So far, Bleeding Cool has been able to identify sixty-four variant covers of the upcoming Star Wars #1, relaunch comic from Marvel, many of them exclusive to individual retailers who had to order 3000 of them, minimum (and 1500 of any black-and-white secondary version). I expect another from January's Loot Crate.

But I have now been informed by a senior industry source that the variant covers in total number over a hundred – a record for the comic book industry. Possibly any magazine, even the famous Loaded #100 anniversary issue only went to a hundred covers. Are Marvel going for a Guinness World Record?

Some other sites have claimed to have found more, but they count remarked, signed and sketched covers. I don't. I'm just looking at actually printed variants. And, I understand, there are even more than I thought.

And that's how you sell a million copies!