About Us
Welcome to THE VARIANTS, the Web comedy series that shows what it’s like to work the counter at your favorite comic book store.
THE VARIANTS is the brain child of Richard Neal, Joe Cucinotti and Ken Lowery. In early 2009, Richard, owner of the award-winning Zeus Comics, thought all the crazy stuff he saw in his store would make excellent fodder for a comedy series. Seeing the success of Web comedies like “The Guild,” Richard approached Joe and Ken – longtime friends, writers and regulars at the store – to help him develop the series.
The trio recruited Keli Wolfe and Barry Fuhrman (actual employees at Zeus) to round out the ensemble cast. Chris Haley and Curt Franklin of the web comic Let’s Be Friends Again join the cast in season three.
After successfully funding its third season via Kickstarter, THE VARIANTS now boasts bigger stories, a larger cast and crew and superior production values. Season three also marks a change in the release schedule, updating the old “once a month” model to a weekly release.
The award-winning series, called “like Batman and Iron Man except funny” by Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman and “blah” by award-winning comic book writer Gail Simone, pulls no punches in satirizing the absurd side of retail life, nerd culture and the larger comic book world.