The Variants

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Behind the counter of your favorite comic book store.

Web comedy series set in a fictionalized version of Zeus Comics in Dallas, TX.

The Variants is the brain child of Richard Neal, Joe Cucinotti and Ken Lowery. In early 2009, Richard, owner of 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 discussed and discarded several ideas, including making a faux-documentary-style comedy like “The Office” before settling on an absurd sitcom in the vein of “30 Rock” or “Arrested Development. They recruited Keli Wolfe and Barry Fuhrman (actual employees at Zeus) to play Flanderized versions of themselves.

Filmed primarily at Zeus Comics. Now in the production phase of Season 2. It can be found here. An episode guide is here

Tropes used in The Variants include: