"Tribute" Covers

ClarkKent_DC August 5, 2011 at 10:16pm

I believe all of those (or, at least, the first one) are based on a famous painting.

Captain Comics August 5, 2011 at 10:59pm

I thought it was Michelangelo's Pieta. But I've been wrong before.

I once had an idea that I was going to figure out the Top 10 Cover Ideas That Are Endlessly Repeated, like "two teams square off" or "Giant figure crushes logo" or "copies of Action Comics #1 and Fantastic Four #1" and such, and then go through my entire collection and make lists of each. But then I sobered up. Still, there are LOTS of "homage" covers, some of which are plain old theft.

Chris Fluit August 6, 2011 at 9:44am

I still think it would make a good column, even it's only the top ten categories with prime examples rather than an exhaustive list.

Mr. Silver Age August 6, 2011 at 10:22am

That "Pieta"image by Michelangelo is probably the most homaged in comics history, mostly because it's a classic composition all by itself. I would bet that more recent versions are homages to homages, especially the Crisis cover or even Byrne's X-men version.

I'm not sure which was the first,but Thor #127 is one of the first I remember coming across.

I included a dozen or so examples of homages to FF #1 in my book Baby Boomer Comics, and I know that wasn't all that existed, and more have come up since.

The beauty of such covers is that they are fine compositions on their own, but if you know the original, it's more interesting.

John Byrne has even been known to homage HIMSELF when he was able to draw the real Superman rather than Marvel's doppelganger..He picked Legionnaires for the cover that best reflected the FF's powers, too:

It seems like AF #15 has been rising with a bullet on the homage list recently for some reason. And I think I just saw an Action Comics #1 homage just recently, but I can't remember where.

I wonder if some day there will be just as many homages to Spawn #1 or even Red Hood & The Outlaws #1?

-- MSA

Henry R. Kujawa August 6, 2011 at 10:53am

I was adding a pile of these at the Silver Age Marvel site. Man, I hope that thing gets back up online one of these days. (I'll probably have to do it myself, assuming things turn around for me job-wise. Good thing I saved all the HTML files I was working on.)

I can see the basic idea and layout on the THOR cover, but the 3 examples I posted were all more like each other than like the THOR cover. I'm sure Perez was "doing" Byrne, but it looks to me like Byrne was probably "doing" Bob Oksner, not Kirby. If Kirby was knowingly "doing" Michelangelo, he changed it enough to make his cover more original. (Like he did ALL the time when he took inspiration from various sources.)

Dandy Forsdyke August 6, 2011 at 1:38pm

This is the version I remember most.

Henry R. Kujawa August 6, 2011 at 1:43pm

Ah! Another classic. As you can see, the pose is not the same as the others, just the idea. That makes it stand out more.

Whatta ya think, was Byrne ripping off BOB OKSNER?

There's also a BIG BANG COMICS cover that's a specific tribute to the Batman one... (well, the story, not the image)

http://www.comics.org/issue/244959/cover/4/

Are we having fun yet? : )

Dagwan August 6, 2011 at 5:41pm

I dunno about the "tribute" thing with that particular kind of cover.

I mean, how many different ways can you hold a dead body, anyway?

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The Baron August 6, 2011 at 6:01pm

I mean, how many different ways can you hold a dead body, anyway?

You'd be surprised.

Luke Blanchard August 6, 2011 at 6:20pm

To my way of thinking, the poses on the comic covers are too far from Michaelangelo's to be considered imitations of his composition.

Regarding the three covers Henry started off with, the preceding two issues of Uncanny X-Men had homage covers. I think that strengthens the case that Byrne had the Lois Lane cover in mind. (Unless it was some other cover or image using the same composition.) That the Perez cover was based on the Byrne cover strikes me as close to certain, especially given the fame of the Phoenix saga at the time.

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"Tribute" Covers

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