My love for cover homages continues!
Flipped through this month’s Marvel Previews catalog for books shipping in December and came across the solicit for Extraordinary X-Men #17 which is an Inhumans vs X-Men tie-in issue. Marvel has been racing (forcing?) these two franchises to an eventual confrontation and I can’t wait until it’s here and gone to see what happens in the aftermath. Whose side are you on?! Oh wait – wrong event.
Anyway, what struck me was the image that went along with the solicit: it’s a Secret Wars #4 cover homage! The Extraordinary X-Men cover is by David Yardin in an homage to the Bob Layton cover from 1984 where the Hulk is holding up billions of tons of rock to protect his fellow Marvels. It was an effective cover at the time and the homage proves it’s still so today. In the Yardin cover, Storm is in Hulk’s place and her fellow X-Men are trapped underneath. I especially like the faces of the Inhumans carved into the rock facade as an added touch. It’s interesting to note that on the original Layton cover, there are no X-Men present – since they were off on a different part of Battleworld when the mountain range was dropped on the other heroes.
Searching for a full image of the Yardin cover brought up other Secret Wars #4 homages. Enough to warrant the compilation below. I’m sticking to published covers, as opposed to fan art or commissioned recreations. But I did include an unearthed rejected cover by Layton for Secret Wars #4. Which is also a treat to see.
If I missed any others, let me know. Enjoy!
MAIN IMAGE: Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars 4 (1984) by Bob Layton.
ROW 1:
– rejected Bob Layton cover for Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars 4
– Ms. Marvel 9 (2014) Deadpool “75th Anniversary” photobomb variant by Paul Renaud. Notice that Hawkeye and Cpt. America or more or less in the same position as the original cover. Mr. Fantastic is on the correct side but in a different position. Spider-Man was switched to the other side. And Iron Man is laying in a similar manner.
ROW 2:
– Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars 1 (2015) Skottie Young Baby variant. Iron Man, Spider-Man and Cpt. America are pretty much the same. Hawkeye as well, except in a more modern cover. And Black Widow and Thor have been added (although Widow didn’t participate in the original Secret Wars). I assume Young threw her in because of the Avengers movies?
– Extraordinary X-Men 17 (2016) by David Yardin. The image that kicked off this entire post.
Secret Wars #4 was the issue that introduced me to the Marvel Universe, as far as collecting comics goes. Sure, I knew Spider-Man and Fantastic Four and Hulk from TV (and I’m certain I was aware of others, as well, from cartoons and such), but this was my first “Superhero” comic purchase from Marvel, and it led to a deep dive into mid-80s Marvel. My copy is well worn, but it holds a special place in my collection. And it was definitely that cover image that lured me in.
That’s interesting! I feel that way about some titles from the 80s – I question why I picked up an issue and not the issue before. I know I saw earlier issues of Legion of Super-Heroes and the Flash but I didn’t pick them up right away. Why? Fun to think about.