Ghost Rider, Black Widow, more get shady in new Marvel variant covers theme

Ghost Rider #1 variant cover (Image credit: Jorge Fornés (Marvel Comics))

Newsarama has a sneak peek at a new line of variant covers Jorge Fornés is drawing for Marvel Comics. Readers unknowingly got a peek at the covers already with the previously-revealed Amazing Spider-Man #82 variant, but it wasn't known at the time it'd be the first in a line of themed variants running into 2022.

These 'Window Shade' variants will feature major Marvel heroes (and maybe even a few villains) peeking through Venetian blinds, all shady-like.

Here are the four 'Window Shade variants' we know of along with when and where to expect the variant covers, followed by a gallery of all that have been revealed:

December 22, 2021: Amazing Spider-Man #82
February 23: Ghost Rider #1
March 9: Hawkeye: Kate Bishop #5 (of 5)
March 30: Black Widow #15

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Amazing Spider-Man #82 variant cover — (Image credit: Jorge Fornés (Marvel Comics))

Marvel 'Window Shade' variant covers

Additional covers by Fornés are expected to be announced soon.

The 'Window Shades' theme is similar to the Jane Dickson painting 'Witness,' but it also calls back to the use of Venetian blinds in film and crime noir.

Whether we're looking through the blinds at a character on the other side, or the light from the blinds is casting a shadow on someone (or something), blinds (and particularly Venetian blinds) is a narrative tool used in everything from Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity and Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho to comedies like Hanky Panky and Another Stakeout.

Double Indemnity still (Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

The math of 'Venetian Blinds + Marvel characters' opens up even more possibilities for visual gags when you think about ideas like Cyclops peeking his visor between the blinds, or MODOK's gigantic face peering through. Just sayin'.

Fornés is drawing these 'Window Shade' variants between the end of his most recent project (Rorschach for DC) and his next major project, which hasn't been announced yet.

Comic books with variant covers are normally only found in comic shops. Don't have a favorite one? Check out our guide to finding the comic shop that fits you.

PRODUCTS

Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)