>“For years, Marvel Comics and Hip-Hop culture have been engaged in an ongoing dialog,” Marvel EIC Axel Alonso said in a press release. “Beginning this October, we will shine a spotlight on the seamless relationship between those two unique forces.”
Here's the eighty Marvel hip-hop variant covers revealed so far, by chronological reveal order. Pages from the free Hip-Hop Variant Sampler will be included if there's a matching one. Also included are the interviews on this topic.
Note that some of the longer YouTube URLs indicate that they're part of a playlist because the respective full album videos are not available because of muh copyright; the same case is with incomplete such playlists.
Foreword to the Hip-Hop Variant Sampler by Killer Mike of Run the Jewels.
Title: Extraordinary X-Men #1
Artist: Sanford Greene
Homage: De La Soul, "3 Feet High and Rising" (1989) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFTqs1ZuADQ]
>>Axel-In-Charge, July 24, 2015: http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/axel-in-charge-alonso-responds-to-marvels-hip-hop-variant-cover-criticism
>CBR News: Let's get into it about the hip-hop variants unveiled last week-- we'll talk the resulting conversation, but let's start out at the beginning. It's an effort that you were very closely involved in -- how inspired was it by how successful the Run the Jewels variant covers were earlier this year?
>Axel Alonso: The response to Run the Jewels variants was tremendous. And it confirmed what I already knew existed: a massive overlap between comics culture and hip-hop culture. I'm a lifelong hip-hop head. I was about 10 or 11 -- all about Earth, Wind & Fire and Parliament – when I heard [the Sugarhill Gang's] "Rapper's Delight" at the Doggie Diner on 23rd Street [in San Francisco], and it knocked me off my feet. I hunted down the EP and memorized all the lyrics and that was that. Hip-hop was a transforming force in my life. Hip-hop, basketball and comics are my three passions -- Korean food's number four. [Laughs]
>This variant program is an opportunity to show not only my love for hip-hop culture, but also the love of so many in Marvel's freelance community. Hip-hop inspires a lot of us. It is the musical score for a lot of our lives. This comes from a place of love.
>CBR: How quickly did you realize you could get as ambitious with it as you have? It's been said there's something around 50-plus covers in total coming, and readers have only seen about 15 at this point.
>>80924719
Title: Howard the Duck #1
Artist: Juan Doe
Homage: Ol’ Dirty Bastard, "Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version" (1995) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHnsDSh8-8w]
>Alonso: I knew this was an all-in initiative from the start. There was no doubt in my mind that there were more than enough iconic covers for us to pay homage to -- if anything, I knew there'd be covers we couldn't fit -- so we decided to do a variant for every new series launched under "All-New, All-Different Marvel," from October through February... which will probably mean around 55-60 covers. I enlisted the help of [Talent Manager] Rickey Purdin and [Assistant Editor] Chris Robinson and our one self-imposed rules was that any hip-hop artist -- no matter how much we loved them or how many great covers they had -- would be limited to one cover. We could've done 3 or 4 homages to A Tribe Called Quest covers, for instance, but this approach allows us to shine a spotlight on the broadest range of rappers -- Old School, New School, East Coat, West Coast, Southern, Gangsta, Trap Lords -- and span the decades to include contemporary artists and Old-School pioneers, like Eric B. & Rakim. One of the cool side effects of this whole thing is that, my son -- who's 12 and way into Vince Staples and A$AP Rocky -- saw a cover on my laptop and wanted to know who Schoolly D is! [Laughs]
>CBR: The covers seen so far definitely span eras all the way, up to some rather contemporary material like Tyler the Creator's "Wolf." So far of the artists involved, there are people who have been Marvel regulars as of late -- like Phil Noto, who did the "Squirrel Girl" variant based on that Tyler the Creator album -- yet we've also seen Marvel going out of that field to artists who haven't worked at the publisher in a while. What can you share about the process of picking which artists to bring in to contribute?
>>80924731
Title: Invincible Iron Man #1
Artist: Brian Stelfreeze
Homage: 50 Cent, "Get Rich or Die Tryin’" (2003) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgaXHCsmGK4]
>Alonso: Hip-hop and Marvel Comics are two vital threads of pop culture that have engaged in dialogue for at least a couple decades. A lot of people know that the Wu-Tang Clan reference Marvel characters in their rhymes, but few people know how many Marvel artists are deeply influenced by hip-hop music and its culture. These covers are an attempt to show that. To demonstrate how these two communities already overlap, and hopefully create [more] overlap; to increase the dialogue and open doors for new readers and new talent.
>Of the artists that we've announced -- and these are just a fraction of the artists doing these covers -- some are currently drawing for us: Sanford Greene, Damion Scott, Mahmud Asrar, Mike Del Mundo, Jenny Frison. Some worked for us in the past and door is still wide open for them: Keron Grant -- who did that amazing "All-New Wolverine" cover -- Brian Stelfreeze -- who did the amazing "Iron Man" cover -- Jason Pearson, did the amazing "Uncanny Avengers" cover, and Khary Randolph, whose upcoming Run-DMC homage is [insane]! [Laughs] I gave DMC an advance look and he loved it.
>What we haven't revealed yet -- I guess I'm doing it now -- is that many of the artists doing these variants have never worked for Marvel before, and we're using this unique platform to introduce them to our fans. Who knows, maybe they'll be part of the next wave of talent? Or maybe someone out there seeing their work will be inspired to pick up a pen or pencil, or sit down at a keyboard, and maybe they'll be part of the next wave of talent?
>storytiming covers
Next level shilling.
>>80924761
Title: Ms. Marvel #1
Artist: Jenny Frison
Homage: Lauryn Hill, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" (1998) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UCvf6lluIo]
>CBR: There definitely has been prominent criticism of the hip-hop covers, which spread very shortly after the covers were announced early last week. Primarily, the notion that this equals appropriation on Marvel's part, due to embracing a Black artform for a variant cover initiative while there's a noticeable lack of minority creators -- specifically Black creators -- on Marvel's current ongoing titles. What's your response to that criticism?
>Alonso: When we launched this initiative, we knew there would be critics. At San Diego Comic-Con, I was previewing the covers on my iPhone for Reggie Hudlin and Denys Cowan, both of whom were blown away. Denys is doing a cover, by the way -- any ideas which one...? [Laughs].
>Anyway, we talked about how that this initiative would likely be a lightning rod for a broader discussion about diversity in comics, and I said so be it, that's a good conversation to have. The entire comic book industry benefits from greater diversity, my editors -- who are very racially diverse, by the way -- know that, and you'll see that throughout the "All-New, All-Different Marvel" [initiative] that continues through February. I am very excited about the stuff we have planned -- especially "The Totally Awesome Hulk" and "Black Panther." Yes, Black Panther.
>>80924791
Title: Doctor Strange #1
Artist: Juan Doe
Homage: Dr. Dre, "The Chronic" (1992) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfIx-w0ufAo]
>But some of the "conversation" in the comics internet community seems to have been ill-informed and far from constructive. A small but very loud contingent are high-fiving each other while making huge assumptions about our intentions, spreading misinformation about the diversity of the artists involved in this project and across our entire line, and handing out snap judgments like they just learned the term "cultural appropriation" and are dying to put it in an essay. And the personal attacks -- some implying or outright stating that I'm a racist. Hey, I'm a first-generation Mexican-American...[Laughs]
>Not to mention the casual disrespect that's been shown to the artists involved in this. One op-ed was so lazily researched that when the writer was confronted with his litany of factual errors on Twitter, he apologized, saying he didn't know that most of the announced artists are Black. Dude, you call yourself a journalist: Do a Google search! [Laughs] And when he learned that the "3 Feet High and Rising" homage he'd asserted was in bad taste was rendered by an African-American artist [Sanford Greene] and that Posdnuos [of De La Soul] himself, gave props to the cover on Twitter, [the writer's] response was, "Well, to each his own." [Laughs] Look, the divide between these critics' response to this initiative and that of the outside world and, indeed, the hip-hop community they claim to speak for couldn't be bigger. I actually feel sorry for them.
