Viktor Bogdanovic channels Todd McFarlane for a spectacular Batman variant cover based on 1990’s Spider-Man #1 — complete with the ’90s DC logo.
One of the variant covers for the upcoming Batman #118 crosses comic company lines, referencing a classic illustration of Marvel’s own webslinger, Spider-Man.
Drawn by Viktor Bogdanovic (Detective Comics, New Super-Man), the cover shows Batman brooding in the rain, crouched atop a gargoyle in a pose akin to Peter Parker’s, who was illustrated as such by Todd McFarlane in 1990 for the cover of Spider-Man #1.
Bogdanovic’s variant also encapsulates the ’90s by presenting a Batman logo akin to Spider-Man’s, including a space in the upper left corner of the cover that references the now-defunct Comics Code Authority, and bringing back the famous three-starred DC logo occasionally called the “Bullet,” which was used by the company from 1977 to 2005. Even the trade dress above the title mimics that of Spider-Man #1 with a self-aware twist, questioning whether the issue will actually become an “all-new collector’s item.”
On Twitter, Bogdanovic praised DC for going with “the OG logo on this one” and tagged Todd McFarlane, singing his praises. “Can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent drooling over his legendary Spidey cover as a kid,” Bogdanovic wrote. “So glad I got to do this. Coolest homage I’ve ever drawn for sure.”
Hot damn! They went with the OG logo on this one and it rules.
After my art hero @Todd_McFarlane. Can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent drooling over his legendary Spidey cover as a kid. So glad I got to do this. Coolest homage I’ve ever drawn for sure. 🤘🦇🤘 pic.twitter.com/zN3Hx2wzYC
— V!K (@VikBogdanovic) September 17, 2021
Spider-Man #1 was a tremendous sales success, selling over 2.5 million copies and beginning a speculator’s craze, where the issue was published multiple times with variant covers to encourage rampant buying by collectors. McFarlane, who both wrote and penciled the book, would go on to work on Spider-Man until Issue #16, and the acclaim that his run generated would later fuel his creator-owned efforts with Spawn at Image Comics in 1992.
Aside from his work on Spider-Man and Spawn, Todd McFarlane has also drawn Batman himself — notably in the 1987 story arc “Year Two,” which ran in the pages of Detective Comics #575-578, as well as Batman/Spawn, a 1994 one-shot crossover written by Frank Miller.
Written by Joshua Williamson with interior artwork by Jorge Molina, Batman #118 picks up after the conclusion of the current Fear State event embroiling all of the Batman line. The issue sees the Dark Knight leaving Gotham City to travel the world. Batman will encounter a new enemy named Abyss who sports an outfit similar to the Grim Reaper, and his travels abroad will take care of loose ends involving Batman Inc., the international crime-fighting organization that defined Grant Morrison’s pivotal run on the Bat books in the late 2000s and 2010s.
BATMAN #118
- Written by JOSHUA WILLIAMSON
- Art and cover by JORGE MOLINA
- Variant cover by FRANCESCO MATTINA
- 1:25 variant by VIKTOR BOGDANOVIC
- 1:50 variant by JOCK
- $4.99 US | 40 pages
- Variant $5.99 US (All covers card stock)
- ON SALE 12/7/21
- New creative team! Start of a new story arc as Batman leaves Gotham!
- “Abyss” part one! As Gotham celebrates surviving Fear State, Batman retreats alone into the darkness. But when he learns of a mystery involving Batman Inc., it forces the Caped Crusader to leave Gotham for a brand-new adventure! Thrills, chills, and international intrigue await!
- The Dark Knight begins a new story with superstar artist Jorge Molina and new writer Joshua Williamson!
Source: DC
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