Marvel's upcoming Dark Ages event is getting a variant cover referencing the company's biggest event of the '80s -- Secret Wars.
Penciled by Tony Daniel, the Dark Ages variant cover is an exclusive for Ssalefish Comics in North Carolina and Wonderworld Comics in Michigan. It shows Marvel's heroes re-creating their forward charge depicted on the original 1985 cover of Secret Wars #1, which was penciled by Mike Zeck.
The majority of the characters from the Secret Wars cover are present and wearing their modern, albeit slightly disheveled, outfits in Daniel's homage. One notable omission is Captain Marvel, who is represented by Carol Danvers instead of Monica Rambeau, who served as the spacefaring inheritor of Mar-Vell's name in the '80s.
Written by Marvel's then-editor Jim Shooter, Secret Wars was a 12-issue series that featured a wide roster of characters summoned by the cosmic being Beyonder to a planet known as Battleworld for mortal combat. Originally designed as a tie-in to sell a Marvel toyline by Kenner, the series soon became renowned as one of the most notable mainstream comic crossovers of the '80s, along with DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths, and inspired a sequel of the same name in 2015.
Dark Ages, written by Tom Taylor with art by Iban Coello, tells an out-of-continuity tale where the Marvel Universe is plunged into darkness following a technological fallout. In the post-apocalyptic world that emerges, a number of Marvel mainstays are irrevocably changed - including Miles Morales, who morphs into a Venom and Carnage symbiote hybrid, and Iron Man, who loses a limb and builds a steampunk suit.
The first issue of Dark Ages goes on sale Sept. 1.
Source: Ssalefish Comics