Marvel pays homage to classic horror in October variant covers

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

This October, Marvel Comics is getting into the spooky season with a series of horror-themed variant covers that pay homage to classic Marvel horror comics of years past with a superhero twist.

Marvel Comics, despite its decades-long dominance of the superhero market, has also dabbled in horror for most of its history. In the '50s, Jack Kirby and Stan Lee forged their partnership by working on sci-fi monster stories. In the '60s, when the Comics Code forbade the outright depiction specific monsters, characters like Morbius the Living Vampire and Sauron, the X-Men's lifeforce-draining dinosaur-esque foe, skirted the rules by depicting topics like vampirism with a veil of superheroics.

And of course, in the '70s, when the Comics Code eased its horror rules, Marvel expanded into iconic horror titles such as Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf By Night, Son of Satan, and more – many of which have in turn crept over into superhero comics, with Blade, Moon Knight, and more debuting in horror stories before crossing the line into the Marvel Universe, and Dracula also appearing as a villain for the X-Men and Avengers.

"From Werewolf by Night to Tomb of Dracula, Marvel has a proud history of horror-themed comics, and this October, these classic terrifying tales will be honored in a series of Horror Variant covers!" reads Marvel's announcement of the variant covers.

"See your favorite Marvel characters like you’ve never seen them before as Spider-Man, the Avengers, and Captain America live out nightmarish visions just in time for Halloween," it continues. "You now can see these chilling creations by artists Aaron Kuder, Javier Rodríguez, and Mirka Andolfo in their complete trade dress, paying homage to classic horror serials of the past!"

Here are the eight titles announced to receive Horror variants, along with the titles of the pieces and the artists behind them.

Amazing Spider-Man #50: Spider-Man Vampire Hunter, by Aaron Kuder and Jordie Bellaire
Avengers #37: Where Avengers Dwell, by Javier Rodríguez
Captain America #24: Cap Wolf, by Mirka Andolfo
Captain Marvel #22: Captain Marvel Unleashed, by Taurin Clarke
Immortal Hulk #38: Living Hulk, by Mike del Mundo
Iron Man #2: Iron Man-Thing, by Mattia de Iulis
Spider-Woman #5: Spider-Woman By Night, by Patrick Gleason
X-Men #13: Legion of X-Monsters, Russell Dauterman

Check out some of the October covers in our gallery below.

Image 1 of 7

Check out all of Marvel Comics October 2020 solicitations.

I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)