>>80924777
>implying all storytimes are shill threads
>>80924814
Title: Captain America: Sam Wilson #1
Artist: Mahmud Asrar
Homage: A$AP Rocky, "Long. Live. A$AP." (2013) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxutR9Ckneg]
>The response of the hip-hop community to these variants has been tremendous. All the major hip-hop sites are shining a spotlight on this, and social media outside of comics has exploded with excitement -- which means we are talking to a new audience. We've revealed less than a quarter of our variant covers at this point, and already the hip-hop community is showering us with love -- including the hip-hop artists themselves. I'm talking luminaries: Killer Mike [of Run the Jewels], Posdnuos [of De La Soul], the legendary DMC, the Pharcyde, Pete Rock, Nas -- they've all expressed their excitement and joy on social media.
>They get what's going on here. Hip-hop has its roots in African-American culture. And part of the beauty of the music and culture is that it's grown into a culture that spans the globe and unites people of all races. At its core, hip-hop is a Black art form. It was pioneered by African-American artists -- and, of course, Hispanics -- but the contributions of all races to hip-hop's evolution into a global culture can't be denied. The artists that are doing these homages -- Sanford Greene, Damion Scott, Juan Doe, Mahmud Asrar, Brian Stelfreeze, Mike Del Mundo, Jason Pearson -- span the globe and the color spectrum. And all of them bring love to this project. This isn't just another assignment to them. I mean, have you seen Mike Del Mundo breakdance? [Laughs]
>CBR: I definitely appreciate your candor there -- and in a larger sense, you're saying definitively that there's a concerted effort to bring greater diversity in creators to Marvel's ongoing titles, and that's something we'll see the results of in the near future?
>Alonso: Yes. Our doors are open. Always have been.
Title: Spider-Man/Deadpool #1
Artist: Dave Johnson
Homage: Eric B. & Rakim, "Pain in Full" (1987) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjo9yepr964]
>>Artist Damion Scott on Mixing Rap and Comics for Marvel's "Hip-Hop Variants": http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2015/08/damion-scott-marvel-hip-hop-variants-interview
>As you should have seen, Marvel has been remixing some of your favorite hip-hop album covers with some of your favorite Marvel characters for their Marvel Hip-Hop Variants series, which are set to to drop in October. Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso says, “For years, Marvel Comics and Hip-Hop culture have been engaged in an ongoing dialogue. Beginning this October, we will shine a spotlight on the seamless relationship between those two unique forces.”
>We got a chance to speak with Damion Scott, a writer and artist who's worked on numerous books for DC Comics (Batman, Robin, Batgirl?) and Marvel (Web of Spider-Man, Ghost Rider), and has also linked up with Daryl McDaniels, a.k.a. the DMC from Run-DMC, on his "Daryl Makes Comics" project. Scott was commissioned to flip the cover art from Outkast's 1998 album Aquemini album with Black Bolt and Medusa from the Uncanny Inhumans series. He breaks down what it was like to work on the Marvel Hip-Hop Variants series, his lifelong love of hip-hop, and much more.
>Complex: I guess the first—and most obvious—question is how did the Hip-Hop Variants series come about?
>Damion Scott: I think the idea may be Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso’s brain child. Axel is a big hip-hop fan. I can only guess that he put in the push to get this in play.
Title: The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1
Artist: Phil Noto
Homage: Tyler, the Creator, "Wolf" (2013) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NBi7SpnIOI]
>>80924853
>Complex: The covers span a pretty wide range, from The Roots to 50 Cent. Did Marvel have any input on the covers that were used, or was that all your choice?
>Scott: That was Marvel's choice. They had to cover a few different bases in figuring out what Marvel titles to use and what records could be represented. If it were left up to the artists, we all would have chosen our favorite characters and albums, which may have lead to some doubling up of ideas. I know a few of the other artists and we probably would have fought over who would do Ready to Die, Illmatic, and 36 Chambers.
>Complex: Were there any deeper reasons behind matching the different Marvel characters to the covers they were being re-imagined in?
>Scott: I think matching the covers up came through a variety of reasons. In some cases there are humorous associations—like with the Howard the Duck/ODB cover. In some its just phonetic like with the Doctor Strange/Dr. Dre cover. With my cover it was the other-worldly vibe of both the Aquemini cover and the Uncanny Inhumans. That’s what’s kinda fresh about these covers—it's finding the connection between the Marvel characters and the hip-hop artists/albums; it's different in each case.
Title: Squadron Supreme #1
Artist: Mike Del Mundo
Homage: Wu-Tang Clan, "Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)" (1993) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjWFM-LTffU]
>>80924865
>Complex: You’ve had quite the background in comics as well, with your work being featured in everything from Batman to Spider-Man books, as well as working on "Darryl Makes Comics" with the legendary DMC. How important was it to you to be involved with Marvel’s Hip-Hop Variants project?
>Scott: It was very important to me to be a part of this project. I’ve seen the potential for a bridge between hip-hop and comics since the beginning of my career. It was an honor to work on a hip-hop/comic project that also paid homage to the real recording artist and records that I grew up with. Also, a bunch of the artists that Marvel selected are guys that I felt shared the same passion for hip-hop. We’ve been waiting for something like this for a long time—it's great to see it come into fruition.
Title: Amazing Spider-Man #1
Artist: Mike Del Mundo
Homage: A Tribe Called Quest, "Midnight Marauders" (1993) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4pwKKJ5TJU&index=1&list=PLGTXLm-c7Yb6olvEiTHHYoJ9c-hZlUOgF]
>>80924873
>Complex: We’ve seen your aforementioned Outkast/Uncanny Inhumans cover; can you talk about the process behind transforming the Aquemini cover to highlight Inhumans like Black Bolt and Medusa?
>Scott: It was a bit tricky at first. Aquemini was one of my all-time favorite albums—the thought of doing something that kinda represented Big Boi and Andre 3000 as well was a bit intimidating. I fell into it when I started to see the correlation between the characters and the rappers—Black Bolt's power can destroy worlds with his speech—that's very Andre 3000. Big Boi is a really smooth dude with the potential to sneak up on you with some gangster wit—I felt that with Medusa and her hair—smooth and flowing, but can attack and strangle the enemy. I wanted the cover to have the same kind of "out of this world" ancient/astrological vibe that the Aquemini cover had. Fortunately the Inhumans already carry that intergalactic feel. The juxtaposition of the different character types did a lot of the work for me.
>Complex: Are there any Hip-Hop Variants that you didn’t work on that you find especially amazing?
>Scott: My favorites were the Howard the Duck/Ol’ Dirty Bastard, the Eric B and Rakim/Spider-man and Deadpool, and I really liked Keron Grant's execution of the DMX, It's Dark and Hell is Hot/All-New Wolverine cover. They were all fun to see, but those stood out to me the most.
Title: The Astonishing Ant-Man #1
Artist: Mark Brooks
Homage: The Notorious B.I.G., "Ready to Die" (1994) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2RdaHh0U-s]
>>80924901
>Complex: What’s on the horizon for you as an artist–do you have any projects with Marvel on the horizon?
>Scott: More comics that bridge hip-hop and pop culture. Marvel has supported my career for years, I pretty much always have something cooking with them. Unfortunately in terms of publishing that's all I can give away at the moment, you’re just gonna have to keep a look out. I’m also working with a collective of graffiti/street artists from around the world called The Uber Shoppe. We collaborate on murals, art shows, and other art projects within our respective communities.
>Complex: What are you listening to these days? What are some of your favorite hip-hop albums from 2015, or just any classic rap albums you loved?
>Scott: A good friend of mine put me on to Vince Staples. I’ve been listening to his stuff a lot lately. His Hell Can Wait EP is FIRE! Vince carries that old feeling but takes it to some new places. Earl Sweatshirt, Chance the Rapper, Ratking. I like my hip-hop more creative than clubby. I thought Kendrick's new album To Pimp a Butterfly was very thoughtful—we need more of that. All-time favorites include Wu-Tang's 36 Chambers, Nas' Illmatic, Erik B and Rakim's Don’t Sweat the Technique, Cannibal Ox's The Cold Vein, and I’m a Brooklyn head, so of course anything Biggie Smalls or Jay Z.
Title: Uncanny Inhumans #1
Artist: Damion Scott
Homage: OutKast, "Aquemini" (1998) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcOuVLtNxeM]
Title: All-New, All-Different Avengers #1
Artist: Jim Cheung (colors by Jason Keith)
Homage: The Roots, "Illadelph Halflife" (1996) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBwKjuwSQ8c]
>"The outpouring of love from hip-hop fans, global music-centric websites, as well as musical luminaries like Nas, Run the Jewels, Posdnuos, Questlove, DMC, and Pete Rock speaks volumes about the ongoing cross-cultural dialog that prompted these homage covers," Marvel Comics EIC Axel Alonso tells Billboard. "That dialog will only increase as readers get the full picture of Marvel's offerings in the coming year, and see what lurks beneath the covers."
Title: All-New Hawkeye #1
Artist: Sanford Greene
Homage: Pete Rock & CL Smooth, "Mecca and the Soul Brother" (1992) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3z6tGL6uAA]
>Axel Alonso, the Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics, explains that the fusion of hip-hop and Marvel comics makes sense because both are "really big, powerful threads of pop culture" and that they both are rooted in the art of sampling and remixing. Over his career he's seen rappers like members of the Wu-Tang Clan and Killer Mike give shoutouts to their favorite superheroes, while watching artists create their work while listening to beats.
>"As Editor in Chief, I take the long view on this campaign," he told The FADER. "We have amazing stuff coming out this year until at least February. And this campaign reflects a lot of the diversity of our lineup—characters, creators, and writers. This is the head of spear. My hope is that this is being embraced by hip hop."
Title: Nova #1
Artist: Eric Canete
Homage: J. Cole, "Born Sinner" (2013) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9Daix84HS4]
Title: Spider-Man #1
Artist: Adi Granov
Homage: Nas, "Illmatic" (1994) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSkAyVbrh_o]
>>A 2Dope Interview w/ Marvel Editor In Chief Axel Alonso: http://2dopeboyz.com/2015/08/21/marvel-axel-alonso-hip-hop-variant-interview/
>If you've been frequenting the DopeHouse (or the internets in general), you've surely seen at least one of Marvel's awesome variants to classic Hip-Hop album covers. From Illmatic to Aquemini, Straight Outta Compton to Get Rich Or Die Tryin, the talented crew of illustrators have been putting their foot in these designs for a few months now. And as they begin to come up on the original goal of 50-60 covers, we picked the brain of Marvel's Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso about the inspiration behind the project, the warm response from artists, and the wide range of ethnic backgrounds that help make up the team.
>Oh, and we also secured a new cover to unveil at the end...
>2DOPEBOYZ: What inspired this concept of recreating classic hip-hop album covers with Marvel characters?
>Axel Alonso: We do a lot of theme-based variants – homages to movie posters, fine art, album covers – so I’d been toying with the idea of doing a wave of variants inspired by Hip-Hop album covers. The phenomenal response to the Run the Jewels variants we did a few months ago confirmed something I knew in my gut: a lot of Marvel Comics fans are Hip-Hop fans, and a lot of Hip-Hop fans are Marvel Comics fans.
>2DBZ: Do you recall the first conversation that came up regarding remaking these album variants?
>Alonso: I just told [SVP for Print, Sales & Marketing] David Gabriel, who oversees our variant cover campaigns, “Hey, I want to do a Hip-Hop variant cover for every new launch from October through February. Not some titles, every title.” And he said, “Okay, just don’t do Vanilla Ice.”
Title: Contest of Champions #1
Artist: Denys Cowan (inks by Bill Sienkiewicz and colors by Chris Sotomayor)
Homage: GZA, "Liquid Swords" (1995) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-WJTcAvcHI]
>>80924995
>2DBZ: So there no push back before the idea actually came to fruition?
>Alonso: No pushback whatsoever. We do theme-based variants all the time – covers that homage movie posters, fine art, American history, album covers. What set this initiative apart was its scope – we’re doing one for every new release – and the theme itself, which has hit a nerve.
>2DBZ: I have to assume that there are some hip-hop heads over at Marvel?
>Alonso: Yeah, there are a few, but especially [Assistant Editor] Chris Robinson, who worked with me and [Talent Manager] Rickey Purdin on this campaign. Unlike me, most of my editors grew up in a world where Hip-Hop already existed. They can’t imagine a world where it doesn’t exist. It’s like my son, Tito, who’s 12 – he’s, like, “Papa, are you friends with any rappers that actually play on the radio?” He’s all about young guns like A$AP and Vince Staples and Earl Sweatshirt.
>2DBZ: What is the process that goes into recreating these covers? How do you choose which superheroes fit and which album covers to recreate?
>Alonso: Where to start? Well, there were certain artists – certain covers – that we just had to do, know what I’m saying? Illmatic [Nas], The Chronic [Dr. Dre], Straight Outta Compton [N.W.A.], 3 Feet High and Rising [De La Soul], The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. And you can’t do something like this and not include artists like Wu-Tang Clan, or Meth, or Raekwon, or GZA, who drop references to comics all the time in their lyrics. This is your chance to holler back.
Title: Hercules #1
Artist: Theotis Jones
Homage: Lil B, "Black Flame" (2011) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iUk_iOD8rk&index=1&list=PLD2FB2394C49ADB0F]
>>80925015
>So the process kind of started with those covers. There were a few [comic book] artists that I looped in right away because I knew they were Hip-Hop heads – Sanford Greene, Damion Scott, Juan Doe, Mike Del Mundo – and got them rolling on some of the most iconic covers right away, and we built from there. Like I said, some of the covers – the Sam Wilson: Captain America/Love.Live.A$AP homage or the Dr. Strange/The Chronic homage – were no-brainers. Others – the Karnak/Saturday Night: The Album cover, the Squirrel Girl/Wolf cover – took more thought.
>2DBZ: Hip Hop and comic books have always had this silent partnership behind the scenes, do you think these variant covers will bring these two world's closer together in the public eye?
>Alonso: That’s my hope. For decades, Hip-Hop artists have been shouting out to Marvel Comics; this is us shouting back. We’re two vital threads of pop culture that love to cross-pollinate with other art forms, so here you go.
>2DBZ: How has the response been?
>Alonso: Fantastic. I knew this initiative would excite people, but I had no idea we’d get the crazy support from so many of the rappers themselves. Killer Mike was the first to give us a shout-out on Twitter. Questlove, Posdnuos, Pete Rock, DMC and Lil B all weighed in, too. The one that blew me away was Nas. When Mass Appeal showed him our Illmatic/Miles Morales homage, he said, “This is a dream in real life.” When the artists themselves embrace what you’re doing, that speaks volumes.
Title: The Mighty Thor #1
Artist: Mike Deodato
Homage: MF DOOM & Madlib are Madvillain , "Madvillainy" (2004) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ0yXh_ADlQ&list=PL9dk_xtWpAkKs1-EKcvq-nKwdaaS-3czd&index=1]
>>80925028
>2DBZ: There has been this stigma that there is a glass ceiling that doesn't allow African Americans the opportunity to work as an illustrator at a major comic book company, but what is the reality of the situation?
>Alonso: There is no glass ceiling. Marvel is always looking for talent, plain and simple. Race is not an issue. Our artists span the globe. Humberto Ramos is a Mexican, Leinil Francis Yu is Filipino, Sara Pichelli is Italian, Stacey Lee is Chinese-American, Frank Cho is Korean-American, Esad Ribic is Croatian, Mike Deodato is Brazilian, Mahmud Asrar is Turkish, Gurihuru is Japanese, Stephanie Hans is French, Gerardo Zaffino is Argentinian. And there is no absence of prominent Black or African-American artists. Olivier Coipel, Sanford Green, Damion Scott, Jason Pearson, Keron Grant, Brian Stelfreeze – all of them have worked – or are currently working – for Marvel, some factor into the near-future, and all are always welcome here. This variant cover program is already opening the doors for more Black artists.
>2DBZ: What's your favorite cover thus far?
>Alonso: Don’t even try, bro! That’s like picking a favorite child.
Title: Spidey #1
Artist: Gyimah Gariba
Homage: Lil Wayne, "Tha Carter IV" (2011) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhIJseF9aeU&list=PLasA1IRBDbhznzikPfwuyzXBDErO8AjMy&index=1]
>>VIBE interview with Alonso the following week: http://www.vibe.com/2015/08/marvel-hip-hop-variants-iggy-azalea-clipse-axel-alonso-interview/
>When Axel Alonso graduated from UC Santa Cruz and Columbia University with degrees in politics, sociology and journalism, the San Francisco native had no idea he’d have a fruitful career in combining hip-hop with comic books.
>Back in 2000 when Alonso joined Marvel Comics as an editor, the comic book behemoth was near bankruptcy. However, thanks to Alonso’s Marvel MAX line, Amazing Spider-Man and X-Men series, Marvel Entertainment was picked up by Walt Disney for a hefty sum of $4.24 billion.
>Fast forward to 2015 and Alonso is now the genius behind Marvel’s Hip Hop Variants series.
>Get a first look of the covers above and get (more) familiar with the man behind the Hip Hop Variants series below.
Title: Spider-Man 2099 #1
Artist: Afu Chan
Homage: De La Soul, "3 Feet High and Rising" (1989) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFTqs1ZuADQ]
>>80925052
>VIBE: What’s your connection with hip-hop?
>Axel Alonso: My dad was into an array of music. My mom was into soul and gospel. Rock music wasn’t part of my upbringing at all but I vividly remember being at a diner with a friend, probably after playing basketball, and this song comes on the radio. It’s the back theme to “Good Times” by Chic and these guys are just talking smack like on a basketball court. It was crazy fun and they tell these crazy stories. Of course, it’s the Sugarhill Gang “Rapper’s Delight”. I heard the music and I was like, “Holy sh*t, what the hell is that?’ I begged my dad to help me find that record and I just kept my ear to what was going on. But, also, you hear hip hop echoed in everything, from Rick James to P-Funk. So that’s how far I go back with hip-hop. I’ve been listening to it since the beginning—Grandmaster Flash, Treacherous Three, N.W.A.—it’s always been part of my life, even my friends and family.
>VIBE: Was merging comics and hip-hop something you wanted to do as a child?
>Alonso: Well, I never viewed comics as a profession. My parents were all about getting an education. I have a degree in politics. I have a graduate degree in journalism so I was trained to be in those fields. I saw an ad in the New York Times one day that an imprint at DC Comics was hiring an editor for non-superhero comic books. I sent in my resume and it was one of these weird situations where the editor interviewed me in his office. And he only called me in because he read this story I’d written in the Daily News about the popular culture. He tore this article out of the paper and kept it. He remembered my name because my name was uncommon so that’s really how it came about. He offered me the job. I pondered for some time and then I took it.
Title: Spider-Woman #1
Artist: Natacha Bustos
Homage: Big Pun, "Capital Punishment" (1998) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbNzoQZTY5Q]
>>80925052
>VIBE: When you interviewed for this job, you already had this idea of merging hip-hop and comics?
>Alonso: Yes, I did. I view hip-hop and comics as being two strands of pop culture that thrive from cross-pollination across the media. Hip-hop and comic books survive by being aware of the outside world and what’s going on in it. Hip-hop is built on, from back in the day with [Run-DMC’s] “Walk This Way” and so forth. The big merger between rock and hip-hop, talk about cross-pollination there. I like to interact these two cultures.
>VIBE: What’s your overall purpose for creating these Hip-Hop Variants?
>Alonso: What we’re trying to do with these covers is represent a broad array of covers as possible. We want to make sure that we cover a lot of bases. It just so happens that some of the best records ever made like [Nas’] Illmatic and [Notorious B.I.G.’s] Ready To Die also have some of the best album covers. So that was one of the things that was considered “the no-brainers.”
>VIBE: Speaking of your work, do you have any favorites?
>Alonso: It’s difficult. Obviously, I hate to pick favorites. It’s like a parent trying to pick a favorite child. I will say that there are some that I think are outstanding. I would say on a personal level, the A$AP Rocky one. I’m a big fan of the De La Soul one. My son is 12 and he’s all about Vince Staples and Earl Sweatshirt.
>VIBE: Who else are you listening to these days?
>Alonso: I’m huge on Vince Staples and Earl Sweatshirt as I mentioned before. I’m huge on A$AP Rocky. I like Joey Bada$$, and if I’m going to work out, I’m going to work out to Run The Jewels.
Title: Drax #1
Artist: Mike H. Choi
Homage: Kid Kudi, "Man on the Moon II" (2010) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR2h4zP5Ppc&list=PLuzAztnwdrW6TCCwKjIVZtgzEcPcMUG2u&index=1]
>>http://archive.is/wYiUa
>REVOLT: How did the concept of this pairing come together?
>Axel Alonso: A few months ago, we did two Run The Jewels/#tagthejewels variants and they absolutely blew up — nothing prepared us for the response. That confirmed what I’d always suspected: that a lot of comics fans are Hip-Hop heads, and vice versa. So I decided to go all in and do a Hip-Hop variant for every new release during the “All-New, All-Different Marvel” campaign, from October through April – around 60 titles.
>REVOLT: The overall theme of this fusion, in my opinion, seems to illustrate the blurred lines that tie these worlds together, while also drilling the message that art is art, no matter what it is or where it comes from. How would you define this collaboration?
>Alonso: Exactly. Hip-Hop music’s oxygen – the thing it thrives on – is dialog with other art forms. The music was built on “sampling” – on creating a sonic collage of sampled pre-existing sounds. Listen to Pete Rock, and you’ll hear echoes of classic R&B and jazz from deep in the crates; listen to el-p (Run the Jewels) and you’ll hear a sonic landscape that echoes everything from funk to metal to industrial. The same is true with Hip-Hop’s aesthetic; it’s always absorbing and reinterpreting other influences, always evolving into something new and fresh. It needs that dialog to thrive. Young guns like A$AP Rocky and Vince Staples echo the past, but pave the future.
Title: All-New Wolverine #1
Artist: Keron Grant
Homage: DMX, "Flesh Of My Flesh, Blood Of My Blood" (1998)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLHiRdW5xm8]
>>80925100
>That’s true of Marvel Comics, too. We’re modern mythology that’s stayed relevant for decades because we reflect the world around us. To stay relevant to the times, you have to reflect the times, and that starts by hiring editors, writers and artists with wide-ranging backgrounds, interests and tastes, and that’s been a priority with us. These Hip-Hop covers is Marvel shouting back to decades of Hip-Hop artists. We want the dialog to increase.
>REVOLT: What are the two levels of decision-making in determining what album and hero gets paired together?
>Alonso: Where to start? Well, there were certain covers that we just had to do: Illmatic, The Chronic, Straight Outta Compton, 3 Feet High and Rising, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. And there were a few iconic artists who drop references to comics all the time in their lyrics that we had to holler back to: Wu-Tang Clan, Meth, Raekwon, GZA, MF Doom, Lupe. So we started there; looped in a few [comic book] artists right away because we knew they were Hip-Hop heads – Sanford Greene, Damion Scott, Juan Doe, Mike Del Mundo – and got them rolling on the most iconic covers right away, and we built from there. Some cover concepts – Mahmud Asrar’s Captain America/Love.Live.A$AP or Juan Doe’s Dr. Strange/The Chronic homage – were no-brainers. Others – Kaare Andrews’ Karnak/Saturday Night: The Album, Phil Noto’s Squirrel Girl/Wolf, Mike Choi’s Venom/Black Elvis/Lost in Space – took more brainstorming with the artist. Our one self-imposed rule was that each rapper would be limited to one cover homage; that way we could do the broadest sampling of artists across three decades: East Coast, West Coast, Old School, New School, Gangsta, Trap Lords, etc.
Title: Guardians of the Galaxy #1
Artist: Shawn Crystal (colors by Frank Brunner)
Homage: The Pharcyde, "Bizarre Rde II The Pharcyde" (1992) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG5t2s586bc]
>>80925125
>REVOLT: What's been the feedback from artists?
>Alonso: We’ve had an amazing outpouring of support from the rappers themselves. Killer Mike [Run the Jewels] was the first artist to give us a shout out on Twitter, and the floodgates opened: Posdnuos [De La Soul], Pete Rock, DMC, Questlove, Lil B, Pharcyde, Kool Keith, Wale, Eminem and Nas all gave us a shout outs on Twitter. And someone told me this morning that Meth[od Man] and Snoop just Instagrammed Mike Del Mundo's "Tical" homage and Juan Doe’s "Doggystyle” homage. When the artists themselves embrace what you’re doing, that speaks volumes.
>REVOLT: Any personal favorites?
>Alonso: How can you do this to me!? They’re all so cotdang good. There’s Brian Stelfreeze’s Black Panther/Black Album…Adi Granov’s Miles Morales/Illmatic…Damion Scott’s Web-Warriors/Lord Willin’…Juan Doe’s Howard the Duck/Return of the 36 Chambers…Jenny Frisson’s Ms. Marvel/Miseducation of Lauryn Hill…Mahmud Asrar’s Captain America/_Love.Live.A$AP, Jeffrey Veregge’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur/Summertime ’06, _Sanford Green’s X-Men/3 Feet High and Rising, Keron Grant’s Wolverine/Flesh of My Flesh Blood of My Blood. I could keep going. I can’t pick.
Title: Uncanny Avengers #1
Artist: Jason Pearson
Homage: Public Enemy, "Yo! Bum Rush the Show" (1987) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FIrRCtEiu4]
>>https://revolt.tv/stories/2015/09/26/marvel-unveils-2pac-run-dmc-mos-def-inspired-comic-covers-exclusive-ba01b4c8f4
>Marvel certainly deserves one of Rich Homie Quan’s ‘going in’-related mixtape titles as a pseudonym, because if you ever think they will stop going in, think again. Or just ask Marvel Comics’ Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso. “We’re modern mythology that’s stayed relevant for decades because we reflect the world around us,” Alonso tells REVOLT. From movies to television, and comics, the Marvel powerhouse stays charged up, always.
Title: Star-Lord #1
Artist: Tradd Moore (colors by Val Staples)
Homage: 100s, "Ivry" (2014) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhSiuSKLfoY&index=1&list=PLxjkwclpxxIy045Epw_zil5CMNnjLQck5]
Title: A-Force #1
Artist: Adam Hughes
Homage: N.W.A, "Straight Outta Compton" (1987) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=767yNuj8ASY]
Title: Angela: Queen of Hel #1
Artist: Annie Wu
Homage: Nicki Minaj, "Pink Friday" (2010) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN3cZj3XVO0&list=PL11910D7D3A3F1D36&index=1]
Title: Spider-Gwen #1
Artist: Humberto Ramos (colors by Edgar Delgado)
Homage: Slick Rick, "The Great Adventures of Slick Rick" (1988) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V47Hp7EyhHg]
Title: New Avengers #1
Artist: Ed Piskor
Homage: Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, "The Message" (1982) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kjeWGQ175g]
Title: Karnak #1
Artist: Kaare Andrews
Homage: Schoolly D, "Saturday Night! - The Album" (1989) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFTqs1ZuADQ]
Title: Deadpool #1
Artist: Kaare Andrews
Homage: Wale, "Attention Deficit" (2009) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqPm0hGyugI&list=PL4396A612596A0CEB&index=1]
Title: Howling Commandos of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1
Artist: Wilfred Santiago
Homage: Gravediggaz, "6 Feet Deep" (1994) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6LlediIRhA]
Title: The Ultimates #1
Artist: Mike Deodato (colors by Jason Keith)
Homage: Fugees, "The Score" (1996) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCM5jsLrcn8]
Title: Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #1
Artist: Jeffrey Veregge
Homage: Vince Staples, "Summertime '06" (2015) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3tM674WHBo]
Title: Vision #1
Artist: Vanesa R. Del Rey
Homage: Wiz Khalifa, "Rolling Papers" (2011) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0Gxl1V800E&list=PL-UWPlRIl68rN3D4aW5pSMebJ9M4ei0aI&index=1]
Title: Captain Marvel #1
Artist: Marguerite Sauvage
Homage: Iggy Azalea, "The New Classic" (2014) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFFOqaLnHwg]
Title: Carnage #1
Artist: Ariel Olivetti
Homage: Redman, "Dare Iz a Darkside" (1994) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9IS7PxgOCc]
Title: Uncanny X-Men #1
Artist: Greg Land (inks by Jay Leisten and colors by GURU-eFX)
Homage: The Geto Boys, "The Geto Boys" (1990) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNYA_12KN2Y]
Title: Web Warriors #1
Artist: Damion Scott
Homage: Clipse, "Lord Willin' (2002) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kMXMGixvtI]
Title: All-New X-Men #1
Artist: Ed Piskor
Homage: Camp Lo, "Uptown Saturday Night" (1997) [://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKR9tlhUqWs]
>>http://allhiphop.com/2015/09/04/eminem-gets-the-marvel-variant-treatment/
“The latest sampling of Marvel’s Hip-Hop variants include nods to lyrical innovators, musical game-changers and one of rap’s biggest stars,” says [Axel] Alonso. “And who better to do these classic album covers justice than Ed Piskor, Keron Grant and the legendary Bill Sienkiewicz?”
