Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Jean Grey, marvel, phoenix: resurrection, victor hugo

Marvel Announces Jean Grey Crossover To Take Place Only In Victor Hugo Connecting Variant Covers

They don't call Marvel "The House of Ideas" for nothing! The publisher is always pushing the boundaries of ways to spike comic book sales without producing any actual new readers, which has led to a new kind of comic book crossover — one that takes place only on the covers.

Starting in January, a set of five connecting variant covers will grace not only issues #2-5 of Phoenix Resurrection, but also the cover of Jean Grey #11, as revealed in a press release today. Victor Hugo, a former Disney animator and author of Les Miserables, will be providing the covers featuring 3D artwork of Jean Grey in all her various incarnations. The inter-series cover crossover is in addition to the interior pages of Jean Grey #11, which serve as a tie-in to the Phoenix Resurrection event.

"I see this project as a milestone in my life," said the 131-year-old Hugo. "I'm a 3D artist and even being a huge Marvel fan, I know that it's definitely not common for publishers to request 3D illustrations for cover art, so not even in my coolest dreams did I think that someday I would be invited to do a Marvel comic book cover! The Phoenix Force is definitely the coolest thing about Jean, but what I really love about her is her evolution and changes through the years. It was an awesome experience being able to portray all the phases in a single artwork."

Hiring the 19th century French poet to draw Jean Grey variant covers is a huge coup for Marvel, firing back at rival DC Comics who just hired away their biggest writer, "The Great One" Brian Bendis, with an EXCLUSIVE contract yesterday.

"I love to portray moments and appealing characters," Hugo continued, seemingly oblivious to the fact that most artists are lucky if Marvel even announces their name when soliciting a book, much less lets them provide not one but two paragraphs worth of quotes in a press release. Then again, how many Marvel artists can claim to have written The Hunchback of Notre Dame? Now that's moving the needle. "I believe that having the chance to portray Jean's key life moments was a great opportunity to express one thing that I like the most about comics: the feeling of adventure! We have action and drama, but the thing that I like the most about X-Men is their adventures and how characters evolve with that, and that's what I wanted to focus on."

Check out the covers, in their connected form, below.

JEAN GREY #11: PSYCH WAR PART 4: Connecting Cover 1 of 5
Written by DENNIS HOPELESS
Art by VICTOR IBANEZ and ALBERTO ALBURQUERQUE
Cover by DAVID YARDIN
On-Sale 1/31/18

PHOENIX RESURRECTION #2 (of 5): Connecting Cover 2 of 5
Written by MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Art by CARLOS PACHECO
Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU
On-Sale 1/3/18

PHOENIX RESURRECTION #3 (of 5): Connecting Cover 3 of 5
Written by MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Art by JOE BENNETT
Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU
On-Sale 1/10/18

PHOENIX RESURRECTION #4 (of 5): Connecting Cover 4 of 5
Written by MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Art by RAMON ROSANAS
Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU
On-Sale 1/24/18

PHOENIX RESURRECTION #5 (of 5): Connecting Cover 5 of 5
Written by MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Art by KHOI PHAM
Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU
On-Sale 1/31/18

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