DC Bans Retailer That Torched Absolute Batman #23 Variants on a Whatnot Livestream

A comic shop's stunt to drum up demand for a sold-out variant has backfired in a big way. The retailer behind the account "I Like Collectibles" set fire to copies of the Frank Cho variant cover for Absolute Batman #23 during a live Whatnot auction, promoting the burn beforehand with AI-generated art of Batman torching his own comics and a caption reading "ABSOLUTE BATMAN #23 IS ABOUT TO BURN LIVE!"

Whatnot shut the retailer's channel down shortly after, and DC Comics followed with a harder hit: the shop has been banned from receiving any future exclusive retailer variants, including an already-confirmed Alex Maleev cover for Absolute Batman #25 that had been locked in before the stunt.

The retail community mostly piled on rather than sympathized — one widely shared response was a blunt "You made your bed, now lie in it" — while the banned retailer pushed back, arguing that destroying stock to manage supply isn't unheard-of in the industry. Either way, it's a costly reminder of how far DC and its distribution partners will go to protect the integrity of their exclusive variant programs.

Original reporting: Bleeding Cool.