Venom Variants Coming to Marvel in February

Marvel is celebrating the Venom: Circle of Four event in February with seven variant covers. Symbiotes will invade variant covers of that months issues of Captain America, Defenders, FF, Secret Avengers, Wolverine and the X-Men, and X-Men. Oh, and Venom even gets a Venom variant. The tongue will be TWICE as long!

From Marvel:

February is going to be an action packed month for Venom, but before the insanity begins we’ve got your first look at January’s jaw dropping Venom Variants! Brought to you by some of the best artists in the industry, get ready for a unique look at your favorite Marvel heroes as they get infected by symbiotes!

Kicking off February with a bang, Venom makes unholy alliances with Red Hulk, Ghost Rider & X-23 to save Sin City, Las Vegas, from total chaos in Venom: Circle of Four. Then, just as Rick Remender and Gabriel Hardman take the reins as the new creative team of Secret Avengers, they draft Venom to the team’s lineup!

So what are you waiting for True Believer, go out and tell your retailers to make yours VENOM!

CAPTAIN AMERICA #7 (NOV110480)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #7 VENOM VARIANT (NOV110481)
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Pencils by ALAN DAVIS
Variant Cover by MIKE PERKINS
FOC- 12/19/2011, ON SALE- 01/11/2012

DEFENDERS #2 (NOV110489)
DEFENDERS #2 VENOM VARIANT (NOV110488)
Written by MATT FRACTION
Pencils by TERRY DODSON
Variant Cover by CHRIS STEVENS
FOC-12/12/2011, ON SALE- 01/4/2012

FF #14 (NOV110542)
FF #14 VENOM VARIANT (NOV110543)
Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN
Pencils by JUAN BOBILLO
Variant Cover by MICHAEL RYAN
FOC-01/2/2012, ON SALE- 01/25/2012

SECRET AVENGERS #21 (NOV110497)
SECRET AVENGERS #21 VENOM VARIANT (NOV110498)
Written by WARREN ELLIS
Pencils by STUART IMMONEN
Variant Cover by KHOI PHAM
FOC- 01/2/2012, ON SALE- 01/25/2012

VENOM #12 (NOV110533)
VENOM #12 VENOM VARIANT (NOV110534)
Written by RICK REMENDER
Pencils by LAN MEDINA
Variant Cover by MIKE DEL MUNDO
FOC-12/26/2011, ON SALE- 01/18/2012

WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN #4 (NOV110560)
WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN #4 VENOM VARIANT (NOV110561)
Written by JASON AARON
Pencils by NICK BRADSHAW
Variant Cover by MARK BROOKS
FOC- 12/19/2011, ON SALE- 01/11/2012

X-MEN #23 (NOV110570)
X-MEN #23 VENOM VARIANT (NOV110571)
Written by VICTOR GISCHLER
Pencils by WILL CONRAD
Variant Cover by JOHN TYLER CHRISTOPHER
FOC- 12/12/2011, ON SALE- 01/4/2012

Dark Horse Comics Announces Mike Mignola's Year of Monsters!

Mike Mignola is going to be very busy at Dark Horse in 2012; as previously reported, there will be five new B.P.R.D. ongoings launching in the new year, and now the publisher is elaborating on the Mike Mignola's Year of Monsters variant cover program, originally announced at New York Comic Con.

The program kicks off in January with a highly anticipated Lobster Johnson miniseries, The Burning Hand. Following up on the critically acclaimed 2007 series The Iron Prometheus, this new story pits the 1930s vigilante against one of the more terrible villains of the twentieth century.

These special variant covers will be available to any retailer who orders five or more copies of the standard cover. These are sure to be sought-after items with a broad appeal to fans of Mike Mignola’s work, as well as monster fetishists of all types!

“Mike Mignola got into the comics business with the simple goal of drawing monsters for a living,” said Dark Horse managing editor Scott Allie. “Mike celebrates 2012 by pitting his greatest characters against his favorite monsters on these special covers, unrelated to the stories inside.”

The schedule for the first half of the year can be found below. Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #1 arrives in stores on January 11, 2012.

January—Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #1

February—B.P.R.D Hell on Earth: The Long Death #1

March—B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Pickens County Horror #1

April—Lobster Johnson: The Burning Hand #4

May—B.P.R.D. Hell on Earth: The Transformation of J. H. O’Donnell

June—Baltimore: Dr. Leskovar’s Remedy #1

Variance: Mike Choi's Batman #4 Cover

Check out Mike Choi's super-sweet variant cover art for Batman #4. in stores next month.

