OK, I have no idea how it is if you buy your comic books from a bricks and mortar comic store. I could never keep track of or deal with that, so I buy my comics online from Things from Another World.
Now, every issue of Buffy Season Eight has a regular cover and then every four books are printed with a variant cover.
So. If you want to guarantee that you receive the variant cover, you have to order four copies of every book. This is absurd, and luckily, I prefer the regular artwork anyway. It's absolutely stunning.

But. If you want to guarantee that you receive the regular cover, you have to order two copies. Otherwise, you risk receiving the variant cover on your one issue, thereby not having a complete and beautiful set of the regular covers.
At first, I would just order my one and cross my fingers. But then, if the variant cover arrived, I had to reorder - and then I still had to reorder two to make sure I got what I wanted. So now I order two copies.
Except somehow I accidentally ordered three of an upcoming issue, and it seems too late to cancel one, at least, not without calling about it. Who wants to bet I don't even get the variant on that one?
Oh, and the one time I really, really liked the variant? Of course, didn't get it. I might have ordered four to get this one, but I didn't see it in time:

What's beyond annoying is that now what I have is:
- One complete set of the normal covers.
- Many, many doubles of the normal covers, but not another complete set.
- An incomplete set of the alternative covers.
That last one would have me stark raving mad if I stopped to think about it.
It's not the cost; comics books are under $3. But the annoyance, and hello, the paper involved in these equations??? The fact that people are ordering four copies every issue to get those variant covers just seems like such a paper suck.
I guess what most annoys me, though, is that I have to order extra copies just to ensure that I receive a complete set of the normal covers. I don't want any of these extra copies! The whole system is the suck.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to read Wolves at the Gate Part 3 (#14) before I go to bed. Gee, which of my matching copies should I crack?
(I am happy about my free Hellboy I got for Free Comic Book Day.)
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