The “Dark Knight” Saluted With Dynamite’s October Variants
Coming in October, Dynamite pays homage to one of the cornerstones and early successes of comics with variant covers inspired by the dark detective.
A top-tier gang of artists contribute to the special set, and they are no cowardly lot. Across six of Dynamite’s top titles, vampires, barbarians, Martian queens, and pinup queens reenact iconic covers and artwork from throughout the prolific career of everyone’s favorite caped crusader. Will Robson, Jonathan Lau, Vincenzo Federici, and Stephen Mooney answer the signal in the sky for this fun project. Kike J. Diaz and Andrew Dalhouse join as colorists with Robson and Lau, respectively, forming their dynamic duos, while Federici and Mooney color themselves.
Of course one must homage the original foundation of it all. And from one bat-themed comic hero to another, Vampirella #15 portrays the iconic Detective Comics #27. Matching her new title’s Hollywood connection, Bettie Page #4 is a natural fit for the theatrical Detective Comics #38, which debuted the boy wonder. Showing her boundless strength and cunning, the She-Devil With a Sword employs some over-the-knee back-breaking as Red Sonja #20 mirrors Batman #497 by the legendary Kelley Jones. Vampi and Sonja stand up to the spotlight, as Vampirella/Red Sonja #12 bows out with a tribute to Batman #9. Fitting with their shared identities of fantastical imagined technology and architecture, Dejah Thoris #9 pulls Gotham by Gaslight as a wild card. Last but certainly not least, a timeless moment from Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s Batman: Year One jumps out at readers on DIE!namite #1.
“I really enjoyed doing these covers! The bat-verse is my favorite corner of the comic book world, so getting the opportunity to put my own spin on some iconic covers was an absolute treat,” said Will Robson. “I really love Vampirella and Red Sonja, so that was an added bonus being able to draw them for the first time too!”
“Doing homage covers can be tricky and challenging. One cannot force Superman to pose like Spider-Man,” said Jonathan Lau. “It takes some artistic freedom and ingenuity to get the results that make readers recognize a homage and at the same time be suitable for the character(s) to pull off. Only the readers will tell if I was successful. But I had fun nonetheless!”
“Like most people, I love Batman so much! When I was a kid I watched the whole animated series and I read a lot of his comics,” said artist Vincenzo Federici. “So it was amazing when the editor asked me to draw this cover! I tried to keep the poses, expressions, and general feelings of the original characters, but also using my own art style.”
All of these covers are solicited in Diamond Comic Distributors’ August Previews for October on-sale. Fans are encouraged to preorder copies with their Local Comic Shops.
What do you think of these October variants from Dynamite? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram! You can also carry on the convo with me personally on Twitter @josh_millican.
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