One of the few comic book pleasure open to this old comic book fan is when I see new comic book covers that are based upon a previous classic cover from the silver and bronze age. These are commonly referred to as either homage or tribute covers and sometimes rather cruelly as swipe covers. Personally, I like to see these when they are done properly as it’s nice to see a modern artists take on a classic cover although sadly the practice is becoming over used and is starting to feel more like a marketing ploy rather that an artists appreciation of a past cover. Some of my favourites in this genre like the above homage cover by Art Adams of Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four issue 82 is a stunning version of a genuinely classic original cover.
The original Jack Kirby cover (above).
One of the most commonly used tribute covers has to be Flash issue 123 “Flash of two worlds” by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson. This version by Nuno Pereira for “Archie, the married life - 10 years later” is a clever and humorous take on the classic.
The cover to Flash issue 123.
I’m not sure if its vanity when an artist pays tribute to his or her own work or if they have been specifically asked to do this. But here we see the great Neal Adams pay tribute to his own iconic Batman issue 251 cover for the first issue of the Joker.
The original cover to Batman issue 251.
One of my favourite homage covers is Donald Duck Adventures issue 11 which does an excellent job in representing the classic first issue of Mad to a new audience (and one old guy!)
Mad issue 1 by the great Harvey Kurtzman (cover taken from the Grand Comics Database).
Homage covers are by no means a new phenomena in comic book publishing as artists have been doing this since the 1940’s (and probably even before that). One of the earliest tribute covers I can remember was the cover to Superman 147 (1961) by Curt Swan and Stan Kaye who paid homage to their own earlier Adventure Comics issue 247 (1958) cover.
The original and classic cover to Adventure Comics issue 247 (covers taken from the Grand Comics Database).
Finally, leave it to Archie comics to come up with truly clever versions of the classics. This cover for a one off issue of Archie complete with faux cover marks and creases , ripped edges and paper browning by Andrew Pepoy is based on the classic 1950’s art of Wally Wood (I think this may be specifically a tribute to issue 27 of Weird Science Fantasy).
Weird Science Fantasy issue 27 - (cover taken from the Grand Comics Database).