The facsimile edition for the first issue of JLA/Avengers (or Avengers/JLA, depending on which publisher you’re talking about) is due out in stores at the end of this month. The iconic series from writer Kurt Busiek and artist George Pérez has been widely unavailable, save for a limited-edition charity collection, for years, and both DC and Marvel are celebrating its return with variant covers for each issue by superstar modern artists. Ryan Stegman, Dan Mora, and Skottie Young have been lined up for the first three issues of the series, and today DC announced that the facsimile editions of issues 3 and 4 of JLA/Avengers will also feature connecting variant covers by Alex Ross, in an homage to the two publishers’ first attempt at teaming up their signature superhero teams.
Ross’s cover for issue 3 of JLA/Avengers, published by Marvel, will feature the early ’80s Avengers team:
While the cover for issue 4 of Avengers/JLA, published by DC, will showcase that era’s Justice League of America:
And for good measure, here are the two cover images combined:
Savvy fans will recognize the art being recreated as George Pérez’s promotional art for the original Justice League/Avengers team-up, originally planned for release in 1983. That artwork, seen below, was originally used as the cover for David Anthony Kraft’s Comics Interview #6, and accompanied an article originally intended as promo for the crossover but that instead cover the tangled mess of its development. (You can read all about that doomed project in KC Carlson‘s excellent two-part oral history on the subject.)
The JLA/Avengers Facsimile Editions are the latest joint venture from DC and Marvel, who have in the past eight months released four crossover one-shots starring Deadpool & Batman and Superman & Spider-Man. Hardcover and softcover collections of those crossovers will be available from both publishers in September.
Look for the Alex Ross variant covers for JLA/Avengers #3 Facsimile Edition and Avengers/JLA #4 Facsimile Edition when those issues hit stores in July and August, respectively.
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