Homage cover explained

Homage cover, in comics, is the intentional copying of a cover from an earlier comic book or graphic novel that directly acknowledges the original artist. Homages often occur when a comic is rebooted to demonstrate continuity with earlier volumes. A common target of homage is the first edition of a particular comic (see list below).

List of homage targets

Covers that have been frequently homaged include:

• Amazing Fantasy #15 - first appearance of Spider-Man; Spidey swings across the page carrying a crook
• Fantastic Four #1 - where a giant monster emerges from below a street.
• Action Comics #1 - where Superman holds a car over his head.
• Superman #1 - where Superman is posed in the middle of a leap high above a city skyline.
• Superman #14 - where Superman stands with a bald eagle on his left arm.
• Superman #243 - where Superman is kissing a woman whose face is not shown due to the perspective of the pose.
• Justice League #1 - members of the team standing in ranks looking upwards to the 'camera'.
• Giant-Size X-Men #1 - where the new team of X-Men seemingly burst out from the cover while the older X-Men team looks on horrified from above.
• The Incredible Hulk #1 - Bruce Banner is over shadowed by the Hulk.
• Superman #199 - Superman races the Flash in a foot race (cf. Superman #463).
• Adventure Comics #247
• Adventure Comics #300
• Avengers #4 - Best known for the heroes charging towards the reader, particularly Captain America holding his shield on one arm, with his right arm pointing backward.
• What If? #1 - Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four burst through a page of black-and-white comic book art.
• Uncanny X-Men #136 - A weeping Cyclops holds the dead Jean Grey in his arms. (As Thor #127 (1966) or after Crisis on Infinite Earths #7 (Superman 1985)). This kind of cover was an homage to Michelangelo's Pietà. https://web.archive.org/web/20140814015615/http://www.comics101.com/guestlecturer/?mode=project&action=view&project=Guest%20Lecturer&chapter=17
• Transformers #5 - Shockwave standing in front of a wall with the words "Are All Dead".
• Uncanny X-Men #141 - older versions of Wolverine and Kitty Pryde stand before a poster featuring their fallen comrades. The beginning of the "Days of Future Past" storyline.

See also

• Comics vocabulary
• Marvel Zombies Covers – each cover in this series is a homage.
• Swipe (comics) – intentional copying in comics without crediting the original artist

External links

• great new cover swipe (Two more added)