The worlds of hip-hop and comics collide today with the reveal of an alliance between Marvel comic books and rap duo Run the Jewels. The outfit’s now-iconic logo has been spun for the covers of two upcoming Marvel issues.
Based on an idea of Marvel editor-in-chief Axel Alonso, Howard the Duck #2 (seen above) and Deadpool #45 (below) will come with variant covers in which Marvel characters are seen posing with RTJ’s gun-and-fist logo.
“We’ve done homages to album covers in the past, of iconic rock bands and hip-hop bands, but this is something a little different,” Alonso told Rolling Stone. “This is very much picking up on something that’s of the moment, and a logo that I think says a lot to a lot of different people.”
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“I knew it was happening potentially,” Killer Mike told Rolling Stone, “but when it came all the way through, I was dancing around the room in my Polo underwear.”
According to El-P and Killer Mike, the crossover is a perfect union. “Comic books are a part of the creative world of a kid in an urban environment,” El-P told Rolling Stone. “You might not admit it on record, but you talk to almost every rapper — we all grew up with that shit. I guarantee you like 80 percent of any rappers that you meet probably went through a large comic book phase.”
“I grew up reading comics with my dad — my stepdad, but I don’t use that word — he let me just have his comic collection. So this is a very big deal for me, man,” adds Mike. “I look forward to when this shit drops, taking him up and driving him to the comics store in North Dekalb, just to let him get out and not even tell him that it’s going down. I know he’s gonna be so proud he could fuckin’ cry, bruh.”
Alonso contacted comic artists Mahmud Asrar (for Howard the Duck) and Skottie Young (for Deadpool) and says, “They couldn’t say ‘yes’ quick enough.
Check out the Deadpook cover below:
