Hip-hop variant covers will be invading Marvel this year, bringing memorable poses from albums into their expanding universe.
Great news for the fans of Marvel and Hip-Hop! This fall Marvel will release unique Hip-Hop covers honoring some of the most iconic rap albums of all time. Fans of Hip-Hop have noticed over the decades how rappers have paid homage to some of their favorite comic book characters. Some even took their names from that sizable superhero pool such as Big Pun – named after The Punisher – and Jean Grae – named after Jean Grey from X-Men.
Early this year, Marvel’s Editor in Chief Axel Alonso sat down with Billboard and provided examples of how these Hip-Hop variant covers influenced the art in the comics. He provides different graphics that depict everything from a kid with a boom box on the streets to Ant-Man posing outside of a luxury race car dressed in a stereotypical Miami party outfit. Alonso’s exact quote is as follows:
“For years, Marvel Comics and Hip-Hop culture have been engaged in an ongoing dialog. Beginning this October, we will shine a spotlight on the seamless relationship between those two unique forces in when we unveil the first of more than fifty variant covers, each of which pays tribute to an iconic album cover from the past 30 years that shaped pop-culture over the past three decades.”
This long standing relationship between Hip-Hop and comics has allowed rappers to be featured in comics before from both Marvel and their own independent sources with some artists even releasing comics with albums. I am excited to see these Marvel Hip-Hop variant covers as the next step in this ongoing relationship.
Check out Marvel’s Hip-Hop variant covers and their album counterparts below.
Notorious BIG’s Ready to Die inspired Ant Man:
Dr. Dre’s The Chronic inspired Dr. Strange:
A$AP Rocky’s LONG.LIVE.A$AP inspired Captain America:
De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising inspired X-Men:
Wu-Tang Clan’s Enter The Wu-Tang 36 Chambers inspired Squadron Supreme:
50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ inspired Iron Man:
Lauryn Hill’s Miseducation of Laruyn Hill inspired Ms. Marvel:
