Thank you for coming along on the Homage Hunter’s inaugural safari. Special thank you to First Comic News for honoring the hunt. My articles will highlight recent homage covers and which cover to target for the upcoming month. Each month, I’ll pick a “10 Point Buck” as my favorite homage cover of the herd. If you keep your eyes open, you never know what homage covers might cross your path.
Good thing there is no “Bag Limit” when it comes to hunting homage covers. March was a huge month for homage covers with major conventions like MegaCon, WonderCon, and C2E2 exclusives, along with the regular releases and even a few Kickstarter campaigns with homage covers.
Let’s look through the scope at some of the homage covers we had in March, starting with books available online and your LCS.
“Fireborn #1” cover by Patrick Mulholland/ Homage to Nick Dragotta’s Absolute Batman #1.
“Doug Marcaida’s Lineage #1” – Kid Heroes Productions- Cover by BEEE/ Homage of Double Dragon (Video Game 1987)
“Hanna and the Hells vs the Beatles #1” cover by Tony M Clarke / Homage to Jaime Hernandez’s “Love and Rockets.”
“Betty and Me #1” cover by Dan DeCarlo, Endless Summer Variant/ Homage to John Van Hamersveld’s “The Endless Summer” surf film poster
“Super Creepshow #1” cover by Simon Parr/ Homage to Joe Shuster’s “Action Comics #1.”
Let’s now moveon too the convention exclusives, where they tug at the hearts of all the homage hunters out there and ask for a high bounty. I think MegaCon had the most homage covers by far. (I will do my best to note the “CON EXCLUSIVES” that are only available on Whatnot.)
“Amazing Spider-Man / Venom: Death Spiral #1” cover by Mico Suayan / Homage to Todd McFarlane “Spider-Man (1990) #1”. There were four variants. 1.MegaCon Big Time Collectibles Surprise Whiteout Virgin (LTD 500). 2.MegaCon Big Time Collectibles – B&W Virgin (LTD 500) ONLY ON WHATNOT. 3.C2E2 – Big Time Collectibles / Comic Inspiration (LTD 1600). 4.C2E2 – Big Time Collectibles / Comic Inspiration – Virgin (Limited 800)
“Chamber of Chills Magazine #19” cover by Steven Perkins – 2026 MegaCon – ComicTom101 (LTD 350)/ Homage to Lee Elias’s original “Chamber of Chills Magazine #19”
“D’orc #1” Third Print cover by Federico_Sabbatini 2026 MegaCon – Beach Side Hobbies/ Homage to Katsuhiro Otomo’s “Akira” film poster. There were two versions. 1. Virgin ( LTD 999). 2. Virgin B&W (LTD 500).
“D’orc #1” Third Print cover by Federico_Sabbatini 2026 MegaCon – Beachside Hobbies Hobbies / Homage to Todd McFarlane’s Hulk #340 Homage. Two versions. 1. Virgin (LTD 999) ON WHATNOT. 2. Virgin B&W (LTD 500)
“Do You Pooh” cover by Marat Mychaels / Homage to Lucio Parrillo’s “Death Spiral #1”
“Feral #.21” There were four versions. 1.ComicTom101 C2E2-cover by Trish Forstner/ Homage to Alex Ebel’s “Friday the 13th” film poster. 2.Cover D 1:25 cover by Tony Fleecs/Homage to Ed Hannigan (pencils) and Klaus Janson (inks) “G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero #21.” 3. Big Clutch-cover by Tony Fleecs/ Homage to Mark Spears’ “Mark Spears’ Monsters #1” 4. Third Eye Comics – cover by Tony Fleecs/ Homage to Nick Dragotta’s “Absolute Batman #15.”
“Boba Fett VS Predator” – Billy’s Comics- cover by Shelby Robertson/ Homage to Todd McFarlane’s “Amazing Spider-Man #316”
“Boba Fett VS Predator” – Billy’s Comics- cover by Shelby Robertson/ Homage to Frank Miller (pencils), Klaus Janson (inks) “The Dark Knight Returns”
“Florida Hippopotamus Cocaine Massacre #2” cover by REDCODE/ Homage to Makiko Futaki and Katsuhiro Otomo “Akira motorcycle slide in film” There are three versions: 1. Cardstock (LTD 400) 2. Foil (LTD 150) 3. Metal (LTD 75 )
“D’orc #1 Beachside Hobbies Megacon Exclusive -cover by Federico Sabbatini / Homage to Zelda BOTW (LTD 999).
“Legends of Gaming” Victorious Comics- cover by Matthew Waite/ Homage to John Byrne’s Spectacular Spider-Man (1976) #101. Neon / Red / Gold variants/ Embossed Foils/ 1 of 1 Metals.
“The Stoner Man- Preview Issue #0” Black Horizon Publishing- Victorious ✕ MH2 Release X Sense Comics . Cover art by Victorious Lopez (pencils), Mark Hicks (inks)/ Homage to Todd McFarlane “Spider-Man (1990) #1.” Cardstock (LTD 200), Foil Editions (LTD 100), metal editions, including gold, embossed, and negative neon metals.
“The Stoner Man- Preview Issue #0” Black Horizon Publishing- Victorious ✕ MH2 Release X Sense Comics. Cover art by Victorious Lopez (pencils), Mark Hicks (inks)/ Homage to Nicholas Gazin’s iconic “Run the Jewels” 2013 Album cover.
“Shell Shocked Artbook” – Victorious Comics and Collectibles. Cover by Jordan Wadley/ Homage to the iconic album cover for N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton. Photographed by Eric Poppleton
“Amazing Pocket Gangsters” – Victorious Comics – MegaCon – Cover by Lloyd Bailey/ Home to the famous photograph of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls together,r taken by photographer Al Pereira at Club Amazon in New York City on July 23, 1993.
“Fame Matt Groening: Bart Knight” MegaCon 2026- cover by Marat Mychaels (pencils), Sean Forney (inks)/ Homage to Jim Lee’s “Batman #608.”
“Poohverine-One Shot”-C2E2- Cover by Marat Mychaels/ Homage to Marc Silvestri (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Wolverine #50.
“Worth the Waite“ -Troll Comics- MegaCon- Cover by Matthew Waite/ Homage to Herb Trimpe’s “Hulk #181”
Not 100% sure on this info “AVP”- Comic Tom-C2ES-MegaCon- Cover by Rudy Ao/ Homage to Katsuhiro Otomo’s “Akira” film poster.
Some of my favorites from Cowabunga Comics “Poison & Pane Ashcan MegaCon Exclusives- 1. Cover by Greg Kirkpatrick/ Homage to Jim Lee’s “Batman #608” 2. Cover by Greg Kirkpatrick/ Homage to Bob Layton’s “Iron Man #128.” 3. Cover by Greg Kirkpatrick/ Homage to Todd McFarlane’s “Batman #423.”
“Shredder #6”- Cowabunga Comics- MegaCon- Cover by Chris Fredricks/ Homage to Frank Miller’s “Wolverine 1.”
“Do You Pooh” Counterpoint Comics – WonderCon- Cover by Sean Forney/ Homage to Art Adams’ “Classic X-Men #1”
“Do You Pooh” Counterpoint Comics – MegaCon- Cover by Sean Forney/ Homage to Jorge Jimenez’s “Superman Spider-Man One Shot”
There were a lot more Con Exclusives, but I’m running out of bullets. I want to get some more covers before I run out of ammo. Next are some Kickstarter campaigns that had some cool homage covers.
“Gorehaus” Kickstarter by Thomas Sluzalek Issue #4 is an homage to Todd McFarlane’s “Batman #423.” Issue #3 is an homage to Mike Zeck’s “Web of Spider-Man #32.”
“Public Domain Sector: The Moth #2” – So Pro Comics- Kickstarter by Michael K. Easton. Cover by Shawn Langley and Kristy Easton/ Homage to John Buscema’s Wolverine #8
“GLOBAL G-MEN #2”- G-MAN COMICS: Crossover Crisis- Kickstarter- Cover by Gilbert Monsanto/ Homage to Dave Cockrum’s Giant-Sized X-Men #1”
Now is the time for my choice for the “Wild Turkey” cover, an homage that’s outside the box and a little different. I chose this one because it’s a horror comic that pays homage to a Disney movie.
“Exquisite Corpses #11”- Image Comics-Too Many Comics- Mega Con-Cover by Kevin Delgado /Homage to Eddie Young’s VHS cover for Disney’s “The Fox & the Hound”
Now, to end with my “10-Point Buck,k” A 10-point buck is generally considered an excellent trophy for most hunters. For me, it comes down to how creative the homage cover is, how unique the homage cover is, and the choice of cover they did an homage to.
“Homer and Cub: What D’oh #3 Vol 1” by Jeaux Janovsky/ Homage to Stan Sakai’s “Classic Usagi Yojimbo #1” as well as Matt Groening’s “Life in Hell” series.
I gave this cover my “10-Point Buck” of the month because Jeaux mashed up Usagi Yojimbo, and Life is Hell. Also, extra points for being an independent artist. I got to ask Jeaux “Why he chose to homage Usagi Yojimbo and Life is Hell covers to homage and what the significance was to his book. Here’s what he said:
“The cover concept came from a long-standing goal of mine- to finally connect Life in Hell characters into the 3T Comix bootleg Simpsons-verse. I’ve always had a soft spot for Bongo, the one-eared rabbit (and namesake of Bongo Comics, Groening’s comic company), and saw an opportunity to fuse that with another iconic rabbit ronin: Usagi Yojimbo, created by Stan Sakai.
The homage specifically draws from Albedo Anthropomorphics #2, 1984- Usagi’s first cover appearance. I aimed to blend Matt Groening’s raw, early flat style with Sakai’s elegance and line work, mutating the two into something new. “Homer and Cub: What D’oh” exists within that same 3T Comix bootleg Simpsons-verse, which began with two black-and-white zines for the “3T Manga” line- our mash-up of The Simpsons and Lone Wolf and Cub, titled “Incompetent Father and Motherless Baby”. While connected, Homer and Cub stand as their own corner of that multiverse.
The project is also inspired by a deep-cut 1988 Marvel parody from What The!? #4 titled “Lone Wolvie and Chris,” where, instead of a baby in the cart, Wolverine pushes writer Chris Claremont. It’s such an obscure pull that even the original creative team is tough to track down. Matthew Makman (publisher of 3T/Told To Tell Comix) and I remixed that concept into our own mutation: a samurai-Wolverine hybrid Homer Simpson pushing his creator, Matt Groening. The real comic heads will catch the Usagi, Life in Hell, and What The!? references woven throughout.”
Before you take off into the bush, I want to leave you with a cover I have in my crosshairs for April.
“Otter Squad #2”- Keenspot- Cover by J. Hammond/ Homage to John Buscema’s “The Avengers #57”
Thank you for coming along to the inaugural safari with The Homage Hunter. Let me know what targets I missed, and if you have an homage cover you’d like me to see,e shoot! Thanks again, until next time, HAPPY HUNTING!
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