Whatever you think about Marvel’s variant lines — going from Wolverine Art Appreciation month last month, to other goofy pastiches like Marvel Ape variants, or my personal favorite, X-Force versus rainbows and puppies — I’ve always enjoyed the chuckle-worthy elements that go into these new covers.
Well, the House of Ideas isn’t done yet, with some homages to the ’80s and ’90s in June and July in honor of Marvel’s 70th Anniversary in August. Here’s a few covers for your perusal:
The covers, in order, are All-New Savage She-Hulk #3, War Machine #7, X-Men Legacy #225, and Marvel Zombies 4 #3. While I found Rogue “striking a pose” to be amusing, the Marvel Zombies cover is easily my favorite. (Although War Machine rockin’ out made me chuckle, too.) Thoughts?
June 1st, 2009 at 11:15 am
Hahahaha, is War Machine in the Smells Like Teen Spirit video? They should really do calendars/poster collections of these.
June 1st, 2009 at 11:44 am
I get the other three, but what is She-Hulk parodying?
June 1st, 2009 at 11:50 am
Those are pretty funny, but I know they won’t do the one I really want to see; Spider-Man and Venom as Paul Simon and Chevy Chase in ‘You can call me Al’. I’d pay anything for that cover…
June 1st, 2009 at 12:45 pm
These are fun. I think the War Machine one is my favorite.
June 1st, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Those are awesome.
June 1st, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Fun covers, but I would prefer homages to 80s and 90s covers versus just the 80s and 90s.
June 1st, 2009 at 2:29 pm
She-Hulk is parodying Cher I believe.
June 1st, 2009 at 2:32 pm
i think these look quite lame, c’mon.
June 1st, 2009 at 2:34 pm
I dig the THRILLER cover – and find it hilarious that CRYSTAR is part of the zombie crew
June 1st, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Okay, but… Why?
June 1st, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Crystar! Man, it would be awesome if he was actually in the comic! I haven’t been reading Marvel Zombies since Kirkman left, does anyone know if Crystar has been in there, or is this just a special appearance for the cover?
June 1st, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Is She Hulk supposed to be a JEM ParodY? :X
June 1st, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Oh man, War Machine cover is kick-@ss, really like that one.
Peace.
June 1st, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Oh, when they said decade variants, I thought they meant variant covers in the style of Marvel during that decade.
And didn’t Marvel celebrate their 30th anniversary only 18 years ago? 30+18 does not equal 70
June 1st, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Strike a pose, Rogue! There’s nothing to it, Rogue, Rogue, Rogue! LOL
Ima luvin the Madonna Vogue inspired cover of X-Men Legacy.
June 1st, 2009 at 3:51 pm
War Machine smells like teen spirit.
I love it.
June 1st, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I got a kick out of seeing Crystar in that Marvel Zombies picture too.
June 1st, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Bleh. I guess I got tired of variants a long time ago.
June 1st, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Okay, what’s really funny about the Zombie cover is that in the Dazzler book back in the 1980s, she was actually in a ‘Thriller’ type video in one issue.
June 1st, 2009 at 4:52 pm
LOL, me too tought it was homage to the marvel comics covers of the 80s and 90s, LOL
June 1st, 2009 at 5:13 pm
“And didn’t Marvel celebrate their 30th anniversary only 18 years ago? 30+18 does not equal 70.”
The 30th was for the Marvel Age of comics (FF #1, 1961). The 70th goes back to the beginning (Marvel Comics #1, 1939).
June 1st, 2009 at 6:16 pm
good thing nobody under 20 will get these
June 1st, 2009 at 7:10 pm
“The 30th was for the Marvel Age of comics (FF #1, 1961). The 70th goes back to the beginning (Marvel Comics #1, 1939).”
Oh, so they’re including two decades when they weren’t Marvel?
That’s pretty lame
June 1st, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I also find these covers quite lame. The Thriller one could be better. They could actually be doing the Thriller dance. But the fact the Crystar is on it makes it better. At least he represents 80’s Marvel. I would have rather seen 80 & 90’s STYLE Marvel covers.
June 1st, 2009 at 8:22 pm
“Oh, so they’re including two decades when they weren’t Marvel?
That’s pretty lame”
Marvel has only been Marvel since 1961. Before that, they were Timely (from 1961-1950s), then Atlas Comics (1950s-1961). Timely was started by Martin Goodman, who was a publisher at the time. Rather than publishing everything under one brand name, publishers would start “new” companies to take advantage of new trends. Thus, an older company could launch a new book (like say super-hero comics) under a new brand name, without damaging the original brand should it all fall apart. Goodman started Timely Comics to do just that: launch a line of super-hero comics. When the super-hero trend started to run its course, Goodman started Atlas comics to launch Western, romance, and horror comics. And when that fell through, Goodman launched Marvel Comics (a logo that was being used in the 50s, but not on all comics). They are all essentially the same company, and they share the characters, they just have different names due to their differing genres.
And, the War Machine cover is the hands down best cover I’ve ever seen. I want the original art, and I want it NOW!
June 1st, 2009 at 9:11 pm
War Machine playing guitar like Kurt Cobain has to be one of the dumbest images I’ve ever seen. So many people are calling for Dan Didio to resign, but I don’t hear much in the way of thinking Quesada should resign. His reign has all but destroyed Marvel for me.
June 2nd, 2009 at 12:44 am
you know the crystar thing is great as are these covers…the crystar issue of assistant editors month way back when was one of the best (ok marvel team up aunt may and franklin richards was the best) so thats a great reference
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:12 am
Anniversaries in comics are just a great big joke. How is anyone supposed to take comics seriously when comics won’t take THEMSELVES seriously?
A Marvel book will celebrate a 25th issue anniversary, then celebrate a 400th issue anniversary for the same title just 3 months later; because it reverted to the original numbering for that month only. Then back to new numbering for the 50th issue, then back to the original numbering for the 425th anniversary… and so on.
They seem to be doing the same thing with their own history. They celebrated 30 years 18 years ago, are celebrating 70 years today, and will celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2011, just a couple of years down the line.
Do you see movie studios, sports franchises or any other type of corporation treat itself with as little seriousness as comics do? Imagine the field day SNL or even conventional media would have if NBC or 20th Century Fox celebrated a 30th, a 70th and a 50th anniversary for itself — in that order — all within a 20-year span.
/AS
June 2nd, 2009 at 1:47 am
Not to begrudge anyone their favorite artist or title, But that artwork is Horrible! They make Rob Liefeld look like Frank Frazetta by comparison. The quality of artists at Marvel has really gone down the past few years. Whatever happened to “Drawing Comics the Marvel Way”? Oh Yeah, Quesada is in charge, almost forgot.
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:16 am
I was hoping the “Decade Variants” would be making the covers looking exactly like they did in that particular time period – old logos and all.
I guess they sort of did that with She-Hulk but still. I expected better.
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:17 am
Also? I’d totally buy that Zombies comic if Crystar is actually in it.
June 2nd, 2009 at 2:33 am
That War Machine cover is genius. Genius. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, which is why its just so beautiful.
June 2nd, 2009 at 3:19 am
I also thought that the Decade Variants would mimic the layouts of comic covers of that era. I think I would prefer it if that was the plan. I’m wondering what the 30’s and 40’s variants are going to be like, and how many people will actually get the reference. Although that cover with War Machine in the Nirvana film clip is pretty damn awesome.
June 2nd, 2009 at 6:38 am
I first read the headline and thought they were going to re-do some popular COMIC covers from the 80’s/90’s, not MUSIC video re-do’s. Ever since they struck gold with “Zombie” covers they are desparate for another cover “gimmick” that doesn’t rely on what’s inside to sell the book. It’s really sad when you think about it.
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:12 am
So is War Machine a lefty?
Otherwise, he isn’t playing that guitar the right way.
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:14 am
nevermind, I forgot Kurt played lefty…I’m an idiot, the covers still suck though.
June 2nd, 2009 at 7:28 am
Anal Surprise, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. For instance, the Dodgers could easily celebrate their 100th anniversary of being the Dodgers in 2011 (even though the team dates back to 1883 under other names) even though they had their 50th anniversary of relocating to LA last year. People realize that they are different milestones being celebrated, with each being important in its own way. They Dodgers have 3 important dates in their history that help define the team. 1) It’s inception in 1883. 2) Becoming the Dodgers in 1911. 3) Moving to LA in 1958.
Each date has significance and validity as being celebrated as an anniversary, and I don’t think many people would think less of them for each one being recognized by the team.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:06 am
I think the She-Hulk cover is a homage to Groove is in the Heart by Deee-Lite.
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:19 am
Since when are comics supposed to take themselves seriously?
June 2nd, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Personally, I don’t like phrases like “100th anniversary issue”.
An “anniversary” is a celebration of a year going by. So the “100th anniversary issue” would be the issue celebrating 100 years since issue #1.
The 100th issue is just the 100th issue.
June 3rd, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I love the Marvel Zombies cover. Looks like a Thriller homage.
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:09 pm
no captain britain in Geri Halliwell’s infamous union flag dress?
June 4th, 2009 at 5:48 am
The fourth set started already! Boy am I behind. Off to get Marvel Zombies!
June 10th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Another excuse for more stupid variant covers. What is it the 15th anniversary of the flood of pointless variant covers from the 90’s?
June 15th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
So……….. How do we get these?
June 27th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Oh, the irony of all ironies……
….In that the 80’s Variant Cover for MARVEL ZOMBIES FOUR #3 will probably be one of the most sought out covers; due to the untimely passing of the King of Pop…..Michael Jackson….