" People would be lined up to pay hundreds of dollars for a variant such as this, lets not kid ourselves."

Really?

If the common retailer recieved 50% off he would be paying $100 dollars for 50 $4 comics. He would then have to sell the variant for at least $100 to "break even" on his investment. However, the bigger retailers (the ones who will take Marvel up on this offer) would have gotten a larger discount on those 50 issues. They will then make a profit if they sell the variant for $100. So odds are that $100-$200 will be the price tag for this cover.

A $100+ variant is not uncommon in todays market place. There are the 1:250 Batman and Robin # 1's that have fetched more than $100 from collectors. Usually within the first few weeks of release. They cool down after the initial buzz dies down. But most retailers only need one, maybe two customers willing to pay and they will take Marvel up on this offer. If, as stated earlier, anyone has that much left over stock on these mid-level selling titles. Which also motivates the "collector" in the knowledge that not "many" retailers will have that much left over stock.

Pretty smart move by Marvel. They have very little to lose in sending out these variants. It also helps give Seige more buzz. Something their new mega event is lacking at this point.

When I used to sell comics I attended a workshop that was sponsored by Capital City. It was called "Streetfighting". One example of "Streetfighting" was when a pizza company offered a nice discount on their pizza to anyone that would bring in the yellow pages ad of their competitors. That way, if later on, you wanted to find the number of the competitor you would have a hard time doing so.

Marvel is doing a similiar thing. Instead of removing advertising, they are removing their competitors product from the retailers stores. The Blackest Night tie-ins are there for impulse buys. A reader who doesn't normally buy Booster Gold may take a chance and buy the BN tie-in issue. This may also lead to a new regular buyer of Booster Gold. If the customer never sees the copy of Booster Gold he will never think of buying it and may spend his money on something else. Marvel is betting that something else is one of their titles.

Blackest Night has been a huge success for DC in terms of sales. Any and all tie-ins have been selling well. This scares Marvel, who doesn't want to lose their lead in the market share. Remember the market is so small that any increase in DC sales usually means a drop in Marvel sales. It's not like new fans are coming into the hobby/readership in any large way. It is just the same customer base spending money on X comics intead of Y comics. To keep it simple, Marvel and DC are fighting over the same group of customers. Neither group wants to lose ground with those remaining customers and are willing to do anything to keep them.