FF/Fantastic Four Variants Unveiled

Marvel has revealed the image formed from combining the variant covers for the upcoming Fantastic Four #601 and FF #13, both drawn by artist Giuseppe Camuncoli.

The future of the Fantastic Four and FF collide this December as Marvel is pleased to present your first look at Giuseppe Camuncoli’s connecting variant covers for Fantastic Four #601 & FF #13! After the universe altering events of the highly anticipated Fantastic Four #600, Reed, his family and friends embark on a bold new journey into the Marvel Universe. No fan of superstar writer Jonathan Hickman’s critically acclaimed run can miss out on these exciting new variants!

Dan Slott Graces 'Amazing Spider-Man #669' Cover

One of the best writers in comics today, the one man Spider-Man brain trust we know as Dan Slott, has his mug plastered on the cover of a 1-in-15 variant edition of Amazing Spider-Man #669, in stores today. Slott is lovingly-ish portrayed by another of the biggest talents working in the biz at the moment, artist Todd Nauck. It somehow showed up on eBay last night, where the bid has been holding steady at $22.77 for a few hours as of this writing.

It's also available at TFAW.com for $8.99.

New 'I Am Captain America' Marvel Variant Covers [Hi-Res Pics]

X-Factor #22

From a bizarro man-bike hybrid 'Born This Way' kind of thing through a lovely ice skater, Marvel's upcoming batch of new 'I Am Captain America' variant covers explores a broad range of American culture.

From Marvel:

“Featuring all-new artwork from a superstar cast of comics’ greatest creators — including Marvel’s own Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada, Marko Djurdjevic, Alex Maleev, Skottie Young and Ed McGuiness — these ‘I Am Captain America’ variant covers honor real-world American heroes of every creed and calling that would be sure to make Steve Rogers himself proud.”

Wolverine #12

X-Men #14

Uncanny X-Force #12

New Mutants #27

Iron Man 2.0 #7

Incredible Hulks #632

Astonishing X-Men #40

Adam Kubert's AoA-ish Uncanny X-Force #12 Variant Cover

Mmm... Apocalypse-ish. Adam Kubert's variant cover for Uncanny X-Force #12 conjures memories of 1995's 'Age of Apocalypse' event, which included the Kubert-illustrated Weapon X mini. What's it all about? Read on!

Press Release

Adam Kubert Covers UNCANNY X-FORCE: THE DARK ANGEL SAGA

Marvel is proud to unveil superstar artist Adam Kubert’s, scorching variant cover to the second installment of the Dark Angel Saga coming this July in Uncanny X-Force #12! The red-hot creative team of Rick Remender and Mark Brooks send Wolverine’s black ops band of deadly mutants to take on the whole Age of Apocalypse! If they fail, Warren Worthington will be no more and the Dark Angel inside him will raze the Earth! Get in on the action packed return to the Age of Apocalypse, with a variant cover from one of the artists who started it all in Uncanny X-Force #12 Kubert Variant!

UNCANNY X-FORCE #12 (MAY110691)
UNCANNY X-FORCE #12 KUBERT VARIANT (MAY110692)
UNCANNY X-FORCE #12 I AM CAPTAIN AMERICA VARIANT (MAY110693)
Written by RICK REMENDER
Penciled by MARK BROOKS
Cover by ESAD RIBIC
Variant Cover by ADAM KUBERT
I AM CAPTAIN AMERICA Variant by CHRIS STEVENS
Parental Advisory …$3.99
FOC – 7/4/11, On-Sale – 7/27/11

Comics Called It: Obama's Triumph Over Bin Laden

Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon, who famously endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, foresaw our Commander-in-Chief's victory over terror mastermind Osama Bin Laden on the WonderCon exclusive variant cover of Savage Dragon #145.As a New Yorker who lost a great deal to that mass murdering bastard, and a proud supporter of our great president, I've got to say that this has been a pretty spectacular evening.

Superboy variant: I love the '90s edition

As if the rampant spread of variant covers wasn't enough of a '90s throwback in and of itself, DC's variant cover for Superboy #2 really drives the point home with, of all things, a Bell Biv DeVoe reference!

Yikes.  Please let's not see Wilson Phillips or Right Said Fred on future variants, 'kay?
Never trust a big butt and a smile!