Artists say — and Bleeding Cool’s Rich Johnston reports — that DC has stopped greenlighting homage covers, after artist Aldrin Aw posted a rejected Absolute Batman cover proposal that nodded to Walter Simonson’s Thor #337. This is not a DC announcement. There is no DC statement in Johnston’s piece.
Aw wrote that his rejected Absolute Batman proposal — colored by Dash Martin — reflected “no more homages at DC,” and that the finished piece can be seen at the Hotflips booth HB 904 in Artist Alley at New York Comic Con. That booth is Aw’s / Hotflips, not a DC booth.
Artist Matthew Clark told Bleeding Cool he heard months ago from someone at DC that homage covers were done, after he tried one himself. He called his own attempt a great homage and noted a broken-logo detail.
Johnston writes that earlier Absolute Batman variants nodded to Akira, Chainsaw Man, Death Note, One Piece, Berserk, and The Shining. He says a New York Comic Con exclusive Absolute Batman #1 variant by Javier Fernández that recreates the famous Akira composition was limited to 1,000 copies. He was told stores and artists did not flag those covers as homages, and that no one realized until they were published.
Johnston argues that Warner-owned imagery such as The Shining is safer territory than titles Warner does not control — that is his argument in the piece, not a published legal ruling from DC or Warner Bros.
For another Absolute Batman beat on RCG, see Absolute Batman’s Direct Market pause after #25.
