Michael Cho Variants for ‘Shang-Chi vs. the Marvel Universe’
In a Tweet sent on Thursday, April 22nd, 2021, all-star artist Michael Cho revealed that he would be completing a series of six variant covers for the upcoming Marvel Comics limited series, Shang-Chi vs. the Marvel Universe by Gene Luen Yang, Dike Ruan, and Philip Tan.
I'm drawing a run of 6 variant covers for the great new series, Shang Chi Vs The Marvel Universe. Here's my cover for issue #1: pic.twitter.com/kj2ZxEKOhL
— Michael Cho (@Michael_Cho) April 22, 2021
Michael Cho’s Masterful Variants
If these variants look somewhat familiar to you, that’s not a huge surprise: Michael Cho has produced some incredibly memorable variant covers for Marvel Comics, and his crisp, frequently monochromatic style gets in your mind’s eye and stays there.
Shang-Chi vs. the Marvel Universe variant cover by Michael Cho. Photo: Michael Cho’s Twitter
In December 2020, it was announced that Cho would be producing a series of variant covers featuring many of the A-List Avengers, including Spider-Man, Black Panther, and Ant-Man and the Wasp.
Avengers #43, with cover art by Michael Cho. Photo: Marvel
Now, we’ll be treated to six more amazing covers, presumably all featuring Shang-Chi. We suspect that a certain Simu Liu is going to be just as excited about this news as we are!
Photo: Marvel
[BLANK] vs. the Marvel Universe
You might not realize it, but Shang-Chi is not the first Marvel Comics superhero to go versus against the rest of the universe (although he may be the first hero to be getting the Michael Cho treatment, but we’ll have to check on that later)!
First, there was Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe (1995) by Garth Ennis, Doug Braithwaite, Michael L. Halblieb, Martin Griffiths, Sean Hardy, Don Hudson, John Livesay, Robin Riggs, Bill Oakley, Malibu, Shannon Blachard, and Tom Smith. In this comic, you get essentially what the title says you’ll get!
Photo: Marvel Comics
And, it isn’t the only story like that, either! In Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe (2012) by Cullen Bunn, Dalibor Talajić, Lee Loughridge, and Joe Sabino, with a cover by Kaare Andrews, Wade Wilson gets a chance to follow in Frank Castle’s footsteps himself.
Photo: Marvel Comics
Plus, there are several follow-up volumes in this storyline, so you can really dig in on Marvel Unlimited if you’re so inclined! One of our favorites is Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again penned by Bunn, with art by Talajić and inks by Goran Sudzuka, and letters by Sabino.
Photo: Marvel Comics
While we’re glad that Shang-Chi is just going versus the Marvel Universe instead of killing it, we are very curious why “to save the Marvel Universe, he must break the Marvel Universe” (as the ad in our issue of Women of Marvel #1 informs us)… and we can’t wait to find out on May 19th, 2021, when this issue arrives!
Photo: Marvel
Get Thee to a Comic Shop
Will you be heading to your local comic shop in order to pick up a copy of Shang-Chi vs. the Marvel Universe, and if so, will you be looking for the Michael Cho variants? Marvel Blog wants to know what you’re thinking, True Believers! And, hopefully, we’ll get to tune in to Marvel’s Pull List that week for more information! Let us know in the comment section.
