Marvel Is Releasing Free Reprints of Hip-Hop Comic Book Covers

Marvel Comics' recent tributes to hip-hop have gained a lot of praise within the community, even from those who don't read comic books. And for that overlap of hip-hop heads and comic book enthusiasts, it's been a dream come true. Now, Marvel is going to give a special gift to the fans. Marvel has announced that on Jan. 6 at participating stores, a 32-page comic featuring 14 of the hip-hop homage covers will be released for free.

"The hip-hop variants were a really special initiative that caught fire in the outside world," Marvel Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso said. "We thought this was a great opportunity to highlight that and make it available to fans for free."

The hip-hop variants started with Run The Jewels being reimagined as covers for Deadpool and Howard The Duck. XXL spoke to Axel Alonso earlier this year as Alonso explained how the hip-hop tributes began and evolved. Alonso also spoke on hip-hop's longstanding relationship with comic books.

"I think there [has been] an on-going dialogue between comic books and hip-hop for decades," Alonso said. "I’m not talking about a rapper wanting to write a comic book, I’m talking just that dialogue that we've seen as far as the Wu-Tang Clan; that’s the best example. In comic books, it’s seen how slowly the hip-hop aesthetics have reached its way in how comic books look."