It has a page in the Sampler, but I decided not to post it because of its filesize being too big.
Title: Starbrand and Nightmask #1
Artist: Keron Grant
Homage: Gang Starr, "Hard to Earn" (1994) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaVquNQo4ao]
>>http://www.mtv.com/news/2287918/marvel-comics-hip-hop-covers-exclusive/
>MTV News: You’ve unveiled so many of these at this point… Is this a second wave, or are you still pushing forward with these at this point?
>Axel Alonso: No, it was always planned. We knew that we were doing a variant to coincide with every number one launch that was part of this All-New All-Different Marvel Now launch. So these [covers] will encompass every book that’s launched between October and April. Since most of these titles come out in those first few months, we’ve been able to preview 3-4 every week.
>MTV: You’ve got a surprising mix here, from current Drake albums, to Missy Elliot albums that are over a decade old, to under-the-radar mixtapes. How did you decide on which would work for which title?
>Alonso: Well, the process changed. When we started this, we started knowing that there were going to be certain albums that you absolutely positively f–king had to do a variant to. And those covers were so iconic, and in many cases coincided with such an incredible record, that we knew we had to start there.
>Those covers got priority, Nas’ Illmatic was one of those, Dr Dre’s The Chronic was another, NWA’s Straight Outta Compton was yet another. I could keep going, but we knew those were covers we were going to have to do an homage to. I was talking with a few artists, who I know to be hip-hop heads because we correspond all the time, Stanford Green, Damien Scott, and so on, about these.
Title: Scarlet Witch #1
Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz
Homage: Eminem, "Relapse" (2009) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUhpV6jzLWU]
>>80925399
>So since they were involved in running discussions, they got dibs on some of the first ones right out of the gate. Sanford did 3 Feet High And Rising, the “X-Men” cover, so we started there. As we progressed, once we locked down, we just had to be centralized, we imposed on ourselves one rule… And that rule was that every recording artist would be limited to one cover.
>We could have done all of the Tribe Called Quest covers, you follow me? [But] we wanted to make sure that we spanned 30 years of hip-hop, and we wanted to span all of the various genres within it. We wanted old school, new school, west coast, east coast… We wanted gangsta, we wanted trap lord. We really wanted to show hip-hop in all its glory. As we moved along, we just checked an artist and an album off the list, and that was that.
Title: Weirdworld #1
Artist: Juan Doe
Homage: Snoop Doggy Dogg, "Doggystyle" (1993) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxWIwWs5MQc]
>>80925410
>MTV: I know you’ve been a big hip-hop fan from way back, so bringing this together with your other passion, comics, must have been a dream come true.
>Alonso: It is. For me, this is the music I grew up with. Whereas previous editor-in-chiefs have drawn their inspiration from the Beatles and Bruce Springsteen and you name it, I draw my inspiration from [hip-hop and R&B].
>This is the soundtrack to my life, and I also know this is the soundtrack to a number of other people’s lives that work in comics. And that group has grown, and grown over the years. I’ve been in comics now for some 25 years, and I’ve noticed that there are more and more people of all races who are into hip-hop. This is the music that they listen to.
>I think this is an instance where I’m having a lot of fun, allowing Marvel to holler back, so to speak, loud, at hip-hop. There’s a precedent for this. We do variants for all sorts of things, we’re a thread of pop-culture… We’ve done variants to move posters, we’ve done variants to album covers in the past, to flying art, you name it. We constantly do homages to assorted things in pop culture, and I just felt like, let’s do hip-hop.
>We did those two Tag The Jewels variants two months ago, and the response to them was just so off the hook that it confirmed to me what I always felt was true: that a lot of Marvel fans are hip-hop heads, and vice versa.
Title: Red Wolf #1
Artist: Mike Del Mundo
Homage: Method Man, "Tical" (1994) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUdbJWdFrik]
>>80925420
>MTV: Not to inject myself into the story, but I sit right next to our hip-hop team, and when the covers first hit, their reaction was, “these are cool!” And the hip-hop artists responded, and said, “these are cool!” And then I’d turn to my Twitter timeline, and comic fans and press were calling them “cultural appropriation.” Why do you think there was this disconnect?
>Alonso: I’m going to be polite. I think that many of the comments made… I was very clear in my first public statement that I absolutely, absolutely believe that Marvel benefits from being diverse, and that in fact, this initiative was the head of a spear.
>I said it then and I’m saying now, wait to see what we have planned. We would not have done this initiative if it wasn’t part of something larger, and a few of those announcements have come forward in recent weeks. They include “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur,” “The Totally Awesome Hulk,” Ta-Nehisi Coates on “Black Panther,” and there are more announcements to come.
>I understand that it’s a fair criticism to make, is Marvel serious about diversity if they have so few African-American writers? That’s a fair criticism. Ask us that question. I’ve answered it. We’ve been working on it, we’re course correcting. It’s a separate thing to level accusations that there’s no black artists involved in these covers, a statement that was made very early on and was rebuked.
>I was talking with artist Afua Richardson the other day, and she was telling me about how the day before her hip-hop variant was announced, she was talking with a group of people who were saying, “can you believe how there’s no black artists involved?” And she couldn’t wait to say, “well, I did one!”
Title: Guardians of Infinity #1
Artist: Marco Rudy
Homage: Kendrick Lamar, "To Pimp a Butterfly" (2015) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOQTRyyZ2Kc]
>>80925432
>But she could have gone down the list and included Sanford Green, and Damien Scott, and Marco Rudy — artists of all races doing these covers. Diversity is important, I’ve said that its important: I myself am Hispanic, and I have a Korean wife, it’s in my DNA to feel that diversity is an important thing in the field.
>But I have a hard time with people who have shifting sands arguments.
>Look, hip-hop’s oxygen is communication, or is dialogue with other art forms. It was built on sampling, on creating a sonic collage of preexisting sounds. And so you listen to Pete Rock, and there’s R&B and jazz buried in its DNA, you listen to LP’s Run the Jewels, and that goes from metal to funk.
>This is also true of Marvel Comics. Our oxygen is dialogue with other art forms, and we’re not going to be afraid to have that dialogue. Perhaps up to this point, the dialogue between Marvel and hip-hop has been a whisper… I hope that this and other things that we’re doing turns into a shout.
>MTV: To that end, do you think you’d want to get a Drake, or an Eminem, or someone else from the community to write a book?
>Alonso: I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility at all. I know that I’ve had creative flirtations with hip-hop artists in the past. What’s more important to me is that more and more people — I despise the term people of color but I’ll use it, because it’s a shorthand — more and more people of color feel that they understand that there’s a place for them here. That they can see more writers and artists as our talent pool expands, that look like them and have the same experiences as them.
Title: The Totally Awesome Hulk #1
Artist: Mahmud Asrar (colors by Dave McCaig)
Homage: Raekwon, "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx..." (1995) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekwKF81cFY4]
>>80925443
>Every writer, editor and artist is the sum total of their experiences. Their culture, which includes the food that they eat, the music that they listen to, the art that they listen to, the art that they look at, the films that they like… All of that’s reflected in their work. And as editor in chief, I can say we want as much reflected in our comics as possible. We want to be authentic, and we’re taking steps.
>And we’re making progress, we knew we were making progress when we announced this, we knew we had stuff to unveil when we announced this program.
Title: Venom: Space Knight #1
Artist: Mike H. Choi
Homage: Kool Keith, "Black Elvis/Lost In Space" (1999) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlYkKZsXGl0]
>>http://www.fuse.tv/2015/10/marvel-hip-hop-comic-book-covers
>Fuse: How'd you and the team decide which hip hop artists and albums got paired with which books?
>Axel Alonso: Well, we knew right out the gate that there were certain covers that we just had to do, you know? Illmatic, The Chronic, Straight Outta Compton, 3 Feet High and Rising. You don’t do something like this and not include those records. Also, there were rappers whose work so reflects Marvel Comics and its themes that we thought it would be a nice way to show some respect: Wu-Tang Clan, Meth, Raekwon, GZA, MF Doom, Lupe. So they made the list. We looped in a few comic book artists that were big hip hop heads—Sanford Greene, Damion Scott, Juan Doe, Mike Del Mundo—and they got rolling on those iconic covers right away, and we built from there.
>Some cover concepts—Mahmud Asrar’s Captain America/Live.Love.A$AP, Jenny Frisson’s Ms. Marvel/The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, Juan Doe’s Dr. Strange/The Chronic homage— were just no-brainers, you know? We married iconic covers to the character we felt best reflected them. There were other cases where we got a little more out there: Kaare Andrews’ Karnak/Saturday Night: The Album, Phil Noto’s Squirrel Girl/Wolf, Jeffrey Veregge’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur/Summertime ‘06—and that came from brainstorming with the artist.
>There were no rules except one: each rapper would be limited to one cover homage. We wanted to do the broadest sampling of artists across three decades: East Coast, West Coast, old school, new school, gangsta, trap lords.
Title: Old Man Logan #1
Artist: Tim Bradstreet
Homage: Ice Cube, "Death Certificate" (1991) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3DTJonraHY]
>>80925463
>Fuse: How'd you decide to include albums from the last few years alongside the OG classics?
>Axel Alonso: Hip hop’s got 30 years of history and we wanted to show that. A lot of us grew up with it. My 12-year-old son turned me onto Vince Staples; this was my chance to turn him onto Eric B. & Rakim.
>Fuse: Do you imagine these books being worth a fortune someday?
>Axel Alonso: They might. But we didn’t make these rare variants like the Run the Jewels 1:50 variant from a few months ago. The popularity of—and demand for—those variants really caught us by surprise. I mean, we knew a lot of folks would want them, but that many?!
>Fuse: What's an album from outside the hip hop world you'd love to see get this Marvel cover treatment?
>Axel Alonso: Black Flag’s Damaged...or Isaac Hayes’ Hot Buttered Soul.
Title: Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! #1
Artist: Javier Pulido
Homage: Diggable Planets, "Blowout Comb" (1994) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jGfdU5vSrk]
>>Axel-In-Charge, January 8, 2015: http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/axel-in-charge-embracing-the-star-wars-prequels-uncanny-x-mens-killer-lineup
>CBR: This week saw the release of Marvel's Hip-Hop Variant Sampler, free in comic shops. There are more of those covers forthcoming beyond what was initially expected -- is the plan going forward to keep doing them for as long as it makes sense?
>Alonso: The response to this initiative exceeded our wildest expectations. So, like the Skottie Young or Deadpool variants, they're going to be a regular part of our variant programs moving forth. And that free Hip-Hop sampler was just a taste. At some point, I hope to collect the first round of 50-60 covers into one volume.
>CBR: How did Killer Mike come on board to write the intro? Obviously the Run the Jewels homages were the original hip-hop variant covers at Marvel.
>Alonso: I asked him and he said he'd love to do it. His intro is great, very heartfelt, very personal, and it's clear he's a true fan.
Title: Black Panther #1
Artist: Brian Stelfreeze
Homage: Jay-Z, "The Black Album" (2003) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUtfE4XtqaU&index=1&list=PLQw3xggCuGQXFvjE1eAupUwnuwgzdd2Qq]
Title: Daredevil #1
Artist: Alex Maleev
Homage: 2Pac, "Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z." (1993) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7k1AeDvxbM]
Title: Silk #1
Artist: Woo Chul Lee
Homage: Mos Def, "The New Danger" (2004) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzm1BOn-N6Y&index=1&list=PL230AFA6F1B6F4B6B]
Title: X-Men '92 #1
Artist: Afua Richardson
Homage: Souls Of Mischief, "'93 'til Infinity" (1993) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Yzpo5FcYg]
Title: Rocket Raccoon and Groot #1
Artist: Khary Randolph
Homage: Run-DMC, "King of Rock" (1985) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9HGeH3pVGE&index=1&list=PL9cH1TMoR4gr3jtvY26eAbvzn3dYOoCPw]
Title: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1
Artist: Dave Johnson
Homage: Curren$y, "Verde Terrace" (2011) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHZzRvYD8C8]
Title: All-New Inhumans #1
Artist: Marco D'Alfonso
Homage: Future, "DS2 (Dirty Sprite 2)" (2015) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKr5Uvgc1HQ]
Title: Black Widow #1
Artist: Phil Noto
Homage: Missy Elliott, "Supa Dupa Fly" (1997) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rInMbdQLRv0&index=1&list=PL-UWPlRIl68ruTZ7daCh7elGfP6m8T9y2]
Title: Silver Surfer #1
Artist: Cliff Chiang
Homage: Drake, "Nothing Was the Same" (2013) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeXwkmItLdg]
>Right
>>80925689
>Left
Title: Moon Knight #1
Artist: Ricardo Lopez Ortiz
Homage: Schoolboy Q, "Oxymoron" (2014) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKh4UV0hRnw]
Title: Power Man and Iron Fist #1
Artist: Sanford Greene
Homage: Mobb Depp, "The Infamous" (1995) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KQ_nlXJYSQ]
Title: Black Knight #1
Artist: Gyimah Gariba
Homage: Lupe Fiasco, "Food & Liquor" (2006) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGsdA9lSV2U]
Title: Illuminati #1
Artist: Brittany Holloway-Brown
Homage: Ice-T, "Power" (1988) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGs0KLpoJdM&list=PLSQUMAtzJMUMHPqNvI7Y0UxXFQG4Y9F3C&index=1]
Title: Nighthawk #1
Artist: Bill Sienkiewicz
Homage: Big Sean, "Dark Sky Paradise" (2015) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BWGqu8rHqU]
Title: Deadpool #2
Artist: Mike Hawthorne
Homage: Vanilla Ice, "To The Extreme" (1990) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLVn3SnDosk]
Title: Punisher #1
Artist: Tim Bradstreet
Homage: LL Cool J, "Mama Said Knock You Out" (1990) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LTqKM3vRWQ&index=1&list=PLddSkUxmPEC-HV17f_RsUWDO23qTqckEa]
Title: Hyperion #1
Artist: Shawna Mills
Homage: Will Smith, "Big Willie Style" (1997) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6cvtxhUbRA]
Title: All-New Inhumans #5
Artist: Damion Scott
Homage: Sugar Hill Gang, "Rapper's Delight" (1980) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_iAwwTSk9I]
Title: International Iron Man #1
Artist: Marco D'Alfonso
Homage: Rhymefest, "Man in the Mirror" (2008) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlFfdPVT9lo]
The first hip-hop variant posted in this thread up to pic related will be the contents of Marvel: The Hip-Hop Covers Vol. 1 HC. More information on that HC later.
Title: Deadpool #7
Artist: Rahzzah (Scott Wilson)
Homage: Bun B, "TRILL" (2005) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m2bGgZ4kiE]
Title: Deadpool & The Mercs For Money #1
Artist: Rahzzah (Scott Wilson)
Homage: Pimp C, "The Naked Soul of Sweet Jones" (2010) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jn2u_av4Aqg&index=2&list=PLZIKIRTV9FC3OzZ39gdzfaMlV-Og-UNnW]
Title: Avengers Standoff: Welcome to Pleasant Hill #1
Artist: Andrew Robinson
Homage: OutKast, "Stankonia" (2000) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr94Lii9Z2g&list=PL9dThdR6I6dN9b-8sDe7vEtheOoNlAlaJ&index=1]
Title: Mockingbird #1
Artist: Jeff Dekal
Homage: Kool Moe Dee, "Knowledge is King" (1989) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5i4dMKW4zI&index=1&list=PLwoyYQXxXlKNVsgsBckdwVJIfoggqqphf]
Title: Captain America: Steve Rogers #1
Artist: Jeffrey Veregge
Homage: J Dilla, "Donuts" (2005) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7knamZ-Ue_A]
Title: Gwenpool #1
Artist: Woo Dae Shim
Homage: iLoveMakonnen, "I Love Makonnen" (2015) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JByFfpHpgs4]
Title: Thunderbolts #1
Artist: Anthony Piper
Homage: Naughty by Nature, "Naughty by Nature" (1991) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D9JQd5ZhQY]
>>http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2016/03/civil-war-ii-hip-hop-variants-covers
>Complex: Now you guys also cooked up three new Hip Hop Variants for Civil War II, and it was interesting to see that these were more old school with Naughty By Nature, Ultramagnetic MCs and Onyx. Were those covers picked for a specific reason?
>Alonso: You know, it’s a coincidence that they’re all old school. If you’ve seen the initiative itself, it spans everything from Schooly D to A$AP Rocky and Vince Staples—stuff that my son turned me on to. The long and short is that, no, it was coincidence.
>I was absolutely determined to do an Ultramagnetic MCs cover. Massive Kool Keith fan; I’ve been listening to hip-hop since I was 11, you know, Sugarhill Gang! I was hunting for the perfect cover; we had Onyx on the back burner as well; Naughty By Nature, they all lent themselves to team books, and we wanted our first two Civil War covers to give people a peek at the potential rosters for these teams.
Title: Civil War II #1 (Team Iron Man)
Artist: Rafael Albuquerque
Homage: Onyx, "Bacdafucup" (1993) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byWVIPLa-Oc]
>>80925942
>Complex: What's the feedback from the rappers who have been featured?
>Alonso It’s crazy. We have been endorsed by and gotten love from Run the Jewels—Killer Mike was one of the first people to shout out his appreciation for what we’re doing. Posdnuos of De La Soul has become a friend at this point, he’s so into these things; Pete Rock, who already was a friend. We’ve gotten shout outs from Wale; Eminem gave a very, very nice shout out to us; God parted the clouds and Nas reached out [to say] how much he loved them. Lil B reached out, Kool Keith retweeted his; we got nothing but love from the hip hop community and I think they they get it. We’re two art forms communicating with one another, and it’s also an attempt to increase this dialogue that needs to be louder. The line between hip hop and comic books is razor thin, and it needs to be broken down completely, you know?
Title: Civil War II #1 (Team Captain Marvel)
Artist: Terry Dodson (with Rachel Dodson)
Homage: Ultramagnetic MC's, "Critical Beatdown" (1988) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKw50EatAaU]
>>80925962
>Complex: The bigger question is, is there any end in sight in terms of the Hip Hop Variants series?
>Alonso: No. They’re here to stay. The response to them has been huge. The mandate with this series originally was that every single "All-New, All-Different" Marvel launch would have a Hip Hop Variant, so we were very selective. We decided that every recording artist would get one cover, we would avoid the temptation to give A Tribe Called Quest five covers, or do seventeen different versions of Illmatic. We would just make sure every artist [got a variant] so that way you’d get a wide ranging variety: old school, new school, West Coast, East Coast, you know, trap lords, what have you. That was the goal, and it was so successful that now we’re at the point where we’re going take the first seventy covers [and make] a beautiful oversized coffee table book. That'll be volume one.
>Complex: That’s awesome.
>Alonso: And the stuff that we’re doing now for Civil War II, and stuff we haven’t announced yet, will be volume two.
![HIPHOPCOVV1HC_COV1[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/GkrNMOT.jpg "HIPHOPCOVV1HC_COV1[1].jpg")
MARVEL: THE HIP-HOP COVERS VOL. 1 HC
Watch creative worlds collide like never before in the ultimate fusion of hip-hop and the House of Ideas! With an introduction by award-winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates — a National Book Award winner, a recent MacArthur Genius Grant recipient and the writer of Marvel’s BLACK PANTHER — this stunning volume showcases 70 comic-book covers inspired by some of the most iconic albums in music history. Experience page after page of incredible artwork featuring the heroes of the All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe — from A-Force to the X-Men — by an unbelievable roster of talent including Adam Hughes, Brian Stelfreeze, Jim Cheung, Mike Del Mundo, Sanford Greene, Jenny Frison, Phil Noto, Mahmud Asrar, Damion Scott, Tim Bradstreet, Keron Grant and Ed Piskor. Their finished covers sit side-by-side with behind-the-scenes sketches, showing the process of rendering some of the most famous images in hip-hop, Marvel style. Straight outta comics — and on to your bookshelf!
168 PGS./Rated T+ …$34.99
ON SALE 9/7/16
ISBN: 978-1-302-90233-9
Which of the hip-hop variants are the best or worst for you?
Hip-hop variants in limbo:
>Blade #1
>Miracleman by Gaiman & Buckingham: The Silver Age #3
END OF STORYTIME
>>80925799
wat
>>80924666
>tfw the controversy wasn't bigger
I wanted to see Alonso try and cover his ass some more
>>80926045
>35 dollars for a 160 page cover collection
get fucked
>>80927746
>people actually buy Marvel's overpriced shitty paper
Cool shill thread, op.
>>80927562
It probably didn't help that the most high-profile person complaining about it completely fucked up his argument so Alonso was able to point to him as a way of implying "See? Our critics are complete idiots!"
>>80928259
Who was this high profile person
>>80925410
>Relapse
Of all the covers they could go with they went with that piece of shit album?
Is there going to be a physical version of this coming out? I could never get my hands on the variants since all my lcs are small time
>>80928282
Some guy who wrote an article for The Guardian. That's not really high-profile, but probably more high-profile than a comic site.
>>80928772
Read the thread, it's literally 9 posts above yours
>>80928834
I was too busy looking at the covers, I saw the answer like right after I posted
>people read marvel comics
