It depends on what the differences are. As a comic collector, the Todd McFarlane Spider-Man #1 had various covers. They had the direct version with no UPC, the UPC version. The black & silver version with no UPC and one with. The platinum edition. The polybagged with no UPC and one with. Many collectors bought all the variations they could.
Interesting to hear that. When I first brought up this way of collecting (pure completionist way) on another forum, everyone thought it was dumb. And that response among a community known for completionists was surprising. It made me realise that there are limits for the majority of a fanbase. I had by then acquired both the direct and retail sets for G.I. Joe and the Transformers #1-4. The thought of having both sets seemed to be a foreign concept, even among toy completionists and comic collectors alike.
I think it is possible that the issue you cite is of significance to comic collector's. Perhaps it is more acceptable to do so with a milestone issue like that, rather than with any other issue. Even other comic collectors I know have a big mix of both issue types and I never hear about people who just go after one vs the other or even both.
PS: for clarity, this topic is about retail vs "direct" differences, which in most cases mean that a barcode is present vs not. Actual cover photos being different are not a problem.