As part of their massive refresh of about 60 of their classic comic book titles, Marvel is reworking classic hip-hop album covers with some of their most well known heroes. The FADER is premiering four of these new covers today, which include Spider-Man's colliding with Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV and Guardians Of The Galaxy's Drax as Kid Cudi from Man on the Moon II.
Axel Alonso, the Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics, explains that the fusion of hip-hop and Marvel comics makes sense because both are "really big, powerful threads of pop culture" and that they both are rooted in the art of sampling and remixing. Over his career he's seen rappers like members of the Wu-Tang Clan and Killer Mike give shoutouts to their favorite superheroes, while watching artists create their work while listening to beats.
"As Editor in Chief, I take the long view on this campaign," he told The FADER. "We have amazing stuff coming out this year until at least February. And this campaign reflects a lot of the diversity of our lineup—characters, creators, and writers. This is the head of spear. My hope is that this is being embraced by hip hop."
All four artists whose work we are premiering today are non-white and three of them have never worked for Marvel before. Alonso said that opening up Marvel to new artists has been one of the greatest parts of this new collection of variant covers.
Check out the images below: