I Can't Cover What I Am - Marvel's Wolverine Art Appreciation Covers

CBR

By Brian Cronin

Published Sep 14, 2013

In this feature, I spotlight comic book covers that follow a specific theme. Here is an archive of all the cover themes we’ve spotlighted so far.

Today we look at every one of Marvel's Wolverine Art Appreciation variant covers from 2009!

Enjoy!

NOTE: This thing is image intensive, so I'm splitting it over two pages.

In 2009, in honor of the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Marvel did a series of variant covers for books cover dated June 2009. A group of Marvel cover artists would do variant covers for various Marvel titles featuring Wolverine in homages to famous artists of the past. Here are the covers as well as a sample piece of work by the artist who influenced the cover in question. Except for the covers that are directly homaging a specific piece of work, I am not trying to perfectly match the cover with a particular painting by the artist in question or picking their most famous work. I am just picking a notable work that I felt like featuring.

First up is Gerald Parel's cover for Agents of Atlas #3...

Parel is homaging the work of Edvard Munch. Here is Munch's "Vampire"...

Next is Paolo Rivera's cover for Amazing Spider-Man #590...

Rivera is specifically homaging C.M. Coolidge's series of paintings under the general heading of "Dogs Playing Poker" (I just chose one example of the series)...

Paolo Rivera also did the cover of Amazing Spider-Man #592, in tribute to Salvador Dali...

Like Dali's "The Persistence of Memory"...

On the cover of Captain Britan and M.I. 13 #12, Skottie Young homaged the work of Edward Gorey...

Here's a sample Gorey cartoon...

On Daredevil #118, Juan Doe pays homage to the work of Roy Lichtenstein...

It's weird to homage Lichtenstein when so many of his works were based on repurposing old works...

Next up is Exiles #1 by Jason Chan...

homaging "Son of Man" by Rene Magritte...

Alina Urusov's Ghost Rider #34 cover...

was based on Japanase woodworking prints....

Ed McGuinness' cover to Hulk #11...

is based on ancient cave paintings...

Finally, on this page, David Williams' cover for Incredible Hercules #128 is based on the work of Jack Kirby...

Here's the closest Kirby cover I had to work with...

Go to the next page for the rest of the covers!

Juan Doe's cover for Moon Knight #29...

in inspired by Pablo Picasso, such as "Three Dancers"...

Next is Paolo Rivers'a cover for Ms. Marvel #38...

Homaging the work of N.C. Wyeth, such as this piece from Wyeth's Treasure Island series of paintings, "One more step, Mr. Hands, said I, and I'll blow your brains out"....