock expert to cover our blind spots (the teams that beat us all had at least four members).
Win or lose, it was a super fun time and a great chance to talk about my favorite show with a ton of super fans!
Media
Let’s discuss some non-comics media!
Elio
Kat: Elio takes the very best and the very worst parts of Pixar. Pixar makes you believe that toys can talk, a rat can cook, and an old man can become best friends with a boy scout. Elio pulls on your heartstrings as it explores how kids navigate the anxiety inducing experience of “being weird”, while also belonging to a family that may not look like the traditional nuclear family. The animated film beautifully connects the “we are not alone” space epic to feeling truly lonely.
But for all its strong themes, Elio is a culprit of what many modern Disney films fall for — a long-winded adventure. The sci-fi, out of this world concept is far less interesting than the more grounded space narrative and the characters’ more personal conflicts. Elio had the potential to be one of Pixar’s best, but it doesn’t trust its audience enough to fully embrace its quieter moments.
Phil: Elio’s biggest strengths lie in its themes surrounding loneliness, it’s colorful and creative Sci-Fi animation, and in the titular Elio himself (who is adorable, flawed, and relatable). The film is at its best when it is exploring these ideas of loneliness and belonging, with the strongest scene in the film being a climactic moment where Elio laments his feelings about not having a place in the world on Earth.
The only real negative of Elio for me is that there’s a long ~30 minute stretch of the film dedicated to the Galactic Shenanigans when Elio first finds himself in space that I found myself bored by. I wish that the time spent on some of these shenanigans had been otherwise allocated to exploring Elio’s relationship with his aunt/adoptive mother more deeply in the first half of the film. But I’m thankful that the movie starts and ends in a strong way.
Elio isn’t a Pixar classic for me like Coco or Toy Story. But it’s definitely a solid film that’s worth a watch if you’re a Pixar fan.
Lilo and Stitch (2025)
Phil: The 2002 animated Lilo & Stitch is, without exaggeration, one of the greatest films of all time. It’s a masterclass in storytelling, character work, animation, genre bending, and comedy. With Stitch himself having become the propaganda machine that he is, I think people often forget just how incredible and groundbreaking that first Lilo & Stitch movie was (and how important the Lilo and Nani components of that success were).
And while I didn’t love the 2025 live action remake of the film, I’m at least happy to report that the film is not soulless. There is a lot of love and passion in the film. Particular compliments go towards the portrayal of Nani and Lilo — both of whom are well-acted and whose relationship is executed strongly. The live action adaptation does a competent job adapting the scenes/lines it chooses to recreate. And some of the added scenes (particularly a heavier emphasis on Lilo herself “being bad” sometimes, like Stitch, and seeing them have some more shenanigans together) do a solid job of expanding the story.
If I was evaluating this film in a vacuum where the animated film didn’t exist, I’d probably give it a pretty solid rating. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a world where the 2002 masterpiece isn’t a factor. And my biggest issue with the live action remake is that I’m aware of the scenes and beats that are missing.
Key moments in Stitch’s evolution from “bad” to “good” — the Ugly Duckling story and Lilo somberly telling Stitch about her parents’ death — are completely absent from the film. Jumba is forced to fill both his own and Gantu’s roles in the original film. David is robbed of his most heartfelt moment (approaching Nani and Lilo at their lowest to raise their spirits with surfing).
And most frustratingly (for me), Nani’s entire relationship with Stitch is removed from the film. All the small moments of Nani regarding Stitch curiously, slowly piecing together that he’s an alien. The moment when Stitch bashfully drags the surfboard to Nani. The moment when Nani loses Lilo and finally realizes that Stitch is an alien and can talk. All gone. The live action film does a good job with the Lilo-Nani and the Lilo-Stitch relationships, but completely discards the Nani-Stitch relationship.
This is more of a personal pet peeve, but I also didn’t love the need that this adaptation felt to make Nani a “super student” and aspiring Marine Biologist. I think one of the most beautiful things about Nani’s character in the 2002 version is that she feels like an “every woman”. A normal person who is put in the impossible position of having to raise her sister when she’s still a kid herself.
The internet has been particularly outraged about a particular decision that Nani makes in the film regarding her guardianship of Lilo. I’ll say that I think this complaint is a little overblown. While I’m not sure we needed the change we got in the adaptation, their approach didn’t bother me very much while watching. Certainly less than the points above.
Despite the fact that I just spent the last five paragraphs listing my gripes with the film, I don’t think Lilo & Stitch (2025) is a bad film. It’s just one that fails to live up to the impossible-to-reach standards of the original for me. It’s definitely worth watching if you want to see the adorable Stitch in a new 3D form. But I don’t see myself ever needing to watch it again when I can just check out the animated film.
