Marc Silvestri is paying homage to one of the most iconic artists, and comic book covers of all time with his variant for Witchblade #3: Marc Silvestri’s cover of Uncanny X-Men #251.
“The new Witchblade series came out the same month as Deadpool and Wolverine, and since then we have been contacted by comic book fans non-stop about the cover,” said Silvestri via a press release provided to Comic Book Club. “Our fans mean so much to us, and we thought that this would be a great way to pay homage to them for support of my work and Top Cow through the years.”
As Silvestri mentions, the iconic cover featuring Wolverine crucified on an “X” over a pile of skulls is featured in one of the early scenes in Deadpool & Wolverine. The difference on the cover to Witchblade #3? It’s Sara Pezzini, crucified on a big “W” which seems way more awkward.
Eric Stephenson, Chief Creative Officer & Publisher at Image Comics, added, “I stopped reading comics in high school around ‘85, and seeing that issue of X-Men was what got me interested in checking comics out again four years later. It’s such a powerful image and, apart from being my own personal introduction to Marc’s work, it’s one of my all-time favorite covers!”
The new issue is written by Marguerite Bennett, with art by Giuseppe Cafaro. In it, “a terrifying new hunter emerges in the form of Ian Nottingham, but is he here to save her, sabotage her—or seduce her?”
Image Comics, which distributes the book alongside publisher Top Cow, notes via release that the debut issue had orders “totaling nearly 100k,” which made it the biggest Top Cow launch in over a decade. The third issue, featuring a main cover by Giuseppe Cafaro & Arif Prianto, an alternate by David Mack, and the Silvestri cover as a 1:25 copy incentive, will hit stores on September 18, 2024.
