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Marvel Comics have released the first wave of their hip-hop inspired variant covers planned for this month. The new promotion is another addition to an already heavy October for Marvel.
Marvel is in the process of wrapping up Secret Wars and set to introduce the first wave of new comics in their “All-New, All-Different” relaunch.
All of these variant covers (available as of this week) feature an artist re-imagining a famous hip-hop album cover, of course, with a super Marvel twist.
This isn’t the first time Marvel has published hip-hop-themed variant covers. Earlier this year, variants for Howard the Duck #2 and Deadpool #45 paid homage to hip-hop duo Run the Jewels.
This particular promotion has gathered both praise and controversy in recent weeks, with some accusing Marvel of cultural appropriation or criticizing the company’s lack of minority creators.
Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso recently told Comic Book Resources, “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.”
Check us out on YouTube as we discuss some of these covers and their impact on Marvel/hip-hop fans in our Heroes For Sale show, the Bay TV show gets uploaded on demand (and for international) viewing so be sure to subscribe to that so you don’t miss any of our geeky and awesome content. – http://bit.ly/1L7EwFU