In August, DC will release a number of variant covers that pay homage to classic comic book covers – mostly from DC, but including a couple of beloved Marvel Comics covers, as well. Apart from this, there will be another variant cover for DCeased: War of the Dead Gods, which features a tribute to Jim Lee’s X-Men #1 interconnected covers. Throughout the month of August, DC is rolling out a number of variant covers paying homage to classic Marvel and DC comics, including special variants for the entire Harley Quinn weekly event.
The DCeased: War of the Dead Gods cover is actually a set of interlocking covers by Dan Mora, which pays homage to the comic which both popularised the variant cover craze and also sold more copies than any other comic in modern history. There is no word on whether DC will also release a gatefold version that allows fans to see all the covers on one comic.
Guillem March provided a variant cover to Batman #126, out on 2 August. The cover is a riff on The Amazing Spider-Man #316, one of Todd McFarlane’s most famous images of Venom, a character he co-created. McFarlane himself recently released a number of Scorched covers that can be assembled to form an homage to the Jim Lee X-Men cover. That same week, Dark Crisis #3 will feature a Mike Allred variant homaging the cover to Crisis on Infinite Earths #1 by the late, great George Pérez.
The Harley Quinn variant covers roll out on 2 August sees the release of Harley Quinn #18, with a variant that homages Batman #1 from 1940. The next week on 9 August Harley Quinn #19 riffs on Detective Comics #38, which was the first appearance of Robin. 16 August sees the release of Harley Quinn #20, with a cover evocative of Detective Comics #359, featuring the first appearance of Batgirl. 23 August will feature a variant cover based on Batman: The Killing Joke and August 30’s Harley Quinn Annual #1 adds Harley to Jim Lee’s Batman #608 cover. All of the Harley Quinn variant covers are provided by Ryan Sook.
There’s also Young Justice: Targets #2, which is evocative of Uncanny X-Men #141, a cover by the Days of Future Past storyline.