Kat: If you’ve been a long-time reader of our newsletter, you’ll know I’m really not a big fan of Disney’s live action remakes. Lilo & Stitch doesn’t change my mind, but it’s a bit more tolerable than the rest. It has a few changes, but it’s still the same story as the animated version. The original is a MASTERPIECE, so of course, a movie that follows that storyline is going to be at least interesting.
But did we need a live action Lilo & Stitch…no. I’m honestly more interested in their recently announced live action sequel because at least there’s some more chances of original content. The few changes they made to Nani’s character are questionable, but I did like the different spin Sydney Agudong gave to the character. Her take was one of the few reasons to go see the movie.
Lilo & Stitch reminds me a lot of Sonic. It’s pretty obvious you’re watching a film made for children, but that doesn’t mean adults can’t have fun with it.
Top Chef: Destination Canada
Kat: Kristen Kish gets comfortable as the new host of Top Chef in her sophomore year. She adds an empathetic tone to the show as she truly feels for every chef that “takes their knives and goes” as someone who has experienced it, especially as the show gets closer to crowning the winner of the season. I won’t spoil who takes home the title of Top Chef, but I’ll say it was pretty obvious from at least the mid-point of the season.
Even if it was a landslide win, it was a fun journey to see the chefs connecting with each other and improving their own craft with the delicacies of Canada as a muse.
Comics
Let's discuss some comics we've enjoyed recently!
This week, we’ll spotlight an Indie Book, a DC/Marvel book, and a Live Kickstarter book!
Indie Comic: Toxic Team-Up #1 (Ahoy Comics)
Kat: I love a crossover that helps new readers get into a whole new franchise. I’ve heard of the Toxic Avenger, but have never read any of his comics, but I’M A HUGE FAN of Second Coming - so Toxic Team-Up was an automatic pull. With the creative team of Second Coming penning this issue, it was a good jumping on point. The easy to anger Avenger was a perfect foil to Jesus Christ, a figure confused by how the world has gotten so corrupted even after all his lessons he tried to instill. Toxic Team-Up is a blueprint for how crossovers should collaborate!
Marvel: The Thing
Kat: In both the indie comic book space and the Big 2, Tony Fleecs can do no wrong! To prepare for the Fantastic Four movie, Marvel finally gives the spotlight to Ben Grimm. Fleecs and Justin Mason focuses on the “friendly neighborhood” element of the character as they dig into Ben’s Yancy street lore, all while mixing his everyday superheroics. This book is for new and old fans a like to get a glimpse of The Thing’s life outside of the Fantastic Four.
Kickstarter: Noir Is The New Black: S02E01
“The legendary collection of Noir stories from Black creators is back with new tales!”
Phil: Our friends at FAIRSQUARE GRAPHICS have launched a new volume of their groundbreaking anthology of Black Noir stories — noir-genre stories from Black creators. The first volume was a massive success back in 2020, and this new volume is SUPER CLOSE to hitting its funding goal!
This new volume features a ton of talented creators, with some stories continuing from the first volume of Noir is the New Black and others being completely new. If you’re a fan of noir storytelling and/or Black stories from Black creators, then you should definitely have your eye on this project!
Support “Noir is the New Black: S02E01” here!
In Closing…
Thanks for reading this post! We hope that you found our discussion of Variant Covers engaging and informative! Be sure to leave your own experiences with variants in the comments below.
Follow the Pre-Launch Pages for our upcoming campaigns, Nightmare in Wonderland #1-3: The Queen of Hearts’ Casino and Slice of Life #1-7: My Girlfriend Joins The Softball Team!
And if you have any topics you’d like to see us cover in future newsletters, comment them below!
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Buy Lifeline Comics on our Website!
Upcoming Kickstarters:
Nightmare in Wonderland #1-3: The Queen of Hearts’ Casino (Launching 7/07)
Slice of Life #1-7: My Girlfriend Joins The Softball Team! (Launching 7/21)
Next Cons/Events: San Diego Comic-Con (7/24-7/27)
Great read, Kate and Phil!
In my experience, variant covers are a MUST if you plan on selling comics in person at cons. With just a standard size single issue, it’s hard to convince the average person to spend more than $5 on a book they haven’t heard of, meaning I’m lucky to make $1 per book after printing costs. But with a “limited print” variant cover with eye catching artwork, many readers will be willing to pay $10-15 for the same book, and some of the more interested fans will want to buy every cover. So I can start making at least $6 per book sold, which makes a big difference when recovering convention costs!