It’s been a big stretch for Chip Zdarsky.

The writer, artist, and writer/artist just saw the first issue of his big Marvel event comic Avengers: Armageddon debut, its follow-up in a new Avengers series with artist Marco Checchetto was announced, and the Sex Criminals adaptation got even more exciting news — to say nothing of getting a gig writing The Muppets!

And yet, in this month’s Chip Chat, none of that is our focus. Well, it is, as we do talk about all of that to varying degrees, particularly the upcoming Avengers series that launches in November. But we’re saving our deep dive on that one for later. This episode is primarily about the world of variant covers and comics collecting and speculation, as that’s long been a topic Chip and I have discussed tackling in this series. We finally did it this month, as we dig into his take on variant covers, why his stance on them has softened, the varying sides of comics collecting and speculation, his own approach to variants, comic signatures, his ideal vision for comics, and more. It’s a great chat that’s a real change of pace from our other episodes so far.

As with previous episodes, these Chip Chats will publish both as video and text, including here on SKTCHD and on the SKTCHD YouTube, but only SKTCHD subscribers will get access to the text version of the conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity. So, if your preference is to read rather than watch, then I have good news for you: You can read these interviews if you subscribe to SKTCHD, and only if you subscribe!

But let’s get to this month’s Chip Chat, as Chip Zdarsky and I talk about Avengers, speculation, and Avengers speculation.

Or something like that.